Review and Publication Process

1. The editorial committee checks each submitted article or invites relevant co-Editor to assess:

  • relevancy of the article to the scope of B&ER
  • that the article is free of gross grammatical and conceptual mistakes
  • that the article makes enough contribution to the literature
  • that the topic is interesting, and is highly relevant to practice
  • that the methods applied are appropriate

​2. If an article fails to qualify the criteria mentioned in 1(a-e), the ​e​ditor​i​​al committee​ will send a rejection email to authors within 15 working days of ​the submission.

3. After the successful desk review, each paper will be sent first to a local reviewer and if the reviewer recommends publication, the paper is then sent to a foreign reviewer.

4. Authors who have immediate publication needs can pay the reviewing fee (Rs. 5000 to local, plus $100 (or equivalent) to the foreign reviewer) to the journal to avail simultaneous reviews from all the reviewers. Paying this fee does not guarantee publication. This fee is paid to the reviewers.

5. A paper is accepted for publication only if the majority of the reviewers recommend the paper for publication. Without simultaneous reviews, it is normal for the review process to take up to 6 months.

6. A maximum number of authors is 3 per article. Authorship cannot be changed after the first review of the paper.​​

7​. Each article is checked for a similarity index using Turnitin®. An article having a similarity index of 14% in total and/or 4% with a single source will be rejected.

​8. The editor might ask authors to submit datasets in case enough doubt is expressed by a reviewer on the validity of the results.

9. Authors cannot use self-citations more than 5 times in a single paper.

10. In case of grammatical mistakes, the authors may be asked to get the paper proofread by a professional, along with proofreading certificate.

1​1. In a single issue, an author cannot publish two papers, regardless of whether the author is the principal or a co-author.

​12. Publication fee: The journal charges a publication fee of Rs. 4000 per article. In return, the Editor will send a free copy of the journal to each author. There is no publication fee for authors outside Pakistan.

13. Article withdrawal fee: Authors shall be required to reimburse the expenses associated with the reviewing process (Rs. 10,000 or $100) in the following circumstances:

  • If the paper was sent for a review and the reviewer suggested “revise and resubmit”, however, the author(s) fail to submit a revised draft within the stipulated time. In such cases, the Editor will send two reminders to the authors with a deadline of 3 days. If the Editor does not receive any response from the authors, the authors will be blacklisted for future submissions.
  • If the author(s) decide to withdraw their paper at a stage when the paper has already been sent for the review.
  • If the authors were found to have submitted the article to other journals.