Publication Ethics

Ethical Guidelines for Authors, Reviewers, and Editors
All research involving human participants must adhere to internationally recognized ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki for biomedical research and the Belmont Report for social and behavioral research. Studies involving interviews, oral history, ethnographic fieldwork, or data collection from human subjects require approval from an institutional ethics review board or equivalent committee. Manuscripts must include a statement identifying the approving institution and confirmation that informed consent was obtained from all participants. For research involving vulnerable communities or religious informants, additional cultural and religious sensitivity must be observed, and consent procedures should respect local norms and Islamic ethical principles.
Research involving archival materials, manuscripts, or textual analysis must acknowledge provenance, copyright status, and institutional permissions where applicable. Authors working with rare or privately held Islamic manuscripts must document access permissions and adhere to preservation ethics.
As a fundamental principle, ethical publication practices are essential to maintaining research integrity. The publisher respects editorial independence and does not interfere with content integrity, providing only timely publication support.
Ethical Standards for Editors The Editor-in-Chief and editorial board of Al-Faqr: Journal of Islamic Intellectual Studies bear full responsibility for all published content. Editors:
  • Guide authors in adhering to journal guidelines and ethical standards
  • May consult with other editors or reviewers when making publication decisions
  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively without discrimination based on author's race, religion, gender, seniority, ethnicity, political beliefs, institutional affiliation, nationality, or theological orientation
  • Must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts when a conflict of interest exists
  • Ensure double-blind review integrity by removing author identities from manuscripts sent to reviewers
  • Communicate editorial decisions with reviewers' constructive comments (excluding offensive content)
  • Respect authors' legitimate requests regarding reviewer selection
  • Maintain strict confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts
  • Address suspected ethical violations using COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines
  • Uphold intellectual diversity by welcoming methodologically and theoretically diverse contributions within the scope of Islamic intellectual studies
Ethical Standards for Reviewers Reviewers of Al-Faqr: Journal of Islamic Intellectual Studies must:
  • Evaluate manuscripts objectively and identify potential ethical concerns in methodology, citation practices, or representation of Islamic sources
  • Complete reviews within the stipulated timeframe or notify editors promptly if unable to do so
  • Maintain strict confidentiality of manuscript content
  • Decline review invitations when conflicts of interest exist with authors, institutions, or intellectual positions
  • Provide constructive, evidence-based feedback that respects the author's scholarly approach while upholding academic rigor
  • Avoid imposing personal theological or ideological preferences in evaluation; focus on methodological soundness, argumentative coherence, and contribution to the field
Ethical Standards for Authors Authors submitting to Al-Faqr: Journal of Islamic Intellectual Studies must:
  • Ensure manuscripts are original, unpublished, and not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere
  • Present authentic research findings with proper citation of primary and secondary sources, following APA 6th edition or Chicago Manual of Style as appropriate for humanities scholarship
  • Avoid all forms of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and unattributed paraphrasing of classical or contemporary texts
  • Refrain from "salami slicing" (fragmenting single studies into multiple publications)
  • Adhere strictly to the journal's author guidelines and formatting requirements
  • Protect participant privacy by anonymizing personal identifiers in text, images, or datasets; obtain written consent for any recognizable human subjects
  • For research involving human subjects: confirm compliance with ethical standards and provide institutional approval details
  • Accurately represent Qur'anic verses, Hadith, and classical Islamic texts with proper transliteration, translation, and citation; avoid decontextualized or tendentious usage
  • Declare all potential conflicts of interest (employment, funding sources, consulting relationships, institutional affiliations, or ideological commitments) in the manuscript's disclosure statement
  • Provide source documentation, transliteration keys, or methodological appendices upon editorial request to ensure transparency and reproducibility
Al-Faqr: Journal of Islamic Intellectual Studies upholds these ethical standards to ensure the integrity, transparency, and scholarly value of published research in Islamic intellectual traditions, fostering respectful, rigorous, and ethically grounded engagement with Islam's rich heritage of knowledge.