Policies and Procedures

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

1. Purpose

To define the system of activities for publishing the quarterly Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (MURJET).

2. Scope

This procedure is applicable to the Publication Division of the University to serve the above purpose.

3. Operating Procedure

MURJET operates through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform for managing all editorial processes, including manuscript submission, peer review, communication with authors and reviewers, and issue publication. The journal’s official website is also hosted via the OJS.

3.1. Manuscript Submission

Authors submit their original manuscripts through the journal's online submission system, adhering to the Author Guidelines. It is mandatory responsibility of each author, including the co-authors, to ensure that the manuscript(s) submitted for publication should attain the highest ethical standards with respect to plagiarism. Additionally, a signed Declaration Form confirming the originality and exclusivity of the submission is mandatory.

3.2. Initial Editorial Desk Review

Each new submission undergoes an initial editorial screening to assess the following criteria. Manuscripts meeting these criteria proceed to the next phase. Others are returned for revision or declined.

• Journal’s Scope: Alignment with the journal’s thematic areas
• Originality and Novelty: Verified through research databases and search engines
• Similarity Index: Overall similarity to the published literature should not exceed 19%, with no more than 4% from a single source. The similarity report is generated using Turnitin, the similarity detection software currently recommended by the HEC Pakistan.
• AI-Generated Content: The use of AI tools for content generation is generally discouraged, but up to 20% AI assistance may be permissible strictly for language polishing and structural improvement, which is detected through Turnitin software. However, AI-generated content is not acceptable in the Methodology and Results and Discussion sections.
• Quality of English Language: The manuscript must demonstrate clarity, readability, and grammatical accuracy.
• Manuscript Structure: Compliance with the journal’s format, including a total word count of 3,000–7,000 words without list of references, Abstract (150–300 words), Keywords (5–6 terms), Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, and References.
• Visual Quality: Clarity and legibility of graphs and figures.
• Conflict of Interest: Must be transparently declared by the authors if there is any

3.3. Pre-Review Requirements

Authors of manuscripts that pass the initial review are required to do the following.

• Deposit the processing fee to the designated bank account as guided at the journal’s submissions page
• Submit the signed Copyright Agreement.
• Provide the manuscript formatted according to the Journal’s Article Template.
• Suggest potential reviewers with relevant expertise (final selection rests with the editorial team).

3.4. Peer Review Process

After fulfilment of the requirement as described in section 3.3., manuscript is sent to a double-blind peer-review by at least two qualified experts. Additionally, as per journal’s policy, at least one of the reviewers must be a foreign national. Reviewers’ comments are shared with the authors, who are required to submit a revised manuscript along with a point-by-point response to each comment. The revised submission is then re-evaluated by the same reviewers. Multiple rounds of review may be conducted until a final decision is reached by the experts. If both reviewers recommend acceptance, the manuscript is presented to the Editorial Board for final endorsement. If one reviewer accepts and one rejects, a third reviewer is assigned. And if any two reviewers recommend rejection, the manuscript is declined.

3.5. Editorial Board and Issue Publishing

The Editorial Board evaluates all manuscripts recommended by the reviewers before final publication for overall quality and any conflict of interest. After board endorsement, an acceptance letter is issued upon author request. Moreover, the board selects and finalizes the list of 15-20 accepted manuscripts to be published in each issue prior to its scheduled publication date.

3.6. Authorship Changes

Once the signed copyright agreement is submitted, addition or deletion of authors is not permitted. Changes to the order of authors or the designation of the corresponding author may be considered upon a formal request endorsed by all authors.

Open Access Policy

MURJET is committed to the principles of open access as defined by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). Readers are free to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, and to use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers. In line with Jisc Open Policy, MURJET permits authors to archive the post-print (the final peer-reviewed version) and/or the publisher's version (PDF) of their articles in institutional repositories or personal websites, without embargo.

Copyright and Licensing

Upon submission, authors are required to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement, transferring the full and exclusive copyright of the manuscript to MURJET. Authors retain the right to reuse the content for non-commercial purposes (e.g., academic presentations, institutional repositories, theses, and lectures) with appropriate citation. Any commercial reuse requires prior written permission from MURJET. All articles published in the Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (MURJET) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Correction and Retraction Policy

Once an article is published in MURJET, changes to its content are generally not permitted. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Editorial Board may consider issuing corrections or retractions. Such actions are guided by the COPE Retraction Guidelines and STM Guidelines, and are taken when credible evidence indicates any of the plagiarism, fraudulent data or findings, unethical research practices, duplicate or redundant publication, and serious and unintentional errors

Decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis, considering the nature and severity of the issue. The following measures may be applied:

Erratum

If an error is introduced during the production process, an erratum will be published in the next issue to correct the mistake.

Corrigendum

If a significant error is identified post-publication that originated from the author(s) and was not addressed during proofreading, a corrigendum may be issued at the author’s request, replacing the erratum.

Retraction

If misconduct (such as plagiarism, fraudulent data, or unethical practices) is confirmed, then the original article remains in the archive with a retraction notice appended, including the date of retraction and a brief explanation. A retraction statement is also published in the subsequent issue.

Duplicate Publication

In case of duplicate publication, if no copyright infringement is involved, the article is retained with a retraction note explaining the duplication. But, if copyright is violated, the article may be removed from the online archive to prevent legal implications. In this case, the bibliographic record remains accessible, accompanied by a note explaining the reason for removal. The same note will appear in the following issue.

Editorial Discretion

The Editorial Board reserves the right to take any other appropriate corrective action not explicitly listed above, should circumstances warrant it. These procedures are enforced in accordance with the publishing policies of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology and aim to uphold the integrity of the scientific record.

Publication Ethics

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has prepared Publication Ethics guidelines for all its approved Journals. This journal follows these guidelines which are available here.

Plagiarism Policy

MURJET follows a zero-tolerance policy against plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts are screened using similarity detection software (currently Turnitin, as recommended by HEC Pakistan). For detailed criteria and thresholds, authors should refer to the journal’s SoPs. Only manuscripts that pass the plagiarism check proceed to the Double-Blind Peer Review Process, ensuring a fair and unbiased evaluation by independent experts.