For Authors
Authors must contact the Editor if they discover any substantial flaws in their works, whether during the publication process or thereafter. If an issue is reported to them by any other method, they should cooperate with the Editor. The appropriate correction, corrigendum, or retraction will subsequently be made. The writers must make sure that the material they submit to Regional Studies is unique and reflects objectivity. When the work is submitted, any possible conflict of interest on the part of the author(s) should be identified in the Cover Sheet. The funding agencies and their influence (if any) on the study, should be openly mentioned. All study participants should give their informed consent, and any information that infringes on the respondents’ privacy should be kept private. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors have read, accepted, and granted permission for the work to be submitted to Regional Studies.
The writers are responsible for the content that they submit to Regional Studies, and if there is any impropriety/misconduct/fabrication in the reported research findings, all authors (in case of multiple authors) will be held accountable. Additionally, manuscripts submitted to Regional Studies must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere or in any other academic/non-academic journal. Articles based on or derived from any previously published presentation, lecture, or academic thesis, on the other hand, are welcome. The authors must recognise and cite their sources of information.
For Reviewers
The reviewers are required to assist the editorial staff in reaching decisions about article acceptance and/or rejection. The reviewers who find themselves unable to review the manuscript in the allocated time should inform the Editor prior to the designated deadline. The reviewers have the authority and must decline to review the manuscripts that do not resonate with their research interests. Confidentiality of the manuscripts submitted for evaluation is the responsibility of the reviewers. No reviewer must release any information related to the paper or the author during any stage of the peer-review process. The reviewers are expected to communicate to the Editor, any ethical issues that they (suspect to) find in the articles. The reviews should be objective, rationalised – supported by evidence, and inherently focused on improving the quality of the article. The reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest upon receiving the request for review.
For Publisher
Regional Studies is a publication of the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) and as a publisher, the IRS ensures best practices and a conducive atmosphere for academic development and scholastic growth. IRS also considers editorial freedom to be one of its most important responsibilities, and it offers all necessary assistance to the editors to ensure a smooth publication process.
For Editors
The Regional Studies Editorial Board is exclusively responsible for making decisions on whether to accept or reject the manuscripts submitted to the journal. The editorial policies emphasise transparency and punctuality, and the editorial team is expected to adhere to them. It is the Editors’ job to guarantee that papers are delivered to appropriate and reputable reviewers (based on their areas of expertise) and that reviews are received in a timely manner by the journal. The Editor is obliged to assess (possible) conflicts of interest in addition to ensuring impartiality in evaluations conducted during the review process. All judgments must be made exclusively on the basis of the manuscript’s content, with no regard for the writers’ (ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic) backgrounds or institutional affiliations.
The rationale for editing choices must be explained to the authors, and any appeals against editorial decisions must be handled properly. Members of the Editorial Board who have a conflict of interest with a received submission must not be permitted to participate in the editorial decision-making process for that submission. It is the editorial team’s obligation to address concerns of misconduct on the part of anybody engaged in the publication process, and to respond appropriately to such accusations in order to maintain the journal’s integrity. The Editorial Board is also responsible for keeping the writers informed about the review and publishing process.