Ethical Guidelines for Publication in Hikama

  1. The editorial board of Hikama upholds the confidentiality and the objectivity the peer review process. The peer review process is anonymized, with editors selecting referees for specific manuscripts based on a set of pre-determined, professional criteria. In where two reviewers cannot agree on the value of a specific manuscript, a third peer reviewer will be selected.
  2. Hikama relies on a network of experienced, pre-selected peer reviewers who are current in their respective fields.
  3. Hikama adopts a well-defined internal organization with clear duties and obligations to be fulfilled by the editorial board.
  4. Disclosure: With the exception of the editor in charge of the editing process (normally the Editor-in-Chief or designated deputies), neither the editors, nor the peer reviewers, are allowed to discuss the manuscript with third parties, including the author. Information or ideas obtained in the course of the reviewing and editing processes and must be treated in confidence and must never be used for personal financial or other gain.
  5. When deemed necessary based on the reviewers' reports, the journal may offer researchers methodological, technical and other assistance in order to improve the quality of their submissions.
  6. The editors of Hikama are committed to notifying the authors of all submitted pieces of the acceptance or otherwise of their manuscripts for publication. In cases where the editors of Hikama reject a manuscript, the author will be informed of the reasons for doing so. 
  7. Hikama is committed to providing quality professional copy editing, proof reading and online publishing services.
  8. Impartiality: The editors and the reviewers evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual and academic merit, without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs or political views of the authors.
  9. Conflicts of interest: Editors and peer reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which there is a conflict of interests resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
  10. Confidentiality: Unpublished data obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and cannot be used for personal research.
  11. Intellectual property and copyright: The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) and Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI) retain copyright to all articles published in its peer reviewed journals. The articles may not be published elsewhere fully or partially, in Arabic or in another language without an explicit written authorization from the ACRPS & DI.
  12. The editorial board of Hikama fully respects intellectual property when translating and publishing an article published in a foreign journal, and will seek the right to translate and publish any work from the copyright holder before proceeding to do so.
  13. Hikama does not make payments for manuscripts published in the journal, and all authors and researchers are exempt from publication fees.