Author Guidelines

1. The Journal

The World Review of Research and Innovation (WRRI) is a bi-annual, open access Social Science journal of the IBEX Institute of Social Sciences Research & Development. It publishes in English, issues appear twice a year (January–June and July–December), and every manuscript is judged through double-anonymous peer review.

2. Subject Coverage

WRRI welcomes original work from across the Social Sciences, including sociology and anthropology; education and educational technology; psychology; political science and international relations; public policy and governance; economics and development; business, management and entrepreneurship; media and communication; digital society and social innovation; law and human rights; gender and family studies; social work; culture and religion; history; peace and conflict studies; criminology; population, migration and urban studies; environment and society; library and information science; and social theory.

Any rigorous design is welcome: quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, comparative, historical, review-based or conceptual. Further details are on the Aims and Scope page.

3. Types of Paper

  • Original research articles
  • Review articles (systematic, scoping or narrative)
  • Conceptual and theoretical papers
  • Case studies and policy analyses
  • Methodological papers
  • Short communications

Each paper must fall within the journal's scope and add something new to the field.

4. Originality

A manuscript submitted to WRRI must not:

  • have already been published in substantially the same form;
  • be under review by another journal;
  • contain plagiarised material;
  • contain invented or manipulated data or results; or
  • repeat substantial parts of earlier work without acknowledgement.

Submission is taken as confirmation that the paper is being considered by WRRI alone.

5. Language

Manuscripts must be written in English, using British or American spelling consistently. Authors are responsible for the clarity and academic standard of their writing; the editors may ask for professional language editing if poor English obscures the meaning.

6. Structure of the Manuscript

Research articles should normally contain, as appropriate:

  • Title
  • Authors, affiliations and corresponding-author details (on a separate title page)
  • Abstract (150–250 words) and 4–6 keywords
  • Introduction
  • Literature review or theoretical background
  • Methods
  • Results or findings
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion, with implications or recommendations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Funding statement
  • Conflict-of-interest statement
  • References

Review, conceptual and other papers may use a different structure suited to their purpose. Research articles are normally 5,000–8,000 words including references.

7. Title

Use a concise, specific title that describes the content accurately and avoids unexplained abbreviations.

8. Abstract

The abstract should summarise the purpose, method, principal findings, conclusions and, where relevant, implications of the study. It should contain no citations and no undefined abbreviations.

9. Keywords

Choose keywords that describe the topic precisely and will help readers and indexing services find the article.

10. Author Information

For each author give the full name, institution, country and email address, together with any other details the submission system asks for, and identify the corresponding author clearly.

11. Authorship

Each author must have made a substantial contribution, for example to the design, methods, data collection, analysis, interpretation, drafting or critical revision of the paper, and must approve the final version. Ghost, guest and gift authorship are not permitted, and any later change to the author list must be requested by the corresponding author with the agreement of all authors. See the Authorship and Contribution Policy.

12. The Corresponding Author

The corresponding author deals with the journal on behalf of all authors, ensures that every author has approved the submitted and final versions, confirms that author details and declarations are correct, and keeps co-authors informed.

13. Ethics

Studies involving people must comply with ethical, institutional and legal requirements. Name the approving ethics committee where approval was needed, and explain how informed consent, privacy, data protection and the protection of vulnerable participants were handled. See the Research Ethics Policy.

14. Data and Methods

Report data and findings honestly and describe the methods in enough detail for readers to understand and evaluate them. Any fabrication, falsification or misleading presentation of data is forbidden.

15. Similarity Screening

All manuscripts are checked with Turnitin, in line with HEC Pakistan plagiarism policy. The editors look at the sources and context of any overlap rather than relying on the percentage alone. Authors may be asked to rewrite passages, add citations or explain matches; serious plagiarism leads to rejection and possibly further action. See the Plagiarism Guidelines.

16. Reuse of Your Own Work

Do not reuse substantial parts of your own published work without citation and disclosure. Overlap with your thesis, dissertation, preprint or conference paper is acceptable if acknowledged.

17. References

WRRI uses APA style (7th edition). Every in-text citation must appear in the reference list and vice versa. References must be complete and accurate, and should include DOIs or URLs where available. Fabricated references and citation manipulation are not allowed.

18. Conflicts of Interest

Declare any relationship that could be seen as a conflict. If there is none, write: "The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest." See the Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure Policy.

19. Funding

Name every funder, with grant numbers and the funder's role. If the work had no specific funding, state this.

20. Use of AI

AI tools may be used only as allowed by the AI Policy. AI cannot be an author; substantive use must be declared; references suggested by AI must be verified; and AI must never be used to fabricate or falsify content.

21. Copyright

Authors keep their copyright and grant WRRI a non-exclusive licence to publish the article first and to distribute and archive it. See Copyright.

22. Licence

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Authors must obtain permission for any third-party material they include.

23. Open Access

All WRRI articles are free to read immediately on publication, with no embargo. Authors may deposit their work as described in the Repository and Self-Archiving Policy.

24. Fees

Submission and review are free. An Article Processing Charge of PKR 10,000 is payable only after acceptance and has no influence on any editorial decision. See Article Processing Charges.

25. Peer Review

After editorial screening, papers are reviewed double-anonymously by at least two independent experts. Decisions are Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision or Reject, and revised papers may be reviewed again. See the Peer Review Policy.

26. Independence

Payment, or any other financial matter, has no effect on review or decisions, which are based only on academic and ethical merit.

27. Errors in Published Work

Authors should inform the editors promptly of any significant error in their published article. WRRI may publish corrections, expressions of concern or retractions under its Corrections, Retractions, Complaints and Appeals Policy.

28. Complaints and Appeals

Authors may submit a complaint or appeal with clear reasons and evidence; it will be considered fairly and confidentially.

29. Self-Archiving

The preprint, accepted manuscript and published version may be deposited anywhere lawful, without embargo, with a link to the published article.

30. Preservation

WRRI content is preserved through the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN).

31. Declaration on Submission

By submitting, authors confirm that the paper is original and not under review elsewhere, that all authors qualify and agree, that sources are properly cited, that ethical requirements are met, that interests, funding and any substantive AI use are declared, and that the paper complies with WRRI's policies.

32. Workflow

Submission → Editorial screening → Turnitin check → Double-anonymous review → Revision → Decision → Acceptance → APC payment → Copyediting and layout → Online publication in the current issue

Timings vary from paper to paper. The APC is requested only after acceptance.

33. Contact

Please send questions about submissions to editor@wrri.ibexinstitute.org.

World Review of Research and Innovation (WRRI)
Publisher: IBEX Institute of Social Sciences Research & Development
Country: Pakistan