About the Journal

Aims and Scope

Khulna University Studies (KU Studies) is an official publication of Khulna University, Bangladesh. It is an international, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and open access journal that publishes high-quality research articles twice a year (June and December). It provides an opportunity to researchers from across the world for publication of their research and practices in all areas of knowledge. Manuscripts should reflect theoretical, factual or technical information fulfilling national and international interests. Critical analyses and scholarly evaluation of current issues are also encouraged. Original research papers, review articles and short communications in the broad field of Arts and Humanities, Education, Fine arts, Law, Life Science, Management and Business Studies, Science, Engineering and Technology and Social Sciences are invited. The reviewers and editorial board evaluate the submitted manuscripts based on the quality of research and ideas. The decision of the editorial board is final regarding the publication of any manuscript. The Editorial Board is not responsible for any factual mistakes, thoughts and ideas reflected in the published papers. Potential authors are requested to follow the Guide to Contributors available on the journal website during the preparation of their manuscripts.

Indexing

The full text of all articles is deposited on the journal website (https://ku.ac.bd/journal/kustudies). In addition, journal authorities are working on indexing all the published articles in the relevant index services to confirm that articles published in KU studies can be accessed in these databases when appropriate.

Publication Ethics

Khulna University Studies (KU Studies) is a peer-reviewed journal published by Khulna University. In harmony with the University’s mission, KU Studies disseminates knowledge and understanding of advanced research in all of its fields via its scholarly peer-reviewed publications. Publication ethics is essential to improve the quality of research, scientific publications, and trust in research findings and to give credit to the authors for their work and ideas. KU Studies is committed to practicing ethical standards at all stages of its publication process including preliminary screening, editorial reading, reviewing, editing and proofreading to ensure high-quality scientific scholarly publication. KU Studies recommends Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) best practice guidelines for handling research and publication misconduct.

KU Studies team pays attention to every submission with respect, in confidence and in accordance with the standard ethical guidelines. Articles submitted in KU Studies should not be published in or simultaneously submitted in any other journal. In cases of redundant publication, the journal authority will contact or co-operate with the publishers where necessary. KU Studies publishes high standard research output that is conducted fairly and ethically. Articles that contain human subjects or animal or clinical study should have ethical approval from the concerned ethics committee including protocol number. The manuscript that contains any fabricated data will be rejected. All submissions in KU Studies are considered to be the original work of the author(s). Article containing major (maximum 20% similarity) plagiarism is strictly prohibited for submission in KU Studies. To avoid any form of plagiarism, all submitted manuscripts in KU Studies will be checked by anti-plagiarism software. All allegations of plagiarism are investigated in accordance with the standard ethical guideline.

All manuscripts in KU Studies are subjected to peer-review and are expected to meet high standard academic quality. After primary screening by the executive editor or handling editorial board member, publishable manuscripts will be considered for the peer-review process. KU Studies supports a double-blind review process in which each manuscript is reviewed by two independent experts of the relevant area. Each reviewer makes an assessment on its merits of publication with a recommendation to the editor. The handling editor considers the manuscript and reviewer comments to make a decision either to accept, or to accept with revision or to reject the manuscript. If a third reviewer’s comments are needed, the editorial board has the authority to send it for the third review. All submission and review processes by editors and reviewers are considered confidential.

All authors listed in the submitted manuscript must have a significant contribution to it. Authors must declare the funding source which they used to conduct their studies. KU Studies discourages all authors, editors and reviewers from providing unnecessary self-citations.

Conflict of interest (COI)

A conflict of interest (COI) that exists between a writer, reviewer or editor hinders his or her responsibility in the publishing process, including submission, critiquing, and editorial decision making or communicating between them. KU Studies practices transparency in the areas of potential conflict of interest. All potential COIs must be declared by all the persons involved in the review and publication process even though whether or not they actually have an influence on article evaluation. KU Studies recommends the authors, reviewers and editors to follow and regularly update COPE standard policies regarding COIs for the best review process and standard publication ethics practice. Any submissions in KU Studies with undeclared COIs which are later publicized may be rejected or an explanation might be asked. In severe cases, published articles may need to be re-evaluated, have a corrigendum published, or possibly retracted.