Himalayan Publisher is committed to maintaining the highest standards of scholarly publishing through transparent, ethical, and efficient editorial practices. These Editorial Policies are based on internationally recognized best practices and are aligned with the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the editorial quality standards expected by leading indexing services, including Scopus.

This Editorial Policy applies uniformly to all journals published by Himalayan Publisher.

Editorial Independence

Editors make publication decisions independently and solely on the basis of the manuscript's academic merit, originality, scientific quality, relevance to the journal's scope, and compliance with ethical standards. Editorial decisions are free from commercial, financial, or personal influence.

Manuscript Screening

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine whether they:

• Fall within the journal's scope.
• Meet submission and formatting requirements.
• Comply with publication ethics.
• Pass plagiarism screening.
• Demonstrate sufficient scientific quality for peer review.

Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be rejected without external review.

Peer Review Management

The Editorial Office coordinates the Single-Blind Peer Review process by selecting qualified reviewers with relevant expertise, ensuring confidentiality, monitoring review timelines, and facilitating communication between authors, reviewers, and editors. Editors make fair, unbiased, and evidence-based decisions based on reviewers' recommendations.

Editorial Decision-Making

Editors may reach one of the following decisions after peer review:

• Accept
• Accept with Minor Revisions
• Major Revisions Required
• Reject

The final decision regarding publication rests with the Editor.

Ethical Oversight

Editors are responsible for ensuring compliance with publication ethics and research integrity. Allegations of plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, falsification, image manipulation, authorship disputes, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other forms of research misconduct are handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Conflict of Interest Management

Editors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff maintain the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and related communications. Information regarding manuscripts is disclosed only to individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer review process.

Copyediting and Proofreading

Accepted manuscripts undergo professional copyediting and proofreading to improve grammar, language, formatting, consistency, citation accuracy, and overall presentation. Authors are provided with proofs for final review before publication.

Issue Compilation and Publication

The Editorial Office is responsible for organizing accepted manuscripts into scheduled journal issues, assigning publication details, ensuring consistency in formatting, and maintaining timely publication according to each journal's publication schedule.

Author Support and Submission Assistance

The Editorial Office provides guidance to authors throughout the submission, peer review, revision, and publication processes. Authors may contact the editorial team for assistance regarding manuscript preparation, submission requirements, ethical documentation, and publication procedures.

Corrections and Post-Publication Updates

Editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record by issuing corrections, errata, expressions of concern, or retractions whenever necessary, in accordance with international publishing standards.

Continuous Quality Improvement

The Editorial Board regularly reviews editorial procedures, peer review practices, and publication policies to ensure continuous improvement and alignment with international standards, including those recommended by ICMJE, COPE, and recognized indexing databases such as Scopus.

Policy Applicability

This Editorial Policy is the official policy of Himalayan Publisher and applies uniformly to all journals published under the publisher. Individual journals may adopt additional editorial procedures where appropriate; however, the principles of editorial independence, fairness, transparency, research integrity, and publication ethics remain consistent across all journals.