Focus and Scope:

Journal of Social Studies is an open access peer-reviewed journal published by the Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden - Yemen. The Journal welcomes articles that contribute to wide spectrum coverage of academic research papers in the fields of administration, economics, education and other human and social sciences. Originality, high quality and significance of the content are essentially considered.

Peer review process:

Peer Review:

The submitted manuscripts are carefully peer-reviewed by a panel of scholars in the subspecialties of a field to ensure that the manuscripts are original, valid, and significant. Before sending the manuscripts to the reviewers, the editor makes sure that these manuscripts contribute significantly to the content area of the journal, follow JSS’s guidelines and they are well-written (clear & concise).

JSS adopts a double blind/ masked review. The identities of both authors and reviewers are not revealed to one another. Reviewers are requested to review a manuscript within two weeks. The author is noted about the status of the manuscript within three weeks from the submission. The author may communicate with the editor if no feedback has been received for a month.

Manuscript acceptance, rejection or acceptance with revision:

The editor decides whether the manuscript is accepted, rejected or needs to be revised based on the reviewers’ reports.

Manuscript acceptance: Accepted manuscripts will undergo copy-editing and production phases of publication process. The authors will not be allowed to make further changes to the manuscript except for those recommended by the copyeditors. The authors remain responsible for the completion of any amendments required by the journal.

Manuscript Rejection: A manuscript is rejected if it falls outside the domain of the journal, has serious defects in design, methodology, analysis or interpretations, lack of contribution to the field, or has a low-quality.

Manuscript acceptance with revision:

A manuscript may be conditionally accepted. This takes place when the manuscript has a high potential for final acceptance and publication in the journal, and the author adheres to all the essential modifications required by the journal (e.g. gathering essential data, conducting new experiments, reanalyzing the data, etc.). The author has to attend to the editor’s recommendations for revision. The revised manuscript should be resubmitted with an enclosed cover letter that contains a table explaining in detail how and where (in the manuscript) amendments have been done based on the reviewers’ comments.

Publication frequency:

The journal is published Monthly.

Open Access Policy:

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Archiving:

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

Publication Ethics:

The JSS complies with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to promote the integrity of its published articles. The JSS considers the following topics during the publishing process:

• Originality & Source Acknowledgement: The JSS scans all submitted manuscripts before the peer reviewing process using Turnitin^®. The JSS is zero-tolerant to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, copyright infringement, dual publication, text recycling and salami slicing. When any of these is identified after publishing, an announcement of retraction of the published material is highlighted in the journal's website. The authors are asked for providing appropriate references for published/unpublished cited texts. The corresponding author should confirm that the submission has not been previously published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.
• Research Misconduct: The JSS editorial team struggles to counter any possibility for data fabrication, manipulation and falsification. In case of suspected misconduct, the JSS editors act in accordance to the COPE guidelines with this respect.
• Conflicts of interest: Authors should disclose potential conflicts of interest and indicate financial agreements or affiliations with any product or services used in the manuscript (as well as any potential bias against another product or service).
  • Authors: Authors should disclose (in an author note) activities and relationships that if known to others might be viewed as a conflict of interest, even if the authors do not believe that any conflict or bias exists (e.g. an author has his own stock in a company that manufactures a drug used in his study).
  • Reviewers: Reviewers should also reveal their potential conflicts of interest (if any) to the action editor. They have an ethical obligation to be open and fair in assessing a manuscript without bias. They should not review a manuscript from a colleague or collaborator, a close personal friend, or a recent student. Reviewers have an obligation to maintain the confidentiality of a manuscript. They should not discuss the manuscript with other individuals.
• Authorship contribution: The JSS asks the authors to provide their substantial contributions to the published work under the section of "Authors' contributions", which should be limited to those who have significantly contributed to the conception, design, performance, analysis as well as drafting and substantially revising the published article. The corresponding author is asked to provide the approval of the contributors on the final version of the manuscript. The contributions of those who do not qualify as authors should be listed in the section of "Acknowledgments" at the end of the manuscript after seeking their approval to be acknowledged.
• Financial Funding:  Sources of funding should be listed and their role(s) should be clearly stated. Grant numbers should be provided, if applicable.

• Using materials under copyrights: The author should obtain letters of permission from copyright holders to reproduce (or adapt) copyrighted material and enclose copies of these letters with the accepted manuscript. Examples of material that require permission include reprinted figures and tables, tests and scale items, questionnaires, vignettes, etc.

Correction notices: If an error is detected in the published manuscript, the author can submit a proposed correction notice to the journal’s editor. The notice should indicate the full title of the journal, the year of publication, the volume no., issue no., and the page nos. of the article, the precise location of the error(s) (e.g. page, line, column, exact quotation of the error, or paraphrasing of lengthy errors).

Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy

1. Purpose

The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and AI-assisted technologies in scientific publishing presents both opportunities and challenges. In line with Scopus selection guidelines and international publishing ethics standards (COPE, WAME, ICMJE), YJMS adopts this policy to ensure transparency, integrity, and accountability in the use of such tools.

2. Acceptable Use

• Authors may use AI-assisted tools (e.g., for grammar checking, language polishing, or reference formatting) provided that they retain full responsibility for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of the submitted manuscript.
• Generative AI may not be listed as an author or co-author. Authorship is restricted to individuals who meet the ICMJE authorship criteria.
• Editors and reviewers may use AI tools only to assist in technical checks (e.g., plagiarism detection, reference verification) but must avoid delegating critical evaluation, decision-making, or peer-review comments to AI systems.

3. Disclosure Requirements

• Authors must clearly declare any use of AI-assisted tools in the Acknowledgments section or a designated disclosure statement, specifying the tool and purpose (e.g., “Portions of the language were refined using ChatGPT, an AI language model, under the supervision of the author”).
• Failure to disclose AI use may be considered a breach of publication ethics and handled according to COPE guidelines.

4. Responsibilities and Limitations

• Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, validity, and originality of their work, regardless of AI assistance.
• Generative AI tools must not be used to:
• Generate research data, results, images, or figures without validation.
• Fabricate references or misrepresent existing literature.
• Substitute critical thinking, interpretation, or scholarly contribution.

5. Editorial Oversight

• JSS editors will evaluate manuscripts for undisclosed or inappropriate AI use.
• If misuse is suspected (e.g., fabricated references, AI-generated text without disclosure), the manuscript may be rejected, retracted, or corrected depending on the severity.

6. Continuous Review

• This policy will be periodically updated to reflect technological, ethical, and legal developments, as well as evolving Scopus and COPE recommendations.

Publication Fees:

The journal has no article processing and submission charges.

Sponsorship:

The journal is sponsored by University of Science and Technology.