Data Fabrication and Falsification

Data fabrication and falsification constitute serious ethical violations in academic publishing. Such practices undermine the integrity of scholarly research, compromise the credibility of academic institutions, and erode trust in researchers and published findings. Fabrication or falsification includes altering, manipulating, selectively omitting, or entirely inventing research data or results and presenting them as genuine in order to achieve predetermined or misleading outcomes. These practices are strictly prohibited.

To safeguard academic integrity, Al-Turāth al-Adabī requires all submitting authors to provide duly signed declarations, including a copyright declaration, a conflict-of-interest statement, and an explicit declaration confirming that the submitted work is free from data fabrication or falsification.

The journal applies the following multi-stage procedure:

As a first step, all submitted manuscripts are subjected to strict plagiarism screening. This includes verification of the similarity index and, from November 2025 onward, AI-generated content detection. The maximum permissible limit for both similarity and AI indicators is 19% or below.

As a second step, if concerns related to data integrity, manipulation, or falsification are identified, the Editor issues a formal warning to the author(s) and may request clarification, raw data, or additional documentation.

As a third step, if the author(s) fail to adequately address the concerns or if clear evidence of fabrication or falsification is established, the article shall be retracted immediately from the journal’s website and publication record.

As a final step, Al-Turāth al-Adabī reserves the right to formally report confirmed cases of data fabrication or falsification to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, and other relevant authorities for further disciplinary or legal action as deemed appropriate.