Peer Review Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Rehabilitation (PJR) follows a double-blind peer review process to ensure a fair, objective, and unbiased evaluation of all submitted manuscripts.

Initial Editorial Assessment

All submissions undergo an initial editorial screening to assess:

• Compliance with the journal's submission requirements.
• Relevance to the journal's scope.
• Plagiarism screening using similarity detection software.
• Statistical review, where applicable.
• Adherence to ethical and reporting standards.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's requirements may be rejected without external peer review.

External Peer Review

Manuscripts that pass the initial assessment are evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers with relevant subject expertise and no conflicts of interest. Authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the review process.

Reviewers are expected to:

• Evaluate manuscripts objectively and confidentially.
• Assess the originality, scientific quality, methodology, ethical standards, and relevance of the research.
• Provide constructive recommendations.
• Report any suspected plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate publication, image manipulation, or other forms of research misconduct.
• Refrain from uploading manuscripts or manuscript content to AI tools or third-party software platforms.

If additional expertise is required or reviewers provide conflicting recommendations, the Editor may invite additional reviewers.

Editorial Decision

The Editor makes the final decision regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection based on the reviewers' recommendations and the scientific merit, originality, and ethical integrity of the manuscript.