Publishing Policies

Manuscripts submitted to Kindler are evaluated entirely on the basis of their scientific content. All possible measures are taken to uphold the highest standards of publication ethics and to prevent malpractices. Our editors and reviewers work hard to ensure the content we publish is ethically sound. To help us achieve that goal, we closely follow the advice laid out in the guidelines on the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) website and support the development and practical application of consistent ethical standards throughout the scholarly publishing community.

Open Access
Kindler is an open access, double-blind peer-reviewed Journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication.

Publication Ethics
Kindler is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. Any manuscript submitted to this Journal should be original; it should not have been published before in its current, or similar form. The work should not have been submitted elsewhere and should not be under consideration by any other publication. If a conflict of interest exists, the same must be declared by authors upon submission; this allows the editorial team to decide how they would like to proceed. By submitting their work to Kindler, authors are guaranteeing that the work is not in infringement of any existing copyright.

Plagiarism Policy
Kindler takes issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles are checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of the department or dean of the author’s institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

Article Processing Charge
There is no article processing charge to publish in Kindler.

Duties / Responsibilities of Editors
The Editorial Team of Kindler is responsible for taking a decision as to which of the articles submitted to the Journal are to be published. The Editors have complete discretion to reject/accept an article. The Editorial Team may confer/deliberate with other reviewers/editors in arriving at its decisions. The evaluation of manuscripts is made on the basis of their scholarly and intellectual content without having regard to the nature of the authors or the institution including gender, race, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy of the authors. The Journal follows a policy of fair play in its editorial evaluation. The Editors are expected to exercise caution and ensure that they have no conflict of interest with respect to the articles they accept/reject. The Editors follow strict confidentiality and are required not to disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers and publisher.

Duties / Responsibilities of Reviewers
Editorial decisions are based on peer review. The reviewers are expected to maintain absolute confidentiality with regard to the contents of manuscripts. The reviews are to be conducted objectively and the referees are expected to express their views clearly with supporting reasons. The reviewers should have no conflict of interest with the authors and the subject matter of the research. The reviewers are required to identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any observation or argument which has been previously reported should also be accompanied by the relevant citation. Similarities or overlaps between the manuscript under review and any other published paper of which the reviewer may have personal knowledge may also be brought to the attention of the Chief Editor. The information or ideas obtained through peer review are of privileged nature and must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should reject manuscripts in which they find conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties / Responsibilities of the Authors
Authors are required to present an accurate account of the original research work and also an objective discussion of its significance. The paper should contain sufficient details of the literature and references. It is expected that all the authors have significantly contributed to the research. The fraudulent and knowingly made inaccurate statement constitutes unethical behavior and would be unacceptable. Authors are required to ensure that the submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere, and if the authors have used the work of others, the same has to be appropriately cited or quoted. Applicable copyright laws and conventions are required to be followed. Copyright materials should be reproduced only with permission and due acknowledgement. Authors are not expected to submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one Journal concurrently would constitute unethical practice and would be unacceptable. Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be made.

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the paper which is submitted for publication. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects in the development of the paper should be acknowledged. The corresponding author is required to ensure that all co-authors are included in the paper and that the co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. All sources of financial support should also be disclosed. Upon discovery of any significant error in the published work, it is the responsibility of the authors to promptly notify the Chief Editor and cooperate in the retraction or correction of the paper.

Peer Review Policy
The practice of peer review is to ensure that only original, good-quality articles are published. It is an objective process at the heart of meritorious scholarly publishing. Reviewers of Kindler, therefore, play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of Kindler and they endeavour to provide an efficient and high-quality review process to the authors. The Journal follows a double-blind peer-reviewing process, which means that the identities of both the reviewer and the author are concealed from each other throughout the review process, i.e., neither author nor reviewer is aware of each other’s identities. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible while maintaining rigor. The reviewers send their comments and recommendations to the Chief Editor in a given format. The Chief Editor then makes the final decision.

As a standard practice, Kindler does not permit the use of author-suggested reviewers. The members of the Editorial/Review Team may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, such members will have no involvement in the decision-making process. The peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Review Team.

Special Issues / Conference Proceedings
Special issues and/or conference proceedings may have different peer review procedures involving, for example, Guest Editors, conference organizers or scientific committees. Authors contributing to these projects may receive full details of the peer review process on request on case to case basis from the Chief Editor.

Further Information
Kindler is published by Army Institute of Management, Kolkata. Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to: