Aims and Scope
Voice of Balochistan (VOB) is an independent organization working in collaboration with the Government of Balochistan. The primary aim of VOB is to project a constructive image of Balochistan, its people and its rich culture.
VOB further aims to disseminate the actual narrative of the province based on facts, while maintaining respect for every institution of the state. Our vision is to establish a strategic communication corridor on domestic, regional and global level and build the capacity of the youth of Balochistan in the domain of people to people connection.
Thus, purpose of the Editorial department is to generate an objective narrative regarding Balochistan and to explore the culture richness of it. For this, we opt for general and research based articles, editorials, posters, interviews and other publications related content.
Ownership and Publication
Opinions expressed by the authors are those of the individual and not necessarily those of the editor or VOB. All submitted articles are a property of VOB and permission shall be obtained before publishing them on a different forum.
Submission does not guarantee publication and the editor reserves the right to edit as needed; for space, libelous statements, unnecessary information, spelling and grammar, violation of federal laws or personal unwarranted attacks.
Submission
Articles and Blogs should ONLY be submitted electronically in Microsoft® Office Word 2007 or
later formats as an attachment via email to the Editorial department at
submissions@voiceofbalochistan.pk
The submission of content in PDF format is not permitted. Please name the Word file according
to the title of the articles and mention it in the subject of the email.
Blogs
Opinions expressed in the blogs and in any corresponding comments are personal opinions of the original authors for which VOB will not claim any responsibility under any circumstance. The word limit for blogs should not exceed 600 words. They can be written in plain American/British English and Urdu, which should be at least grammatically correct. Blogs should contain a result oriented approach based on constructive criticism instead of demeaning or directly attacking an individual, state or any organisation.
Originality
All articles must be original and plagiarism-free. No article will be considered which has already been published or is being considered by another journal. By submitting an article, the author(s) certify that the article is not being considered for publication nor has it been published elsewhere.
Review Process
All articles will be sent for reviewing to the department. A decision about acceptance, revision or rejection is sent to the corresponding author. Articles that are neither accepted nor rejected may be returned to the author(s) with suggestions for revision.
Copy Editing
After an article is accepted, it will be edited by the VOB content and editorial staff to conform
to the VOB publication style and standards. Authors are responsible for all statements made
and calculations provided in their published articles, including changes made in the process of
copy editing.
Formatting
The authors should avoid making their articles stand out as different by preparing them in
unusual or unconventional formats. Manuscripts should reflect writing proficiency and the
correct use of syntax, grammar, spelling and symbols to ensure the transmission of accurate
information. Text should avoid ethnic, sexual and racial bias and gender-inclusive language
should be used whenever possible.
Author Information
In a separate electronic document, provide the following details in full for all authors (i.e.
including co-authors)
- first name and surname
- a brief introduction and
- complete contact details (contact number and email address)
Word Limit
Articles written in only British English should not exceed 1000 words, including the content, tables, figures and references. Articles longer than 1000 words or shorter than 800 words will be returned to the author for revision. In exceptional cases, and at the Academic Head’s discretion, longer articles will be considered if they make an original or major contribution to the field.
Layout of Articles
- Abbreviations – Please keep the use of abbreviations to a minimum. Abbreviations must be explained when they first appear, after which they may be used without an explanation. The normal language rules pertaining to abbreviations apply, but no full stops are used. If an organization’s name appears only once in the document, there is no need to give the abbreviation or acronym.
- Capital letters – Use lower case as far as possible (e.g. parliament, government, state, project etc), except in specific, direct references to specific people. Use lower case for the first letter of a generic ethnic group (e.g. baloch, pathan, hazara) but upper case for the first letter of a group named according to country (e.g. Pakistani, Indian, Chinese etc.).
- Dates – Write dates as January 1, 2019. Not as 20th, 2nd, etc.
- End notes and footnotes – The use of end/footnotes are not permitted and the articles will be returned to the author(s) for revision.
- Font – Submit articles in 12pt Times New Roman or Arial, 1.5 line spacing.
- Use of bold and italics – Do not use italics, underlining or bold to emphasize points. Rather achieve the required emphasis with an effective style of writing. Note that common Latin and French terms are not italicised. For example: et al., in situ, per capita, inter alia, vis-à-vis, laissez faire etc. Words and phrases from other languages are italicised. Please supply a translation of non-English words and phrases and state what language they are.
- Justification – Use full justification in articles.
- Lists – Use bullets for lists and not dashes, asterisks or letters of the alphabet.
- Numbers – Use a space, not a comma, to indicate tens of thousands etc., e.g. 10 000. Write thousands without a space, e.g. 1000, except in tables, where the space is needed to get the alignment right. For decimals use the decimal point, not comma, e.g. 3.85.
- Paragraphing – Please properly paragraph the articles.
- Quote marks – Use single quote marks. Use double quote marks only for quotations within quotations. For long quotations (‘long’ generally means longer than one sentence), indent the text in a separate paragraph (using a smaller font size) and omit the quote marks.
- Spacing between sentences – Make a single space after a full stop, not a double space. There should be no more than one space at any point in the document.
- Spelling – Please use English UK spelling when preparing articles, for example behaviour, not behavior and organisation, not organization.
- Sources – Cite only sources that are relevant to your discussion. Acknowledge all sources of ideas, statements, tables, graphs, etc. that are not your own. Where you use the exact wording from a source, you must make this clear by placing the quotation in quote marks or indenting it if it is a long quotation.
- Referencing – Add a list of references at the end of your article. Note that ‘references’ means a list of the sources you have actually cited in your article. Please ensure that all the sources you cite are listed and that all the sources you list are cited.
Deadlines
Articles should be submitted on exact date and time required. In case of an emergency or delay,
permission shall be obtained from the Academics Head. Failure to meet the deadlines will be
excused ONLY THRICE after which the writer will be terminated without any notice.
Comments and Sharing
It is compulsory for all the writers onboard to share their opinions regarding all the articles in
the form of comments on the website and to share the articles on their social media. For this
purpose, all writers should have active Twitter and Facebook handles following all social media
pages of VOB.
Correspondence
Any correspondence may be addressed to the Academics Head at
hamna@voiceofbalochistan.pk
Voice of Balochistan Editorial Policy 2019