About the Journal

Publisher: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)

Aim and Objectives

The Nucleus is an open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that provides a platform for publishing high-quality research in multidisciplinary sciences at the international level. It facilitates the dissemination of scientific knowledge and fosters academic collaboration across diverse disciplines within the natural and applied sciences.

Scope

The Nucleus invites original scholarly works from all disciplines within the natural and applied sciences, promoting research that advances the understanding and application of scientific principles.

Peer Review Process

The Nucleus follows a double-blind peer review process, ensuring that both reviewers and authors remain anonymous. Each submission is reviewed by at least two field experts, who evaluate manuscripts based on originality, scientific quality, relevance, clarity, and adherence to ethical standards. The review process typically takes between 4 and 8 weeks, with reviewers selected according to their expertise.

Ethical Statement

The Nucleus is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics. All stakeholders, including authors, reviewers, and editors, must adhere to international ethical guidelines such as those outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Responsibilities of Authors

  • Ensure that submitted work is original, accurately presented, and free from data fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation.
  • Confirm that the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal at the time of submission.
  • Include as authors only those individuals who made significant contributions to the research, and obtain approval from all authors for the final manuscript.
  • Disclose any financial or personal conflicts of interest that could influence the research.
  • Provide evidence of ethical approval for studies involving human participants, animals, or sensitive materials, where required.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Provide objective, constructive, and timely evaluations of submitted manuscripts.
  • Maintain the confidentiality of all submission materials.
  • Avoid any conflicts of interest and notify the editors if such conflicts exist.
  • Report any suspected ethical issues, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, or data irregularities.

Responsibilities of Editors

  • Ensure fair, unbiased, and timely handling of all submissions based solely on scholarly merit.
  • Maintain confidentiality of all submitted materials.
  • Take appropriate action in cases of ethical violations, following COPE guidelines.
  • Issue corrections, retractions, or notices as needed.

Handling of Ethical Misconduct

The Nucleus follows COPE-recommended procedures to address allegations of misconduct. Cases of plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, duplicate submission, or unethical authorship practices will result in appropriate actions such as rejection, retraction, notification of institutions, or other corrective measures.

Publication Frequency and Charges

  • The Nucleus is published biannually, offering both electronic and print formats.
  • There are no publication fees at any stage, including submission, peer review, and publication. This ensures that authors can publish their work without incurring any costs.

Open Access Policy

All content in The Nucleus is freely accessible. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, and link to articles without charges, provided proper citation is given to the original authors and source.

Abstracting and Indexing

The Nucleus is indexed in several prominent databases, enhancing its visibility and accessibility within the global research community, including:

  • IP Indexing
  • ISI (International Scientific Indexing)
  • DRJI (Directory of Research Journals Indexing)
  • Google Scholar
  • ResearchGate

The journal is also recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan in Category Y, ensuring that it meets high academic standards.

ISSN and eISSN

  • Print ISSN: 0029-5698
  • Online ISSN: 2306-6539

Plagiarism Policy

The Nucleus strictly adheres to HEC's plagiarism policy, rejecting submissions with more than 19% matching content (excluding references). Plagiarism is treated as a serious ethical violation.

Copyright and Licensing Policy

Copyright for all articles published in The Nucleus remains with the authors.
Articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0 ), allowing free download, reading, reuse, and quotation of the work, provided the original published version is appropriately cited.

This licensing ensures maximum visibility and reuse while preserving author credit.

Reproducing Published Material from Other Publishers

Authors must obtain permission to reproduce published material (figures, schemes, tables, or textual extracts) for which they do not hold copyright or which does not fall under the public domain. Permission must be obtained from the copyright holder, typically the publisher.

Permission Required for:

  • Published works where copyright was not retained.
  • Substantial extracts from any source.
  • Tables, graphs, charts, schemes, and artworks (unaltered or slightly modified).
  • Copyrighted photographs.

Permission Not Required for:

  • Reconstruction of tables using previously published data (with proper citation).
  • Reasonably short quotes (fair use).
  • Figures or artworks completely redrawn and significantly modified beyond recognition.

Recommended Acknowledgment Format:

“Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], [year].”

Disclaimer

The views expressed in the journal are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission or the Editor-in-Chief.