About ResearchDirect

ResearchDirect is an open-access, peer-reviewed academic publishing platform committed to the rapid dissemination of high-quality research across multiple scientific disciplines. Our mission is to make scholarly knowledge freely accessible to researchers, practitioners, educators, and the public worldwide — without barriers of subscription or institutional affiliation.

ResearchDirect hosts a growing portfolio of journals spanning the natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences, engineering, economics, and interdisciplinary fields. Each journal is managed by an independent editorial board of internationally recognised experts who uphold the highest standards of scientific rigour and ethical publishing.

1. Publication Policy

ResearchDirect is committed to maintaining an open, transparent, and rigorous publication process. All journals published on this platform operate under the following core principles:

Open Access: All published articles are immediately and permanently free to read, download, share, and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Authors retain full copyright of their work.

Continuous Publication: Accepted manuscripts are published online as soon as they have been peer-reviewed, revised, and finalised — without waiting for a volume or issue to fill. This ensures the fastest possible dissemination of research findings.

Scope and Originality: ResearchDirect publishes only original research that has not been previously published and is not under consideration elsewhere. Submissions must fall within the stated scope of the target journal. Manuscripts reporting incremental advances without significant new contribution will be declined without review.

Language: All manuscripts must be submitted in English. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to ensure clarity of expression.

Retraction and Correction Policy: ResearchDirect follows COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines for corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions. If a published article is found to contain significant errors, or if misconduct is identified, the article will be corrected or retracted with a formal notice published in the journal.

2. Publication Ethics

ResearchDirect is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adheres to its Core Practices. All parties involved in the publication process — authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher — are expected to uphold the following ethical standards.

Authorship: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All listed authors must have approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission. Any change in authorship after submission requires written justification and approval from all original authors.

Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism: All submitted manuscripts are screened using plagiarism detection software. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism, text recycling, or duplicate submission will be immediately rejected. If misconduct is discovered post-publication, the article will be retracted.

Data Integrity: Authors must not fabricate, falsify, or selectively report data. Raw data underlying the results should be retained by the authors for a minimum of ten years and made available upon reasonable request from editors or reviewers.

Conflicts of Interest: All authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the reported work. This includes funding sources, employment, consultancies, patent ownership, honoraria, and personal relationships. Disclosure is required at the time of submission and will be published with the article.

Informed Consent and Ethics Approval: Research involving human participants must have received approval from the relevant Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee. The approval reference number must be stated in the Methods section. Written informed consent must have been obtained from all human participants. For research involving animals, compliance with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines must be confirmed.

Duties of Reviewers: Reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality regarding submitted manuscripts. They must declare any conflicts of interest with the authors or the research topic and decline to review if such conflicts exist. Reviewers should provide objective, constructive, and timely assessments.

Duties of Editors: Editors must make fair and unbiased decisions based solely on scientific merit, free from any commercial or personal influence. They must maintain confidentiality of submissions and recuse themselves from editorial decisions where a conflict of interest exists.

3. Submission Guidelines

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that their work meets the following general requirements. Detailed journal-specific instructions are available on the Submit page of each individual journal.

Eligibility: The corresponding author must be registered on the ResearchDirect platform. All co-authors should be listed at the time of submission; additions or changes after acceptance are not permitted without editorial approval.

File Format: Manuscripts must be submitted as Microsoft Word (.docx) files. Figures and tables should be embedded within the manuscript document and also provided as separate high-resolution files where possible.

Manuscript Length: Original research articles should not normally exceed 8,000 words (excluding references and figure captions). Review articles may be longer with prior editorial agreement. Short communications should not exceed 3,000 words.

Anonymisation: All manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review. Authors must ensure that their identity is not revealed in the manuscript file. Author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and self-identifying citations must be removed from the submitted document. These will be restored after acceptance.

Cover Letter: A brief cover letter must be provided during submission, stating: the title of the manuscript; the journal to which it is submitted; a declaration that the work is original and not submitted elsewhere; and confirmation that all authors have approved the submission.

Suggested Reviewers: Authors are welcome to suggest up to four potential reviewers with relevant expertise. Authors may also identify individuals who should be excluded from reviewing due to conflicts of interest. The editorial board is not obligated to follow these suggestions.

4. Instructions for Authors

Manuscript Structure: Standard original research articles should follow the IMRaD structure:

Title: Concise, informative, and specific. Avoid abbreviations and formulae.
Abstract: A structured abstract of 200–300 words with the headings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
Keywords: 4–8 keywords that are not already present in the title, separated by semicolons.
Introduction: Provide the scientific context, state the gap in knowledge, and clearly articulate the objectives of the study.
Materials and Methods: Describe the study design, participants, materials, instruments, and statistical methods in sufficient detail to allow replication.
Results: Present findings clearly and without interpretation. Use tables and figures to support — not duplicate — text.
Discussion: Interpret results in the context of existing literature. Address limitations honestly. Avoid overstating conclusions.
Conclusions: A brief, standalone summary of the key findings and their implications.
Acknowledgements: Funding sources, technical assistance, and other contributions not meeting authorship criteria.
Conflicts of Interest Statement: Required for all manuscripts.
Data Availability Statement: Required for all manuscripts.
References: Follow the APA 7th Edition referencing style. All references must be cited in the text and vice versa.

Figures and Tables: All figures must be supplied at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Figures should be numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.) and each must have a descriptive caption. Tables must have a title above and any explanatory notes below.

Abbreviations: Define all abbreviations at first mention in the text. Avoid use of non-standard abbreviations.

Units: All measurements must be reported using the International System of Units (SI units) unless otherwise conventional in the field.

Statistical Reporting: Report exact p-values, confidence intervals, effect sizes, and sample sizes for all inferential analyses. Specify the statistical software used and its version.

5. Peer Review Policy

ResearchDirect operates a rigorous double-blind peer review process for all submitted manuscripts. Neither authors nor reviewers are disclosed to each other during the review process.

Review Process:

Initial Editorial Check: Upon submission, the Editor-in-Chief or an assigned Section Editor performs an initial assessment of scope, originality, and technical adequacy. Manuscripts that do not meet minimum standards are rejected at this stage without external review (typically within 5 business days).
External Peer Review: Suitable manuscripts are assigned to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers. Reviewers are given 21 days to complete their assessment.
Editorial Decision: Based on reviewer recommendations, the editor issues one of four decisions: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. Authors are notified of the decision along with reviewer comments.
Revision: Authors must submit a point-by-point response to all reviewer comments along with a revised manuscript. Minor revisions should be returned within 14 days; major revisions within 30 days.
Final Decision: Revised manuscripts may be re-reviewed by the original reviewers before a final acceptance decision is made.

Target Timescales: ResearchDirect aims to provide an initial editorial decision within 7 days and a first peer review decision within 45 days of submission. These are targets and may vary depending on reviewer availability and manuscript complexity.

Appeals: Authors who believe their manuscript has been incorrectly rejected may submit a written appeal to the Editor-in-Chief within 14 days, providing a clear scientific justification. Appeals are considered at the discretion of the editorial board.

6. Open Access and Copyright

All articles published in ResearchDirect journals are made freely available immediately upon publication under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This licence allows unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author Copyright: Authors retain the copyright of their published work. By submitting to ResearchDirect, authors grant the publisher a non-exclusive licence to publish and distribute the article in any format.

Self-Archiving: Authors are free to deposit accepted manuscripts in institutional repositories, preprint servers (e.g., arXiv, bioRxiv), or personal websites at any stage — before, during, or after peer review — provided that the final published version is properly cited.

7. Article Processing Charges (APC)

As an open-access publisher, ResearchDirect does not charge readers or institutions for access to published content. To cover the costs of peer review management, professional typesetting, digital archiving, and platform maintenance, a one-time Article Processing Charge (APC) is levied upon acceptance of a manuscript.

The APC is charged only after acceptance — submission and peer review are entirely free of charge. Authors will not incur any fee if their manuscript is rejected.

Standard APC: USD 350 per accepted article (all journals).

APC Waivers and Discounts: ResearchDirect is committed to supporting researchers from lower-income countries and early-career scholars. Full or partial APC waivers are available upon request and are assessed on a case-by-case basis. To apply for a waiver, authors should submit a written request to the editorial office at the time of manuscript submission, providing a brief justification. Waiver decisions are made independently of peer review outcomes.

Researchers from countries classified by the World Bank as Low Income or Lower-Middle Income may be eligible for an automatic 50% discount. Full waivers may be granted in cases of demonstrated financial hardship.

Invoicing: An invoice will be issued to the corresponding author upon acceptance. Payment must be completed before the article is published. ResearchDirect accepts payment by bank transfer and major credit/debit cards.

8. Submission Fees

ResearchDirect does not charge any submission or manuscript handling fees. Authors may submit their work, have it peer-reviewed, and receive an editorial decision completely free of charge.

A fee is only applicable upon acceptance of the manuscript (see Article Processing Charges above). Authors who withdraw their manuscript before acceptance will not be charged.

9. Indexing and Archiving

ResearchDirect is committed to ensuring the long-term discoverability, accessibility, and preservation of all published research. We actively work to achieve indexing in major international scientific databases.

All published articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via CrossRef for permanent and unique identification. Article metadata is deposited with CrossRef to enable citation tracking and cross-platform discoverability.

ResearchDirect pursues indexing in Google Scholar, DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), PubMed Central, Scopus, and Web of Science. Authors are encouraged to check individual journal pages for current indexing status.

For long-term digital preservation, all content is archived with CLOCKSS (Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe), ensuring continued access even in the event of publisher disruption.

10. Research Data Policy

ResearchDirect strongly encourages authors to make the underlying data of their published research openly available. A Data Availability Statement is required in all manuscripts, specifying whether data is available and where it can be accessed.

Datasets may be deposited in any recognised public data repository (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad, OSF, institutional repositories). The repository name, accession number, and DOI should be stated in the Data Availability Statement.

Where data cannot be shared openly for legal, ethical, or commercial reasons, authors must state this clearly along with the conditions under which access may be requested.

11. Complaints and Appeals

ResearchDirect takes all complaints seriously and is committed to resolving them promptly and fairly. Complaints may relate to editorial decisions, reviewer conduct, publication ethics concerns, or any aspect of the publication process.

To raise a formal complaint, authors, reviewers, or third parties should contact the Editor-in-Chief of the relevant journal in the first instance. If the matter is not resolved satisfactorily, it may be escalated to the ResearchDirect editorial office. All complaints are handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.

12. Contact

For general enquiries, submission support, APC waiver requests, or ethical concerns, please contact the ResearchDirect editorial office:

Email: editorial@researchdirectpub.com
Website: https://researchdirectpub.com
Publisher: ResearchDirect Publishing

For journal-specific enquiries, please use the contact form on the relevant journal's homepage.

For Physical Address: Holding 1423, Johurul Nagar, Bogura Sadar, Bogura 5800, Bangladesh

Last updated: March 2026. ResearchDirect reserves the right to update these policies periodically. Authors are advised to consult this page before submission.