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Navigating the Digital Turn: A South Asian Perspective on Integrity, Access, and Innovation in Scholarly Publishing
The academic editorial landscape in South Asia is currently traversing a critical threshold. For decades, the region has grappled with the dual pressures of global visibility and local relevance. Today, however, a paradigm shift is unfolding, driven by evolving open access (OA) mandates, a renewed yet complex focus on research integrity, and the accelerating integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into editorial workflows.
From the vantage point of Pakistan, a country with one of the fastest-growing research outputs in the region, these developments are not merely administrative adjustments. They raise fundamental questions about credibility, sustainability, and the future of the regional knowledge economy.
This article reflects on three interlinked themes shaping the current editorial environment, namely the realities of Open Access in a resource-constrained economy, the ongoing struggle for research integrity, and the technological innovations redefining peer review systems.
Open Access Realities and Regional Developments
The Open Access discourse in South Asia differs markedly from that of the Global North. While Western discussions often focus on transformative agreements with major publishers, the regional reality, particularly in Pakistan and neighboring countries, is shaped by the prohibitive cost of Gold OA. Article Processing Charges (APCs) demanded by high-impact international journals frequently exceed the monthly salaries of senior faculty members, creating a substantial barrier to participation.
At the same time, meaningful regional alternatives are emerging. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has revised its Journals and Publications Policy (2024–2025), encouraging local journals to align with global standards without adopting extractive APC-driven models. The emphasis is increasingly on Diamond or Platinum Open Access, where publication costs are borne by institutions or scholarly societies, ensuring that research remains free to read and free to publish.
A key development has been the large-scale migration of HEC-recognized journals to Open Journal Systems (OJS). This transition, mandated to enhance transparency and interoperability, facilitates compliance with global indexing platforms such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
While Open Access remains a shared ideal, the regional approach is intentionally indigenous, resisting forms of scientific colonialism in which South Asian data is extracted for journals that local researchers cannot afford to access or publish in.
Strengthening national repositories and elevating reputable local journals, such as the Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and others, achieving Q1 or Q2 rankings, has become a strategic priority, ensuring the availability of credible, high-quality OA outlets that primarily serve regional scientific communities.
Integrity Challenges and Positive Transformations
If Open Access is the vehicle of dissemination, research integrity remains its fuel. South Asia has faced sustained criticism related to paper mills, gift authorship, and predatory publishing. These practices were historically reinforced by promotion and degree requirements that prioritized publication counts over research quality.
However, the period of 2024–2025 marks a correction phase. The era of unchecked publishing is giving way to a more rigorous accountability framework.
Editorial practice across Pakistani institutions is undergoing a noticeable shift. Ethical Review Board (ERB) approval, once treated as a procedural formality, has become a strict prerequisite for publication in HEC-recognized ‘W’ and ‘X’ category journals. In parallel, the HEC’s Journal Recognition System (HJRS) has moved beyond a narrow focus on impact factors, adopting a broader Journal Prestige Index that discourages excessive self-citation and institutional self-publishing.
A persistent challenge remains the emerging grey zone of AI-assisted intellectual plagiarism. While conventional plagiarism detection tools effectively address copy-paste misconduct, generative AI introduces subtler risks, including recycled ideas, manipulated data narratives, and fabricated originality.
Encouragingly, editorial responses are shifting from punitive enforcement toward author education. Regular workshops on publication ethics, now institutionalized at University of the Punjab and Aga Khan University, reflect a broader transition from publishing for promotion to publishing for impact.
Tools, Innovations, and Technologies Shaping This Year
Technology now defines the daily operational reality of scholarly publishing in South Asia. In 2024, AI transitioned from conceptual discussion to practical implementation and regulatory concern.
The AI dilemma is being addressed through evolving policy frameworks. Leading Pakistani journals have begun explicitly defining their stance on Large Language Models, in alignment with COPE guidelines. AI is recognized as a tool, not an author. This distinction is particularly relevant for language polishing, where AI support can reduce linguistic barriers for non-native English speakers, while simultaneously raising concerns about hallucinated citations and unverifiable content.
Beyond AI, the most transformative development has been the widespread adoption of interoperable metadata infrastructure. Mandatory OJS implementation has accelerated upgrades in XML typesetting, DOI registration via Crossref, and ORCID integration.
Key developments include:
- Digital Object Identifiers are becoming a standard requirement rather than a privilege of well-funded journals.
- Advanced plagiarism detection extending beyond text similarity to AI-generated content and image manipulation, although cost constraints persist.
Perhaps the most consequential innovation is the full digitization of the peer-review workflow. OJS-based systems provide time-stamped documentation of submissions, reviews, revisions, and decisions, creating a transparent audit trail. This infrastructure protects editors from allegations of bias and authors from exploitative delays, contributing significantly to the restoration of trust in regional scholarly publishing.
Takeaways
For the South Asian editorial community, 2025 is characterized not by a single disruptive breakthrough, but by institutional maturation. Editors are navigating the tension between global Open Access ideals and local funding realities, addressing academic misconduct through policy reform and digital oversight, and cautiously integrating AI to support, rather than replace, human scholarly judgment.
The regional perspective is increasingly one of resilience and agency. South Asia is no longer a passive consumer of Western publishing models but an active contributor to their contextual refinement. Moving forward, sustained emphasis on integrity, transparency, and institutional capacity will be essential to preserving the credibility of the scholarly record over the speed of its production.
Keywords
Scholarly Publishing Open Access Research Integrity AI in Publishing Peer Review South Asia Academic Publishing Policy HEC Pakistan Digital Editorial Tools Generative AI
Dr. Muhammad Asim is an Associate Professor at Karachi University Business School, University of Karachi, Pakistan. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Karachi and has extensive experience in teaching and research in the field of business studies.
View All Posts by Muhammad AsimDisclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of their affiliated institutions, the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE), or the Editor’s Café editorial team.
