Publication Submission & Certification (ICT-2)

Complete business process for submitting publications to ORIC for HEC certification. This guide maps to ICT-2 Proforma requirements.

HEC Alignment: This module aligns with the ORIC- PUBLICATION PROFORMA-ICT-2.xlsx requirements from HEC.

1. Business Context

The Publication module is the core research output tracking system for HEC reporting. Key business objectives:

Track all research publications by PIDE researchers
Categorize journals as W, X, or Y based on HEC recognition
Provide evidence of publication for HEC scorecard
Certify publications as authentic PIDE outputs

2. Complete State Machine

Draft
Researcher's workspace → Submit Submitted
Awaiting review → ORIC reviews Under Review
ORIC processing → ORIC decides Approved
Certified → Admin locks Locked
Frozen for HEC

Alternative Path: If ORIC requests changes: Submitted/Under Review → Needs Revision → Researcher edits → Resubmit

3. Stage-by-Stage Business Process

3.1 Draft Stage (Researcher)

Researcher creates and edits publication details. No review required yet.

Who	Actions Available	Can Edit All Fields?
Researcher (submitter)	Create, Edit, Save, Delete (if draft)	Yes - all fields
ORIC Staff	View only	No
Admin	View only	No

Mandatory Fields at Draft Stage:

Field	Required?	Validation Rule
Title	YES	Max 500 chars, non-empty
Publication Date	YES	Valid date
Journal Name	YES	Max 500 chars
Journal Category	YES	Must be W, X, or Y
Department	YES	Must be valid research center
Authors	YES	At least one author
Paper URL	NO	Valid URL if provided
DOI	NO	Max 255 chars
PDF Attachment	NO	PDF only, max 10MB

What Happens After Submission:

Workflow status changes to "Submitted"
Submitter receives confirmation notification
ORIC staff receive notification of new submission
Entry appears in ORIC staff review queue

3.2 Submitted Stage (ORIC Review Queue)

Publication is in the ORIC staff review queue awaiting processing.

Who	Actions Available	Can Edit All Fields?
Researcher	View only (cannot edit)	No
ORIC Staff	Begin Review, Request Revision, Approve, Reject	No - can only change status
Admin	View, Override	No

Evidence Verification (ORIC Staff Checklist):

☐ Verify journal category against HEC recognized list
☐ Check publication date is within valid range
☐ Validate DOI format if provided
☐ Verify paper URL is accessible
☐ Check author includes PIDE affiliation
☐ Validate PDF is readable if attached

3.3 Under Review Stage

ORIC staff is actively evaluating the publication.

Who	Actions Available
ORIC Staff	Request Revision, Approve, Reject
Researcher	View only

3.4 Needs Revision Stage

ORIC has identified issues requiring researcher attention.

Who	Actions Available	Can Edit All Fields?
Researcher	Edit, Resubmit	Yes - all fields
ORIC Staff	View only	No

Important: When ORIC requests revision, they must provide a comment explaining what needs to be changed. This comment is visible to the researcher.

3.5 Approved Stage

Publication is certified by ORIC.

Workflow status = "Approved"
Researcher receives approval notification
Entry counts toward HEC scorecard
Can no longer be edited by researcher or ORIC

3.6 Locked Stage

Publication is frozen for the reporting period. Admin-only action.

Admin Only: Only administrators can lock publications. This is typically done when the reporting period closes.

Workflow status = "Locked"
Data is frozen for HEC submission
No further edits possible
Can only be unlocked by admin

4. Journal Category Business Rules

Category	HEC Definition	Weight for Scorecard
W	Journals in Science Citation Index (SCI) or Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)	3 points
X	Journals in Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) or Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)	2 points
Y	Other recognized journals by HEC	1 point

Quality Score Formula: (W×3 + X×2 + Y×1) / Total Publications

5. ICT-2 Field Mapping

This table maps ORIC fields to ICT-2 Proforma columns:

ORIC Field	ICT-2 Column	Mandatory?
Title	Title of Publication	Yes
Publication Date	Date of Publication	Yes
Journal Name	Name of Journal/Conference	Yes
Journal Category	Category (W/X/Y)	Yes
DOI	DOI Link	No
Paper URL	Web Link	No
Authors	Author(s)	Yes
Department	Department/School	Yes
Volume/Issue/Pages	Volume, Issue, Pages	No
PDF	Attached PDF	No

6. Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Researcher submits publication with wrong journal category.
Resolution: ORIC staff sees incorrect category, requests revision. Researcher corrects to proper W/X/Y category. Resubmits. ORIC approves.

Scenario 2: Publication submitted after reporting period locked.
Resolution: Researcher cannot submit. System shows "Period locked" message. Must wait for next period or admin unlocks.

Scenario 3: Researcher realizes typo in title after approval.
Resolution: Cannot edit approved/locked publication. Must contact admin to unlock, then edit, then re-lock. This is audited.

Scenario 4: ORIC rejects publication - what happens?
Resolution: Publication moves to "Rejected" state. Researcher can create new submission with corrected data. Old rejected record remains for audit.

7. Related Documentation

Last updated: 2026 | For ICT-2 Proforma alignment, see Requirement Documents/ORIC- PUBLICATION PROFORMA-ICT-2.xlsx