NAVTIKA A Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, transparency, and scholarly rigour through a structured and accountable publishing process. This section outlines the journal's peer review policy, review workflow, and the professional expertise guiding manuscript evaluation.

1. Authors

Authors and contributors may register on the NAVTIKA portal to submit original articles, research papers, innovative classroom practices, reviews, and educational insights related to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

Submissions are encouraged in areas including:

• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

• Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

• Child Psychology and Development

• Inclusive Education

• Innovative Pedagogies and Classroom Practices

• Parenting and Caregiving

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Education

• Educational Leadership and Teacher Development

All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Authors are required to declare this at the time of submission.

2. Peer Review Policy

NAVTIKA follows a single-blind peer review process for all submitted manuscripts. Under this model, the reviewer is aware of the author's identity, while the author's identity is withheld from the review report shared back with them, and the reviewer's identity remains confidential throughout and after the review. This ensures reviewers can evaluate submissions within their full professional and institutional context, while authors receive impartial, independent feedback free from any influence of reviewer identity.

Review Workflow

• • Initial Screening: Submissions are screened by the Editorial Team for alignment with NAVTIKA's scope, adherence to formatting guidelines, and completion of the originality/plagiarism check.

  • Assignment to Reviewers: Manuscripts that clear screening are assigned to subject-matter reviewers based on thematic relevance.

  • Single-Blind Review: Reviewers assess the manuscript for academic quality, research validity, originality, clarity, and relevance to ECCE practice and research.

  • Review Report and Recommendation: Reviewers submit a structured evaluation with one of the following recommendations: Accept, Minor Revisions, Major Revisions, or Reject.

  • Author Revision: Authors revise and resubmit manuscripts based on reviewer feedback, where applicable.

  • Final Editorial Decision: The Editorial Team reviews the revised manuscript and reviewer recommendations before confirming acceptance for publication. 

  • Review Turnaround Time: The peer review process is typically completed within 4–6 weeks of submission.

Acceptance and Notification: Authors whose submissions are selected for publication will receive a formal welcome letter along with a complimentary copy of the journal as confirmation of acceptance.

3. Publication Ethics and Originality Check

NAVTIKA is committed to upholding publication ethics consistent with UGC-CARE and international academic standards. All submissions are checked for plagiarism prior to review, done using tools akin to Turnitin and authors are required to ensure proper attribution, referencing, and citation of all sources. Manuscripts found to involve plagiarism, data fabrication, or duplicate submission will be rejected at any stage of the process.

Post-Publication Correction Policy

NAVTIKA recognises the importance of maintaining an accurate and reliable published record. In the event that an error is identified in a published article after it has gone to print or online, the following policy applies:

• Authors or readers who identify an error in a published article are required to intimate the Editorial Team in writing, with due details of the correction required.

• Once intimation is received and the correction is verified by the Editorial Team, a formal corrigendum will be issued and published in the next issue of the journal, clearly referencing the original article.

• Corrections will not be made retroactively to the originally published version; the corrigendum will stand as the official record of amendment.

• In cases involving serious errors, including but not limited to data fabrication, plagiarism, or ethical violations discovered post-publication, the author(s) concerned will be blacklisted from future submissions to NAVTIKA.

4. Peer Review Team

• Peer Review Coordinator
  Parul Thapar, an Early Years Facilitator with 21 years of experience in early childhood education. Ms. Thapar coordinates the peer review process, ensuring timely, fair, and quality-driven evaluation of all submissions. For every edition, a team of six reviewers is created by her to ensure a thorough and detailed review.

• Sample profile of Reviewers
  Mr. Anil Kumar, a retired official of the Department of Education, brings extensive policy-level and administrative insight to the review of educational research and practice-based submissions.

• Ms. Sunanda Mishra is an Early Years Practitioner with three decades of experience in the field, offering a practice-grounded perspective on classroom pedagogy, child development, and foundational learning.

5. Article Submission

Registered contributors may submit their articles through the online submission system available on the NAVTIKA portal. Contributors are requested to ensure that:

• The content is original and unpublished

• Proper references and citations are included where applicable

• The article aligns with the objectives and theme of NAVTIKA

• The submission follows the prescribed editorial guidelines

• For Author Contribution: Click on the contribute link after registration or email submissions to navtika22@salwanpublicschool.com. 

• To register as a Peer Reviewer, write to us at navtika22@salwanpublicschool.com 

Click on the link below to contribute to NAVTIKA – A Journal on Early Childhood Care and Education