Policies, Vision & Mission

01 Vision & Mission

Our Vision

To become a leading force in the democratisation of scientific knowledge — making high-quality, peer-reviewed research freely and permanently accessible to every researcher, educator, student, clinician, and policymaker across the globe, regardless of geography, institutional affiliation, or economic circumstance.

We envision a world in which the barriers between discovery and application are eliminated; where the fruits of publicly and privately funded research circulate freely and ethically; and where the scholarly publishing infrastructure actively supports — rather than hinders — scientific progress, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Our Mission

TSF Nexus exists to advance science and scholarship through the publication of rigorously peer-reviewed, ethically produced, and permanently accessible research. Our mission rests on four interconnected commitments:

1. Open Access Without Compromise. We publish every article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, ensuring immediate, unrestricted, and permanent access. No embargoes. No paywalls. No exceptions.
2. Ethical Publishing at Every Stage. We uphold the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics, guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, and the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines.
3. Building Scientific Capacity. As a research and development organisation rooted in Pakistan, we invest in the training, mentorship, and professional development of early-career researchers and in strengthening institutional publishing capacity across South Asia and the developing world.
4. Equity and Inclusion. We offer article processing charge (APC) waivers for authors from low-income countries, maintain zero submission fees, and ensure that editorial decisions are made solely on scientific merit — never on an author’s geographic origin, institutional prestige, or funding status.

Core Values

• Integrity: Honesty and transparency in every editorial, publishing, and business process.
• Accessibility: Knowledge created with public resources belongs to the public.
• Rigour: Every manuscript receives a thorough, double-anonymous peer review before publication.
• Sustainability: Building publishing models that are financially viable without restricting access to research.
• Community: Supporting the next generation of scientists through mentorship, training, and scholarship.

02 Publication Ethics Policy

TSF Nexus is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. This policy governs the conduct of authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher across all journals published by TSF Nexus. It is aligned with the guidelines and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the ICMJE, the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 revision), and the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines for animal research reporting.

Duties of Editors

Editorial Independence

All editorial decisions are based exclusively on the scientific merit, originality, significance, and clarity of the submitted work. Editors shall not be influenced by commercial considerations, personal relationships, institutional pressure, or the geographic origin, nationality, ethnicity, gender, or political affiliation of the authors.

Confidentiality

Editors treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents. No information about a submitted manuscript shall be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, designated reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate. Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by editors or their staff for their own research without the explicit written consent of the authors.

Conflict of Interest

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submission. In such cases, the manuscript shall be assigned to another qualified editor or member of the editorial board.

Publication Decisions

The editor-in-chief bears final responsibility for deciding which manuscripts shall be published. This decision shall be guided by the journal’s scope and editorial policy, informed by peer reviewers’ recommendations, and constrained by applicable legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer reviewers assist editors in making publication decisions and, through their constructive feedback, assist authors in improving the quality of their manuscripts. Reviewers who feel unqualified to review a manuscript, or who know that a prompt review will not be possible, should notify the editor and excuse themselves from the review process.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts received for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, discuss, or distribute the manuscript or its contents with any third party without the explicit advance permission of the editor. This applies both during and after the review process.

Objectivity and Constructiveness

Reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly, with supporting evidence and references as appropriate, so that authors can use the feedback to improve their manuscript.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument has been previously reported must be accompanied by a relevant citation. Reviewers should also alert the editor to any substantial similarity between the manuscript under review and any other published paper or manuscript under consideration of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest — financial, institutional, collaborative, or personal — that could bias their evaluation. If a conflict exists, the reviewer should decline the review assignment.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards and Originality

Authors of original research must present an accurate account of the work performed together with an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data must be represented accurately. Manuscripts must contain sufficient detail and references to permit replication. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable. The submitted manuscript must be the original work of the authors and must not have been previously published (except as an abstract, preprint, or part of a published thesis) or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All individuals who have made substantial contributions must be listed as authors. Where others have participated in certain substantive aspects of the work, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included on the manuscript, that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript, and that they have agreed to its submission for publication. TSF Nexus encourages the use of CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to specify individual author contributions.

Disclosure of Financial Support

All sources of financial support for the research must be disclosed. The role of the funding body in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and in the writing of the manuscript, must be declared.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships with individuals or organisations that could inappropriately influence their work. All conflicts of interest must be declared at submission. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors must state this explicitly.

Fundamental Errors in Published Work

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, the author is obligated to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to either retract or correct the paper.

Plagiarism and Research Misconduct

TSF Nexus defines plagiarism as the use of others’ published and unpublished ideas, text, data, or methods without proper acknowledgement. All manuscripts submitted to any TSF Nexus journal are screened for plagiarism using professional detection software prior to peer review. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 19% (excluding references, methodology, and properly quoted material) will be returned to the authors for revision or may be rejected outright.

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, duplicate submission, redundant publication, citation manipulation, and gift or ghost authorship. Allegations of misconduct are investigated in accordance with COPE flowcharts and guidelines. Where misconduct is confirmed, TSF Nexus will take appropriate action, which may include rejection of the manuscript, retraction of the published article, notification of the authors’ institution, and a ban on future submissions.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

TSF Nexus is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. The following post-publication measures may be applied:

• Erratum/Corrigendum: Issued to correct genuine errors of fact that do not substantially alter the conclusions of the published article.
• Retraction: Issued when there is clear evidence of unreliable findings (due to misconduct or honest error), plagiarism, duplicate publication, or failure to disclose a major competing interest. Retractions follow COPE retraction guidelines.
• Expression of Concern: Issued when there is inconclusive evidence of misconduct or when an investigation is pending but the findings of the article are called into question.

All corrections and retractions are prominently linked to the original article, freely accessible, and indexed by all databases in which the original article appeared.

Ethical Oversight for Human and Animal Research

All research involving human participants must have been conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 revision) and must have received approval from an appropriate institutional ethics committee or review board. Informed consent must be obtained from all human participants or their legal guardians, and evidence of such consent must be available upon request.

All research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. Authors must state the name of the approving ethics committee and the approval reference number in their manuscript. Studies involving animals must be reported in accordance with the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors who wish to appeal an editorial decision may submit a written appeal to the editor-in-chief within 30 days of the decision, providing a detailed, evidence-based response to each point raised by the reviewers and editors. Appeals are reviewed by the editor-in-chief in consultation with at least one additional editorial board member not involved in the original decision. The decision of the appeals panel is final.

Complaints regarding the editorial or publication process should be directed to the editorial office at contact@tsfnexus.com. All complaints are investigated promptly and handled in accordance with COPE guidelines. If a complainant remains unsatisfied after the internal process, they may refer the matter to COPE.

03 Data Availability Policy

TSF Nexus is committed to the principles of research transparency and reproducibility. We require all authors to provide a clear and comprehensive Data Availability Statement (DAS) with every submitted manuscript. This policy is guided by the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).

Data Availability Statement

Every manuscript submitted to a TSF Nexus journal must include a Data Availability Statement, positioned before the References section. The DAS must indicate where the data supporting the results or analyses presented in the article can be found, how it can be accessed, and under what conditions. If data cannot be made publicly available, the authors must clearly state the reason.

Data Sharing Expectations

TSF Nexus strongly encourages authors to share the underlying research data in a manner consistent with the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.” Authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in recognised, discipline-appropriate public repositories that can assign a persistent digital identifier (e.g., DOI or handle) and that support long-term preservation. Recommended repositories include Zenodo, Dryad, Figshare, Mendeley Data, GenBank (for sequence data), and discipline-specific repositories listed on FAIRsharing.org and re3data.org.

Data Citation

TSF Nexus supports the FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles. Authors should cite all datasets used in their research in the body of the manuscript and include a corresponding reference in the reference list. Data citations should include at minimum: creator(s), title, year, repository, and persistent identifier.

Template Data Availability Statements

Authors may adapt the following template statements:

Data Integrity

Data fabrication and data falsification constitute serious research misconduct. Any evidence of data manipulation will be investigated in accordance with the Publication Ethics Policy and COPE guidelines, and may result in immediate rejection or retraction, notification of the authors’ institution, and a ban on future submissions.

04 Language Support Policy

TSF Nexus recognises that the quality of scientific research should never be obscured by language barriers. English is the language of publication for all TSF Nexus journals, but we understand that many of our authors are writing in their second or third language. We are committed to ensuring that linguistic challenges do not prevent the publication of high-quality science.

Language Editing Assistance

TSF Nexus provides complimentary English-language editing for all manuscripts accepted for publication. This service covers grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation, and stylistic consistency. It does not cover substantive rewriting, restructuring of arguments, or scientific content editing, which remain the responsibility of the authors.

Pre-Submission Guidance

Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have their manuscripts reviewed by a proficient English-speaking colleague before submission. Alternatively, authors may use a professional language editing service prior to submission. TSF Nexus does not endorse any specific third-party editing service and does not require proof of professional editing at submission.

Manuscripts Requiring Language Improvement

If a submitted manuscript presents scientifically sound research but requires significant language improvement before it can be sent for peer review, the editor may return the manuscript to the authors with a request for language revision. This decision does not constitute a rejection and does not reflect on the scientific merit of the work. Authors will be given a reasonable timeframe to revise and resubmit the manuscript.

Regional Language Abstracts

Authors are encouraged (but not required) to submit an additional abstract in their native language alongside the English-language abstract. Where provided, regional-language abstracts will be published alongside the English version to maximise local accessibility and impact of the research.

05 Open Access Policy

TSF Nexus is a fully open access publisher. All articles published in any TSF Nexus journal are freely accessible online immediately upon publication, with no embargo period and no subscription, institutional login, or paywall of any kind.

Licensing

All articles published by TSF Nexus are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Under this licence, authors retain full copyright ownership. Any third party may freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of any article, crawl articles for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose — provided that proper attribution is given to the original authors and the source is cited.

Author Copyright Retention

TSF Nexus does not require authors to transfer copyright. Authors retain full copyright to their published work. By submitting a manuscript to a TSF Nexus journal, authors agree to publish under the CC BY 4.0 licence if the manuscript is accepted.

Article Processing Charges

TSF Nexus journals are funded through article processing charges (APCs) payable upon acceptance. Current APC rates are:

• Local authors (Pakistan): PKR 8,500 per article
• International authors: USD 100 per article

No fees are charged for submission, peer review, or rejection. APCs are charged only upon formal acceptance of a manuscript for publication.

APC Waivers and Discounts

TSF Nexus is committed to ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent the publication of quality science. APC waivers or discounts are available to authors who demonstrate genuine financial need. Waiver decisions are made by the publisher independently of editorial decisions; requesting a waiver does not affect the review or acceptance outcome. Authors seeking a waiver should email contact@tsfnexus.com with the subject line “APC Waiver Request” before or at the time of submission.

Self-Archiving Policy

Authors may deposit the final published version (Version of Record) of their article in institutional repositories, subject-specific repositories, personal websites, or preprint servers at any time, without embargo. Proper attribution to the journal and a link to the published article (via DOI) must be included.

Long-Term Digital Preservation

All published content is archived through PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PN), LOCKSS, and CLOCKSS to ensure permanent accessibility regardless of future changes to the publisher, journal, or hosting platform.

06 Peer Review Policy

TSF Nexus employs a double-anonymous (double-blind) peer review model for all submissions to all journals. This ensures that neither the authors nor the reviewers are aware of each other’s identities during the review process, minimising potential bias and promoting assessment based solely on the quality and merit of the work.

Review Process

1. Initial Editorial Assessment. Upon submission, the editor-in-chief or a handling editor conducts a preliminary assessment to determine whether the manuscript falls within the journal’s scope, meets basic submission requirements, and passes the plagiarism screening threshold (similarity index below 19%). Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be desk-rejected.
2. Reviewer Assignment. Manuscripts passing the initial assessment are assigned to a minimum of two independent, expert peer reviewers with relevant disciplinary expertise. Reviewers are selected for their subject-matter competence and absence of conflicts of interest.
3. Peer Review. Reviewers evaluate the manuscript for scientific rigour, originality, significance, clarity of presentation, appropriate methodology, sound conclusions supported by the data, and adequate citation of prior work. Reviewers provide structured feedback and a recommendation to the editor.
4. Editorial Decision. Based on the reviewers’ reports, the handling editor makes one of the following decisions: Accept, Accept with Minor Revisions, Major Revisions Required, Revise and Resubmit, or Reject. The decision, along with the anonymised reviewers’ comments, is communicated to the corresponding author.
5. Revision and Resubmission. Authors are given a reasonable timeframe to address reviewers’ comments and submit a revised manuscript with a detailed point-by-point response to each comment.
6. Final Decision. The editor-in-chief makes the final decision on acceptance or rejection after reviewing the revised manuscript and the authors’ responses.

Timeline

TSF Nexus aims to provide a first editorial decision within four weeks of submission. Authors are typically given four to six weeks to submit revisions. The total time from submission to publication depends on the complexity and number of revision cycles required.

Reviewer Recognition

TSF Nexus recognises the essential, voluntary contribution of peer reviewers. Reviewers may receive a certificate of review upon request. TSF Nexus publishes an annual list of reviewers (with their consent) in recognition of their contribution to the scholarly record.

07 Authorship & Contributorship Policy

TSF Nexus follows the ICMJE recommendations on authorship. To qualify for authorship, each individual must meet all four of the following criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
3. Final approval of the version to be published.
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged but not listed as authors. TSF Nexus strongly encourages the use of the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system to specify individual author contributions. Gift authorship, ghost authorship, and honorary authorship are considered violations of publication ethics and will be investigated accordingly.

Changes to the author list after submission (additions, deletions, or changes in order) require written agreement from all listed authors and a written explanation of the reason for the change. All changes must be approved by the editor.

08 Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest (COI) exists when professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such as the validity of research or the best editorial decision) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain, personal relationships, academic competition, or institutional pressure). TSF Nexus requires full transparency regarding all potential conflicts.

Author Disclosure Requirements

All authors must disclose, at the time of submission, any relationships or interests — financial or otherwise — that could be perceived to influence their work. This includes, but is not limited to: employment, consultancy, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, grants, travel funding, and personal relationships. If no conflicts exist, authors must include a declaration stating: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Editor and Reviewer Conflicts

Editors and reviewers must declare any competing interests that could bias their handling or evaluation of a manuscript. Editors with a conflict must recuse themselves and reassign the manuscript. Reviewers with a conflict must decline the review invitation.

Institutional Conflicts

Where an author is affiliated with the same institution as the editor-in-chief, the manuscript will be handled by an independent editor with no institutional ties to any of the authors.

09 Correction & Retraction Policy

TSF Nexus follows COPE guidelines for corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern. The integrity of the scholarly record is paramount.

Corrections (Errata/Corrigenda)

If errors are identified in a published article that do not substantially alter the findings or conclusions, a correction notice (erratum or corrigendum) will be published. The correction notice will be linked to the original article, clearly describe the error and the corrected information, and be indexed in all databases in which the original article appears. The original article will be marked with a link to the correction.

Retractions

An article will be retracted if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication or falsification) or honest error; the article constitutes plagiarism; the findings have been previously published elsewhere without proper attribution (redundant publication); the article reports unethical research; or a major undisclosed conflict of interest materially affects the interpretation of the data. The retraction notice will state the reason(s) for retraction and indicate who initiated the retraction. The retracted article will remain accessible online, clearly watermarked as “RETRACTED,” with the retraction notice linked to it.

Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when there are grounds for concern about the integrity of a published article but a definitive conclusion has not yet been reached (e.g., an institutional investigation is ongoing). Once the investigation concludes, the expression of concern will be replaced by either a correction or a retraction, as appropriate.

10 Archiving & Digital Preservation Policy

TSF Nexus is committed to the permanent preservation and accessibility of all published content. We employ multiple, geographically distributed, redundant archiving solutions to ensure that the scholarly record remains intact regardless of future changes to the publisher, hosting platform, or any individual journal.

Preservation Infrastructure

• PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PN): All TSF Nexus journals are enrolled in the PKP PN, which provides distributed preservation through a global network of participating libraries.
• LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe): A peer-to-peer digital preservation system developed by Stanford University Libraries.
• CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS): A dark archive that provides long-term preservation and post-cancellation access as a community-governed archive.

Metadata Interoperability

All published articles are processed with JATS (Journal Article Tag Suite) XML metadata, ensuring full interoperability with PubMed, PubMed Central, Crossref, and major bibliographic databases. This guarantees that articles remain discoverable and machine-readable over the long term.

Persistent Identifiers

Every published article receives a Crossref DOI (Digital Object Identifier), providing a permanent, unique, and resolvable link to the article regardless of changes to URLs or hosting infrastructure.

11 Indexing & Discoverability Policy

TSF Nexus actively pursues the widest possible indexing and discoverability for all published content. Our journals are currently indexed or listed in the following databases and directories:

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• Crossref
• Google Scholar
• PKP Index
• ISSN Portal
• Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan — Y-Category (TSF Journal of Biology)

TSF Nexus continuously works to expand indexing coverage and is actively pursuing inclusion in additional regional and international abstracting and indexing databases.

12 Privacy Policy

TSF Nexus respects the privacy of all individuals who interact with our journals and services. This policy describes how we collect, use, store, and protect personal information.

Information We Collect

We collect personal information that authors, reviewers, and editors provide voluntarily during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process. This includes names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, ORCID identifiers, postal addresses, and biographical statements. We may also collect usage data through website analytics (e.g., page views, geographic distribution of readers, and download statistics) for the purposes of understanding readership patterns and improving our services.

How We Use Personal Information

• To manage the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication workflow.
• To communicate with authors, reviewers, and editors about their submissions and assignments.
• To publish author names, affiliations, and contact information as part of the published article.
• To comply with indexing, DOI registration, and metadata requirements.
• To detect and prevent plagiarism and research misconduct.
• To send editorial communications and, with consent, newsletter or announcement updates.

Data Sharing and Third Parties

TSF Nexus does not sell, rent, or trade personal information to any third party. Personal information may be shared with Crossref (for DOI registration), DOAJ (for indexing), PKP PN/LOCKSS/CLOCKSS (for archiving), and plagiarism detection service providers, strictly in connection with the publishing process. All third-party service providers are contractually obligated to protect the personal information they receive.

Data Retention

Personal information associated with published articles (author names, affiliations, correspondence addresses) is retained permanently as part of the scholarly record. Personal information associated with rejected manuscripts is retained for a period of two years after the final decision to facilitate any appeals or misconduct investigations, after which it is deleted. Reviewer records are retained for five years to support editorial continuity.

Your Rights

Individuals may request access to, correction of, or deletion of their personal information by contacting the editorial office at contact@tsfnexus.com. Deletion requests pertaining to published articles may not be honoured where the information forms part of the permanent scholarly record.

13 Advertising & Sponsorship Policy

TSF Nexus does not currently accept advertising on any of its journal websites. Should advertising be accepted in the future, the following principles will apply:

• Advertising content will be clearly distinguished from editorial and scholarly content.
• Advertising will have no influence on editorial decisions.
• TSF Nexus will not accept advertisements that are misleading, deceptive, or that promote products or services in a manner inconsistent with scientific evidence.
• Sponsored supplements or special issues will be clearly labelled and will undergo the same peer review process as all other content.

14 Preprint Policy

TSF Nexus welcomes the submission of manuscripts that have been previously deposited as preprints on recognised preprint servers (e.g., bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv, Preprints.org, or institutional repositories). Posting a manuscript as a preprint does not constitute prior publication and does not preclude submission to any TSF Nexus journal.

Authors who have deposited a preprint should include the preprint DOI and server name in the manuscript and cover letter at the time of submission. Upon publication of the peer-reviewed article, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with a link to the published Version of Record and its DOI.

TSF Nexus does not restrict authors from discussing their submitted or published work on social media, at conferences, or in other scholarly forums.

15 Policy on Artificial Intelligence & AI-Assisted Technologies

TSF Nexus acknowledges the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies (including large language models) in the research and writing process. The following principles apply:

• Transparency: Authors who have used AI or AI-assisted tools in any stage of their research or manuscript preparation (including data analysis, figure generation, writing, editing, or translation) must disclose this in the Methods section and/or Acknowledgements, specifying the tool used, the version, and the nature of its contribution.
• Authorship: AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authorship requires the ability to take responsibility for the work, consent to publication, and be accountable for its integrity — requirements that AI systems cannot fulfil.
• Responsibility: Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content in their manuscripts, including any content generated or assisted by AI tools. Authors must verify all AI-generated output for factual accuracy, potential fabrication, and adherence to ethical standards.
• Review Process: Reviewers and editors must not input manuscripts into AI tools or large language models, as this may violate the confidentiality of the peer review process.

16 TSF Nexus Scholarship Programme Forthcoming

TSF Nexus in partnership with The Shagufta Foundation, is proud to announce the development of the TSF Nexus Scholarship Programme — a merit-and-need-based scholarship initiative designed to support talented students from underprivileged backgrounds in pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate education in the sciences.

Programme Vision

The TSF Nexus Scholarship Programme is founded on the belief that access to quality education is both a fundamental right and a prerequisite for scientific progress. By investing in the next generation of scientists, we contribute directly to the research ecosystem that our journals serve.

Eligibility (Planned)

• Pakistani nationals enrolled in or seeking admission to recognised Pakistani universities.
• Students pursuing undergraduate (BS/BSc) or postgraduate (MS/MSc/MPhil/PhD) degrees in the biological sciences, chemical sciences, environmental sciences, natural sciences, or allied disciplines.
• Demonstrated academic merit (minimum CGPA or equivalent criteria to be announced).
• Demonstrated financial need, with priority given to students from low-income households, rural areas, and underrepresented regions.
• Applicants should not be recipients of other full-tuition scholarships at the time of application (partial scholarship holders may apply).

Scholarship Coverage (Planned)

• Full or partial tuition fee coverage.
• Monthly stipend for living expenses (for postgraduate scholars).
• Research and publication support, including APC waivers for scholarship recipients publishing in TSF Nexus journals.
• Mentorship and training through TSF Nexus’s research capacity-building programmes.
• Conference travel grants (subject to availability of funds).

Selection Process (Planned)

1. Open call for applications published on the TSF Nexus website and social media channels.
2. Initial screening by the TSF Nexus Scholarship Committee based on eligibility criteria.
3. Shortlisted candidates invited for interview (in-person or virtual).
4. Final selection by a panel comprising TSF Nexus leadership, academic advisers, and a representative of The Shagufta Foundation.

Obligations of Scholarship Recipients

• Maintain the required minimum CGPA throughout the scholarship tenure.
• Submit an annual progress report to the TSF Nexus Scholarship Committee.
• Acknowledge TSF Nexus and The Shagufta Foundation in any publications resulting from research supported by the scholarship.
• Participate in at least one TSF Nexus capacity-building or mentorship activity per year.