FOREWORD
Editor’s Foreword and Introduction to Vol. 7 (2) Dec. 2025

It is my privilege to present Volume 7, Issue 2 (December 2025) of the Horizon Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (JHSSR; eISSN 2682-9096), a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by BP Services. Independently owned and operating on a not-for-profit basis, JHSSR remains committed to advancing innovative, ethically grounded, and socially relevant scholarship across the full spectrum of the humanities and social sciences. Find out more here.

This issue brings together 23 carefully hand-picked articles authored by scholars from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, reflecting the journal’s global reach, interdisciplinary ethos, and Scopus-aspiring standards. The contributions span research articles, review essays, theological analyses, conceptual papers, and a case study, collectively addressing enduring questions and contemporary challenges—ethics and leadership, language and peace, culture and identity, urban futures, education and technology, religion and resilience, innovation and sustainability.

Overview of Contributions

Invited and Foundational Research

The issue opens with an invited paper by Vijay K. Arora (USA), Designing Human-Centered Excellence, which offers a reflective synthesis of ethics, leadership, and strategic planning in global academic organizations, advocating values-driven, human-centred institutional models.

Research Articles

Complementing this are original research studies that examine:

•Knowledge and language as civilizational forces (Dean Emeritus & Professor Brij Mohan, USA);

•University research commercialisation and innovation ecosystems (Siti Manisah Binti Mohamad Sarujee et al., Malaysia);

•Intersemiotic translation and Malay folklore (Dr. J. Yasodhara Menon et al., Malaysia);

•Lifelong learning among working professionals (Wing Cheung Tang, Hong Kong);

•Student needs and retention in higher education (Dr. Chee Mei Hooi et al., Malaysia);

•Adolescent perceptions of time through interdisciplinary inquiry (Yixuan Yu, China);

•Sacred iconography and political identity in Sikh and Iranian traditions (Professor Devinder Pal Singh, USA);

•Sanskrit as a medium of peaceful cultural exchange in Southeast Asia (Professor Venus Jain et al., India);

•Sustainable innovation in last-mile logistics (Sultan Al Kaabi et al., Oman);

•Artificial intelligence and language-learning anxiety (Kesvhinee Ravinthran, Malaysia).

Review Articles

Seven authoritative review essays further deepen the issue’s scope, addressing:

•Language education, AI, and peace pedagogy (Dr. Gloria Alpini et al., Italy);

•Malay language, identity, and intercultural harmony (Professor Vijayaletchumy Subramaniam et al., Malaysia);

•Urban public spaces and community resilience (Dr. Võ Thanh Tuyền et al., Vietnam);

•Adaptive leadership and continuous improvement (Sirtaj Kaur et al., India);

•Hinduism’s civilizational resilience across millennia (Professor Nayan Deep S. Kanwal et al., USA);

•Linguistic mediation and conflict resolution in early Jainism (Professor Venus Jain et al., India).

Theological Analyses

Two rigorous theological studies interrogate history, faith, and society:

•Reassessing historiographical distortions surrounding Guru Tegh Bahadur (Professor Balwant Singh Dhillon, India);

•Religion, society, and civilization with a focus on Hinduism’s evolution (Professor Rabi Narayan Subudhi et al., India).

Conceptual Papers

Three conceptual contributions explore:

•Human-centred AI and future education (Dr. Gloria Alpini et al., Italy);

•Psychological and philosophical perspectives on self-deceit (Sarah Chi, Canada);

•Media, masculinity, trauma, and violence (Anlin Sharon A et al., India).

Case Study

The issue concludes with an interdisciplinary case study on cultural heritage and sustainable tourism in Vietnam by Hoang Son Giang et al. (Vietnam), offering policy-relevant insights into the preservation of traditional performing arts.

Closing Reflections

Taken together, the 23 articles in this issue exemplify JHSSR’s mission: to publish scholarship of archival value that is intellectually rigorous, ethically informed, and socially engaged. The diversity of voices, methodologies, and geographies represented here underscores our belief that the humanities and social sciences are vital to understanding—and shaping—the complex realities of our time.

As we celebrate the journal’s accomplishment of surpassing 1,396 submissions, with only 300 accepted and published, we acknowledge the rigorous standards maintained in the review process. This high acceptance rate reflects our commitment to ensuring the publication of high-quality research that aligns with the journal’s scope and contributes significantly to the academic community.

Our Quality

All the papers except the book-review published in this edition underwent a rigorous yet relatively rapid double-blind peer-review process involving a minimum of three reviewers comprising internal as well as external referees, which translates to benefits such as timeliness of publication, widespread dissemination, high visibility, and likelihood of high citations and broader impacts. This was also to ensure that the quality of the papers justified the high ranking of the journal, which hopes to be one at par with one of the renowned and heavily-cited journals not only by authors and researchers in Malaysia and America but by those in other countries around the world as well.

While I hope this issue will have particular appeal to new readers across this region and beyond, I am confident that the articles published will raise interest among our regular readership of scholars and postgraduate students elsewhere, thanks to the relevance and diversity of contributions on a region whose future bears central importance to us all.

I would also like to express gratitude to all the contributing authors for their trust, patience, and timely revisions, who have made this issue possible, as well as the reviewers and editors for their professional contribution. Last but not least, the assistance of the journal’s editorial office in Texas, particularly Jessica Whitsitt, Lucy Fernandez, and Judy Meester—my adorable assistants, is greatly appreciated.

The Editorial Board of JHSSR welcomes your contributions and looks forward to many years of fruitful research to come. We continue to welcome submissions in all fields of humanities and social sciences. Horizon JHSSR is currently accepting manuscripts for its 2026-27 issues based on original qualitative or quantitative research that opens new areas of inquiry and investigation. Empirical articles should demonstrate high rigor and quality. Original research collects and analyses data in systematic ways to present important new research that adds to and advances the debates within the journal’s fields. The editors hope that the authors publishing in this journal can support the noble cause of JHSSR in reaching its goals.

JHSSR also invites call for proposals for 2026-27 Special Issues. Our journal aims to provide a platform for researchers and technical experts to publish original papers, reviews and communications on all aspects of humanities and social sciences research. We strive to maintain a high standard of scientific objectivity, and we ensure that all submitted articles undergo a stringent yet relatively rapid double-blind peer-review process, which translates to benefits such as timeliness of publication, widespread dissemination, high visibility, and likelihood of high citations and broader impacts. Alongside a mission-driven Editor-in-chief, the globally diverse Editorial Board works with prominent scientific community to create a fast moving and rigorous editorial reviews. JHSSR follows code of conduct stipulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Proposals can be submitted directly via email to cee.horizon@gmail.com

Let me conclude by saying that with the publication of this issue, we are now leaping forward into the eighth year of continuous and successful scholarly publication of Horizon JHSSR. Changing publishing norms and expectations have given rise to a new wave of publishing standards that we’ll be riding into 2026 soon and beyond. I am confident that the upcoming year will bring yet another challenging year of emerging scholarly articles.

I extend my sincere gratitude to the authors, reviewers, editorial team, and readers whose dedication sustains the journal’s standards and vision. I trust that this issue will inform, inspire, and provoke meaningful dialogue across disciplines and borders.

Only time will tell what the next decade has in store, but one thing for sure is we will likely see greater innovation in all areas of scholarly publishing with emphasis on A.I. If you are observing other scholarly publishing trends, please do share your thoughts with the Chief Executive Editor!

Thank you for your continued support. We hope you find these articles thought-provoking and valuable in your academic pursuits, and look forward to further enriching the scholarly discourse in future issues.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37534/bp.jhssr.2025.v7.n2.id0018.pxvii