Abstract
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) being responsible for overseeing, regulating and accrediting the higher education efforts in Pakistan, has been endeavouring to raise the quality of research according to international level. Academic research journals are the excellent tools to enhance research capabilities. They serve as forums to present latest research and also for appraisal of existing research in the relevant fields. The HEC has set a mechanism to recognize research journals in different categories such as “W”, “X”, “Y” and “Z” as per fulfilment of the criterion. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of twenty one HEC recognized Pakistani academic research journals in Islamic Studies being published so far.