Journal Policies

ETHICS STATEMENT

MANU Jurnal of Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa, published by Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, adheres to the international publication ethics practices based on the guidelines provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

 

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

MANU Jurnal Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa adopts a double-blind peer-review. MANU Jurnal Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines and reserves the right to retract articles which are found to be fraudulent.

Each article is reviewed by two independent experts. Reviewers are asked to evaluate and give constructive comments on the following aspects: (1) clear and justifiable objectives/questions/hypotheses, (2) sufficient background information, (3) and suitable data collections and analyses, and subsequently its discussion and implications. Regardless of novelty, findings that are considered to be of value will be published.

Reviewer reports will be made available to the author(s) so that the manuscript can be improved based on constructive comments. Authors are required to respond to all reviewers’ comments and to summarise all the revisions in a table and submit it in a separate document. Authors are also required to submit a revised manuscript where the revisions are highlighted/with tracked changes.

A decision on acceptance will be recommended by the Handling Editor, and the final being made by the Chief Editor.

 

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

MANU Jurnal of Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa provides immediate free access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

COPYRIGHT

MANU Jurnal of Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa allows authors to retain the copyright of their publications without restrictions, but authors will grant MANU Jurnal of Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa the right of first publication, and other non-exclusive publishing rights. Authors retain the right to use the substance of the article in their future works, provided that its prior publication in this journal is acknowledged.



RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

  • Authors must submit only new and original work.
  • Authors must not replicate their work previously published in other journals.
  • Authors must not submit any manuscripts that are being reviewed or considered by the journal to other journals concurrently.
  • Authors are only permitted to publish their manuscripts elsewhere after receiving a formal rejection from the journal or an official acceptance by the journal of their request to withdraw their work.
  • Manuscripts submitted should make significant contributions and authors are to be held responsible for any inadequacy in their work.
  • Authors are obliged to notify the Chief Editor or the publisher of any inaccuracy of data in their published work so that correction or retraction of the manuscript can be done.

REPORTING

  • All data and results in the manuscript should be described clearly and honestly without any inappropriate data manipulation, fabrication or falsification. Authors should clearly and unambiguously state the methods employed in their work so that the findings can be repeated and confirmed by other researchers.
  • In some circumstances, authors may be asked by reviewers to provide the original data used for the manuscript, hence be prepared for such circumstances. Wherever necessary, authors may also be asked to retain data for a reasonable length of time after publication.

PLAGIARISM

  • Authors should ensure that their work submitted to the journal is original, not plagiarised, and has not been published or currently being considered for publication elsewhere.  In the normal event when the work and text of others have been used, all should be appropriately cited and quoted. Plagiarism in all of its forms, is not tolerated constitutes unethical publishing behaviour. When a manuscript is submitted to MANU Jurnal Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa, the editorial team will conduct a Turnitin check to ensure that the similarity index value is below 30%. Manuscripts that exceed this threshold value will be rejected. For manuscripts that pass the initial screening and undergo the review process, they will be subjected to a second Turnitin check when a revised version of the manuscript is received following the reviews from the reviewers.

MULTIPLE OR CONCURRENT PUBLICATION

  • Authors should not submit a manuscript describing essentially the same research output or a similar manuscript to more than one journal or primary publication simultaneously as this constitutes as unethical and unacceptable. Similarly, a previously published paper in MANU Jurnal Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa should not be sent for consideration in another journal and vice versa.

DISCLOSURE AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

  • The inclusion of a statement on conflict of interest in the manuscript is necessary if authors receive any support that might be construed to affect the results or interpretation of their work. At the time of submission, all sources of funding for the research/project related to the manuscript, such as employment, consultancy work, holding of stock, fees related testimony, grants and other kinds of funding, should be disclosed as these may be construed to influence the findings.

AUTHORSHIP

  • Name of authors listed in a manuscript should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the paper. Individuals who have made significant contributions to the research/project should be listed as co-authors while those involved in certain fundamental aspects of the work should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author is responsible to ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper and there is no inappropriate co-author.  The final version of the manuscript must be approved and agreed to by all co-authors prior to submission.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOURCES

  • All assistance and works of others that are influential and/or are used in the reported work must always be given proper citation and acknowledgement. Likewise, privately obtained information should only be used with explicit permission from the source. Written permission from the author of work involving information obtained in the course of confidential services e.g. refereeing manuscripts or grant applications must be obtained before they are used in the reported work.

 DECLARATION OF GENERATIVE AI USE

  • Authors are allowed to utilise AI or AI-assisted technologies (henceforth referred to as AI) to assist in the writing process only for the improvement of language and readability. AI should not be used for writing content, producing citations, data analyses or figure generation. The usage of AI must be done under human control and oversight, and all work produced must be reviewed by the authors. AI cannot be listed as an author, co-author or cited as an author. Authorship implies tasks and responsibilities that can only be performed and attributed to a human being.
  • Authors must disclose the use of AI in the writing process in the Manuscript Submission form at the time of submission, and the Copyright Transfer form upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication. Be reminded that authors are held responsible and accountable for the contents of their work.

ERRATA

  • Upon discovery of any significant error or fundamental inaccuracy in a published work, it is the author’s obligation to notify the Editor-in-Chief and amicably assist in retraction or correction of the paper. Similarly, a proof of correctness of the original paper should be provided to the editor when necessary to do so.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS

DECISIONS ON PUBLICATION

  • The decision of article to be published and when it is to be published in MANU Jurnal Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa is the responsibility of the Chief Editor and will be based on the importance of the work to researchers and readers. The Chief Editor should perform his/her duties and make decisions following the policies of the Editorial Board, in which, conferment with handling and other editors and reviewers may be necessary.

IMPARTIALITY

  • The review process on a manuscript will only be based on its content. No decision and revision are done in relation to gender, race, religious belief, ethnicity, citizenship or political philosophy of the authors.

CONFIDENTIALITY

  • The Chief Editor and all editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to any party other than the corresponding authors, reviewers and the publisher.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND DISCLOSURE

  • Editors will be responsible to protect unpublished material in a submitted manuscript. Any use of the materials must be preceded by a written consent of the author. Access to information or ideas obtained as a privilege in the function as an editor must be kept confidential and not to be used as an advantage. In the event that editors will potentially have conflicts of interests, they should recuse themselves from reviewing the manuscript. On a similar note, editors should call for disclosures of interests by all contributors, including in the corrections done after publication. Whenever appropriate, publication of the retraction or any other actions will be done accordingly.

 

RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS

  • All manuscripts received for a review must be treated with confidentiality at all times. Secure the confidentiality of manuscripts and not discuss the content of the manuscripts without permission.
  • Reviewers should not upload the manuscript nor any section of its text into a generative AI tool to avoid violating the confidentiality and proprietary rights of the authors. Reviewers should not upload their peer review report into a generative AI tool, even if it is for the purpose of improving language and readability. Generative AI or AI-assisted tools should not be used to conduct the scientific review of a manuscript.
  • Reviewers are obliged to reveal any competing interest prior to agreeing to review manuscripts.
  • Reviewers can decline to review manuscripts attributable to a conflict of interest or inadequate knowledge.
  • Reviewers must review all manuscripts justly, objectively and professionally, without any inappropriate personal criticism of the author.
  • Upon detection of any substantial similarity with the manuscript and other published work, a reviewer should report it to the editor immediately.
  • Reviewers must disclose any ethical misconduct detected while reviewing to the Chief Editor for further action.
  • Communications between the reviewers and the editors may be necessary in making editorial decisions and to improve the manuscript.

Reviewers should abide by the timeframe allocated for the review process. Reviewers should notify the editor if an extension is required for the review period.