Publication Ethics

• Focus and Scope
• Peer Review Process
• Publication Frequency
• Open Access Policy
• Archiving
• Plagiarism Issues
• Editors' responsibilities
• Reviewers' responsibilities
• Authors' responsibilities
• Ownership and management
• Publishing schedule
• Publisher responsibilities
• Procedures for dealing with unethical behaviour
• Ethical Statement
• Copyright Notice

Peer Review Process

A manuscript undergoes a double-blind review process. The section editors manage the reviews. Authors must upload revised versions and reply to the reviewer's comments.                                                Top

Publication Frequency

The IIUM Engineering Journal is published twice yearly - in January and July.

Open Access Policy

This Journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global knowledge exchange.

Archiving

This Journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries. It permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the Journal for preservation and restoration. More...

Plagiarism Issues

The manuscript must represent the original work by the author(s). Any copyright should cover none of the material; if copyrighted material exceeding approximately 100 words from a journal article or about 500 words from a book is used, the author has obtained written permission for its use. Further, this work should not infringe any intellectual property rights/secrecy laws of any person/organization/government/public or private agency, nor should it contain any defamatory matter.

IIUM Press is not responsible for verifying copyright permissions provided by the author. Any breach of copyright laws will result in retracting the published article/material and reporting to relevant authorities at the author's institutions.

Editors' responsibilities

• To act in an objective, balanced, and fair way while carrying out expected duties, without discrimination on the grounds of gender, religious or political beliefs, or ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.
• To avoid any commercial influence and conflicts of interest, evaluate all submissions solely on academic and scientific merit.
• To address complaints of any nature and follow reasonable procedures according to the Journal's policies.
• To give authors a full opportunity to respond to complaints.
• To investigate a complaint regardless of the approval date of publication of an article.
• To document, compile, and file all complaints.                                                                                          Top

Reviewers' responsibilities

• To review the manuscript objectively and timely, inform the editor of a suitable decision and uphold the quality of articles published in the Journal.
• To maintain strict confidentiality of any information supplied to the reviewer in the editor or author's review process and ensure that the manuscript is for the reviewer's eyes only and no copies are transmitted or kept.
• To inform the editor of suspected plagiarism or absence of relevant published work which has not been cited. To avoid potential conflicts of interest between the author and the reviewer and inform the editor of all developments.  

Authors' responsibilities

• To ensure they contributed significantly to the research, they cited all related references and acknowledged financial support from funding agencies.
• To maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript and supply or provide access to these data on reasonable request.
• To confirm that the submitted manuscript is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.
• To acknowledge and cite sources whose contents overlap with the submitted paper.  
• Provide the editor with a copy of any submitted manuscript(s) that might contain similar, closely related or overlapping content.

• To ensure that studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws and requirements.
• To confirm that approval has been sought and obtained where appropriate, get written permission from human subjects, and respect their privacy.
• To declare any potential conflicts of interest.
• To promptly inform the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is detected and submit an erratum, addendum, or corrigendum notice to be published or retract the paper altogether if necessary.                                                                                                                                                 Top

Ownership and management

IIUM owns and manages the Journal through the office of IIUM Journal Publication and a team of Editors.

Publishing schedule

The IIUM Engineering Journal is published twice yearly, in January and July.

Publisher responsibilities

The IIUM Journal Publication will help ensure good practice is maintained according to the above standards.

Procedures for dealing with unethical behaviour

 Identification of unethical behaviour

• Suppose any misconduct or unethical behaviour is reported to the editor or publisher at any time. The information and identity of the complainant shall be treated with strict confidentiality.

• In case of any report of misconduct or unethical behaviour, sufficient information and evidence should be provided to conduct an investigation. All allegations shall be taken seriously and treated fairly.

Investigation

• The editor shall make an initial decision. He may consult with or seek advice from the publisher/editorial board if appropriate.
• Evidence shall be gathered while maintaining the strictest confidentiality at all times.

Minor breaches

• Minor misconduct might be dealt with appropriately by the editor himself. The author shall be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.

  Serious breaches

• In case of serious misconduct, the editor, in consultation with the publisher/editorial board/experts, should decide on a suitable action, depending on the severity of the offence.

Outcomes (in increasing order of severity, to be applied separately or together)

• Informing or educating the author or reviewer in case of a misunderstanding of acceptable standards.

• A warning letter will be issued to the author or reviewer found guilty of the misconduct.

• Publication of a formal notice with details of the misconduct.

• Publication of an editorial with details of the misconduct.

• A formal letter to the head of the author's or reviewer's employers or funding agency.

• Formal retraction or withdrawal of a publication from the Journal altogether, including informing, Abstracting & Indexing services and the publication's readership.

• Barring on contributions from an author or reviewer for a defined period.

• Reporting the case and outcome to a professional organisation / higher authority for further investigation and action.                                                                                                                                              Top

Ethical Statement

 The manuscript must represent the original work by the author(s). Any copyright should cover none of the material; if copyrighted material exceeding approximately 100 words from a journal article or about 500 words from a book is used, the author has obtained written permission for its use. Further, this work should not infringe any intellectual property rights/secrecy laws of any person/organization/government/public or private agency, nor should it contain any defamatory matter.

IIUM Press is not responsible for verifying copyright permissions provided by the author. Any breach of copyright laws will result in retracting the published article/material and reporting to relevant authorities at the authors' institutions.

Copyright Notice

 Consent to publish: The Author(s) agree to publish their articles with IIUM Press.