Peer Review Process

Peer Review Process

The manuscript submission process for the IIUM Law Journal follows several steps to ensure a thorough and unbiased peer-review process:

  1. Manuscript Submission: Authors submit their research articles to the journal, after which the Editor in Chief assigns the manuscript to the Editor in charge for further editorial task.
  2. Manuscript Check and Selection: The IIUM Law Journal Editorial Committee perform an initial check and selection process. They may accept the manuscript directly, reject it, or decide to proceed with the review. Additionally, a similarity check using Turnitin is conducted for each submitted manuscript.
  3. Manuscript Reviewing Process: The IIUM Law Journal Editorial Committee requests at least two experts in the field to review the manuscript. The peer-review process is conducted as a double-blind review, meaning the identities of both the reviewers and authors are concealed from each other. Reviewers are provided with a review form provided by the IIUM Law Journal.
  4. Notification of Manuscript Acceptance, Revision, or Rejection: Based on the feedback received from both reviewers, the Editor in Chief informs the author of the manuscript's acceptance, the need for revision, or rejection. This communication is done while maintaining the anonymity of the reviewers.
  5. Paper Revision: If revisions are requested, the author is given the opportunity to revise the manuscript based on the comments and suggestions provided by the reviewers. The author may also submit a response letter addressing each comment and explaining the changes made.
  6. Revision Submission based on Reviewer Suggestion: After making the necessary revisions, the author resubmits the revised manuscript following a similar submission route as in step 1.
  7. Compliance Check: An editor will be assigned to conduct a compliance check to ensure that all comments by the reviewers are addressed by the authors. If the authors have failed to address the comments, the IIUM Law Journal Editorial Committee have the prerogative to reject or to return the manuscript for further revision.
  8. Notification for Acceptance: Only If the reviewers and the IIUM Law Journal Editorial Committee is satisfied with the revisions, will the editor in chief notify the author of the manuscript's acceptance for publication. If revision is still unsatisfactory, the IIUM Law Journal Editorial Committee will have the prerogative to reject/ resend the manuscript for further revision.
  9. Payment of Fees: The acceptance email will also contain instruction payment of publication fees. The copy-editing stage will only be initiated once payment is made based on the instruction given and proof of payment is forwarded to the IIUM Law Journal. Receipt of payment will only be issued upon request.
  10. Galley Proof and Publishing Process: The accepted manuscript undergoes the galley proof stage, where formatting, copyediting, and proofreading are performed.
  11. Signing of the Copyright Transfer Agreement: Once the manuscript has undergone process no. 9, the editor in chief will forward to the author the manuscript for approval together with the Copyright Transfer Agreement.
  12. Publication: After receiving the signed Copyright Transfer Agreement, the paper will be published online, as per the journal's publishing format.

It's important to note that the steps outlined above represent one round of the peer-review process. The IIUM Law Journal Editorial Committee will carefully consider the feedback provided by the peer reviewers to arrive at a decision. The possible decisions include:

Accept as it is: The manuscript warrants publication as a peer-reviewed article. It is a good contribution and is well conceived and executed.

Accept with minor revisions: The manuscript should be accepted after minor revisions as noted in the comments. (Reviewer’s comments should be sufficiently specific and detailed for the author to address issues of concern.)

Return to author for major revisions: The manuscript does not warrant publication in its current form, but it will warrant publication as a peer-reviewed article with suggested revisions.

Reject: The manuscript does not warrant publication as a peer-reviewed article.