Publication Ethics

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research establishes rules for ethical practices and guidelines that authors, reviewers, and editors should understand and adhere to. Below are the practices and guidelines:

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1. Research Ethics

When submitting a manuscript on human subjects, the authors should have obtained approval from their respective research ethics committees and stated in their manuscripts. The authors should have ensured the research reported in their manuscripts has been carried out in an ethical manner.

In the manuscript, the name of the research ethics committee, its respective organisation, and the approval number should be stated. If there is no ethical approval, the authors should be able to explain the reasons why they did not obtain ethical approval and how the research ethics were assured.

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2. Declaration of Helsinki

All research processes that are presented in the manuscripts must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors who submit their manuscripts to the Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research are considered to have agreed and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki.

 

3. Funding

There should be a statement in the manuscripts in the Acknowledgment to indicate the funding sources. If there is no funding, a declaration should be made.

 

​4. Conflict of Interest

The authors should declare a conflict of interest (if any) when submitting their manuscripts. The reviewers (including editors) should declare a conflict of interest (if any) before agreeing to review the manuscripts. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.​

 

5. Publication Decisions

The Editorial members of the Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editors may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

 

6. Data and Reproducibility

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research does not request the authors to store and make their research data available on an open-access platform. However, according to standard practice in their disciplines, the authors are encouraged to provide their research data upon reasonable requests from the readers and authorities.

 

7. Authorship and Contributorship

In accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research encourages authors to adhere to the following authorship criteria. Authorship should be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND

• Final approval of the version to be published; AND

• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

 

​8. Peer Review

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research is committed to the highest standards of peer review. After receiving a manuscript, an editor is assigned to assess the quality of the manuscript. If the manuscript is deemed suitable, it will be double-blind peer-reviewed by independent, anonymous experts. If the authors have submitted their manuscripts as preprints on an open-access platform, anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

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​9. Fair Play

An editor at any time will evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or ideology of the authors.

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​10. Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

 

11. Appeals and Complaints

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on appeals and complaints on manuscript reviews, revisions, rejections, and acceptance. The authors should write their genuine appeals and complaints on the editorial decision and present their arguments with evidence in response to the editorial decision to the Editor-in-Chief (qram.journal@gmail.com).

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After receiving the appeal, the Editor-in-Chief will chair the investigation process and make appropriate decisions with selected editorial board members, who do not have prior relationships with the authors involved. The Editor-in-Chief may decide to reject or accept the manuscript, invite additional reviewers for the manuscript, or other decisions. All decisions on appeals and complaints are final.

 

 

12. Allegations of Misconduct

Readers and authorities can report to the Editor-in-Chief (qram.journal@gmail.com) allegations of misconduct on published articles – post-publication. The report should undergo real-name authentication, but the whistleblowers must not be revealed by the Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research unless required by law. Editor-in-Chief will chair the investigation process and make appropriate decisions with selected editorial board members, who do not have prior relationships with the authors involved. The published articles may be retracted. The corresponding author of the manuscripts must be given an opportunity to provide explanations before any decision is made.

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​Manuscripts that have been identified with misconduct will be rejected – pre-publication. The corresponding author of the manuscripts must be given an opportunity to provide explanations before any decision is made.

 

13. Retraction of a Published Article

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research can consider retracting a published article if there are serious concerns about scientific methods or the integrity of the article post-publication. The decision to retract a published article will be made in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. MJQR Editor-in-Chief will chair the investigation process and make appropriate decisions with selected editorial board members who do not have prior relationships with the authors involved.

The journal will issue retractions if:

• There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error);

• The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication);

• It constitutes plagiarism, and it reports unethical research.

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The journal will issue errata if:

• A small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading (especially because of honest error);

• The author list is incorrect (i.e., a deserving author has been omitted, or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included).

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* There is a failure to meet clear ethical and legal requirements, such as misrepresentation of interests, breach of confidentiality, lack of informed consent and abuse of research subjects or materials. Misconduct also includes improper dealing with infringements, such as attempts to cover up misconduct and reprisals on whistle-blowers.

 

14. Handling of Unethical Publishing Behaviour

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work.  The publisher, together with the editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

 

15. Corrections on a Published Article

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research can consider the author’s request to make corrections to their published articles, upon written request made to the Editor-in-Chief (qram.journal@gmail.com). The corrections must be genuine (i.e., typos), and do not have concerns about scientific methods or integrity of the article post-publication.

 

16. Discussions on a Published Article

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research allows academic debate post-publication. Readers may write to the Editor-in-Chief (qram.journal@gmail.com) to discuss publishing letters to the editor.

 

​17. Intellectual Property

The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research is an open-access journal. The authors are responsible and should have sought written permission from the copyright owners to publish any copyrighted materials in their manuscripts.

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