Policies

Publication Ethics (COPE)

  • MyJEA is committed to the COPE Core Practices (see: publicationethics.org). All allegations of misconduct are investigated, and outcomes follow the relevant COPE flowcharts (e.g., correction, expression of concern, retraction). Misconduct includes (but is not limited to) plagiarism, duplicate submission, data fabrication/falsification, image manipulation, and authorship disputes.
  • Report concerns to myjea@ukm.edu.my; submissions will be handled confidentially by the Editor-in-Chief (EiC).

Peer-Review Policy

  • Review model: Single-blind with ≥2 expert reviewers per manuscript.
  • Process (3 stages): Desk screening (scope/ethics/plagiarism) → External peer review → Editor decision based on reviewers’ recommendations (accept / minor / major / reject).
  • Service targets: Desk screening < 7 days; first decision within 4–6 weeks; after acceptance, article posted as Early Access within ≤4 weeks.
  • Reviewer conduct: Maintain confidentiality; provide objective, constructive, evidence-based reports; declare COIs; meet agreed timelines.
  • Author responsibilities: Provide complete metadata, declare COIs, and follow MyJEA’s ethics and data policies.

Conflicts of Interest (COI)

  • Who must declare: Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could bias—or be perceived to bias—the work or its evaluation.
  • What counts as a COI (non-exhaustive): Financial (grants, consulting fees, equity, patents, paid travel), personal/professional (recent collaboration, supervision, family/household), intellectual/academic (strongly held positions directly related to the work), and institutional (an institution stands to benefit).
  • Author statement examples:
    • “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”
    • “A.B. received consulting fees from XYZ Energy Sdn. Bhd.; C.D. is an inventor on US Patent 123456. The funder had no role in study design, data collection/analysis, or publication.”
  • Editorial handling: The editorial team will assess disclosures, reassign editors or reviewers and/or secure recusals where appropriate. All COI disclosures are recorded in the editorial system for transparency.

Plagiarism & Image Integrity

  • Screening: All submissions are checked by the editorial office using Turnitin at submission (and again after major revision if needed). As a screening guideline, MyJEA targets overall similarity ≤20% (excluding references, quotations, title page, and small matches). Editors will assess the report itself, not the number alone.
  • Handling & thresholds: Decisions are context-based. Large overlaps from a single source, substantial self-overlap (duplicate publication/“salami” text), or unattributed reuse may lead to action even when the overall % is low. If legitimate overlap exists (e.g., methods boilerplate, preprint/thesis), authors must cite the source and explain in the cover letter.
  • Image integrity: Undisclosed image manipulation is not allowed (e.g., splicing, selective enhancement, cloning, altering intensities that mislead). Permitted adjustments (crop, brightness/contrast applied uniformly, minor color balance) must be described in Methods, and original data provided on request.
  • Editorial actions: The editor may request clarification or revision, or proceed to reject the manuscript. Post-publication issues may result in a correction, expression of concern, or retraction following COPE guidance.

Authorship & CRediT

  • Authorship criteria: Each listed author must (i) make a substantial scholarly contribution, (ii) approve the final version to be published, and (iii) accept accountability for the integrity of the work.
  • CRediT roles (required for all authors): For transparency, declare each author’s roles using the CRediT taxonomy (list names next to the roles that apply).
    Roles: Conceptualization; Methodology; Software; Validation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Resources; Data curation; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing; Visualization; Supervision; Project administration; Funding acquisition.
  • How to present CRediT: In the manuscript’s “Author Contributions” section and in the Google Form, list Author Name — Role(s) (e.g., A.B. — Conceptualization, Methodology; C.D. — Formal analysis, Visualization).
  • Changes to authorship: Any addition, removal, or re-ordering of authors after submission requires written consent from all authors with a clear justification. Requests are subject to editorial approval.

Data, Materials & Code Availability

  • Mandatory statement: Every manuscript must include a Data/Materials/Code Availability statement.
  • Repositories & links: Deposit supporting data/code in a trusted repository (Zenodo, OSF, Figshare or institutional) and provide a persistent identifier (DOI) or stable URL to be cited in the article.
  • Materials & access: Clearly state materials availability and any access restrictions/embargo. For restricted items, describe the conditions for access and name the contact person (usually the corresponding author) for reasonable requests.
  • Responsibility: Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy, persistence, and suitability of shared data/materials and for responding to fair requests in a timely manner.

Funding & Acknowledgements

  • Funding (required): List all funding agencies and grant numbers clearly. If there is no external funding, state this explicitly.
  • Facilities & institutional support: Acknowledge shared facilities, technical staff, in-kind contributions, and institutional support.
  • Ethics approvals (where applicable): Provide the committee name, approval number, and date for studies involving humans/animals/safety protocols.
  • Funder role: If relevant, state whether funders had any role in study design, data collection/analysis, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish.
Example — Funding statement

“This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (FRGS/1/2025/TK0/UKM/02/1) and UKM GUP-2025-012. The funders had no role in study design; data collection, analysis, or interpretation; manuscript writing; or the decision to publish.”

Example — Ethics & acknowledgements

Human-subject procedures were approved by the UKM Research Ethics Committee (UKM/REC/2025/123; 12 March 2025). We thank the UKM Materials Characterization Facility (instrument code: MC-SEM-02) and SELFUEL Pilot Line for access and technical support.”

Copyright & Licensing

  • Copyright ownership: Upon acceptance, authors transfer copyright to MyJEA / SELFUEL-UKM via a Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA).
  • Open Access license (VoR): The Version of Record is published under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0, allowing sharing and adaptation (including commercial use) with attribution to the authors and the journal.
  • Author rights (post-CTA): Authors may reuse their work in theses/dissertations, teaching, and future compilations; reuse of figures/tables with proper attribution is permitted.
  • Self-archiving:
    • Preprint: Allowed at any time; after publication, add the VoR DOI.
    • Accepted Manuscript (AAM): May be posted immediately in repositories or personal sites with a citation and link to the VoR (DOI) and a note of the CC BY 4.0 license on the VoR.
    • Version of Record: May be shared under CC BY 4.0 (credit + DOI required).
  • Third-party content: If your manuscript includes material under others’ copyright, you must obtain written permission for reuse under the article’s license (CC BY 4.0).

APC & Fees

  • No APCs or submission fees are charged at this time until further notice.
  • MyJEA does NOT offer fast-track processing or any paid peer-review services.
  • If the policy changes, an updated notice (with effective date) will be posted here and on the For Authors page.

Open Access & Access Policy

  • Author-accepted manuscripts may also be posted in repositories, provided the Version of Record (DOI link) is cited.
  • MyJEA is fully Open Access. All articles (including Early Access / Online First) are free to read upon publication—no embargo.
  • Articles are published under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0, allowing sharing, adaptation, and commercial use with attribution to the authors and the journal.