Ethics Statement

The Journal of the Malaysian Parliament (JournalMP), hereafter referred to as ‘JournalMP’ aspires to become the source of reference on legislative studies and parliamentary affairs in Malaysia and in Southeast Asia. Research articles will be selected and processed through double-blind peer-review for publication. JournalMP abides by the ethics laid down by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The JournalMP code of ethics has been developed to ensure the integrity of the journal and as guidelines to reach the highest standards in publication ethics. Authors, Editors, Reviewers, Editorial Board Members are guided by this code of ethics when discharging their responsibilities. Any ethical issues and concern related to JournalMP can be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief.

CODE OF ETHICS FOR AUTHORS
Authors should ensure the submitted manuscript is recent, original, has not been previously published and is not being reviewed for publication elsewhere simultaneously. Dual submission shall be the strong ground for automatic rejection. Authors should also ensure that all sources of excerpts and quotations are clearly stated in their entirety. These sources, including any secondary data used, must be acknowledged in their entirety. All information obtained privately should not be used without explicit permission from the individual, publisher or source. Authors are also responsible for adhering to the format set by the publisher.

Authors are not allowed to resubmit a previously reviewed manuscript and rejected by JournalMP unless encouraged by the Editor-in-Chief to resubmit in the rejection letter. If the Authors wish to resubmit the previously rejected version manuscript, the fact and justification for resubmission should be clearly communicated by the Authors to JournalMP’s Editor-in-Chief at the time of submission.

Any withdrawal of manuscript submission must be made within two weeks after initial submission. The reason for the withdrawal is required in writing. Authors are not allowed to withdraw manuscript when the manuscript is being reviewed or when the review process has completed. Should Authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript, the Authors are obliged to promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief or publisher to retract or correct the article accordingly.

CODE OF ETHICS FOR EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor-in-Chief should make independent evaluations of all articles submitted. Decisions on the received manuscript must be clearly communicated to the contributor, and the accepted manuscript should be sent to the reviewer without delay. The appointment of a suitable reviewer should be made based on the background and academic specialisation of the reviewer. Editor-in-Chief is responsible for sharing information amongst relevant Editorial Board Members regarding possible misconduct or ethical concerns in the journal.

Editorial Board Members play an active role in the development of the journal and function as ambassadors of the journal. Members should continuously support and promote the journal by giving advice to the editor to strengthen the journal either in writing or orally. It is also the Editorial Board Members’ responsibility to provide feedback on the quality of the content of every published journal and inform any latest development on each knowledge discipline. Editorial Board Members are also encouraged to submit some of their manuscripts for publication consideration, ensuring that they adhere to Conflict of Interest rules while stating their affiliation to JournalMP.

CODE OF ETHICS FOR REVIEWERS
JournalMP follows a double-blind single peer-review process in which the Authors do not know the identity of reviewer and vice versa. Peer-reviewers are nominated and chosen by the Editor-in-Chief based on their expertise and background to provide an assessment of a written manuscript to improve the quality of the research in line with the journal’s standard. Where necessary, a specialist such as a statistician may be consulted for peer-review.

Reviewers assigned to review the manuscript submitted to JournalMP should review articles in an objective, fair and professional manner. Any transgression of publication ethics detected in a submitted article should be informed to the Editor-in-Chief. It is also the reviewer’s responsibility to ensure that articles are not plagiarised and have not appeared elsewhere previously. Reviewers should ensure reviews are completed within the allocated time and inform the Editor-in-Chief if an extension is required to review any article. Reviewers should not discuss an article under evaluation with any other party without permission.

PEER REVIEW
The Editorial Board will evaluate manuscripts submitted to JournalMP on their suitability with the journal’s aim and scope as well as of potential interest to the readers of the journal. Accepted manuscripts will be sent for review. In a double-blind single peer-review process, reviewers are expected to review the manuscript and give a report on the stipulated criteria. Reviews are expected to be objective, fair, honest, constructive and professional. Reviewers may recommend the manuscript be accepted, accepted with minor revision, or accepted with major revision, or rejected. All recommendations will be consulted with the Editor-in-Chief before the final decision been made (particularly for rejected manuscripts). The Editor-in-Chief will assess the quality of review routinely to maintain the standard of review reporting.

PLAGIARISM
JournalMP takes plagiarism issues seriously, and any articles found as duplicate submission or plagiarised shall be withdrawn automatically from the journal. Authors are strongly advised to adhere to the journal’s code of ethics, uphold academic honesty, avoid plagiarising others’ work, and ensure that all references are cited appropriately. Authors should also check for similarities of submitted manuscripts while appropriate software may be used to routinely screen article submissions for plagiarism. The reviewer shall raise concern about the originality and inappropriateness of the article’s content to the Editor-in-Chief.

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
Any conflicting or competing interests relating to a given article must be declared by all authors, reviewers or editors. Interests may include: any recent, current or anticipated employment by any organisation that may gain or lose financially through publication; research sources of funding by any organisation that may gain or lose financially through publication; personal financial interests; membership of relevant organisations; personal relationships with any of the authors or an editor or a guest editor of a theme issue; and, working or having recently worked in the same institution/organisation with any of the authors.

AUTHORSHIP AND COLLABORATION
Only those who have contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research should have been listed in the name of Authors of the manuscript. Authors should also have drafted or critically revised the work for important intellectual property, given the final approval of the version to be published, as well as agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring arisen enquiries related to the accuracy and integrity of any part of the work are appropriately resolved. Contributors who do not meet the criteria of authorship should not be listed as Authors but should be acknowledged.

CORRECTION AND RETRACTION
Any errata or corrections, clarifications of any materials will be published when needed and as quickly as possible if competing interests are detected after publication. All Erratum and Corrigendum that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the article, or the reputation of the Authors, or of JournalMP will be published. All Authors must sign the corrigenda submitted for publication.

Any retractions of any materials will be published when needed and as quickly as possible if competing interests are detected after publication. Retractions may include clear evidence of unreliable findings, the main conclusion of the article no longer holds or is seriously undermined due to unforeseen consequences at the time of publication, unethical research, plagiarism, redundant publication, and infringement of copyright. All Authors must sign a retraction by specifying the error submitted for publication.

FEE AND REMUNERATION
Neither article processing charges will be imposed for any manuscript submission, nor remuneration will be given to contributors.