The Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (JMDS) is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes biannually original research articles from various disciplines and other interdisciplinary approaches in subscription and open access model. The journal’s language is English.
As an academic publication, the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies is primarily dedicated to publish research articles for widest dissemination to scientific community. The journal is open to all researchers of diverse fields of discipline.
All manuscripts submitted will be reviewed by the Editorial Board. To be accepted for publication in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, articles must satisfy all of the following criteria:
1. The article has not been published in any journal.
2. The manuscript is recommended for publication by two peer reviewers.
3. The manuscript has passed the plagiarism detection test with a score of at least 80% for originality.
4. The manuscript has passed the Grammarly checker software with a score of 100.
5. The article exhibits relevance and novelty of topic.
6. The paper is based on rigorous academic standards.
7. The paper meets all applicable standards for the ethics of experimentation and research integrity.
The publication process is run by the Editorial Board of the journal that is composed of research experts who work together to orchestrate the peer-review process. The Editorial Board is composed of the Editor-in-Chief whose main function is to oversee the entire publication process, the Editors per area of discipline, whose function is to evaluate if the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality, and the Managing Editor whose function is to directly supervise the day to day operations of the publication. All manuscripts submitted for publication in the JMDS for publication shall undergo the Editorial workflow during the course of the peer-review process.
The manuscript submitted for publication is sent by the Editor-in-Chief to the appropriate Editor for review based on the topic of the study. The identity of the author(s) is concealed from the Editor to ensure anonymity. The Editor evaluates the manuscript using the Editor-Review Form. If the Editor finds that the manuscript does not have the sufficient quality to go through for the peer-review process, the Editor submits the filled-in Editor-Review Form by email to the Editor-in-Chief along with the recommendation “Recommended for rejection”. The rejection is immediate if the Editor recommends for rejection. The Editor-in-Chief notifies the author by email of the rejection of the manuscript for publication. If the Editor finds that the manuscript needs revision prior to the peer-review process, the Editor submits by email the filled-in Editor-Review Form with the reviewed manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief along with any one of the following recommendations: “Recommended for peer-review after minor revisions” or “Recommended for peer-review after major revisions”.The authors are notified by the Editor-in-Chief to prepare and submit by email a final copy of their manuscript after the major or minor revisions are made. The Editor reviews the revised manuscript submitted by the authors. Once the Editor is satisfied with the revised manuscript, the Editor fills in and submits by email a new Editor-Review Form to the Editor-in-Chief along with the recommendation “Recommended for publication when accepted by peer reviewers”. The same recommendation is made if the Editor finds that the first submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality to go through for the peer-review process without any revision.
The Editor-in-Chief assigns the manuscript to two external reviewers for peer-review. The Editor-in-Chief sends a letter of request to the appropriate reviewers who have the expertise of the topic together with the manuscript, Peer-Review Form, Editorial Policy and result of Grammarly and plagiarism tests. If the peer reviewers agree to review the manuscript, the reviewers submit their filled-in Peer-Review Form, together with the reviewed manuscript, to the Editor-in-Chief along with their recommendation of one of the following actions: “Accept as is”, “Reconsider after minor revisions”, “Reconsider after major revisions”, or “Reject: Manuscript is flawed or not sufficiently novel”. The Editor-in-Chief notifies author(s) of the review outcome by email.
The Editor-in-Chief decides that the manuscript is accepted for publication, if the two peer reviewers recommend “Accept as is,” and all the sets of Criteria for Publication are met. If the peer reviewer recommends either “Reconsider after minor revisions” or “Reconsider after major revisions” the authors are notified by the Editor-in-Chief by email to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript together with a cover letter outlining point-by-point the revisions made in regards to the reviewers' comments and guidelines. The authors are expected to revise their manuscripts in accordance with the changes recommended by the reviewers and to submit their revised manuscript in a timely manner. If the peer reviewer finds that the manuscript is of sufficient quality after revisions are made, the peer reviewer fills in and submits a new Peer-Review Form to the Editor-in-Chief by email along with the recommendation “Accept as is”. The Editor-in-Chief notifies the author(s) by email of the acceptance of the manuscript for publication.
If the two peer reviewers recommend “Reject: Manuscript is flawed or not sufficiently novel”, the decision of the Editor-in-Chief to reject the manuscript is immediate. If only one of the two peer reviewers recommends for rejection, the Editor-in-Chief has the authority upon deliberation with the corresponding Editor to reject or to reconsider the manuscript after revision.
During the editorial process, the Editors are given the authority to recommend for the rejection of any manuscript because the manuscript does not satisfy the Criteria of Publication and other basis of rejection that includes lack of technical quality or incorrectness of its results. In order to ensure a fair peer-review process in attaining a high-quality publication, no Editor can be assigned by the Editor-in-Chief as an external reviewer of the manuscript.
The Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies adopts a double blind peer-review process before the papers are published to ensure the quality of publication and to guard against plagiarism. The peer-review involves the evaluation of the manuscript by expert researchers in a given field who will recommend for the publication, revision or rejection of the manuscript. In double blind review, the identity of the author is concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa to ensure anonymity.
It is the responsibility of the Editorial Board to assign the peer reviewers for a particular manuscript submitted for publication. These peer reviewers are not selected from among colleagues and those who are in close association with the author(s).
During the review process, each reviewer fills up the Peer-Review Form on which each criterion is given a particular score by the reviewer using the following scale: 1 = poor, 2 = below average, 3 = average, 4 = good, 5 = excellent or x = notapplicable. The recommendation of thereviewer is also indicated in the filled-in Peer-ReviewForm. Using thesame form, the reviewers make a summary of the review, comment on thestrengths as well as the minor and major weaknesses of the manuscript andsuggest the necessary revisions. The peer reviewers submitthe filled-in Peer-ReviewForm together with thereviewed manuscriptto the Editor-in-Chief by email.
In order to ensuretheanonymity in thedouble blind peer-reviewprocess, each manuscript is assigned a specific Manuscript Number (MN) and the reviewer is also assigned a particular Reviewer ID number (RN).All manuscripts are subjectto rigorous peer-review to determine whetherthe research is sufficiently conceived and executed to merit publication.Articles accepted for publication through a peer-review process pass theexpected standards of expertise of the disciplines.
All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author must have participated substantially in the completion of the study. The following criteria should be followed to qualify for authorship:
1. Substantial contribution to the conception, designing and conduct of the research work
2. Writing the article and revising the content if required
3. Final approval of the manuscript to be published
The copyright of the article will be transferred to the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies.
The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that the authors agree to assign exclusive copyright to the journal should the manuscript be accepted for publication.
Once the paper is accepted for publication, the authors must accomplish and submit the copyright transfer document to JMDS via email.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their papers do not infringe any existing copyright. If previously copyrighted material is included, authors must provide evidence that the copyright holder has given permission for its use.
The Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies represented by its publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation relating to the article.
As an academic publishing journal, the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies is dedicated to safeguard the highest standards of publication ethics. Good academic publishing is critically dependent on the trust built among the Editorial Board, peer reviewers and authors. Each of them has unique ethical responsibilities that have to be executed at all time in a coordinated approach. It is the responsibility of the Editorial Board to ensure that the articles published are original works of the authors and are not plagiarized or copied from other scholarly works. The Editorial Board shall vigorously investigate in coordination with the proper authorities, any accusation of publication misconduct prior to and after publication and to take measures to contact institutions or funders of authors if needed. If evidence of misconduct such as plagiarism and submission of previously-published articles is clearly found, the necessary steps shall be taken to correct the scientific record which means issuing a correction or retracting the articles from circulation. The following are the policies and ethics of publication for authors, editors and peer reviewers.
Authors should:
1. submit original manuscript for publication;
2. inhibit to commit plagiarism in any form;
3. disclose any conflict or competing interest;
4. claim authorship if qualified based on the Authorship Criteria stated above;
5. inhibit putting down names of people who have little or no contribution in the research work;
6. inhibit leaving out names who did take part in the research work;
7. acknowledge professional consultants or research funders who are not listed as authors;
8. discuss authorship at the early phase of research and decide authorship prior to the conduct of the study;
9. handle disputes of authorship when they arise;
10. trust the Editorial Board to select appropriate peer reviewers;
11. preserve the right to respond to allegations of research misconduct in appropriate manner and due diligence; and
12. read the Guide for Authors.
Editors should:
1. ensure the full implementation of the double blind peer-review process to ensure a fair review;
2. implement the Editorial Policy all the time;
3. ensure that research misconduct, plagiarism, falsification and fabrication of data and results and image manipulation are properly and fairly investigated by the appropriate authorities;
4. take appropriate serious action if peer reviewers raise concerns of research misconduct;
5. alert the appropriate authorities to investigate the research misconduct known;
6. retract a publication if any of the following conditions is evident:
a. article has been previously published without proper permission
b. results are fabricated and honest error is committed
c. publication constitutes plagiarism
d. research is unethical; and
7. issue a correction if any of the following conditions exists:
a. a portion of the paper is not reliable and misleading
b. unresolved authorship dispute or incorrect author list
Peer reviewers should:
1. agree to review a manuscript for which he/she has the subject expertise;
2. provide the journal accurate and true professional information during the review process;
3. exhibit objectivity in the review process and inhibit from making hostile and derogatory personal comments against the author;
4. review the manuscript within the time-frame of the process;
5. keep the confidentiality of the review details and outcome during and after the review process;
6. inhibit from using any data obtained from the review process for anyone’s advantage or to discredit other;
7. declare potential and existing conflict of interest;
8. inhibit from being influenced by the political beliefs, cultural and social-economic profile, gender and nationality of the author;
9. follow the policies of the journal on situations when there is conflict in reviewing;
10. decline to review if the review outcome can only be bias;
11. recognize that impersonation of another individual is a serious misconduct;
12. refrain from involving anyone else during the review such as a Junior Researcher without first obtaining permission from the Editorial Board;
13. notify the Editorial Board when there is conflict of interest which was not apparent during the time the agreement to review was made;
14. ensure that criticisms to the manuscript are specific; and
15. inhibit from rewriting the manuscript to one’s own preferred style if the paper is sound and clear.
The publication process starts from the time the manuscript is received by the Editorial Office until the manuscript is accepted for publication after the paper is peer-reviewed. The Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies follows the following publication process:
Step 1. Submission of the manuscript
The author(s) shall submit the manuscript to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies following the standard format stated in the Guide for Authors. All manuscripts must be the original and unpublished work of the author(s). The publication of the manuscript has been approved by all co-authors (if any), as well as by the responsible authorities, research funders or by the institution where the research work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that the authors agree to assign exclusive copyright to the journal should the manuscript be accepted for publication. Electronic submission of the manuscript is required.
Step 2. Preliminary Review by the Editorial Board
All manuscript submitted will be reviewed by the Editorial Board following the Editorial Process stated above. The preliminary review considers the Criteria for Publication stipulated above as basis to publish the articles.
Step 3. Peer-Review Process
All manuscripts that passed the preliminary review by the Editorial Board will undergo the double blind peer-review process as follows:
a. Submission of manuscript together with the Peer-Review Form, Editorial Policy and result of Grammarly and plagiarism tests to two peer reviewers by the Editor-in-Chie
b. Submission of the peer-review report (accomplished Peer-Review Form) by the peer reviewers to the Editor-in-chief
c. Notification to the authors by the Editor-in-Chief of the result of the double blind peer-review
d. Re-submission of the revised manuscript by the author to the Editor- in-Chief if minor or major revisions are required by the peer reviewers together with a cover letter outlining point-by-point the revisions made
e. Re-submission of the revised manuscript together with the new Peer-Review Form to the peer reviewers by the Editor-in-Chief for validation of compliance
f. Return of the revised manuscript by the peer reviewers to the Editor- in-Chief together with the recommendations indicated on the Peer-Review Form
g. Deliberation by the Editorial Board whether to accept or reject the manuscripts
All manuscripts undergo one or more rounds of review depending on the recommendations of the peer reviewers. After each round, the author(s) must modify their submissions in line with the reviewers’ comments and this process is repeated until the peer reviewers and the Editor are satisfied and the manuscript is accepted for publication.
Step 4. Final Stage of Publication
The Editorial Board shall undertake the following for the final stage of publication:
a. Format editing and lay-outing of the final manuscript
b. Presenting the manuscript lay-out to the author for confirmation
c. Execution of the copyright transfer agreement
Step 5. Circulation and advocacy
The publication and circulation of the journal in print form will be the responsibility of the Editorial Board. For the wide dissemination of the articles published, the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies is published online.
The topics for JMDS include biological sciences, chemistry, physics, earth science, agriculture and forestry, environment and health, mathematics, engineering and technology, education, economics, history, cultural studies, language and linguistics, communication studies, political science, law and governance, psychology, gender studies, sociology, criminology, business and commerce, maritime studies and other studies that are multidisciplinary in nature.
The Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies requires conformance to the manuscript template that can be downloaded from www.multidiciplinaryjournal.com. The authors shall also read the Guide for Authors for the details.
