Ethics and Malpractice Statement

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR AUTHORS
The manuscripts accepted by the journals are published under the guardianship of the CENTRE FOR CIVILISATIONAL DIALOGUE, the University of Malaya. Authors are required to follow the guidelines provided. This is to ensure the smooth flow of the publication process. The journals of KATHA adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) standards for all publications. For further details, please visit: https://publicationethics.org.

General guidelines and ethics for authors:

  • Reporting standards
    Authors should include sufficient details and references in their manuscripts so as to allow others to replicate their work. Authors are discouraged from any malpractice in developing the manuscript.
  • Originality and Plagiarism
    Authors should ensure that their papers are original. If the works and words of others have been used, they must be appropriately cited or quoted.
  • Synchronous Publication
    The CENTRE FOR CIVILISATIONAL DIALOGUE do not permits an author to submit the same research or manuscript to other journals.
  • Source Acknowledgement
    Authors should properly cite the used publications which have been influential in their writing while determining the nature of the reported work.
  • Authorship
    Others who have made an important contribution to the manuscript should be named as author or co-authors. Those who have participated in the aspects of the research but not the writing should be listed as contributors. All co-authors are encouraged to read and approve the final version of the manuscript before agreeing for it to be submitted for publication. 
  • Interest Announcement
    If the research is financed by a research grant or any financial supporting body, it should be acknowledged adequately.
  • Published Work Errors
    Authors are responsible for communicating and co-operating with the Editors in retracting or correcting a part or parts of the manuscript, should a significant error or inaccuracy is noted in the published work. 
  • Publication decisions
    The Editors are responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts 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 legal requirements, copyright infringements, and plagiarism. The Editors may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision. 
  • Peer review process
    All manuscripts submitted to the journal are subject to a double-blind, peer-review process. Manuscripts are first reviewed by the Editors and may be rejected because they are not within the subject matter of the journal. Manuscripts that are found to be suitable for review are then sent to two experts in the field of the research.  

Upon reviewing, reviewers may classify the paper as publishable, publishable with amendments and improvements, or rejected. Reviewers' evaluations will normally include the recommendations on what to do with the manuscript. Reviewer's comments are then seen by the author.  

All final submissions must free from any grammatical, formatting, plagiarism issue and any related errors.

The Editors should be ready to justify any important points from the described process. The Editors should not reverse the decision on publication and the Editors should provide guidance on everything that is expected of them, to both the authors and reviewers. Such guidance will be updated regularly and linked to the Code of Conduct stated here.  

  • Fair play
    The Editors should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without fear or prejudice with regards to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. The Editors' decision to accept or reject a manuscript for publication should be based only on the importance, originality and clarity of the manuscript, and the research’s relevance to the aim of the journal.
  • Digital Archiving
    The Editor will ensure that the digital preservation of access to the journal's contents is supported by the Universiti Malaya's Journal depository section, UM e-Journal at https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/KATHA and MyJurnal at https://myjurnal.mohe.gov.my/public/browse-journal-view.php?id=235 
  • Confidentiality
    The Editors and any editorial staff must keep confidential, all information about a submitted manuscript and the reviewing process of the manuscript, from anyone except the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers and the publisher.
  • Publication and Submission fee

Authors are exempted from any publication fees or manuscript processing charges except the eventual conference registration fees (in the case of conference papers being accepted for publication).

  • Open Access Policy
    The journal is freely available online. Authors are required to agree with this open access policy which enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published articles. The articles are published under the Creative Commons copyright license policy CC-BY.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR JOURNAL PUBLISHER
The CENTRE FOR CIVILISATIONAL DIALOGUE of the University of Malaya, as the publisher, has guardianship over all publishing processes which are conducted with utmost professionalism and ethical values. Hereby, the CENTRE FOR CIVILISATIONAL DIALOGUE encourages the best standards of publication ethics to avoid any possible malpractices. 

KATHA adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) standards on publications. For further details, please visit: https://publicationethics.org.

General duties and responsibilities of the publisher:

  • Determine and explain the relationship between the publisher, Editors and other parties in a contract.
  • Respect other party's privacy (for example, research participants, authors, or peer reviewers).
  • Protect intellectual properties and copyrights.
  • Foster editorial independence.

As the publisher, the CENTRE FOR CIVILISATIONAL DIALOGUE will give its best efforts when working with the journal Editors so as to:

  • Set journal policies and aims appropriately and to meet those policies with respect to:
    1) Editorial independence.
    2) Research ethics, including confidentiality, consent, and the special requirements for human and animal research.
  • Transparency and Integrity (for example, conflict of interest, research funding, reporting standards).
    1) Peer review and the role of the Editorial team beyond that of the journal Editor.
    2) Appeals and complaints.
  • Communicate journal policies (for example, to authors, readers and peer reviewers).
  • Review journal policies periodically, with respect to new recommendations from the COPE.
  • Code of Conduct for Editors and the COPE Best Practice Guidelines.
  • Maintain the integrity of the academic record.
  • Assist the parties (for example, institutions, grant funders, governing bodies) responsible for the investigation of suspected research and publication misconduct and, where possible, facilitate in the resolution of these cases.
  • Publish corrections, clarifications and retractions.
  • Publish contents on a timely basis.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR JOURNAL EDITORS AND REVIEWERS
The Editors and reviewers for the journals that are being published under the guardianship of the CENTRE FOR CIVILISATIONAL DIALOGUE of the University of Malaya must play its role in ensuring the accountability and smooth flow of the Publication.

KATHA adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) standards on publications. For further details, please visit: https://publicationethics.org.

General duties and responsibilities of the Editors:

  • The Editors should be accountable for everything published in their journals.
  • The Editors should attempt to meet the readers and author’s needs.
  • The Editors should constantly improve their journals.
  • The Editors should assure the quality of the materials they publish by having a process in place.
  • The Editors should fully master the freedom of expression and its impact.
  • The Editors should maintain the integrity of the academic record.
  • The Editors should preclude business needs to avoid compromising the intellectual and ethical standards of the Publication.
  • The Editors should always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary.

In addition to these general duties, the Editors accept the obligation to apply goodwill and good practices to cope with the following responsibilities: 

Editorial Board:

  • The Editorial Board will be established from recognised experts in the related fields. The Editors will provide full names and affiliations of the members as well as updated contact information for the editorial office for the Publication process. 

Duties of Reviewers:

  • Contribute to Editorial decisions - Peer reviews are expected to assist the Editors in making editorial decisions through the editorial communications.
  • The reviewers may also assist the author(s) in improving the paper.