Submission Guidelines

Submission Preparation Checklist 

As part of the submission process, authors must confirm compliance with the following requirements. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to the author.

- The manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration by another journal.

- The submission file must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).

- URLs for references have been provided where available.

- The text is single-spaced, uses a 12-point font, and employs italics rather than underlining (except for URLs). All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

- The manuscript adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

 

Author Guidelines

Submission of a manuscript to the Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR) (eISSN 2600-8181), implies that the work has not been published previously, is not under consideration by another publisher, and will not be submitted elsewhere until a final decision is communicated by this journal. Manuscripts that do not conform to the submission guidelines outlined below will not be considered for publication. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review. MJIR publishes all accepted articles as open access.

 

Title Page

Submit a title page containing the author’s details. The title page should include the author’s full name(s) with the family name in capital letters, the author’s ORCID, institutional affiliation(s), academic qualification(s), and email address(es). 

A brief biographical note of approximately 70 words should also be provided, together with any acknowledgements (if applicable).

For manuscripts with multiple authors, the corresponding author must be clearly identified. All co-authors must have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and consented to its submission. If the research was supported by a grant or other form of financial assistance, the funding source must be acknowledged. Authors are responsible for communicating and cooperating with the editor to retract or correct their article if a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered in the published work.

 

Blinded Manuscript

Submit an anonymised version of the manuscript without the author(s) names, affiliations, and acknowledgements (if any) from the text.

 

Abstract and Keywords

Each manuscript must begin with a concise, single-spaced abstract in English, not exceeding 200 words. The abstract should be indented, italicised, and clearly state the main arguments and conclusions of the manuscript. Provide three to five keywords below the abstract.

 

Length

The MJIR welcomes submissions in the form of manuscripts, commentaries, and book reviews. Full manuscripts should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length, including illustrations and references. Commentaries should be approximately 2,000 words, while book reviews should range from 1,000 to 1,500 words.

Books selected for review must be recent publications, ideally released within the past three years. At the beginning of the review, please provide complete bibliographic details: title (and edition, if applicable), author, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, total number of pages, and ISBN. 

 

Text Formatting

Manuscripts must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman, single-spaced. Pages should be numbered consecutively. Submissions are accepted in Microsoft Word format only (.doc or .docx).

 

Language and Style

Manuscripts submitted to the MJIR must be written in British English. Authors are advised to check grammar and spelling carefully before submission. Alternate-ize spelling is acceptable. 

For short quotations, place full stops and commas inside the closing quotation mark. Quotations exceeding 30 words should be indented, single-spaced, and presented without quotation marks. Authors are reminded to consider the copyright implications of using extended quotations.

Abbreviations should follow British style, with full stops (e.g., Dr., Ph.D., Ltd.). Use ‘State’ (except in quotations where the original differs) to refer to the central political authority of a civil government, and ‘state’ for other meanings, such as a country or a political subdivision of a country (unless beginning a sentence).

If English is not your first language, you may wish to have your manuscript edited for language before submission. While this is not mandatory, it may help ensure that the academic content of your paper is clearly communicated to editors and reviewers. Upon acceptance, authors will be required to format their articles in accordance with the full style guide.

 

Use of non-English Text

Non-English terms should be italicised; however, when an -s is added to form an anglicised plural, the -s should not be italicised. Names of institutions, movements, and currencies, whether local or foreign, should not be italicised. 

Quotations from books or direct speech in a non-English language should appear in quotation marks without italics, followed by an English translation in square brackets. If the author of the manuscript provides the translation, this should be clearly indicated.

 

Numbers

Spell out numbers from one to nine, and use numerals for 10 and above. Use a full stop for decimals and a comma for numbers of 1,000 or more. Note that one billion equals 1,000,000,000 and one trillion equals 1,000,000,000,000. Use the word per cent rather than the symbol (%) except in tables and charts.

For dates, use the day–month–year format (e.g., 1 January 2013), spelling out the month to avoid ambiguity. Do not use apostrophes in decades (e.g., 1990s, not 1990’s or ’90s). Write page numbers and years in full (e.g., 245–246, 1999–2012).

 

Paragraphing and Headings

The first line of every paragraph should be indented, except for the first line following a heading, which should be left-aligned. Avoid using an excessive number of short paragraphs.

First-level headings should appear in bold, uppercase letters, left-aligned on a separate line. Second-level headings should also be in bold and left-aligned. Only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalised.

 

Tables and Illustrations

Tables, figures, diagrams, and maps should be used sparingly and include only essential data. All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, with brief explanatory captions provided on separate sheets. Figures, diagrams, and maps should be grouped under the designation ‘Figures’ and numbered in a single consecutive series, distinct from the tables.

The approximate location of each table or figure should be clearly indicated in the text on a separate line (e.g., Insert Table X Here or Insert Figure X Here). All sources of tables and figures must be properly cited. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for the reproduction of any visual materials submitted for publication in MJIR.

 

Referencing

This journal uses APA 7th edition author–date in-text citations. Sources should be cited in the text using the format (Author, Year). The References list must follow the journal’s house style, which is APA 7th edition, and should appear at the end of the manuscript. Footnotes should not be used for referencing purposes and, if used, should be kept to a minimum and reserved only for brief explanatory comments.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all references are complete and accurate before submission.

Examples of basic reference formats are provided below:

Authored Book

In-text: Buzan & Hansen (2011) or (Buzan & Hansen, 2011, p. 12).

Reference: Buzan, B. & Hansen, L. (2011). The evolution of international security studies. Cambridge University Press.

Chapter in an Edited Book

In text: Acharya (2006) or (Acharya, 2006, p. 79).

Reference: Acharya, A. (2006). Do norms and identity matter? Community and power in Southeast Asia's regional order. In J. C. Liow & R. Elmers (Eds.), Order and security in Southeast Asia: Essays in memory of Michael Leifer (pp. 78–92). Routledge. 

Journal

In-text: Beckley (2017) or (Beckley, 2017, p. 80).

Reference: Beckley, M. (2017). The emerging military balance in East Asia: How China's neighbors can check Chinese naval expansion. International Security, 42(2), 78–119. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00294 

Newspaper or Magazine Article

In-text: Cochrane (2017) or (Cochrane, 2017).

Reference: Cochrane, J. (2017, September 10). Indonesia, long sidelined, starts to confront China's territorial claims. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/world/asia/indonesia-south-china-sea-military-buildup.html 

In-text: “Australia and East Timor sign historic maritime border deal” (2018) or (“Australia and East Timor sign historic maritime border deal,” 2018).

Reference: BBC News. (2018, March 7). Australia and East Timor sign historic maritime border deal. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43296488 

Thesis / Dissertation

In-text: Emmers (2001) or (Emmers 2001, p. 73).

Reference: Emmers, R. J. D. (2001). The role of the balance-of-power factor within regimes for co-operative security: A study of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) (Publication No. 153250) [Doctoral dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Online Article

In-text: Mearsheimer (2014) or (Mearsheimer, 2014).

Reference: Mearsheimer, J. J. (2014, October 25). Can China rise peacefully? The National Interest.  http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/can-china-rise-peacefully-10204 

Email / Interview

In-text: 

Parenthetical citation: (L. M. Ocampo, personal communication, April 22, 2012)

Narrative citation: L. M. Ocampo (personal communication, April 22, 2012) stated that

Reference: Emails and interviews do not provide recoverable data. They are not included in the list of references.

 

Submissions and Enquiries

Manuscripts must be submitted through the MJIR online submission portal https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/mjir/about/submissions.