Copyright / ethics

Copyright Notice

Copyright of articles that appear in the journal belongs exclusively to Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (Publisher). This copyright covers the rights to reproduce the article, including reprints, electronic reproductions or any other reproductions of similar nature.

Publication Ethics

 Manuscripts will be reviewed by the editorial office if it is felt that the work was not carried out within an ethical issue.

 All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet standards of academic excellence. If approved by the editor, submissions will be considered by peer reviewers, whose identities will remain anonymous to the authors.

JIKM consider only original content, i.e. articles that have not been previously published, including in a language other than English. Articles based on content previously made public only on a preprint server, institutional repository, or in a thesis will be considered.

Manuscripts submitted to JIKM must not be submitted elsewhere while under consideration and must be withdrawn before being submitted elsewhere. Authors whose articles are found to have been simultaneously submitted elsewhere may incur sanctions.

If authors have used their own previously published work, or work that is currently under review, as the basis for a submitted manuscript, they must cite the previous articles and indicate how their submitted manuscript differs from their previous work. Reuse of the authors’ own words outside the Methods should be attributed or quoted in the text. Reuse of the authors’ own figures or substantial amounts of wording may require permission from the copyright holder and the authors are responsible for obtaining this.

JIKM will consider extended versions of articles published at conferences provided this is declared in the cover letter, the previous version is clearly cited and discussed, there is significant new content, and any necessary permissions are obtained.

Redundant publication, the inappropriate division of study outcomes into more than one article (also known as salami slicing), may result in rejection or a request to merge submitted manuscripts, and the correction of published articles. Duplicate publication of the same, or a very similar, article may result in the retraction of the later article and the authors may incur sanctions.

Conflicts of Interests

Conflicts of interest (COIs, also known as ‘competing interests’) occur when issues outside research could be reasonably perceived to affect the neutrality or objectivity of the work or its assessment. Potential conflicts of interest must be declared—whether or not they actually had an influence—to allow informed decisions. In most cases, this declaration will not stop work from being published nor will it always prevent someone from being involved in a review process.

If unsure, declare a potential interest or discuss with the editorial office. Undeclared interests may incur sanctions. Submissions with undeclared conflicts that are later revealed may be rejected. Published articles may need to be re-assessed, have a corrigendum published, or in serious cases be retracted.

Authors must declare all potential interests in a ‘Conflicts of interest’ section, which should explain why the interest may be a conflict. If there are none, the authors should state “The author(s) declare(s) that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.” Submitting authors are responsible for coauthors declaring their interests.

Authors must declare current or recent funding (including article processing charges) and other payments, goods or services that might influence the work. All funding, whether a conflict or not, must be declared in the ‘Acknowledgments’.

The involvement of anyone other than the authors who 1) has an interest in the outcome of the work; 2) is affiliated to an organization with such an interest; or 3) was employed or paid by a funder, in the commissioning, conception, planning, design, conduct, or analysis of the work, the preparation or editing of the manuscript, or the decision to publish must be declared.

Declared conflicts of interest will be considered by the editor and reviewers and included in the published article.

  • Editors and Reviewers

Editors and reviewers should decline to be involved with a submission when they

  • Have a recent publication or current submission with any author
  • Share or recently shared an affiliation with any author
  • Collaborate or recently collaborated with any author
  • Have a close personal connection to any author
  • Have a financial interest in the subject of the work
  • Feel unable to be objective

Reviewers must declare any remaining interests in the ‘Confidential’ section of the review form, which will be considered by the editor. Editors and reviewers must declare if they have previously discussed the manuscript with the authors.

Authorship and Acknowledgements

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s research proposal.

All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript, approved its claims, and agreed to be an author. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution. Author contributions may be described at the end of the submission. Changes in authorship must be declared to the journal and agreed to by all authors.

Anyone who contributed to the research or manuscript preparation, but is not an author, should be acknowledged with their permission.

Submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be considered.

Open Access

JIKM provide immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Publication fee

There is no publication fee.

Peer review This journal operates a double blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final.

Policy

The sole responsibility for acceptance or rejection of a manuscript rests with the editor. 

  • Editors should generally grant the request of an author who asks that particular individual(s) be excluded from the review of a particular manuscript. 
  • Editors should establish a review process that minimizes bias. 
  • Editors should subject all manuscripts of a given type to equivalent and unprejudiced reviews. Decisions about acceptance for publication should occur in a reasonable time frame, and (except for issues devoted to special topics) manuscripts should, to the editors best ability, be published in the chronological order of acceptance. 
  • Editors should provide to the authors a written rationale for editorial decisions regarding a manuscript submitted for publication. This is especially important if the manuscript is being rejected.
  • Unpublished manuscripts must be treated as confidential documents by all individuals involved in the editorial process.
  • Editors should correct errors in a manuscript if the errors are detected or reported before publication, or publish corrections if they are detected afterward. 
  • Editors should handle cases of alleged misconduct at the lowest possible organizational level, and should usually involve the institutions at which the research in question was performed. 
  • Papers submitted by an editor or associate editor should be handled by another member of the editorial board.