(i) The Authors will submit original work as per the standard of the CG Journal. Since it is an open source Journal the authors are cautioned that if they submit research results dishonestly, fabricated or falsified, then the writers’ community will expose them within no time, and they will bring a bad name to themselves. The consequences of this are detailed in the end of this guideline.
(ii) Authors should present a concise and accurate account as to how the research work was carried out. Try to be original and propose ideas that make sense, not just the ‘boiler plate’. Reviewers have read the ‘boiler plate’ many times before. Don’t forget to explain things that look unusual. Be clear about what problems are you addressing? Why have not these been addressed yet? What is your hypothesis? The details should be well scripted and presented in a way that helps other researchers take up your research further. The data should not be fudged to claim the research as complete. You should not claim the data to be original if it is reported/published by others earlier. If you have to use any published or unpublished data of others, the manuscript should mention the explicit permission from the original source.
(iii) You should not submit your manuscript to multiple Journals/Magazines simultaneously. You also need to declare that your work or its variation has been published elsewhere prior to your submission. This should be cited explicitly. If the manuscript contains material that overlaps with your earlier published work, or it is in the press waiting publication, or under the consideration of publication elsewhere; this should be cited clearly. You must provide a copy of such work for the review of Journal’s editorial team.
(iv) If your manuscript is under review by another Journal, you should wait for their decision and hold back from submitting to CG Journal. If you want to submit that manuscript to CG Journal, then you should first withdraw it from the other Journal before submitting to CG Journal.
(v) Please make sure you cite your similar earlier work and ideas, even when the work or ideas are not quoted identically in the manuscript. If identical sentences or paragraphs in another work by the Authors has to be included, the material should be reworded and cited appropriately.
(vi) Please do not submit a manuscript that was previously rejected by our Journal. If you wish to re-submit a revised version for review, this fact and the justification for resubmission should be clearly communicated the Journal’s editorial team at the time of submission.
(vii) It is the responsibility of the author to check his manuscript for possible plagiarism using anti-plagiarism software before submitting it to the Journal. If plagiarism is detected by the Editorial team, the paper will be rejected. The responsibility of plagiarism lies with the author, technically and legally. If someone comes up with copyright claim on your published research in our Journal, you are one hundred per cent liable for such fraud and its legal consequences. The Journal will not be responsible in this context.
(viii) Plagiarism is an unacceptable and unethical publishing behavior that may lead to serious consequences for the Authors. In order to avoid it, you should :
(a) Keep all records of the information from the original source.
(b) Provide quotation for any phrase/statement used in verbatim. Citation should be provided for all sources. In this context, the authors should use their own words in phrasing others work citing the reference. Proper acknowledgement should be provided to others’ works. You should cite that the earlier works of others has led you to do further research and come up with your conclusions.
(ix) Forms of plagiarism are many, like (a) using other’s paper as the Author’s own paper, (b) paraphrasing substantial parts of others’ work and claiming results of others’ research as your own. (c) Using others’ ideas or words taken from any published or unpublished material, including abstracts, proceedings, Journal articles, books, etc.
(x) Using portions of your previous writings, using exact or nearly identical write ups from research manuscripts that are modified and submitted for publication in different journals without proper acknowledgement is a form of self-plagiarism. Though, self-plagiarism is not seen in the same light as plagiarism from other sources, like passing off another’s work or idea as your own, however, it should be avoided as far as possible.
(xi) Please note that submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal at one time is treated as unacceptable conduct. However, submission of a manuscript after being rejected or withdrawn from another publication is acceptable. However, you should not submit a manuscript that has previously been published in whole, or part, or is under review by other Journal (s).
(xii) We do not accept any manuscript for publication in full or in part that has been published in a Conference proceeding attended by the author earlier.
(xiii) All sources of financial support to the Author for his research/work should be disclosed in the manuscript. Conflict of interest normally construed to influence the results or interpretation of the research results. The conflicts of interests may be personal, commercial, political, academic, financial, etc.
(xiv) All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications / registrations, and grants or other funding.
Authors must disclose any interests in (i) A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind).
If there are no interests to declare then please state,
‘Declarations of interest - none'.
This summary statement will be published if the article is accepted.
Detailed disclosures as part of a separate ‘Declaration of Interest form’ has to be submitted which will be part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places.
(xv) Names of the authors mentioned on the manuscript should be of those who have really worked for that research and made significant contribution from the stage of concept to design, execution and interpretation. Those who have assisted the authors should be mentioned as Co-Authors. Others who have helped in certain aspects of the Project should be properly acknowledged in the manuscript.
(xvi) Authors should nominate only one author to correspond and communicate with CGJ. All authors of the paper must agree for it.
(xvii) Once the Journal accepts the manuscript for publication, amendments in the authorship are not allowed.
(xviii) Those authors who are working in academic teaching or Institutions where majority of research was conducted is to be treated as affiliation of the Author. If the author is subsequently transferred / takes up job in another Institution, the new address may also be included in the manuscript.
(xix) All co-authors must agree to the final manuscript being submitted to the Journal.
(xx) Authors should thoroughly check their manuscript for copyright claims by others using anti-plagiarism software or other means. If the come to know that the content they are using in their manuscript is based on the research work of others, they should take appropriate permissions. This includes, permission for figures, pictures, tables taken or modified, quotations, etc. They should secure these permissions before submission to the Journal.
(xxi) Permission may be needed from the publisher and the authors of the published materials. If using own material that has been published by another publisher, they need to obtain permission from the publisher. It is the responsibility of the authors to secure such permission before submission to the Journal.
(xxii) CG Journal holds the copyright to all published articles in the Journal. The author should submit the Copyright Transfer form to the Managing Editor, CGJ for articles that have been accepted for publication. Since CGJ is an open source Journal, this material should not be used by anyone for commercial purposes.
(xxiv) Authors may write to the Managing Editor requesting for the withdrawal of a manuscript that has been submitted to CGJ. The reasons for such request should be clearly mentioned. However, this withdrawal is permitted within two weeks from the date of initial submission.
(xxv) If the author realizes a significant error/inaccuracy in his published work in the Journal, it is his responsibility and obligation to notify the Managing Editor to correct or retract the article, as the case may be.
(xxvi) Authors should be fast in manuscript revisions. If they cannot meet the given deadline, they should inform the Managing Editor and request for an extension.
(i) Reviewing the articles for publication in CG Journal is an important activity that provide value to the Reviewers professional development. Thus, it should be encouraged. The authors whose papers are accepted for publication are expected to reciprocate by accepting the invitation to review the manuscripts to the Journal for the following publications.
(ii) We follow double-blind peer-review. The authors do not know who the reviewers are; and the reviewers do not know who the authors are. Peer review is an important activity in the publication process, therefore authors are requested to submit two copies of the manuscripts, one with their identification, if any, and the other removing all traces of identifications about the author.
(iii) Authors are not expected to reveal their identity to the reviewers. So is the case with reviewers. Reviewers are chosen who meet minimum standards in research and publication. Individuals who have a major competing interest in the subject of the manuscript are not chosen as reviewers for that paper.
(iv) All manuscripts received are evaluated by the editorial board to see if the paper is a potential interest to the readers of the Journal. The manuscripts that meet the minimum requirement and written as per the guidelines, are then sent to the reviewers. A maximum of two reviewers will evaluate the manuscript.
(v) Reviewers are assessed on the quality of review to ensure Journal’s quality requirement. Reviewers data is kept confidential.
(vi) The review should contain (a) major strengths and weakness of the paper, (b) author’s interpretation and acknowledgment, (c) evaluation of the ethical concerns of the study, (d) useful suggestions to improve the manuscript. Personal comments on the author are not allowed.
(vii) Based on the review, the editorial team will recommend on the acceptability of the paper or otherwise. Sometimes, the paper can be accepted subject to certain minor or major revisions. The paper is then sent back to authors to revise and resubmit the paper for another review depending upon the recommendation of the reviewers.
(viii) The paper can be rejected outright for insufficient interpretational problems, lack of newness or unethical publishing behavior. The reasons are communicated to the author for rejection. The Journal, however, reserves the right to reject a paper without providing any justification about their decision.
(ix) The manuscript under review is a privileged information. Reviewers must treat it as confidential. The paper under review should not be copied and retained in any format by the reviewers. It should not be shared with the reviewers’ colleagues without the explicit permission by the Editorial board the Journal. Reviewers must not make any personal or professional use of the data, arguments, or interpretations prior to the publication of the paper. Such use may constitute as conflict of interest and is an unacceptable behavior.
(x) Reviewers should inform any suspected behavior of the author to the Managing Editor of the Journal in confidence. It should not be shared with anyone else.
(i) The Managing Editor in consultation with his editorial team will evaluate the merit of a manuscript after its receipt. Then an acknowledgement with a reference number will be sent to the Author. Later, the manuscript is sent to the reviewer(s) for review. Authors are informed about the editorial decisions formally in which reviewers’ comments are generally included.
(ii) All manuscripts submitted to The Journal undergo a rigid single-blind review process. Editorial board members are also allowed to write papers about their work. In such cases, the author is acknowledged as a contributor. The Journal will ensure that the contributing editors exclude themselves from the publication process including the review, and decision on the manuscript.
(iii) There may be conflict of interest of the contributing editor. In such an event, their manuscript will be handed over to a suitable editor within the board to take care of the manuscripts objectively and professionally free from personal considerations.
(iv) Changes can be requested by the authors in their papers. These changes fall in the following categories.
(a) Erratum – Notification of an error made by the Journal during publication.
(b) Corrigendum – Notification of an important error made by the author that may affect the integrity of the article. All authors must sign the corrigenda submitted for publication.
(c) Retraction – Notification of invalid result. All co-authors must sign the retraction detailing how the error can affect the conclusions.
Readers who wish to draw attention to the published work in the Journal requiring retraction, should write to the Managing Editor, who, in turn will seek the assistance of the reviewers. The author will be contacted to give him a chance to explain the query of the reader.
(d) Addendum – Notification of a peer-reviewed addition of information to a paper in response to readers’ clarification.
(v) As has been described above, plagiarism is a misconduct and is an unacceptable violation of publication ethics. In dealing with plagiarism, the Journal takes prompt action. The charge of plagiarism, supporting materials and outcome are only to be made known to those persons who are involved in the review process. In all cases of alleged plagiarism, falsification and other unethical conduct, the Board will take action as per the Publication Code of Ethics of the Editorial Board.
(vi) Any work in the manuscript that has been proven to contain any form of plagiarism, falsification, fabrications, or omission of significant material is treated as unethical and unacceptable. In such a case, the published article will be retracted from online and hard copy publications. A notice will be issued to the Author and a ban will be imposed on him, which is usually for a period of 3 years. The Institution of the Author where he is working will also be informed about it.
(vii) Any member who holds an editorial responsibility at CG Journal with proven unethical conduct will be removed from the board.
(i) COPE - Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
(ii) International Journal of Islamic Thought , The National University of Malaysia