MJHES Policies

1. Editorial Policy

Al-Mutawassit Journal for Human and Educational Sciences (MJHES) is committed to publishing high-quality, original research that advances knowledge across all disciplines of the Human and Educational Sciences.

  • Originality: Manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under review simultaneously by any other journal.

  • Relevance: Submissions must fall within the stated scope and aims of the journal.

  • Objectivity: All editorial decisions are made solely based on the manuscript's scientific merit, relevance, originality, and clarity, without regard to the authors’ nationality, institution, gender, or religious/political beliefs.

  • Timeliness: The Editorial Board is committed to ensuring an efficient and timely review and publication process.

2. Open Access Policy

MJHES operates under a strict Open Access model.

  • Free Access: All published articles are immediately and permanently available online for free access, reading, and download by anyone, anywhere.

  • Licensing: Authors retain the copyright to their work, but grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish the work. Published content is typically distributed under a Creative Commons license (e.g., CC BY or CC BY-NC), allowing others to share and adapt the work with proper attribution. This ensures maximum dissemination and impact.

3. Peer Review Policy

MJHES employs a rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review process to ensure the quality and integrity of the research.

  • Process: Submitted manuscripts are first assessed by the Editor-in-Chief for initial suitability. Suitable manuscripts are then sent to at least two independent expert reviewers.

  • Double-Blind: To ensure impartial review, the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and the identities of the reviewers are concealed from the authors.

  • Outcome: Reviewers provide recommendations, which can include: acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief.

  • Confidentiality: Reviewers are required to treat the manuscript as a confidential document and must not disclose any information about the submission.

4. Plagiarism Policy

The journal views plagiarism as a severe breach of academic ethics.

  • Screening Tool: All submitted manuscripts undergo rigorous screening using the Turnitin plagiarism detection software.

  • Tolerance Limit: The maximum acceptable level of similarity (plagiarism/textual overlap) is 20%. Submissions exceeding this limit will be immediately rejected or returned to the author for substantial re-drafting and proper citation.

  • Definition: Plagiarism includes copying text, data, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment, including self-plagiarism (reusing one’s own previously published work without citation).

5. Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

MJHES is committed to following best practices in scholarly publishing, aligned with the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

  • Duties of Editors: Editors must act fairly and independently, ensure the integrity of the peer review process, and be responsible for the final publication decision. They must investigate any ethical complaints diligently.

  • Duties of Reviewers: Reviewers must provide objective and constructive critiques, declare any potential conflicts of interest, and maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript.

  • Duties of Authors: Authors must present an accurate account of the research performed, provide sufficient detail to permit replication, and cite all sources appropriately. Data fabrication, falsification, and image manipulation are strictly forbidden.

6. Copyright Policy

  • Author Retention: Authors retain the copyright to their article.

  • Publication License: By submitting an article, authors grant Al-Mutawassit for Scientific Publishing a non-exclusive, worldwide license to publish the article and to authorize others to reproduce or distribute the article (usually via a Creative Commons license).

  • Permissions: Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any copyrighted material (e.g., figures, tables, text) from other sources.

7. Authorship Policy

Authorship credit should be based on substantial contributions to the work.

  • Criteria: All authors listed must have made significant contributions to:

    1. Conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.

    2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.

    3. Final approval of the version to be published.

    4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

  • Corresponding Author: The corresponding author is responsible for managing the entire submission and communication process, and ensuring all co-authors approve the final version.

  • Changes: Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names after the manuscript submission requires the approval of the Editor-in-Chief and written confirmation from all authors (including the author being added or removed).

8. Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest (COI) exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as research validity) is influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal relationship).

  • Disclosure: Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationship that could be viewed as influencing the research findings or interpretation. This includes funding sources for the research.

  • Reviewer/Editor COI: Reviewers and Editors must also declare any potential COIs that would prevent them from making an objective decision, in which case they must recuse themselves from the process.

9. Author Self-Archiving Policy (Green Open Access)

MJHES encourages authors to archive their work to promote broader dissemination, in line with its Open Access commitment.

  • Pre-prints (Submitted Manuscript): Authors are not permitted to archive the pre-print version (the version before peer review) in an institutional repository or website.

  • Post-prints (Accepted, unformatted manuscript): Authors are not permitted to archive the post-print version (the final manuscript after peer review but before copyediting and layout).

  • Published Version (Version of Record - VoR): Authors are permitted to archive the final, published PDF version (the Version of Record) on their personal website, institutional repository, or non-commercial subject-based repositories immediately upon publication, provided that:

    1. The journal (MJHES) is clearly acknowledged as the original publisher.

    2. A link to the article's official page on the MJHES website is provided

10. Data Sharing Policy

MJHES supports transparency in research and encourages authors to share the data underlying their publications.

  • Encouragement: Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit the datasets used in their research in a publicly available repository (where ethically appropriate).

  • Accessibility: Authors should include a statement in the manuscript detailing how the data can be accessed, or why they cannot be shared (e.g., due to privacy or confidentiality restrictions).

  • Retention: Authors should retain raw data for a reasonable period after publication to address any questions that may arise.