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Submission Preparation Checklist

  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.

Author Guidelines

The Journal of Malaysian and Comparative Law (JMCL) accepts submissions of original unpublished works comprising articles, comments, case notes and reviews on the whole spectrum of legal topics and issues. Submissions can be made throughout the year. However, deadlines for the respective editions are generally as follows:

June: By the end of February

December: By the end of July


JMCL accepts manuscripts for reviews on the basis that the manuscript:

  1. Is the author's original work;
  2. Has not been previously published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere;
  3. Does not contain anything abusive, defamatory, libellous, obscene, objectionable, misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive.

It is to be noted that there is no fee for publication, nor will the Author receive any royalties for publication.

Please submit manuscripts to the Managing Editor of the Journal at or via online submission  [ here ].


Preparation of Manuscripts 

  1. Articles should not exceed the maximum of 10,000 words (including footnotes); articles shorter than this are favored. Articles should be accompanied by an abstract of 150-250 words. 
  2. The typesetting format for the whole article is as follows:
    • Microsoft Word ONLY
    • Font size: 12
    • Font style: Times New Roman
    • Double-spaced
    • Justified margins
    • Footnotes should be used, not endnotes. 
  3. Final responsibility for the accuracy of all citations and quotations rests with the contributors.
  4. Quotations of more than 30 words should be indented without quotation marks. Shorter quotations within the text should be enclosed by double inverted commas.


Submissions Guide

  1. Manuscripts must be in accordance with our style guide below.
  2. Manuscripts must be accompanied with the following information on a separate file:
    • Name of author(s) and affiliation
    • Corresponding address
    • Contact number
    • Email
    • Name of file attached


Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

  1. JMCL is committed to ensure that its journal is fair, professional and ethical. JMCLâ€™s aim is to uphold the integrity of academic record.
  2. JMCL has no tolerance for plagiarism, copyright infringement or other malpractices in publication and views these issues very seriously.
  3. JMCL seeks to protect the rights of authors and will promptly investigate claims of copyright infringement, plagiarism, publication malpractice or misuse of published material.
  4. JMCL uses a double-blind peer review process to assess all articles submitted. Articles submitted to JMCL are also checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article is found to contain plagiarism or third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, JMCL reserves the right to take action to remedy the situation including, publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies.


The duties and responsibilities of the editors, authors, reviewers and editorial board members shall include, but is not limited to, the following :-

Editors shall endeavour  to

  1. strive to constantly improve the journal;
  2. maintain and uphold the integrity of the academic record;
  3. preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; and
  4. be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

Authors shall endeavour  to ensure that the work submitted

  1. is the author's original work;
  2. has not been previously published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere;
  3. does not contain anything abusive, defamatory, libellous, obscene, objectionable, misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive; and
  4. does not contain plagiarism or third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement.

Reviewers shall endeavour to;

  1. disclose any competing interest before agreeing to review a submission;
  2. review all submissions objectively, fairly and professionally;
  3. report any breach of publication ethics or any malpractice discovered while reviewing to the Editor for further action; and
  4. ensure the originality of a submission and be alert to any plagiarism, copyright infringement or publication malpractice.

Editorial Board members shall endeavour to

  1. strive to meet the needs of readers and authors;
  2. strive to constantly improve their journal;
  3. have processes in place to assure the quality of the material published; and
  4. actively contribute to the development and the greater good of the journal.


Peer Review Process

The journalâ€™s peer review process can be broadly summarized into seven (7) steps. 

  1. The submitting author submits the manuscript to the journal. This is usually done via the journal online system. Occasionally, the journal may accept submissions by email. The journal acknowledges receipt of submitted manuscripts within 1 â€“ 2 days.
  2. The manuscript is reviewed internally by the working editorial committee. This is to check the manuscriptâ€™s composition and arrangement against the journalâ€™s Author Guidelines. If approved, the manuscript is sent to the Executive Editor for review.
  3. The Executive Editor reviews the manuscript. This is to check that the manuscript is appropriate for the journal and is sufficiently original, interesting and relevant. If approved, the manuscript is ready for peer review.
  4. The journalâ€™s peer review process is a double blind review process, namely, the reviewers do not know the names of the author(s), and the author(s) do not know who reviewed their manuscript. The journalâ€™s policy is to send the manuscript to the journalâ€™s subject-matter editors for review. If the journal does not have subject-matter editors on the particular manuscriptâ€™s subject-matter, the Executive Editor sends invitations to individuals whom he or she believes would be appropriate reviewers based on their field of expertise and research. The Executive Editor will obtain two (2) appropriate reviewers from different jurisdictions. This is to ensure a good representation and review of the manuscript.
  5. The reviewers will review the manuscript. The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept the manuscript, reject the manuscript or with a request for amendments (usually flagged as either major or minor) before it is reconsidered.
  6. The Executive Editor considers all the returned reviews before making an overall decision.
    If both reviewers reject the manuscript, the journal will reject the manuscript outright.
    If both reviewers unconditionally accept the manuscript, the journal will accept the manuscript.
    If both reviewers accept the manuscript conditionally and subject to further amendments, the author will be informed to amend the manuscript accordingly.
    If one reviewer accepts and the other reviewer rejects the manuscript, the manuscript will be reconsidered by the working editorial committee. At this stage, the manuscript may be sent for a third review so as to get an extra opinion before making a decision whether to accept or reject the manuscript.
  7. The Executive Editor sends a decision email to the author, including any relevant reviewer comments and/or amendments to be made to the manuscript.
    If accepted, the manuscript is sent for production.
    If the article is rejected or sent back for either major or minor revision, the reviewersâ€™ comments will be communicated to the author to help the author improve the article.
    If the manuscript was sent back for major revision, the reviewers may be sent the amended version, unless they have opted out of further participation.
    Where only minor changes were requested, a follow-up review may be done by the Executive Editor.

The review process commonly takes between 5 to 9 weeks and authors are kept informed throughout the entire process.


Style Guide

We welcome the submission of articles and comments for publication in the journal, and should be submitted to the Managing Editor, Journal of Malaysian and Comparative Law (JMCL) at 

Effective from the 2019 December edition, the Journal adopts the Australian Guide to Legal Citation as its house style. 

For further information, please see [ here ].



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