GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

PURPOSE
This Author's Guide covers the step-by-step process of submitting a manuscript to the Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences (JMES), published by UMPSA Press Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah. It outlines formatting, referenced declaration standards, production processes, and post-acceptance responsibilities. This guide should be carefully reviewed by authors before preparing and submitting their manuscripts through the online editorial system. The guide closely follows the publication ethics and best-practice standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including transparency in content, journal evaluation, open-access policies, and authorship and reporting standards. Both submission and publication must comply with this guide.

1. Journal Manuscript Types
JMES publishes original, peer-reviewed research across a wide range of subjects in mechanical engineering and related applied sciences. This includes solid mechanics and structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, energy systems, design, manufacturing and materials engineering, control systems, mechatronics, computational mechanics, simulation, and interdisciplinary systems. Submissions that are out of scope are rejected early in the review process, without external evaluation of their academic merit.

AUTHOR GUIDELINES
The authors are invited to submit their manuscripts using the journal’s online manuscript submission system (https://journal.ump.edu.my/jceib/user/register). The JMES paper template is available HERE. Authors are encouraged to use and edit the template, rather than developing their own file.
 Manuscript Published:
The journal publishes the following types of manuscripts:

1.1 Research Articles
Research articles provide new and important results from original investigations within the scope of the journal. They must clearly explain why the research is important, original, and methodologically rigorous. All experimental or computational details needed to reproduce the results in the body of the manuscript. In addition to procedures and data of secondary importance, some supplementary materials include critical descriptions relevant to the methodology. There is no maximum limit for the length of the manuscript, but typical research articles range from 5000 to 12000 words excluding the abstract, tables, figures, and references, and should cite a minimum of 20 references.

1.2 Review Articles
Review articles combine balance, clarity, and comprehensiveness to synthesise a specific field of research within the journal's scope and usually include an overview that highlights recent advances, key challenges, and future directions. Authors interested in proposing an unsolicited review but unsure if their proposed topic is appropriate can submit an abstract to the editorial office for consideration and feedback prior to composing a full manuscript. Typically, a review article is 5000-15000 words, excluding the abstract, tables, figures, and references (often with a minimum of 70 references).

1.3 Case Reports
Case reports describe unique cases or circumstances that present a substantial diagnostic, analytical, or engineering challenge, providing educational and/or valuable learning for the reader. Cases with clear academic or practical relevance are given first priority. The reports are typically 3,500–9,500 words long (excluding the abstract, tables, and figures) and include at least 40 references.

2. Submission Process and Requirements
2.1 Online Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted solely by the corresponding author through the JMES online editorial management system at https://journal.ump.edu.my/jmes. The corresponding author is the primary point of contact between the author group and the editorial office throughout the submission, review, revision, and production processes. It must ensure that all co-authors have read, approved, and agreed to the submission. By submitting, the corresponding author confirms on behalf of all authors that the work is original, not published elsewhere except as a preprint or conference proceeding disclosed at submission, and not under review by another journal. Submitting simultaneously to multiple journals is a duplicate submission and will be treated as misconduct in accordance with the journal’s Misconduct Handling Policy.

2.2 Mandatory Submission Components
All the required components should be present in the submission. Manuscripts not fulfilling any compulsory components are returned to the corresponding author before initiating the editorial review.
Main manuscript file: A complete document is formatted according to the journal's Author Template, including all sections, figures, tables, equations, and references in a single editable Word file.
Author Contribution Statement: A full CRediT Author Contribution Statement details the contribution of each author as per the 14 standardised CRediT roles described in Section 4.3. All authors listed must have approved the statement before submission.
Competing Interests Declaration: A detailed statement of all financial, non-financial and personal competing interests for each listed author (or a statement that no such interests exist), written in accordance with Section 7.2.
Funding Disclosure: List all funding sources and grant numbers that supported the work, or a sentence stating that no funding was received as per the requirement in Section 7.1.
Data Availability Statement: This section specifies when the data resulting from the study will be available to others, or provides a clear explanation for why the data cannot be made available in the format described in Section 7.4.
Ethics Statement:  The name of the ethics review board, approval reference number and date of approval, as well as a statement affirming that the research conformed to the approved protocol when research with humans, animals or sensitive personal data was involved. Section 7.5 provides the full set of requirements and some example statements.
AI Use Disclosure: State the name and version of the tool, and how it was used and to what degree, as instructed in Section 7.6, if any generative AI tool was used during preparation of the manuscript. There must be a clear statement that clarifies this if no AI has been employed.
Preprint disclosure (if applicable): If the manuscript results were posted on a recognised preprint server, the name of the server and the permanent URL or DOI should be cited. Having publicly disclosed a preprint does not mean that the manuscript cannot be reviewed.

2.3 Cover Letter
Authors should submit a cover letter, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief. A cover letter stating that it is an original, unpublished manuscript and that it is not currently under review elsewhere. It should provide a brief overview of the work's importance, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope. Authors should describe the manuscript type (research article, review or case report), indicate any preprint posting of the presentation and state that all listed authors approved the submission. They may also provide up to three suggested peer reviewers, with full contact details and a brief statement of their expertise, and up to two individuals they do not wish to review the paper if applicable. All editorials proposed are still limited to the independence requirements of the Associate Editor-in-Chief, and no editorial team member is under an obligation to accept them.

3. Manuscript Preparation and Formatting
3.1 General Formatting Requirements
All manuscripts must be written in the journal Author Template. This template can be downloaded from https://journal.ump.edu.my/jmes/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/141. Authors are encouraged to work directly in this template instead of creating a separate, formatted file, as it includes the correct margins, heading styles, fonts, and sections. ∆Manuscripts must be formatted on A4 paper (210 × 297 mm) with 20 mm margins on all sides. The main text should be in Times New Roman, 10-point, single-spaced, in a single-column layout with justified margins on both sides. Greek characters must be formatted using the 'Symbol' font. All pages should be numbered sequentially in the footer to assist with editorial review and production processes.

3.2 Manuscript Structure
All manuscripts must include the following sections in the order specified. Mandatory sections are indicated; optional sections are noted where applicable.

3.3 Title
The manuscript title should be clear, concise, and specific enough to accurately reflect the research's core focus for an international readership. Titles must be formatted in 14-point Times New Roman, using sentence case; only the first word, the first word of any subtitle, and proper nouns should be capitalised. The title should be 9—20 words long in length: descriptive, but not very verbose. Do not include mathematical and chemical formulas, jargon, or non-standard abbreviations unless they are widely-known acronyms for two or more words in the same field. Authors should add relevant keywords related to methodology and topics; the most useful are those that enhance visibility.

3.4 Author Information and Affiliations
Authors must provide their full given and family names, consistently formatted throughout the manuscript and in the online submission system. The author order in the manuscript must precisely match the order entered into the editorial management system. ORCID IDs are strongly encouraged for all authors and required for the corresponding author; registration is free at https://orcid.org. Author affiliations should be listed directly below their names, with each author linked to their specific institution using a superscript lowercase letter (e.g., ᵃ, ᵇ) or number (e.g., ¹, ²). All affiliations should include the full name of the institution, department, city, postcode and country. Multiple affiliations: authors with more than one affiliation should be marked by a unique superscript.
An asterisk (*) right before the corresponding author. In the last part, their contact information, such as the institutional postal address, email, and telephone number, must be provided after the affiliation field. The author manages all communications with the editorial office, from submission through post-publication follow-up, and should keep their contact details up to date at all times. In case the corresponding author has changed institutions since the time of submission, (s)he should inform the editorial office and, if needed, nominate a new corresponding author immediately.

3.5  Abstract
All manuscripts must contain a self-contained abstract of a maximum of 250 words. It must provide a clear statement of the question studied, the methods used, the results obtained, and the conclusions reached. Without referring to other figures, tables, or abbreviations, because an abstract often appears separately from the main article in indexes. It should emphasise the importance of the research problem and the main objective(s) of the study, provide sufficient detail about the methodology and materials to enable assessment of the study design, and include a summary of results, including relevant numerical data. The abstract should also state the main conclusion and describe the broader impact or implications. It clearly mentions any new data or major restrictions on interpretation. Do not use obscure acronyms; instead, spell them out upon first use. The abstract should be in 9-point Times New Roman font and may not be indented.

3.6  Keywords
Authors need to include three to six keywords that accurately reflect the main topics, methods, and discipline of their manuscript. These are keywords for discovery; when chosen well, they increase the chances of being read and cited. Keywords have to be written in English, and recognised terms from the respective subfield of science should be used. Compound keywords linked by conjunctions or prepositions are to be avoided, such as 'heat transfer and fluid mechanics'; since a search tool will work better where the relevance of isolated nouns is established. Use abbreviations for keywords only when they are widely accepted in the discipline to avoid hindering search engine performance.

3.7  Section Headings and Sub-headings
The headings for sections must be single-numbered in Arabic numerals, beginning with Section 1 (the Introduction). All primary headings should be left-aligned, using Heading 1 style, and capitalised in title case. Secondary headings (second level) should be numbered with two digits (e.g., 2.1, 2.2), formatted in the JMES Heading 2 style, with the first letter capitalised (title case). Tertiary headings (third level) are numbered with three digits (e.g., 2.1.1), formatted in sentence case, and italicised. Avoid headings beyond the third level whenever possible.

4.  Authorship Standards and CRediT Contribution Statement
4.1 ICMJE Authorship Eligibility Criteria
JMES adopts the four-criteria authorship standard of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), applied cumulatively. Every named author must satisfy all four criteria independently. The criteria are as follows.
Criterion 1- Intellectual contribution: The author made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of research data. Purely technical, administrative, or logistical tasks—such as operating instruments under guidance, maintaining equipment, or providing research access- do not qualify for this criterion unless the person also exercised independent intellectual judgment in designing or analysing the work.
Criterion 2 - Drafting or Critical Revision: The author prepared the original draft of the manuscript or made significant scholarly contributions in reviewing revisions to enhance its intellectual content. Critical revision reflects deep structural intervention that significantly improves the arguments, analysis or conclusions in a manuscript and is not a simple grammar or typo corrections.
Criterion 3 - Final approval: The author provided explicit, documented consent for the submission of the version to the journal. This condition is not satisfied by a general prior agreement. 
Criterion 4 - Accountability: The author agrees responsibility for the work in its entirety, including the parts of the work and to ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. By properly resolving issues and investigating any questions regarding accuracy or integrity, they pledge to address the inquiries.
Persons who contributed to the research but do not fulfil all four ICMJE criteria, such as those who provided funding, research infrastructure, access to data, administrative support without specific intellectual input, technical assistance or language editing) should be listed in acknowledgements rather than as authors. Instead, they should be named and described in the Acknowledgements section. Honest reporting of authorship is an ethical obligation; intentionally omitting contributions constitutes misconduct and will be dealt with in accordance with the journal’s Misconduct Handling Policy.

4.2 Authorship List Finalisation and Changes
All authors must be listed in their final order, including those with initials or full names, and the authorship list must comply across the manuscript file as well as within the online submission system at the time of initial submission. For manuscripts with multiple authors, the author order must match the order in the editorial management system; otherwise, indexing errors that occur after publication are usually difficult to rectify. No change to the author list (including additions, deletions, or rearrangements of authors) can be made after submission unless an official communication is sent in writing by the corresponding author. This notice must provide a detailed basis for the suggested change: an understandable, evidence-based rationale. Furthermore, any change in authorship should be accompanied by the written consent of all authors at the time of the change, including new or removed individuals. The request must also be reviewed and approved by the Editor-in-Chief. Post-acceptance authorship changes are considered only in rare cases and may delay publication. If approved after publication, changes are publicly announced via a corrigendum. Unauthorised alterations at any stage, before or after publication, are serious ethical violations and may lead to manuscript rejection or retraction.

4.3  CRediT Author Contribution Statement
JMES requires all manuscripts to include a CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) Author Contribution Statement, which must be completed using the fourteen standardised NISO CRediT roles. The CRediT statement supplements and does not replace the ICMJE eligibility criteria; every named author must satisfy all four ICMJE criteria, and the CRediT statement describes the specific nature of each qualifying author's contribution. The statement is published in the article, above the Acknowledgements section, and submitted as structured metadata to support accurate bibliometric attribution. The CRediT statement should be completed by the corresponding author in collaboration with all co-authors, and all authors should sign off on their agreement with said roles before submission. Role assignments should accurately reflect actual contributions, and co-authoring a publication with an inflated role (for example, assigning or taking a ghost author position) constitutes authorship misrepresentation and will be treated as misconduct.

4.3.1  The CRediT contributor roles
Each of the fourteen CRediT roles is defined below. Every named author's contribution statement must reference only those roles they genuinely performed. A single author may be assigned multiple roles; a single role may be assigned to multiple authors; not all roles will be applicable in every manuscript. Roles not applicable to a specific manuscript are omitted from the statement; their absence does not require explanation.

4.3.2  CRediT statement formatting
The CRediT statement must be formatted with each author's initials and surname listed first, followed by the applicable CRediT role or roles in parentheses, separated by semicolons. All roles must use the exact standardised terminology listed in Section 4.3.1; do not paraphrase or substitute alternative descriptions. The complete statement must cover all named authors; any author whose role is not listed will be queried by the editorial office before the manuscript proceeds. 

5. Article Components
5.1 Introduction
The introduction must provide the research background and broader context necessary for readers across the journal's international readership to understand the significance of the work, identify the gap in existing knowledge that the study addresses, and understand why the work is of interest. A brief but focused literature review situating the work within the current state of the art is required; a comprehensive survey of the full field history is not appropriate for the introduction and should be reserved for dedicated review articles. The introduction should not summarise the results or conclusions of the work, which must appear in their designated sections. The research objectives must be stated explicitly and concisely at the close of the introduction.

5.1.1 Literature Review
The literature review is essential for review articles submitted to JMES. It situates the work within current knowledge, identifies gaps, and shows the authors’ expertise. A strong review underpins the originality and is key to credibility. It can be part of the Introduction or a standalone section, depending on the depth. Review articles focus on this section. The review must be current, thorough, and critical, engaging recent literature from the past 3-5 years unless historical context is needed. It should describe and evaluate key findings, theories, and contradictions, ending with a clear identification of the addressed gap and its significance. Avoid descriptive, cherry-picked, or scope-limited reviews, as well as unsupported claims.

5.2 Materials and Methods
The materials and methods section must provide sufficient detail to enable an independent researcher with relevant expertise to replicate the work. This reproducibility requirement, mandated by COPE, serves as an editorial quality standard. If methods were previously published, they may be referenced rather than fully described; only essential variations on established methods need to be specified. For experimental procedures, outline the specified materials, instruments, reagents, experimental conditions, control procedures, and the effective measurement uncertainty with sufficient precision to describe the methods. For computational work, provide all governing equations, boundary and initial conditions, numerical methods, convergence criteria, and the software used (including version numbers). Clearly define and justify all statistical approaches applied.

5.3 Results and Discussion
The presentation of results and discussion should be in separate subsections or a single subsection, whichever improves clarity. The results should be clear and precise, including measures of uncertainty, statistical significance, and replication. The findings should be discussed in the context of the existing literature, highlighting their relevance; addressing any discrepancies and unexpected results; and detailing any limitations that may affect the findings. Avoid excessive citation and re-description of prior work; instead, discuss and contextualise the new results.

5.4 Conclusions
The conclusions section should be a concise summary of the main findings and their significance. It should directly address the objectives stated in the introduction, reaffirm the study's key findings, and outline the practical and theoretical implications of the results. It should not simply repeat the abstract or list the results, but instead synthesise and contextualise the findings with respect to the objective(s) and advances in knowledge within the field. Authors can also use the current study's limitations or scope to raise unanswered questions or identify potential directions for future research.

6.  Figures, Tables, Equations, and Supplementary Material
6.1 Figures
All figures should be self-explanatory and submitted in one of these formats: PNG, EPS, TIFF, JPEG, or BMP. Grayscale images require at least 600 dpi; colour images require at least 300 dpi. In the manuscript, all figures must be explicitly cited and numbered in the order they appear using Arabic numerals (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2). Multi-panel figures should clearly label each part (e.g., Figure 1(a), Figure 1(b)). Each figure requires a brief, descriptive caption placed directly below it, formatted in sentence case without a period at the end, with 6-point spacing before and after. Figures should not duplicate data shown in tables. Colour figures will be published online; authors should also ensure that figures are understandable in grayscale for print (if applicable). Ensure no boundary lines are visible on any figure. Only the plot area and legend should be within the plot boundaries. The figure must be clear, and all text must be legible.

6.2  Tables
All tables should be submitted as editable text using standard word-processing software; avoid pasting tables as image files. Each table must have a brief, highly descriptive caption placed directly above it, formatted in sentence case with 6-point spacing both above and below. Tables should be fully self-explanatory and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (e.g., Table 1, Table 2) in the order they are first cited in the text. Footnotes located directly beneath the table body are appropriate for defining nonstandard abbreviations or indicating whether a difference is statistically significant, but footnotes that describe experimental procedures or other methods must be included in the Materials and Methods section. No vertical rules, improper shading of cells, and all professional typography standards. Legends for each table should be compiled on a separate page after the main body of text.

6.3 Mathematical Equations and Formulae
Equations must be submitted in fully editable text using either Microsoft Word's Equation Editor or MathType; do not submit equations as image files. When writing about percentages, a solidus should be used rather than stacked fractions where simple fractional expressions arise within running text (for example: X/Y) or mathematical formulas. Force all variables to be italic, whereas vectors and matrices should be in bold type; standard functions such as log, sin, and exp must appear in Roman (non-italic) type. Powers of e should be represented as 'exp' for clarity. Complex or multi-line equations cited in the text must be displayed on separate lines, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in parentheses aligned to the right, corresponding to their citation order. Equations in appendices follow a different numbering system, with the appendix letter as a prefix (e.g., Eq. (1), Eqs. (2-3)).

6.4 Research Highlights (Optional)
Research highlights are short, balanced summaries of the most important results and other novel points reported in the manuscript. Highlights should comprise 5 or fewer concise bullet points, each less than 100 characters. These should be submitted separately, as a document named 'Highlights' via the online system and should not be included in the main manuscript. The highlights improve the article’s search engine visibility and can easily be found in worldwide academic databases.

6.5 Graphical Abstract (Optional)
All manuscripts are encouraged to include a graphical abstract, defined as a single, clear, professional-quality image that summarises the article's key findings. These will be targeted at cross-disciplinary audiences and must clearly communicate the main contribution. The graphical abstract should be provided as a separate high-resolution image file (a TIFF, EPS or JPEG (300 DPI), but not embedded in the main manuscript, and should be submitted through the online system. Disclose whether it was generated using generative AI or other AI-assisted tools: This identification must be documented in Section 7.6 if the generation occurred with those technologies. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining permission for any third-party material included in the graphical abstract.

6.6  Abbreviations and Units
All abbreviations should be defined when first introduced in the main text. A list of abbreviations may also be included at the end of the manuscript, after the references. Abbreviations in the abstract must be explained within the abstract itself, even if they are defined in the main text. Authors are highly encouraged to use SI (Système International) units throughout the document. If other unit systems are used for disciplinary standards or to align with cited literature, the SI equivalent must also be provided.

6.7 Supplementary Material
Supplementary material may consist of relevant data, extended datasets, video files, code, or other supporting information that could disrupt the flow of the main text if included but is essential for completeness or reproducibility. All supplementary files must be ready for publication, as they are published exactly as provided, without editorial changes. Previously published supplementary material is not allowed. Each supplementary item must be cited in the main text and listed under 'Supporting Information' with a clear, descriptive title. Supplementary material that has been published is permanently linked to the article and cannot be altered.

7.  Declarations
All manuscripts submitted to the journal must have a Declarations section, which should come after the Conclusions and before the References. This combines all necessary disclosure and compliance statements into a single, succinct, structured section of the manuscript, in line with COPE transparency requirements. Individual subheading for each declaration. It is published within the article and submitted as structured metadata to all relevant indexing databases.

7.1  Acknowledgements
The Acknowledgements should include a listing of all individuals who provided help during the research or preparation of the manuscript, but do not fulfil the ICMJE authorship criteria. Contributors must specify their name and type (e.g., statistical advice, lab support, language editing). They need to confirm every single person has acknowledged their presence before submitting it. Do not include funding sources, and instead report them in the separate funding subsection below. This section must contain any acknowledgement of institutional contributions as well.

7.2 Funding
It requires authors to disclose all types of financial and material support for the research or manuscript preparation. Funding disclosures should therefore be as complete as possible so that peer reviewers, editors and readers can judge how outside interests might influence the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation process; such transparency allows for scrutiny of competing interests. These disclosures should encompass every form of external support be it direct monetary grants from federal, state, foundation, or institution; fellowships; assistance with publication or article processing fees; gifts in kind (e.g., equipment, proprietary materials, reagents, biological samples, restricted computing resources data analysis tools); research salaries paid by any organization outside the institution other than employed at that place of work for which the relevant disclosure is being made.; travel/accommodation funded by an external sponsor.
The funding section should have a title 'Funding' and list the full official names of each funding agency and their respective grant or award numbers. All funding information specified in the manuscript must also be correctly entered into the funding metadata fields in the online submission system. This ensures that the information is included in the CrossMark record for the article and shared with global funding agencies. The corresponding author must ensure that all funding disclosures are accurate, complete and free of any inconsistencies with each co-author in the Author Declaration section before submission

7.3 Declaration of Competing Interests
Conflict of Interest is any financial or non-financial, professional or personal relationship that may inappropriately affect the research design, conduct or reporting. Similarly, declaring conflicts of interest does not demonstrate bias or bad faith; it is a key part of open research publishing and helps readers take potentially influential factors into account. All authors must declare any relevant interests from three years prior to the start of research and writing. Interests after that time must also be declared if they might still constitute potential biases.
Financial competing interests that require disclosure include: employment with organisations that have a financial stake in the research outcome; stock ownership or options in such organisations; consultation fees; speaking honoraria; paid expert testimony; royalties; and patents whose value could be influenced by the publication of the findings. Non-financial competing interests include unpaid leadership roles in relevant organisations, personal or professional relationships that may affect the work, and strongly held personal beliefs related to the manuscript's subject. These obligations also apply to the authors' immediate family members. Authors with editorial or advisory roles at JMES must inform the editorial office before submitting and include a recusal statement in the Declaration of Competing Interests, confirming they are fully detached from the manuscript's peer review process.

7.4 Data Availability Statement
Authors must provide a clear and specific statement describing the accessibility of the data, materials, and code used in or generated by the study. Open data sharing is strongly encouraged and consistent with JMES's commitment to transparency and reproducibility, as well as open science principles, in which data are deposited in an open repository. The statement must provide the repository name and the persistent identifier (DOI or permanent URL) of the deposited dataset. Where data are available on reasonable request, the statement must identify the contact person responsible for responding to requests. Where data cannot be shared, the statement must provide a specific, substantiated explanation. Generic statements that data are 'available on request' without a named contact are not acceptable. The Data Availability Statement is published in the article and included in article-level metadata.

7.5 Ethics Declaration
Ethics statement for research related to human participants, animals, or sensitive personal data; required. For research with human participants, the full name of the ethics committee or internal review board (IRB) which approved the study must be included by the corresponding author alongside the approval reference number, approval date, and confirmation that it is followed under this protocol and to what degree it conformed to the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 revision-recognizing harmonization). For studies involving animals, the statement should confirm compliance with relevant animal welfare regulations and institutional guidelines (including the name and approval number of the committee, the date of approval or the institutional body approving the work, and a reference to when such approval was obtained).
For research involving personal data, the statement must confirm compliance with the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 and other relevant international privacy laws. If ethics review was waived, for example, because the data were publicly available secondary data or anonymised records, this should be made explicit. The Editor-in-Chief can request copies of ethics approval documents at any time before or after a review.

7.6 Generative Artificial Intelligence Disclosure
Authors are required to disclose any utilisation of generative AI tools, like large language models, AI writing assistants, AI image generators, and AI-assisted data analysis tools, when preparing their manuscript. The disclosure must specify the tool name, version, and how it was used. Authors are fully responsible for ensuring the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content generated with AI; these tools are not considered authors and do not fulfil the four ICMJE authorship criteria. Disclose if AI tools were used for language editing, grammar, or translation. The journal considers the undisclosed use of AI-generated text, figures, code, or references a breach of its publication ethics and will treat it as misconduct per the Misconduct Handling Policy. Authors must clearly state that no AI tools were employed.

8. References and Citation Style
8.1 General Principles
All manuscripts submitted to JMES should format their reference list in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) style, as outlined in the IEEE Editorial Style. The IEEE Style follows a citation-numbering format: as a source is first cited at the point of its initial mention in the text, it is assigned an ascending numerical identifier that travels through to appear anytime during its next usage within the manuscript. Reference numbers should be put between two square brackets and in front of each ending punctuation ([1]. not '. [1]'). Separate citations at a single location are listed within a single pair of square brackets, and separated by commas (e.g., [1], [3], [7]); two or more consecutive citations may be represented as an interval using an end-dash (e.g., [2]–[5]). Citations of references should not appear in the title or headings, nor in the abstract.
Fully accurate references are important for academic integrity, and, because they use automated reference parsing to construct citation networks, the accuracy of metadata records is as well. Reference errors, including wrong author initials, page numbers, or volume/issue numbers; DOIs missing altogether; or journal names being abbreviated on first use only, propagate through to these database records and cannot be corrected post-publication, save by means of a formal corrigendum. Authors are responsible for verifying every reference detail against the original source before submission. References to retracted articles must not be included in the reference list unless the citation is specifically for the purpose of discussing the retraction.

8.2 Author Names and Reference Formatting Rules
Author names in the reference list must be formatted with initials preceding the family name, with a full stop after each initial and a space between the last initial and the family name (e.g., M.M. Rahman, not Rahman M.M. or Rahman, Md Mustafizur). For references with six or fewer authors, all author names must be listed. For references with seven or more authors, the first three authors are listed followed by 'et al.', note that 'et al.' is italicised in IEEE style. Authors must be separated by commas; the final author before the reference title is not preceded by 'and' in IEEE Style. Journal titles should be abbreviated using the ISO 4 standard abbreviation where a widely recognised abbreviation exists or spelled out in full where the abbreviation is not well established. Book titles, conference proceedings titles, and standards titles are set in italics; article and chapter titles are placed in double quotation marks. Volume numbers are preceded by 'vol.,' issue numbers by 'no.,' page ranges by 'pp.,' and single pages by 'p.'

8.3 IEEE Reference Examples by Type
The following subsections provide a complete reference example for each reference type accepted in JMES manuscripts, with field-by-field annotations of the required elements. Authors must follow these formats exactly; variant formats, including APA, MLA, Vancouver, and Harvard, are not accepted.

8.4 Reference Quality, Currency, and Self-Citation
Include only relevant, current, and scientifically valid references. JMES reviewers and editors consider the reference list a reflection of the authors' expertise; outdated or selective references can result in manuscript revisions or rejection during the review process.  Whenever possible, at least half of the references should be from research published in the last five years to show you are current with recent literature. Review articles, however, should encompass a longer time span but still reflect the latest developments.
Self-citation is acceptable when the cited work is directly relevant to the current study. As specified in the journal publication ethics definition provided in Section 9.2, Articles should not possess more than five self-citations (including co-authored papers) or 20% of total references, whichever is lower. Including self-citations that are not directly relevant to the arguments and findings of a manuscript, or including additional citations only to inflate citation counts, constitutes citation manipulation; such behaviour may be subject to action under the journal's Misconduct Handling Policy.

9.  Publication Ethics and Integrity
9.1 Plagiarism and Similarity Screening 
At both the point of initial submission and prior to publication, all manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened with Turnitin. This detects plagiarism and compares text similarity with published literature, online sources, and journal archives. Plagiarism, which is the use of others’ words, ideas, data, methods, figures or code without appropriate citation and claiming it as original to the work, is an ethics violation that can incur a penalty whether this was done intentionally or negligently. These include mosaic plagiarism, idea plagiarism and use of unpublished material accessed during the peer review evaluation. Different disciplines have different similarity thresholds; even very high scores do not necessarily indicate plagiarism since technical writing, when properly cited, often uses similar terminology and methods. All flagged manuscripts are assessed individually by the editorial team.

9.2 Self-Citation and Citation Manipulation
Non-scholarly citation manipulation (e.g., citation activities outside of academic attribution) is a serious violation of this prohibition across journal publications. This includes coercive citation (editors or reviewers requesting specific citations in order to accept a manuscript or write a favourable review), citation stacking (a coordination of reciprocal citing between researchers), reference fabrication (falsely quoting non-existent literature, such as sites that do not contain the information cited and even AI-generated references), and excessive self-citation with no justification. Authors should limit self-citations to no more than five (including co-authored works) or 20% of all references, whichever is lower. All citations must be scientifically valid, properly credited, and directly relevant to the manuscript. Any suspicion of citation manipulation will trigger an editorial investigation; confirmed cases may result in rejection or, if already published, corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions.

9.3 Duplicate Submission and Dual Publication
Submitting a manuscript to JMES requires the corresponding author to confirm that the work has not been previously published in nearly identical form, is not under review by another journal, and will not be submitted elsewhere during the review process. Both duplicate submissions, submitting the same or similar manuscript to multiple journals at once, and duplicate publication, publishing the same content in more than one outlet without full disclosure and editorial approval, are deemed misconduct. Nonetheless, legitimate secondary publication, such as translating the work into another language for a different audience with full disclosure, consensus from all editors, and proper cross-referencing in both versions, is permitted with prior written approval from the JMES Editor-in-Chief. Posting a preprint on recognised servers is not considered prior publication and does not hinder submission, provided it is disclosed at the time of submission.

9.4 Research Data Integrity
Fabricating data, such as creating results, observations, measurements, or responses that were not actually obtained, and falsifying data by hiding, altering, or removing authentic information to distort actual findings, is regarded as the most serious form of research misconduct. It is classified as a Level critical violation under the JMES Misconduct Handling Policy. Restrictions on image manipulation that change the original results (including selective enhancement, splicing, feature duplication, or other digital processing that alters visible content) are also in place. Only adjustments to brightness/contrast that are uniform across the entire image are permitted and must be mentioned directly in the figure legend. Statistical misconduct, such as cherry-picking positive results, performing inappropriate analyses, or misrepresenting the data's uncertainty or importance.

10.  Production, Proofs and Post-Acceptance
10.1 Copyediting and Pre-production Checks 
Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy-edited by the journal copyediting editor team, who correct grammar and typographic issues while enhancing sentence clarity and consistency, as well as verifying in-text citations against the reference list, while also ensuring compliance with both the Conflict of Interest policy and all necessary styles related to journal style. Copyeditors also prepare more detailed article metadata for indexing, the abstract, author ORCID IDs, CRediT contributor roles, discipline keywords, funding acknowledgements and other declarations. Upon acceptance, a final similarity check is performed; if the result exceeds a certain threshold, it is sent to the Editor-in-Chief for review before being passed to production.

10.2 Galley Proofs
The corresponding author is also provided with a final, camera-ready galley proof for review after copyediting and typesetting. Authors have 5 working days to verify all technical details, including equations, figures, tables, data, and references, to ensure that no errors occur during typesetting. These proofs are solely for correcting factual errors and production issues; they should not be used for language editing, content modifications, or adding new data or arguments, which are not permitted at this stage. A detailed, itemised list of corrections must be returned to the production editor within 5 days. If no feedback is provided in time, the author is deemed to have approved the proof. Corrected proofs should be returned within 72 hours (three business days) after the editorial team's follow-up contact.

10.3 Online Publication, DOI, and Indexing
Once the galley proof is approved, the article is published online as the Version of Record on the JMES journal portal. Each article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registered with CrossRef, providing a permanent and reliable citation link. All JMES articles feature CrossMark; readers accessing articles via the journal website or other platforms receive real-time, publisher-verified updates on the article's status, including corrections, expressions of concern, or retraction notices issued after publication. Complete article-level metadata—such as CRediT contributor roles, ORCID IDs, funding details, and declarations—is submitted within five working days of online publication. All articles are freely and permanently accessible worldwide under the relevant Creative Commons license, in line with JMES's open-access policy.

10.4 Reproduction Permissions
Authors must obtain written permission from the copyright holders before including any previously published figures, tables, images, or other content in their manuscript. Usually, the copyright owner is the original publisher. A permission letter confirming approval for reproduction in JMES must be submitted to the editorial office before the manuscript proceeds to production. Any properly credited material without permission will be removed prior to publication.

11.  Submission Checklist
Authors must ensure that each item on the checklist is completed before submitting via the online editorial system. Manuscripts that do not include any of the required materials listed here will be returned before editorial review begins.

11.1 Manuscript File

11.2 Declarations Section

11.3 Online Submission System