APSSHS Publications is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics across all its journals. Our editorial and publishing practices are guided by the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and align with internationally recognized best practices in scholarly publishing and open access dissemination.
1. Peer Review Process
All submitted manuscripts undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process, in which neither authors nor reviewers are aware of each other's identities. This multi-stage evaluation safeguards academic quality, originality, and ethical compliance.
2. Editorial Responsibility
Editorial teams are responsible for the fair, unbiased, and confidential handling of all manuscripts. Editorial decisions are based exclusively on academic merit, originality, and ethical compliance. Editors and reviewers are expected to:
Maintain strict confidentiality
Declare any conflicts of interest
Avoid discriminatory practices
Refrain from using unpublished material for personal advantage
3. Publishing Fees (Article Processing Charges)
Information on publishing fees is provided transparently at the journal level. APSSHS operates under an open access model, and all editorial decisions remain wholly independent of financial considerations.
4. Copyright and Licensing Policy
Authors retain full copyright of their published work. All APSSHS publications are open access and are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, unless otherwise specified.
5. Research Misconduct and Plagiarism Screening
All manuscripts are screened using recognized plagiarism-detection systems (such as iThenticate or an equivalent tool). Manuscripts exhibiting unacceptable similarity or evidence of misconduct may be rejected or retracted in accordance with COPE guidelines.
6. Responsibilities
Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy, and ethical integrity of their submissions.
Editors are responsible for fair and unbiased editorial evaluation.
Reviewers are responsible for providing objective, constructive, and timely peer review.
All parties are required to disclose any conflicts of interest.
7. Corrections and Retractions
APSSHS follows COPE guidelines for post-publication integrity:
Erratum/Correction — issued for minor errors that do not affect the validity of the work
Retraction — issued in cases of confirmed misconduct or major ethical violations
8. Ethics Approval and Informed Consent
Policies concerning research involving human participants are strictly enforced in accordance with international ethical standards.
9. Ownership and Management
APSSHS Publications operates as an independent scholarly publisher with a centralized editorial structure. The publisher has been active since 2019 and is headquartered at: Sasana Kijang, Bank Negara Malaysia, No. 2, Jalan Dato’ Onn, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Technical infrastructure and publishing systems are supported by internationally recognized scholarly publishing platforms. Post-publication services, indexing support, and digital preservation are managed through established global academic communication networks to ensure the long-term accessibility and integrity of published content.
10. Open Access and Accessibility
All APSSHS publications are freely accessible online, without subscription or registration barriers.
11. Advertising Policy
APSSHS does not accept third-party advertising in its journals or on its publication platforms.
12. Archiving and Preservation
The publisher maintains regular electronic backups of the journal website and all published materials to safeguard against data loss. Published articles are securely stored in a secondary archiving system and are continuously backed up to ensure their permanent availability. These measures preserve the scholarly record and support the long-term sustainability of the academic archive.
13. Communications and Complaints
All complaints and ethical concerns are handled transparently by the editorial office in accordance with COPE best practices.
