The Himal-Us Multidisciplinary Research Journal is the official journal of Higher Education of the Guimaras State College, McLain, Buenavista, Guimaras and is published annually by the Research and Development Services in June of every year. This is an open venue dedicated to the promotion of knowledge in various disciplines. It adheres to the policy that all articles contained therein must meet the rigors of an independent peer review system and editing to ensure that the publication possesses scientific and academic merits.
Policy and Guidelines
Contributors to the Guimaras State College Himal-Us must prepare the publishable articles in accordance with these parameters. These are designed to standardize the process of preparing the journal for publication. Failure to keep on with this reference may culminate in the rejection of the article for publication.
PEER REVIEW SYSTEM
The Himal-Us subjects the author’s scholarly work to the scrutiny of notable researchers with appropriate expertise. They are chosen from the pool of experts in a given field who are qualified and able to perform impartial review. They will perform content and methodologic screening and recommend acceptance or rejection for publication. The process encourages authors to meet the standards and prevents the dissemination of unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations and personal reviews.
Initial Screening. The board will initially choose articles for refereeing using the following criteria:
- Quality and significance of contribution to knowledge and/or practice
- Technical appropriateness
- Ethical consideration
Quality and Significance of Contribution. The research article must obtain at least the passing rate of twenty-five points (25/40) from the content quality evaluation to qualify for publication. There are eight (8) areas:
| Validity (quantitative) | Measures what it intends to measure |
| Credibility (qualitative) | Confidence in the truth of data and interpretation |
| Reliability (quantitative) | Consistent and dependable results |
| Dependability (qualitative) | Stability over time and conditions |
| Generalizability (quantitative) | Inferences are true to the other populace |
| Transferability (qualitative) | Findings can be transferred to other group/setting |
| Theoretical Support and Analysis | Clearly focal theories and background knowledge |
- (quantitative) reflected in introduction and strong discussion in results
- (qualitative) frameworks may be absent but resilient integration in the results in both descriptive and interpretative segments
| Novelty | Quality of being new, original, innovative or unusual |
| Replicability | Research process is replicable by other researchers |
| Clarity of Analysis | Simplicity and lucidity of reasons |
| Impact/Utility and/or practice | Contribution to the stock of knowledge |
Ethical Consideration. The research article must obtain at least the passing rate of six points (5/9) to qualify for publication. The editorial board will rate the manuscript according to:
| Beneficence | Do not harm any of the subjects |
| Justice | Substantial integrity of the research paper and equal treatment of the subjects |
| Respect | Informed consent, used its truest sentence, and insures privacy of the subjects |
In addition, the board may ask for IRB clearance and other pertinent records.
Technical Appropriateness.The research article must obtain at least forty points (40/60) to quality for publication. The editorial board will rate the manuscripts according to:
- Title– The paper must state its title without any abbreviations
- Author/s Demographics – The paper must write the complete list authors all In GMIS form, individual name of institution and country
- Abstract – The paper must no more than 300 words contains introduction, method, and result and discussion (IMRAD)
- Introduction – The introduction is engaging, state the main topic and previews the structure of the paper
- Research Objectives/Statement of the problem– The paper must clearly and concisely states the papers purpose which is engaging, and thought provoking
- Body – Each paragraph must have a thoughtful supporting detail sentences that develop the main idea
- Organization and Structural Development of the Idea – The writer demonstrates logical and subtle sequencing of ideas through well-developed paragraphs and transitions are used appropriately
- Conclusion – The conclusion is engaging and restates the thesis
- Mechanics – The paper must have no errors in punctuation, capitalization and spelling
- Usage – The paper must have no errors in sentence structure and in word usage
- In-Text Citation –All cited works, both text and visual are done carefully
- Reference List – The paper must include more than ten (10) major reference all in APA Format
The Author/s will be notified once the paper submitted for publication is rejected for screening.
External Review. Manuscripts accepted from the initial screening will proceed to the next step. The board will identify two independent (external) content experts who will appraise the manuscripts according to:
- Significance of contribution to knowledge and/or practice
- Substance of the content
- Clarity of exposition
Reviewers will enumerate explicit suggestions. The suggestions will be consolidated by the publication officer. When comments are contradictory, the editor-in-chief may intervene. A third referee may be invited if the editor-in=chief cannot arrive in a decision. The consolidated report will be communicated to the authors.
Double-Blind Process. GSU Center for Journal Publications (CJP) operates a strictly double blinded peer review process in which authors/s and reviewers’ names are withheld to each other.
Reference Recruitment. The peer reviewer will be chosen according to their subject and major concentration.
Qualification of Reviewer. Reviewers must have at least 5 researches for the last consecutive 5 years published in refereed journals. Each of them will be invited according to their subject and major concentration. All reviewers are external. Selection of reviewers is the responsibility of the editorial board.
CJP has a pool of invited reviewers. If there is no identified/qualified expert from the pool to review the submitted paper, the editorial board, with the assistance of the publication officer, will facilitate identification and invitation. If the board cannot identify one, especially when academic topics are highly-specialized, authors inputs may be solicited in enumerating a list of experts in the specific specialized field.
Scoring System. The research manuscripts will be rated according to the evaluation criteria of Himal-Us.
| Score | Description |
| 5 | Accept without revision |
| 4 | Accept with minor revision |
| 3 | Accept with major revision |
| 2 | Reject with option to resubmit |
| 1 | Reject without option to resubmit |
- The mean will be determined by summating all scores and dividing it by the number of referees.
- If one referee rejects the paper without the option to resubmit, automatically, the article is rejected. A notification will be sent to the author/s for their information.
- If the article obtained an average score of 2.00, automatically, the article is rejected. A notification will be sent to the author/s for their information.
- If the article obtained an average score of 2.01 and above, the Editorial Board will send a letter to the author/s concerning on either:
- For minor revision;
- For major revision, or
- Advice the author for resubmission.
- Even if the article obtained an average score of 5.00, the author/s still needs to integrate all suggestions.
- Rejected article are advice to submit their manuscripts to another journal publication.
Transmittal of Comments. After careful scrutiny, the editorial board will notify the author/s whether their manuscripts are accepted or rejected. The summary of consolidated comments will be attached to the letter together with the plagiarism check results. Authors are usually given fifteen (15) day to comply with the suggestions. The editorial board may also communicate their own comments.
Finalization of the Journal Entries by the Board. The Board decides for the final entries for publication.
GRAMMAR CHECK
Himal-Us utilized Grammarly to aid in guarding the quality of sentence structure of accepted manuscripts for publication. It is a comprehensive grammar editing tool that checks the text for the proper use of more than 250 common and advance grammar rules. Grammatical errors are categorized, clearly displayed, and organized for review and revision.
PLAGIARISM CHECK
The Himal-Us will utilize the Grammarly originality checker to determine the Similarity Index. It generates originality report by providing a summary of similar text from its database. Direct Quotation and Reference List are excluded in the report. Only the content of the manuscripts are considered for text matching.
Similarity Check. Grammarly recommends that the final arbiter in excluding materials should be based from human judgment. The editor-in-chief determines which materials are not contextually related to the submitted manuscript and manually excludes them in the report. Matches less 6 words are also excluded.
Originality Scoring. Manuscript with an originality rating of 90% and above will be published without revision. A rating 51% to 89% will be returned to the authors for revision. Rating below 51 will be rejected for publication.
Transmittal of Similarity Index Result. The report will be printed and transmitted to the author/s for manuscript revision.
POLICY ON CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Himal-Us will only publish articles after the author/s have confirmed that they have disclosed all potential conflict of interest.
Disclosure of the Conflict of Interest. All sponsors supporting the work including all the institution involved must be acknowledged in text. All sponsors and institution involved must be notified for the submission of the article for publication. This includes declaration of no commercial association that my pose conflict of interest. It is the researches sole responsibility to any issues pertaining to this matter.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice
The Himal-Us is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and take all possible measures against any publication malpractices. All authors submitting their works to the Himal-Us for publication as original articles attest that the submitted works represent their authors’ contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works. The authors acknowledge that they have disclosed all and any actual or potential conflicts of interest with their work or partial benefits associated with it. In the same manner, Himal-Us is committed to objective and fair double blind peer review of the articles submitted for publication works and to preventing any actual conflict of interest between the editorial and review personnel and the reviewed material. Any departure from the above–defined rules should be reported directly to the Editor–in-Chief who are unequivocally committed to providing swift resolutions to any of such type of problems. Reviewers and editors are responsible for providing constructive and prompt evaluation of submitted research papers based on the significance of their contribution and on the rigors of analysis and presentation.
SCHEDULE OF PUBLICATION AND CIRCULATION
Schedule. The Guimaras State University Research Journal is published in print annually.
Circulation. Himal-Us is available in printed copy. The dissemination of the journal will be in the form of subscription for public private institutions and agency. A complimentary copy will be given for the authors.
BOARD ADJUDICATION
The editorial board’s decision is final and unappealable.
