Higher Education Research Review Editorial Policy

     The Higher Education Research Review (HERR) 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 December 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 Higher Education Research Review 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.

Submission of Manuscripts

     All manuscripts shall be sent electronically to jp@gsc.edu.ph. HERR considers all publishable articles on the condition that these:

• are original;
• are the properties of the researcher;
• have not been submitted for publication elsewhere;
• have not been published unless permission to republish was sought;
• are not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and
• use respectful language.

     HERR may require the author/s to submit documents when necessary for authentication purposes.

     The HERR is a multidisciplinary research journal that accommodates:

This Higher Education Research Journal caters:

• ✓ Empirical articles
• ✓ Theoretical articles
• ✓ Review articles
• ✓ Methodologic articles
• ✓ Philosophical articles
• ✓ Creative works

PEER REVIEW SYSTEM

     The HERR 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.GSC 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 HERR.

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

1. The mean will be determined by summating all scores and dividing it by the number of referees.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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:
5. For minor revision;
6. For major revision, or
7. Advice the author for resubmission.
8. Even if the article obtained an average score of 5.00, the author/s still needs to integrate all suggestions.
9. 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

HERR 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 HERR 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.

 

COPYRIGHT POLICY

Manuscript submitted to HERR is made possible by limited license grant from the author(s). The authors shall retain all copyrights of their contribution. All other elements of the journal including its name, structure and organization are also protected by copyright and are the property of the Guimaras State College Research and Development Center.

Declaration of Previous Publication. The author/s must declare any form of print and online publication before the actual release of the journal. Consideration for full or partial reprint, including abstracts, of the article needs approval from the CJP. This includes publication of reference proceedings. If CJP allows the print, Permission letter to reprint from the editor-in-chief of the previous prints must be sought.

Policy for Handling Complaints. If CJP receives a complaint that any contribution to the Journal infringes copyright or other intellectual property rights or contains material inaccuracies, libelous materials or otherwise unlawful materials, CJP will investigate the complaint. Investigation may include a request that the parties involved substantiate their claims. The Journal will make a good faith determination whether to remove the allegedly erroneous material. A decision not to remove material should represent the journals belief that the complaint is without sufficient foundation, or if well-founded, that a legal defense or exemption may apply, such as fair use in the case of copyright infringement or truthfulness of a statement in the case of libel. CJP should document its investigation and decision.

POLICY ON CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

HERR 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.

AUTHORSHIP

Author Undertaking. Authorship undertaking does not only involved the very people who actually formulate and introduce the idea or perform the experiments or field works necessary for the paper but also includes those who make the undertaking possible, such as providing logistical, technical, or financial support and the likes.

• The author must first acquire an application form for authorship, declaration of authorship and copyright form, and the IRB clearance that comes with the paper or manuscript. Forms are available in the office of the Research and Development. You may also email to jp@gsc.edu.ph
• After filling up the forms, the author may either submit them personally, together with the IRB clearance and soft copy of the paper or manuscript, to the Editorial Board, or by electronic mail. There must be one set of forms or requirements for every paper.

Originality Undertaking. An undertaking of originality in publication is an undertaking not only of honesty and integrity but of the pursuit of new ideas, the very rationale of publication itself

• Authors must first choose a topic or subject fir their paper and search out for existing works of similar idea with that of their own and determine whether the similarity between them is not close enough for either of them to be identical with the other, unless if the paper is comparative by nature.
• Author must not overly rely upon or absorb the entire substance of other published works and should try to innovate and create new ideas. Authors may use the postulations of other works to either refute them or make a new approach off of them.
• Author must and always make a citation of their references.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice

The HERRis comitted to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and take all possible measures against any publication malpractices. All authors submitting their works to the HERR 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, HERR 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 College Research Journal is published in print annually.

Circulation. HERR 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.