Author Guidelines
INTRODUCTION
Forensics is a peer-reviewed journal for the publication of original contributions in the many different scientific disciplines comprising the forensic sciences. It contains articles related to Forensic Anthropometry, Crime Scene Investigation, Forensic DNA Analysis, Art Forensics, Computational Forensics, Criminalistics, Biological Evidence, Trace Evidence, Fingerprints, Footwear Impressions, Tire Tracks Impressions, Controlled Substances, Firearms and Tool Mark Examination, Digital Forensics, Forensic Accounting, Forensic Aerial Photography, Forensic Anthropology, Forensic Archaeology, Forensic Botany, Forensic Chemistry, Forensic Dactyloscopy, Document Examination, Forensic Engineering, Forensic Entomology, Forensic Geology, Forensic Geomorphology, Forensic Geophysics, Forensic Intelligence, Forensic Interviews, Forensic Immunology, Forensic Linguistics, Forensic Meteorology, Forensic Odontology, Forensic Optometry, Forensic Pathology, Forensic Podiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Forensic Psychology, Forensic Serology, Forensic Social Work, Criminal Justice, Forensic Toxicology, Forensic Video Analysis, Mobile Device Forensics, Wildlife Forensic Science, Blood Spatter Analysis, Forensic Law and Medicolegal. The journal publishes articles, short communications and reviews associated with areas of forensic science and research notes whose content and approach are of interest to a wide range of scholars.
Forensics is published by an autonomous Editorial Board drawn from the Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Science & Technology and Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. In addition, distinguished scholars from local and foreign universities are appointed to serve as advisory board members and referees.
SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
The Journal publishes manuscripts written in English language. Manuscript submitted to the journal for publication should be original contribution and must not have been previously published or is under consideration simultaneously by any other publication.
The manuscript should be typed with double spacing, single column and font size 12pt, font type Times New Roman, on A4 paper and should be submitted using the online submission system at http://spaj.ukm.my/mfsj. All submissions must be made through this online system.
To facilitate the review process, Forensics encourages authors to submit a line-numbered version of their final manuscript as a supplementary file, in Microsoft Office format (doc, docx), in addition to the main manuscript. The line-numbered version will help reviewers to identify precisely the location of issues within the manuscript.
FORMAT AND STYLEThe title of a manuscript should be concise, descriptive and preferably not exceeding 15 words. The manuscript must include an abstract, describing its main points within 150 - 250 words in English. In general, the contents should comprise of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement and References. The manuscript should be supplied with 3-5 keywords.
All illustrations including figures, charts and graphs, must be labelled and supplied on pages separate from the text. The desired placement in the text should be clearly indicated. These illustrations should be referred to and numbered serial, as figures. All illustrations should be clearly drawn in permanent ink or photographed in sharp black and white and reproduced in the form of high - contrast glossy prints or digital images and provided in camera ready form.
References in the text should be denoted by giving the name(s) of the author(s). All alphabetically ordered references list should be included at the end of the manuscript. All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all information in the reference. Manuscripts must conform to the references in Penerbit UKM style or the Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press). The references style adopted should be consistent throughout the manuscript.
Authors are required to use EndNote (Cite As You Write - http://endnote.com). Please use American Psychological Association 6th edition (APA 6th) in citations and references. For further information, please visit the APA citation guideline page. Using EndNote or any other form of biblography for citations and references is highly recommended and would accelerate the review process.
EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECTS
When human subjects are involved, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject. Authors should be aware of the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki), which has been published in the British Medical Journal (18 July 1964).
When experimental animals are used, the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) or with the Guidelines laid down by the NIH in the US regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures or according to the appropriate Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation. All studies using human or animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Methods section identifying the review and approval committee for each study.
Editors reserved the right to reject the submitted manuscripts if there is doubt whether appropriate procedures have been taken.
COPYRIGHT
It is the author's responsibility to ensure that his or her submitted work does not infringe any existing copyright. Authors should obtain permission to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material and provide evidence of approval upon submitting the final version of a manuscript.
REVIEW PROCESS
Manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editorial Board and two reviewers. Decisions regarding the publication of a manuscript will be based on the Board's recommendations. The manuscript will be evaluated based on its appropriateness for Forensics, contribution to the discipline, cogency of analysis, conceptual breadth, clarity of presentation and technical adequacy. Manuscripts submitted by members of the journal's Editorial Board are subjected to the same review procedure.
PROOFS
One set of proofs will be sent to the author(s) to be checked for printing errors and it is the responsibility of the author(s) to submit corrections to the Editorial Board.
