Preparing Your Manuscript

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

VERY IMPORTANT: Please follow the instructions below strictly. Manuscripts that fail to comply with the Journal's guidelines will be desk rejected.

Manuscripts must be prepared according to the MJM submission template, manuscript format and APA mechanics of style and referencing, 

Before you submit your manuscript, please refer to the: Content of a good article. If your manuscript does not comply with these criteria, we will have to decline your manuscript during the initial review stage.       

You can also watch this video for tips on avoiding desk rejects: "5 Reject Reasons & Solutions: Journal Articles." [https://youtu.be/qa2X62RrMGk]

Manuscript Submission: You must submit the two (2) documents below using the templates attached. The submission will not be processed if a document is missing, 

  1. Submission Manuscript (with author details)including name, institution, work address, email address, abstract and biography.
  2. Submission Manuscript (Anonymous)for double-blind review. Please do NOT include any author details or biographies in this manuscript.  

Note: In the online submission, click "This is not a revision file" when you upload the second document. 

Number of Authors: The maximum number of authors recommended is three. Each author should make a significant contribution to the content of the article. We will only accept more authors if there is a strong justification for inclusion. 

File Type: Only WORD files must be submitted according to template given will be accepted.

LAYOUT AND STYLE 

Margins

A4 size

2.54cm (1 inch) (left and top) 1.9cm (0.75in) (right, bottom)

Citation Style: APA 7th

Please refer to the following website for details on:

Quotes

  • Quotes above 40 words should be blocked, without quotation marks
  • Quotes below 40 words should appear in the text, using double quotation marks
  • Do not use colons in the in-text citations. Use the following format - (Jones, 2012, p. 8)

Font: Times New Roman

General text, 11 pt, regular

Language

  • English (British) or Bahasa Malaysia
  • British spellings required throughout (e.g. analyse, not analyze) unless in a quoted source
  • Authors writing in Malay also require an English language abstract and title
  • We do not use the Oxford/serial comma.
  • All foreign words not in a standard English dictionary should be italicised.
  • Instruments and genres should be all lower case unless it contains a proper noun (Brazilian jazz).
  • Foreign instruments and genres not common to English should be italicised (shakuhachi) using the same guidelines as other foreign words.

Quotation Marks: All quotations  should be double quotation marks. Single quotations are only used if it is a quote in a quote.

Titles used within article

  • Larger works should be italicised (books, journals, large scale musical works, album titles)
  • Smaller works contained within should be in quotes (chapter title, article in a journal, movement in a musical work, song).
    - Dvorak's "Allegro molto" from Symphony No.9.
    - The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" from the album Abbey Road.

 

Special circumstances may apply when items do not clearly fall into the above guidelines. In this case, consistency within the article is needed.

Lists

Lettered Lists are used within a sentence or paragraph narrative.

The musical instruments in mak yong comprise: (a) rebab, (b) tawak, and (c) gendang

 Numbered Lists are used to display complete sentences or paragraphs within a series.

The objectives of this research is to:

  1. examine the the hallyu (Korean wave) phenomenon among youth musical performances. 
  2. analyse the musical elements from hallyu (Korean wave) phenomenon integrated into local music. 

 Bulleted Lists are used when ordinal positions are required (e.g., chronology, priority, rank, importance). 

The performance format or protocol sfor performing wayang kulit

  • Feasting ceremony
  • Opening Song
  • Prologue
  • Main story

Length

Article should be between 5000-8000 words in length, excluding references and endnotes/footnotes.

Paragraphs

All paragraphs indented 1.27cm / 0.5 inches.

Spacing

Articles should be single-spaced.

Endnotes

Use endnotes rather than footnotes, 10 pt, keeping them to a minimum.

Abstract

  • 150-250 words, single spaced, regular, 10 pt
  • No citation

Summary of the article, including information such as background, statement of problem, objectives, methodology, findings, data analysis, argument, and conclusions.

Keywords

  • The word "Keywords" should appear below the abstract in 10 pt, italicised
  • Include 5 keywords, separated by commas, in alphabetical order

Title and Subtitles

Title: Title Case, bold, centred, 14 pt, single spaced
Authors
Author 1 First name, middle initial, last name (10 pt, align centre)
Affiliation, Country (10 pt, align centre)
Email: (10 pt, align centre)

Author 2 First name, middle initial, last name (10 pt, align centre)
Affiliation, country (10 pt, align centre)
Email: (10 pt, align centre)

Author 1¹, Author 2², Author 3³ (10 pt, align centre)

Affiliation, Country¹, Affiliation, Country², Affiliation, Country³ [if different] (10 pt, align centre)
Email¹, Email², Email³ (10 pt, align centre)

 

A co-author must have made significant contribution to a journal article. They are responsible and accountable for the findings in the article. A co-author should be involved in

  • conceptualisation of the research problem, design and methodology and interpretation of findings.
  • drafted, written and revised a substantial section of the article
  • rewrote, rebutted and agreed upon to all revisions made after review
  • agreed upon the contents of the final copy edited article to be published
  • share responsibility over questions raised on integrity, criticism or accuracy of content

A corresponding author manages all correspondence about the article and signs the publishing agreement on behalf of all the authors. The corresponding author is ensures all author details are correct and the order in which author's names appear are agreed upon.

Headings and Subheadings

Headings are all in 11 point font.

Heading 1: Centered, Boldface, Title Case Heading

Text starts a new paragraph.

Heading 2: Flush Left, Boldface, Title Case Heading

Text starts a new paragraph.

Heading 3:  Flush Left, Boldface Italic, Title Case Heading

Text starts a new paragraph.

Heading 4: Indented, Boldface Title Case Heading Ending With a Period. Paragraph text continues on the same line as the same paragraph.

Heading 5: Indented, Boldface Italic, Title Case Heading Ending With a Period. Paragraph text continues on the same line as the same paragraph. APA 7 does not require the first paragraph to be titled,  "Introduction", however, there must be a heading to begin the article.

Tables and Figures

  • Number tables and figures with Arabic numerals, e.g. Table 1
  • Table number and captions should be placed above the table (10 pt, left aligned. Table number followed by return, then table caption italicised)
  • Figure captions below the figure (10 pt, left aligned, Figure number italicised)
  • No line space between the caption and the figure.

Biography

Include author biographies - Maximum 150 words

Images

  • Submit each figure, table in line with text in the Word file
  • Number each figure and table according to their position in the text
  • Include captions in the article for each figure/table (eg. [Figure1. Caption]
  • Images should be in JPEG or PNG format, with a minimum of 300 DPI.

Copyright

Copyright for musical examples, images, etc is the responsibility of the author. Proof of permission to reproduce materials must accompany the article.

Examples of references

Article in Journals
Author, A. A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical,
          volume number (issue number), pages. http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy

Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book
Author, A. A., Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B.
          Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Publisher.

Dissertation
Lastname, F.N. (Year)Title of dissertation(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Name
          of database. (Accession or Order Number)

Conference Proceedings
Jones, J. L., & Peters, E. L. (Eds.). (1988). Proceedings from ICMH '99: The First
          International Conference on Musicians' Health and Fitness. Smith
          Publications.

Recording
Last name, W. W. (Date of copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if different from
          song writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording]. Location: Label. (Recording
          date if different from copyright date).