The Ethical and Legal Guidelines outline the core principles that ensure integrity, professionalism, and accountability in the publication process. Covering key areas such as ethical requirements, originality, informed consent, and authorship conduct, these guidelines provide a clear framework for responsible publishing practices. By adhering to these standards, authors and contributors help maintain the credibility and transparency essential to fostering trust within the scholarly and professional community.

• Provide ethical approval statement(s) from the relevant human/animal ethics committee for research involving human and/or animal subjects.
• Examples of statements to be used when ethics approval has been obtained: (a) This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of University B (Date.../No. ...); (b) The questionnaire and methodology for this study were approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of D (Ethics approval number: ...).
• When no ethical approval is required/exemption granted, state (a) no ethical approval is required and or ethical exemption is granted

Studies Involving Human Subjects

The Journal adheres to the ethical standards described by the Committee on Publication Ethics, Medical Research Ethics and Animal Care & Use. For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human or animals, formal review and approval, or formal review and waiver (exemption), by an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee is required, and should be described in the Methods section with the full name of the reviewing entity. The research should adhere to these guidelines, the legal requirements of the country in which the work was conducted, and all relevant institutional guidelines.

Studies Involving Animal Subjects

The Journal adheres to the ethical standards described by the Committee on Publication Ethics, Medical Research Ethics and Animal Care & Use. For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human or animals, formal review and approval, or formal review and waiver (exemption), by an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee is required, and should be described in the Methods section with the full name of the reviewing entity. The research should adhere to these guidelines, the legal requirements of the country in which the work was conducted, and all relevant institutional guidelines.

For research involving human subjects, Authors must include with their submission a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained for all subjects. The reference number and date of the approval by the above committee needs to be stated in the manuscript. All research conducted in the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) must provide the registry number for National Medical Research Register (NMRR).

Authors should submit original work conducted honestly according to scientific standards. Research results should not have been obtained fraudulently or dishonestly, fabricated or falsified. When writing, the Authors should present a concise and accurate account how the work was conducted. There should have enough detail for other researchers to repeat the work. The data should be accurately reported and never fudged. The Authors should not leave out problematic data so as to provide a clear story. All information obtained privately should not be used without the explicit permission from the individual or source. A signed patient permission must be obtained for every patient if their recognizable photo/image is used. If this is not supplied, the identity of the patient must be obscured before the image is published; this could interfere with the instructive value of the photo.

Submission of a manuscript implies that:

• The work described represents the original material

• Has not been published previously (i.e articles, proceedings, symposia, and book chapters), except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis

• It is not under consideration for publication elsewhere

• Its submission and publication in IMRJ are known and approved by all authors

Authors must not submit a similar manuscript or research results, in whole or in part, to more than one publication simultaneously, or at any time while the manuscript is currently under review by IMRJ. Resubmission of a manuscript after being rejected or withdrawn from another publication is acceptable. The submitted manuscript must not have been previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere, or under review by other publication, either in whole or in part in any language.

Name of Authors listed in the manuscript should be those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as Co-Authors. Others who have assisted in certain aspects of the research project can be mentioned in the Acknowledgement. Authors of a manuscript should nominate only one Author as the corresponding Author who is solely responsible for communicating with The Journal and communication between co-Authors. Authors included in the authors list must agree to the order of the names and that all Authors agreed with the final form of the manuscript being submitted to The Journal.

Once The Journal accepts a manuscript for publication, amendments in the authorship in the form of addition, deletion or rearranging the order of the names are no longer allowed. However, changes in the authorship (addition, deletion or rearrangement) can be made during the review process before a manuscript is accepted.

The affiliation for each Author should be the institution where the majority of the work was performed. If an Author has subsequently transferred to another institution, the new address may also be included in the manuscript.

All Co-Authors should have made significant contributions to the work being written and share accountability for the manuscript. All Authors should agree with the final version of the manuscript before submission to The Journal.

Authors should check their manuscripts for the need to obtain permission due to copyright law. This may include permissions for quotations, figures, photographs, artwork or tables taken or modified from other publications or from other sources on the Internet. Authors need to secure the necessary permissions before submission to The Journal. Permission may be needed from the publisher and the Authors of the published materials. If using own materials that have been published by another publisher, the Authors need to obtain permission from the publisher only. It is the responsibility of the Authors to obtain the permission and not The Journal. Delays to publication can be incurred if permissions are not obtained.

Authors should be prompt with their manuscript revisions. If an Author cannot meet the deadline given to complete the revision, he/she should inform the Editor-in-Chief to request for an extension