About the Journal

Journal at a Glance

1. Brief History of the Journal

The Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa (MJTUM) is an open-access journal established to publish original, high-quality research and to provide a platform through which academics, researchers, practitioners and other scholars can disseminate research findings, methodologies and scholarly perspectives.

The Journal encourages multidisciplinary contributions and provides a forum for research that addresses contemporary scientific, technological, social, economic and development challenges. MJTUM publishes substantive research articles, review essays, short communications and book reviews covering systems, methodologies and investigations across a broad range of disciplines.

The Journal welcomes manuscripts in English language across multidisciplinary fields, including engineering, applied sciences, health sciences, social sciences, tourism and hospitality, information technology, business and entrepreneurship, communication and media and related areas.

2. Focus and Scope

The Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa (MJTUM) provides an avenue for the wide dissemination of original, high-quality multidisciplinary research accessible to researchers in academia, research institutions, industry, government and other knowledge-based organizations.

The Journal's principal areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Engineering
• Applied Sciences
• Health Sciences
• Social Sciences
• Tourism and Hospitality
• Information Technology
• Business and Entrepreneurship
• Communication and Media
• Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research

The Journal accepts manuscripts in English language. In addition, the Journal features review articles, short communications and other scholarly contributions that fall within its aims and scope.

From time to time, MJTUM may publish special issues on major events, emerging research areas or important thematic topics, provided that such issues are consistent with the aims and scope of the Journal.

Special issues are edited by qualified guest editors with verifiable academic or professional credentials. Guest editors are subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief, and all manuscripts submitted to special issues undergo the Journal's normal peer-review process.

Special issues of MJTUM are subject to the same standards of rigour, ethics, and editorial independence as regular issues. In addition, they are governed by specific safeguards designed to uphold editorial integrity and ethical compliance, ensuring consistency and transparency across all published content.

3. Publication Frequency

MJTUM is a bi-annual journal, meaning that it publishes two issues each year.

The Journal accepts and processes manuscripts on a continuous basis throughout the year. Accepted manuscripts are progressively assigned to the next available issue as they complete the editorial, peer-review and production processes.

4. Manuscript Submission

Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts through the Journal's online submission system:

Submit a Manuscript

Editorial queries and other correspondence concerning manuscripts should be directed to the Chief Editor:

Email:  editormjtum@tum.ac.ke

Detailed information concerning manuscript preparation and submission is available through the Journal's OJS platform: Author Guidelines

5. Editorial and Peer Review Process

MJTUM is a peer-reviewed scientific journal with a rigorous editorial screening and assessment process consisting of several stages.

5.1 Initial Editorial Screening

Upon submission, the Editor-in-Chief conducts an initial quality screening to identify potential issues relating to the manuscript's suitability, competing interests, compliance with editorial policies, ethical standards, scientific quality and overall relevance to the Journal.

The Editor-in-Chief makes decisions based on scientific objectivity, originality, relevance and novelty. Manuscripts may be returned to authors for clarification or correction at this stage. Manuscripts that are unsuitable, of insufficient quality, or outside the Journal's scope may be rejected without external peer review.

5.2 Assignment of Reviewers

Following successful internal screening, each manuscript is assigned to at least two independent and anonymous reviewers with appropriate expertise in the subject area.

Reviewers are selected on the basis of their subject expertise, publication record, reviewing experience and suitability for assessing the submitted manuscript.

5.3 Double-Blind Peer Review

Reviewers are normally requested to complete their assessments within four weeks and submit their reports, including recommendations regarding the manuscript's readiness for publication.

The Editor-in-Chief considers and reconciles the reviewers' reports and determines whether the manuscript should be accepted, revised, rejected or subjected to additional expert assessment.

The average time to a first editorial decision is approximately 60 days. Actual processing times may vary depending on the availability of reviewers and the time required by the Editor-in-Chief to receive and assess the review reports.

6. Editorial Decisions

Following editorial assessment and peer review, the Editor-in-Chief may make one of the following decisions:

Members of the Editorial Board may be consulted where additional recommendations are required. The Editor-in-Chief has the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.

Editorial decisions are communicated to the corresponding author through a formal notification, together with reviewer comments and any additional requirements from the Journal office.

7. Revision Policy

Where the Editor-in-Chief determines that a manuscript has potential for publication but requires changes, the author(s) will be invited to revise the manuscript.

Revised manuscripts should address all reviewer and editorial comments carefully. Authors are encouraged to provide a detailed response explaining how each comment has been addressed.

8. Open Access Policy

MJTUM is an open-access journal. All published content is freely available to readers and institutions without subscription or access charges.

Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full text of articles, or use published material for any other lawful purpose without seeking prior permission from the publisher or author, subject to the terms of the applicable Creative Commons license.

The Journal supports open-access principles that promote the unrestricted availability of scholarly research and facilitate the global exchange of knowledge.

Authors retain copyright in their published work while granting the Journal a non-exclusive license to publish, distribute and archive the work.

MJTUM has published its content under the CC BY 4.0 license since 2020.

For details of the license, visit: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International .

9. Article Processing Charges

The Journal does not charge authors any fees for:

• Manuscript submission
• Article processing
• Publication
• Page charges
• Colour illustrations
• Editorial processing
• Membership
• Withdrawal of manuscripts

All publishing and operational costs associated with MJTUM are funded by the Technical University of Mombasa.

10. Plagiarism and Similarity Checking

All manuscripts submitted to MJTUM undergo plagiarism and similarity screening using a reputable plagiarism-detection service such as Turnitin.

If plagiarism is discovered after publication, MJTUM reserves the right to take appropriate corrective action, including formal retraction of the article and publication of a notice identifying the material as plagiarized.

11. Use of Artificial Intelligence

MJTUM recognizes the growing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in scholarly research and publishing. The Journal adopts the following principles in relation to the responsible use of AI tools.

The Journal's AI policy may be reviewed periodically by the Editorial Board in response to developments in international standards and guidance on responsible AI use in scholarly publishing.

12. Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

MJTUM adheres to internationally recognized principles of publication ethics and research integrity and is guided by the standards and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The Journal treats the following as serious violations of publication ethics:

• Plagiarism
• Data fabrication
• Data falsification
• Image manipulation
• Duplicate or redundant publication
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest
• Undisclosed use of artificial intelligence
• Other forms of research or publication misconduct

Manuscripts found to breach these standards may be rejected, corrected, retracted, or referred to the author's institution or other appropriate authority depending on the nature and severity of the violation.

Research involving human participants, animals or sensitive data must comply with applicable ethical standards and, where required, receive approval from an appropriate institutional review board, ethics committee or other recognized oversight body.

The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to request evidence of ethical approval before acceptance or publication.

13. Repository and Self-Archiving

MJTUM permits authors to share their research manuscripts through online archives, institutional repositories and personal or academic websites.

The following forms of self-archiving are permitted:

• Institutional repositories: Authors may deposit their work in institutional open-access repositories with appropriate attribution and license information.
• Personal and academic websites: Authors may post their work on personal or institutional websites, provided that the original publication is acknowledged and the applicable license is indicated.
• Teaching and educational materials: Published material may be used for non-commercial educational purposes with appropriate attribution.
• Academic citations: Full citation and appropriate credit must be provided when the work is used for academic purposes.

14. Archiving and Digital Preservation

MJTUM is committed to ensuring the permanent availability, accessibility and integrity of the scholarly record it publishes.

The Journal participates in the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN), a digital preservation service developed by the Public Knowledge Project for journals using the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform.

Through participation in PKP PN, published content is preserved to support long-term access and protection of the scholarly record.

Digital Preservation Objectives

• Content Integrity: Preservation of the authentic and original version of published articles.
• Perpetual Access: Supporting continued availability of the scholarly record to researchers, practitioners and the public.
• Risk Mitigation: Protecting scholarly content against risks associated with hardware failure, software obsolescence and potential interruption of journal operations.

More information about the PKP Preservation Network is available from the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) .

15. Disclaimer