About the Journal

The Recoletos Multidisciplinary Research Journal (RMRJ) is the official bi-annual journal of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Center for Policy, Research, and Development Studies (CPRDS).  Being an internationally peer-reviewed journal, RMRJ adopts the double-blind review process wherein the reviewer/s and the author/s do not know each other's identity.

 Aims

RMRJ is dedicated to the promotion of knowledge through high-quality research publication in various disciplines. It adheres to the policy that all articles contained therein must meet the rigors of an independent double-blind peer-reviewing system and editing to ensure that the publication possesses scientific and academic merit.

Scope

RMRJ welcomes submission of quality researches in any of the following academic domains:

  • Accountancy, Business and Management, and Finance;
  • Communication, Humanities, Psychology, and Religion;
  • Education and Educational Management;
  • Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, and Technology;
  • Environment, Health, and Natural Sciences;
  • Philosophical and Mathematical Reviews; and
  • Politics and Governance, and Social Sciences.

Editorial Process
RMRJ is dedicated to promoting knowledge through high-quality research publications in various disciplines. She is committed to editorial independence, diversity, and equity. Submissions from people of different backgrounds and geographic locations are welcome. Submissions are assigned to editors who will do the initial review. Should the manuscript be suitable for consideration by RMRJ, the paper will be sent to at least two independent peer reviewers. The peer reviewers' assessments are used to inform the associate editor's decision on whether or not to recommend publication. Endorsed papers will be forwarded to the Chief Editor for final approval. 

We do not put up with rude behavior or letters directed at our editors, staff, or other people helping us publish. We have the right to take appropriate measures to safeguard others from it. This situation may involve, for instance, withdrawing a manuscript from consideration or objecting to offensive remarks made by peers.

Peer Review Process
Peer review (also known as refereeing) is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. It requires a community of experts in a given (and often narrowly defined) field who are qualified and able to perform impartial reviews. Likewise, it also refers to the work done while screening submitted manuscripts and funding applications. This normative process encourages authors to meet the accepted standards of their discipline. It prevents disseminating unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations, and personal views. Peer review increases the probability that weaknesses will be identified and fixed. For both grant funding and publication in a scholarly journal, it is also usually required that the subject be both novel and substantial.

Reviewers and editors are responsible for providing a constructive and prompt evaluation of submitted research papers based on the significance of their contribution and the rigors of analysis and presentation.

There are two or three referees for a given article. Two are experts on the topic, and one is an expert in research and statistics who shall review the technical components of the research. These referees revert the evaluation of the work that indicates the observed weaknesses or problems along with suggestions for improvement. The board then evaluates the referees' comments and notes the opinion of the manuscript before passing the decision with the referees' comments back to the author(s).

Criteria for Acceptance and Rejection
A manuscript is accepted when

  • it is endorsed for publication by at least two referees,
  • it substantially complies with the instructions of the reviewers;
  • it complies with the ethical standards and protocols with studies involving humans and animals;
  • the manuscript passed the plagiarism detection test with a score of at most 10% Similarity Index and a Grammarly Rating of 95% or more. Otherwise, the manuscript is returned to the author(s).

The referees' evaluations include an explicit recommendation of what to do with the manuscript, chosen from options provided by the journal. Most recommendations are along the following lines:

  • Accept without revisions
  • Accept with minor revisions
  • Accept with major revisions
  • Reject with the option to resubmit
  • Reject

In situations where the referees disagree substantially about the quality of work, there are several strategies for reaching a decision. When the editor receives positive and negative reviews for the same manuscript, the board will solicit one or more additional reviews as a tie-breaker. In the case of ties, the board may invite authors to reply to a referee's criticisms and permit a compelling rebuttal to break the tie. Suppose the editor does not feel confident in weighing the persuasiveness of a rebuttal. In that case, the board may solicit a response from the referee who made the original criticism. In rare instances, the board will convey communications between an author and a referee, thereby allowing them to debate on a point. Even in such a case, however, the board does not allow referees to confer with each other, and the goal of the process is explicitly not to reach a consensus or to convince anyone to change his/ her opinions.

Comments
RMRJ welcomes the submission of comments on previous articles. Comments on articles previously published in the journal will generally be reviewed by two reviewers, usually an author of the original article (to assist the editor in evaluating whether the submitted comment represents the previous article's accuracy) and an independent reviewer. The original author will be invited to reply if a comment is accepted for publication. All other editorial requirements, as enumerated above, apply to proposed comments.

Transparency
RMRJ makes it a point of adhering to COPE's Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and we encourage our publishing partners to do the same.

Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Publication Frequency and Fee
The publication of the RMRJ is bi-annual. Article submission is completely free. Every article published is free of any processing or publishing fees.

Turnaround Time
The time it takes to publish a submitted paper can range from four months to one year. This timeline depends on peer reviewers' availability and authors' timely revisions and document submissions.

Sponsor and Source of Support
The RMRJ is sponsored and funded by the Center for Policy, Research, and Development Studies of the University of San Jose-Recoletos; contact number 032-2537900 loc. 244; Email: recoletos_journal@usjr.edu.ph

RMRJ History
CHED memo no. 46 series of 2012 plays a pivotal role in the creation of the Recoletos Multidisciplinary Research Journal (RMRJ). The said memorandum stipulated that for universities to attain its mandate, they should have faculty members "participate in research and development activities in their respective discipline as evidenced by refereed publications and other scholarly outputs" (CHED memo no. 46, 2012, sec, 23.3).

The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR) responded to this memo with alacrity. The initial meeting for this purpose was then realized in the middle of 2012, with former CHED Commissioner, Dr. Roberto Padua, who then accepted the position as mentor and consultant of the university's enabling research program. The rest of 2012 was spent on the drafting of the MOA between the consultant and the university, as well as the training design and guidelines that will be adopted. 

In January 2013, an orientation on the Capability-Building and Research Productivity Enhancement Program was conducted at Fr. Blas Hall, with participating researchers from different colleges/schools.  Dr. Juanito Aliño, Jr., the director of the Center for Policy, Research, and Development Studies (CPRDS), read the rationale of the program and the role of the researchers in retaining the university status of USJR. There were fifteen researchers who composed batch 1 of the research enabling program.

On February 20-22, 2013, the first training session with Dr. Padua commenced. This training was conducted together with a private higher education institution (HEI). The succeeding months saw the joint research training of researchers from USJ-R and from other HEIs in Cebu. The research outputs from this training necessitated a venue for faculty publication. Hence, the Adelante Research Journal came about as an enthusiastic and alacritic response to such a need. The journal was ultimately named Recoletos Multidisciplinary Research Journal (RMRJ) and was granted category B by CHED in September 2013.

Vol.1.1 https://rmrj.usjr.edu.ph/rmrj/index.php/RMRJ/issue/view/11, has 11 articles from batch 1 researchers from different schools/colleges, CPRDS staff, and guest authors:

School of Arts and Science
Mr. Joey Estorosos                                          Mr. Virgilio C. Lumayno Jr.
Mr. Wilfred Rios                                               Mr. Roberto M. Cabardo
Mrs. Sandy V. Chua                                         Engr. Ma. Teresa Barola

Center for Religious Education              School of Education
Mrs. Jessica M. Avenido                               Ms. Helmae N. Etulle

School of Business and Management   School of Allied and Medical Sciences
Ms. Kristine June Uy                                       Mr. Melvin R. de Castro
Ms. Rosario L. Cabillada                                 Mr. Tonette M. Villanueva
Mr. Chris Naval
Mrs. Elena Camilo

School of Engineering                                School of Computer Studies
Engr. Efren O. Barabat                                   Ms. Joan Lou Marie M. Reyes
Engr. Randy K. Salazar

The editorial staff of RMRJ's maiden issue was composed of the following persons:
Dr. Agnes Sequino                           - Editor-in-chief
Dr. Juanito alino, Jr.                          - Managing editor
Dr. Brian Vasquez                            - Associate editor
Dr. Glenn Pajares                             - Associate editor
Mr. Le Roy Gerald Sarchez             - Editorial supporting staff
Mr. Jesse Susada                              - Editorial supporting staff
Ms. Mila Baclayon                           - Editorial supporting staff
Mr. Mark Borres                               - Editorial supporting staff

Vol. 1.2 of the RMRJ was dedicated to research on Fractal Modelling. It was recognized and awarded by CHED as one of the Category A journals in  August 2014.  The second semester of 2014-2015 paved the way for changes in the editorial board. Dr. Jessica Magallon-Avenido assumed the post of the journal's managing editor, and eight associate editors from Japan, Nigeria, India, and the USA were added to the Editorial board.  RMRJ's primary emphasis on quality publication is evidenced in the steps taken by the new set of Editorial board leading to the journal being indexed in Google Scholar, being awarded as a CHED Journal Incubation Program (JIP) grantee in August 2017, and the journal's inclusion in the ASEAN Citation Index (ACI) in November 2017.

With the adoption of the Open Journal System (OJS) in 2017, all articles published in RMRJ and the entire publication process are now made available online. 

RMRJ's next step is ensuring the visibility of quality publications. She got indexed in CROSSREF and in the Philippine E-Journals (PEJ) in  2018. The constant quest for excellence ushered in the onboarding in 2019 of Dr. Nilo Bugtai as Editor in Chief and the associate editors who are authorities in their field of expertise. In 2020, the migration of health and health-related papers to Herdin PLUS  was started. RMRJ became part of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Visayas Mindanao Consortium for Journal Publication, Inc. (VMCJPI) in  2021.  The journal has also been added to the list of the Andrew Gonzalez Philippines Citation Index in the early part of 2022.  

On August 28, 2022, RMRJ achieved another milestone. The journal has been accepted for Scopus, the world's largest and one of the two most widely-used citation databases. Through the Scopus Title Evaluation Team, the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) approved RMRJ's inclusion in Scopus. With this feat, USJR joins UP System, ADMU, DLSU Manila, UST, and USTP as the only Philippine-based universities with Scopus-indexed journals.

The journal continues to dedicate itself to the quality conversation in the different fields of endeavor. We invite you to join us in this ongoing conversation.  

Adelante!