Category Archives: Latest Publication

Ooi Keat Gin, Editor-in-Chief, Int. Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS).

First and foremost I would like to wish a Happy New Year to each and every one of you. May the year 2013 bring prosperity, happiness and health to you and your loved ones.

2012 has been an exciting year for the journal with a number of major milestones achieved. In July 2012, we rolled out a new website with enhancement on both front-end and back-end features. This new website was especially designed to help maximise content discovery through the Internet, in particular, search engines.

To cultivate enrichment of the journal’s contents, a new section, called Scholarly Viewpoints was inaugurated in the June 2012 that puts into perspective opinions of senior scholars in their areas of expertise and beyond.

A mobile version website was also released in November that allowed users to have seamless access to the journal’s website from major, network-enabled smart phones. Thereafter there was the release of beta live support that facilitates real time chat between website visitors and the site administrator.

We are extremely excited to embrace the year 2013 and to attain new milestones. We have lined up plans and strategies to take the journal into a new level such as making its contents available on mobile app market including App Store and Google Play.

To all our authors, your contribution is much appreciated. We very much value your time and effort in creating quality publications and enriching the global scholarly community. We would be delighted to hear updates of your latest works and research undertakings, and we highly welcome more manuscript submissions from you.

To all our reviewers, we expressed our gratitude for your efforts in facilitating the journal’s avowed mission in streamlining publications of the highest scholarship. Your assistance has indeed been exceedingly helpful in contributing to our decision-making process with regards to submitted manuscripts. We hope of receive your continual support in the near future. Moreover we take this opportunity to welcome your manuscript contribution.

Warm appreciation is extended to our editorial board members who have been generous in recommending ways to develop and uplift the journal to greater heights of excellence.

Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Professor Ooi Keat Gin
Editor-in-Chief, Int. Journal of Asia Pacific Studies

How to promote journal articles

Promoting your journal article is imperative to maximise the exposure, enhance the discoverability and increase engagement with readers and other academics. Together with the publisher, as an author, you can help to promote your newly published articles via the following:

Institutional webpage.
Provide the link of your latest article in your institutional website. The webpage visitors who view your profile will be able to see your latest research and publications.

Social media.
The rise of the social media has also profoundly affected the publishing fraternity. More and more users have chosen the social media platforms as a way of sharing. Social media sharing helps foster convenient dissemination of information, which can be achieved within a short time. You can share your article in major online social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on.

Utilise scholarly networking and reference platforms.
A scholarly or academic networking platforms such as Academia.edu, MyNetResearch, ResearchGate, Mendeley and so on are indeed useful as they help bring scholars of common areas of expertise close together.

Press Releases.
If your article involves a new, significant or important discovery, consider linking up with media organisations for a press release. This brings your work to the mainstream media.

Blog.
If you keep a personal blog, you can get your blog readers updated with the list of your most recently published articles and the development in your area of research. Linking your article in your personal blog can vastly enhance the discoverability. Discuss briefly about the article and how the users might benefit from it.

Add to reading list or assignment.
Add your article (or the journal your article is published) as essential reading to your students. You may also create related assignments, e.g. review of the article, or have them discussed about the write up in class.

Add to your signature.
Announce your latest publication underneath your signature. Provide a link where the article can be downloaded/viewed.

We are delighted to announce the release of the journal’s mobile website (version 1.0), which will make website browsing  using a smart phone a smooth experience. This mobile version website is available for access with major smart phone models.

The newly-launched “mini” version site aims to showcase the most essential essence of the journal’s website—its rich contents—to on-the-move readers.

IJAPS mobile version site works with most mobile operating systems, including iOS, Android, Windows and Symbian, etc., across a wide range of phone models, providing readers with a user friendly, light and easy browsing experience.

[Note: Tablet-sized mobile OS e.g., iPad and Galaxy Tab will still show the full desktop version due to better experience in full form.]

How does it work?

Through the mobile phone browser, users can visit the usual IJAPS URL.

No configuration is required at the user’s end as the website back-end system intuitively detects presence of mobile browser and strips off the web drop-down menu into a responsive, clean text-based-navigation style.

Also, users who wish to revert to the original desktop site can do so through a click of a button.

For maximised reading experience, users can integrate the use of cloud-based storage and notes service providers (e.g., Dropbox, Goodreads, Evernote, DocsToGo, etc.) to save their favourite contents and download for later read.

The Asia Pacific Research Unit (APRU) is proud to announce its upcoming Eminent Scholar Series 2012, featuring a talk by Professor Dr Hans-Dieter Evers.

Event details:

Date: 8 November 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 10am-12pm
Venue: Meeting Room II, Building C-20, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
Speaker: Professor Dr Hans-Dieter Evers. Centre for Policy Research & International Studies (CenPRIS), Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Introduction: 

The South China Sea has attracted considerable attention among politicians, journalists and scholars since it has become a contested maritime space. Most works concentrate on conflicts and negotiations to resolve the ensuing issues. In this paper a cultural theory will be applied to stress the importance of conceptions of space found in different cultures. The South China Sea is defined as “mediterranean”. By comparing it to other maritime spaces, like the Baltic and the Mediterranean Sea, lessons will be drawn from the “longue durée” of history, as analysed by French historian Fernand Braudel.

About the speaker:

Hans-Dieter Evers, emeritus Professor of Development Planning and Senior Fellow, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn (on leave) is Visiting Professor, Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS), Universiti Sains Malaysia. Professor Evers taught sociology at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; at Yale University, where he was also Director of Graduate Southeast Asia Studies; University of Singapore (Head of Department of Sociology); and Bielefeld University (Dean). He also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, the EHESS (Paris), Trinity College (Oxford), the University of Hawai’i, National University of Singapore, and as Eminent Visiting Professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

His current research is concerned with conceptions of space, maritime studies, knowledge clusters and ASEAN knowledge societies. He has published a large number of refereed journal articles and book chapters. He is co-editor of Beyond the Knowledge Trap: Developing Asia’s Knowledge-Based Economies (New Jersey: World Scientific 2011), The Straits of Malacca (Berlin: LIT 2008), Southeast Asian Urbanism: The Meaning and Power of Social Space (Singapore: ISEAS/McGrawHill 2000; translated as Urbanisme di Asia Tenggara. Makna dan Kekuasaan dalam Ruang-Ruang Sosial [Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 2002]).

About APRU

The Asia-Pacific Research Unit (APRU) of the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia undertake to run a series whereby prominent scholars from the humanities and social sciences are invited to participate in a programme that primarily aim at enhancing the university in the international scholarly community.

The APRU Eminent Scholar Series possesses manifold objectives calculate to benefit the various non-science schools and institutes in particular and the university in general. The Series seek to bring into contact internationally renowned scholars to interact with the university’s community.

 All are cordially welcome to this talk.

To know more about APRU’s activities, click here.

Submitting a manuscript to the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS) can be done through the journal’s online manuscript management system. Created in 2010, this system facilitates submissions, reviews and decision making process easily and conveniently.

Most processes and procedures in submitting the manuscript online are self explanatory. However, if you are a new author and wish to be guided in ensuring a smooth registration and submission process, please refer to the illustrated guidelines below:

To make your manuscript submission, go to IJAPS manuscript submission homepage. If you are submitting as a first time author, please register as a new user (through “Register here” link shown below).

Fill up all the required fields during the user registration process including names, email, address, user ID and password. Click “Finish” to complete your registration.

Once your account is created, log in to start making your submission.

Click “Author Center”.

You will reach author’s panel. You can now make a new manuscript submission using the link under the “Author Resources”, as illustrated below. Click the link highlighted in red.

Fill up all the required fields to continue proceeding to the next step. You may leave the optional fields blank. Once you are done on each page, click “Save and Continue”.

At step 5 of submission (figure below), all documents should be uploaded accurately and accordingly. These documents may include: Title Page, Main Document, Figures, Tables, etc. Note that figures and tables must be submitted separately from the text. Ensure that the correct File Designation is selected for each uploaded file.

During the review process, all of these documents will merge into one single document for the reviewer’s expedite. Since this is a blind-review journal, ensure that in each of the document uploaded, no details about you (the author) are disclosed. Click “Upload Files” when you are ready. Depending on file sizes, waiting time may vary.

If you need to edit, delete or replace files, you can do it at the next screen (figure below).

Here, you will also notice HTML and PDF buttons underneath. Each of these two buttons need to be clicked (once at a time) to create a corresponding HTML and PDF proofs. You will not be able to proceed to the next step without following this process.

If everything is in order, click “Save and Continue”. We are almost there.

You will view a summary of your submission process. To confirm your submission, click “Submit”.

Congratulations, your manuscript is now submitted!

In conjunction with the International Conferences on Chinese Food Culture  to be held in Yunnan, China on 15–20 October 2013, the organizers cordially invite submission of papers on the theme of Chinese Food in Tourism.

Subtopics:

Food Festival and Tourism • Aboriginal foods: adaptation in tourism market • Historic food: attraction or impediment • Slow food & agritourism • Authentic food and local specialties • Chinese drinks in cultural tourism • Restaurant industry and tourism market • Theme tourism: cooking class & culinary show • Tourist learning: communication and dissemination • Local street food/ market food and tourism •  Wine and food tourism • Food in travel programs • Tasting culture: The tourist fundamentals • Connoisseurs of foods: Comparing cuisine in everyday life and the tourist trade •

Details: 

• Abstract submission deadline: 30 November 2012
• Notification of acceptance: 15 January 2013
• Full paper submission deadline: 30 July 2013

Organizers: 

• Foundation of Chinese Dietary Culture
• Ethnic Group Studies Institute of Yunnan University
• Graduate Institute of Taiwan Food Culture, NKUHT
• Institute of Ethnology, Academica Sinica (Co-organizer)

Contacts: 

• Phone: 886 (02) 2503-1111 ext. 5620
• Email: fcdc@mercuries.com.tw
• Website
• Official brochure: Click the image below for full size image brochure.

We are pleased to announce that the latest issue of the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), Volume 8, Number 2 is now published and all articles are accessible and available for download.

This latest issue comprises three main sections: A. Themed Issue on Food and Asia, guest edited by Nicole Tarulevicz of the University of Tasmania, Australia (consisting five articles from five different authors); B. Featured Articles (two articles); C. Book Review; and D. Scholarly Viewpoints.

The Scholarly Viewpoints is the latest section by the journal, introduced to showcase opinions, comments, ideas and viewpoints of prominent scholars on the Asia Pacific region pertaining to their respective academic discipline. The editorial is pleased to feature well-known scholar, Nicholas Tarling in the section’s maiden publication.

Details of the current issue publication are following (click the titles to go to respective article page):

A. Themed Issue on Food and Asia

1. Introduction – Never Just Food: Themed Issue on Food and Asia, by Nicole Tarulevicz (Guest Editor).
2. Shifting Perceptions of Instant Ramen in Japan During the High-growth Era, 1958–1973, by George Solt.
3. Faking It: Food Quality in China, by Kaz Ross.
4. “Let Lifeguard Milk Raise Your Child”: Gender, Food and Nation in Singapore’s Past, by Nicole Tarulevicz.
5. Contagious Consumption: Commodity Debates over the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century China Trade, by Kristin Bayer.
6. Food and Pollution in Two Films from Contemporary Japan, by Barbara Hartley.

• Book Review – Ibn Taymiyyah on Jihád and Baghy, by Timothy P. Daniels.

D. Scholarly Viewpoints

• Scholarly Viewpoints, featuring Nicholas Tarling.

The International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS) has published its Special Issue on Popular Culture in Asia in conjunction with the inaugural conference organised by the East Asian Popular Culture Association (EAPCA).

The conference was held at the Howard International House, Taipei, Taiwan from 1–4 September 2011 that saw close to 100 papers delivered by scholars from 18 different nations. Three prominent scholars also presented their talks as keynote speakers in lively and thoughtful sessions.

The current Special Issue is the third and final issue to be published by IJAPS for the year 2011. It comprises an introduction from John Bratzel, President of the Popular Culture Association, as well as four articles that include the following:

1. Kawaii in Taiwan Politics, by Yin C. Chuang.
2. Learning Bushido from Abroad: Japanese Reactions to The Last Samurai, by Jayson Chun.
3. Embracing Victimhood: A History of A-Bomb Manga in Japan, by Masashi Ichiki.
4. Ethnic Identity and Consumption of Popular Culture Among Young Naga People, India, by Satoshi Ota.

This Special Issue is guest edited by Dr. Yin C. Chuang of National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan.

On 16 March 2011, the Asia-Pacific Research Unit (APRU) welcomed Professor Gayl Ness to give a talk in the School of Humanities, USM.

Professor Ness is professor emeritus of Sociology at the University of Michigan and visiting professor in the School of Social Sciences, USM. He began work in Malaysia in 1961 under a post-doctoral research grant and has followed Malaysian development since. This resulted in “Bureaucracy and Rural Development in Malaysia 1968.” He now works broadly in the field of Population Growth, Economic Development and Environmental Impacts, focusing his work on Asia.

In his talk, “Reflections on the First Generation of Malaysian Leadership and a Reassessment of May 1969,” Professor Ness shared his thought and his first hand experience of observing the work of the the late Tun Abdul Razak  during the latter’s time as the Prime Minister.

Five major points have been presented in this lively talk, namely:

• The rise of ethnic politics and the happy occurrence of the Alliance
• The relationship between Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and his deputy, Tun Abdul Razak
• The extraordinary work of building a new independent government that mostly owed to the skill, diligence and vision or Tun Razak
• The impact of Konfrontasi on Malaysia’s leadership team
• Reassessment of 13 May 1969

We are grateful with Prof. Ness’ presence to share his wealth of experience, knowledge and wisdom. We look ahead to get acquainted again!

Note: Photos courtesy of the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia. 

All authors whose manuscript has been accepted for publication by the journal are required to fill up the Copyright Transfer Form and return back the form to the publisher.

The Copyright Transfer Form can be downloaded here.