Journal Policy

The Indonesian Journal of Defence, Security and Strategic Studies is an international, double-anonymous peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal dedicated to advancing scholarly research and critical debate in defence, military affairs, security, and strategic studies.

The journal is committed to academic excellence, editorial independence, research integrity, transparency, responsible use of emerging technologies, and internationally recognized standards of scholarly publishing. This Journal Policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, guest editors, and other parties involved in the publication process.

1. Journal Scope and Academic Positioning

The journal publishes scholarly work addressing defence, military, security, and strategic affairs, particularly in relation to Indonesia and its regional and international contexts.

The journal welcomes theoretical, empirical, comparative, methodological, and interdisciplinary research that contributes to scholarly debates and advances knowledge in its field.

Manuscripts must demonstrate a clear academic contribution and meaningful engagement with relevant literature, theories, concepts, evidence, and/or methodological approaches.

2. Publication Frequency

The journal is published four times a year, in February, May, August, and November.

The journal may publish Special Issues in addition to its regular quarterly issues when a focused thematic area is considered academically significant and consistent with the journal's scope.

Special Issues are subject to the same editorial, peer review, research integrity, and publication ethics standards as regular issues.

3. Types of Publications

The journal primarily accepts the following types of scholarly contributions:

a. Original Research Articles

Original Research Articles present novel theoretical, empirical, methodological, or conceptual contributions based on systematic research.

Research articles should normally include a clear research problem or question, engagement with relevant literature, appropriate methodology or analytical framework, presentation and analysis of evidence or findings, discussion, and conclusions.

b. Review Articles

Review Articles provide a systematic, critical, and analytical synthesis of existing scholarship on a significant topic within the journal's scope.

Review articles should go beyond descriptive summaries and demonstrate a clear analytical contribution, identify developments or gaps in the literature, and where appropriate propose directions for future research.

c. Other Scholarly Contributions

The journal may consider other scholarly contributions, including conceptual or theoretical papers, methodological articles, research notes, policy-oriented scholarly analyses, and book reviews, subject to editorial approval and the journal's capacity.

The acceptance of a particular contribution type is determined by the Editorial Board and does not guarantee publication.

The journal may revise, add, or discontinue publication types when necessary to maintain academic quality and alignment with its editorial mission.

4. Originality and Exclusive Submission

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original and must not have been published previously in substantially the same form or be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Authors must disclose any prior dissemination or related publications, including conference papers, preprints, working papers, reports, theses, dissertations, book chapters, datasets, or other outputs that substantially overlap with the submitted manuscript.

The journal does not accept duplicate or redundant publications.

5. Language Policy

The journal accepts manuscripts written in English.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are written in clear, accurate, and academically appropriate language.

Language quality does not replace scholarly quality, and the use of professional language-editing services does not influence editorial decisions.

6. Peer Review Policy

All eligible manuscripts are subject to editorial screening and, where appropriate, double-anonymous peer review by independent reviewers with relevant expertise.

The peer review process is governed by the journal's Peer Review Policy. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly quality, originality, methodological rigour, relevance, and contribution to the field.

The journal does not guarantee acceptance based on an author's institutional affiliation, academic status, nationality, or any external recommendation.

7. Research and Publication Ethics

The journal is committed to maintaining high standards of research and publication integrity.

Authors, reviewers, and editors must comply with the journal's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, including requirements relating to:

  • authorship and contributorship;

  • plagiarism and text recycling;

  • research misconduct;

  • conflicts of interest;

  • ethical oversight;

  • peer review confidentiality;

  • data integrity;

  • duplicate or redundant publication;

  • corrections and retractions; and

  • post-publication concerns.

The journal follows internationally recognized principles of publication ethics, including relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

8. Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI Policy

The journal recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI technologies may be used as research or writing-support tools. However, their use must not compromise research integrity, originality, transparency, confidentiality, or accountability.

8.1 Authorship

AI tools, including generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts published by the journal.

Authorship requires human responsibility for the research and publication, including responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, interpretation, and ethical conduct of the work.

8.2 Permitted Use

Authors may use AI-assisted tools for legitimate purposes such as:

  • language improvement and grammar correction;

  • translation or language assistance;

  • organization or formatting of text;

  • brainstorming or development of research ideas;

  • assistance with coding or computational tasks;

  • data analysis support where appropriate and verifiable; and

  • other research-support activities that do not replace scholarly judgment or accountability.

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to the journal.

8.3 Disclosure of AI Use

Where AI or generative AI tools have materially contributed to the development, analysis, or preparation of a manuscript, authors should disclose the nature and extent of such use in accordance with the journal's Author Guidelines.

The disclosure should identify, where relevant:

  • the AI tool or system used;

  • the purpose for which it was used;

  • the stage of the research or manuscript preparation in which it was used; and

  • the nature of the contribution made by the tool.

Routine use of basic spelling, grammar, or formatting tools does not normally require a separate disclosure unless the journal specifically requests it.

8.4 Author Responsibility

Authors remain responsible for verifying all AI-assisted content.

Authors must ensure that AI tools do not introduce:

  • fabricated or inaccurate information;

  • nonexistent or misleading references;

  • unattributed material;

  • plagiarism or inappropriate text reuse;

  • distorted research findings;

  • discriminatory or biased content;

  • undisclosed conflicts of interest; or

  • breaches of confidentiality or data protection.

AI-generated citations and references must be independently verified by the authors.

8.5 Confidentiality

Authors and reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts, unpublished research data, personal information, or other restricted material to publicly accessible or third-party AI systems where doing so could compromise confidentiality, intellectual property, privacy, or the integrity of the peer review process.

Reviewers must not use generative AI tools to evaluate or summarize confidential manuscripts unless explicitly authorized by the journal and consistent with applicable confidentiality requirements.

8.6 AI-Generated Images, Data, and Other Content

The use of generative AI to create images, data, figures, tables, analytical results, or other substantive research content must be transparently disclosed and must comply with applicable copyright, research integrity, and ethical requirements.

AI-generated or AI-manipulated content must not be presented as authentic research evidence.

The journal may request additional information concerning the provenance, methodology, or verification of AI-assisted materials.

8.7 Editorial Use of AI

Editors may use appropriate technological tools to assist administrative or editorial processes, provided that such use does not compromise confidentiality, editorial independence, or fairness.

AI systems do not make final editorial or peer review decisions. Final decisions remain the responsibility of qualified human editors.

9. Data and Research Transparency

Authors are expected to maintain appropriate research records and provide sufficient methodological information to allow readers and other researchers to understand and, where possible, assess the research.

Where legally, ethically, and practically permissible, authors are encouraged to make relevant datasets, research materials, analytical procedures, or other supporting resources available.

For research involving defence, intelligence, security, or other sensitive information, authors must comply with applicable laws and institutional requirements concerning classified, restricted, confidential, or personally identifiable information.

10. Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and guest editors must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence the research, review, or editorial decision.

Editors and reviewers must recuse themselves when a conflict could reasonably compromise their impartiality.

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication; rather, the journal assesses whether the conflict can be appropriately managed and transparently reported.

11. Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose sources of financial or institutional support for the research where applicable.

Where relevant, authors should indicate whether the funder had a role in:

  • research design;

  • data collection;

  • analysis;

  • interpretation;

  • manuscript preparation; or

  • the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

12. Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their published work in accordance with the journal's copyright policy.

Published articles are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence unless otherwise stated.

Authors are responsible for obtaining appropriate permission for third-party copyrighted material included in their manuscripts.

13. Open Access Policy

The journal provides immediate and free access to its published articles in accordance with its Open Access Policy.

The journal supports the broad dissemination and responsible reuse of scholarly knowledge while maintaining appropriate attribution and respect for copyright and licensing conditions.

14. Article Processing Charges

Any Article Processing Charge (APC), submission fee, or other publication-related charge applicable to authors shall be clearly stated on the journal website before manuscript submission.

Editorial decisions and peer review outcomes must not be influenced by an author's ability or inability to pay publication-related charges.

If the journal does not charge authors any publication fee, this shall be clearly stated in the journal's APC and Fee Policy.

15. Advertising and Commercial Influence

The journal maintains editorial independence from commercial interests.

Advertising, sponsorship, institutional support, or other financial relationships must not influence editorial decisions, peer review, or the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.

16. Complaints and Appeals

Authors and other stakeholders may submit complaints or appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review, publication procedures, or publication ethics.

Complaints and appeals are handled according to the journal's established procedures and are assessed fairly, confidentially, and objectively.

17. Corrections and Retractions

The journal maintains the integrity of the published scholarly record and may publish corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions when necessary.

Editorial actions concerning published articles are taken in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement and applicable publication ethics guidance.

18. Special Issues

Special Issues may be proposed by the Editorial Board, guest editors, or qualified scholars.

All manuscripts submitted to a Special Issue must undergo the same standards of editorial assessment and peer review as manuscripts submitted to regular issues.

Guest editors must disclose conflicts of interest and must not provide preferential treatment to manuscripts based on personal, institutional, professional, or other relationships.

The Editor-in-Chief retains ultimate responsibility for editorial decisions concerning Special Issues.

19. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently on the basis of scholarly merit.

The journal does not discriminate against authors based on nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, political views, religion, ethnicity, or other personal characteristics.

Neither the publisher, sponsors, authors, reviewers, guest editors, nor external organizations may improperly influence editorial decisions.

20. Policy Review and Updates

The Editorial Board periodically reviews the journal's policies to ensure that they remain consistent with developments in scholarly publishing, research integrity, technology, and international standards.

The journal may update its policies when necessary. Significant policy changes will be communicated through the journal website and applied transparently to relevant submissions.

This Journal Policy should be read together with the journal's Focus and Scope, Author Guidelines, Peer Review Policy, Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, Plagiarism Prevention Policy, Copyright and Licensing Policy, Open Access Policy, and Correction and Retraction Policy.