Author Guidelines

The Indonesian Education Policy and Justice Review (IEPJR) welcomes original, rigorous, and ethically conducted scholarly contributions that examine the relationship between education, law, policy, governance, and justice, particularly in Indonesia and comparable educational contexts across the Global South.

Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts that make a clear theoretical, empirical, methodological, or policy contribution to international scholarship.

All submissions must comply with these Author Guidelines and the journal's applicable policies on publication ethics, plagiarism, authorship, research ethics, conflicts of interest, artificial intelligence, copyright, and open access.

1. Types of Manuscripts

IEPJR considers the following types of scholarly contributions:

1.1 Research Articles

Original empirical research based on qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, comparative, legal, policy, or interdisciplinary approaches.

Recommended length:

6,000–9,000 words, excluding references, tables, figures, and supplementary materials.

1.2 Review Articles

Systematic, scoping, integrative, critical, or theoretically informed reviews that provide a substantial contribution to understanding a field of research.

Recommended length:

6,000–9,000 words.

1.3 Conceptual and Theoretical Articles

Scholarly contributions that develop, critique, extend, or integrate theories and conceptual frameworks relevant to education policy, law, governance, and justice.

Recommended length:

5,000–8,000 words.

1.4 Policy and Legal Analysis

Rigorous analyses of education policies, legislation, regulations, judicial decisions, governance arrangements, institutional practices, or policy reforms.

Recommended length:

5,000–8,000 words.

1.5 Comparative and Global South Studies

Comparative studies examining Indonesia alongside other countries, jurisdictions, or educational systems, particularly where the comparison contributes to broader theoretical or policy debates.

2. Originality and Exclusivity

Manuscripts submitted to IEPJR must be original and unpublished.

By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that:

  • the manuscript has not been published previously in substantially the same form;

  • it is not currently under consideration by another journal;

  • all sources and intellectual contributions have been appropriately acknowledged;

  • all authors have approved the submitted version; and

  • the manuscript does not contain plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or other forms of research misconduct.

Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals is not permitted.

3. Language

IEPJR accepts manuscripts written in clear academic English.

Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript professionally proofread or reviewed by a competent English-language editor before submission.

Language editing does not influence editorial acceptance and does not guarantee publication.

4. Manuscript Structure

Authors should generally organize research articles according to the following structure:

Title

The title should be:

  • concise;

  • informative;

  • specific;

  • academically appropriate; and

  • accurately representative of the research.

Avoid unnecessary abbreviations, rhetorical expressions, and overly broad titles.

Abstract

The abstract should normally contain 200–250 words and clearly communicate:

  1. Background/Problem

  2. Purpose/Objectives

  3. Methods

  4. Key Findings

  5. Contribution/Implications

The abstract should be understandable independently of the main text and should not contain citations unless strictly necessary.

Keywords

Provide 4–6 keywords or key phrases.

Keywords should reflect the major concepts, populations, contexts, policies, legal issues, or theoretical approaches addressed by the article.

Introduction

The introduction should establish:

  • the research problem;

  • relevant scholarly context;

  • research gap;

  • significance of the study;

  • research objectives or questions; and

  • the contribution of the article.

Authors should make the international relevance of the research explicit, particularly where the study focuses on Indonesia or another specific national context.

Literature Review / Theoretical Framework

The manuscript should critically engage with relevant and sufficiently current scholarship.

The literature review should not merely summarize previous studies. It should demonstrate:

  • the state of existing knowledge;

  • significant debates or disagreements;

  • theoretical perspectives;

  • limitations in previous research; and

  • the specific gap addressed by the article.

Methodology

The methodology should provide sufficient information to allow readers to understand and critically assess the research.

Depending on the study, this may include:

  • research design;

  • research setting and context;

  • participants or data sources;

  • sampling procedures;

  • instruments;

  • data collection;

  • analytical procedures;

  • validity, reliability, or trustworthiness;

  • ethical approval;

  • informed consent; and

  • limitations.

For legal and policy research, authors should clearly identify the legal materials, policy documents, jurisdictions, analytical framework, and interpretive method used.

Results / Findings

Findings should be presented clearly and systematically.

Authors should distinguish empirical findings from interpretation and avoid unsupported claims.

Tables and figures should be used only where they materially improve understanding.

Discussion

The discussion should connect the findings to existing scholarship and theoretical debates.

Authors should explain:

  • what the findings mean;

  • how they relate to previous studies;

  • where they confirm, challenge, or extend existing knowledge;

  • theoretical implications;

  • policy or legal implications; and

  • broader relevance beyond the immediate research setting.

Conclusion

The conclusion should provide a concise synthesis of the major findings and contribution.

It should not simply repeat the abstract.

Where appropriate, authors should identify:

  • implications for policy and practice;

  • theoretical contributions;

  • limitations; and

  • directions for future research.

5. International Contribution

Because IEPJR serves an international scholarly audience, manuscripts focusing on Indonesia should explicitly explain why the findings matter beyond Indonesia.

Authors are encouraged to address at least one of the following:

  • contribution to international education policy debates;

  • relevance to other Global South contexts;

  • comparative implications;

  • theoretical contribution;

  • implications for education governance or law;

  • transferable methodological insights; or

  • broader implications for educational justice and equity.

A manuscript should not assume that international readers already understand Indonesia's institutional, political, legal, cultural, or educational context.

Relevant contextual information should therefore be provided where necessary.

6. Research Ethics

Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Where applicable, authors should provide information concerning:

  • ethics committee or institutional review board approval;

  • approval/reference number;

  • informed consent;

  • participant confidentiality;

  • privacy protection; and

  • other relevant safeguards.

The journal may request documentary evidence of ethical approval where appropriate.

Research involving vulnerable populations requires particular attention to informed consent, confidentiality, potential harm, and participant protection.

7. Authorship

Only individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript should be listed as authors.

All listed authors must:

  • approve the final manuscript;

  • agree to its submission;

  • contribute appropriately to the research or manuscript;

  • accept responsibility for their contribution; and

  • approve the final published version.

The journal does not accept ghost, guest, honorary, or fabricated authorship.

Any authorship change after submission requires appropriate justification and agreement from all affected authors.

8. Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest.

Conflicts may include:

  • financial interests;

  • employment;

  • consultancy;

  • institutional relationships;

  • personal relationships;

  • political or professional interests; or

  • other circumstances that could reasonably influence the research or its interpretation.

If no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

9. Funding Disclosure

All sources of financial or institutional support must be disclosed.

Authors should identify:

  • funding organization;

  • grant or project number, where applicable; and

  • the role of the funder in the research.

If the research received no external funding, authors should state:

This research received no external funding.

10. Data Availability

Authors are expected to report their data and research procedures transparently.

Where ethically and legally possible, authors are encouraged to make relevant datasets, instruments, coding materials, analytical procedures, or supplementary materials available through an appropriate repository.

Where data cannot be publicly shared, authors should provide an appropriate explanation, particularly where restrictions arise from:

  • participant confidentiality;

  • privacy;

  • ethical requirements;

  • legal restrictions;

  • contractual obligations; or

  • sensitive research materials.

11. Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts.

Generative AI tools must not be listed as authors.

AI tools may be used for appropriate purposes such as language assistance, coding support, or other legitimate research-support activities, provided that authors verify the resulting content.

Authors must not use AI to:

  • fabricate data;

  • fabricate references;

  • manipulate findings;

  • create misleading evidence;

  • conceal plagiarism;

  • impersonate authors or reviewers; or

  • process confidential or sensitive information inappropriately.

Where AI has been used substantively in manuscript preparation or research, authors must disclose such use according to the journal's Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI Policy.

12. Plagiarism and Similarity Screening

All manuscripts may undergo similarity screening.

IEPJR does not use a similarity percentage alone as an automatic determination of plagiarism.

Editors assess:

  • the source of overlap;

  • extent of overlap;

  • location of overlap;

  • nature of the material;

  • quality of attribution; and

  • scholarly context.

Authors should ensure that quotations, paraphrased ideas, data, figures, tables, and other intellectual contributions are properly attributed.

Serious or systematic plagiarism may result in manuscript rejection or, in the case of published articles, correction or retraction.

13. Citations and References

Authors must ensure that all sources cited in the manuscript are accurately represented in the reference list and vice versa.

Authors should:

  • cite original sources whenever possible;

  • avoid unnecessary citation manipulation;

  • verify bibliographic information;

  • provide DOI information where available;

  • avoid excessive self-citation; and

  • ensure that citations genuinely support the claims being made.

Authors should prioritize relevant, recent, and internationally accessible scholarship, while appropriately recognizing foundational and locally significant literature.

14. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures should:

  • be numbered consecutively;

  • have clear titles or captions;

  • be referred to in the main text;

  • contain accurate information;

  • identify the source where applicable; and

  • comply with applicable copyright requirements.

Authors must obtain permission for copyrighted third-party materials where required.

Figures should be of sufficient quality for publication.

15. Legal and Policy Materials

For manuscripts involving law and education policy, authors should provide sufficiently precise references to:

  • legislation;

  • regulations;

  • court decisions;

  • government policies;

  • official reports;

  • institutional documents; and

  • international legal instruments.

Legal and policy claims must be supported by appropriate primary or authoritative sources.

Authors should clearly distinguish between legal requirements, policy provisions, empirical evidence, and the author's interpretation.

16. Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit supplementary materials that enhance the transparency or usefulness of the article, including:

  • datasets;

  • research instruments;

  • interview protocols;

  • coding frameworks;

  • analytical materials;

  • appendices;

  • additional tables or figures; and

  • methodological documentation.

Supplementary materials must comply with the journal's ethical, copyright, privacy, and data-protection requirements.

17. Manuscript Formatting

Unless otherwise specified by the journal's submission system:

  • manuscript file: Microsoft Word (.docx);

  • page size: A4;

  • font: Times New Roman, 12 pt;

  • line spacing: 1.5;

  • text alignment: justified;

  • margins: 2.5 cm;

  • page numbers: included;

  • headings: clearly structured;

  • tables and figures: numbered consecutively; and

  • references: consistently formatted.

Authors should follow the journal's current reference and citation style as specified in the submission template.

18. Submission Files

Authors should normally prepare:

Main Manuscript

The anonymized manuscript should contain the title, abstract, keywords, main text, references, tables, figures, and other relevant scholarly content.

Title Page

The title page should contain:

  • manuscript title;

  • full names of all authors;

  • institutional affiliations;

  • ORCID iDs, where available;

  • corresponding author's email;

  • funding information;

  • conflict-of-interest statement; and

  • other required declarations.

The title page should be submitted separately where necessary to preserve double-anonymous peer review.

Supplementary Files

Additional files should be uploaded separately where applicable.

19. Double-Anonymous Peer Review

IEPJR uses double-anonymous peer review.

Authors must therefore ensure that the manuscript does not unnecessarily reveal their identities.

Authors should:

  • remove names and affiliations from the anonymized manuscript;

  • avoid acknowledgments that identify the authors;

  • anonymize self-references where necessary;

  • remove identifying metadata from the manuscript file; and

  • ensure that institutional or project information does not unnecessarily reveal authorship.

The editorial office will undertake an initial screening before the manuscript is sent for peer review.

20. Editorial Screening

Before peer review, manuscripts are assessed for:

  • fit with the journal's scope;

  • originality;

  • academic quality;

  • methodological adequacy;

  • ethical compliance;

  • plagiarism or problematic similarity;

  • basic manuscript completeness;

  • clarity of presentation; and

  • potential contribution to the journal's readership.

A manuscript may be rejected at the editorial screening stage if it falls substantially outside the journal's scope or does not meet minimum scholarly or ethical requirements.

21. Peer Review and Revision

Manuscripts that pass editorial screening are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers.

Authors may be asked to:

  • revise the manuscript;

  • provide additional methodological information;

  • clarify arguments;

  • address reviewer concerns;

  • provide ethical documentation; or

  • undertake additional analysis where justified.

A revised manuscript should include a point-by-point response to reviewers explaining how each substantive comment has been addressed.

Where the authors disagree with a reviewer, they should provide a reasoned scholarly explanation.

22. Publication Decision

Possible editorial decisions include:

  • Accept

  • Minor Revision

  • Major Revision

  • Reject and Resubmit

  • Reject

The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief or designated editor.

Acceptance is based on the scholarly and ethical quality of the manuscript and does not depend on payment of the Article Processing Charge.

23. Article Processing Charge

IEPJR operates under an open access publishing model.

The Article Processing Charge is:

IDR 5,000,000 (five million Indonesian Rupiah) per accepted article.

There is no submission fee.

The APC is payable only after formal acceptance.

Payment does not influence editorial decisions, peer review, or acceptance.

Eligible authors may request an APC waiver or discount in accordance with the journal's APC Policy.

24. Open Access and Licensing

IEPJR provides immediate open access to published articles.

Unless otherwise stated, articles are published under the:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

This license permits sharing and adaptation of the published work, including commercial reuse, provided that appropriate attribution is given and the applicable license conditions are respected.

Authors retain copyright in accordance with the journal's Copyright and Licensing Policy.

25. Publication Schedule

IEPJR publishes four regular issues annually:

  • March

  • June

  • September

  • December

The journal may also publish Special Issues addressing significant emerging or interdisciplinary topics within its scope.

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

26. Corrections and Retractions

Authors are expected to notify the journal promptly if they discover a significant error in their published article.

Depending on the nature and significance of the issue, the journal may publish:

  • a correction;

  • a clarification;

  • an Expression of Concern; or

  • a retraction.

These actions are undertaken in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics and Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern Policies.

27. Author Checklist

Before submission, authors should confirm that:

  • The manuscript fits the Focus and Scope of IEPJR.

  • The manuscript is original and is not under consideration elsewhere.

  • All authors have approved the manuscript.

  • Authorship accurately reflects contributions.

  • The manuscript has been checked for plagiarism and inappropriate overlap.

  • All sources have been properly cited.

  • References are complete and accurate.

  • Ethical approval is reported where applicable.

  • Informed consent requirements have been addressed where applicable.

  • Conflict of interest has been disclosed.

  • Funding information has been provided.

  • Data availability information has been provided where applicable.

  • AI use has been disclosed where applicable.

  • Copyright permissions have been obtained for third-party materials where required.

  • The manuscript has been prepared for double-anonymous peer review.

  • Tables and figures are appropriately labeled and sourced.

  • The manuscript follows the journal's formatting requirements.

  • The corresponding author has provided accurate contact information.

  • The authors understand that the APC is IDR 5,000,000 per accepted article.

Author Support

Questions concerning manuscript preparation, submission, publication ethics, or research integrity may be directed to the IEPJR Editorial Office through the official contact channel provided on the journal website.

Authors are encouraged to consult the relevant journal policies before submission, particularly:

Focus and Scope → Submission Guidelines → Peer Review Policy → Publication Ethics → Anti-Plagiarism Policy → Authorship Policy → AI Policy → Open Access Policy → Copyright & Licensing Policy → APC Policy.

IEPJR welcomes rigorous and ethically responsible scholarship that advances understanding of education policy, law, governance, and justice in Indonesia and comparable contexts across the Global South, while contributing meaningfully to international academic debates.