About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Al-Musannif is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the advancement of education research, particularly within Islamic and community-based educational contexts. The journal publishes original research articles, theoretical studies, and evidence-based educational practices that foster scholarly dialogue among researchers, educators, policymakers, and practitioners across Indonesia and internationally.
The journal welcomes interdisciplinary studies in education, including but not limited to:

Peer Review Process

Al-Musannif implements a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure the quality, originality, and academic integrity of all published manuscripts. In this process, the identities of both authors and reviewers are concealed throughout the review procedure.
Each submitted manuscript is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise in the field. The review process is conducted objectively and focuses on the manuscript’s originality, methodological rigor, scholarly contribution, clarity of presentation, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

Editorial Review Process
The editorial workflow consists of the following stages:

1. Initial Screening: The Editorial Team evaluates the manuscript’s suitability with the journal’s focus and scope, writing quality, formatting, and compliance with submission guidelines.
2. Similarity Check: All manuscripts are screened using plagiarism detection software to ensure academic originality and ethical publication standards.
3. Reviewer Assignment: Manuscripts that pass the initial evaluation are assigned to at least two reviewers through a double-blind review process.
4. Peer Review: Reviewers assess the scientific quality, originality, methodology, theoretical contribution, references, and overall academic merit of the manuscript.
5. Author Revision: Authors are required to revise the manuscript based on reviewers’ and editors’ comments before further consideration.
6. Final Decision: The Editor-in-Chief makes the final publication decision based on reviewers’ recommendations and the quality of the revised manuscript.

Editorial Decisions
Based on the reviewers’ evaluations, the editorial decision may be:

• Accept Submission
• Minor Revisions Required
• Major Revisions Required
• Reject Submission

Estimated Review Timeline

• Initial editorial decision: approximately 1–2 weeks
• Peer review process: approximately 4–8 weeks
• Final publication decision: approximately 8–12 weeks after submission, depending on the revision process and reviewers’ availability.

Final acceptance decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief based on reviewer comments, significance of the contribution, and compliance with ethical publishing standards. 

Open Access Policy

Al-Musannif is a fully open-access journal that provides immediate and unrestricted access to all published content, based on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
All articles published in this journal are freely accessible to readers worldwide without subscription or payment. Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full texts, or use the articles for any lawful purpose without prior permission from the publisher or the authors, provided that proper attribution is given to the original work.
This policy is in accordance with the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Al-Musannif is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal follows the principles, best practices, and ethical guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics for editors, reviewers, authors, and publishers. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to uphold ethical scholarly conduct and support the integrity of academic publishing.

Duties of Editors
Editors are responsible for evaluating submitted manuscripts solely on the basis of academic merit, originality, relevance, clarity, and contribution to the field of education research without discrimination based on race, gender, nationality, institutional affiliation, religious belief, or political perspective.
Editors must:

• Ensure a fair, objective, and confidential peer review process.
• Maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and reviewer identities.
• Avoid conflicts of interest in editorial decision-making.
• Ensure that all manuscripts undergo proper peer review and ethical evaluation.
• Take appropriate action regarding ethical concerns, complaints, or allegations of misconduct.
• Make publication decisions based on reviewers’ recommendations, scholarly merit, and compliance with ethical publishing standards.

Duties of Reviewers
Reviewers contribute to the quality, credibility, and scholarly integrity of the journal through objective academic evaluation.
Reviewers are expected to:

• Conduct reviews objectively, fairly, and professionally.
• Maintain confidentiality of all manuscripts under review.
• Provide constructive, evidence-based, and timely feedback to authors and editors.
• Identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors.
• Inform editors of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript and previously published works.
• Declare any conflicts of interest that may influence their evaluation.

Duties of Authors
Authors must ensure that submitted manuscripts represent original scholarly work and have not been published or simultaneously submitted elsewhere.
Authors are required to:

• Submit only original, unpublished work that is not under review by another journal.
• Submit accurate, authentic, and reliable research findings.
• Properly acknowledge all sources through appropriate citation and referencing practices.
• Ensure that all listed authors have significantly contributed to the research and manuscript preparation.
• Participate actively in the peer review and revision process.
• Disclose all funding sources and potential conflicts of interest.
• Avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, and redundant publication.
• Retain research data and provide supporting materials when requested for editorial review.
  Promptly notify the editor of significant errors discovered in their published work.

Conflict of Interest
Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal relationships that could influence or bias the publication process.
Potential conflicts of interest may include:

• Financial support or funding,
• Employment or institutional affiliation,
• Personal relationships,
• Academic competition,
• Intellectual or ideological interests.

All conflicts of interest must be declared transparently to maintain the integrity and credibility of scholarly publishing.

Research Misconduct
Al-Musannif does not tolerate any form of research or publication misconduct. Research misconduct includes:

• Plagiarism,
• Self-plagiarism,
• Data fabrication,
• Data falsification,
• Citation manipulation,
• Duplicate or redundant publication,
• Improper authorship attribution,
• Misrepresentation of research findings.

Any allegation of misconduct will be investigated seriously in accordance with COPE guidelines. Manuscripts found to violate ethical standards may be rejected, corrected, retracted, or removed from publication.

Ethical Oversight
Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and institutional regulations.
Authors conducting studies involving human participants are expected to:

• Obtain informed consent from participants,
• Ensure participant confidentiality and privacy,
• Provide ethical approval information where applicable,
• Protect vulnerable groups, including children and marginalized communities,
• Conduct research responsibly and ethically.

Research that violates ethical principles or human rights may be rejected by the journal.

Data Availability
Authors are encouraged to maintain transparency and reproducibility of research data.
Where appropriate, authors should:

• Provide data availability statements,
• Retain raw data and supporting materials,
• Share research data upon reasonable request,
• Ensure that shared data does not violate privacy or ethical protections.

Editors may request supporting data during the review or post-publication process for verification purposes.

Complaints and Appeals
Al-Musannif provides a mechanism for handling complaints and appeals related to editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, or alleged misconduct.
Authors, reviewers, or readers may submit complaints or appeals to the Editorial Office through the official journal contact.
The journal will:

• Evaluate complaints objectively and confidentially,
• Follow COPE recommendations in resolving disputes,
• Allow authors to appeal editorial decisions with reasonable justification,
• Take corrective actions when necessary.

The final decision regarding complaints, appeals, or ethical disputes rests with the Editor-in-Chief.

Advertising Policy

Al-Musannif does not currently accept or display commercial advertisements on its website or within published articles. Editorial decisions are made independently and are not influenced by commercial or financial interests.
Any future advertising, sponsorship, or promotional activities will be clearly distinguished from editorial content and will not affect the journal’s editorial integrity, peer review process, or publication decisions.

Author Guidelines

Manuscripts may be written in English or Indonesian and must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). Manuscripts should be 7,000–9,000 words in length, formatted on A4 paper, single-column layout, Times New Roman 12 pt, and 1.15 line spacing.
Manuscripts must be structured as follows:

Publication Frequency

Al-Musannif publishes two issues per year — in June and December — with a minimum of 5 articles published per issue.

Copyright Notice

The copyright of all published articles is transferred to and held by Al-Musannif as the copyright holder and publisher of the journal. Authors retain their moral rights, including the right to be identified and acknowledged as the original creators of their scholarly works.
Al-Musannif grants authors a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, and perpetual right to use, reproduce, share, distribute, and self-archive their published articles without obtaining prior permission from the journal. Authors may deposit or republish the published version of their articles (Version of Record) on personal websites, institutional repositories, digital libraries, academic platforms, and other scholarly repositories, provided that the original publication in Al-Musannif is properly acknowledged and a link to the published article or its DOI is provided.
All articles published in Al-Musannif are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, reproduction, and adaptation in any medium or format, including commercial use, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), the copyright and license notices are retained, a link to the license is provided, and any modifications are indicated. Authors and other users are not required to obtain additional permission from Al-Musannif for any use permitted under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Author Fees

Authors are not required to pay any submission fees or review fees for manuscript submission and peer-review processes. However, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors will be required to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) of IDR 1,000,000 to support the editorial management, production, and online publication of the article.

Plagiarism and Generative AI Policy

Al-Musannif uses Turnitin similarity detection software to screen all submitted manuscripts for plagiarism and publication misconduct. The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or duplicate publication. Authors are required to submit original work and properly acknowledge all sources through appropriate citation and quotation practices. Submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be provided.

Similarity Screening Process
All submissions undergo an initial editorial screening, including manual checks of citation practices and similarity detection using Turnitin. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 20% may be rejected prior to peer review, depending on the nature and extent of the overlap. The similarity index is used as an initial screening indicator and shall not be treated as conclusive evidence of plagiarism. Editorial decisions will consider the nature, source, extent, and context of textual overlap.

Generative AI Policy
AI cannot be listed as an author. Authors remain fully responsible for all content, including AI-assisted content. All AI-generated material must be reviewed, verified, and approved by the authors.

Permissible uses (with disclosure): grammar and language refinement, drafting support for non-critical sections, brainstorming, literature summarization, and data visualization assistance.

Violations of this policy may result in manuscript rejection, article retraction, or banning from future submissions.

Retraction and Correction (R&C) Policy 

Al-Musannif is committed to maintaining the integrity, transparency, and quality of scholarly publications. Every manuscript published in this journal has undergone editorial screening and peer-review processes carefully. However, in certain circumstances, published articles may require correction, retraction, replacement, or removal to uphold academic ethics and the reliability of the scientific record.
This policy refers to the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and is implemented to ensure that all publication processes are conducted responsibly and professionally.

Article Retraction
Al-Musannif may retract a published article if:

• There is clear evidence that the findings or conclusions are unreliable, either due to research misconduct (such as data fabrication or falsification) or honest errors (such as miscalculation or methodological mistakes).
• The article has been previously published elsewhere without proper acknowledgment, permission, or valid justification (redundant publication).
• The article contains plagiarism or violates publication ethics.
• There are significant issues related to authorship or unethical research practices.

The retraction process includes:

1. Concerns regarding a published article are reported to the Editor.
2. The Editor evaluates the case in accordance with COPE guidelines and may request clarification from the author(s).
3. The Editorial Team may consult reviewers or editorial board members when necessary.
4. A final decision regarding retraction is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
5. If retracted, the article will remain accessible online with a clear retraction notice attached to preserve the scholarly record.

Article Correction
Al-Musannif may publish corrections when:

• A minor portion of an otherwise reliable article contains inaccurate or misleading information.
• Errors are identified in author names, affiliations, or contributor information.
• Additional clarification is necessary to improve the accuracy of the publication.

Corrections may be issued in the form of:

• Erratum: correction of errors introduced during the publishing process.
• Corrigendum: correction of errors made by the author(s).
• Addendum: additional information or clarification related to the published article.

The decision to publish a correction is determined by the Editor based on the significance of the issue and its impact on the publication record.

Article Removal
In exceptional circumstances, an article may be removed from the journal website if:

• The content violates legal rights or is defamatory.
• The article is subject to a court order or legal restriction.
• The content poses a serious risk to public health or safety if acted upon.

In such cases, the article metadata will remain available, while the full text will be replaced with a notice explaining the reason for removal.

Article Replacement
If a published article contains serious errors that may significantly affect readers or researchers, the journal may allow the publication of a corrected version. In this situation:

• The original article will be retracted.
• A corrected and republished version may be provided.
• A clear publication history and linkage between both versions will be maintained.

Through this policy, Al-Musannif strives to ensure ethical publication practices and preserve the credibility of academic scholarship.

Archiving Policy

Al-Musannif is committed to ensuring the long-term preservation and accessibility of its published scholarly content. The journal supports digital preservation through the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system and the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN).
Al-Musannif provides a LOCKSS Publisher Manifest through its Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, allowing authorized preservation networks and participating libraries to collect and preserve published journal content.
The journal's LOCKSS Publisher Manifest is publicly accessible at:
LOCKSS Publisher Manifest – Al-Musannif

Indexing and Abstracting

Al-Musannif is officially indexed and abstracted in several reputable databases, including DOAJ, Index Copernicus International, Garuda (Garba Rujukan Digital), and Dimensions, to ensure wider visibility and accessibility of published research.