JOURNAL POLICIES

A. Peer-Review Process

All journals under the Program Pascasarjana Universitas Muhammadiyah use a single-blind peer-review system, where reviewers know the identity of authors, but authors do not know the identity of reviewers. The peer-review process ensures scientific quality, methodological rigor, and ethical compliance. Each journal clearly distinguishes between peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed content both online and in published issues. All submissions first undergo editorial screening for scope relevance, formatting compliance, plagiarism, ethical approval, completeness, and policy adherence before being sent to external reviewers.

Reviewer Independence and Selection Criteria

Reviewers must be qualified scholars or experts in the relevant field, and they must not belong to the editorial staff or have any conflict of interest with the manuscript. Conflicts include financial ties, institutional affiliation, close personal relationships, or recent collaboration with authors. Editors evaluate potential conflicts before inviting reviewers and may reassign manuscripts if conflicts arise.

Reviewer Responsibilities and Evaluation Scope

Reviewers are required to critically evaluate:

• methodological soundness and scientific validity,
• ethical approval and participant protection,
• accuracy of data, image integrity, and statistical transparency,
• significance, originality, and scholarly contribution,
• compliance with reporting guidelines (e.g., CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE, ARRIVE, CHEERS).

Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential, must not share or use content for personal advantage, and must recuse themselves when unqualified or biased.

Editorial Decision-Making and Independence

Editorial decisions are based solely on academic merit, research quality, and adherence to ethical and reporting standards. Financial relationships, institutional affiliations, sponsorship, and ability to pay publication fees must never influence acceptance. Peer review does not guarantee acceptance, accelerated decisions, or exemption from revisions. Editors may seek additional reviews or consultation, including statistical and ethical specialists, when needed.

Revisions, Appeals, and Further Review

If revisions are requested, authors must provide evidence-based responses. Revised manuscripts may undergo further review depending on the extent of changes. Appeals are permitted when authors provide clear justification that a decision was influenced by factual error or bias. Appeals do not guarantee reassessment and may result in additional review at the editor’s discretion.

Restrictions on AI Use in Peer Review

Reviewers and editors must not upload submission content to AI systems or external platforms for analysis, as this compromises confidentiality. AI tools must not interpret data, write reviews, extract information from manuscripts, or aid decision-making. Minor language polishing using AI is permitted only after the reviewer writes their original critique, and its use must not violate confidentiality. Violations may lead to reviewer removal and institutional notification.

B. Ownership and Management

All journals under the Program Pascasarjana of Universitas Muhammadiyah are transparently owned and managed by their respective academic unit within the postgraduate institution. Each journal clearly displays its publisher, institutional affiliation, and location on its official website, ensuring that authors, reviewers, and readers are never misled about the journal’s identity, purpose, or legal responsibility. The ownership declaration includes both the academic program and the university entity that holds publication rights.

Transparency in Stewardship and Accountability

The publisher assumes legal and administrative responsibility for the journal, including website maintenance, indexing agreements, copyright disclosure, digital preservation partnerships, and compliance with international ethical guidelines. The name of the publisher, hosting institution, and journal office address must be publicly available and accurate. The journal must not claim or imply false affiliations, indexing statuses, or partnerships for promotional gain.

Editorial Independence from Administration and Funding Influences

Although the publisher provides operational and financial support, it must not interfere with publication decisions. Editorial leadership, peer-review operations, manuscript acceptance or rejection, and ethical investigations are managed independently by the Editorial Board, free from pressure by funders, sponsors, advertisers, academic administrators, or research authors. Financial offices, sponsors, or institutional leadership must not influence editorial judgment, publication timelines, or author selection.

Governance Roles and Separation of Duties

The journal’s management structure clearly distinguishes academic, administrative, and technical responsibilities. Editorial roles include scholarly evaluation, peer review selection, ethics enforcement, publication decisions, and oversight of corrections and retractions. Administrative roles involve system maintenance, financial management (if applicable), archiving support, and workflow coordination. Technical roles include website development, metadata management, DOI registration, platform security, and indexing integration.

Individuals responsible for fees, sponsorship, institutional funding, or technical services must not influence reviewer selection, editorial judgments, acceptance decisions, or ethical investigations. Editors operate under strict academic independence and are accountable to ethical standards, not to financial interests, senior institutional administrators, political directives, or hierarchical pressure.

Appointment, Conflict, and Removal of Editorial Personnel

Editorial positions are assigned based on academic expertise, publication experience, and ethical qualifications—not on administrative rank or funding status. Editorial Board members must disclose conflicts of interest related to authors, funders, or competing institutions and must recuse themselves when conflicts arise. Editors may be removed for ethical violations, undisclosed conflicts, or attempts to influence publication outcomes for personal or institutional benefit.

False Ownership or Third-Party Misrepresentation

The journal may not outsource ownership to private companies or unidentified third parties. If web hosting or technical services are outsourced, full ownership remains with the university. No commercialization or management contract may obscure the academic identity of the journal or transfer editorial control to external entities. Any external partnership must be disclosed and must not influence academic decisions.

C. Governing Body

Each journal under the Program Pascasarjana Universitas Muhammadiyah is advised and supervised by a Governing Body known as the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board consists of qualified scholars, senior researchers, and recognized experts in fields relevant to the journal’s scope. Their names, academic titles, institutional affiliations, and country of residence are publicly displayed on the journal website to ensure full transparency.

Editorial Responsibilities and Academic Oversight

The Editorial Board is responsible for:

• establishing and regularly updating editorial policies,
• ensuring the quality and integrity of the peer-review process,
• maintaining publication ethics, research standards, and COPE compliance,
• supporting decisions regarding corrections, retractions, or ethical reviews,
• guiding journal development, thematic priorities, and scientific direction.

Editorial Board members do not edit all manuscripts directly but provide governance, ethical oversight, and strategic direction to uphold scholarly excellence.

Selection, Appointment, and Term Expectations

Editorial Board members are selected based on scholarly reputation, research output, peer-review experience, and ethical standing—not on administrative hierarchy, financial contribution, or personal relationships with journal staff. Appointments may include defined terms, renewable based on performance, ethical compliance, and contribution to the journal’s mission. Members should represent appropriate academic diversity in discipline, institution, and geography whenever feasible.

Independence and Conflict-of-Interest Requirements

Editorial Board members must act independently of commercial interests, political pressure, institutional influence, or financial relationships. Members must disclose any conflict of interest—for example, when handling submissions from their own students, colleagues, co-authors, or collaborators. Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where conflicts exist. The Governing Body does not influence acceptance decisions for manuscripts authored by its own members; such manuscripts follow strict independent handling procedures.

Removal, Renewal, and Ethical Accountability

An Editorial Board member may be removed if they:

• abuse their position for personal or institutional gain,
• repeatedly violate ethical or peer-review standards,
• fail to perform assigned responsibilities, or
• engage in scientific misconduct or undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Removal decisions prioritize journal integrity and follow COPE guidance on editorial accountability. Replacement and renewal of Editorial Board members follow transparent criteria rooted in academic qualification and ethical reliability.

D. Copyright and Licensing

All journals under the Program Pascasarjana Universitas Muhammadiyah are fully Open Access publications. Authors retain copyright to their work and grant the journal a non-exclusive publishing license, allowing the journal to disseminate, archive, and index the article. This means that the journal does not own the copyright; authors do.

Open License Applied to All Publications

All articles are published under:

Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This license allows anyone to read, download, share, reuse, adapt, transform, and build upon the work for commercial or non-commercial purposes, as long as the original authors and the source are properly cited. This maximizes global dissemination and reuse of academic work while protecting author credit.

Author Rights

By publishing under CC BY 4.0, authors have the full and unrestricted right to:

• reuse figures, text, and tables in future publications,
• upload the accepted manuscript or final PDF on personal websites, institutional repositories, ResearchGate/Academia.edu, and open databases,
• distribute copies to classes or conferences,
• develop derivative works,
• enter work into international repositories and databases.

Authors do not need to request permission from the journal to reuse their own published work, as long as the original source is acknowledged.

License Display Requirements

The license type (CC BY 4.0) and copyright notice must appear:

• on every article’s PDF,
• on the article’s landing page,
• on the journal’s copyright/author guideline page.

This ensures legal clarity for users, libraries, and indexing services.

Embedding in Indexing and Repositories

Final published versions (Version of Record) may be deposited immediately and without embargo in:

• institutional or national repositories,
• international subject repositories (e.g., PubMed Central, Zenodo),
• digital libraries,
• private and commercial academic networks.

Deposits must include the article DOI and citation link to the journal’s website. The journal does not impose embargo periods or deposit restrictions.

Third-Party Material and Permissions

If authors use copyrighted material owned by others (e.g., licensed questionnaires, photographs, charts, or proprietary instruments), they must secure written permission before publication. Any third-party material will be published according to its original licensing terms and must be clearly attributed in the article. The author bears full responsibility for verifying rights and permissions.

E. Article Processing Charge

All journals under the Program Pascasarjana Universitas Muhammadiyah operate using a transparent fee structure. The entire peer-review process is free of charge, and no fees are required for submission or initial screening. An Article Processing Charge (APC) of XXXX USD applies only after a manuscript has been accepted following peer review.

This APC supports Open Access dissemination, DOI registration, website hosting, digital preservation, editing infrastructure, and journal maintenance. The APC is fixed, publicly listed on the journal’s website, and payable only upon acceptance. Authors will never be asked to pay during submission or review, and no accelerated review or guaranteed acceptance options are offered under any circumstance.

Waivers and Financial Support

Requests for fee waivers, partial waivers, or financial assistance may be considered for:

• students or early-career researchers,
• authors without institutional funding,
• authors from low-income or lower-middle-income countries (LMICs).

Waiver decisions are handled by administrative staff and do not influence editorial evaluation or peer-review outcomes. Editors and reviewers are not informed of waiver requests to protect academic integrity and prevent bias.

F. Misconduct Handling

Journals under the Program Pascasarjana Universitas Muhammadiyah take active measures to prevent, detect, and address unethical research and publication practices. Misconduct includes plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, salami publication, undeclared conflicts of interest, unethical use of AI, inappropriate image manipulation, data misrepresentation, undisclosed re-analysis of previously published datasets, and citation manipulation intended to inflate metrics unfairly.

Detection and Initial Assessment

Submitted manuscripts undergo plagiarism checks, reference screening, and image evaluation prior to peer review. During peer review or after publication, editors may request:

• raw datasets or statistical code,
• original unedited images (e.g., microscopy or Western blots),
• ethics approval letters or consent forms,
• data collection instruments or laboratory records.

If initial evidence suggests potential misconduct, the manuscript may be placed on hold pending verification.

Investigation Procedures

All suspected misconduct will be investigated under the COPE flowcharts and guidelines. The investigation may involve written responses from authors, queries to institutions, or independent expert assessment. During the investigation:

• editorial staff must remain neutral and must not pre-judge authors,
• authors must respond honestly and provide requested materials,
• editors may suspend review, delay publication, or retract decisions temporarily.

Failure to cooperate or provide documentation may itself be considered misconduct.

Corrective Actions and Post-Publication Responsibilities

When misconduct is confirmed or cannot be reasonably ruled out, the journal may issue:

• correction (for honest errors or partial issues),
• expression of concern (when investigation is ongoing),
• retraction (for proven misconduct or unreliable findings),
• removal of identifiable images or confidential data (if privacy is breached).

Retractions remain publicly available and properly linked, explaining the reason clearly without defamatory statements.

Prohibitions and Editorial Integrity

Editorial staff, reviewers, and governing bodies must never:

• demand citations to the journal as a condition for acceptance,
• accept financial incentives to alter decisions,
• conceal misconduct to protect colleagues or institutions,
• use unpublished material for personal advantage.

Unethical influence from sponsors, institutions, or authors must be reported to the Editor-in-Chief and, if necessary, to the university.

Sanctions and Reporting

Authors, reviewers, or editors found guilty of misconduct may face:

• submission bans for a specified period,
• notification to the author’s institution or funder,
• removal from editorial or reviewer roles,
• notification to ethical or regulatory authorities when required.

G. Publishing Schedule

The journals publish three issues per year (triannual frequency). Publication dates are announced on the journal website, and any future changes—such as an increase in issue frequency or a shift toward continuous publication—will be communicated transparently. Articles are released only after they complete peer review and editorial checks, ensuring that quality is never rushed to meet deadlines.

H. Access Policy

The journals operate under a full Open Access model, providing unrestricted access to published research without subscription or pay-per-view charges. Readers may freely view, download, and share the final published PDF (Version of Record), which serves as the authoritative full-text format. For indexing and discovery purposes, the title, authors, affiliation details, and abstract are also made available in HTML on the journal website. No login or registration is required to access any content, and access is never limited by institutional affiliation or geographic location. Long-term availability of the PDF version is guaranteed through digital preservation systems.

I. Archiving and Digital Preservation

To ensure permanent access to published research, all articles are preserved through multiple digital archiving systems, including LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, institutional repositories, and DOI-based indexing services. Every article receives a persistent DOI (Digital Object Identifier) that enables reliable citation, long-term linking, and global discoverability. 

J. Revenue Sources

The journals are financially supported through APC), institutional funding, and operational support from the Universitas Muhammadiyah. These revenue sources sustain website development, DOI registration, digital preservation, professional editing infrastructure, and long-term Open Access availability. If any additional income such as advertising, sponsorship, or grants is ever used, it will be clearly disclosed on the journal website.

Editorial independence is strictly protected: financial support and revenue generation have no influence on peer review outcomes, editorial decisions, or publication acceptance. Authors cannot expedite review or guarantee publication through payment, sponsorship, advertising, or institutional affiliation. All editorial decisions are based solely on the academic quality, ethical compliance, and scholarly contribution of submitted manuscripts.

K. Advertising Policy

The journals do not accept commercial or product-based advertising of any kind. Advertising is limited strictly to scientific conferences, academic events, scholarly workshops, and research-related announcements that support the development of science and education. All advertisements must be relevant to the journal’s discipline and must not resemble editorial content. Advertising decisions are handled separately from editorial review to protect academic independence, and advertisements have no influence on peer review, editorial judgment, or acceptance decisions.

L. Direct Marketing Policy

The journals may share announcements, calls for papers, and publication information through partnerships with scientific events or academic conferences, as well as through professional email outreach. Direct marketing is intended solely for scholarly communication and is never aggressive, misleading, or indiscriminate. Marketing messages are informational only and do not imply article acceptance, priority handling, or preferential treatment. No solicitation or communication guarantees publication, and every manuscript must undergo the same independent peer-review process.