Author Guidelines

Relevance to the Journal's Scope

Every manuscript submitted to JSAI must demonstrate a substantive relationship between religion and the social phenomenon being examined.

Authors must explain clearly:

1. how religion forms part of the research problem;
2. which sociological or interdisciplinary concepts are used to analyze religion;
3. how religion is represented in the data, sources, participants, institutions, practices, or social processes studied;
4. how the findings contribute to sociology of religion or closely related scholarship; and
5. why the manuscript is appropriate for JSAI rather than for a general sociology, education, economics, tourism, communication, psychology, law, or cultural-studies journal.

The religious identity of a university, school, community, research site, or participant group is not sufficient by itself. Manuscripts dealing with consumption, education, politics, media, welfare, tourism, conflict, gender, youth, or other social subjects must show that religion is analytically central rather than merely mentioned in the background.

Manuscripts may be declined during editorial screening when religion is absent from the research question, theory, method, results, and discussion, or when the claimed relationship with religion is nominal and unsupported by the evidence.

General Requirements

Jurnal Sosiologi Agama Indonesia (JSAI) publishes original scholarly work concerning the relationships between religion and society. Manuscripts must demonstrate a clear connection to the sociology of religion, present an identifiable academic contribution, and comply with the journal’s ethical, methodological, and technical requirements.

Authors should read the journal’s Aims and Scope, Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, Peer Review Policy, Copyright and Licensing Policy, and Article Processing Charges before submitting a manuscript.

Submission of a manuscript indicates that all authors have approved the manuscript, agreed to its submission to JSAI, and accepted responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the work.

Scope Compliance

Manuscripts must examine religion as a social institution, cultural practice, collective identity, source of authority, field of contestation, or factor shaping social relations and social change.

Manuscripts focusing on theology, scripture, religious doctrine, jurisprudence, education, politics, law, economics, media, or culture must provide a substantive social-scientific analysis and establish a clear contribution to the sociology of religion. Descriptive, devotional, normative, or advocacy-based manuscripts without adequate sociological analysis are outside the journal’s scope.

Types of Manuscripts

• Original Research Article: an empirical article based on qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, comparative, historical, ethnographic, digital, or other systematic research designs.
• Theoretical or Conceptual Article: an article that develops, applies, reconstructs, or critically evaluates concepts and theories relevant to the sociology of religion.
• Review Article: a critical, systematic, scoping, or integrative review that synthesizes a clearly defined body of scholarship and advances an original academic argument.

Originality and Previous Publication

Manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration by another journal. Simultaneous submission is prohibited.

Authors must disclose any previous dissemination of the work, including conference proceedings, working papers, institutional reports, preprints, theses, dissertations, or earlier versions available online. Prior dissemination does not automatically prevent publication, but the submitted manuscript must contain substantial scholarly development and must not constitute redundant publication.

All sources, including the authors’ previous publications, must be cited appropriately. Plagiarism, translated plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate paraphrasing, and undisclosed text recycling are prohibited.

Language

JSAI accepts manuscripts written in English or Indonesian. Manuscripts must use clear, accurate, consistent, and academically appropriate language.

Indonesian-language manuscripts must include an accurate English title, abstract, and keywords. English-language manuscripts must include an Indonesian title, abstract, and keywords where required by the journal template.

Authors are responsible for the linguistic quality of the submitted manuscript. The editorial team may require language revision before peer review, after peer review, or during production when language problems affect clarity, interpretation, or publication quality.

Manuscript Length

Word counts normally include the main text but exclude the title page, abstract, keywords, references, tables, figures, and appendices. Manuscripts exceeding the recommended length may be considered when the additional length is academically justified.

Submission Files

Authors must submit the following files:

1. Anonymized manuscript: the manuscript must not contain author names, affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgments identifying the authors, or other information that may reveal author identity.
2. Title page: a separate file containing the manuscript title, complete author information, corresponding-author details, ORCID identifiers, acknowledgments, funding information, conflicts of interest, and author-contribution statements.
3. Supplementary files: research instruments, appendices, datasets, interview protocols, reporting checklists, or other relevant supporting materials where applicable.
4. Response to reviewers: required for revised manuscripts and must explain point by point how each editorial and reviewer comment has been addressed.

Manuscript Format

• Manuscripts must be submitted in an editable Microsoft Word format.
• Authors must use the official JSAI article template.
• Headings and subheadings must follow the hierarchy provided in the template.
• Automatic page numbering should be used.
• Footnotes should be used only when substantively necessary and should not replace proper in-text citation.
• Endnotes should be avoided unless specifically required by the nature of the article.
• Track Changes, comments, hidden text, and unresolved editorial notes must be removed from the final submitted version unless the journal requests otherwise.

Title

The title must be clear, specific, informative, and accurately reflect the central subject, analytical focus, and research context of the manuscript.

Titles should avoid unnecessary words, unexplained abbreviations, rhetorical claims, excessive punctuation, and overly broad formulations. Where relevant, the title may identify the principal concept, population, location, or research design without becoming excessively long.

Author Information

Complete author information must be entered in the OJS metadata and included on the separate title page. The information must include:

• full author name without academic titles;
• department, faculty, institution, city, and country;
• institutional email address where available;
• designation of the corresponding author;

Author names, affiliations, and sequence must be consistent across the manuscript title page, OJS metadata, author declarations, and final publication.

Abstract

The abstract must provide a concise and accurate account of the manuscript. It should normally contain approximately 180–250 words in a single paragraph.

For empirical research articles, the abstract should clearly state:

• the research context or problem;
• the research objective or question;
• the research design, participants or sources, and analytical method;
• the principal findings; and
• the main conclusion or academic contribution.

The abstract must not contain citations, undefined abbreviations, unsupported claims, promotional language, or information that does not appear in the main text.

Keywords

Authors must provide five to seven keywords or concise key phrases. Keywords should represent the central concepts, population, context, theoretical orientation, or method of the study. Words already used in the journal title or overly general terms should be avoided when more precise indexing terms are available.

Introduction

The introduction must establish the research problem, explain its scholarly relevance, review the most pertinent literature, identify the research gap, and state the objective, question, or argument of the manuscript.

The introduction should not consist only of general background information or lengthy definitions. It must explain what is already known, what remains insufficiently explained, and how the manuscript contributes to the relevant scholarship.

Literature Review and Theoretical Framework

The literature review must be analytical rather than a sequence of summaries.
Authors should:

• synthesize relevant previous research;
• identify patterns, disagreements, and limitations;
• explain the position of the current study; and
• distinguish between foundational literature and recent developments.

The theoretical or conceptual framework must be appropriate to the research problem and should guide the analysis and interpretation.

Theories should not merely be named. Authors must explain how the selected concepts are operationalized or used in interpreting the evidence.

Research Methods

The methods section must provide sufficient information for readers and reviewers to assess the appropriateness and transparency of the research process. Where applicable, authors must explain:

• research approach and design;
• research location or setting;
• research period;
• population, participants, informants, documents, texts, or other data sources;
• sampling or source-selection procedures;
• inclusion and exclusion criteria;
• data-collection procedures;
• research instruments;
• data-analysis procedures;
• validity, reliability, credibility, or trustworthiness procedures;
• ethical approval;
• informed-consent procedures; and
• methodological limitations.

Qualitative studies should explain how data were coded, categorized, compared, and interpreted.
Quantitative studies should explain the variables, instruments, sampling procedures, validity and reliability testing, statistical procedures, and relevant assumptions.
Review articles should explain their databases or sources, search terms, selection criteria, screening procedures, and analytical approach.
Statements such as “the data were analyzed descriptively” or “the data were analyzed qualitatively” are insufficient without further explanation.

Results

The results section must present findings clearly and systematically in relation to the research objectives or questions. Findings should be supported by appropriate evidence, such as:

• interview quotations;
• observational evidence;
• documents;
• thematic categories;
• statistical results;
• tables;
• figures; or
• other relevant data.

Authors should avoid repeating identical information in the text, tables, and figures. Interview quotations must be analytically integrated rather than presented as isolated statements.

Discussion

The discussion must interpret the findings rather than merely repeat them. Authors should explain:

• how the findings answer the research question;
• how the findings relate to the theoretical framework;
• whether the findings confirm, extend, refine, or challenge previous studies;
• why the findings occurred in the particular context;
• what broader academic contribution can be drawn; and
• what limitations constrain the interpretation.

The discussion should engage relevant national and international scholarship. It need not treat all previous studies affirmatively. Differences, contradictions, and contextual variations should be examined critically. Claims must remain proportionate to the data and research design.

Conclusion

The conclusion must:

• answer the research objective or question;
• summarize the central analytical finding;
• state the principal academic contribution;
• identify relevant limitations; and
• provide proportionate implications or recommendations where appropriate.

The conclusion must not introduce new evidence, citations, theories, or arguments that have not been discussed in the manuscript. Recommendations must follow from the findings and should not be generic.

Tables and Figures

Tables and figures must:

• be numbered consecutively;
• be cited in the main text;
• have concise and informative titles;
• include sources and explanatory notes where necessary;
• be legible and relevant to the analysis; and
• comply with copyright and confidentiality requirements.

Tables must be editable and should not be submitted only as images. Figures, maps, diagrams, and photographs must have sufficient resolution for publication. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted third-party material.

Quotations and Transliteration

Direct quotations must accurately reproduce the original source and include appropriate citation information. Long quotations should be used sparingly and should not replace the author’s analysis.
Terms originating in non-Latin scripts should be transliterated consistently using an established system appropriate to the language and discipline.
Original scripts may be included when academically necessary, but Romanized forms should remain available for indexing and international readability.

Citations and References

JSAI uses the American Sociological Association (ASA) citation style (6th or 7th edition) with an author-date system. All manuscripts must strictly follow the ASA referencing format as specified in the journal template.

The following requirements apply:

• every in-text citation must have a corresponding reference-list entry;
• every reference-list entry must be cited in the manuscript;
• bibliographic information must be complete and accurate;
• DOI links should be included in active URL format where available;
• author names, titles, years, volumes, issues, pages, publishers, and links must be verified;
• references in non-Latin scripts should include Romanized information where required for indexing;
• fabricated or unverifiable references are prohibited; and
• retracted sources should not be cited as valid evidence unless their retracted status is directly relevant to the discussion.

Authors are required to use reference-management software in preparing citations and references. The use of Mendeley is strongly recommended, although other tools such as Zotero or EndNote may also be used.

Authors should prioritize relevant peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly books, primary sources, and credible institutional publications.

The balance between recent and foundational sources should reflect the topic and theoretical tradition. Classical, scriptural, historical, and archival sources may be used when directly relevant.

Mandatory Declarations

The following declarations must be included in the manuscript before the references or in another location specified by the journal template:

• Ethical Approval: required for research involving human participants or other regulated research, where applicable.
• Informed Consent: authors must state how consent was obtained or explain why it was not required.
• Conflict of Interest: all relevant conflicts must be declared. When none exist, authors must state this explicitly.
• Funding: all financial and material support must be disclosed. When no external funding was received, this must be stated.
• Data Availability: authors must explain whether the data are publicly available, available on reasonable request, restricted, or unavailable for a justified reason.
• Artificial Intelligence Use: substantive use of generative AI or automated tools must be disclosed where relevant.
• Acknowledgments: individuals or organizations that contributed but do not qualify for authorship should be acknowledged with their permission.

Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, identifiable information, vulnerable communities, sensitive religious identities, or potentially harmful disclosures must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Authors must protect participant dignity, privacy, safety, confidentiality, anonymity, and voluntary participation. Where formal ethical approval was not required or available, the manuscript must explain the ethical safeguards used and the basis for that determination.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial-intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain responsible for:

• the accuracy of the manuscript;
• the originality of the content;
• the validity of citations;
• the interpretation of data;
• research confidentiality;
• copyright compliance; and
• the integrity of the submitted work.

Authors must not upload confidential participant data, unpublished research materials, copyrighted manuscripts, or sensitive information to external AI systems without appropriate authorization and safeguards.

Editorial Screening

All submissions undergo an initial editorial screening before external peer review. The editors assess:

• conformity with the journal’s aims and scope;
• originality and academic contribution;
• clarity of the research problem and gap;
• methodological adequacy and transparency;
• quality of analysis and discussion;
• ethical compliance;
• language and readability;
• quality and accuracy of citations and references;
• completeness of metadata and declarations; and
• compliance with the journal template and technical requirements.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s minimum requirements may be declined without external peer review.

Revision Requirements

Authors invited to revise a manuscript must submit:

1. a clean revised manuscript;
2. a marked manuscript showing revisions, when requested;
3. a point-by-point response to all editor and reviewer comments; and
4. a clear explanation when a recommendation has not been followed.

Authors must not alter data, authorship, research methods, findings, or conclusions during revision without transparent explanation.

Proofreading and Final Approval

Corresponding authors must review the final proof carefully and return corrections within the period specified by the journal.

Proof corrections should be limited to production errors, factual inaccuracies, reference corrections, and essential clarifications. Substantial changes to the research, authorship, data, analysis, or conclusions after acceptance require editorial approval and may result in renewed review or withdrawal of acceptance.