Peer Review Process

Manuscripts submitted to the Dharma Publika: Jurnal Penelitian dan Pengabdian Masyarakat are evaluated by the editors and field editors within two weeks at the latest. The manuscripts are critically evaluated based on the journal’s submission criteria:

  • scope of the journal and appropriateness to the field of study
  • evaluation of the similarity with Turnitin
  • appropriateness to the writing rules
  • Publication language

All manuscripts that have passed from pre-assessment of editors are subjected to peer-review at least two anonymous reviewers (double-blind review) who are specialized in the field concerned for contribution, originality, relevance, and presentation.

The handling editor sends invitations to individuals who he or she believes would be appropriate reviewers based on expertise, the closeness of research interest, and no conflict of interest consideration.

Potential reviewers consider the invitation against their own expertise, conflicts of interest, and availability. They then decide to accept or decline. In the invitation letter, the editor may ask the potential reviewer for the suggestion of an alternative reviewer, when he or she declines to review.

The reviewers allocate time to read the paper several times. The first read is used to form an initial impression of the work. If major problems are found at this stage, the reviewers may feel comfortable rejecting the paper without further work. Otherwise, they will read the paper several more times, taking notes so as to build a detailed point-by-point review. The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept, or reject it, or else with a request for revision (usually flagged as either major or minor) before it is reconsidered.

The Editor-in-Chief and handling editor considers all the returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely between both reviewers, the handling editor may invite an additional reviewer so as to obtain an extra opinion before making a decision.

The editor sends a decision email to the author including any relevant reviewer comments. Reviewer comments are sent anonymously to the corresponding author to take the necessary actions and responses. At this point, reviewers are also be sent an email or letter letting them know the outcome of their review.

If accepted, the paper is sent to copy-editing. If the article is rejected or sent back to the author for either major or minor revision, the handling editor will include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. The author should make corrections and revise the paper per the reviewers' comments and instructions.
 
After revision has been made, the author should resubmit the revised paper to the editor.
 
If the paper was sent back for revision, the reviewers should expect to receive the revised version, unless they have opted out of further participation. However, where only minor changes were requested this follow-up review might be done by the handling editor.
 
If the editor is happy with the revised paper, it is considered to be accepted. The accepted papers will be published online and all are freely available as downloadable pdf files.