Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

This journal publishes research relevant to the scientific study of methods to promote the uptake of research findings into routine community service and empowerment practices, specifically within the context of Islamic integration and coastal communities.

Applied health-related research consistently generates new findings, yet these are often not routinely translated into community service practice. Implementation research is the scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of proven clinical treatments, practices, organizational, and management interventions into routine practice, thereby improving community health and well-being. This scope also encompasses the de-implementation of interventions demonstrated to be of low or no community benefit, as well as the study of influences on community target behavior, health professionals, and organizational behavior within community service contexts.

The lack of routine uptake of research findings is strategically important for the development of public health because it clearly imposes an invisible ceiling on research’s potential to enhance health. Furthermore, it is scientifically crucial as it identifies the behavior of service professionals and organizations as key sources of variance requiring improved empirical and theoretical understanding before effective uptake can be reliably achieved.

Implementation science is an inherently interdisciplinary research area, and this journal is not constrained by any particular research tradition. The journal publishes articles of high scientific rigor, utilizing the most appropriate methods to produce valid, generalizable answers to research questions.

While the Journal primarily focuses on community service activities integrating Islamic principles and coastal communities, we are also open to rigorous community service and empowerment activities in the fields of:

  • Public Health

  • Medicine

  • Nursing

  • Midwifery, and

  • Other Health Professions

In addition to hosting papers describing the effectiveness of implementation interventions, the Journal provides a unique home for rigorous, large-scale intervention development, evaluations of the process by which effects are achieved, economic evaluations of implementation, and the role of theory relevant to implementation research. The journal is also interested in publishing articles that present novel methods (particularly those that have a theoretical basis) for studying implementation processes and interventions. We are also interested in receiving articles that address methodologically robust studies of the de-implementation of ineffective clinical and organizational practices.

We welcome study protocols of large and innovative research, but these will only be considered if the study is received within 12 months of ethics approval and has been approved for funding through external peer review by an established national funding body in the respective country. We do not consider protocols for systematic reviews.

We are advocates for theoretically informed research. When deploying specific theories and frameworks in studies, the rationale for their use needs to be convincingly presented. We also expect authors to ensure that these are not applied in a superficial or tokenistic fashion. Instead, we recommend an in-depth engagement with selected theories and frameworks throughout the manuscript. Theories and frameworks should explicitly inform research aims and objectives, guide data collection and data analysis, shape the presentation of findings, and provide a basis for articulating the study’s contribution in the discussion section.

 

Section Policies

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

This journal employs a rigorous, multi-stage peer review system designed to ensure the quality and scholarly suitability of all published manuscripts.

I. Initial Assessment and Desk Review

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial evaluation for adherence to the journal's submission guidelines and scope. Submissions failing to meet these preliminary requirements will be returned to the author for necessary revisions. The journal reserves the right to desk reject (reject without external peer review) manuscripts deemed unsuitable or out of scope at this stage.

II. Review Methodology: Double-Anonymized

The journal strictly adheres to a double-anonymized review policy. This protocol ensures complete mutual concealment of identities: the authors' identities are hidden from the reviewers, and the reviewers' identities are hidden from the authors. Reviewers communicate their assessments and recommendations exclusively through the editorial team (Editor-in-Chief/Associate Editor/Editorial Assistant). The journal maintains full confidentiality, as no information regarding the peer review process (including reviewer comments or identity) is made public alongside the final published article.

III. Review Requirements and Decision

  • Standard Review: A minimum of two independent peer reviews is generally required before a manuscript can receive a decision of "Revise" or "Accept."

  • Exceptions: Certain manuscript types, such as Editorials and Viewpoints, may be accepted without requiring two independent reviews. A third reviewer may be consulted if additional expertise is necessary.

  • Final Authority: Reviewers provide comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) and Associate Editors/Editorial Assistant, who retain the final decision-making authority on all submissions, including those designated for special issues or collections.

  • Reviewer Assignment: To uphold the integrity of the process, the journal assigns reviewers and cannot accept author recommendations for reviewers.

IV. Ethical Policy for Editorial Submissions

To maintain objectivity and prevent conflicts of interest, any manuscript submitted by an Editor or Editorial Board member will have its peer review process managed by alternative, non-submitting members of the Board. The submitting Editor or Board member will be strictly excluded from the decision-making process for their own manuscript.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

 

Publication Frequency

Shihatuna: Jurnal Pengabdian Kesehatan Masyarakat is published three times a year, with issues released in April, August and December.

 

Publishing Ethics

This following statement clarifies the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in this journal, including the author, the editor, the reviewer, and the publisher (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara).

Our ethic statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

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Publication decisions
The editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play
An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgment of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgment of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or another substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

 

Author Fees

This journal charges the following author fees. Authors are required to pay an Article Submission Fee as part of the submission process to contribute to editorial and administrative work, peer review management, typesetting and formatting and online hosting and digital preservation