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Guidance for Contributors

Author Guidelines

These guidelines explain the scholarly, ethical, formatting, metadata, and submission requirements for manuscripts submitted to SINTHOP: Media Kajian Pendidikan, Agama, Sosial dan Budaya.

Updated26 July 2026
E-ISSN2986-8475
Before submission. Authors should read these guidelines, the journal's Focus and Scope, Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, Peer Review Process, Plagiarism Policy, Generative AI Policy, Copyright Notice, and current Article Processing Charge information. Submission of a manuscript confirms that all authors agree to comply with these policies.

1. Journal scope

SINTHOP is a multidisciplinary, double-blind peer-reviewed journal that publishes rigorous scholarship in education, religion, social sciences, and cultural studies. The journal welcomes studies that make a clear scholarly contribution rather than merely describing a local phenomenon.

Education Studies

Pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, digital learning, inclusive education, teacher development, educational leadership, and education policy.

Religious Studies

Qur'anic exegesis, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, theology, Islamic education, contemporary Islamic thought, lived religion, and interfaith dialogue.

Social and Cultural Studies

Sociology, anthropology, political science, communication, media studies, community development, gender, migration, and cultural transformation.

Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Studies integrating educational, social, cultural, ethical, religious, environmental, technological, or policy perspectives.

Priority is given to manuscripts that offer theoretical advancement, methodological rigour, comparative insight, policy relevance, or practical solutions with significance beyond the immediate research site.

2. Article types

Article type Minimum expectation Typical length
Original Research Article Empirical qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, action research, development research, case study, historical, textual, or document-based research with a clear and auditable method. Normally 4,000–8,000 words, including references.
Systematic or Scoping Review A reproducible review question, search strategy, eligibility criteria, study-selection process, critical appraisal where applicable, synthesis method, and flow diagram. Normally 5,000–9,000 words.
Meta-analysis A systematic search and transparent statistical synthesis, including effect-size decisions, heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis, and publication-bias assessment where appropriate. Normally 5,000–9,000 words.
Bibliometric Study A justified database, reproducible search query, search date, cleaning and deduplication procedure, software and parameter reporting, and interpretation beyond descriptive mapping. Normally 5,000–8,000 words.
Theoretical or Conceptual Article A clearly defined problem, transparent basis for source selection, critical engagement with relevant scholarship, a coherent argument, and an identifiable conceptual contribution. Normally 4,000–8,000 words.

Editorials, brief opinions, promotional essays, unstructured narrative summaries, classroom assignments, and manuscripts that do not make an identifiable scholarly contribution are not considered as research articles.

3. Originality, exclusivity, and prior dissemination

  • The manuscript must be original, accurate, and not published previously in substantially the same form.
  • The manuscript must not be under consideration by another journal while it is being considered by SINTHOP.
  • All sources, reused ideas, quotations, data, instruments, tables, and images must be appropriately acknowledged.
  • Substantial overlap with an author's earlier work must be disclosed and justified. Fragmenting one study into several minimally different papers is not acceptable.
  • A thesis, dissertation, conference paper, working paper, or preprint does not automatically prevent submission, but authors must disclose it and explain the relationship to the submitted manuscript.
  • If a preprint exists, provide its URL or DOI during submission. Authors are responsible for updating the preprint record after journal publication where possible.
  • All submissions may be screened using similarity-detection tools. Similarity percentages are screening indicators; editorial decisions are based on the nature, source, attribution, extent, and context of the matched material.

4. Language, title, abstract, and keywords

Language

Manuscripts may be submitted in English or Indonesian. The language must be academically appropriate, clear, consistent, and ready for peer review. Authors are responsible for professional language editing where needed.

English-language metadata

  • Every submission must include an accurate English title, English abstract, and English keywords.
  • An Indonesian-language manuscript must also include an Indonesian title and abstract.
  • An Arabic-language manuscript must also include an Arabic title and abstract.
  • An English-language manuscript may include an Indonesian abstract, but the English abstract remains mandatory.

Title

The title should normally contain no more than 18 meaningful words. It should identify the main topic, key variables or phenomenon, and relevant design or context without making unsupported claims. Avoid unexplained abbreviations, promotional language, and overly broad titles.

Abstract

The abstract must be 150–250 words and able to stand alone. It should concisely state the background or problem, objective, method or source basis, principal findings or argument, and main contribution. Do not use citations, undefined abbreviations, tables, or claims not supported by the manuscript.

Keywords

Provide 3–7 specific keywords or short phrases. Avoid merely repeating all words in the title. Use terms that improve discovery and reflect the article's concepts, method, population, or context.

5. General manuscript format

  • Use the current SINTHOP article template.
  • Page size: A4.
  • Margins: top 2.5 cm; left 2.5 cm; bottom 2 cm; right 2 cm.
  • Main text: Times New Roman, 12 pt, single-spaced, unless otherwise specified in the template.
  • Manuscripts will normally be approximately 15–25 A4 pages. The word ranges for specific article types should also be considered.
  • Use consistent heading levels and automatic page numbering.
  • Define abbreviations at first use and use them consistently.
  • Use International System of Units (SI) where applicable.
  • Write decimals, percentages, statistical symbols, transliteration, and non-Latin terms consistently.
  • Do not use footnotes or endnotes for essential arguments that belong in the main text.

6. Manuscript structure

Original research article

  1. Title
  2. Abstract and keywords
  3. Introduction
  4. Methods
  5. Results
  6. Discussion
  7. Conclusion
  8. Declarations
  9. References
  10. Supplementary material, where applicable

Results and Discussion may be combined when this is appropriate to the discipline and method, but evidence and interpretation must remain distinguishable.

Review, meta-analysis, and bibliometric article

  1. Title, abstract, and keywords
  2. Introduction and review question/objective
  3. Review method or data-source strategy
  4. Results, including the study-selection or dataset-construction process
  5. Critical synthesis or analytical discussion
  6. Limitations
  7. Conclusion and contribution
  8. Declarations, references, and supplementary search material

Theoretical or conceptual article

  1. Title, abstract, and keywords
  2. Problem and conceptual objective
  3. Basis and method of source selection or conceptual construction
  4. Critical analysis and development of the argument
  5. Proposed framework, interpretation, or theoretical contribution
  6. Limitations and implications
  7. Conclusion, declarations, and references

7. Methodological and reporting requirements

The method must be appropriate to the research question and described in sufficient detail for readers and reviewers to assess the reliability, validity, credibility, or auditability of the work.

Study type Information normally required
Qualitative Research design and setting; participant or source-selection logic; number and relevant characteristics of participants/sources; data-collection period and procedures; researcher role or reflexivity where relevant; coding/analysis; triangulation, member checking, saturation, negative cases, or other credibility procedures as applicable.
Quantitative Design; population; sampling frame and method; sample-size justification; variables and instruments; validity and reliability evidence; missing-data handling; statistical assumptions; effect sizes and uncertainty intervals where appropriate; software and version.
Mixed methods Mixed-methods design, rationale, sequence, priority, sampling for each component, integration procedure, and explanation of how integration informs the conclusions.
Development or intervention Development model or intervention protocol; participants; expert-validation criteria; pilot and field-testing procedures; outcome measures; comparison or evaluation logic; limitations of feasibility claims.
Textual, historical, or document research Corpus or archive definition; inclusion and exclusion logic; authenticity and provenance where relevant; interpretive or analytical framework; steps taken to avoid selective use of sources.
Systematic review Protocol/registration where available; databases; complete search dates and search strings; eligibility criteria; screening process; reasons for exclusion; quality or risk-of-bias assessment where applicable; synthesis method; PRISMA flow diagram.

Authors should follow an appropriate recognised reporting guideline where one exists, such as PRISMA, CONSORT, STROBE, SRQR, COREQ, CARE, or other discipline-specific guidance. Use of a reporting guideline does not compensate for an unsuitable design or unsupported conclusion.

8. Preparing files for double-blind review

SINTHOP applies double-blind peer review. The review manuscript must not reveal the authors' identities.

  • Remove names, affiliations, email addresses, ORCID identifiers, biographies, acknowledgements, and author-contribution statements from the anonymised manuscript.
  • Replace identifying ethics bodies, project names, repositories, or institutions with a neutral placeholder only when disclosure would reveal authorship. Restore the accurate information after acceptance.
  • Refer to the authors' previous work in the third person and cite it normally. Do not replace essential citations with “Author”.
  • Remove personal information from document properties and tracked changes.
  • Upload author details and declarations separately as a title-page file and enter complete metadata in OJS.
The editorial office may return a submission for technical correction when the anonymised manuscript reveals author identity or when author metadata in OJS is incomplete.

9. Authorship, contributorship, and OJS metadata

Authorship criteria

Every listed author must have made a substantial scholarly contribution, participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approved the submitted and final versions, and agreed to be accountable for the work. Guest, gift, honorary, and ghost authorship are prohibited.

Author contributions

Use the CRediT contributor roles where applicable: conceptualisation, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualisation, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.

Required OJS metadata

  • Full author name written consistently with other scholarly publications.
  • Institution, department or programme where applicable, city, and country.
  • Valid institutional or professional email address.
  • ORCID iD, where available.
  • Correct author order and identification of the corresponding author.
  • English title, abstract, keywords, references, and article language.
  • Funding information and supporting-agency identifiers where applicable.

Changes to authorship after submission require a reason and written agreement from all affected authors. The editor may reject an authorship change that is inadequately justified. Authorship changes after acceptance are permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

10. Required declarations

Every manuscript must include a Declarations section immediately before the references. Use “Not applicable” only when a declaration genuinely does not apply, and provide a brief explanation where necessary.

Ethics approval

Ethics approval: This study was approved by [full name of committee/institution], approval number [number], dated [date].
Ethics approval: Formal ethical review was not required because [specific reason and applicable institutional/legal basis].

Informed consent and consent for publication

Informed consent: Written/oral informed consent was obtained from all participants [and parent/guardian consent and participant assent were obtained where applicable].
Consent for publication: Consent for publication of potentially identifiable information was obtained from the participant(s).

Conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no financial, personal, professional, or institutional conflicts of interest relevant to this work.

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by [funder, grant number]. The funder had [describe/no] role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit.
Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author contributions

Author contributions: [Initials]—conceptualisation and methodology; [Initials]—investigation and data curation; [Initials]—analysis; all authors—writing, review, approval of the final manuscript, and accountability for the work.

Data availability

Data availability: The data and supporting materials are available at [repository and persistent URL/DOI].
Data availability: The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to [ethical/privacy/legal] restrictions.
Data availability: The data are not publicly available because [specific ethical, privacy, legal, cultural, or contractual reason].

Acknowledgements

Identify contributors who do not qualify for authorship, with their permission. Do not use acknowledgements to conceal authorship or undisclosed professional writing assistance.

11. Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies

  • AI systems cannot be authors or co-authors.
  • Authors remain responsible for every statement, citation, translation, image, table, analysis, and conclusion in the manuscript.
  • Permitted use for language or readability assistance must be disclosed.
  • Authors must verify AI-assisted content for accuracy, bias, originality, confidentiality, and valid references.
  • Generative AI must not be used to fabricate data, sources, participant statements, images, findings, or references.
  • If AI is part of the research method rather than writing assistance, report the tool, provider, model/version, date accessed, parameters or prompts where relevant, validation, and limitations in the Methods section.
Generative AI disclosure: During preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [tool, provider, model/version] for [specific purpose]. All output was reviewed and edited by the authors, who take full responsibility for the content. No confidential participant data or unpublished third-party material was uploaded.
Generative AI disclosure: The authors did not use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the writing or preparation of this manuscript.

12. References and citation integrity

  • Use American Psychological Association, 7th edition (APA 7) consistently.
  • Use a reference manager such as Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote to reduce formatting errors.
  • Prioritise relevant primary scholarship and current peer-reviewed research while retaining essential foundational sources.
  • Engage with relevant international literature as well as appropriate local and regional scholarship.
  • Every in-text citation must appear in the reference list and every reference-list entry must be cited in the text.
  • Authors must verify author names, title, year, source, volume, issue, pages, DOI, and URL against the original publication.
  • Provide DOI links in the form https://doi.org/... where available.
  • Do not cite sources that have not been read merely because they were produced by a search engine or generative-AI system.
  • Irrelevant citation padding, citation coercion, reciprocal citation arrangements, and manipulation of citation metrics are prohibited.
  • Retractions should not be cited as valid evidence unless the retraction itself is the object of analysis and is clearly identified.

13. Tables, figures, images, and supplementary files

  • Number tables and figures consecutively in the order they are mentioned.
  • Provide a concise, informative title for every table and a caption for every figure.
  • Tables must be editable rather than embedded as screenshots.
  • Define abbreviations, symbols, sample sizes, units, statistical tests, and significance indicators in notes.
  • Figures must be legible, accurate, and of sufficient resolution for publication.
  • Do not manipulate images in a way that obscures, removes, adds, or misrepresents information.
  • Provide alternative text or a clear descriptive caption for meaningful visual content where possible.
  • State whether material is original, adapted, or reproduced. Authors must obtain and retain permission for third-party copyrighted material.
  • Remove identifying faces, names, usernames, locations, or other personal information unless publication consent has been obtained.
  • Supplementary files should be cited in the manuscript and include a descriptive title.

14. Editorial screening and peer review

  1. Technical check: file completeness, anonymisation, metadata, formatting, and required declarations.
  2. Editorial screening: scope, scholarly contribution, originality, language, methodological adequacy, ethical compliance, and reporting quality.
  3. Similarity screening: assessment of unattributed or problematic textual overlap.
  4. External review: manuscripts that pass screening are normally evaluated through double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers.
  5. Revision: authors must provide a point-by-point response explaining every change or reasoned disagreement.
  6. Decision: the responsible editor evaluates the manuscript, reviewer reports, author response, and ethical requirements. Reviewers advise; the editor decides.
  7. Production: accepted manuscripts undergo copyediting, metadata verification, layout, author proofing, and publication.

Possible decisions include reject before review, reject after review, major revision, minor revision, accept subject to final checks, and accept. Submission does not guarantee external review or publication. The journal may request additional methodological, language, ethical, data, or reference corrections at any stage.

Common reasons for desk rejection

  • outside the journal's focus and scope;
  • no clear research problem or scholarly contribution;
  • method cannot support the conclusions;
  • article is mainly descriptive, promotional, or a popular essay;
  • serious language or structural problems prevent reliable review;
  • missing ethics, consent, authorship, conflict, data, or AI information;
  • problematic overlap, duplicate submission, unreliable references, or other integrity concerns;
  • failure to follow the template or respond to technical-correction requests.

15. Fees, copyright, licensing, and open access

  • Authors must consult the journal's current Article Processing Charge and Waiver Policy before submission.
  • Any applicable fee and waiver must be transparent and handled separately from scholarly assessment. Ability to pay must not determine acceptance or rejection.
  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication.
  • Published articles are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0), subject to the journal's current Copyright Notice.
  • Authors may deposit the published version in institutional or subject repositories with full citation and DOI to the SINTHOP version of record.

17. Final submission checklist

  • The manuscript fits SINTHOP's education, religion, social-science, cultural, or interdisciplinary scope.
  • The scholarly problem, contribution, method, principal findings, limitations, and conclusion are clearly identifiable.
  • The submission is original, not under review elsewhere, and any thesis, conference paper, preprint, or related publication has been disclosed.
  • The manuscript uses the current template and meets the language, length, structure, table, figure, and reference requirements.
  • English title, abstract, and keywords are present and accurate.
  • The review manuscript has been fully anonymised and document properties have been checked.
  • All authors meet the authorship criteria, approve the manuscript and author order, and are entered completely in OJS.
  • Ethics approval or exemption, informed consent, consent for publication, conflicts, funding, author contributions, data availability, and AI use have been declared.
  • All references have been checked against the original sources; DOI links are included where available.
  • Permissions have been obtained for third-party or identifiable material.
  • The title page and all relevant supplementary files are ready for upload.
  • All authors have read the Publication Ethics, Peer Review, Plagiarism, Generative AI, Copyright, Privacy, and Fee policies.

Policy ownership: The Editor-in-Chief and editorial office are responsible for implementing and periodically reviewing these guidelines. Material revisions will be identified by a new version number and effective date.

When the template and this page appear inconsistent, authors should contact the journal before submission. The editorial office must resolve the inconsistency publicly rather than applying an unpublished requirement.