Author Guidelines
Publication Frequency: Twice a year (June and December)
Licensing: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Important Notice for Authors
Please carefully read and follow all the guidelines below before submitting your manuscript. Manuscripts that do not comply with the specified technical specifications and formatting templates will be immediately returned to the authors for revision, which may lead to significant delays in the review and publication process of your work.
1. Focus and Scope
Journal of Sharia and Local Traditions (JSLT) welcomes original manuscripts exploring the interactions between Islamic law (Sharia) and local cultural practices and traditions. The scope includes, but is not limited to, customary law (adat law), legal anthropology of Islam, sociology of law, legal history, societal governance, and comparative studies of law and local wisdom.
2. Article Types & Word Count
Manuscripts submitted to JSLT must be journal articles with a length of at least 3,000 words, fall under one of the following categories:
| ▪ | Original Research Papers |
| ▪ | Review Articles |
| ▪ | Critical Case Studies |
3. General Requirements & Originality
| ▪ | Originality & Prior Publication: Manuscripts must be completely ORIGINAL, have not been published elsewhere previously, and are not currently under consideration by any other journal. JSLT does not accept revised versions of papers you have already published elsewhere. To be considered authentic, manuscripts must contain at least 80% new material, with no more than 200 consecutive words quoted verbatim from previously published work. |
| ▪ | File Format: All manuscripts must be submitted online through our OJS system in Microsoft Word (.docx) format. Due to system incompatibility, LaTeX-based files CANNOT be accepted. |
| ▪ | Language & Perspective: Manuscripts can be written in proper English or Standard Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia). Indonesian authors are highly encouraged to use formal, academic-grade Bahasa Indonesia when submitting. The text must be written entirely from an objective third-person perspective (using terms like "the author" or "the researcher," NOT first-person pronouns like "I," "we," or "our"). |
| ▪ | Plagiarism Prevention: JSLT is strictly committed to preventing plagiarism. All manuscripts will undergo rigorous similarity index screening before they are considered for acceptance. The maximum similarity index allowed is 20%, verified using Turnitin or similar software. Please ensure all external thoughts are properly cited and rephrased in your own words. |
4. Manuscript Structure and Formatting
4.1 Title: The title must be concise, specific, and effective, not exceeding 15 words. Title formatting must follow Title Case rules (capitalize the first letter of each word except prepositions, conjunctions, or articles, unless they are at the beginning of the title). The title must not be written in ALL CAPS (e.g., "YOUR ARTICLE TITLE" is incorrect; "Your Article Title" is correct).
4.2 Core Structure: Authors must strictly follow this structural sequence:
4.3 Typography & Headings:
| • Typography: Helvetica / Arial font, size 11 pt, with a line spacing of 1.15. |
| • Layout: A4 paper size with standard 2.54 cm margins. Paragraphs must be justified with a first-line indent. |
| • Section Headings: Section titles within the text can be adjusted to match the manuscript's content, but they MUST NOT use numbering systems (e.g., do not use "1. Introduction"; write "Introduction" directly in plain text style as instructed in the official JSLT template). |
4.4 Tables, Figures, and Equations:
| • Figures: The manuscript should contain no more than 20 figures. All figures must be high-resolution and submitted as separate files in .tif format. Authors are fully responsible for obtaining copyright permission when using third-party images. |
| • Tables: Tables must be submitted in editable Word-native text format, not as static images. All tables and figures must be numbered sequentially with clear captions. |
| • Equations: Mathematical equations should be typed directly using Word's built-in equation tool or formatted neatly using MathType. Authors can download a free trial of MathType from its official website (http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/). |
4.5 Citations and Reference Style:
| • Reference Style: In-text citations and reference list formatting must strictly comply with the APA 7th Edition style. A minimum of 20 credible references is required for every submitted manuscript. |
| • Self-Citations: Self-citation is allowed only when absolutely necessary to contextualize the research, but self-cited works must not exceed 50% of the total reference list. All entries in the references must perfectly match the in-text citations. |
5. Peer Review Process
| ▪ | Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening will undergo a double-blind peer review process by at least two expert reviewers in the relevant field. |
| ▪ | The editor reserves the right to accept, request revisions (major/minor), or decline manuscripts. Because manuscripts submitted to the publisher are considered final and ready for publication, thorough copyediting and proofreading must be completed by the author beforehand. |
6. Publication Ethics & Copyright Transfer
| ▪ | Copyright Policy: As part of the metadata submission workflow, physical or separate PDF copyright agreement documents are no longer accepted. Authors must sign the Author Guarantee and Transfer of Copyright Agreement digitally directly within the OJS system during submission. |
| ▪ | All registered authors must outline their individual contributions, declare any conflict of interest, and attach an ethical clearance letter if the research involves human subjects. |
7. Online Submission Steps
| 1. | Prepare your manuscript to perfectly match the layout of the official JSLT Word template. |
| 2. | Log in or create a new account (Register) on the official JSLT OJS platform. |
| 3. | Upload your manuscript file alongside any other required supporting supplementary documents. |
| 4. | Authors will receive an automatic system email confirmation immediately after the submission process is successfully completed. |