Focus and Scope

el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam is a peer-reviewed and open-access journal published by Humas, Dokumentasi & Publikasi of Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang. It aims to promote scientific publication on Islamic culture and local wisdom in Indonesia and Southeast Asia region.

The scope included in el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam covers:

(1) The cultural traditions and practices rooted in Islam,

(2) Islam and dynamics of local wisdom,

(3) The unique characteristics of Indonesian Islam within its cultural diversity,

(4) Dynamic of thoughts in Islamic culture,

(5) Actual values of local wisdom and Islamic culture,

(6) The historical and cultural roles of Islam in shaping societies,

(7) The role of education in promoting Islamic culture,

(8) The integration of Islamic faith of local tradition,

(9) The impact of Islamic culture on business practices, and

(10) Cultural divergence in Islamic civilization.

el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam demonstrates a comprehensive alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by bridging traditional religious heritage with modern global sustainability imperatives. By framing Islamic culture and local wisdom as active drivers for societal progress, the journal directly contributes to Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (SDG 16). Furthermore, its open-access policy advances Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17) by facilitating cross-cultural discourse.

Starting June 2025, el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam adopts a thematic focus for each issue to enhance the quality of published articles in terms of analytical depth, research novelty, and academic relevance to contemporary issues in Islamic and cultural studies. This policy is part of the journal’s continuous effort to improve its publication standards and to ensure greater qualification for inclusion in reputable international indexing databases. 

Section Policies

ARTICLES

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

Paper submitted to el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam will be reviewed by some expert of Islamic cultural studies from several universities in different countries (double-blind peer-review). Every paper submitted will be scanned for plagiarism before it is sent to the reviewer.

Manuscript submitted to this journal should meet the general criteria:

• The paper submitted in the journal must follow Focus and Scope and Author Guidelines of this journal.
• The submitted manuscript must be original, unpublished work, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• It must fulfill scientific merit and novelty or new contribution to knowledge to the focus and scope of this study
• Written in English or Arabic language. Authors whose English/Arabic is not their native language are encouraged to have their paper checked for grammar and clarity before submission.
• All articles submitted are screened for plagiarism using Turnitin. Only articles with an overall similarity index and AI detection rate of 15% or less will be considered for publication.

Manuscripts not meeting these conditions will be returned to the authors. When a manuscript has passed the editorial office review process, it is subjected to a double-blind review system. At least two external reviewers are chosen from the database of this journal, the journal's editorial board, or other sources. These reviewers are subject matter experts in the field. Invitations to review are sent to the reviewers with attached abstracts. A double-blind peer review technique is used by el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam, an anonymous peer review system in which the identity of the manuscript's author(s) is kept hidden from the reviewers. Before a manuscript is given to a reviewer, details that could reveal to a reviewer of author(s)'s identity in the manuscript would be erased. When sending the reviewers' comments to the author(s), the reviewers' identities are likewise hidden from the author(s). 

The reviewers evaluate the manuscript based on the following criteria:

1. Relevance and Significance:

   • Does the paper address a current issue in the field of Islamic culture and local wisdom?
   • Is the topic significant and contributes to advancing knowledge in the relevant domain?

2. Title and Content Alignment:

   • Does the title accurately represent the content of the paper?
   • Is there a clear connection between the title and the main ideas discussed in the manuscript?

3. Organization and Structure:

   • Is the manuscript proportionally organized across different sections (e.g., introduction, methodology, analysis, conclusions)?
   • Are the sections well-balanced and contribute logically to the overall flow of the paper?
   • Is the paper well-written, with clarity and coherence in language?

4. Analysis and Synthesis:

   • Is the analysis and synthesis appropriate for the focus of the paper?
   • Are the arguments well-supported by evidence, and are different perspectives adequately considered?

5. Conclusions and Generalizations:

   • Are the conclusions clearly presented?
   • Are generalizations appropriately made based on the analysis, and are they in line with the findings?
   • Are there practical implications based on the conclusion?

6. Formatting and Template Adherence:

   • Does the manuscript follow the prescribed formatting and template guidelines of the journal or conference?

7. Citation and References:

   • Are all citations within the paper correctly listed in the reference section?
   • Are references formatted according to the required citation style and tool?

Detailed information about the flow for the manuscript submission (author) to the acceptance by the editor is shown in the following figure.

In short, the steps are:

1. Manuscript submission (by author) (route 1)
2. Manuscript check and selection (by manager and editors) (route 2). Editors have a right to directly accept, reject, or review. Prior to further processing steps, plagiarism check using Turnitin is applied for each manuscript. Only articles with an overall similarity index and AI detection rate of 15% or less will be considered for publication.
3. Manuscript reviewing process (by reviewers) (route 3 & 4)
4. Notification of manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection (by editor to author based on reviewers comments) (route 5)
5. Paper revision (by author)
6. Revision submission based on reviewer suggestion (by author) with the similar flow to point number 1. (route 1)
7. If the reviewer seems to be satisfied with revision, notification for acceptance (by editor). (route 6)
8. Galley proof and publishing process (route 7 & 8)

The steps point number 1 to 5 are considered as 1 round of the peer-reviewing process (see the grey area in the figure). The editor or editorial board considers the feedback provided by the peer reviewers and arrives at a decision. The following are the most common decisions:

• Accept "as it is"
• Requires minor corrections
• Requires major revisions
• Resubmit (conditional rejection) 
• Decline. In this case, the reviewer provides the specific reason(s) why the manuscript is not further processed.

The final decision of manuscript acceptance is solely made by Editor in Chief and/or Associate Editor (together with Editorial Board, if required) according to reviewers' critical comments. Publication of accepted articles including assigning the article to the published issues will be made by Editor in Chief by considering the sequence of accepted date and geographical distribution of authors as well as a thematic issue.

Publication Frequency

el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam is published twice a year, in June and December. Each volume of this journal is published annualy.

Open Access Policy

el Harakah Jurnal Budaya Islam 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.

All articles published Open Access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download.  We are continuously working with our author communities to select the best choice of license options, currently being defined for this journal is: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA)

This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. You are free to: (a) Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; (b) Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms:

• Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
• No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

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.

Publication Ethics

el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam adheres strictly to the publication ethics established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We uphold integrity, transparency, fairness, and accountability at every stage to ensure responsible contributions to Islamic cultural studies. All authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher must comply with these standards. Below is a summary of our core principles; full guidance is available at COPE Core Practices.

Allegations of Misconduct

All allegations of misconduct submitted to the Editor-in-Chief are handled promptly, impartially, and confidentially. Following a preliminary assessment, cases requiring independent review or involving potential conflicts of interest are referred to the Head of the Academic Publication Center (Pusat Publikasi Ilmiah), LP2M Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim, who may form an investigating committee.

If misconduct is confirmed, the journal follows COPE guidelines to take corrective action, such as issuing corrections, retracting articles, revising authorship, suspending reviews, or appointing new reviewers. We remain committed to protecting academic integrity while ensuring fair process for all parties.

Authorship and Contributorship

Manuscripts must accurately identify all substantial contributors. The cover letter must outline each author’s role (e.g., conceptualization, data analysis, drafting, or revision) and confirm that all qualified contributors are listed.

Changes to authorship require a written explanation and written consent from all authors. No changes are allowed after final revision acceptance.

Manuscripts are limited to a maximum of five authors, each of whom must have made a significant intellectual contribution relevant to Islamic cultural studies.

Complaints and Appeals

el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam handles complaints and appeals fairly, transparently, and in accordance with COPE guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief and handling editors manage all grievances regarding editorial decisions, procedures, and ethics.

Authors may submit a written appeal if they believe a rejection lacked scholarly justification. Rejections at the initial screening stage receive a brief explanation and may be reconsidered if the appeal provides strong grounds. Rejections following peer review are generally final, but appeals will be considered if there is clear evidence of reviewer-editor inconsistency, procedural errors, or unfair process.

Complaints about process delays or administrative issues will be investigated promptly. While peer review timing depends on reviewer availability, we strive to maintain efficiency. Where delays stem from journal oversight, corrective action will be taken. Ethics-related complaints follow COPE Core Practices, and all final decisions are communicated transparently.

Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when personal, financial, institutional, or professional relationships could influence—or appear to influence—research conduct or publication. Given our focus on Islamic cultures and religious practices, full transparency is critical.

Authors must disclose all actual or potential conflicts upon submission, or immediately if one arises prior to publication. Editors and reviewers must disclose competing interests and recuse themselves from handling affected manuscripts.

When an undisclosed conflict is reported, the Editor-in-Chief conducts a preliminary review, notifies the authors, and requests a signed declaration (and may contact affiliated institutions if necessary). If an undisclosed conflict is confirmed, remedies range from publishing a correction or editorial notice to article retraction, depending on severity.

Data and Reproducibility

Authors are encouraged to share supporting research data as supplementary materials whenever ethically permissible. This is especially relevant for empirical Islamic cultural research (e.g., ethnographic, historical, sociological, or digital humanities studies), though restricted access is permitted when needed to protect human subjects, communities, or cultural heritage.

Authors are fully responsible for data authenticity. Data fabrication, falsification, and improper image manipulation are strictly prohibited.

If data integrity concerns arise, the Editor-in-Chief may consult internal or independent experts. If evidence suggests misconduct, authors must provide clarification and supporting documentation. Depending on findings, the journal may request corrections, issue an expression of concern, or retract the article in line with COPE guidance.

Ethical Oversight

All published research must comply with international ethical standards and institutional regulations. Particular attention is given to studies involving human participants, vulnerable groups, sacred cultural expressions, and sensitive heritage materials to ensure respect, informed consent, and scholarly responsibility.

Manuscripts must explicitly describe ethical approvals, informed consent procedures, and permissions obtained from relevant institutions or communities.

The Editor-in-Chief investigates all reports of ethical violations. Confirmed violations will result in corrective actions—such as formal corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions—proportionate to the severity of the offense.

Intellectual Property

Authors must ensure their work respects intellectual property laws. Permissions must be secured for reproducing copyrighted figures, tables, photos, maps, or archival materials, and all external ideas or content must be accurately cited.

While the journal allows a maximum similarity index of 15%, meeting this threshold does not bypass plagiarism checks. Unattributed borrowing, duplicate publication, and intentional plagiarism are strictly prohibited regardless of score.

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, permitting open sharing with proper attribution.

Plagiarism or IP allegations are investigated under COPE guidelines. Minor issues may require formal corrections, while severe violations will lead to manuscript rejection, article retraction, or institutional notification.

Journal Management

el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam is committed to maintaining high standards of editorial integrity and responsible scholarly publishing in the field of Islamic cultural studies. Although the journal is not a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), it follows the COPE Core Practices in managing authorship, peer review, editorial decision-making, and publication ethics. The journal also adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and maintains an open access policy consistent with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) guidelines.

Post-Publication Discussions

el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam welcomes constructive post-publication discussion that contributes to the advancement of scholarship on Islamic cultures, traditions, and societies. Concerns or critiques submitted by readers will be assessed by the Editor-in-Chief to determine whether they are evidence-based and presented in a professional manner. Submissions that are defamatory or unsupported will not be considered.

Where a concern is found to be valid, the journal will investigate the matter in accordance with COPE guidance. Depending on the findings, the journal may publish a correction, a reader's correspondence with the authors' response, an expression of concern, or a retraction.

Allegations of redundant or duplicate publication will also be investigated. Minor overlap may be resolved through correction and appropriate citation, whereas substantial redundancy may result in rejection or retraction. When necessary, the journal may notify the authors' affiliated institutions or the editors of other affected journals. The outcome of the investigation will be communicated to the individual who raised the concern.

Generative AI Statement

el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam recognizes that Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies can assist authors in improving the clarity and presentation of scholarly manuscripts. However, the use of GenAI must not compromise academic integrity, originality, or scholarly responsibility.

Authors must disclose any use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of their manuscript, including drafting, editing, language refinement, data analysis, or content generation. Such disclosure promotes transparency and supports the integrity of the editorial and peer-review process.

The authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, interpretation, and conclusions of their work. Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot assume responsibility for the content or meet accepted authorship criteria. The editorial team reserves the right to evaluate the appropriateness of AI use in accordance with the journal's ethical policies and prevailing academic standards.

Author Declaration: If Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies have been used in preparing the manuscript, authors must include a Generative AI Statement in the manuscript using the journal's prescribed format. This requirement does not apply to basic writing aids, such as spelling or grammar checkers, or reference management software. If no Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used, no declaration is required. 

Plagiarism Notice & Research Misconduct Allegation

Plagiarism occurs when an author takes ideas, information, or words from another source without proper credit to the source. Even when it occurs unintentionally, plagiarism is still a serious academic violation, and unacceptable in international academic publications. When the author learns specific information (a name, date, place, statistical number, or other detailed information) from a specific source, a citation is required.  When the author takes an idea from another author, a citation is required—even if the author then develops the idea further. 

El Harakah as a respected international journal, wants to ensure that all authors are careful and comply with international standards for academic integrity, particularly on the issue of plagiarism. El Harakah takes academic integrity very seriously, and the editors reserve the right to withdraw acceptance from a paper found to violate any of the standards set out above. For further information, potential authors can contact the editorial office at elharakahjurnal@gmail.com

Article Processing Charge

Authors are not required to pay an Article Submission Fee as part of the submission process to contribute to review costs.

Starting from the manuscript submission in January 2024, author(s) (excluding Member of Editors/Editorial Board/Active Reviewer) should pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) of USD 100 per article, once the manuscript was accepted. Authors with non-Indonesian affiliation are not required to pay the APC. The APC will be used for the full-text PDF articles production cost.

An APC waiver alongside an exclusive reward will be granted to the recipient(s) of the Best Paper Award, which honors author(s) whose work delivers profound insights and innovative ideas that significantly advance the topic of the issue.