AuthorGuidelines

Before preparing and submitting a manuscript, authors should carefully note that manuscript withdrawal is strongly discouraged once the article has entered the publication process, including peer review, revision, copyediting, layout editing, or other editorial stages. At these stages, JLSPA: Journal of Law, Social, and Public Affairs has allocated editorial resources, reviewer expertise, and publication time to process the manuscript.

Authors are therefore expected to prepare and review their manuscripts carefully before submission and ensure compliance with the journal’s guidelines, focus and scope, ethical policies, and article template.

1. General Requirements

JLSPA: Journal of Law, Social, and Public Affairs accepts original research articles that have not been previously published and are not currently under consideration or accepted for publication by another journal or publisher.

Manuscripts must be relevant to one or more areas within the journal’s scope, including law, social sciences, political science, public administration, public policy, governance, and public affairs.

The journal welcomes theoretical, empirical, doctrinal, comparative, and interdisciplinary studies addressing topics such as:

  • constitutional, administrative, civil, criminal, international, business, and other areas of law;

  • legal policy, legal reform, socio-legal studies, human rights, and access to justice;

  • political science, political institutions, political behavior, democracy, elections, and political participation;

  • political communication, political economy, political sociology, and digital politics;

  • international relations, diplomacy, geopolitics, and global governance;

  • public administration, public management, bureaucracy, and administrative reform;

  • public policy formulation, implementation, evaluation, and policy analysis;

  • governance, collaborative governance, digital governance, and institutional governance;

  • decentralization, regional autonomy, local government, and public services;

  • social change, social institutions, social policy, community development, and social welfare;

  • citizenship, civil society, social movements, social inclusion, and social justice; and

  • other interdisciplinary issues that have a clear relationship with law, society, politics, government, governance, or public affairs.

The manuscript must be accompanied by a statement of originality confirming that the submitted article is an original scholarly work, does not contain plagiarism, has not been published elsewhere, and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

The manuscript must be prepared using the official JLSPA article template.

References must consist of at least 15 sources. Authors are encouraged to prioritize relevant, recent, and authoritative scholarly sources, particularly peer-reviewed journal articles. For legal research, legislation, court decisions, treaties, official government documents, policy documents, and other relevant primary legal materials may also be used according to the nature of the study.

The maximum similarity index permitted for submitted manuscripts is 20%. However, the Editorial Board evaluates similarity reports contextually and does not rely solely on the numerical similarity score.

2. Manuscript Format

The manuscript should be at least 8 pages in length and prepared on A4 paper, using 1.5 line spacing, Cambria font, size 12 pt, unless otherwise specified in the official journal template.

Citations should use an in-text citation or body-note system and must be applied consistently throughout the manuscript.

Manuscripts may be written in Indonesian or English using clear, academic, grammatically appropriate, and professionally edited language.

The manuscript should generally be arranged in the following order:

  1. Title

  2. Author Name(s)

  3. Abstract

  4. Keywords

  5. Introduction

  6. Method

  7. Results and Discussion

  8. Conclusion

  9. References

The structure may be adjusted when necessary for particular types of legal or interdisciplinary research, provided that the manuscript maintains a clear and systematic academic organization.

3. Article Writing Requirements

Title

The title should generally consist of 10–15 words. It must be concise, specific, informative, and clearly represent the central issue, variables, legal problem, social phenomenon, political issue, policy issue, or research context discussed in the manuscript.

Titles should avoid unnecessary abbreviations, overly broad expressions, and wording that does not accurately represent the content of the article.

Author Name(s)

Author names must be written without academic or professional titles.

Each author must provide:

  • full name;

  • institutional affiliation; and

  • active email address.

The corresponding author must be clearly identified and is responsible for communication with the Editorial Board throughout the submission and publication process.

Abstract

The abstract must be provided in Indonesian and English.

Each abstract should contain approximately 150–250 words and concisely describe:

  • the background or research problem;

  • objective of the study;

  • research method or approach;

  • principal findings;

  • main conclusion; and

  • where appropriate, the theoretical, legal, social, political, administrative, or policy implications of the study.

The abstract should be written as a coherent paragraph and should not contain unnecessary citations, tables, figures, or lengthy explanations.

Keywords

Keywords must be provided in Indonesian and English.

Each version should contain 3–5 keywords representing the principal concepts, issues, variables, legal areas, political phenomena, policies, institutions, or research topics discussed in the manuscript.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly explain the context and importance of the research problem.

It should generally include:

  • background of the study;

  • relevant legal, social, political, administrative, governance, or policy context;

  • identification of the research problem;

  • review of relevant previous studies;

  • identification of the research gap or scholarly problem;

  • novelty or contribution of the study; and

  • research objective or research question.

Authors should avoid presenting an excessively descriptive background without establishing a clear academic problem and contribution.

The introduction should demonstrate why the study is necessary and how it contributes to existing knowledge or practice.

Method

The method section must clearly explain how the study was conducted and should be appropriate to the field and objectives of the research.

For legal research, the method may include, but is not limited to:

  • normative or doctrinal legal research;

  • statutory approach;

  • conceptual approach;

  • case approach;

  • comparative approach;

  • historical approach;

  • philosophical approach;

  • socio-legal or empirical legal research; and

  • other recognized legal research approaches.

Authors conducting legal research should clearly identify the legal materials, statutes, regulations, court decisions, treaties, official documents, or other primary and secondary legal sources used and explain the method of analysis.

For research in social sciences, political science, public administration, public policy, governance, and public affairs, methods may include:

  • qualitative research;

  • quantitative research;

  • mixed-methods research;

  • case studies;

  • surveys;

  • interviews;

  • focus group discussions;

  • observation;

  • content analysis;

  • discourse analysis;

  • comparative analysis;

  • institutional analysis;

  • policy analysis;

  • document analysis; and

  • other academically recognized research methods.

Where applicable, the method section should describe:

  • research design or approach;

  • research location or context;

  • population and sample or research participants;

  • data sources;

  • data collection procedures;

  • research instruments;

  • variables or analytical dimensions;

  • data analysis techniques; and

  • ethical considerations.

The method should contain sufficient information to allow readers to understand how the research findings were obtained.

Results and Discussion

The Results and Discussion section should present the principal findings of the study systematically and relate them directly to the research objectives or research questions.

Research findings may be supported by:

  • tables;

  • figures;

  • graphs;

  • charts;

  • diagrams;

  • quotations from participants;

  • legal provisions;

  • court decisions;

  • policy documents; or

  • other relevant empirical or documentary evidence.

Tables and figures should only be used when they provide meaningful information and should be appropriately numbered, titled, and referred to in the text.

The discussion should go beyond merely describing the findings. Authors are expected to interpret and critically analyze the results by connecting them with relevant:

  • theories and concepts;

  • previous research;

  • legal principles and doctrines;

  • legislation and judicial decisions;

  • political or institutional frameworks;

  • public administration theories;

  • public policy frameworks; or

  • other relevant scholarly perspectives.

For legal studies, the discussion should demonstrate clear and systematic legal reasoning and analysis, rather than merely reproducing or describing legislation.

For empirical social and political research, authors should explain the meaning and significance of the findings and demonstrate how the findings support, develop, contradict, or extend existing knowledge.

The discussion should also highlight the novelty, scholarly contribution, and practical or policy implications of the research where appropriate.

Conclusion

The conclusion must be written concisely and directly address the research objectives or research questions.

It should summarize the most important findings without simply repeating the Results and Discussion section.

Where appropriate, the conclusion may also contain:

  • legal implications;

  • policy recommendations;

  • governance implications;

  • administrative recommendations;

  • practical implications;

  • research limitations; and

  • recommendations for future research.

New data, arguments, tables, figures, or references should not normally be introduced in the conclusion.

References

References must follow the citation and reference style specified by JLSPA: Journal of Law, Social, and Public Affairs.

Authors should prioritize relevant, credible, and academically authoritative sources. Scholarly journal articles should constitute an important portion of the references, particularly for empirical and theoretical research.

For legal studies, authors may also cite relevant:

  • legislation and regulations;

  • court decisions;

  • international treaties and conventions;

  • official government documents;

  • policy documents;

  • institutional reports; and

  • other authoritative legal sources.

All sources cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and all entries in the reference list must be cited in the manuscript.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference management software such as Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, or other reliable reference-management applications to ensure consistency and accuracy in citations and references.