Author Guidelines
This document provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to final manuscript submission to Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies.
Manuscript
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines
Template Journal MEIS
Template Journal MEIS, KTTI SKSG Universitas Indonesia
I. General Requirements and Disciplinary Scope
A. Aims and Scope
The Journal of Middle East and Islamic Studies (JMEIS) provides an international academic platform for critical, interdisciplinary, and methodologically diverse research on the Middle East, the broader Muslim world, and Islamic intellectual traditions. The journal welcomes contributions grounded in contemporary research paradigms as well as classical textual scholarship.
Specifically, the journal encourages submissions engaging with (but not limited to) the following areas:
1. History, Geopolitics, and International Relations of the Middle East
2. Islamic Law, Legal Institutions, and Contemporary Jurisprudence
3. Society, Culture, and Social Transformation
4. Islamic Intellectual History and Contemporary Thought
5. Arabic Language, Philology, and Literature
The journal explicitly values methodological plurality, accommodating: fieldwork-based social research, quantitative political science, legal-textual analysis, philology and manuscript studies, hermeneutics, discourse analysis, archival research, digital humanities, and hybrid or mixed-methods designs that enhance scholarly rigor.
The overarching aim is to advance scholarly understanding with relevance to contemporary academic debates, to contribute to global theoretical discourse, and to preserve scientific integrity, cultural nuance, and historical precision.
B. Article Types Accepted
To maintain academic inclusivity while preserving methodological clarity, JMEIS accepts the following categories:
1. Original Research Articles
Submissions that present novel theoretical arguments, empirical findings, or primary-source discoveries. These may be:
2. Review Articles (Systematic, Scoping, or Narrative Reviews)
High-level syntheses that survey existing research, identify knowledge gaps, evaluate theoretical developments, and map emerging scholarly agendas.
3. Conceptual and Theoretical Papers
Manuscripts that advance conceptual frameworks, refine theory, or propose new analytical categories relevant to Islamic and Middle East studies.
4. Philological and Textual Studies Critical editions, manuscript analyses, variorum studies, and curated translations accompanied by scholarly apparatus (introduction, commentary, and codicological notes).
5. Book Reviews and Critical Notes Critical reflections on new major publications with emphasis on methodological, ideological, and empirical contributions.
All submissions must demonstrate clear scholarly contribution, precise methodological articulation, and engagement with international academic literature.
C. Originality, Scholarly Integrity, and Publication Ethics
All manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere. Redundant, duplicate, or simultaneous submissions are strictly prohibited.
The journal adheres to internationally recognized publication ethics. Therefore:
Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, uncredited translations of Arabic sources, or unacknowledged use of digital text manipulation tools, is strictly prohibited.
Manuscripts involving classical texts must provide transparent documentation of sources (edition, volume, page, manuscript identification).
Critical editions are expected to demonstrate tangible scholarly value, such as: improved readings, new manuscripts, methodological refinements, comprehensive philological commentary.
The journal employs plagiarism detection software and reserves the right to reject manuscripts that violate established ethical standards.
D. Authorship, Intellectual Contribution, and Academic Ethics
1. Authorship Criteria
Authors must satisfy the following criteria: Substantive contribution to the research design, data acquisition, textual analysis, or conceptual development;
Active participation in drafting or scientifically revising the manuscript; Final approval of the version submitted for publication; Agreement to take academic responsibility for the content.
Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.) cannot be listed as authors under any circumstances. Their use, if any, must be transparently documented in the methodology or acknowledgments section, specifying tasks performed and limitations.
2. Ethical Considerations in Research Design
Different disciplines in this field carry distinct ethical obligations:
Ethnographic and social research must ensure participant confidentiality, informed consent, and security precautions in politically sensitive environments.
Political science research must disclose potential geopolitical risks affecting respondents or field sites.
Manuscript studies must respect archival access regulations, intellectual property, and institutional conservation norms.
Legal and sharia studies must avoid misrepresentation of doctrinal positions and provide methodological clarity in textual interpretation.
3. Conflict of Interest Disclosure
Authors must disclose financial, institutional, ideological, or political circumstances that might influence the research. Examples include:
In Middle East studies, political entanglements are non-trivial, therefore transparency is essential for scholarly credibility.
E. Data Transparency, Documentation, and Research Openness
The journal supports a differentiated approach to scholarly transparency based on disciplinary norms. Authors must provide a Data Availability Statement describing how data, sources, or materials may be accessed.
Appropriate forms include:
1. Empirical and Statistical Data :
2. Philological and Manuscript Data
3. Legal, Theological, and Textual Sources
4. Sensitive or Restricted Data For politically sensitive research (e.g., conflict zones, authoritarian regimes), authors may request ethical exemptions from full disclosure, provided justification is included to protect participants or archives.
5. Funding Disclosure Authors must state all funding sources, including:
Given that funding in this field often intersects with geopolitics, ideology, and diplomacy, comprehensive disclosure enhances scholarly independence.
F. Guidelines on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
1. Purpose
The Journal of Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEIS) acknowledges the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in academic research. While AI may assist scholarly work, it cannot replace human intellectual responsibility, critical reasoning, or methodological accountability.
These guidelines ensure transparency, integrity, and ethical compliance in the use of AI in submitted manuscripts.
2. Definition of AI Tools
AI tools include, but are not limited to:3. Permissible Uses
Authors may use AI tools for limited supportive purposes, such as:
All arguments, interpretations, analysis of primary sources, and scholarly conclusions must be independently developed and verified by the author(s).
4. Prohibited Uses
The following are strictly prohibited:
AI systems do not qualify for authorship because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability.
5. Mandatory AI Usage Disclosure
If AI tools are used at any stage of manuscript preparation, authors must include a separate section titled:
AI Usage Disclosure
Placement Requirement
The AI Usage Disclosure must be placed:
It must not be placed in footnotes, abstract, introduction, or hidden within acknowledgments.
Required Content
The disclosure must clearly state:
Example:
The author used an AI-assisted language model for language refinement and stylistic editing. All interpretations, analyses, and conclusions were independently developed and verified by the author.
Failure to disclose AI use may result in rejection or retraction.
6. AI in Research Methods
If AI tools are used substantively (e.g., corpus analysis, computational linguistics, digital humanities, machine learning), the methodology must be explained in the Methods section. However, a separate AI Usage Disclosure section at the end of the article remains mandatory.
7. Author Responsibility
Authors bear full responsibility for:
Any hallucination, fabricated citation, or factual inaccuracy remains the sole responsibility of the author.
8. Editorial Authority
The editorial board reserves the right to:
9. Final Statement
AI tools are instruments—not authors, interpreters, or scholars. The integrity of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies depends on human intellectual rigor, ethical responsibility, and critical scholarship.
II. Article Components and Formatting Standards
This section defines the structural components required in manuscripts submitted to journals within the domain of Middle East and Islamic Studies, along with detailed formatting expectations intended to enhance academic rigor, transparency, replicability, and interdisciplinary dialogue.
1. Mandatory Sections and Structural Sequence
Manuscripts must contain the following components in the standardized sequence below:
2. Section-by-Section Descriptions
Below are the detailed expectations for several critical components: Title Page Concise, specific, and accurately reflecting the scope and variables. May include geographical focus (e.g., “Turkey,” “GCC Countries”) and periodization if relevant. Avoid value-laden or ideological expressions. Subtitle may be used for methodological detail.
Abstract 150–250 words. Structured format is preferred for empirical studies (Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion). Should briefly indicate scholarly significance, especially regarding contributions to Middle East or Islamic Studies scholarship.
Keywords 4–8 keywords. At least two should refer to: geographical region (e.g., MENA, Levant, Maghreb), thematic category (e.g., Islamic law, migration), conceptual frameworks (e.g., securitization theory, maqasid al-shari‘a), methodological tools (e.g., discourse analysis, PLS-SEM).
Introduction
Must include:
Authors working within normative Islamic fields (e.g., fiqh, Qur’anic studies) should additionally clarify interpretive perspectives (e.g., historical, usuli, comparative, maqasid-driven).
Literature Review / Theoretical Framework
Should demonstrate intellectual positioning within local, regional, and global scholarly debates. Must include balanced representation of Western, Middle Eastern, and Muslim scholarly sources where applicable.
Citation expectation: at least 30% of citations should be from the last 5 years for empirical studies, classical sources should be cited appropriately for Islamic normative research (e.g., al-Muwatta', al-Umm, Ihya’ Ulum al-Din).
Methodology
Empirical and interdisciplinary submissions must specify: research design (qualitative, quantitative, mixed), data sources (primary archival, governmental reports, media, interviews, classical manuscripts), sampling or case selection logic, validity/reliability procedures, ethical considerations (mandatory for human subject research). Normative Islamic legal works should specify: type of usuli approach (e.g., qiyasi, maqasidi, tarjihi), madhhab conceptual references, interpretive logic (e.g., historical-contextual vs. doctrinal).
3. Author Contributions (CRediT-style adapted for MEIS)
To ensure transparency and academic integrity, each manuscript must designate the specific contributions of each author according to an adapted CRediT taxonomy that considers interdisciplinary and Islamic studies research practices.
Authors must be assigned one or more of the following roles:
Example format: > Author Contributions: A.B. conceptualized the study and developed the theoretical framework; C.D. collected and curated field data; E.F. conducted statistical analysis; A.B. and C.D. drafted the manuscript; E.F. revised and edited the final version. All authors have read and approved the submitted manuscript.
This format gives fair recognition to contributors, including those performing linguistic and philological work common in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.
Intellectual Integrity and Ethical Compliance Statements
Every manuscript must include: Funding Statement declaring sources or absence of funding, avoiding ambiguity in institutional affiliations. Conflict of Interest Declaration essential in politically sensitive areas (e.g., Gulf studies, Islam and geopolitics).
III. Citation Standards, Referencing Requirements, and Source Ethics
This section defines the citation norms, bibliographic requirements, and ethical standards for the use of sources in manuscripts submitted within the field of Middle East and Islamic Studies. These guidelines ensure academic rigor, traceability, balanced representation of scholarship, and transparency in the use of primary and secondary sources across linguistic and disciplinary boundaries.
1. Citation Style and In-Text Referencing
1.1 Required Citation System
Journals in Middle East and Islamic Studies generally adopt the following systems depending on disciplinary focus:
APA (7th edition) → for social sciences (political science, sociology, economics, international relations).
1.2 In-Text Rules
Avoid “signal-less quotations” (quotes without commentary).
Use author-year-page for direct quotations (e.g., Smith 2020, p. 41).
1.3 Transliteration and Arabic Script
When citing Arabic, Persian, or Ottoman Turkish texts:
Provide transliteration based on ISO or IJMES standards, and optionally include Arabic script in parentheses. The Arabic romanization transliteration should depend on the Library of Congress(LC) transliteration guidelines.
2. Reference List and Bibliographic Requirements
2.1 Diversity of Sources
The reference list must demonstrate: Geographical diversity (Middle Eastern, Western, Asian scholarship), Linguistic diversity (Arabic, English, French, Turkish, Persian, where relevant), Methodological diversity (normative, empirical, archival, field-based).
2.2 Recency Requirement
For empirical and policy-related papers: ≥ 30% of sources must be published within the last 5 years unless the topic is historical or classical in nature.
3. Software and Technical Tools
Authors are encouraged to use reference managers including: Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, Juris-M (for multilingual works), JabRef (for BibTeX users).
For Arabic-script sources: Juris-M is recommended as it supports multilingual citations and complex transliteration.
7. Plagiarism, Redundancy, and Text Recycling
7.1 Plagiarism Threshold
Journals may apply similarity checks via: Turnitin,
Empirical threshold:
< 20% similarity excluding references
< 5% text overlap from any single source
7.2 Self-Plagiarism
Redundant publication or text recycling, including from conference papers or dissertations, must be disclosed and properly cited.
IV. Editorial Workflow, Peer-Review Procedures, and Publication Ethics
This section outlines the standardized editorial processes, evaluation mechanisms, and ethical compliance requirements applied to manuscripts submitted to journals in Middle East and Islamic Studies. These procedures ensure academic merit, methodological rigor, and ethical transparency.
1. Manuscript Submission and Initial Screening
Upon submission, manuscripts undergo an initial editorial screening to assess:
1. Scope Fit
Alignment with Middle East and Islamic Studies fields (e.g., Islamic law, Middle East politics, Islamic economics, culture, history, theology, migration, conflict, global studies, etc.)
2. Structural Compliance
Conformity with formatting, sectioning, citation standards, and scholarly apparatus described in Sections I–III.
3. Language Quality
Manuscripts must be written in clear academic English or Arabic quotations must be accompanied by academic translation.
4. Ethical Documentation
IRB approval, Conflict of Interest disclosure, Data Availability, and Author Contribution statements must be present.
Manuscripts not meeting basic criteria may be returned without external review for technical revision.
2. Peer Review Procedures
2.1 Review Model
This Journal adopt Double-blind peer review (recommended for fairness in politically sensitive topics),
Double-blind is strongly recommended for Middle East and Islamic Studies due to geopolitical sensitivities, institutional asymmetries, and identity visibility.
3. Review Criteria
Reviewers evaluate manuscripts against the following criteria:
1. Originality and Contribution
Novel insights, theoretical contribution, or empirical advancement concerning Muslim societies or Middle Eastern contexts.
2. Literature Engagement and Theoretical Rigor
Adequate engagement with global and regional scholarship (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, French if relevant).
3. Methodological Soundness
Appropriateness and transparency of research design, data collection, and analytical procedures.
4. Use of Primary Sources (for Islamic or historical works)
Authenticity, verification, and interpretive consistency.
5. Clarity of Argumentation
Logical organization, coherence, and academic writing quality.
6. Ethical Integrity
Compliance with IRB, anonymity, confidentiality, and source ethics.
Review outcomes may include: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject.
Decisions are communicated with constructive, academically grounded feedback.
4. Revision and Resubmission
Authors receiving Minor Revision or Major Revision must:
Submit a revised manuscript,
Provide a Response to Reviewers Document addressing comments point-by-point,
Highlight changes using tracked changes or color coding.
Failure to respond substantively may lead to rejection.
5. Final Acceptance, Copyediting, and Typesetting
After acceptance, manuscripts proceed to:
1. Language and Style Editing
Ensuring terminological consistency, transliteration integrity, and English readability.
2. Copyediting and Fact-Checking
Cross-checking citations, references, transliteration, quotations, dates, and data.
3. Typesetting and Proofing
Formatting into final PDF/HTML with standardized metadata (DOI, issue, pagination, affiliations). Authors must approve the final proofs prior to publication.
6. Publication Ethics and Misconduct Handling
Aligned with COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) standards, journals prohibit:7. Article Processing Charge (APC)
To support editorial management, professional review coordination, and digital archiving, journals may apply an Article Processing Charge (APC) after final acceptance. For this journal: APC Amount: Rp 500.000 (five hundred thousand Indonesian Rupiah) or 50 USD
7.1. APC Conditions
Charged only upon final acceptance, not at submission.
Covers: editorial processing, peer review handling, copyediting, typesetting, and digital hosting. Does not influence editorial or review decisions. Waivers/Discounts may be granted to: students without institutional funding, researchers from conflict-affected regions in MENA, independent scholars.
8. Open Access and Licensing
JMEIS is an Open Access Journal
Licensing balance:
global knowledge dissemination, integrity of Islamic or sensitive political content.