Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. General Author Guidelines

Kamaya: Jurnal Ilmu Agama publishes scholarly articles that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in Religious and Cultural Studies. The journal welcomes original, theoretically grounded, methodologically rigorous, and academically significant contributions from national and international scholars.

All authors must comply with the following requirements:

a. Manuscripts must be written in Indonesian or English, represent original scholarly work, and must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

b. Manuscripts must demonstrate clear relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope, including religious education, religious texts and literature, theology, religious philosophy, yoga, religious law, religious communication, religious culture, religious moderation, cultural studies, regional languages and literature, the academic study of religion, and local wisdom.

c. The journal primarily accepts Original Research Articles and Review Articles. In addition, Case Studies and Literary Studies may be considered on a limited and selective basis.

d. All manuscripts must follow the IMRAD structure, consisting of Introduction, Method, and an integrated Results and Discussion section, followed by Conclusions and References. Each research finding must be directly accompanied by its scholarly discussion, rather than separating results and discussion into different subsections.

e. Authors must prepare manuscripts according to the journal's official article template, formatting requirements, citation style, and publication ethics policies.

f. Manuscripts must not exceed 8,000 words, excluding the reference list, table contents, and figures.

g. Manuscripts must demonstrate originality, appropriate acknowledgment of sources, sound academic argumentation, and compliance with publication ethics. All submissions undergo initial similarity screening using Turnitin in accordance with the journal's Plagiarism Screening Policy.

h. Authors must register and submit manuscripts through the journal's official online submission system.

i. All submissions undergo initial editorial screening and, when appropriate, independent peer review under the journal's single-blind peer-review system.

j. Final publication decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological rigor, relevance, ethical compliance, and satisfactory completion of the editorial and peer-review processes.

2. Types of Manuscripts

a. Original Research Articles

Original Research Articles present original empirical findings, theoretical investigations, or scholarly analyses that contribute to Religious and Cultural Studies.

These manuscripts may employ qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, historical, philosophical, phenomenological, ethnographic, textual, or other academically recognized research approaches.

Authors must clearly explain the research objectives, methodological procedures, data sources, principal findings, and academic contributions.

b. Review Articles

Review Articles provide critical and comprehensive examinations of existing scholarly literature relevant to Religious and Cultural Studies.

The journal considers narrative reviews, systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, integrative literature reviews, and other academically recognized forms of literature review.

Review Articles must provide original scholarly synthesis, identify research gaps, evaluate theoretical or methodological developments, and contribute meaningful academic insights.

All Review Articles must follow the journal's IMRAD structure, with literature review findings and their critical discussion presented together.

c. Case Studies

Case Studies present systematic and in-depth investigations of specific religious, cultural, institutional, educational, or community-based phenomena.

These manuscripts must explain the case selection, research context, data sources, methodological procedures, findings, and broader scholarly implications.

Case Studies must demonstrate analytical contributions beyond descriptive accounts and follow the journal's integrated IMRAD structure.

Case Studies are accepted on a limited and selective basis.

d. Literary Studies

Literary Studies present original scholarly analyses of religious literature, sacred texts, traditional narratives, regional literature, manuscripts, or other literary materials relevant to Religious and Cultural Studies.

Appropriate approaches include hermeneutics, philology, literary criticism, semiotics, structural analysis, intertextual analysis, and other relevant interpretative methodologies.

Literary Studies must demonstrate analytical originality, theoretical relevance, methodological rigor, and meaningful scholarly contributions.

All Literary Studies must follow the IMRAD structure, integrating textual findings with their critical interpretation and scholarly discussion.

Literary Studies are accepted on a limited and selective basis.

3. Structure of Manuscripts

a. Title

The title must be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the research subject or problem.

The title must not exceed 20 words and should avoid unnecessary abbreviations or ambiguous terminology.

b. Authors' Names and Affiliations

The manuscript must include the authors' full names, institutional affiliations, institutional addresses, and email addresses.

Academic degrees, professional titles, and job positions must not be included in author names.

The corresponding author must be clearly identified.

c. Abstract

The abstract must be written as a single paragraph of no more than 250 words and must clearly contain the following five essential components:

1. Background: A brief explanation of the research context, significance of the problem, and scholarly background.

2. Research Objectives: A clear statement of the research objectives or questions addressed in the study.

3. Methods: A concise explanation of the research type, approach, data sources, and principal analytical procedures.

4. Results: A clear and substantive presentation of the principal research findings, including the most important empirical, theoretical, textual, or analytical contributions.

5. Conclusions: A meaningful synthesis of the principal findings, their significance, and the study's original contribution to knowledge.

The abstract must place greater emphasis on the Results and Conclusions than on the Background and Methods. The Results and Conclusions should constitute the most substantial portion of the abstract.

The abstract must not merely describe the research activities or methodological procedures. It must explicitly communicate what the study discovered and what can be concluded from those findings.

For Review Articles, the abstract must emphasize the principal findings of the literature synthesis, significant research gaps, and the main scholarly conclusions.

For Literary Studies, the abstract must clearly identify the principal textual or interpretative findings and explain their religious, philosophical, literary, or cultural significance.

The abstract must be self-contained, academically precise, and consistent with the manuscript's content. It must not contain citations, unsupported claims, or unnecessary abbreviations.

d. Keywords

Authors must provide three to five keywords that accurately represent the principal concepts, research subject, methodology, or disciplinary contribution.

Keywords should use established academic terminology and generally be written in lowercase, except for proper names.

e. Introduction

The Introduction must provide a clear scholarly foundation for the research.

It should include the research background, significance of the problem, relevant previous studies, identified research gap, research objectives, and expected scholarly contribution.

Authors must critically engage with relevant academic literature rather than merely presenting descriptive information.

The Introduction must fulfill the following requirements according to manuscript type:

1) Original Research Articles and Case Studies: Clearly establish the research problem, scholarly significance, research gap, and objectives.

2) Review Articles: Explain the rationale for conducting the literature review, limitations of existing scholarship, research questions, and expected contribution of the synthesis.

3) Literary Studies: Identify the literary work or textual tradition examined, explain its academic significance, review previous studies, identify interpretative gaps, and state the objectives of the analysis.

All theoretical concepts and technical terminology must be clearly defined where necessary.

f. Method

The Method section must be written in a single coherent paragraph, using clear, concise, and operational academic language, without in-text citations or theoretical quotations.

The Method section must explain the procedures actually implemented in the study rather than merely presenting definitions, general methodological theories, or descriptions of research methods.

At a minimum, the methodological description must address the following components, as applicable to the research design:

1) Research Type: Identify the type of research conducted, such as qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, literature review, case study, or literary research.

2) Research Approach: Explain the specific approach employed, such as phenomenological, ethnographic, historical, philosophical, hermeneutic, descriptive-analytical, or another relevant approach.

3) Data Sources: Identify the primary and secondary data sources, research participants, documents, books, journal articles, literary texts, or other research materials actually examined.

4) Informant Selection Techniques: Explain the procedures used to select research informants or participants, including relevant selection criteria and techniques, such as purposive or snowball sampling, when the research involves informants.

5) Research Instruments: Describe the instruments used to obtain or analyze data, such as interview guides, observation sheets, questionnaires, documentation instruments, analytical matrices, or researcher-developed instruments.

6) Data Collection Techniques: Explain the actual procedures used to collect, identify, select, or document research data and materials.

7) Data Analysis Techniques: Describe the procedures used to organize, reduce, classify, interpret, synthesize, verify, or analyze the collected data.

The presentation of these components must be integrated into one paragraph without separate methodological subsections or numbered lists in the manuscript.

The methodological description must be sufficiently specific to demonstrate how the research was conducted and how the findings were obtained.

Additional Requirements Based on Manuscript Type

a) Original Research Articles

The Method section must operationally describe the research design, setting where relevant, data sources, informant or sample selection, research instruments, data collection procedures, and analytical techniques.

b) Review Articles

The Method section must explain the type of literature review, sources or academic databases used, literature search and selection procedures, inclusion and exclusion criteria where applicable, analytical instruments or frameworks, and techniques used to synthesize the selected literature.

Review Articles are not required to include research informants when the study relies exclusively on published literature. Instead, authors must explain the selection procedures for the reviewed publications.

c) Case Studies

The Method section must describe the case study design, case selection criteria, research context, data sources, informant selection procedures when applicable, research instruments, data collection techniques, and analytical procedures.

d) Literary Studies

The Method section must describe the type of literary research, analytical approach, primary literary texts, secondary scholarly sources, procedures for selecting textual materials, research instruments or analytical frameworks, textual data collection procedures, and techniques for literary interpretation.

Literary Studies based exclusively on textual or library research are not required to include informants or field research instruments. Authors must instead explain the selection of literary sources and the operational procedures used to analyze the texts.

All manuscript types must present the Method section in one paragraph without citations. Methodological requirements that do not apply to a particular research design must not be artificially included.

g. Results and Discussion

The Results and Discussion section must present research findings and scholarly interpretation in an integrated, systematic, and critical manner.

Each research finding must be directly followed by its analysis and discussion within the same subsection or sequence of paragraphs.

Authors must not separate research findings and discussion into different sections or subsections.

Subheadings may be organized according to research themes, principal findings, analytical categories, or research questions. Each subheading must contain both the relevant findings and their scholarly discussion.

1) Original Research Articles

Authors must:

a) Present the principal research findings supported by relevant empirical, documentary, or theoretical evidence.

b) Immediately interpret the significance of each finding in relation to the research objectives.

c) Compare each finding with relevant previous studies.

d) Explain agreements, differences, or new contributions to existing knowledge.

e) Discuss the theoretical, methodological, or practical implications of the findings.

2) Review Articles

The Results and Discussion section must integrate the principal findings of the literature review with critical analysis and scholarly synthesis.

Authors must:

a) Present findings according to relevant research themes, conceptual categories, or theoretical developments.

b) Immediately compare and critically analyze the findings of previous studies.

c) Identify agreements, differences, inconsistencies, and significant scholarly developments.

d) Discuss research gaps, theoretical implications, and limitations of existing knowledge.

e) Present an original synthesis that contributes to Religious and Cultural Studies.

Review Articles must not consist solely of summaries of previous publications. Each identified theme or finding must be accompanied by substantial critical discussion.

3) Case Studies

Authors must:

a) Present the principal case findings supported by credible evidence.

b) Immediately interpret the findings within their relevant religious, cultural, institutional, or social contexts.

c) Compare the findings with appropriate theoretical frameworks and previous research.

d) Explain the broader scholarly implications of the investigated case.

4) Literary Studies

Authors must:

a) Present the principal textual findings supported by relevant literary passages, quotations, translations, or references to primary literary sources.

b) Immediately interpret each finding using appropriate literary, philosophical, hermeneutic, semiotic, or other relevant analytical approaches.

c) Explain the religious, theological, philosophical, ethical, literary, or cultural significance of the findings.

d) Compare the interpretations with previous scholarly studies and relevant conceptual frameworks.

e) Demonstrate the original scholarly contribution of the textual analysis.

Literary Studies must not merely retell narratives, summarize literary texts, or reproduce quotations without critical interpretation.

All manuscript types must integrate findings and discussion under a single Results and Discussion section. Separate subsections exclusively titled "Results" and "Discussion" are not permitted.

h. Conclusions

The Conclusions section must directly answer the research objectives and provide a concise but substantive synthesis of the principal findings.

Conclusions must emphasize the study's original scholarly contributions and their relevance to Religious and Cultural Studies.

The conclusions must reflect the characteristics of each manuscript type:

1) Original Research Articles: Summarize the principal research findings and their theoretical, empirical, or practical contributions.

2) Review Articles: Present the principal insights from the literature synthesis, significant research gaps, and relevant implications for future scholarship.

3) Case Studies: Explain the main findings of the investigated case and their broader theoretical or practical significance.

4) Literary Studies: Summarize the principal textual interpretations and their significance for understanding literary traditions, religious concepts, philosophical meanings, or cultural values.

The Conclusions section must not merely repeat the abstract or Results and Discussion, introduce new findings, or include unsupported claims.

i. References

All manuscripts must comply with the following reference requirements:

1) Minimum Number of References

Each manuscript must include at least 20 references that are relevant to the research subject and directly support the scholarly arguments presented in the article.

2) Minimum Proportion of Journal Articles

At least 80% of the references must consist of scholarly journal articles.

For example, a manuscript containing 20 references must include at least 16 journal articles. The remaining references may consist of relevant academic books.

Authors are encouraged to prioritize recent journal articles, particularly those published within the preceding five years, while allowing relevant foundational scholarly works where necessary.

3) Permitted Reference Sources

Only scholarly journal articles and books are permitted in the reference list.

References originating from websites, blogs, newspapers, magazines, conference proceedings not published as journal articles or books, unpublished theses or dissertations, unpublished reports, presentations, and other sources outside the permitted categories must be removed from the reference list.

For Literary Studies and research involving classical religious texts or regional manuscripts, primary textual sources must be documented using eligible published book editions or scholarly journal publications wherever applicable.

4) Citation and Reference Style

All references must follow the American Psychological Association (APA) Sixth Edition citation and referencing style.

Authors must follow the bibliographic formatting examples provided in the official journal article template.

5) Book References

All book references must include the city of publication and the publisher's name, in accordance with APA Sixth Edition requirements.

The bibliographic information must be complete, accurate, and consistent with the cited publication.

6) Consistency Between Citations and References

Every reference listed in the References section must be cited in the main text of the manuscript.

Conversely, every in-text citation to a journal article or book must correspond accurately to an entry in the reference list.

References that are not cited in the manuscript must be removed.

Authors must ensure consistency between author names, publication years, titles, and other bibliographic information appearing in in-text citations and reference entries.

7) Reference Accuracy and Management

Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy, relevance, completeness, and authenticity of all cited publications.

Reference management applications such as Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote are recommended to maintain citation consistency and minimize bibliographic errors.

Manuscripts that do not meet the minimum reference requirements, permitted source categories, or APA Sixth Edition formatting standards may be returned to authors for revision during the initial editorial screening.

4. Manuscript Preparation and Submission

a. All manuscripts must be prepared using the official Kamaya: Jurnal Ilmu Agama article template and submitted through the journal's online submission system.

b. Authors must ensure that manuscripts comply with the required IMRAD structure, abstract requirements, operational Method section, integrated Results and Discussion, minimum reference requirements, and APA Sixth Edition citation style.

c. Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's academic, formatting, reference, or publication ethics requirements may be returned for revision before further editorial consideration.

d. The editorial team reserves the right to reject manuscripts that fall outside the journal's Focus and Scope, demonstrate insufficient scholarly contributions, contain serious methodological deficiencies, or violate publication ethics.

e. Manuscripts that satisfy the initial screening requirements may proceed to independent peer review. Final publication decisions remain subject to editorial assessment, peer-review recommendations, and satisfactory completion of the revision process.

Through these guidelines, Kamaya: Jurnal Ilmu Agama seeks to ensure consistent manuscript preparation, methodological transparency, academic originality, and high-quality scholarly publication in Religious and Cultural Studies.