1. General Author Guidelines

Metta: Jurnal Ilmu Multidisiplin, published by Jayapangus Press, is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal dedicated to advancing multidisciplinary scholarship through the publication of original, theoretically grounded, methodologically rigorous, and academically significant research. The journal welcomes contributions from national and international scholars that enhance scientific knowledge, theoretical understanding, and practical applications across the humanities, social sciences, and management.

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, which encompasses three principal disciplinary areas:

1) Humanities

Research addressing the humanities, including arts, history, languages, literature, music, philosophy, religion, theater, cultural studies, and other related humanities disciplines.

2) Social Sciences

Research addressing social phenomena, institutions, relationships, and human interactions, including geography, sociology, education, political science, law, public policy, social studies, history, philosophy, anthropology, and other related social science disciplines.

3) Management

Research addressing organizational, economic, and managerial phenomena, including commerce, economics, finance, accounting, corporate governance, human resource management, marketing management, quality management, training and development, and other related management disciplines.

Research addressing these areas must demonstrate meaningful contributions to disciplinary knowledge, theoretical development, empirical understanding, or practical applications. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches are encouraged when they establish clear connections with the journal's established Focus and Scope.

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, provided that they demonstrate substantial scholarly contributions and clear relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope, encompassing the humanities, social sciences, and management. All four manuscript types may address subjects within any of these disciplinary areas or integrate perspectives across multiple disciplines. Other manuscript types are not accepted.

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 interpretation and discussion rather than presenting findings and discussion as separate sections.

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

f. Manuscripts must be sufficiently comprehensive to explain their research problems, theoretical foundations, methodological procedures, principal findings, scholarly interpretations, and conclusions. Unnecessary repetition, excessive descriptive content, and irrelevant discussions should be avoided.

g. Manuscripts must demonstrate originality, appropriate acknowledgment of sources, methodological transparency, sound academic argumentation, and compliance with research and publication ethics. All submissions are subject to initial editorial screening, including assessment of originality and potential plagiarism.

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. Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening are evaluated by at least one independent reviewer with relevant academic expertise.

j. Final publication decisions are based on scholarly merit, methodological rigor, relevance to the journal's disciplinary coverage, 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 systematic scholarly analyses that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the humanities, social sciences, management, or relevant multidisciplinary fields.

These manuscripts may employ qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, experimental, quasi-experimental, phenomenological, ethnographic, historical, comparative, interpretative, survey-based, research and development, or other academically recognized research approaches appropriate to the disciplinary context.

Relevant research areas include philosophical inquiry, religious studies, historical interpretation, literary and cultural studies, sociocultural phenomena, educational development, political institutions, legal systems, public policy, organizational management, economic activities, financial management, corporate governance, and other subjects within the journal's Focus and Scope.

Authors must clearly explain the research objectives, theoretical foundations, research design, participants or data sources where applicable, methodological procedures, principal findings, and implications for scholarly knowledge or professional practice.

Quantitative studies must present appropriate empirical evidence, measurement procedures, analytical techniques, and interpretations consistent with the research design.

Qualitative studies must demonstrate methodological transparency, credible evidence, systematic interpretation, and appropriate consideration of research validity or trustworthiness.

Theoretical and conceptual investigations must establish clear analytical frameworks, critically engage with relevant scholarship, and develop original arguments or interpretations.

Interdisciplinary research must explain how the integration of different disciplinary perspectives contributes to understanding the investigated phenomenon.

Original Research Articles must demonstrate analytical originality and meaningful scholarly contributions beyond descriptive accounts of activities, institutions, events, or social conditions.

b. Review Articles

Review Articles provide critical, comprehensive, and methodologically sound examinations of existing scholarly literature relevant to the journal's Focus and Scope.

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

Review Articles may address theoretical developments, methodological innovations, empirical findings, disciplinary debates, emerging research trends, or interdisciplinary perspectives within the humanities, social sciences, and management.

Review Articles must:

1) Establish a clear research problem, analytical objective, or review question.

2) Explain the scholarly significance and rationale for conducting the review.

3) Describe literature identification, selection, and analytical procedures appropriate to the review design.

4) Critically examine relevant theories, empirical findings, methodological developments, or scholarly interpretations.

5) Identify agreements, inconsistencies, research gaps, unresolved questions, or emerging developments within the relevant disciplinary literature.

6) Present an original synthesis that contributes to theoretical understanding, methodological advancement, empirical knowledge, or professional practice.

Review Articles must go beyond descriptive summaries of previous publications. They must develop critical interpretations, conceptual insights, or meaningful directions for future research.

All Review Articles must follow the journal's integrated IMRAD structure. The Method section must explain how the reviewed literature was identified, selected, analyzed, and synthesized.

c. Case Studies

Case Studies present systematic and in-depth investigations of specific phenomena, events, institutions, organizations, communities, policies, practices, or situations relevant to the humanities, social sciences, management, or interdisciplinary research.

Case Studies are considered on a limited and selective basis and must demonstrate substantial scholarly contributions, methodological rigor, analytical originality, and clear relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope.

Appropriate research topics may include:

1) Humanities

Case studies examining cultural practices, religious traditions, historical events, philosophical perspectives, artistic expressions, literary phenomena, cultural heritage, or other subjects relevant to humanities scholarship.

2) Social Sciences

Case studies investigating social structures, community interactions, educational institutions, political processes, legal systems, public policies, social transformations, anthropological phenomena, or other relevant social science subjects.

3) Management

Case studies examining organizational management, business practices, corporate governance, financial management, human resource management, marketing strategies, quality management, organizational development, or other relevant management phenomena.

4) Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies

Case studies integrating perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, and management to examine complex social, cultural, institutional, economic, organizational, or other scholarly phenomena.

Case Studies must explain the case selection, research context, research objectives, data sources, participant selection where applicable, methodological procedures, principal findings, and broader scholarly implications.

The selection of a particular case must be academically justified, and the analysis must establish the significance of the investigated phenomenon within the relevant disciplinary context.

The findings must be interpreted using relevant theories, conceptual frameworks, and previous scholarly research.

Case Studies must demonstrate analytical contributions beyond institutional descriptions, organizational reports, community narratives, historical accounts, or descriptions of activities and events.

Studies that merely describe specific situations, institutional practices, cultural phenomena, or organizational conditions without substantial scholarly analysis and theoretical or empirical contributions are not considered sufficient for publication.

Authors must explain how the findings contribute to broader disciplinary knowledge, theoretical understanding, methodological development, or practical applications.

Case Studies must follow the journal's integrated IMRAD structure and are accepted only when they satisfy the journal's selective editorial requirements.

d. Literary Studies

Literary Studies present original scholarly analyses of literary texts, historical documents, philosophical works, religious literature, traditional narratives, cultural texts, organizational narratives, or other textual materials relevant to the humanities, social sciences, management, or interdisciplinary scholarship.

Literary Studies are considered on a limited and selective basis and must demonstrate analytical originality, theoretical relevance, methodological rigor, and substantial scholarly contributions within the journal's Focus and Scope.

Such studies may investigate literary, linguistic, philosophical, religious, historical, sociocultural, political, organizational, economic, or managerial dimensions of textual materials through appropriate scholarly approaches.

Appropriate research topics may include:

1) Humanities

Literary studies examining literary works, literary criticism, traditional narratives, historical texts, philosophical writings, religious literature, cultural representations, aesthetic values, language, and other textual expressions relevant to humanities scholarship.

2) Social Sciences

Literary and textual studies investigating social representations, gender relations, identity, ideology, political discourse, legal discourse, educational narratives, social inequality, cultural transformation, or other social phenomena represented through literary or textual materials.

3) Management

Literary, narrative, and textual studies examining organizational discourse, leadership narratives, corporate communication, management-related representations, business narratives, marketing discourse, organizational culture, or other textual phenomena relevant to management scholarship.

4) Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies

Literary studies integrating analytical perspectives from literature, philosophy, religion, history, sociology, anthropology, education, political science, economics, or management to examine textual materials and their broader scholarly significance.

Relevant analytical approaches may include textual analysis, literary criticism, hermeneutics, semiotics, discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, content analysis, historical interpretation, comparative literary analysis, narrative analysis, and other academically recognized interpretative methodologies.

Literary Studies must demonstrate analytical originality, theoretical relevance, methodological rigor, and meaningful contributions to scholarly knowledge within the relevant disciplinary field.

Studies that merely summarize literary narratives, reproduce textual content, describe cultural traditions, or present interpretations without substantial critical analysis and scholarly contributions are not considered sufficient for publication.

Authors must clearly identify the primary textual materials, relevant theoretical or analytical frameworks, research objectives, procedures for selecting and interpreting the texts, and principal findings.

The findings must be supported by appropriate textual evidence and critically interpreted in relation to relevant theories, previous scholarly studies, and disciplinary discussions.

Literary Studies must explain how their findings contribute to literary scholarship, philosophical inquiry, religious studies, historical understanding, social science research, management scholarship, or interdisciplinary knowledge.

All Literary Studies must follow the integrated IMRAD structure, presenting textual findings together 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 principal research subject, problem, or scholarly investigation.

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

The title should clearly represent the principal variables, phenomena, concepts, analytical perspectives, research subjects, or disciplinary contexts examined in the study.

Authors should avoid overly general titles that do not adequately communicate the specific scholarly contribution of the manuscript.

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.

All listed authors must have made appropriate scholarly contributions to the manuscript and must approve its submission for publication.

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 investigated problem, and relevant scholarly background.

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

3) Methods: A concise explanation of the research approach, design, participants or data sources where applicable, and principal analytical procedures.

4) Results: A substantive presentation of the principal research findings, including significant empirical, theoretical, conceptual, interpretative, or practical contributions.

5) Conclusions: A meaningful synthesis of the principal findings, their scholarly significance, and the study's original contribution to the relevant disciplinary field.

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 communicate what the study discovered, what scholarly conclusions can reasonably be drawn, and how the findings contribute to existing knowledge.

For Original Research Articles, the abstract must emphasize the principal empirical, theoretical, or conceptual findings.

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

For Case Studies, the abstract must present the essential findings of the investigated case and explain their broader theoretical, empirical, or practical significance within the relevant disciplinary field.

For Literary Studies, the abstract must identify the principal textual findings and explain their literary, philosophical, historical, religious, social, cultural, organizational, or managerial significance, as appropriate to the research subject.

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 research concepts, disciplinary subjects, methodological approaches, analytical perspectives, or scholarly contributions.

Keywords should use established academic terminology relevant to the humanities, social sciences, management, or the interdisciplinary field addressed in the manuscript.

Keywords should generally be written in lowercase, except for proper names and terms that conventionally require capitalization.

Authors should avoid overly general terms that do not adequately describe the specific research subject.

e. Introduction

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

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

Authors must critically engage with relevant disciplinary literature rather than merely presenting descriptive information about social conditions, cultural traditions, historical events, institutions, organizations, or management practices.

The Introduction must establish how the research contributes to existing scholarly knowledge and why the investigated problem warrants systematic academic examination.

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

1) Original Research Articles

Clearly establish the research problem, relevant empirical or theoretical context, scholarly significance, research gap, and objectives.

When applicable, explain the theoretical framework, research variables, conceptual relationships, or hypotheses examined.

2) Review Articles

Explain the rationale for conducting the literature review, limitations or inconsistencies in existing scholarship, review questions, and expected contribution of the synthesis.

3) Case Studies

Identify the investigated case, explain its relevance to the humanities, social sciences, management, or interdisciplinary scholarship, establish the analytical problem, review relevant previous research, and justify the significance of examining the particular case.

4) Literary Studies

Identify the literary or textual materials examined, establish their disciplinary relevance, review relevant scholarship, identify theoretical or interpretative research gaps, and state the objectives of the analysis.

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

The Introduction must demonstrate a logical relationship between the research problem, relevant literature, identified research gap, and research objectives.

f. Method

The Method section must present a clear, concise, systematic, and operational explanation of the procedures used to conduct the research.

The methodological description must explain the research procedures actually implemented rather than merely presenting general definitions, theoretical discussions, 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, historical, comparative, phenomenological, ethnographic, experimental, survey-based, literature review, case study, literary research, or other relevant research approaches.

2) Research Approach and Design

Explain the specific methodological approach or research design employed, including its relevance to the research objectives and disciplinary context.

3) Research Setting and Context

Identify the geographical, historical, sociocultural, institutional, organizational, economic, or other relevant research context when applicable.

4) Research Participants or Data Sources

Identify the research participants, informants, organizations, communities, documents, literary texts, historical materials, journal articles, books, datasets, or other sources actually examined.

5) Sampling or Source Selection Techniques

Explain the procedures used to select participants, research samples, cases, organizations, documents, texts, or other data sources, including relevant selection criteria and sampling techniques where applicable.

6) Research Instruments

Describe the instruments used to obtain or analyze research data, such as questionnaires, interview guides, observation sheets, assessment instruments, document analysis protocols, analytical matrices, or other relevant research tools.

7) Data Collection Procedures

Explain the actual procedures used to collect, identify, select, observe, measure, document, or obtain research data and materials.

8) Data Analysis Techniques

Describe the procedures used to organize, process, interpret, compare, synthesize, validate, or statistically analyze the collected data.

The methodological description must be sufficiently specific to demonstrate how the research was conducted, how the evidence was obtained, and how the conclusions were derived.

Additional Requirements Based on Manuscript Type

1) Original Research Articles

The Method section must operationally describe the research design, research context where relevant, participants or data sources, sampling procedures, research instruments, data collection techniques, and analytical procedures.

Quantitative research must explain relevant variables, sample selection, measurement instruments, research procedures, and statistical analysis techniques.

Qualitative research must explain the research context, participants or information sources, data collection procedures, analytical techniques, and relevant data validation or trustworthiness procedures.

Mixed-methods research must explain the qualitative and quantitative components and how their findings were integrated.

Historical research must identify the historical sources, source selection procedures, relevant historical contexts, and methods of source criticism or interpretation.

Comparative research must explain the selection of comparative subjects, analytical criteria, sources of evidence, and procedures used to identify similarities, differences, or relationships.

Research and Development studies must explain the development model, procedures actually implemented, validation instruments, evaluation methods, and evidence supporting the developed product or intervention.

2) Review Articles

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

For systematic or scoping reviews, authors must provide sufficient methodological information to ensure transparency and reproducibility of the literature identification and selection procedures.

Review Articles are not required to include research participants when the study relies exclusively on published literature. Instead, authors must explain the criteria and procedures used to identify, select, and analyze the reviewed publications.

3) Case Studies

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

The methodological procedures must be appropriate to the investigated phenomenon and may involve historical, sociocultural, institutional, organizational, economic, managerial, or other relevant research contexts.

Where appropriate, authors must explain triangulation, evidence verification, or other procedures employed to strengthen the credibility of the findings.

The methodological description must explain how the investigated case contributes to understanding broader phenomena within the humanities, social sciences, management, or relevant interdisciplinary fields.

4) Literary Studies

The Method section must describe the type of literary or textual research, disciplinary analytical approach, primary textual materials, secondary scholarly sources, procedures for selecting texts, analytical frameworks, and techniques used to interpret the selected materials.

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 their relevance to literary theories, philosophy, religion, history, sociology, anthropology, political science, management, or other relevant disciplinary perspectives.

The selected analytical methods must be appropriate to the textual materials and research objectives, ensuring that the resulting interpretations are systematic, theoretically grounded, and academically justifiable.

All manuscript types must present methodological information appropriate to their research design. Methodological requirements that do not apply to a particular research approach must not be artificially included.

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

g. Results and Discussion

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

Research findings must be supported by relevant empirical, documentary, statistical, textual, historical, theoretical, or other credible evidence appropriate to the disciplinary context.

Authors must explain the significance of their findings in relation to the research objectives, relevant theoretical frameworks, previous scholarly studies, and broader academic discussions.

Subheadings may be organized according to research themes, principal findings, analytical categories, theoretical perspectives, disciplinary issues, or research questions.

Each substantive finding must be accompanied by appropriate scholarly interpretation and critical discussion.

1) Original Research Articles

Authors must:

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

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

c) Compare the findings with relevant previous scholarly studies.

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

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

f) Explain how the findings contribute to understanding the investigated phenomenon within the humanities, social sciences, management, or relevant multidisciplinary fields.

For quantitative research, findings must include appropriate statistical evidence and interpretations consistent with the research design.

For qualitative research, findings must be supported by credible empirical evidence, such as participant statements, observations, documents, or systematically analyzed research materials.

For historical research, findings must be supported by relevant historical evidence and critically interpreted within their historical contexts.

For theoretical and conceptual research, findings must demonstrate logical argumentation, critical engagement with existing theories, and original scholarly interpretations.

For management research, findings should explain their relevance to organizational processes, managerial decision-making, institutional performance, economic activities, or other relevant managerial phenomena.

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, methodological developments, or theoretical perspectives.

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

c) Identify agreements, differences, inconsistencies, and significant developments in the relevant disciplinary literature.

d) Discuss research gaps, methodological limitations, theoretical implications, and unresolved scholarly questions.

e) Explain the implications of the synthesized evidence for disciplinary knowledge, theoretical development, empirical research, or professional practice.

f) Present an original synthesis that contributes meaningfully to the advancement of scholarly knowledge.

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 findings of the investigated case supported by credible empirical, documentary, historical, statistical, or other relevant evidence.

b) Immediately interpret the findings within their relevant historical, philosophical, religious, sociocultural, political, legal, institutional, economic, organizational, or managerial contexts.

c) Compare the findings with relevant theories, conceptual frameworks, and previous scholarly research.

d) Explain the broader scholarly implications of the investigated case for theoretical understanding, empirical knowledge, disciplinary development, or professional practice.

e) Demonstrate how the case contributes to understanding broader phenomena within the humanities, social sciences, management, or interdisciplinary scholarship.

Case Studies must demonstrate contributions beyond the description of institutions, organizational programs, community activities, cultural practices, historical events, or individual experiences.

The discussion must clearly establish the analytical significance of the investigated case and its original contribution to the relevant disciplinary field.

4) Literary Studies

Authors must:

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

b) Immediately interpret each finding using appropriate literary, philosophical, historical, religious, sociological, anthropological, hermeneutic, semiotic, discourse-based, or other relevant analytical approaches.

c) Explain the significance of the findings for literary scholarship, philosophical inquiry, religious studies, historical understanding, social science research, organizational studies, management scholarship, or related academic fields.

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

e) Demonstrate the original contribution of the textual analysis to disciplinary knowledge, theoretical development, or interdisciplinary understanding.

Literary Studies must not merely retell narratives, summarize literary texts, reproduce quotations, or present cultural or organizational interpretations without critical scholarly examination.

The discussion must establish the relevance of the textual findings to the research objectives and explain their contributions within the journal's multidisciplinary Focus and Scope.

All manuscript types must integrate findings and discussion under a single Results and Discussion section. Separate sections or 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 the humanities, social sciences, management, or related multidisciplinary research.

The conclusions must reflect the characteristics of each manuscript type:

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

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, empirical, methodological, or practical significance within the humanities, social sciences, management, or relevant interdisciplinary fields.

4) Literary Studies: Summarize the principal textual interpretations and their significance for literary scholarship, philosophical inquiry, religious studies, historical understanding, social science research, management scholarship, or interdisciplinary knowledge.

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

Conclusions must be written without in-text citations. Recommendations for future research or professional practice may be included when directly supported by the study's findings.

i. References

All manuscripts must comply with the following reference requirements:

1) Relevance and Scholarly Quality

References must be relevant to the research subject and directly support the scholarly arguments presented in the manuscript.

Authors must prioritize credible, academically recognized, and appropriately documented sources.

The number of references must be sufficient to establish the research background, relevant theoretical foundations, existing scholarly developments, and interpretation of the principal findings.

2) Proportion and Recency of References

The journal recommends that approximately 80% of references consist of scholarly journal articles, conference proceedings, or published research findings, with an emphasis on relevant literature from the preceding five years.

Relevant foundational scholarly publications may also be included when necessary to establish historical contexts, theoretical perspectives, or essential disciplinary concepts.

Authors should balance the use of recent scholarly literature with relevant foundational works, particularly in humanities disciplines where historical, philosophical, literary, or religious texts may constitute essential research sources.

3) Reference Sources

References must originate from credible and academically relevant sources.

Appropriate reference materials may include:

a) Peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles.

b) Academic books and scholarly monographs.

c) Relevant conference proceedings.

d) Published scholarly research findings.

e) Other academically appropriate sources or primary materials necessary for the research and permitted by the journal's editorial requirements.

For research involving historical documents, religious texts, literary works, legal materials, government regulations, institutional records, organizational documents, or other primary research sources, such materials may be examined when methodologically appropriate.

Authors must clearly identify the materials and explain their selection, relevance, and analytical procedures.

Primary materials must be cited and documented in a manner appropriate to their source type and the applicable citation requirements.

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

Book references must include the relevant bibliographic information required by APA Sixth Edition, including the author, publication year, book title, city of publication, and publisher.

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 must correspond accurately to an entry in the reference list, except where the applicable citation style prescribes a different treatment for particular source types.

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 containing inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant, or improperly formatted references may be returned to authors for revision during the editorial screening or peer-review process.

4. Manuscript Preparation and Submission

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

b. The journal primarily accepts Original Research Articles and Review Articles. Case Studies and Literary Studies may be considered on a limited and selective basis, provided that they demonstrate substantial scholarly contributions and clear relevance to the journal's Focus and Scope. All four manuscript types may address research subjects within the humanities, social sciences, management, or interdisciplinary fields connecting these areas. Other manuscript types are not accepted.

c. Authors must ensure that manuscripts comply with the required IMRAD structure, abstract requirements, methodological transparency standards, integrated Results and Discussion, reference requirements, and APA Sixth Edition citation style.

d. All manuscripts must demonstrate clear relevance to the humanities, social sciences, management, or interdisciplinary research within the journal's established Focus and Scope. Case Studies and Literary Studies are subject to the same disciplinary coverage requirements as Original Research Articles and Review Articles, with additional consideration given to their analytical originality, methodological rigor, and substantial scholarly contributions.

e. Authors must comply with the journal's publication ethics policies, including requirements concerning originality, authorship, plagiarism, research integrity, data accuracy, ethical treatment of research participants, conflicts of interest, and appropriate acknowledgment of scholarly sources.

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

g. The editorial team reserves the right to reject manuscripts that fall outside the journal's Focus and Scope, do not meet the eligibility requirements for their manuscript type, demonstrate insufficient scholarly contributions, contain serious methodological deficiencies, or violate publication ethics.

h. Manuscripts that satisfy the initial editorial screening requirements may proceed to independent peer review under the journal's single-blind peer-review system.

i. Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on originality, scholarly contribution, methodological soundness, analytical quality, relevance of references, clarity of presentation, and compliance with publication ethics.

j. Authors must address reviewers' comments and submit revised manuscripts within the deadline established by the editorial team. Revised manuscripts may undergo additional evaluation when necessary.

k. Final publication decisions remain subject to editorial assessment, peer-review recommendations, and satisfactory completion of the revision process.

l. Authors must comply with the applicable submission and publication fee provisions, as separately disclosed in the journal's official Article Processing Charges policy.

m. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all information provided during manuscript submission, including authorship details, institutional affiliations, correspondence information, and declarations of originality, is accurate and complete.

n. By submitting their manuscripts, authors acknowledge that accepted articles will be published in accordance with the journal's copyright and open-access licensing policies.

o. Authors retain copyright over their published works and grant the journal the right of first publication in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Through these guidelines, Metta: Jurnal Ilmu Multidisiplin seeks to ensure consistent manuscript preparation, methodological transparency, academic originality, ethical research practices, and high-quality scholarly publication that advances multidisciplinary knowledge across the humanities, social sciences, and management.