Author Guidelines

General Information

Authors are invited to submit original manuscripts that report high-quality community engagement activities, community-based research, participatory action research, service-learning initiatives, social innovation, or other scholarly works relevant to the scope of SEMESTA: Journal of Community Empowerment.

Before submission, authors should ensure that:

  • The manuscript is original and has not been previously published, except as a preprint where permitted by the journal's policy.

  • The manuscript is not under consideration by another journal or publisher during the editorial and peer-review process.

  • All authors have approved the submitted version and agree to its submission to SEMESTA.

  • The manuscript complies with the journal's ethical standards and does not involve plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or other forms of publication misconduct.

  • Research involving human participants has obtained appropriate ethical approval where required.

  • All authors complete the required Declaration of Originality and Copyright Agreement during the submission process.

All submitted manuscripts are screened using Turnitin prior to peer review. The journal applies a maximum overall similarity index of 20%, excluding references and properly quoted material.

SEMESTA is published twice a year.

Manuscript Preparation

Authors should prepare manuscripts according to the following requirements:

  • Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct English.

  • Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to use professional language editing services before submission.

  • Manuscripts should be prepared using Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).

  • Use Cambria, 12-point font, single line spacing.

  • Paper size: A4.

  • Margins: Top 2.5 cm, Bottom 2.5 cm, Left 2.5 cm, Right 2.5 cm.

  • The manuscript should normally contain 5,000–8,000 words (approximately 10–15 pages, excluding references and appendices).

  • All pages should be numbered consecutively.

Manuscript Structure

The manuscript should be organized in the following order:

  1. Title

  2. Author(s) Name(s)

  3. Author Affiliation(s)

  4. Corresponding Author Email

  5. Abstract (150–250 words)

  6. Keywords (3–6 keywords)

  7. Introduction

  8. Literature Review (if applicable)

  9. Methods

  10. Results and Discussion

  11. Conclusion

  12. Acknowledgments (optional)

  13. Declaration of Generative AI Use (if applicable)

  14. Conflict of Interest Statement

  15. Funding Information (if applicable)

  16. References

Title

The title should be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the content of the manuscript. Avoid abbreviations and overly general expressions.

Author Information

Provide the full name of each author, institutional affiliation, ORCID iD (recommended), country, and email address for the corresponding author.

Abstract

The abstract should consist of 150–250 words and clearly present:

  • Background or purpose

  • Methods or community engagement approach

  • Main findings or outcomes

  • Conclusions and implications

The abstract should not contain citations, figures, or tables.

Keywords

Provide 3–6 keywords that accurately represent the main topics of the manuscript. Keywords should not duplicate words already appearing in the title whenever possible.

References

  • References and in-text citations must follow the APA 7th Edition citation style.

  • Authors are encouraged to use reference management software such as Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote.

  • At least 80% of the references should be from peer-reviewed journal articles.

  • Authors are encouraged to prioritize literature published within the last five years, while seminal references may be included where relevant.

  • Every reference cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and vice versa.

Tables and Figures

Tables and figures should:

  • Be numbered consecutively.

  • Include clear titles and captions.

  • Be cited within the text.

  • Be of publication quality and editable whenever possible.

  • Include source information when reproduced or adapted from other works.

Submission Process

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the journal's Open Journal Systems (OJS).

During submission, authors are required to:

  • Complete all metadata accurately.

  • Provide complete information for all co-authors.

  • Upload the manuscript in Microsoft Word format.

  • Upload any required supplementary files or declarations requested by the journal.

Authors should ensure that all submission information is complete before finalizing the submission.

Correspondence

All editorial correspondence, peer-review decisions, revision requests, and publication notifications will be communicated through the journal's OJS platform and the corresponding author's registered email address.

For questions regarding manuscript submission, authors may contact the Editorial Office at journalsemesta@gmail.com.

The manuscript template can be downloaded from the journal's Templates page on the official website.