Authorship Criteria

Jurnal Masyarakat Merdeka is committed to ensuring transparency, accountability, and integrity in authorship for all manuscripts reporting community service, community engagement, and community empowerment activities. Authorship must reflect substantial intellectual and practical contributions to the planning, implementation, evaluation, analysis, and reporting of the community service activities described in the manuscript.

To qualify for authorship, each author must meet the following criteria:

  1. Substantial Contribution: Authors must have made substantial contributions to the conception, planning, design, or development of the community service program; the identification and analysis of community needs; the design and implementation of interventions; the application of science, technology, or innovation; the collection, analysis, or interpretation of program data; or the evaluation of community service outcomes and impacts.

  2. Writing and Critical Revision: Authors must have participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content, including the description of the community's needs, implementation methods, program results, evaluation findings, and implications for community empowerment or sustainable development.

  3. Final Approval: All authors must review and approve the final version of the manuscript before submission and agree to its publication if accepted by the journal.

  4. Accountability: All authors must take responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and ethical conduct of their contributions. They must cooperate in addressing questions concerning the reported activities, data, community participation, research ethics, or publication integrity.

  5. Author Contributions and Order: The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible contributors are appropriately recognized as authors and that no ineligible individuals are included. All authors must agree on the order of authorship and the description of their respective contributions before manuscript submission.

  6. Corresponding Author Responsibilities: The corresponding author serves as the primary contact with the editorial office throughout the submission, peer-review, and publication processes. The corresponding author must ensure that all authors have approved the submitted manuscript, that the authorship information is accurate, and that any proposed changes to authorship are agreed upon by all affected authors and communicated to the editor for approval.

  7. Community Partners and Non-Author Contributions: Community members, community leaders, local government representatives, institutional partners, field facilitators, volunteers, and other stakeholders who contribute to community service activities should be appropriately acknowledged when their contributions do not meet the authorship criteria. Such acknowledgment must be made with their consent. Participation in program activities, provision of facilities, administrative assistance, funding acquisition, logistical support, translation, or data collection alone does not automatically qualify an individual for authorship. However, community partners who make substantial intellectual contributions and fulfill all authorship criteria may qualify as authors.

  8. Prevention of Improper Authorship: Gift authorship, honorary authorship, ghost authorship, and the omission of eligible contributors are unacceptable. Authorship must accurately reflect the actual scholarly contributions of each individual to the community service program and the preparation of the manuscript. Institutional position, academic rank, supervisory status, or involvement in funding and administration alone does not justify authorship.

  9. Changes in Authorship: Any addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors after manuscript submission must be justified in writing, agreed upon by all affected authors, and approved by the editor before the change is implemented. The journal reserves the right to request supporting documentation when necessary.

  10. Ethical Representation of Community Contributions: Authors must accurately describe the roles of community members, beneficiaries, partner institutions, and other stakeholders in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of community service activities. Authors must ensure that appropriate permissions, informed consent, and safeguards for personal data and identifiable information have been obtained where applicable.

By submitting a manuscript to Jurnal Masyarakat Merdeka, authors confirm that the authorship information is accurate, all listed authors meet the stated criteria, all authors have approved the submitted manuscript, and the reported community service activities and contributions are represented honestly and responsibly.