Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development is an open-access journal that publishes high-quality scholarly works in the fields of social sciences and community development. The journal serves as a platform for researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to share knowledge, experiences, and innovations that contribute to social understanding, sustainable development, and community empowerment.

The scope of the journal covers, but is not limited to, the following areas:

  • Social studies education, curriculum, and pedagogy.

  • Social and cultural issues, identity, and multiculturalism.

  • Governance, public policy, and social justice.

  • Models and practices of community development and empowerment.

  • Rural and urban development, poverty alleviation, and social welfare.

  • Gender, youth, and marginalized community studies.

  • Environmental issues and sustainable development in community contexts.

  • Participatory approaches, applied research, and community engagement practices.

The journal accepts various types of manuscripts, including original research articles, theoretical or conceptual papers, literature reviews, case studies, reports on community service and engagement activities, as well as policy analysis and practice-based articles. Contributions are expected to demonstrate originality, relevance, and significant impact on advancing knowledge and practice in social studies and community development.

 

Section Policies

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development applies a double-blind peer review process for all manuscripts submitted. Each article undergoes evaluation by at least two reviewers who possess expertise relevant to the subject matter. The peer review process ensures the quality, originality, and credibility of published works.

The review process in this journal proceeds through the following stages:

  1. Submission of Manuscript
    Authors submit manuscripts through the journal’s online submission system (Open Journal Systems – OJS).

  2. Initial Editorial Screening
    The editorial office checks whether the submission fits the journal’s focus and scope, and whether it complies with the author guidelines in terms of structure and format. At this stage, manuscripts are also evaluated for basic quality standards, including the absence of major methodological flaws. All submissions passing this step are screened with Turnitin to ensure originality and avoid plagiarism.

  3. Evaluation by the Editor-in-Chief
    The Editor-in-Chief assesses the manuscript’s relevance, novelty, and contribution. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be rejected without further review.

  4. Reviewer Invitation
    Suitable reviewers are selected based on their expertise, relevance to the topic, and absence of conflicts of interest. This journal implements a double-blind review, meaning that both authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the process.

  5. Reviewer’s Response
    Invited reviewers consider the request based on their expertise, availability, and potential conflicts of interest. They may accept or decline the invitation. When declining, reviewers are encouraged to suggest alternative experts.

  6. Conducting the Review
    Reviewers examine the manuscript carefully, often in multiple readings, and provide constructive, point-by-point feedback. Based on their assessment, reviewers recommend one of the following decisions: accept, minor revision, major revision, or rejection.

  7. Editorial Consideration of Reviews
    The editorial team evaluates all review reports before making a decision. If there are significant differences in reviewers’ recommendations, an additional reviewer may be invited to provide further evaluation.

  8. Decision and Feedback to Authors
    Authors receive a decision letter along with anonymous reviewer comments. This feedback is intended to guide authors in revising and improving their manuscript. Reviewers are also informed of the final decision regarding the article they reviewed.

  9. Revision and Final Decision
    If revisions are required, authors must resubmit the corrected version according to reviewers’ and editors’ suggestions. In cases of major revisions, the revised manuscript may be re-evaluated by the original reviewers. For minor revisions, the handling editor may decide without additional review. Once the editor is satisfied with the revisions, the manuscript is accepted.

Accepted manuscripts then proceed to copyediting and production before being published online as open-access articles in PDF format.

 

Publication Frequency

Research in Education, Technology, and Multiculture regularly published twice per year in June and December. 

 

Open Access Policy

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

All articles published in this journal are open access and will be permanently free for everyone to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

This journal applies the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Under this license, authors and readers are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, as long as they comply with the terms: Attribution — appropriate credit must be given, a link to the license must be provided, and any changes must be indicated. ShareAlike — if the material is remixed, transformed, or built upon, the resulting work must be distributed under the same license as the original.

Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

 

Archiving

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development (BSSCD) utilizes the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) to ensure long-term digital preservation of all published content. Through the PKP PN, the journal content is securely archived using the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system, which creates a distributed archiving network among participating libraries.

This system allows libraries and institutions to maintain permanent archives of the journal for the purposes of preservation, restoration, and continuous access. In this way, the integrity and availability of the scholarly record published in BSSCD are safeguarded for the future.

 

Screening for Plagiarism

All manuscripts submitted to Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development (BSSCD) are subject to plagiarism screening using the Turnitin detection tool. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism or self-plagiarism will be immediately rejected.

The journal is committed to upholding international standards of academic integrity. Authors are expected to prepare their manuscripts with the utmost care and to avoid any form of plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional.

Plagiarism occurs when an author uses words, ideas, data, or information from another source without proper acknowledgment. This includes:

  • Using information (such as names, dates, places, statistical data, or other details) from a specific source without citation. Exceptions apply only to common knowledge (e.g., facts widely available in multiple sources, such as "Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world").

  • Using ideas from another work without proper citation, even if the author develops or modifies the idea further (for example, interpreting data, applying a method, or drawing a conclusion).

  • Using exact words from another author without quotation marks and proper citation. Whenever four or more consecutive words are identical to a source, quotation marks must be used along with citation.

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development takes plagiarism seriously. The editorial team reserves the right to reject manuscripts, retract published articles, or withdraw acceptance if plagiarism is identified at any stage of the publishing process.

For further inquiries regarding plagiarism policies, please contact the editorial office at bsscd@imrecsjournal.com.

 

Publication Ethics & Misconduct

Our ethic statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

The Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development is a peer-reviewed journal. This statement outlines the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in the publishing process of an article in this journal, including authors, editors-in-chief, editorial board members, peer reviewers, and the publisher (CV. IMRECS). This ethical statement is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal serves as a fundamental contribution to the development of a coherent and respected body of knowledge. It represents a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles uphold and embody the scientific method. Therefore, it is essential to establish clear ethical standards of expected behavior for all stakeholders engaged in the act of publishing: authors, journal editors, peer reviewers, publishers, and the broader scholarly community.

CV. IMRECS, as the publisher of Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development, takes its role in overseeing all stages of publishing with the utmost seriousness and recognizes its ethical and professional responsibilities. The publisher is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions are made independently and are not influenced by advertising, reprint, or any other commercial revenue.

Allegations of Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, citation manipulation, and plagiarism in the process of conducting, reviewing, or reporting research and writing articles. When authors are found to have been involved in misconduct or serious irregularities related to published works, the editors have a duty to uphold the accuracy, credibility, and integrity of the scholarly record.

In cases of suspected misconduct, the editors and the editorial board will follow the procedures recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure that the issue is handled with fairness and transparency. This process includes conducting an investigation into the allegation. Any submitted manuscript that is proven to contain misconduct will be rejected. For cases where misconduct is identified in a published article, the journal will issue a formal retraction that will remain permanently linked to the original work.

The initial step in addressing misconduct is to determine whether the allegation is valid and consistent with the definition of research misconduct. This stage also involves reviewing whether the complainants have any relevant conflicts of interest.

If there is a possibility of scientific misconduct or other significant research irregularities, the allegations will be communicated to the corresponding author, who is expected to provide a detailed written explanation on behalf of all co-authors. Following the response, additional expert review, including statistical assessment if necessary, may be conducted.

In situations where misconduct is unlikely, clarifications or corrections may be published, such as letters to the editor or correction notices, to address the concern without further punitive action.

Institutions supporting the research are expected to conduct appropriate, transparent, and thorough investigations into any allegations of misconduct. Authors, institutions, and journals share a collective obligation to ensure the reliability of the academic record. By addressing allegations responsibly and taking necessary actions—such as publishing corrections, issuing retractions with or without replacement, or publishing formal notices—the Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development demonstrates its commitment to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and preserving the trust of the scholarly community.


Publication decisions
The editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play
An editor at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Policy

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, originality, and ethical practices. In response to the increasing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in academic workflows, this policy outlines the acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI tools for authors, reviewers, and editors involved in the publication process.

The following terms and conditions are taken into account by BSSCD journal editors when determining the regulations for the use of Generative AI in scientific publications

  1. Generative AI policies for journals
  2. The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in writing for Elsevier

Commitment to Ethical AI Use

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development is committed to promoting ethical and responsible AI use in academic publishing. By adhering to this policy, all participants in the publication process contribute to maintaining the integrity, rigor, and trustworthiness of scholarly research. For more details about the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing.

Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development has the authority to screen articles for Generative AI. We use Turnitin AI and other tools to check the AI-generated text of the article.

For further inquiries or clarification, please contact the editorial office at bsscd@imrecsjournal.com


For Authors

Permitted Uses of AI

Authors may use AI tools with a maximum tolerance of 20% to assist with certain aspects of manuscript preparation:

  • Language and Readability: AI tools may be employed for grammar correction, language refinement, and stylistic adjustments. Authors remain responsible for reviewing and verifying the accuracy of any changes.
  • Illustrative Examples: Authors can include examples generated by AI for explanatory or illustrative purposes, provided these examples are clearly labeled and cited in the manuscript.
  • Data Analysis: AI tools may support data analysis conducted through traditional research methods, but the methodology must include a detailed description of the tools, parameters, and rationale for their use.

Prohibited Uses of AI

  • Authorship and Content Creation: Authors must not use AI tools to generate substantive content for manuscripts, including sections like abstracts, literature reviews, methodologies, results, or conclusions. Intellectual contributions must be entirely the work of the authors.
  • Data Generation: AI tools cannot be used to fabricate or simulate data, statistical analyses, or findings. All reported data must originate from authentic and verifiable research.
  • Image Creation: Images, figures, or visualizations generated by AI are not permitted due to concerns about authenticity and ethical compliance.

Disclosure Requirement

Authors must disclose any use of AI tools in their manuscript. A disclosure statement should be included in the Acknowledgments section, specifying the tools used and their purpose (e.g., "This manuscript was proofread using [AI Tool Name] for grammar and clarity improvement.").

For Reviewers

Permitted Uses of AI

Reviewers may use AI tools to assist in the preparation of their review reports, such as:

  • Refining language, grammar, or formatting for clarity and readability.
  • Verifying references or basic factual information related to the manuscript content.

Prohibited Uses of AI

  • Reviewers must not use AI tools to evaluate the intellectual content of the manuscript or to generate substantive parts of their review. The evaluation must be entirely their own.
  • Reviewers must avoid disclosing manuscript content to AI tools, ensuring the confidentiality of the review process.

Responsibilities

Reviewers are expected to identify and report any potential misuse of AI tools by authors, such as AI-generated content or fabricated data, and alert the editorial team. Reviewers must uphold confidentiality throughout the review process.

For Editors

Permitted Uses of AI

Editors may use AI tools for administrative tasks, such as:

  • Streamlining workflows or tracking manuscript progress.
  • Enhancing communication clarity in editorial decisions or reviewer invitations.
  • Editors can use AI tools to make substantive editorial decisions or to evaluate the intellectual merit of a manuscript with human oversight and validation.
  • AI tools can be used to generate content for editorial letters or correspondence with human oversight and validation

Responsibilities

Editors must ensure compliance with the AI usage policy by:

  • Verifying that authors disclose any use of AI tools and addressing any inconsistencies or ethical concerns.
  • Ensuring that the peer review process remains rigorous and free from AI-generated biases.
  • Providing reviewers with guidance on AI-related ethical standards and monitoring adherence to the journal’s policies.

Ethical Considerations for All Parties

AI tools can generate plausible-sounding but incorrect or fabricated information, often referred to as "AI hallucination." All parties involved in the publication process—authors, reviewers, and editors—must ensure the accuracy and validity of any content influenced by AI. Additionally, the use of AI must comply with ethical standards, including respect for data privacy, informed consent, and bias mitigation.

Consequences of Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with this AI policy may result in:

  • Manuscript rejection or retraction of published articles for authors.
  • Removal from the reviewer pool for reviewers who violate confidentiality or misuse AI tools.
  • Investigation and corrective actions for editors who misuse AI tools or fail to enforce the policy.
 

 

Deposit Policy

Authors are permitted to deposit the submitted version, accepted version, and published version of their articles in any institutional or external repository of their choice at any time. The journal encourages authors to share their work openly to enhance accessibility and global visibility. Examples of allowed deposits include:

  • The author’s personal website

  • An institutional or organizational repository

  • Subject-based repositories

  • Distribution for personal use in teaching, training, or research within the author’s institution

  • Inclusion in grant applications, academic portfolios, or theses/dissertations

Authors are strongly encouraged to review the Copyright Notice of the Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development to ensure full compliance with journal policies and to avoid any possible disputes or misunderstandings.

For further inquiries regarding the self-archiving policy, please contact the Editorial Office at: bsscd@imrecsjournal.com