Author Guidelines

JPL: Jurnal Pengabdian Leuser welcomes original manuscripts reporting community service, community engagement, community empowerment, applied innovation, and other relevant activities within the journal's multidisciplinary scope.

Authors are required to carefully follow these guidelines before submitting a manuscript.

1. General Requirements

Submitted manuscripts must meet the following requirements:

The manuscript must be original and must not have been previously published.
The manuscript must not be under consideration by another journal.
The manuscript must be relevant to the Focus and Scope of JPL: Jurnal Pengabdian Leuser.
The manuscript should report a community service or community engagement activity with clearly described methods, implementation, outcomes, and impact.
The manuscript must follow the journal's formatting and submission requirements.
All authors must approve the submitted manuscript and its final version.
All sources used in the manuscript must be properly cited and included in the reference list.
Authors must disclose any potential conflict of interest.
Authors must comply with applicable ethical requirements for community engagement and activities involving human participants.
Manuscripts may be checked for plagiarism or inappropriate text similarity.

2. Language

Manuscripts may be written in English or Indonesian.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the language is clear, grammatically correct, and appropriate for academic publication.

3. Manuscript Format

Manuscripts should be prepared using the following general format:

Paper size: A4
Font: Times New Roman
Font size: 12 pt, unless otherwise specified in the journal template
Line spacing: 1.0–1.15
Text alignment: Justified
File format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx)
Manuscript margins and other formatting should follow the journal template.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use the official manuscript template provided by the journal.

4. Manuscript Structure

A manuscript should generally contain the following sections:

Title

The title should be concise, informative, specific, and accurately reflect the community engagement activity. Avoid unnecessary abbreviations and overly general expressions.

Authors and Affiliations

List the full names of all authors, followed by their institutional affiliations.

The corresponding author should be clearly identified and provide a valid email address. ORCID iDs are encouraged where available.

Abstract

The abstract should briefly describe:

The background or community problem;
Objectives of the activity;
Methods or implementation approach;
Main results or outcomes; and
Conclusions or implications.

The abstract should be concise and informative.

Keywords

Provide 3–5 keywords or phrases that represent the main topics of the manuscript. Keywords should be separated by commas.

Introduction

The Introduction should explain:

The background and context of the community;
The problems or needs identified;
Relevant supporting literature or previous activities;
The rationale for conducting the program; and
The objectives of the community service activity.

The introduction should clearly demonstrate why the activity is relevant and necessary.

Methods

The Methods section should provide sufficient detail to explain how the community service activity was conducted.

It may include:

Location and time of the activity;
Target community or participants;
Identification of community needs or problems;
Approach and implementation strategy;
Activities and stages of implementation;
Training, mentoring, or intervention methods;
Materials, technologies, or instruments used;
Community participation;
Evaluation methods; and
Indicators used to measure outcomes.

Results and Discussion

This section should present and discuss the results of the community engagement activity.

Authors should explain:

Activities that were implemented;
Participation and involvement of the community;
Outputs produced;
Measurable outcomes;
Changes or improvements resulting from the activity;
Challenges encountered;
Solutions or adaptations implemented; and
Implications and sustainability of the program.

Results should be supported by appropriate evidence, such as tables, figures, photographs, survey results, evaluation data, or other relevant documentation.

The discussion should relate the findings to relevant concepts, theories, previous studies, or community development practices.

Conclusion

The conclusion should summarize the main results and contributions of the community service activity. It should directly address the stated objectives and avoid simply repeating the Results and Discussion section.

Where appropriate, authors may include recommendations for future activities or sustainability.

Acknowledgments

Authors may acknowledge individuals, institutions, funding agencies, community partners, or other organizations that provided significant assistance but do not qualify for authorship.

References

All references cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and every reference listed must be cited in the manuscript.

Authors should prioritize relevant and recent scholarly sources. References should be managed consistently according to the citation style specified by the journal.

5. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures should be relevant to the manuscript and clearly presented.

Authors should:

Number tables and figures consecutively;
Provide clear and informative titles or captions;
Refer to every table and figure in the text;
Ensure that images and figures are of adequate quality;
Provide appropriate sources or permissions when required; and
Avoid unnecessary duplication of information between the text, tables, and figures.

Photographs documenting community activities should be accompanied by appropriate captions and must respect the privacy and dignity of participants.

6. Citation and Referencing

Authors must properly acknowledge all sources of information, ideas, concepts, data, and materials used in the manuscript.

The journal encourages the use of reference-management software such as Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote to maintain consistency in citations and references.

Authors should provide DOI information when available.

7. Authorship

Authorship should reflect substantial contributions to the conception, implementation, analysis, documentation, or preparation of the manuscript.

All listed authors must:

Make a meaningful contribution to the work;
Approve the final version of the manuscript;
Agree to its submission and publication; and
Accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the activity but do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged appropriately.

8. Research and Community Engagement Ethics

Authors must ensure that community engagement activities are conducted responsibly and ethically.

Where applicable, authors should obtain appropriate institutional approval, informed consent, permissions, or ethical clearance before conducting activities involving participants.

Particular care must be taken when reporting:

Personal information;
Interviews;
Surveys;
Photographs or videos;
Children or vulnerable groups;
Sensitive community information; and
Other identifiable participant information.

Authors must protect the privacy, dignity, safety, and rights of community members.

9. Plagiarism and Originality

All manuscripts must be original and properly acknowledge the work of others.

The journal may use similarity-detection software as part of the editorial screening process. A similarity score does not automatically constitute plagiarism; the Editorial Team will assess the nature and context of any detected similarity.

Plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, and other forms of academic misconduct are not permitted.

10. Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, personal, or other relationships that could potentially influence the work or its publication.

If no conflict exists, authors should include an appropriate statement such as:

“The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.”

11. Funding

Authors should disclose all sources of financial or institutional support for the reported activity.

Where applicable, authors should state the name of the funding institution and relevant grant or project information.

If the activity received no external funding, authors may state:

“This activity received no specific funding from any public, commercial, or non-profit organization.”

12. Data Availability

Authors are encouraged to provide relevant supporting data, instruments, documentation, or other materials when ethically and legally permissible.

Personal, confidential, or sensitive information must not be disclosed without appropriate authorization.

13. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors may use artificial intelligence or generative AI tools as supporting tools during manuscript preparation where appropriate. However, authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and content of the submitted manuscript.

AI tools must not be listed as authors.

Authors should disclose substantive use of generative AI in accordance with the journal's publication policies. AI-generated information, references, quotations, data, and other content must be carefully verified by the authors before submission.

14. Submission Procedure

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online submission system using Open Journal Systems (OJS).

Authors should:

Register or log in to the journal's OJS platform;
Start a new submission;
Complete the submission checklist;
Enter all required manuscript metadata;
Upload the manuscript file;
Upload supplementary files when applicable;
Review all submission information; and
Complete and confirm the submission.

Authors should ensure that the manuscript file does not contain information that could compromise the double-blind peer-review process when anonymous review is required.

15. Peer Review

All manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening are subject to the journal's double-blind peer-review process.

Manuscripts are generally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise.

Possible editorial decisions include:

Accept
Minor Revision
Major Revision
Reject

Authors may be required to revise their manuscripts in response to reviewer and editor comments.

16. Revision

When revisions are requested, authors should submit the revised manuscript within the timeframe specified by the Editorial Team.

Authors are encouraged to provide a clear response to reviewer comments and indicate how each substantive issue has been addressed.

The revised manuscript may be returned to reviewers for further evaluation when necessary.

17. Withdrawal

Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript after submission should contact the Editorial Office and provide a clear reason for the withdrawal.

Withdrawal requests after the review process has begun may be subject to editorial consideration. Once an article has been formally published, withdrawal is handled according to the journal's policies on corrections, withdrawals, and retractions.

18. Publication Charges

JPL: Jurnal Pengabdian Leuser currently does not charge authors for manuscript submission, peer review, or publication.

There are:

No submission fees;
No article processing charges (APC);
No peer-review fees; and
No publication fees.

Any future changes to publication charges will be clearly announced through the official journal website.

19. Copyright and License

Authors retain the copyright to their published work.

Unless otherwise stated, articles published by JPL: Jurnal Pengabdian Leuser are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Authors grant the journal the right of first publication and a non-exclusive license to publish and disseminate the work.

20. Final Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should confirm that: