Author Guidelines

The Most Recent Updated Author Guidelines of “Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial” since the publication year of 2026

A. Introduction

Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial is a high-quality, open-access, peer-reviewed research journal published by the Faculty of Sharia, Universitas Islam Negeri Madura, Pamekasan, East Java, Indonesia. The focus is to provide readers with a better understanding of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law concerning plurality and living values in Indonesian and Southeast Asian society by publishing articles and research reports.

Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial specializes in Islamic Jurisprudence and Indonesian, as well as Southeast Asian, Islamic Law, and aims to communicate original research and relevant current issues. This journal warmly welcomes contributions from scholars of related disciplines. Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial has been available online since June 1st 2015. This journal is indexed in Scopus, DIMENSION, Google Scholar, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and SINTA 1 (Accredited by the Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi (Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology), Number 169/E/KPT/2024).

It aims primarily to facilitate scholarly and professional discussion over current developments on Islamic Jurisprudence and Law concerning Indonesian and Southeast Asian plurality and living values. Publishing articles exclusively in English and Arabic since 2018, the journal seeks to expand the boundaries of Indonesian and Southeast Asian Islamic Law discourses to attract broader English- and Arabic-speaking contributors and readers worldwide. Hence, it welcomes contributions from international legal scholars, professionals, representatives of the courts, executive authorities, researchers, and students.

Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial primarily covers topics in Jurisprudence as well as Indonesian and Southeast Asian Islamic Law. Novelty and recency of issues, however, are the priority in publishing. The range of contents covers established Jurisprudence, Indonesian and Southeast Asian Islamic Law society, local culture, and various approaches on legal studies such as comparative Islamic law, political Islamic Law, sociology of Islamic law, and the like.

B. How to Write the Title, the Name, and the Authors’ Address

The title of the manuscript should be centered at the top of the first page. Meanwhile, the author’s name, affiliation, and address should be mentioned in the manuscript and not exceed 5 authors, while the email is only mentioned for the corresponding author. Communication regarding the article revision and the final statement will be provided via email to the corresponding author only, as listed in the metadata. The authors are advised to collaborate with researchers from diverse countries/continents.

C. The Manuscript General Guidelines

The manuscript text's general guidelines are as follows:

  1. The manuscript is the authentic research result that has not been published or submitted to other publication media or publishing houses. It must be field-based research (Any theoretical or literature-based research will be declined)
  2. The manuscript does not contain any plagiarism elements. To check for plagiarism, please use the Turnitin application. The submitted manuscript must include the plagiarism screening results and AI detection percentages during the submission process, and these must be below 20%; they are obliged to attach the Turnitin report along with the manuscript. The editorial board will directly reject the text that indicates plagiarism.
  3. The manuscript article writing guidelines and 2023 template can be downloaded at the home page of Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial website and are available in MS Word (*.doc/*.docx) format.
  4. The manuscript of the online submission procedure is available at the online submission guidelines in the next parts. To help the authors and readers understand Al-Ihkam's workflow, please review the journal's editorial workflow.
  5. The manuscript should contain several aspects of a scientific article, namely: (1) Title of the article, (2) Abstract and the keywords, (3) Introduction, (4) Method, (5) Results and Discussion, (6) Conclusion, (7) Acknowledgment, (8) Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies. Otherwise, the manuscript will be rejected.
  6. The subtitles in the discussion section (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion, and Conclusion) should be written in bold, title case. It uses left-aligned text without an underline. The next expanded subtitles should also be typed in bold and italic with the same format, using the left text alignment.
  7. The manuscript can be in either English or Arabic, with the standard language. The body of the paper must be elaborated between 6500 - 7.000 words, including abstract, references, and footnotes, and written in Book Antiqua font 11 with single line spacing. The article is on Letter-sized papers B5 (16 x 24 cm) with custom margins as follows: left 20 mm, right 20 mm, bottom 20 mm, and top 20 mm.
  8. The words from uncommon or foreign languages are in Italic format. Each paragraph starts 11 mm from the left side border and there is no space among paragraphs. All numbers are written in Arabic numbering format, except for the new sentence.
  9. The tables, figures, and other visualization instruments are placed in the text group. Each must be given a title and a caption below them and be numbered in Arabic followed by the figure or table title above it. The attachment should be guaranteed to be well printable (font size, resolution, and line space are clearly seen) and is placed in the center between text groups. If it has a bigger size, it can be placed in the center of the page. The table should not contain vertical lines, while horizontal lines are allowed only for important points.

D. The Guidelines for the Manuscript Body Text

The title of the manuscript: The title should be informative and be written both briefly and clearly. It cannot have diverse multi-interpretations. It has to be pinpointed with the issues that will be discussed. The beginning word is written in the capital case and symmetrically. The article title does not contain any uncommon abbreviations. The main ideas should be written first and followed then by its explanations. The article title should be written within sixteen words, 13pt-sized font, with the bold selection and in the center text format.

Abstract: This Abstract section should be typed in Book Antiqua and font size of 10 pt while the number of words is around of 200-250. Special for this section, please use left and right margin of 10 mm. The single spacing should be used between lines in this article. If the article is written in Arabic, the abstract should be typed in Arabic and English. Meanwhile, if the article is written in English, the abstract should be typed in English and Indonesian as well. The abstract should be typed as concisely as possible and should be composed of: problem statement, method, scientific finding results, and a short conclusion. The abstract should only be typed in one paragraph and one-column format. Keywords are min 4 words and max. 5 words using font Book Antiqua 10 pt.

Introduction: The purpose of this section, as the word itself indicates, is to provide readers with an introductional background to the study and hence to smoothly lead into a description of the methods employed in the current investigation. The introduction must therefore contain (shortly and consecutively) a general background of the problem that the authors investigate.  It should give readers enough information to understand and consider authors’ specific objectives within a larger theoretical framework or broader relevant discussion. While placing the current work in a broader context, authors should state clearly about the position of the current research among previous relevant research(es) in literature review (state of the art) as the basic of the brand new research questions. In the scientific article format, it does not allow to write down the references as in the research report. They should be represented in the literature review to show the brand new of the scientific article. Besides, all background information gathered from other sources must, of course, be appropriately cited so that the novelty, originality, and state of the art of the current research are clearly known. In the final part of the introduction, the purpose of the article writing should be stated as well as its basic argument or hypothesis, the authors should ensure alignment between the research questions and the subheadings in the Results and Discussion section in this step.

Methods: The Methods section contains enough information to enable the readers to understand what was practically done. Avoid giving too long a conceptual explanation about what a certain method, approach, or research type means. Instead, accentuate the explanation on how the data was obtained, coded, and analyzed. This is also the space in which the authors, if necessary, can explain reasons for choosing any specific theoretical framework for the current research they are doing. The key points should be noted by the authors are that 1) the research procedures in the methods should be clearly and comprehensively explained, 2) the selected methods should be relevant to the research questions, and 3) the explanation of the method should be practical rather than excessively theoretical or conceptual.

Result and Discussion: Result and Discussion should be written in same part and made in line with the research questions/research objectives in the subheading numbers and writing flow. They should be presented continuously starting from main result until supporting results and equipped with further discussion. Discussion section should cover basic principles ranging from analytic, implicative, interpretative, constructive, to comparative. Figures, Tables, and other visualization (if any) should be put in the same part of this section and should be made available for editors to edit. If authors provide any relevant picture, make sure it is in high resolution. Although both result and discussion are writen in the same part, it has to be clear between what the data tells and how it relates to the wider relevant discussion or relevant current theoretical framework. 

Conclusion: Instead of replicating any part from Abstract or Result and Discussion section, this part simply states what the authors think the data implies and means, and, as such, should relate directly back to the problem/question of the article in regard to the wider discussion of the theme. Limitiation of the current study as well as suggestion for further relevant research should also be mentioned here. This section should neither offer any reasons for those particular conclusions—as it should have been presented in the Discussion section. By only looking at the Introduction and Conclusions sections, a reader should have a good idea of what the researcher has investigated,  discovered, and contributed even though the specific details of would not be simply known.

Acknowledgment: Authors might express appreciation and gratitude for physical and moral help during the writing process of the article since the data compilation to the publication. This is valid for both persons and institution, such as respondents or funding provider. 

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies: Authors must disclose any use of generative AI tools during the manuscript preparation process when submitting their papers. Al-Ihkam permits the responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and AI-assisted technologies, provided their application remains under human supervision. Authors are expected to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and impartiality of AI-generated content, including automatically generated references. All use of such tools must be transparently reported in a Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies, which should specify the name of the tool, its purpose, and the degree of human editing or oversight. This declaration must appear in the manuscript before the reference list. Please read the Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies applied in this journal.

The format of the Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies statement is as follows:
During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE] in order to [SPECIFY PURPOSE, e.g., check grammar, improve readability, assist in translation, or structure ideas]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed, verified, and edited the content as necessary and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.

Example:
During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used Grammarly in order to check grammar and enhance language clarity. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Bibliography: References of the manuscript must be up to date (in the last of 5 to 10 years and minimum). At minimum, there used 30 references that 40% of them are from primary sources/reputable academic journals) accessible by everyone. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the information in each reference is complete and accurate. All references should be cited within the text; otherwise, these references will be automatically removed. Writing bibliography should use reference manager application as Mendeley using Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition.

E. The Guidelines for Literature Reviews, Citations and References

Authors are suggested to cite several articles from Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial. All the presented data or quotes should attach the reference sources. The references and literature review should use Mendeley reference application manager. The writing format in Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial follows the format applied by Chicago Manual Citation Style:17th Ed.

F. The Online Submission Manuscript Guidelines

The manuscript text submission must be through the following steps: Firstly, register as either an author or reviewer (check the role as author or reviewer) in the “Register” bottom.

  1. After the registration step is completed, log in as author then click at “New Submission” column. The article submission stage consists of five stages, namely: (1). Start, (2). Upload Submission, (3). Enter Meta data, (4). Upload Supplementary Files, (5). Confirmation.
  2. In the “Start” column, choose Journal Section (Full Article) and check all the checklists.
  3. In the “Upload Submission” column, upload the manuscript files in MS. Word format.
  4. In the “Enter Metadata” column, fill in with all of the author data and affiliation, including the Journal Title, Abstract and Indexing Keywords.
  5. In the “Upload Supplementary Files” column, upload supplementary files including the similarity percentage report, the statement letter, or any other else (if any).
  6. In the “Confirmation” column, click “Finish Submission” if the data entered is all correct. If the author has difficulties in the submission process through the online system, please contact Al-Ihkam: Jurnal Hukum dan Pranata Sosial editorial team at email: alihkam@iainmadura.ac.id.