INFORMATION JOURNAL
Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to KARMA (Karya Ilmiah Mahasiswa) Journal undergo a rigorous eight-step evaluation process to ensure academic integrity, originality, and alignment with the journal’s focus and scope. The process is as follows:
1. Initial Screening
The Editor-in-Chief, in collaboration with the editorial board, evaluates whether the submitted manuscript meets the basic publication criteria before proceeding to peer review.
- Manuscripts with a plagiarism similarity index exceeding 25% or containing more than 30% AI-generated text will be returned to the authors for revision.
- Manuscripts that do not align with the journal’s focus and scope will automatically Rejected.
2. Peer Review
Manuscripts that pass the initial screening undergo a double-blind peer review by at least two reviewers from institutions different from the author’s.
- The Editor-in-Chief, with input from the editorial board, selects reviewers based on expertise in the relevant field.
3. Peer-Review Decision Notification
After the peer review process, authors receive notification along with reviewer and editor feedback. The possible outcomes are:
- Accepted – The manuscript is accepted without revisions and proceeds to the formatting and proofreading stage.
- Accepted with Minor Revisions – The manuscript requires minor modifications before final acceptance.
- Accepted with Major Revisions – The manuscript requires substantial revisions and must be resubmitted for further evaluation.
- Returned for Improvement – The manuscript requires significant refinement to meet the journal’s quality standards and is returned to the author with recommendations for further development.
4. Revision Stage
- Authors who receive a revision request must modify their manuscript based on the reviewers' feedback and submit a revision summary explaining the changes made.
- If major revisions are required, the revised manuscript may undergo a second round of peer review before final acceptance.
5. Language and Citation Refinement
- Authors of accepted manuscripts must ensure that their work has been proofread by a native English speaker or professional language editing service before final submission.
- All in-text citations and reference lists must conform to APA (7th edition) referencing style.
6. Final Acceptance Decision
- The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the revised manuscript and makes the final acceptance decision.
7. Copy Editing and Proofreading
- Formatting and Layout: The officially accepted manuscript is formatted and undergoes final proofreading by the editorial team.
- Final Proof Approval: Authors receive the formatted version for a last review.
- At this stage, only minor typographical or layout corrections are permitted—no content revisions are allowed.
8. Online Publication
- The final version of the manuscript is published on the KARMA Journal website under an open-access license.
- The Editorial Team determines the issue in which a manuscript will be published based on topic distribution, author affiliation, and international representation.
- The Letter of Acceptance (LoA) does not specify the exact publication date or issue.
The entire submission-to-publication process is completed within approximately eight (8) weeks.