The corresponding or submitting author submits the paper to the journal. This is carried out via an online system supported by the Open Journal System (OJS). But in order to facilitate authors, ABDIMASIA temporarily also accepts paper submissions by email.

 

The submitted paper is first assessed by the ABDIMASIA's editor. The editor checks whether it is suitable with the Journal focus and scope. The paper's composition and arrangement are evaluated against the journal's Author Guidelines to make sure it includes the required sections and stylizations. In addition, an assessment of the minimum required quality of the paper for publication begins at this step, including one that assesses whether there is a major methodological flaw. Every submitted paper which passes this step will be checked by Turnitin to measure the similarity index which leads to plagiarism before being reviewed by reviewers.

 

The Editor-in-Chief checks if the paper is appropriate for the journal, sufficiently original, interesting, and significant for publication. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed any further.

 

The handling editor invites reviewers (also known as referees) based on their expertise, relevance to the manuscript's subject area, and the absence of any conflict of interest. The peer review process at ABDIMASIA involves qualified experts from various disciplines related to community service, including social sciences and humanities, science and technology, health and medicine, agriculture and environment, industry and entrepreneurship, and engineering. Reviewers are selected based on their academic competence and experience to provide objective, constructive, and impartial evaluations. The journal employs a double-blind peer review system to ensure fairness and confidentiality throughout the review process. Under this system, reviewers do not know the identity of the authors, and authors do not know the identity of the reviewers. All manuscripts are reviewed anonymously.

 

Potential reviewers consider the invitation against their own expertise, conflicts of interest, and availability. They then decide to accept or decline. In the invitation letter, the editor may ask the potential reviewer for the suggestion of an alternative reviewer, when he or she declines to review.

 

The reviewers allocate time to read the paper several times. The first read is used to form an initial impression of the work. If major problems are found at this stage, the reviewers may feel comfortable rejecting the paper without further work. Otherwise, they will read the paper several more times, taking notes so as to build a detailed point-by-point review. During the review process, reviewers evaluate the manuscript using the journal's standardized review form to ensure consistency, objectivity, and fairness.

The evaluation covers the following aspects:

1. Suitability with the journal's focus and scope.
2. Clarity and relevance of the article title.
3. Completeness and quality of the abstract.
4. Adequacy of the introduction in describing the community's problems and needs.
5. Clarity of the objectives and expected benefits of the community service program.
6. Appropriateness and completeness of the implementation methods.
7. Quality of the implementation process, outcomes, and impact on the target community.
8. Outputs of the program and its sustainability.
9. Accuracy and relevance of the conclusions.
10. Relevance, adequacy, and currency of the references.

The review is then submitted to the journal, with a recommendation to accept, or reject it, or else with a request for revision (usually flagged as either major or minor) before it is reconsidered.

 

The Editor-in-Chief and handling editor consider all the returned reviews before making an overall decision. If the reviews differ widely between both reviewers, the handling editor may invite an additional reviewer so as to obtain an extra opinion before making a decision.

 

The editor sends a decision email to the author including any relevant reviewer comments. Reviewer comments is sent anonymously to the corresponding author to take the necessary actions and responses. At this point, reviewers are also be sent an email or letter letting them know the outcome of their review.

 

If accepted, the paper is sent to copy-editing. Suppose the article is rejected or sent back to the author for either major or minor revision. In that case, the handling editor will include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article. The author should make corrections and revise the paper per the reviewers' comments and instructions.

 

After revision has been made, the author should resubmit the revised paper to the editor.

 

If the paper was sent back for revision, the reviewers should expect to receive the revised version, unless they have opted out of further participation. However, where only minor changes were requested this follow-up review might be done by the handling editor.

 

If the editor is happy with the revised paper, it is considered to be accepted. The accepted papers will be published online and all are freely available as downloadable pdf files.