Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat (e-Journal) follows strict ethical standards for publication to ensure high-quality scientific publications and public trust in research findings. Our publication ethics policy is mainly based on the “Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” published by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) Head Regulation No. 5 of 2014 concerning the Code of Conduct for Scientific Publications.
Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat adheres also to the “Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing” jointly published by COPE, the Directory of Open Access Journals, the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association and the World Association of Medical Editors.
Ethical standards summarized below provide guidelines for editors, reviewers and authors who contribute to Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat. For more detailed information on ethical issues, please see the COPE’s guidelines.
Editorial Process
Editors must uphold the integrity, transparency, and timeliness of the editorial process. They are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts undergo rigorous and unbiased peer review, and that authors are kept informed of the progress of their submissions. The editorial process should be managed in a professional manner that supports the journal’s mission to publish evidence-based community service activities in the fields of health and related disciplines.
Editorial Decisions
Decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of a manuscript must be based solely on its scientific quality, methodological validity, originality, practical relevance, and alignment with the journal’s focus areas, which include medical, medicine, nursing, midwifery, public health, health promotion, nutrition, pharmacy, physiotherapy, hospital management, and health administration. Editors must not consider authors’ personal characteristics—such as race, gender, religion, nationality, or institutional affiliation—when making editorial decisions.
Confidentiality
All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be treated as confidential documents. Editors and editorial staff must not share any information about a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, editorial board members, or the publisher as necessary. Editors must not use any part of the manuscript’s content for their own research or personal advantage prior to publication.
Accountability
Reviewers play a crucial role in upholding the quality and credibility of the journal. They are expected to provide honest, fair, and constructive reviews that support the development of high-quality community service manuscripts. Reviews must be written by the assigned reviewer themselves, unless explicit permission is granted by the editor to involve a co-reviewer. Reviewers must not pressure authors to cite their own work unless it is directly relevant to the manuscript and justified on scholarly grounds.
Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted impartially, focusing solely on the academic content of the manuscript. Reviewers must avoid personal criticism and ensure their comments are supported by logical arguments and appropriate references. Negative evaluations must be academically grounded and should not reflect rivalry or unfair comparisons.
Competing interests
Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in which they have actual or potential conflicts of interest—whether personal, financial, institutional, academic, political, or religious. Reviewers must not accept review assignments for manuscripts authored by individuals with whom they have current or recent professional or personal relationships (e.g., co-authorship, mentorship, employment at the same institution, or shared research funding).
Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.
Confidentiality
All materials received for review must be treated as confidential and not shared, discussed, or used for any personal benefit. Reviewers must not use any information obtained through the peer review process to gain advantage or to discredit other.
Suspicion of ethics violations
If the reviewers come across any irregularities with respect to research and publication ethics (e. g. plagiarism), they should let the journal’s editor know. They should cooperate, in confidence, with the journal and not to investigate on their own.
For more detailed information on ethical issues regarding peer reviewers, please refer to “COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers“.
Authorship
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial and direct contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, or interpretation of the community engagement program presented in the manuscript. Eligible contributions may include designing the intervention model or community-based study; conducting fieldwork or collecting primary data from communities; analyzing results or evaluating the impact of the intervention; drafting or critically revising the manuscript for significant academic content.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and consented to its submission. Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged in the “Acknowledgements” section
Originality and acknowledgement of sources
All manuscripts submitted to Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat must be original works. Authors must properly cite all references to previously published work, including theories, methods, datasets, and graphics. Plagiarism in any form—verbatim copying, improper paraphrasing, or unauthorized data use—is strictly prohibited. Citations and quotations should be made according to Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition).
Reporting standards
Authors must present an accurate and transparent description of the community engagement activity, including the context, objectives, implementation process, outcomes, and reflections. The manuscript must include sufficient detail and relevant references to enable other practitioners or researchers to replicate or adapt the program. Misrepresentation of data or results is a violation of academic ethics and is not tolerated.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism constitutes a serious ethical violation. It includes presenting others’ work or ideas as one’s own, copying substantial parts of existing work without attribution, or using others’ community data without permission Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat editors use Turnitin and/or Grammarly softwares to check the manuscripts for plagiarism and text duplication. If editors suspect a plagiarism case during the peer review process, they follow the paths set in the COPE’s guidelines. If the plagiarism is confirmed, the manuscript will be rejected.
Data Fabrication
Fabricating or manipulating data, altering images or figures, or misrepresenting intervention outcomes is unethical and strictly prohibited. Authors must not selectively report findings to exaggerate impact or mislead readers. All claims regarding outcomes must be evidence-based and clearly supported by data.
Article Retraction
Published articles may be retracted under exceptional circumstances, such as confirmed plagiarism, data falsification, unethical practices, or redundant publication. The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision regarding retraction, which may also be requested by the authors in cases of identified data errors. A formal notice of retraction will be published and linked to the original article, indicating: The article’s title and author(s); The reason for retraction; The party responsible for initiating the retraction.
Data Availability
Authors are encouraged to provide access to relevant documentation and supporting materials derived from the community engagement activities. This may include intervention tools, activity modules, community feedback instruments, implementation guidelines, monitoring instruments, or visual documentation (e.g., photos or videos) that support the reported outcomes. Sharing such data enhances transparency, reproducibility of methods, and facilitates adoption or adaptation of best practices by other practitioners in similar contexts. Authors may upload these materials as supplementary files or provide links to open-access repositories where appropriate. You can find a research data repository to deposit your data at www.re3data.org.
Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication
A manuscript that has already been published or is currently under review in another journal cannot be submitted in Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. If the paper has been published in a language other than English, it can be submitted provided this is clearly and properly declared. Papers based on a thesis or extended version of a paper presented at a conference can be submitted.
Ethical Oversight
Authors must ensure that all community-based service activities are designed and implemented in accordance with ethical principles that prioritize the dignity, rights, autonomy, and participation of the communities involved. Community members should be treated as partners—not merely as beneficiaries—through meaningful engagement and empowerment throughout all stages of the activity.
All interventions must be conducted with informed agreement and respect for local values and cultural norms; avoid exploitation or coercion, especially when involving vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, or marginalized groups; and demonstrate mutual benefit and trust-building between implementers and communities.
Abdimark: Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat strongly encourages authors to adopt internationally recognized frameworks such as the WHO’s “Community Engagement: A Health Promotion Guide for Universal Health Coverage in the Hands of the People” (WHO, 2020), which emphasizes community ownership, inclusive participation, intersectoral collaboration, and sustainability. Authors are expected to clearly describe how ethical and participatory principles guided the planning, execution, and evaluation of their community engagement efforts.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicting, or competing, interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support should be disclosed.
Originality and acknowledgement of sources
Manuscript should be an original work, and authors should cite the others’ works, words, ideas or figures used in the manuscript. All sources used must be appropriately cited. Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be apropriately quoted. Citations and quotations should be made according to Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition).
