Since 2013, the Mimbar Hukum Journal has obtained national accreditation from the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, valid for a period of five years. In preparation for the 2018 reaccreditation process and to elevate the Mimbar Hukum Journal to an international standard, one of the assessment components required is the implementation of an open publication management system, commonly known as the Open Journal System (OJS). Therefore, on Thursday (7/4), the Journal and Publishing Unit of the Faculty of Law UGM organized a Training on Journal Manuscript Editing based on the Open Journal System (OJS) for Managing Editors and Peer Reviewers.
Dr. Sulastriyono, S.H., M.Si. acknowledged that along with technological development, journal manuscript editing can no longer rely solely on manual methods and now requires the use of information technology. “The hope is that this can later be implemented when serving as reviewers,” he stated in his remarks. Khotibul Umum, S.H., LL.M., as Head of the Journal and Publishing Unit of the Faculty of Law UGM, explained that since the February edition, the assessment process for the Mimbar Hukum Journal has undergone changes. Previously, greater emphasis was placed on formatting, whereas now more attention is directed toward the substance of submitted manuscripts.
During the event, participants were introduced to the technical use of OJS. They were also given the opportunity to create personal accounts as editors within the OJS platform. M. Akhdy Prihantono was also present as a speaker on International Journal Management. As an Editorial Assistant at the Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business (GamaIJB), he not only shared the history of GamaIJB but also explained the steps undertaken by the journal to successfully obtain several international indexations, including SCOPUS. Indeed, the requirements for achieving international recognition are stipulated in Article 12 of the Minister of National Education Regulation Number 22 of 2011 concerning Scientific Periodicals. However, fulfilling these requirements requires both time and the resolution of various existing challenges.
One example of the obstacles encountered is the decline in the number of manuscript submissions due to the obligation to use foreign languages. Requirements stipulating that editorial board members and authors must come from various countries have also encouraged the management to seek potential contributors actively and maintain strong relationships with colleagues abroad. During this training, a presentation entitled “Publishing National Best-Selling Textbooks/Teaching Books” was also delivered by PT Raja Grafindo Persada, formerly known as Rajawali Pers. (Fitri/Lita)
