About the Journal

Al-Adzka: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Guru Madrasah Ibtidaiyah is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal established in 2011. The journal provides an international platform for the publication and dissemination of original, methodologically rigorous, and ethically conducted research in elementary and Islamic primary education.

Al-Adzka seeks to advance scholarly knowledge, educational practice, and evidence-informed policy by publishing studies that address relevant developments, challenges, and innovations in elementary schools and Madrasah Ibtidaiyah. The journal encourages research that offers a clear contribution to the field and demonstrates significance beyond a narrowly local institutional context.

Since Volume 11, Issue 1, published in 2021, Al-Adzka has published its articles in English to strengthen international scholarly communication, increase global accessibility, and support academic exchange among researchers from different educational and cultural contexts. Further information about the journal’s development is available on the Journal History page.

Focus and Scholarly Positioning

Al-Adzka is positioned at the intersection of elementary education and Islamic primary education. The journal recognises Madrasah Ibtidaiyah as both an elementary educational institution and a distinctive setting in which pedagogy, child development, curriculum, culture, religious values, and educational policy interact.

The journal publishes original empirical research employing rigorous qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and other appropriate methodological approaches. Manuscripts should present a clearly defined research problem, engage critically with relevant scholarship, apply a transparent and appropriate methodology, and make an identifiable theoretical, methodological, practical, or policy contribution.

Detailed information about the themes and areas covered by the journal is available on the Focus and Scope page.

Intended Readership

Al-Adzka serves an international readership that includes researchers, academics, teacher educators, elementary and Madrasah Ibtidaiyah teachers, school leaders, educational practitioners, postgraduate students, professional associations, and policymakers.

The journal particularly welcomes studies that connect locally grounded evidence with wider scholarly debates and provide insights that may inform educational research, professional practice, institutional development, or public policy in different contexts.

Publisher and Institutional Governance

Al-Adzka is published by the Department of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Teacher Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Universitas Islam Negeri Antasari Banjarmasin, Indonesia.

The journal is managed in collaboration with professional associations concerned with elementary education, Madrasah Ibtidaiyah teacher education, and Islamic education. Its editorial governance involves scholars and experts whose academic backgrounds are relevant to the journal’s disciplinary and methodological coverage.

The composition, affiliations, and responsibilities of the journal’s editors are presented on the Editorial Team page.

Publication Schedule and Language

Al-Adzka publishes two issues annually, in June and December. Accepted articles may be published online on an article-by-article basis before the completion of an issue to support the timely dissemination of research.

The publication language is English. Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are written in clear, accurate, and academically appropriate English before submission.

Published issues and articles are permanently available through the journal’s Archives.

Editorial Assessment and Peer Review

All manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s official online submission system. Each submission undergoes an initial editorial assessment to evaluate its conformity with the journal’s focus and scope, scholarly contribution, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, language, structure, and adherence to the Author Guidelines.

Manuscripts that satisfy the preliminary editorial requirements are evaluated through a double-anonymous external peer-review process involving at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject or methodological expertise. The identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another throughout the evaluation process.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or the responsible editor after considering the manuscript’s academic quality, ethical compliance, reviewers’ reports, and authors’ responses. Complete procedures are explained in the journal’s Peer Review Process.

Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

Al-Adzka is committed to maintaining integrity, fairness, transparency, confidentiality, and accountability throughout the editorial and publication process. Authors, reviewers, editors, and other parties involved in publication are expected to follow recognised standards of responsible scholarly conduct.

The journal addresses matters relating to authorship, conflicts of interest, originality, data integrity, duplicate publication, citation practices, confidentiality, editorial independence, corrections, retractions, and other forms of research or publication misconduct through its Publication Ethics and Research Integrity policy.

Research involving children, students, teachers, parents, school communities, vulnerable groups, personal information, observations, interviews, photographs, recordings, or other human-participant data must comply with the journal’s Ethical Oversight Policy. Authors must clearly report applicable ethical approval, informed consent, child assent, institutional permission, confidentiality, and participant-protection procedures.

Originality and Similarity Screening

All submitted manuscripts are subject to similarity and plagiarism screening as part of the editorial assessment. The official screening is conducted by the editorial team using Turnitin or another recognised similarity-detection system.

An overall similarity score is treated as an initial indicator rather than the sole basis for an editorial decision. Editors assess the source, location, extent, pattern, and nature of matched material before determining whether revision, clarification, rejection, or another editorial action is appropriate.

Detailed requirements are provided in the journal’s Similarity and Plagiarism Screening Policy.

Open Access, Copyright, and Licensing

Al-Adzka provides immediate open access to all published articles. Readers may access, read, download, and share the journal’s content without subscription or payment barriers.

Authors retain copyright and grant Al-Adzka the right of first publication. Published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits reuse, distribution, and adaptation provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the original publication.

Further information is available in the journal’s Copyright Notice.

Author Fees

Al-Adzka does not charge an article submission fee or an article processing charge. Authors are not required to pay for manuscript submission, peer review, editorial processing, or publication.

The absence of publication fees does not influence editorial decisions. All manuscripts are evaluated according to their scholarly merit, relevance, methodological quality, originality, and ethical compliance. Further information is available in the Author Fees policy.

Abstracting, Indexing, and Discoverability

Al-Adzka is registered with Crossref and is included in scholarly indexing, abstracting, library, and discovery services. These services support the visibility, accessibility, citation, verification, and long-term discoverability of the journal’s published content.

The complete and current list of services covering the journal is available on the Abstracting and Indexing page.

Corrections and Post-Publication Integrity

Al-Adzka is committed to preserving the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record. Errors, ethical concerns, or research-integrity issues identified before or after publication are assessed according to their seriousness and their effect on the reliability of the published work.

Where necessary, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, article replacement, or other appropriate notice. Detailed procedures are provided in the Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern Policy.

Authors and other interested parties may submit concerns or appeal eligible editorial decisions in accordance with the journal’s Appeals and Complaints Policy.