Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal

Jurnal Al Muhtarifin accepts original manuscripts in the field of Islamics Economics and Islamic Banking, including research reports, case reports, application of theory, critical studies, and literature reviews. The spread of Islamic Economics and Islamic Banking include (but not limited to):

Islamic Banking And Finance;
Islamic Economic And Contemporary Issues;
Islamic Risk Management and Shariah Compliance Risk Management;
Islamic Social Finance (including Zakat, Infaq, Shadaqah, Waqf, Sukuk);
Islamic Financial Technology and Digitization Contemporary Issues;
Islamic Accounting, Islamic Reporting, and Islamic Auditing;
Islamic Business and Ethics;
Legal Aspects In Islamic Economic;
Islamic Human Resources;
Halal Industry and Islamic Non Banks Financial Institutions.

Section Policies

Articles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

Every manuscript submitted to Al-Muhtarifin: Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal is read by the editorial staff. Those manuscripts evaluated by editors to be inappropriate to journal criteria are rejected promptly without external review. Manuscripts evaluated to be of potential interest to our readership are sent to double blind reviewers. Every manuscript is independently reviewed by at least two reviewers in the form of "double-blind review". The editors then make a decision for publication based on the reviewer's recommendation from among several possibilities: Accept, Accept with revisions, Submit for review, Submit elsewhere, or Decline.

In certain cases, the editor may submit an article for review to another, third reviewer before making a decision, if necessary.

The Editor-in-Chief of Al-Muhtarifin: Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal has the right to decide which manuscripts submitted to the journal should be published.

Review Process:

Author submit the manuscript
Editor Evaluation (some manuscripts are rejected or returned before the review process)
Double-blind peer review process
Editor decision
Confirmation to the authors

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Publication Frequency

Publish twice in year (biannually) on January and June.

Author Fees

ARTICLE SUBMISSION:

0.00 (IDR) Authors ARE NOT REQUIRED to pay an Article Submission Fee as part of the submission process. This part of APC or Article Processing Charge is Free.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION:

Rp 150.000 (IDR) (for Indonesian author) & $ 0 (for Foreign author) If this paper is accepted for publication, the article publication fee applies as stated above.

Indexing

Index:

Plagiarism Check

Basically, it is the author's job to only submit manuscripts that are free from plagiarism and academic malpractice. However, the editor double-checks each article before publishing. The first step is to check for plagiarism against an offline database of previously published articles. The second step is to check against online databases as much as possible.

PUBLICATION ETHIC

The publication of articles in the peer-reviewed Al-Muhtarifin: Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal is an important building block in the development of a coherent and respected knowledge network. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the author's work and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. Therefore, it is important to agree on the standards of ethical behavior expected of all parties involved in the act of publishing: authors, journal editors, peer reviewers, publishers and the public.

The Journal editor is responsible for deciding which articles to submit to the journal should be published. Validation of the work in question and its importance to the researcher and reader should always drive the decision. Editors may be guided by the journal's editorial board policy and limited by legal requirements that will apply at the time regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism. Editors may consult with other editors or reviewers in making this decision..

Authorship Criteria

Authorship is based on substantial contribution to the work. An individual should be listed as an author only if they have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content; approved the final version to be published; and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to its accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Persons who contributed only through general support, data collection without intellectual input, or technical assistance should be acknowledged rather than listed as authors. All authors must be identified with their affiliations, and the corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during submission, peer review, and publication. Changes to the author list after submission require written agreement from all authors and approval by the Editor-in-Chief.

Electronic Filing

Al-Muhtarifin: Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal is published online using the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform hosted by Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU). All published issues and articles, including their metadata and full-text PDF files, are stored in the journal database and remain accessible through the Archives section of the journal website.

The electronic files are backed up by the hosting institution. The journal is committed to the long-term preservation of its content and will consider participation in an external digital preservation network, such as the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PLN).

License

Articles published in Al-Muhtarifin: Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Under this license, others may share and adapt the work for any purpose, including commercial use, provided that appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and the journal, a link to the license is provided, and any derivative works are distributed under the same license.

Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version, provided that it is acknowledged that the work first appeared in this journal.

Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial or non-financial interest that could be perceived as influencing the work, its review, or its acceptance for publication. Such interests include employment, consultancy, share ownership, funding, honoraria, patents, personal relationships, and academic competition.

Authors must include a conflict of interest statement in their manuscript. Where there is no conflict, the authors should state that they declare no conflict of interest. Reviewers and editors who have a conflict with a submission must declare it and recuse themselves from handling that manuscript. Declared conflicts are disclosed together with the published article.

Allegation of Research Misconduct

Al-Muhtarifin takes allegations of research misconduct seriously, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication, improper authorship, and undisclosed conflicts of interest. Allegations may be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief at almuhtarifin@umsu.ac.id and should include supporting evidence.

The Editor-in-Chief will acknowledge the allegation, assess it with the editorial board, and, where appropriate, request a response from the author(s). If misconduct is confirmed, the journal will act in line with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which may include rejection or retraction of the article, publication of a correction or expression of concern, and notification of the author's institution. The identities of complainants and respondents are kept confidential throughout the process.

Post-Publication Discussion

Readers are welcome to discuss published articles constructively. Comments, critical responses, and letters to the editor may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at almuhtarifin@umsu.ac.id. Substantive scientific comments may be published alongside the original article after editorial review, and the authors will be given the opportunity to respond.

Comments must be relevant to the content of the article, respectful in tone, and free of personal attacks. The journal reserves the right to decline or edit comments that do not meet these standards.

Retraction and Withdrawal Policy

When an error that affects the content or interpretation of a published article is identified by the authors, readers, reviewers, or editors, the journal will publish a correction (erratum or corrigendum) linked to the original article. Where an error seriously undermines the validity of the findings, or where there is plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or duplicate publication, the article will be retracted. Retracted articles remain online with a clearly visible retraction notice, and their original content is not removed.

Corrections and retractions follow the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Requests may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at almuhtarifin@umsu.ac.id.

Submission Guidelines

Authors who wish to submit a manuscript to Al-Muhtarifin: Islamic Banking and Islamic Economic Journal should follow these steps:

Register or log in to the journal website and select the Online Submission menu.
Prepare the manuscript in Word format, following the Author Guidelines for formatting, structure, and language.
Complete the Submission Preparation Checklist before uploading the manuscript.
Prepare a separate title page containing the full names, affiliations, and contact details of the author(s), and keep the body text anonymous for double-blind review.
Upload the manuscript and any supporting files, then track the status of the submission from your author dashboard.

Submissions are processed through the editorial workflow described in the Peer Review Process. Manuscripts that do not meet these guidelines may be returned to the authors before review.

References Management

Al-Muhtarifin recommends that authors use a reference management application (for example Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote) to keep citations and bibliographies consistent.

All references must follow the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style (6th edition), as described in the Author Guidelines. Every in-text citation must appear in the reference list, and every reference listed must be cited in the text. Include a DOI or URL for each reference where available.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Al-Muhtarifin supports the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research and writing, while ensuring the integrity, accuracy, and accountability of published work.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscript.
Authors must disclose any use of generative AI tools (for example for language editing, translation, or drafting text), including the name of the tool and how it was used.
AI-generated content must be verified for accuracy, and every reference must be checked to confirm that it exists and supports the claim it is cited for.
Reviewers and editors must not upload unpublished manuscripts to AI tools, and must not use AI tools to write peer review reports.

Manuscripts that do not comply with this policy may be rejected or returned to the authors.