Author Guidelines

Makukuhan: International Journal of Law and Syaria (Makukuhan-IJLS) publishes original and high-quality scholarly works that contribute to the advancement of legal studies and Islamic legal scholarship. The journal welcomes interdisciplinary, doctrinal, empirical, comparative, and socio-legal research addressing contemporary legal issues at the national, regional, and global levels.

The journal particularly welcomes manuscripts within, but not limited to, the following areas:

  • Islamic Law and Islamic Legal Thought
  • Family Law
  • Criminal Law
  • Civil Law
  • Inheritance Law
  • Sharia Economic Law
  • Constitutional Law
  • Administrative Law
  • Human Rights
  • International Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Legal Policy (Politics of Law)
  • Comparative Law
  • Contemporary Legal Issues

Manuscript Requirements

Submitted manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not simultaneously under consideration by any other journal or publisher. Manuscripts should present significant scholarly contributions through doctrinal, empirical, normative, comparative, socio-legal, or library-based research.

Authors are expected to demonstrate originality, methodological rigor, theoretical contribution, and practical relevance. Each manuscript should clearly identify the research gap, articulate its novelty, and explain its contribution to the development of legal scholarship.

Language

All manuscripts should be written in English using clear, concise, and grammatically accurate academic language. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscripts professionally proofread prior to submission.

Manuscript Length

The complete manuscript should contain approximately 5,000–8,000 words, including the title, author information, abstracts, keywords, tables, figures, acknowledgements, references, and appendices (where applicable).

Manuscript Formatting

Authors must prepare manuscripts using the official Makukuhan-IJLS template.

General formatting requirements include:

  • Paper size: A4
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font size: 12 pt (main text)
  • Line spacing: 1.0
  • Single-column layout
  • Continuous page numbering

Title and Author Information

The manuscript title should accurately reflect the principal focus of the study while remaining concise and informative. Titles should normally consist of 5–20 words.

Each submission must include:

  • Full name of each author (without academic titles)
  • Institutional affiliation
  • Department and Faculty
  • City and Country
  • Corresponding author's email address

Abstract and Keywords

Each manuscript must include abstracts in English, each consisting of approximately 150–200 words in a single paragraph.

The abstract should briefly describe:

  • research background;
  • objectives;
  • methodology;
  • principal findings; and
  • conclusions.

Immediately following the abstract, authors should provide three to five keywords, arranged alphabetically and separated by semicolons.

Manuscript Structure

Manuscripts should be organized using the following structure:

  1. Title
  2. Author Information
  3. Abstract (English)
  4. Keywords
  5. Introduction
  6. Literature Review / Analytical Framework
  7. Research Method
  8. Results and Discussion
  9. Conclusion
  10. Acknowledgements (optional)
  11. Author Contributions (optional)
  12. Conflict of Interest (optional)
  13. References
  14. Author Biographies

Introduction

The Introduction should establish the scholarly context of the research by presenting the research background, identifying existing debates, reviewing relevant literature, and highlighting the current state of the art.

Authors are expected to critically discuss previous studies in order to identify research gaps, justify the novelty of the study, formulate the research questions, and explain the significance and expected contribution of the research to legal scholarship.

Literature Review / Analytical Framework

This section should provide the conceptual and theoretical foundation underpinning the study. Authors should explain the legal theories, analytical frameworks, concepts, or approaches employed to analyse the research problem and demonstrate their relevance to the study.

Research Method

The methodology section should describe the research design in sufficient detail to enable readers to understand and evaluate the study.

Where appropriate, this section should explain:

  • research design;
  • research approach;
  • research location;
  • data sources;
  • participants or informants;
  • data collection procedures;
  • analytical techniques; and
  • strategies adopted to ensure research validity and reliability.

Results and Discussion

The Results and Discussion should present the findings in a logical and systematic manner, followed by critical interpretation grounded in relevant legal theories and previous scholarship.

Rather than merely describing findings, authors should explain their legal significance, theoretical implications, practical relevance, and contribution to legal development, judicial practice, public policy, or the implementation of Islamic law.

Tables, figures, diagrams, and illustrations should:

  • be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals;
  • be cited within the text;
  • include descriptive titles and captions;
  • appear immediately after their first citation; and
  • possess a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Conclusion

The Conclusion should synthesize the principal findings without repeating the abstract. Authors should emphasize the scholarly contribution of the research, acknowledge its limitations where appropriate, discuss its broader implications, and suggest directions for future research.

References

Makukuhan-IJLS adopts the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition citation style.

Accordingly:

  • all citations must appear using the author–date format;
  • every cited source must appear in the reference list;
  • the reference list must be arranged alphabetically;
  • DOI numbers should be provided whenever available using the format https://doi.org/;
  • authors are strongly encouraged to prepare references using Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote.

To maintain scholarly quality, authors should ensure that:

  • at least 80% of references are derived from peer-reviewed journal articles;
  • the remaining references consist of authoritative books, legislation, court decisions, dissertations, or other scholarly sources;
  • the majority of references have been published within the last ten years.

Ethical Standards

Submitted manuscripts must represent original scholarly work and comply with internationally recognized standards of publication ethics. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all data, citations, and references, and for obtaining any necessary permissions for copyrighted materials.

Plagiarism, duplicate submission, data fabrication, and other forms of academic misconduct are strictly prohibited.

Supplementary Information

Authors may include the following sections where applicable:

  • Acknowledgements
  • Author Contributions
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Funding Statement
  • Data Availability Statement (recommended)
  • Ethical Approval Statement (required where human participants are involved)

Author Biography

Each author should provide a brief biography of approximately 80–150 words, including:

  • current academic position;
  • institutional affiliation;
  • highest academic qualification;
  • research interests; and
  • selected scholarly achievements or publications.

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format using the official Makukuhan: International Journal of Law and Syaria (Makukuhan-IJLS) manuscript template.

Submissions that do not comply with the journal's formatting requirements or fall outside the journal's scope may be returned to the authors prior to peer review.