Author Guidelines

Official Manuscript Template
Authors must prepare manuscripts using the official Athena manuscript template and retain its prescribed structure and formatting.
↓ DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE (.DOCX)

Instructions for Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to Athena: Journal of Social, Culture and Society should ensure that their work is original, relevant to the journal's aims and scope, methodologically or theoretically sound, ethically conducted, and prepared in accordance with the requirements below.

Manuscripts that do not satisfy essential submission, formatting, ethical, or metadata requirements may be returned to the authors for correction before editorial evaluation.

A. GENERAL MANUSCRIPT REQUIREMENTS
  • Language: Manuscripts must be written in clear academic English. Authors may use either British or American English, but usage must remain consistent throughout the manuscript.
  • Manuscript Length: Research manuscripts will normally be approximately 4,000–7,500 words, including references, tables, and figure captions. Longer or shorter manuscripts may be considered when justified by the research design or disciplinary convention.
  • File Format: Authors should submit an editable Microsoft Word .docx file prepared using the official Athena template.
  • Original Submission: The manuscript must not have been previously published in substantially the same form and must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.
  • Scope: The principal research question and contribution must fall within Athena's published aims and scope.
  • Reference Management: Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference management software such as Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, or equivalent software to improve citation accuracy and consistency.
B. AUTHOR AND ARTICLE METADATA

Complete and accurate metadata must be entered into the journal's online submission system. Metadata entered in OJS should correspond exactly with the information contained in the manuscript.

  • Author Name: Full author name as it should appear in the published article. Academic titles such as Dr., Prof., or Ph.D. should not form part of the bibliographic author name.
  • Institutional Affiliation: Department or faculty, institution, city, and country must be provided accurately for each author.
  • Email Address: A valid email address must be provided for each author, with the corresponding author clearly identified.
  • ORCID: Authors are strongly encouraged to provide a valid ORCID iD to support reliable author identification.
  • Article Title: The title entered in OJS must be identical to the title appearing in the manuscript.
  • Abstract: The complete abstract must be entered into the submission metadata.
  • Keywords: All manuscript keywords must also be entered individually into the OJS metadata fields.
  • Language: Article-language information must be accurately recorded during submission.
C. MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE
1. Title

The title should be concise, informative, specific, and accurately reflect the principal subject of the research. Unnecessary abbreviations, formulas, and overly broad expressions should be avoided.

2. Author Information

Provide the full names, institutional affiliations, countries, corresponding-author information, and ORCID identifiers where available, in accordance with the journal template.

3. Abstract

The abstract should normally contain 150–250 words and provide a self-contained summary of the study. It should clearly identify the research context or problem, objective, methodological or analytical approach, principal findings or arguments, and major conclusion or implications. Citations should normally not appear in the abstract.

4. Keywords

Provide approximately 3–6 specific keywords representing the major concepts, subject area, population, method, or phenomenon addressed by the manuscript. Avoid unnecessarily repeating words already contained in the article title.

5. Introduction

The Introduction should establish the research context, summarize relevant literature, identify the problem or knowledge gap, explain the scholarly significance of the study, and state the research objective, questions, propositions, or hypotheses where appropriate.

6. Literature Review / Theoretical Framework

A separate literature review or theoretical framework may be included where appropriate to the discipline and research design. Authors should critically synthesize relevant scholarship rather than merely list or summarize previous studies.

7. Research Method / Methodology

The methodology should provide sufficient information for readers to understand how the research was conducted. Where applicable, describe the research design, study context, participants or data sources, sampling, instruments, variables, procedures, analytical methods, validity or reliability procedures, software, and relevant ethical approval.

8. Results / Findings

Findings should be presented clearly and systematically and should directly address the research questions, objectives, propositions, or hypotheses. Tables and figures should be used when they materially improve comprehension of the findings.

9. Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the findings rather than simply repeat them. Authors should explain their significance, compare the findings with relevant scholarship, address unexpected results, and identify theoretical, practical, cultural, social, or policy implications where appropriate.

10. Conclusion

The conclusion should synthesize the principal contribution of the research and may address theoretical or practical implications, limitations, and reasonable directions for future investigation. It should not merely reproduce the abstract or results.

Disciplinary Flexibility: The precise organization of theoretical, conceptual, historical, literary, legal, linguistic, ethnographic, qualitative, and other humanities-oriented manuscripts may differ from the conventional empirical IMRAD structure where justified by established disciplinary practice. However, the research objective, scholarly approach, evidence, analysis, contribution, and conclusion must remain clearly identifiable.
D. TABLES, FIGURES AND THIRD-PARTY MATERIAL
  • Tables and figures must be numbered consecutively and referred to explicitly in the manuscript text.
  • Every table and figure must have an informative caption and clearly identified source where applicable.
  • Authors should provide figures of sufficient quality for online and PDF publication.
  • Tables should contain editable text rather than being submitted solely as screenshots or images.
  • Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary permission to reproduce copyrighted photographs, illustrations, instruments, maps, figures, tables, or other third-party materials.
E. REFERENCES AND CITATION STYLE

Athena uses the IEEE numbered citation style. Citations should appear numerically in the text and correspond accurately to the numbered reference list.

  • Authors must ensure that every in-text citation has a corresponding reference-list entry and that every reference-list entry cited as supporting evidence corresponds to a genuine, accessible source.
  • References should be sufficient and appropriate to the research problem and disciplinary context rather than selected merely to satisfy a numerical quota.
  • Authors should prioritize relevant, current, peer-reviewed scholarship where appropriate while retaining important foundational, historical, legal, literary, archival, or theoretical sources where they are necessary to the research.
  • DOI information should be provided whenever a valid DOI exists and should use the standard form: https://doi.org/...
  • Authors are responsible for verifying titles, author names, publication years, journal names, volume and issue information, page ranges, URLs, and DOIs.
  • Fabricated references, non-existent DOIs, citation manipulation, and the inclusion of references that were not genuinely consulted or used are unacceptable.
  • Generative AI systems and conversational AI tools must not be cited as authoritative scholarly sources.
F. ETHICAL AND TRANSPARENCY DECLARATIONS

Authors must include the following declarations where applicable to their research:

  • Funding Statement: Identify all financial support and grant information, or state that the research received no specific funding where appropriate.
  • Conflict of Interest: Disclose financial, personal, institutional, professional, or other competing interests that could reasonably influence the work.
  • Ethical Approval: Research involving human participants, animals, or other activities requiring ethical oversight must identify the relevant approval body and approval information where applicable.
  • Informed Consent: Authors must state that appropriate informed consent was obtained where required.
  • Data Availability: Authors should state how supporting research data may be accessed or explain legitimate restrictions where appropriate.
  • Author Contributions: Contributions should accurately reflect the work performed by each author. Guest, gift, and ghost authorship are unacceptable.
  • Acknowledgments: Individuals or organizations that contributed to the research but do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged with appropriate permission.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools

Artificial intelligence systems cannot be credited as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity, references, analysis, interpretation, and conclusions contained in their manuscripts.

Substantive use of generative AI or similar automated tools in preparing manuscript content should be transparently disclosed, except for routine spelling, grammar, formatting, or basic language correction.

Authors must independently verify AI-assisted output, particularly factual statements, quotations, citations, references, statistical information, and interpretations. Additional details are provided in Athena's dedicated Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools Policy.

Originality and Similarity Screening

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection and research-integrity tools before or during editorial review.

Similarity percentages are interpreted in context and are not treated as an automatic determination of plagiarism. Editors consider the nature and source of overlapping material, appropriate quotation and attribution, methodological wording, previous publications by the authors, and other relevant circumstances. Plagiarism and inappropriate text reuse are handled according to Athena's Publication Ethics policy.

G. BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT
✓ Manuscript follows the official Athena template.
✓ Submission is original and is not under consideration elsewhere.
✓ All author names and affiliations are complete and accurate.
✓ Corresponding author and valid email address are identified.
✓ Title, abstract, keywords, and author metadata have been entered into OJS.
✓ Tables and figures are numbered, cited, and contain appropriate captions.
✓ Citations and references have been checked for accuracy.
✓ Valid DOI information has been supplied where available.
✓ Funding, conflicts of interest, and ethical approvals have been disclosed where applicable.
✓ Substantive generative-AI use has been disclosed in accordance with journal policy.
Editorial Note: Compliance with formatting requirements does not guarantee acceptance. All scholarly research manuscripts remain subject to Athena's editorial screening, research-integrity checks, and independent peer-review process.
Submission Inquiries: Authors experiencing technical problems during submission may contact the Athena editorial office at athena@mediadigitalpublikasi.com .