Author Guidelines

Gemeinschaft: Journal of Social and Community Engagement accepts several types of scholarly manuscripts, including: (1) research and theoretical articles, generally between 6,000 and 9,000 words, presenting empirical findings, conceptual frameworks, theoretical perspectives, or community-based programs related to community development, community engagement, community empowerment, social transformation, and related fields; (2) review articles, generally between 5,000 and 6,000 words, providing comprehensive and critical analyses of literature concerning community engagement, community development, empowerment, or related issues; and (3) case-based articles, generally between 4,000 and 5,000 words, focusing on community engagement practices, interventions, implementation strategies, methodologies, and evaluations of community-based programs.

Manuscripts should be written in clear and academically appropriate American English. Technical terms, local concepts, or expressions from languages other than English should be explained clearly and, where necessary, accompanied by an appropriate English translation.

Submission of Manuscript

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online submission system using the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. Authors are required to register or log in to the journal website before submitting a manuscript.

Authors should prepare their submission files according to the journal's prescribed manuscript format and ensure that all required information and documents have been provided before completing the submission process.

Journal Publishing Agreement

Authors are required to comply with the journal's publishing and copyright policies when submitting a manuscript to Gemeinschaft. By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that the work is original, has not been previously published, and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Authors are also responsible for ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript and agreed to its submission. Where copyrighted materials belonging to third parties are included in the manuscript, authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions for their use.

Preparing the Manuscript

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the journal's manuscript template and written in clear academic American English. Authors should ensure that the manuscript is complete, logically organized, and formatted consistently with the journal's requirements.

For the double-blind peer-review process, authors must prepare the manuscript in a manner that does not reveal their identity. Author names, institutional affiliations, acknowledgements, and other identifying information should not appear in the anonymized manuscript.

1. Title Page

The Title Page should contain the complete article title, full names of all authors, institutional affiliations including city and country, corresponding author's email address, ORCID IDs where available, author contributions, acknowledgements, funding information, and declaration of conflicts of interest. The Title Page should be submitted separately from the anonymized manuscript when required by the submission system.

2. Full Manuscript

The Full Manuscript should contain the article title, abstract, keywords, main body of the article, conclusion, and references. Research articles are generally expected to follow a logical scholarly structure, such as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, where appropriate to the nature of the study.

The manuscript should be prepared using Microsoft Word format (.docx) and follow the formatting specifications provided in the journal template. Authors should remove names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and other identifying information from the main manuscript to preserve reviewer anonymity.

Article Title

The article title should be concise, informative, specific, and accurately reflect the central focus of the study. Authors are encouraged to formulate titles that are accessible to an international readership and avoid unnecessary abbreviations, overly technical expressions, or ambiguous terminology.

Abstract and Keywords

The abstract should provide a concise overview of the manuscript and clearly communicate the research problem or objective, methodology or approach, principal findings, and conclusion or implications, as appropriate to the type of manuscript. The abstract should normally contain 150–250 words.

Authors should provide up to five keywords that accurately represent the main concepts, themes, methods, or issues addressed in the manuscript. Keywords should be specific and useful for indexing and retrieval purposes.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Authors should identify the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressed by their research or community engagement program. The applicable SDG number(s) should be stated clearly in the manuscript where relevant and should correspond to the substantive contribution of the study.

Main Text

The organization of the manuscript should be appropriate to its type and research design. For empirical research, the manuscript should generally include the following components:

  1. Introduction – presents the research background, problem, relevant literature, research gap, objectives, and contribution of the study.
  2. Methods – describes the research design, participants or data sources, procedures, instruments, data collection, and analytical techniques in sufficient detail.
  3. Results – presents the principal findings clearly and systematically.
  4. Discussion – interprets the findings in relation to previous research, theoretical perspectives, practical contexts, and the contribution of the study.
  5. Conclusion – summarizes the principal findings, implications, limitations where appropriate, and potential directions for future research or community practice.

The structure may be adapted for theoretical, review, case-based, participatory, action research, or other forms of community engagement research where a different organization is more appropriate.

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be incorporated directly into the manuscript at appropriate locations and must be clearly numbered and titled. Each figure and table should be referred to in the main text and should contribute meaningfully to the presentation or interpretation of the research findings.

Figures should be of sufficient quality and resolution to ensure readability after publication. Tables should be prepared as editable text rather than inserted as images whenever possible. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all figures, tables, photographs, diagrams, and other visual materials are original or used with appropriate permission and attribution.

References

References must be listed consistently and accurately at the end of the manuscript. Authors should cite relevant, recent, and accessible scholarly sources, particularly peer-reviewed journal articles. Authors are encouraged to use appropriate reference-management software such as Zotero, Mendeley, or equivalent tools to ensure consistency and accuracy in citation and reference formatting.

The journal generally follows the APA Style 7th edition for citations and references. Authors should ensure that every source cited in the manuscript appears in the reference list and that every reference listed has been cited in the manuscript.

Journal Article

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Title of Journal, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Chapter in an Edited Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Webpage

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL

Language and Academic Writing

Manuscripts must be written in clear and professional American English. Authors should carefully check grammar, spelling, terminology, sentence structure, and overall readability before submission. Manuscripts that require substantial language improvement may be returned to the authors for revision before or during the editorial process.

Research Ethics and Integrity

Authors must ensure that their research complies with applicable ethical standards. Where research involves human participants, animals, sensitive personal data, or other ethically regulated activities, authors must obtain the appropriate ethical approval or clearance when required. Relevant ethical approval information should be stated in the manuscript.

Authors are also responsible for ensuring originality, appropriate citation, accurate reporting, responsible authorship, disclosure of conflicts of interest, and compliance with the journal's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

Originality and Similarity Screening

Manuscripts submitted to Gemeinschaft must be original and must not have been published previously or be under simultaneous consideration by another journal. Submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism and similarity-detection software. The editorial team reserves the right to request clarification, revision, or additional documentation where substantial textual similarity or other concerns regarding originality are identified.

Generative Artificial Intelligence

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts. Where generative artificial intelligence or other AI-assisted tools have been used in the preparation of a manuscript, their use should be disclosed transparently in accordance with the journal's applicable policy. AI tools must not be listed as authors or be assigned responsibility for the content of the article.

Submission Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that the following requirements have been fulfilled:

  • The manuscript falls within the focus and scope of Gemeinschaft.
  • The manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration by another journal.
  • The manuscript follows the journal's prescribed template and formatting requirements.
  • The manuscript has been prepared in accordance with the double-blind peer-review requirements.
  • All authors have approved the final manuscript and agreed to its submission.
  • Author affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID IDs have been provided where required.
  • All sources have been appropriately cited and listed in the reference section.
  • Figures and tables are properly numbered, titled, cited, and of sufficient quality.
  • Funding information and conflicts of interest have been appropriately disclosed.
  • Required ethical approval or clearance has been obtained where applicable.
  • The manuscript has been checked for plagiarism or inappropriate textual overlap.
  • The manuscript has been carefully proofread for language and academic presentation.

Authors are encouraged to carefully review the journal's submission requirements before completing the online submission process. Compliance with these guidelines helps facilitate an efficient editorial and peer-review process and supports the quality and integrity of publications in Gemeinschaft: Journal of Social and Community Engagement.