General Requirements

GOTAVA: Jurnal Penelitian dan Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat publishes original applied scientific research and evidence-based community service articles that contribute to health and well-being, resilient livelihoods, and sustainable local development.

Manuscripts must be relevant to at least one of the journal’s three principal domains:

1. Public Health, Medical and Biomedical Sciences, and Community Well-Being
2. Sustainable Agri-Food and Livelihood Systems
3. Local Economic Development, MSMEs, and Supply Chain and Logistics Management

Research may be conducted in specific populations, experimental settings, clinical or laboratory environments, institutions, communities, local economic systems, or other settings relevant to the journal’s scope. Manuscripts must demonstrate a clear scientific, clinical, practical, managerial, policy, or community contribution appropriate to their field.

Submitted manuscripts must be original, must not have been formally published as journal articles, and must not be under consideration or accepted for publication by another journal. Any prior dissemination as a preprint, conference paper, thesis, dissertation, or institutional report must be disclosed to the Editorial Team.

Manuscripts that merely document activities without adequate analysis, measurable outcomes, critical evaluation, or scholarly contribution are not within the journal’s editorial priorities.

1. Article Types and Language

GOTAVA primarily accepts two principal article types: Research Articles and Community Service Articles.

All Research Articles must be written in English. The title, abstract, keywords, main text, tables, figures, captions, and declarations must therefore be presented in English.

Community Service Articles may be written in English or Indonesian. Articles written in English require an English abstract only. Community Service Articles written in Indonesian must provide abstracts in both Indonesian and English. Both versions must communicate equivalent information, results, and conclusions.

Research Articles must follow this structure:

Introduction — Methods — Results — Discussion — Limitations — Conclusion — Declarations — Acknowledgments — References

Community Service Articles written in English must follow:

Introduction — Community Service Method — Results and Discussion — Limitations — Conclusion — Declarations — Acknowledgments — References

Community Service Articles written in Indonesian must follow:

Pendahuluan — Metode Kegiatan — Hasil dan Pembahasan — Keterbatasan — Simpulan — Deklarasi — Ucapan Terima Kasih — Daftar Pustaka

Other scholarly formats, including review articles, case studies and best practices, technical notes or briefs, and short communications, may be considered when they provide a substantial contribution within the journal’s scope and receive prior editorial approval. Authors intending to submit these formats should contact the Editorial Team before submission for applicable language, structure, and length requirements.

2. Manuscript Preparation and Submission

Authors must prepare the manuscript using the official GOTAVA template. The page size, margins, column layout, headings, typefaces, font sizes, header, footer, article-information panel, and other predefined styles must not be altered.

The manuscript should normally contain 3,000–5,000 words, excluding the abstract, keywords, highlights, declarations, acknowledgments, tables, figure captions, references, and supplementary materials.

Authors should submit one complete manuscript containing the article title, authors’ names, affiliations, corresponding-author information, ORCID iD, acknowledgments, funding information, author contributions, and all required declarations.

GOTAVA applies a double-blind peer-review system. Authors are not required to prepare a separate anonymous file. Before sending the manuscript to reviewers, the Editorial Team will prepare an anonymized review version by removing or concealing information that may disclose the authors’ identities.

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial assessment are evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers in accordance with the journal’s peer-review policy.

Authors should nevertheless avoid unnecessary self-identifying statements in the main text. Self-citations may be retained when academically relevant but should be written neutrally.

The Editorial Team will complete the volume, issue, page numbers, DOI, submission and publication dates, final citation, and other production metadata.

Following final acceptance and completion of copyediting and production, the final Version of Record may be published online as soon as it is ready and assigned to the relevant issue in progress, in accordance with GOTAVA’s continuous article publication model. The actual online publication date and complete bibliographic metadata are retained as part of the published record.

3. Title

The title must be concise, specific, informative, and no longer than 20 words. It should clearly represent the article’s central problem or condition, population or experimental model, intervention or exposure, method, or principal outcome, as applicable.

Uncommon abbreviations, promotional claims, and unnecessary expressions such as “A Study of” or “An Analysis of” should be avoided. The study location should only be included when it is essential to understanding or interpreting the article.

4. Abstract

Each abstract must contain 150–250 words, be written as one paragraph, and provide an accurate summary of the manuscript. It must not contain citations, tables, figures, footnotes, uncommon abbreviations, or claims unsupported by the article’s findings.

For a Research Article, the abstract should briefly present the background or research problem, objective, research design, participants, population, experimental model, specimens, materials, or data source as applicable, principal analytical or experimental method, key findings, conclusion, and main scientific, clinical, or practical implication.

For a Community Service Article, the abstract should identify the partner or community problem, objective, participants, intervention stages, evaluation method, measurable outcomes, conclusion, and implications for sustainability or follow-up.

Research Articles and English-language Community Service Articles require an English abstract only. Indonesian-language Community Service Articles must provide an Indonesian abstract and an English abstract, each containing 150–250 words. Both versions must present equivalent information and findings.

5. Keywords

Authors must provide three to five keywords, separated by commas or punctuation. Keywords should accurately represent the article’s principal concepts, use terms recognized within the relevant discipline, and should not merely repeat all words used in the title.

6. Highlights / Key Contributions

Each manuscript must provide exactly three concise highlights:

• The principal finding or contribution
• The main scientific, clinical, practical, managerial, policy, or community implication
• The novelty, method, intervention, model, or approach that distinguishes the article

Highlights must not contain citations, unexplained abbreviations, general background statements, or promotional claims.

7. Main Text

Introduction

The Introduction should explain the scientific, clinical, societal, or community problem, its significance, and its relevance to the disease or condition, population, experimental model, community, sector, system, or field, as applicable. Authors must synthesize recent and relevant literature, identify limitations in previous evidence or approaches, establish the research or intervention gap, and clearly explain the article’s intended contribution.

The section must conclude with an explicit objective. Research Articles may include research questions or hypotheses where appropriate.

For Community Service Articles, the Introduction should also explain the partner’s priority problem, the evidence obtained through needs assessment, the intended change, and the distinctive features of the intervention.

Methods

For Research Articles, the Methods section must clearly describe, as applicable to the study design, the research design, setting and period, population, participants, experimental model, specimens, biological materials, or data source, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sampling or data-selection procedure, sample size or corpus, instruments or data-collection sources, intervention, exposure, or comparator where relevant, outcome measures, validity, reliability, or other appropriate quality-assurance procedures, analytical methods, software, and ethical approval where applicable.

The description must be sufficiently transparent to enable readers to understand, critically evaluate, reproduce, or appropriately adapt the study.

For quantitative research, authors should report the statistical procedures, significance threshold, confidence intervals, and effect measures where relevant. For qualitative research, authors should explain the analytical procedures, coding process, development of themes, and strategies used to establish trustworthiness.

For clinical, biomedical, laboratory, or animal studies, authors should provide sufficient methodological detail for critical evaluation and reproducibility. Where applicable, this includes the study or experimental model, materials or specimens, interventions or exposures, comparator or control conditions, outcome measures, sample-size rationale, randomization, blinding, and relevant quality-control procedures.

Research involving humans, animals, identifiable information, or biological materials must comply with applicable ethical and institutional standards. Where relevant, manuscripts must state the name of the ethics committee, approval number, informed-consent procedures, participant-protection measures, or animal-welfare safeguards. Where formal ethics review was not required, authors must provide an appropriate explanation.

Community Service Method

The Community Service Method or Metode Kegiatan section must systematically explain the partner, setting, participants, needs assessment, intervention stages, participatory approach, materials or technologies used, roles of the implementation team and partner, evaluation procedures, success indicators, ethical considerations, and sustainability arrangements.

Authors should explain how the community or partner problem was identified and how the needs-assessment results informed the intervention.

The evaluation method must include appropriate process, output, or outcome indicators. Statements such as “participants were enthusiastic” or “the activity was successfully implemented” are insufficient unless supported by systematic evidence.

Results and Discussion

Research Articles must present Results and Discussion as separate sections.

The Results section should report findings objectively and in accordance with the research objectives, questions, or hypotheses. Relevant participant characteristics, experimental or clinical outcomes, numerical results, denominators, confidence intervals, effect sizes, qualitative themes, laboratory findings, and unexpected findings should be reported where applicable.

The Discussion should interpret the principal findings, compare them with relevant primary literature, explain similarities or differences, discuss plausible mechanisms or contextual factors, and clarify the article’s scientific, clinical, practical, managerial, or policy contribution.

Community Service Articles must combine these components under Results and Discussion or Hasil dan Pembahasan. The section should report the implementation process, participant coverage, outputs, measurable changes, target achievement, barriers, adaptations, partner responses, and follow-up actions.

The discussion should explain the meaning of the outcomes, compare them with related studies or programs, and address partner ownership, practical implications, sustainability, transferability, and replication potential.

Photographs may support the presentation of an activity but must not replace measurable outcomes or critical evaluation.

Limitations and Conclusion

All manuscripts must include a separate Limitations section.

Authors should identify relevant limitations involving research design, sampling, experimental models, instruments, data quality, biological variability, duration, participant reach, implementation, follow-up, risk of bias, contextual constraints, generalizability, or transferability, as applicable. The effect of these limitations on interpretation should be explained.

The Conclusion must directly answer the objective, reflect the reported evidence, and emphasize the main scientific or practical contribution. It must not introduce new data, unsupported claims, or recommendations unrelated to the findings.

8. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures must be numbered consecutively and cited in the main text. Table titles are placed above the table, while figure captions are placed below the figure.

Tables must be editable and should not be inserted as images. Authors should use consistent units, report relevant denominators, define abbreviations, and provide appropriate statistical information.

Figures and photographs must be clear and legible at the size used in the official template. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted materials and for securing consent to publish identifiable photographs or participant information.

9. Declarations

All manuscripts must contain a Declarations section covering:

• Author contributions
• Funding
• Ethics approval, including human or animal research approval where applicable
• Informed consent to participate, where applicable
• Consent for publication, where applicable
• Data availability
• Conflicts of interest
• Substantive use of generative artificial intelligence or other automated tools, where applicable

Author contributions should be described using the CRediT taxonomy.

Authors must disclose any substantive use of generative artificial intelligence or other automated tools in preparing the manuscript, except for straightforward language correction, editing, or formatting. Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors and must not be cited as scholarly sources. Authors remain fully responsible for verifying the originality, accuracy, references, data, analysis, figures, interpretations, and conclusions contained in the manuscript.

Where no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Where no specific funding was received, authors should state:

This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

10. Acknowledgments

Authors may acknowledge individuals, institutions, community partners, technical personnel, or organizations that contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship.

The Acknowledgments section should not repeat the authors’ names, contain promotional statements, or replace the formal Funding declaration.

11. Citations and References

GOTAVA uses the APA 7th edition author–date citation style.

Examples include:

• One author: Santoso (2021) or (Santoso, 2021)
• Two authors: Hasan and Dewi (2022) or (Hasan & Dewi, 2022)
• Three or more authors: Rahman et al. (2020) or (Rahman et al., 2020)
• Multiple sources: (Lestari & Pratama, 2021; Nugroho, 2017; Wijaya, 2018)
• Direct quotation: (Hasan & Dewi, 2022, p. 45).

For sources with three or more authors, the surname of the first author followed by et al. is used from the first in-text citation.

Every source cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and every reference-list entry must be cited in the text. References must be arranged alphabetically, and DOIs should be presented as active links.

In the reference list, all author names must be included for sources with up to 20 authors. For sources with 21 or more authors, list the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis, and include the final author. The term et al. must not be used as a substitute for author names in the reference list.

At least 80% of references should consist of relevant scholarly literature published within the previous 10 years. Exceptions may be made for seminal theories, foundational methods, laws, regulations, official standards, or other essential references.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference-management software such as Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.

12. Similarity Screening

All manuscripts undergo similarity screening once during the initial editorial assessment and before external peer review.

A similarity index exceeding 20% may trigger further editorial examination but does not automatically establish plagiarism or result in rejection. The Editorial Team evaluates the source, location, concentration, and nature of the textual overlap.

A manuscript with a similarity score below 20% may still be rejected when substantive plagiarism, duplicate publication, or inappropriate text recycling is identified. Additional screening may be conducted when a specific publication-integrity concern arises.

13. Suggested Reviewer

Authors must suggest one potential reviewer when submitting the manuscript.

The suggested reviewer must possess relevant expertise, be affiliated with an institution different from those of all authors, have a verifiable institutional email address, and be free from personal, professional, academic, financial, supervisory, or recent collaborative conflicts of interest.

The suggested reviewer must not have co-authored a publication with any author during the previous three years and must not have participated in preparing the manuscript.

The Editorial Team is not obliged to invite the suggested reviewer and retains full authority over reviewer selection. When an author-suggested reviewer is invited, at least one additional reviewer will be selected independently by the editor.

14. Submission Checklist

Before submission, authors must ensure that:

• The submission is original, has not been formally published as a journal article, and is not currently under consideration or accepted for publication by another journal. Any prior dissemination as a preprint, conference paper, thesis, dissertation, or institutional report has been disclosed to the Editorial Team.
• The manuscript is relevant to GOTAVA’s focus and scope and has been prepared as a Research Article or Community Service Article in accordance with the journal’s language and structural requirements, or as another scholarly article type that has received prior editorial approval.
• The manuscript has been prepared using the official GOTAVA template in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx). The template’s layout, styles, headings, fonts, header, footer, and article-information elements have not been altered.
• The manuscript follows the required structure for the selected article type, includes a 150–250-word abstract, three to five keywords, exactly three Highlights or Key Contributions, and the required Limitations and Declarations sections.
• All tables and figures are numbered, cited in the text, and presented in an editable or publication-quality format. Permission and consent have been obtained for copyrighted or identifiable materials where applicable.
• Where applicable, studies involving humans, animals, identifiable information, or biological materials include the required ethics approval, approval number, informed-consent information, participant-protection measures, or animal-welfare information.
• Citations and references follow APA 7th edition. Every source cited in the text appears in the reference list and vice versa, and DOI links or stable URLs have been provided where available.
• All authors have approved the submission and completed the required authorship, funding, conflict-of-interest, ethics, consent, data-availability, generative-AI disclosure, and suggested-reviewer information, where applicable.