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Author Guidelines

Guidelines for Writing the Title, Author Names, and Affiliations

he manuscript title must be written at the top of the first page, centered, in bold, clear, concise, informative, relevant to the content of the article, and no more than 20 words. The title should clearly state the article’s main finding, outcome, or contribution whenever applicable. [Arial 14 pt, bold].

Author names must be written below the title without academic degrees. Each author must provide a complete affiliation consisting of the department or study program, faculty or institution, university or organization, province or city, and country. Authors from different institutions must be identified using the appropriate superscript numbers.

The first author and corresponding author have different roles. The corresponding author does not have to be the first author and must be clearly identified with an asterisk (*). The corresponding author is responsible for communication regarding submission, peer review, revision, acceptance, proofreading, and publication.

The corresponding author must provide an active email address and ORCID iD in the manuscript and OJS metadata. All other authors are strongly encouraged to provide their ORCID iDs.

Author names must be written consistently in the manuscript, OJS metadata, ORCID, Google Scholar, SINTA, and other academic profiles. An author whose official name consists of one word must not duplicate the name for metadata purposes. The author should contact the editorial team when assistance is required to enter a mononym correctly in the OJS metadata. [Arial 11 pt].

Manuscript General Guidelines

• Submitted manuscripts must be original, must not have been published previously, and must not be under consideration by another journal. Manuscripts must not contain plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, fabricated references, or other forms of publication misconduct.
• All manuscripts must be submitted and processed exclusively through the Pena Dimas Online Journal System.
• Authors must register, complete their profiles, and submit the manuscript through the OJS. Manuscripts submitted only through personal email, messaging applications, or other informal communication channels will not be treated as formal submissions.
• Authors must prepare manuscripts using the existing template. The Author Guidelines and manuscript template are complementary and must be followed consistently. Manuscripts that do not comply with the Focus and Scope, Author Guidelines, Publication and Research Ethics, or template may be returned to the authors before peer review.
• The manuscript should contain between 5,000 and 8,000 words and must follow the structure provided in the template: title; author names and affiliations; corresponding-author email; article information; abstract; keywords; introduction; implementation method; results; discussion; conclusions; acknowledgements when required; ethical considerations; conflict of interest; funding; author contributions; declaration of AI use; and references.
• Manuscripts may be written in English or Bahasa Indonesia using clear, formal, and grammatically correct language. Manuscripts written in Bahasa Indonesia must provide the title, abstract, and keywords in both Bahasa Indonesia and English. Manuscripts written in English must provide an English title, abstract, and keywords.
• The manuscript must use A4 paper size and follow the margins provided in the current template, approximately 2.4 cm at the top, 2.5 cm on the left, 2.7 cm at the bottom, and 2 cm on the right. Authors must not alter the page layout, header, footer, journal identity, or pagination format of the template.
• The manuscript title must use Arial 14 pt in bold. Author names, affiliations, headings, and main text must use Arial 11 pt. The abstract must use Arial 9 pt, and single spacing. Keywords must use Arial 8 pt, and single spacing. Table and figure text must remain clear and readable.
• The Article History, page numbers, DOI, volume, issue, and publication metadata are completed by the editorial team. Authors must leave these elements unchanged or follow the placeholders provided in the template.
• Foreign terms that have not been absorbed into the language of the manuscript must be written in italics. Abbreviations must be defined when they first appear.
• Tables and figures must be placed after they are first mentioned in the text. Table titles must be placed above the table, while figure captions must be placed below the figure. Tables should not contain vertical lines. Horizontal lines should be limited to those necessary to clarify the information.
• Figures, photographs, diagrams, charts, and other visual materials must have adequate resolution and readable labels. Visual documentation must accurately represent the reported activities and must not be manipulated in a way that changes its meaning.
• Authors must obtain permission before publishing identifiable photographs or personal information of participants. AI-generated images must not be presented as authentic documentation of community empowerment activities.

• Title:  The title must be appealing, clear, precise, informative, and no more than 20 words. It should reflect the article’s main finding, outcome, or contribution whenever applicable, rather than merely naming the activity, location, or target community. Avoid unnecessary abbreviations, overly general wording, and phrases that do not add substantive meaning. [Arial 14 pt, bold].
• Author Names and Affiliations: Author names must be written without academic degrees. Each affiliation must use the institution’s official name and include the department or study program, faculty or institution, university or organization, province or city, and country. The corresponding author must be marked with an asterisk and provide an active email address. The corresponding author may be different from the first author. [Arial 11 pt].
• Abstract:  The abstract must briefly and clearly present the community or socioeconomic problem, relevant state of the art, gap or novelty addressed by the program, objective, empowerment or development approach, community partners or participants, implementation method, evaluation method, principal measurable results, conclusion, and key practical implication. Quantitative results should be presented when available, such as changes in scores, percentages, participant competencies, productivity, income, market access, institutional capacity, or other relevant indicators. Where relevant and supported by measurable results, the abstract may briefly state the contribution to the relevant Sustainable Development Goal(s) (SDGs). The abstract must not contain citations, tables, figures, footnotes, undefined abbreviations, or unsupported claims. It must contain 150–300 words and be presented in one paragraph. [Arial 9 pt, single spacing].
• Keywords: Keywords must consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of five relevant words or phrases. Keywords should represent the main concepts of the article, including the community problem, empowerment approach, intervention, target group, or measurable outcome, and should facilitate indexing and discoverability. Avoid overly general terms that do not assist indexing. Each keyword must be separated by a semicolon. [Arial 8 pt, single spacing].
• Introduction: The introduction must explain the problems, challenges, needs, or socioeconomic conditions of the community or partner that form the basis of the empowerment initiative. The problem must be supported by facts, baseline data, observations, previous program evidence, or credible references. Authors must present a brief state of the art by synthesizing relevant previous community empowerment initiatives and scholarly literature. Based on the state of the art, authors must clearly identify the gap or aspect that has not been adequately addressed and justify the novelty or specific contribution of the present program, such as the empowerment approach, intervention model, implementation strategy, or evaluation method. The introduction must explain the urgency of the initiative, the solution offered, the expected change, and the objectives of the program. The final paragraph should explicitly state the gap, novelty/contribution, and objective(s) of the program. [Arial 11 pt].
• Method: The Implementation Method section must explain the theoretical or conceptual basis, empowerment approach, program design, community partners or target groups, location, implementation period, number and characteristics of participants, stages of implementation, stakeholder roles, instruments, data-collection procedures, achievement indicators, and evaluation methods. Authors should explain why the selected approach and evaluation method are appropriate for the partner/community problem and the stated program objectives. Appropriate approaches may include Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), Participatory Action Research (PAR), Community-Based Research (CBR), Service Learning (SL), or other relevant approaches. The stages must be adapted to the community problem and program objectives rather than presented as a generic sequence. Authors must explain how outcomes were measured and provide the instruments or indicators used to evaluate change. The implementation process and strategy may be illustrated using a flowchart or diagram. Ethical approval, informed consent, participant confidentiality, and permission to publish identifiable documentation must be explained when applicable. [Arial 11 pt].
• Results:  The Results section must present the initial conditions, characteristics of participants, implementation process, program outputs, measurable outcomes, and evidence of change resulting from the community empowerment initiative. Results must not merely describe the sequence of activities. The most important findings should be clearly identified and directly related to the stated objectives and predefined program success indicators. Results should be supported by measurable evidence, such as pre-test and post-test results, changes in knowledge or skills, behavioral changes, productivity, income, market access, technology adoption, institutional capacity, financial inclusion, community participation, environmental practices, or other relevant indicators. Authors should clearly distinguish between activities, immediate outputs, measurable outcomes, and potential longer-term impacts. Tables, figures, photographs, diagrams, and statistical summaries may be used when they provide relevant evidence. Each table and figure must be explained comprehensively in the text and must not be included merely as decoration. [Arial 11 pt].
• Discussion : The Discussion section must present a comprehensive, critical, and analytically rigorous interpretation of the results within the scope of economics, business, community empowerment, and sustainable community development. The discussion must be more substantial than descriptive reporting. Authors must relate the results to the program objectives, theoretical or conceptual basis, relevant literature, previous initiatives, and predefined indicators of success. The discussion should evaluate the appropriateness of the method, identify the most important findings, and provide an in-depth interpretation of their meaning. Authors must explain the relationship among intervention design, implementation process, stakeholder engagement, measurable outcomes, and the resulting socioeconomic or institutional changes. The findings must be critically compared with relevant and recent theories, studies, or similar community service programs to explain whether they support, extend, differ from, or provide a new contribution to previous findings. The novelty or contribution claimed in the Introduction should be demonstrated through the results and discussion. Each important finding should be discussed from theoretical and practical perspectives. The discussion must also identify supporting and inhibiting factors, limitations, lessons learned, opportunities for replication, and strategies for sustainability and scalability. Where supported by measurable evidence, authors should explain how the program outcomes contribute to one or more relevant SDGs. SDG claims must be based on the program’s actual results and must not be used merely as general statements. The discussion must be supported by relevant, current, and traceable scholarly references. [Arial 11 pt].
• Conclusions: The Conclusions section must directly answer the objective(s) stated in the Introduction and explain whether and to what extent the objectives and program targets were achieved. The conclusion should clearly identify the main or new finding(s) derived from the results and discussion and state their principal practical and, where relevant, conceptual implications. Important limitations or obstacles should be stated briefly. Recommendations for continuation, improvement, replication, scalability, or long-term sustainability should be directly supported by the findings. The conclusion must not merely repeat the Results section and must not introduce new data, citations, tables, figures, or arguments that were not discussed previously. [Arial 11 pt].
• Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements may be addressed to funding institutions, community partners, local governments, organizations, facilitators, or other contributors who supported the program but do not meet the criteria for authorship. The names of individuals and institutions must be written correctly and included with appropriate permission. This section is optional. [Arial 11 pt].
• Ethical Considerations: Authors must state whether ethical approval was required and obtained. When applicable, the statement must include the name of the ethics committee or institution, approval number, and approval date/year. Informed consent must be obtained when activities involve interviews, surveys, personal data, photographs, video recordings, identifiable quotations, health-related information, children, vulnerable participants, or other confidential information. Consent to participate does not automatically constitute consent to publish identifiable information. Authors must obtain specific permission before publishing participant names, photographs, recordings, or personal details. When formal ethical approval is not required, authors should state the ethical procedures followed, including informed consent, voluntary participation, privacy, or confidentiality where relevant. The phrase “Not applicable” should only be used when ethical approval or an ethical statement is genuinely not applicable, with a brief justification when appropriate. Authors must comply with the Publication and Research Ethics policy available on the Pena Dimas website. [Arial 11 pt].

• Conflict of Interest: All authors must disclose personal, financial, professional, institutional, or other relationships that could influence or reasonably be perceived to influence the manuscript. A conflict-of-interest statement must be placed before the References section. When no conflict exists, authors must state: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”[Arial 11 pt].

• Funding: All sources of financial and institutional support must be disclosed. The official name of the funding organization and grant number must be provided when applicable. When the program received no financial support, authors should state: “This research did not receive any financial support.”[Arial 11 pt].

• Author Contributions:  The Author Contributions section must transparently describe each author’s specific contribution to the program and manuscript preparation. Contributions may include conceptualization, program design, methodology, coordination, community engagement, data collection, evaluation, analysis, visualization, manuscript drafting, reviewing, and editing. Author order should reflect the contributors’ agreed roles. All authors must review and approve the final manuscript and accept responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of their contributions. Example: “Ahmad Fauzi conceptualized the program and developed the empowerment design. Dina Rahmawati coordinated community engagement, collected the data, and conducted the evaluation. Budi Santoso analyzed the results and drafted the discussion. All authors reviewed, revised, and approved the final manuscript.”[Arial 11 pt].

• Declaration of AI Use: The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools must comply with the Pena Dimas AI Policy. When AI or AI-assisted tools were used in manuscript preparation, authors must transparently disclose the tool and its specific purpose. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, references, integrity, and final content of the manuscript. AI tools must not be listed as authors. Authors may use the following statement when applicable: “During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name and version of AI tool/service] for [specific purpose]. The author(s) reviewed and verified the resulting output and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the final manuscript.” If no generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used, authors may state: “The author(s) declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript.”[Arial 11 pt].

• References: The reference list must contain at least 25 relevant and traceable references. More than 80% of the references should consist of primary scientific sources, particularly peer-reviewed journal articles directly related to community empowerment, economic development, business, management, or the specific intervention discussed. At least 60% of the references should preferably be articles published in Scopus-indexed journals. References should generally have been published within the last five years, except for foundational theories, established methods, laws, regulations, or other essential sources. References must be arranged alphabetically and formatted consistently according to APA Style, 7th edition. Mendeley, Zotero, or another reliable reference-management application must be used. A DOI must be provided for each reference when available. DOI addresses must be complete, valid, and written only once. Authors must not use fabricated, unverifiable, irrelevant, retracted, or misleading references. Every citation must directly support the statement to which it is attached. Every source cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and every source in the reference list must be cited in the manuscript. News articles, websites, institutional reports, and community service reports may be used when necessary to support contextual information, but they must not dominate the reference list or replace relevant peer-reviewed primary scholarly sources. [Arial 11 pt].

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) and has been prepared using the current Pena Dimas manuscript template.
3. Where available, URLs and DOI information for the references have been provided.
4. The manuscript follows the current Pena Dimas template, including the required font types and sizes, spacing, page layout, headings, tables, figures, and reference format. All tables and figures are placed within the text immediately after they are first mentioned.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic, substantive, and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
6. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Copyright Notice

Pena Dimas published by Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Islam Malang, applies the following Copyright and License provisions:

Copyright:

• Copyright of the published article belongs to the author.
• The author acknowledges that the Pena Dimas has the right to publish the first time under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
• Authors may enter into separate contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the published version of the article, provided that its initial publication in Pena Dimas is properly acknowledged.

License:

• Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• Share Alike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
• No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

 You are allowed to:

• Share copy and redistribute this material in any medium or format.
• Adapt remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
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Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Author Fees

This journal charges the following author fees.

Article PROCESSING CHARGES: 0.00 (IDR)

The article publication fees are determined as follows:

a. IDR 300,000 for manuscripts written entirely by authors affiliated with institutions in Indonesia.

b. FREE OF CHARGE for manuscripts written by authors affiliated with institutions outside Indonesia or manuscripts written in collaboration with at least one author affiliated with an institution outside Indonesia.

The publication fee is payable only after the manuscript has been accepted for publication. The fee covers DOI registration for each published article.

The fee covers DOI registration for each paper.

If you do not have funds to pay such fees, you will have an opportunity to waive each fee. We do not want fees to prevent the publication of worthy work.
The author should declare that he/she asks for a waiver in the comments to the Editor box during their submission.

Refund Policy
The article publication fee is not refundable under any circumstance

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.