Research Ethics Policy

1. Commitment

Syakhshiyyah Jurnal Hukum Keluarga Islam is committed to responsible, ethical, and transparent research, and to protecting the rights, dignity, privacy, and safety of everyone whose lives are studied in the research it publishes. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and Indonesian laws and regulations. The requirements below apply according to the nature and design of each study.

2. Types of Research Covered

Articles in Syakhshiyyah generally fall into three categories:

  1. Normative or doctrinal research: studies of fiqh, tafsir, hadith, classical and contemporary Islamic legal texts, statutes, the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI), and other legal materials.
  2. Review of court decisions: analysis of Religious Court (Pengadilan Agama) and other court decisions.
  3. Empirical research: field research involving interviews, observation, surveys, focus group discussions, or other direct interaction with people, such as judges, court registrars, marriage registrars (penghulu/KUA officials), religious leaders, families, couples, and children.

3. Research Not Requiring Formal Ethical Approval

Normative or doctrinal research, library research, conceptual studies, and analysis of published court decisions, legislation, or other publicly available documents generally do not require formal ethical approval. Such research must nevertheless meet ethical standards, including accurate citation, fair representation of scholarly and madhhab opinions, and protection of the identities of parties named in the sources (see point 6). The editor may ask authors to explain why formal ethical approval was not required.

4. Ethical Approval and Research Permits for Empirical Research

Empirical research involving human participants, personal or sensitive data, or vulnerable groups should obtain approval from a Research Ethics Committee where one is available and required. Where the author's institution does not have an ethics committee for social, religious, or legal research, authors may instead report:

a research permit or recommendation letter from their institution (for example, its research and community service institute, LP2M); and/or

a permit from the institution or authority where the research was conducted (for example, a Religious Court, the Office of Religious Affairs/KUA, or the relevant local government).

Authors should state the name of the approving body, the reference number where available, and the date. This information may appear in the Methods section, a footnote, the Acknowledgements, or a Declarations section. A separate heading is not required. Editors may request copies of supporting documents at any stage.

5. Informed Consent

Participants in empirical research should give informed consent before taking part. They should be told the purpose of the research, what participation involves, possible risks, how their data will be used and protected, that participation is voluntary, and that they may withdraw. Consent may be written or oral; where consent was oral, authors should briefly describe how it was obtained. Officials interviewed in their official capacity (such as judges or penghulu) should also agree to be quoted, and to be named if their names are to appear in the article.

6. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Anonymization

Family law research often concerns private and sensitive matters, including divorce, polygamy, unregistered (sirri) marriage, child marriage, domestic violence, the legal status of children, child custody, and inheritance disputes. Authors must therefore:

  1. use initials or pseudonyms for informants in such matters, unless the informant has explicitly agreed to be named and naming is necessary for the scholarly purpose;
  2. when discussing court decisions, cite the case number but refer to the parties by their procedural role (Petitioner/Respondent, Plaintiff/Defendant) rather than by name, especially where children or victims are involved, even if the names appear in a publicly available decision;
  3.   not publish photographs, identity cards, family cards (KK), marriage certificates, or other documents that could identify individuals without appropriate consent; and
  4. store and handle research data securely throughout the research and publication process.

7. Children, Women, and Other Vulnerable Participants

Research involving children (for example, in studies of child marriage or marriage dispensation), victims of domestic violence, persons with disabilities, or economically or socially vulnerable people requires additional safeguards. Where children participate, consent should be obtained from a parent or legal guardian in addition to the child's own agreement. Researchers should avoid questions or procedures that could cause distress, re-traumatization, social stigma, or risk to participants' safety.

8. Research Integrity

Authors must conduct and report research honestly, accurately, and transparently. The journal does not tolerate:

  1. fabrication of data, interviews, or sources;
  2. falsification or manipulation of research findings;
  3. plagiarism, including plagiarism of translations and of classical texts without attribution;
  4. misrepresentation of court decisions, statutes, or scholarly opinions;
  5. unethical treatment of research participants;
  6. unauthorized use of confidential or sensitive information;
  7. misrepresentation of ethical approval, research permits, or informed consent; and
  8. other conduct that compromises the integrity of the research or the scholarly record.

9. Editorial Handling of Ethical Concerns

Editors may request clarification or supporting documents on ethical approval, permits, consent, anonymization, or data use at any stage of the editorial process. Where concerns arise, the journal may:

  1. request clarification or additional documentation from the authors;
  2. suspend the editorial process while the matter is reviewed;
  3. consult relevant experts or institutional authorities;
  4. reject the manuscript if ethical requirements have not been adequately met;
  5. request corrections or additional disclosures; or
  6. take post-publication action, including correction or retraction.

These actions follow the journal's Publication Ethics, Plagiarism, and Correction and Retraction policies.

10. Author Responsibility

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all statements concerning ethical approval, research permits, informed consent, anonymization, and research integrity. False, misleading, or incomplete information on these matters is a breach of publication ethics.

11. Example Ethical Statements

Empirical research: "This study received a research permit from [institution] (No. [number], [date]). All informants gave informed consent before the interviews, and their identities have been anonymized."

Normative research or review of court decisions: "This study is based on publicly available legal materials and did not involve human participants; formal ethical approval was therefore not required. The names of the parties in the decisions analyzed have been anonymized."