Focus and Scope

Jurnal Pendidikan Karakter (JPKA) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published twice a year, in April and October, by the Institute of Research and Community Service, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. First published in October 2011, the journal provides a forum for theoretical, empirical, and methodological work on how character is developed, taught, and lived — in individuals, families, schools, communities, and society at large.

JPKA welcomes submissions from researchers, lecturers, teachers, graduate students, and practitioners. The journal gives particular attention to studies grounded in Indonesian and Southeast Asian contexts, while remaining open to research from any setting that speaks to a broader scholarly conversation on character education.

◉ Focus

The journal examines character as something that is formed, taught, internalised, and practised, and the conditions — educational, social, cultural, religious, and legal — that shape it. It particularly welcomes research that:

  • brings evidence from Indonesia and the wider region into dialogue with international scholarship;
  • engages critically with theory, including moral development, social learning, self-determination, virtue ethics, and Indonesian frameworks such as Pancasila and the Profil Pelajar Pancasila;
  • connects research on character with classroom practice, institutional policy, and public life;
  • applies rigorous qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, or systematic review designs.

☰ Scope

The journal covers, but is not limited to, the following areas.

Area Representative topics
✎ Character Education Curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment of character; integration of character into subject teaching; teacher education and teacher character; school culture and habituation programmes.
◈ Character Development Moral reasoning and moral emotion across the lifespan; identity formation in children and adolescents; the role of family, peers, and community; developmental and longitudinal studies.
★ Character Formation and Virtue Honesty, integrity, discipline, responsibility, empathy, tolerance, and other virtues; religiosity and spiritual formation; local wisdom and cultural values as sources of character.
⌂ Character and Citizenship Pancasila and the Profil Pelajar Pancasila; civic virtue and civic engagement; nationalism and global citizenship; character in multicultural and inclusive settings.
⚖ Character, Law, and Social Responsibility Legal awareness and legal education; rules, sanctions, and discipline as instruments of character formation; justice, rights, and obligations; anti-corruption and integrity education.
▣ Character in the Digital Age Digital citizenship and online ethics; media and information literacy; bullying and cyberbullying; the use of technology in character learning.
⚙ Policy, Management, and Evaluation National and institutional character education policy; school leadership and programme management; instrument development and the measurement of character; programme evaluation and impact studies.

▸ Types of Manuscript

Original Research Article An empirical study with a clear theoretical framing and a rigorous, well-reported method.
Systematic Literature Review A synthesis of prior studies conducted with an explicit, replicable protocol and reported against PRISMA 2020.

⚠ What the Journal Does Not Publish

  • Manuscripts that do not engage with character, character education, or character formation.
  • Purely descriptive reports with no theoretical framing or analytical contribution.
  • Narrative literature reviews that do not follow a systematic, reproducible protocol.
  • Opinion pieces, teaching notes, and policy commentary without original analysis.
  • Student coursework submitted without substantive development into a research article.
  • Work already published elsewhere, or under review at another journal.
▣ At a glance. Published twice a year (April and October)  ·  p-ISSN 2089-5003, e-ISSN 2527-7014  ·  Double-anonymous peer review  ·  Accredited SINTA 3  ·  Immediately open access  ·  Indexed in Google Scholar, Garuda, SINTA, and Dimensions.

Before submitting, please consult the Author Guidelines, the Types of Manuscript, and the Peer Review Process.