About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Journal of Software Review (JSR) is dedicated to advancing systematic evaluation methodologies, software quality assessment, architectural reviews, and comparative software tool benchmarks. The journal addresses how software systems, open-source libraries, commercial tools, and enterprise applications are audited, tested, reviewed, and optimized across diverse computational domains.

JSR welcomes original review articles, systematic mapping studies, software tool evaluations, empirical field assessments, and comparative software analysis. The primary research clusters include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Systematic Software Reviews & Mapping Studies: Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR), systematic mapping of software engineering methods, literature surveys on software frameworks, and state-of-the-art technological assessments.
• Software Quality Assurance & Testing Audits: Software quality metrics (ISO/IEC 25010), automated testing frameworks, static and dynamic code analysis, code coverage evaluations, and software defect density studies.
• Software Architecture & Code Review Benchmarks: Architectural pattern reviews (monolithic vs. microservices vs. serverless), code refactoring assessments, technical debt measurement, and legacy software modernization evaluations.
• Software Security, Vulnerability & Compliance Audits: Software vulnerability reviews, static application security testing (SAST), dynamic testing (DAST), software supply chain security, and open-source license compliance audits.
• Comparative Tool & Framework Benchmarking: Empirical comparative studies evaluating performance, memory consumption, execution speed, and developer experience across modern programming languages and frameworks.
• Usability, Accessibility & Human Factors Reviews: User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) evaluations, WCAG accessibility compliance reviews, heuristic evaluations, and human-computer interaction (HCI) audits.
• AI & Generative Code Tool Assessments: Empirical evaluations of AI-assisted coding tools (GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Tabnine), automated code synthesis tools, and machine learning model evaluation frameworks.
• Domain-Specific Software Reviews & Field Studies: Comprehensive review and field evaluation of software tools implemented in enterprise resource planning (ERP), health informatics, educational systems, e-government, and industrial control systems.

Authorship Criteria & Standards

Authorship in JSR is strictly reserved for individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research. In alignment with COPE guidelines and the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework, all listed authors must meet four standard criteria: (1) substantial contributions to research conception, review methodology design, or software data collection and analysis; (2) drafting or critically revising the manuscript; (3) approving the final version to be published; and (4) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Ghost, guest, or honorary authorship is strictly prohibited. For complete details, see our Ethical Guidelines.

Language Policy

JSR accepts and publishes manuscripts written in English or Indonesian. Every published article must feature a comprehensive bilingual abstract (both English and Indonesian) to maximize global discoverability while maintaining regional academic relevance. Submissions must be written in clear, academically rigorous language using the official JSR article template.

Peer Review Process & Workflow

All submitted manuscripts must represent original, unpublished work that is not under consideration by another publication. JSR enforces a rigorous double-blind peer review workflow managed through Open Journal Systems (OJS):

1. 1
   Initial Desk Screening

   The handling editor evaluates the submission for scope alignment, template compliance, document completeness, and verification of the 4 Mandatory Declarations (AI Usage, CRediT taxonomy, Funding, and Conflict of Interest).

2. 2
   Plagiarism & Integrity Screening

   Submissions are automatically checked using iThenticate, Turnitin, and Copyleaks. Manuscripts exceeding an overall 20% similarity index are returned or rejected outright.

3. 3
   Double-Blind Peer Review

   Anonymized drafts are assigned to at least two independent expert reviewers from our reviewer team. Author and reviewer identities remain strictly decoupled throughout the evaluation.

4. 4
   Editorial Decision

   The Editor-in-Chief renders an editorial decision based on reviewer reports: Accept Submission, Revisions Required (Minor), Resubmit for Review (Major), Resubmit Elsewhere, or Decline Submission.

5. 5
   Revision & Re-Evaluation

   Authors submit revised manuscripts alongside a point-by-point response matrix within specified deadlines for editorial or reviewer re-assessment.

6. 6
   Production & Publication

   Accepted papers proceed through professional copyediting, galley typesetting, DOI assignment via Crossref, and online publishing.

JSR maintains an efficient review schedule: initial screening is completed within 5 days, peer review takes approximately 14 to 21 days, total submission-to-acceptance averages 30 days, and online publication occurs within 10 days post-acceptance. Article landing pages explicitly feature complete genesis milestones (Received, Revised, Accepted, Published).

Special Issue Policy

JSR periodically hosts Special Issues focusing on systematic software evaluations, open-source security audits, and AI-driven code generation reviews. Guest Editors manage the review process in strict compliance with the journal's double-blind peer review policies. Proposals may be directed to the Editorial Office.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

JSR recognizes the constructive role of Artificial Intelligence tools in scholarly writing while safeguarding academic transparency:

• Transparent Disclosure: Authors must state prior to References whether Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grammarly AI) were used during manuscript preparation, indicating the tool, version, and scope of use.
• AI Authorship Preclusion: Non-human AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors under COPE standards.
• Author Ownership & Integrity: Authors retain full legal and intellectual responsibility for factual accuracy, review methodologies, software metrics, and original conclusions.
• Permitted Scope: AI usage is limited to proofreading, stylistic refinement, translation assistance, and structural literature review mapping.
• Prohibited Use: AI tools must not fabricate software evaluation metrics, generate fictitious citations, or manipulate audit results.
• Reviewer Confidentiality: Reviewers and editors must not upload unpublished manuscript files into public AI tools.

Publication Frequency & Scheduling

Journal of Software Review (JSR) is published twice a year (biannually) in February and August. Regular calls for papers are announced in the Announcements section.

Open Access Statement

JSR is an immediate Gold Open Access journal. All published research articles are freely available online immediately upon publication without subscription fees or paywalls, in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

Article Processing Charges (APC) & Fee Policy

JSR operates an author-pays Open Access publishing model supported by Article Processing Charges (APC). Initial manuscript submission and peer review are free of charge; fees apply only upon formal article acceptance.

Copyright and Licensing Terms

Authors retain full copyright of their work and grant the journal first publication rights under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Plagiarism & Screening Policy

All manuscripts are screened via iThenticate, Turnitin, and Copyleaks. Submissions exceeding a 20% similarity threshold are rejected or returned for rewriting.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential commercial, financial, or personal conflicts of interest. Full guidelines are provided on our Ethical Guidelines page.

Publication Ethics & Integrity

JSR complies strictly with the publication ethics principles set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Comprehensive policies are detailed on our Publication Ethics page.

Post-Publication Discussions, Corrections & Retractions

Scientific record integrity is maintained through citable Corrigenda/Errata for significant errors, while retractions adhere strictly to COPE Retraction Guidelines.

Digital Preservation & Archiving

JSR content is permanently preserved across distributed digital archives, including LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and the PKP Preservation Network (PKP-PN).

Ownership & Management Information

Journal of Software Review (JSR) is owned, managed, and published by the Research Division of Lembaga Mitra Solusi Teknologi Informasi (L-MSTI), Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Journal History & Development Timeline

• Inaugural Launch (2027): Journal of Software Review (JSR) was established by Divisi Riset, Lembaga Mitra Solusi Teknologi Informasi (L-MSTI), releasing Volume 1 Number 1 in February 2027 and Volume 1 Number 2 in August 2027 to address systematic evaluations, software quality assessments, and code auditing frameworks.
• Publication Frequency & Workflow: Maintains a twice-yearly publication schedule in February and August, enforcing double-blind peer review protocols and Crossref DOI assignment for all published articles.
• OJS 3.4 Infrastructure: Deployed natively on Open Journal Systems (OJS) version 3.4.0-11, featuring modern responsive layouts, secure metadata handling, and structured indexing capabilities.
• Persistent Identifiers – ROR & ORCID: Integrated Research Organization Registry (ROR ID) and author ORCID iD metadata tracking.
• Standardized Template & Mandatory Declarations: Enforces 4 Mandatory Author Declarations (AI Usage, CRediT taxonomy, Funding, and Competing Interests) across all published articles.