1. Ownership

The journal’s name, ownership, and ISSN are not changed without public notice on the journal website and notification of the ISSN centre and indexing services.

2. Governance Structure

The full names, affiliations, and roles of all editorial team members are published on the Editorial Team page, and reviewers on the Reviewers page. Board members must have agreed to serve.

3. Appointment and Terms of Office

• The Editor-in-Chief is appointed by the university for a term of four years, renewable once, based on scholarly standing and editorial experience.
• Editors and editorial board members are appointed by the Editor-in-Chief for renewable terms of three years. Appointments are based on:
  • expertise in communication and media studies or related fields;
  • a record of publications in reputable journals;
  • commitment to the journal.
• The editorial board is reviewed periodically to ensure active participation, international representation, and diversity. Inactive members may be replaced.
• All editorial team members declare conflicts of interest each year, as set out in the Conflicts of Interest policy.

4. Editorial Independence

• Editorial decisions are made solely by the editors, based on scholarly merit, relevance to the journal’s scope, and the peer-review process.
• The university leadership, the collaboration partner, funders, and other parties do not interfere in decisions about individual manuscripts.
• Manuscripts from the university’s own staff or students, and from members of the editorial team, receive no preferential treatment. They follow the same double-anonymous peer review as all other submissions, and are handled by an editor with no conflict of interest.
• The journal works to maintain a diverse authorship. It monitors the proportion of articles from authors at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, so that the journal is not used mainly as an outlet for in-house publication.
• Article processing charges and other income are handled separately from the editorial process and never influence decisions.

5. Financing and Business Model

• The journal is financed by the Department of Communication Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, with support from its collaboration partner, ISKI, and by an Article Processing Charge (APC) payable only after acceptance. Details are given on the Article Publication Fee(s) page.
• All fees are published clearly on the journal website before submission, together with the conditions for waivers.
• The journal does not carry advertising or sponsored content. If this changes, a separate policy will be published, and editorial decisions will remain independent of advertising.

6. Operational Management

7. Policies

The journal’s management is guided by the following published policies:

Author Guidelines Peer Review Process Publication Ethics Research Misconduct Policy Plagiarism Policy Conflicts of Interest Authorship Policies

Generative AI Policy R-W-C Policy Post Publication Policy Article Publication Fee(s) Open Access Policy Copyright and Licensing Archiving

8. Complaints and Appeals

8.1 Appeals against editorial decisions

• Authors who believe a decision on their manuscript was based on an error or a misunderstanding may appeal once, in writing, to the Editor-in-Chief through the Contact page, within 30 days of the decision.
• The appeal states the manuscript ID and explains, point by point, why the decision should be reconsidered, with a response to the reviewers’ comments. Disagreement alone, without new arguments or evidence, is not grounds for an appeal.
• The appeal is assessed by the Editor-in-Chief together with a member of the Editorial Board who was not involved in the original decision. They may consult the original reviewers or invite an additional reviewer.
• Authors are informed of the outcome within 30 days. The decision on an appeal is final. During the appeal, the manuscript should not be submitted to another journal.
• Appeals against a decision made by the Editor-in-Chief are handled by a senior member of the Editorial Board. The same procedure applies to appeals against decisions taken under the Research Misconduct Policy.

8.2 Complaints

• Complaints about the journal’s management, processes, or staff should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief through the Contact page.
• They are acknowledged within 7 working days and answered within 30 days.
• Complaints about the Editor-in-Chief are handled by a senior member of the editorial board or by the university.
• If a complainant remains dissatisfied, they may refer the matter to COPE.