Focus and Scope

Focus and Scope

The Indonesian Journal of Islam and Society Studies (IJISS) is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary research on the relationship between Islam and society. IJISS focuses on how Islamic beliefs, values, institutions, traditions, and practices interact with social, cultural, political, economic, legal, educational, and technological dynamics in Indonesian and global Muslim contexts.

The journal welcomes interdisciplinary studies that place the interaction between Islam and society at the center of analysis, rather than studies that examine Islamic subjects solely from an internal, doctrinal, or disciplinary perspective. Contributions should demonstrate how Islam shapes, responds to, or is shaped by social structures, institutions, communities, identities, practices, and contemporary societal transformations.

Within this overarching focus, IJISS welcomes research addressing, but not limited to:

  • Islam and Social Change: Islam and social transformation, modernization, globalization, social movements, community development, and changing social relations.

  • Islam and Culture: Muslim identities, traditions, cultural practices, popular culture, heritage, and the negotiation between Islamic values and local or global cultures.

  • Islam and Politics and Governance: political participation, Islamic movements, citizenship, democracy, public policy, governance, and the role of Islam in public life.

  • Islam and Law and Society: Islamic law (Sharia), legal pluralism, law and social change, religious norms, and the interaction between Islamic legal traditions and contemporary legal systems.

  • Islam and Education: Islamic education, religious learning, educational institutions, pedagogy, and the role of education in shaping Muslim individuals and societies.

  • Islam and Economics and Society: Islamic economics and finance, Muslim economic practices, Islamic philanthropy, social welfare, entrepreneurship, and socioeconomic development.

  • Islam and Gender and Family: gender relations, family, marriage, women and Muslim communities, gender discourse, and changing social roles within Muslim societies.

  • Islam, Media, and Digital Society: Islamic discourse in mass media and digital platforms, online religious communities, digital Islam, communication, and the transformation of religious authority.

  • Islamic Thought and Contemporary Muslim Society: Islamic intellectual traditions, contemporary Islamic thought, religious authority, interpretation, and their implications for social life.

  • Islam and Contemporary Muslim Issues: religious diversity, interfaith relations, minority issues, environmental concerns, migration, youth, conflict, peace, and other emerging issues affecting Muslim societies.

  • Islam and Community Development — Islamic organizations, civil society, social movements, community empowerment, philanthropy, and faith-based social initiatives.

IJISS particularly encourages research that connects theoretical perspectives with empirical investigation and demonstrates the significance of Islam in understanding social realities. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and transnational studies are also welcomed when they contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between Islam and society.

Studies are considered within the scope of IJISS when Islam–society relations constitute a substantive analytical focus. Research that discusses Islam exclusively from a purely theological, textual, or doctrinal perspective without examining its relationship to social life, institutions, communities, or societal dynamics generally falls outside the journal's primary scope.

Through this focus, IJISS seeks to provide a scholarly platform for critical dialogue on how Islam and society continuously shape, negotiate, and transform one another across diverse social and cultural contexts.