The Industri Perjalanan Wisata (IPTA) Journal Team from the Faculty of Tourism, Udayana University, made a visit to the Kawistara Journal Management Team at the Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). The visit aimed to gain deeper insights of the management and development of scientific journals, particularly regarding editorial quality management, the peer-review process, and journal indexing.
The visit took place on Friday, October 24th 2025, at the East Wing Meeting Room, 2nd Floor, Unit 1 Building, UGM Graduate School. The Udayana University delegation consisted of Dr. I Nyoman Sudiarta, S.E., M.Par.; Yayu Indrawati, S.S., M.Par., Ph.D.; Dr. I Made Kusuma Negara, S.E., M.Par.; and Dr. Luh Gede Leli Kusuma Dewi, S.Psi., M.Par.
The IPTA Journal team was warmly welcomed by the Coordinator of the Research and Publication Unit at the UGM Graduate School, Prof. Nurdiana Gaus; the Editor-in-Chief of Kawistara Journal, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Ahnaf; and the administrative staff managing the journal. During the meeting, both parties discussed strategies for article management, the implementation of manuscript quality assurance systems, and efforts to increase journal visibility through national and international indexing.
Representing the IPTA Journal team, Yayu Indrawati, S.S., M.Par., Ph.D., stated that the IPTA Journal is currently accredited at SINTA 4 and hopes to learn from the Kawistara team in order to advance to SINTA 2. “We want to learn from the best practices implemented by the Kawistara Journal, particularly in editorial management, review processes, and quality improvement strategies, so that our journal can continue to grow and achieve a higher accreditation rank,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Editor-in-Chief of Kawistara Journal, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Ahnaf, expressed his appreciation for the visit. He noted that managing an academic journal is a dynamic process filled with challenges, particularly in maintaining manuscript quality. “We highly appreciate this visit from our colleagues at the IPTA Journal. One of the main challenges we face at Kawistara is the lengthy review process, as finding suitable reviewers is not easy, in addition to managing the large volume of manuscript submissions,” he explained.
Through this visit, the team from Udayana University gained valuable insights into best practices in journal management. The discussion also addressed one of the current issues faced by the IPTA Journal—technical difficulties with its OJS platform that have hindered the article submission process.
This meeting is expected to mark the beginning of stronger collaboration between the two institutions in improving the quality of journal management and enhancing the reputation of scholarly publications in Indonesia.Writer: Asti Rahmaningrum