Universitas Mercu Buana Yogyakarta (UMBY) continues to expand its contribution to enhancing academic quality at the national level. Through its Faculty of Psychology, UMBY shared strategies and best practices for managing accredited scientific journals with journal managers and faculty members from Universitas Bosowa (Unibos) at the Bosowa Tower in Makassar on Friday (September 11, 2026).

This initiative represents a concrete step in inter-university collaboration aimed at strengthening participants' understanding of scientific journal governance, improving journal management quality, and preparing journals for the national accreditation process via the Science and Technology Index (Sinta).

The event, titled "Workshop on Journal Quality Improvement and Sinta Accreditation Strategies," featured Sowanya Ardi Prahara, S.Psi., M.A.—a UMBY lecturer and manager of *Insight: Jurnal Ilmiah Psikologi UMBY* (Sinta 2)—as the keynote speaker.

Addressing 14 Unibos journal managers and junior faculty members, UMBY provided an in-depth analysis of the material and updated regulations regarding national scientific journal accreditation.

The material presented by Sowanya was based directly on two recent legal frameworks: the Regulation of the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Permendiktisaintek) Number 9 of 2026, and the Decree of the Director General of Science and Technology Number 374/DST/D.D1/HM.01.01/2026.

In her presentation, she examined key governance pillars that journal managers must address, ranging from compliance with new regulations and the strengthening of article novelty and publication ethics to the structuring of editorial workflows and objective, well-documented peer review processes. Furthermore, the presentation emphasized the importance of adhering to publication schedules, streamlining manuscript management using Open Journal Systems (OJS), and maintaining an audit trail to serve as supporting evidence during the accreditation process.

Sowanya stressed that accreditation preparation should not be viewed merely as a last-minute administrative task performed just before the submission deadline.

"Journal managers need to view accreditation not just as a target for achieving a Sinta ranking, but as an opportunity to ensure that all management processes align with sound academic and editorial standards. Improvements should be implemented gradually and continuously," Sowanya explained.

She offered practical advice for managers, suggesting they begin with a self-assessment to identify current governance weaknesses, followed by establishing a priority list for improvements before submitting an evaluation request to the Sinta portal.

Patmawaty Taibe, M.A., Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Psychology at Unibos, considered the knowledge transfer from UMBY crucial for enhancing the academic capacity of the journal managers within her institution.

"Scientific journals are integral to the academic ecosystem and the institution's reputation. We welcome this collaboration with UMBY to share best practices and devise concrete steps for improving the quality of journals at Unibos," Patmawaty stated.

Participants directly benefited from the theoretical and practical insights shared. Dedy Nasruddin, a manager of the Unibos *Jurnal Karakter*, noted that the in-depth review of the new regulations made it easier for his team to formulate an improvement roadmap.

"The material was incredibly helpful; it made us realize that accreditation preparation isn't just about completing paperwork, but about establishing consistent governance. The explanation of the new standards made it easier for us to identify exactly which areas require immediate improvement," said Dedy. Through this mentoring initiative, UMBY reaffirms its commitment not only to internal excellence but also to actively supporting partner universities in establishing sustainable and nationally accredited scientific publication governance.