Focus and Scope

DESA: Journal of Rural Development and Governance is a reputable, peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on critical, empirical, and conceptual studies of rural development and local governance. The journal positions rural areas as strategic spaces for development and as arenas where the state, society, and market actors interact to shape adaptive and sustainable institutional transformation.

The journal’s scope includes village governance, rural public policy, local democracy, civic participation, community empowerment, leadership and institutional capacity, governance innovation, digital transformation, local economic development, and natural resource governance. It also welcomes studies on social inclusion, gender, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and community resilience within interdisciplinary and context-sensitive approaches.

DESA is published twice a year, in June and December. The journal accepts original research articles, conceptual papers, and policy reviews that have not been published elsewhere. All submissions undergo a rigorous peer-review process to ensure academic quality, research integrity, and meaningful contributions to scholarly discourse and public policy development.