Important Reminder Regarding Articles: Before initiating the article submission process, the sections ‘Writing Guidelines’, ‘Publication Policy’, “Copyright”, ‘Authors' Responsibilities’, ‘Open Access Policy’ and ‘Licence Terms’ must be carefully reviewed in order to maintain the journal's publication standards and ensure the smooth running of the evaluation process. All submitted works are deemed to be fully compliant with these principles.

Review Process: The journal aims to disseminate scientific knowledge with integrity, transparency, and high-quality standards. The following principles apply to all submissions to the journal. The review process for articles takes an average of eight weeks and consists of the following stages:

Stage 1: Initial Assessment and Preliminary Check

  • Application: Articles are uploaded to the system via Dergipark.
  • Editorial Review: The article is evaluated in terms of the journal's scope. If not suitable: It is returned to the author; If suitable: A copy editor is assigned.

  • Spell Checking and Plagiarism Checking: Articles with a similarity rate above 15% are rejected outright. Authors are asked to revise articles that do not comply with the writing rules. For articles deemed suitable, a Field Editor is assigned by the Editor.

Stage 2: Academic Evaluation (Field Editor)

  • Referee Appointment: The field editor invites two referees with doctoral degrees to review the article in accordance with the principle of Double-Blind Peer Review.

  • Decision Mechanism: Two Acceptances: The direct acceptance process begins; One Acceptance / Revision + One Rejection: The file is sent to a third referee; Revision Decision: Sent to the author for correction. The timeframe for minor revisions is two weeks, and for major revisions, it is four weeks. Authors must upload the ‘Response to Reviewers’ file to the system along with the revisions.

Stage 3: Preparation for Publication and Printing

  • Language Check: Accepted articles are reviewed by the Language Editor.
  • Digital Record: A DOI number is assigned to the approved text.
  • Typesetting & Layout: Typesetting is carried out by the Publication Editor in accordance with the journal format.
  • Final Proofreading: The assigned final proofreader carries out the final checks before printing.

  • Publication: Completed works are published in the relevant issue according to the order of acceptance.

Evaluation System: Double-Blind Peer Review: To maintain the highest level of scientific impartiality in our journal, we employ a double-blind peer review method.

  • The identities of authors and referees are kept confidential from each other.

  • All communication between referees and authors is managed through the Area Editors; direct interaction between the parties is not permitted.

Ethical Principles and Plagiarism Checking: Publication ethics are based on the standards of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

  • Plagiarism Scanning: All works are checked for similarity. The maximum acceptable similarity rate is 15%.
  • Critical Threshold: Even if the similarity ratio is below 15%, the Editorial Board has the authority to reject the work or request comprehensive revisions from the author(s) in the event of erroneous citation, improper quotation, or scientific misconduct.

  • Ethical Violations: In cases of suspected ethical violations identified by referees or editors, the COPE protocols are implemented.

Editorial Independence and Publications by Board Members: The work submitted to the journal by board members is treated with complete impartiality:

  • The relevant member's article is sent to at least two independent external referees.
  • During the evaluation period, all of the relevant member's privileges in the journal management system are suspended.