The Journal of Defence and War Studies

You can access the Article Submission Guidelines here.

You can access the Article Submission Guidelines video here.

For comprehensive information regarding the journal's policies on submission, peer-review, publication, and ethical standards, please visit the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy page. Similarly, for detailed information about the journal, please visit the Aims and Scope page.

Manuscripts submitted for evaluation should be original and not previously presented or published in any electronic or print medium. If a manuscript was previously presented at a conference or meeting, authors should provide detailed information about the event, including the name, date, and location of the organization.

Authors are required to prepare manuscripts in accordance with the relevant guidelines listed below:

• Observational original research studies: STROBE guidelines

• Systematic reviews and meta-analysis: PRISMA guidelines (for protocols, please see the PRISMA-P guidelines)

• Qualitative research: SRQR guidelines

To find the right guideline for your research, please complete the questionnaire by Equator Network here.

Before submission, authors can consult EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators to produce clear, concise and accurate manuscripts that are easy to understand and free of common errors and pitfalls.

The style of manuscripts should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), Seventh Edition (2020). (APA 7)

Manuscripts can only be submitted through the journal’s online manuscript submission and evaluation system (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/savsad). Manuscripts submitted via any other medium and submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be evaluated.

In addition to the manuscript files, authors are required to submit the following during the initial submission:

-SAVSAD - Author Publication Right Transfer and Conflict of Interest Declaration Form

Please use the SAVSAD Manuscript Template for the article you will send to our journal.

Abstract: The abstract subheadings should be arranged according to the article types. Please check Table 1 below for word count specifications.

Keywords: Each submission must be accompanied by a minimum of three to a maximum of six keywords for subject indexing at the end of the abstract. The keywords should be listed in full without abbreviations.

Research Articles: Research articles provide new information based on original research. The acceptance of research articles is typically based on the originality and importance of the research. The main text of a research article should be structured with subheadings, including Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.

Please check Table 1 for the limitations for research articles.

Review articles that are written by experts with extensive knowledge and managed to reflect the knowledge in international literature through publications and citations. These authors may even be invited to contribute a review article to the journal. Review articles should provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on a topic in the journal’s subjects and should include discussions and evaluations of relevant research. The subheadings of review articles may be planned by authors. However, each review article should include an “Introduction” and a “Conclusion” section.

Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Review Articles.

Reviews for books that are considered to be current and important in the field may be published after the evaluation of external peer reviewers determined by the Editorial Board and considered to be experts in the field. These reviews should provide a critical evaluation of the book, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, as well as its importance and relevance to the journal's readership.
Please refer to Table 1 for the limitations of Book Reviews.

*Word limit should not include the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends.

Headings should be revealing and concise. They should be formatted as the following.

The text starts with a new paragraph.

The text starts with a new paragraph.

Level 3 Heading
Flush left, bold, italic, initial letters uppercase
The text starts with a new paragraph.

Level 4 Heading:
Bold, initial letters uppercase, colon at the end.
The text begins on the same line with the title and continues as a standard paragraph.

If the manuscript is written in Turkish, the extended summary must be written in English and vice versa.

Tables should be included in the main text and numbered. Tables should be followed by a bold, numbered indication for them. Underneath the table indication, there should be a title related to the content of the table and this title should be written in italics. Tables should be created using the "insert table" command of the Microsoft Office Word document, and they should be arranged clearly to make the data easy to read and understand. The data presented in the tables should not be a repetition of the data presented in the main text but should support and enhance the main text.

Figures should be submitted as separate files in TIFF or JPEG format, and they should be embedded in the Word document. If a figure has subunits, they should be merged into a single image and the figures should be labeled (a, b, c, etc.) to indicate subunits. The minimum resolution of each figure should be 300 DPI, and the figures should be clear and easy to read. Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document. Figures should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned.

All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined at first use, both in the abstract and in the main text. The abbreviation should be provided in parentheses following the definition, and it should be used consistently throughout the paper.

When mentioning an archive, source, product, hardware or software program in a manuscript, it is important to provide detailed information about the product in parentheses.
For example, when mentioning a Discovery St PET/CT scanner produced by General Electric in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, the information should be presented in the following format: "Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)." Providing this information helps to ensure that the product is properly identified and credited.

Supplementary materials, including audio files, videos, datasets, and additional documents (e.g., appendices, additional figures, tables), are intended to complement the main text of the manuscript. These supplementary materials should be submitted as a separate section after the references list. Concise descriptions of each supplementary material should be included to explain their relevance to the manuscript. Page numbers are not required for supplementary materials.

Citations and References
While citing publications, preference should be given to the main source and latest, most up-to-date publications. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Both in-text citations and the references section should be prepared according to the version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7 published by the American Psychological Association (using Microsoft Word application, References, Manage References).
In the main text of the manuscript, references should be cited by the author’s name and the publication year in parenthesis. In social science articles, page numbers should be stated after the publication year.

Journal Article: Antunes B. M. M., Cayres S. U., Lira F. S., & Fernandes R. A. (2016) Arterial thickness and Immunometabolism: the mediating role of chronic exercise. Current Cardiology Reviews, 12(1), 47-51.

Journal Article with more than one author: Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

Turkish Article: Akın, Ü., Akın, A., ve Abacı, R. (2007). Öz-duyarlık Ölçeği: Geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması [Self-Compassion Scale: The Study of Validity and Reliability]. H. U. Journal of Education, 33(1), 1-10.

Single Author: Kimmel, M. S. (2007). The gendered society. Oxford University Press.

By Two or More Authors: DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, P. (2007). Rumor psychology: Social and organizational approaches. American Psychological Association.

By a Corporate (Group) Author: American Sociological Association. (1975). Approaches to the study of social structure. Free Press.

Edited Book: Rhodewalt, F. (Ed.). (2008). Personality and social behavior. Psychology Press.

Book Chapter with Editor(s): McCormack, B., McCance, T., & Maben, J. (2013). Outcome evaluation in the development of person-centred practice. In B. McCormack, K. Manley, & A. Titchen (Eds.), Practice development in nursing and healthcare (pp. 190-211). John Wiley & Sons.

Dissertation or Thesis: Valentin, E. R. (2019, Summer). Narcissism predicted by Snapchat selfie sharing, filter usage, and editing (Thesis No: 19782) [Master's thesis, California State University Dominguez Hills]. CSU ScholarWorks. https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/3197xm925?locale=en

No Author: The universal declaration of human rights. (1974). U.S. Catholic Conference, Division of Latin America.

Web sites: Sparks, Dana. (2018, September 12). Mayo mindfulness: Practicing mindfulness exercises. Mayo Clinic.

In the seventh edition, up to 20 authors should now be included in a reference list entry. For sources with more than 20 authors, after the 19th listed author, any additional authors' names are replaced with an ellipsis (…) followed by the final listed author's name:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.

Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, it goes through a copy-editing process by professional language editors to ensure that it is clear and well-written. This process may involve correcting grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors, as well as making changes to improve the overall clarity and readability of the manuscript.

After the copy-editing process is complete, the manuscript is published online as an "ahead-of-print" publication, which means that it is available to readers before it is included in a scheduled issue of the journal. This allows readers to access the latest research as soon as it becomes available.

Before the manuscript is officially published, the corresponding author is sent PDF proof of the accepted manuscript for review. The corresponding author is asked to review the proof and approve it for publication within a specified time period, typically 2 days. This is an important step in the publication process, as it allows the author to catch any errors or make any final changes before the manuscript is published.

Publication Principles

1. The Journal belongs to The Dean’s Office of Turkish Military Academy. It is a double-blind peer reviewed social sciences journal, published semiannually (June-December) since 2006.

2. SAVSAD Journal of Defence and War Studies cannot be sold or bought. The journal doesn’t charge the authors for publication or submission.

3. The names and e-mails appearing in the journal will only be used in compliance with the Journal’s purpose.

4. The linguistic, scientific and legal responsibility of the articles published in SAVSAD Journal of Defence and War Studies belongs to the author. Publication rights belong to SAVSAD Journal of Defence and War Studies. The printing and publishing rights are transferred to the journal once the manuscript is submitted. The published article cannot be reprinted, reproduced, or reused in another publishing without the editor’s permission, and it can only be used with reference. Editorial Board is free to decide whether or not to publish the manuscripts submitted to the journal

5. Views and opinions in the published articles completely belong to the author and do not represent the official declarations or statements of the Ministry of Defence, National Defence University or the Turkish Armed Forces. The author is completely responsible for erroneous citations, deficient data or any other distortions. The data used on each study must be preserved by the author for following five years. There is no copyright payment for the article sent to the journal.

6. Submitted manuscripts are put in the order of priority by the Editorial Board and evaluated in terms of their suitability to the journal’s principles and guidelines. If the submitted manuscript doesn’t comply with the scientific measures and ethical/publication principles of the journal and has more spelling mistakes than acceptable, it is sent to the author before being sent to the peer-reviewers. The Editorial Board and the editor has the right to reject the submitted manuscript directly.

7. The manuscripts less than 3000 words or more than 15000 words aren’t accepted except for the Editorial Board’s special consent.

8. If the submitted manuscripts meet the formal requirements that are specified in the Writing Rules, following the editorial review in the context of subject and research field, they are submitted to two peer-reviewers who are experts in the relevant field of research. As the necessity of double-blind peer-review system, the manuscript is sent to the peer-reviewers without any information regarding the author. If the evaluation of both reviews turns out to be positive, the manuscript is accepted for publication. Should one of the evaluations is positive and the other one is negative, the manuscript is sent to the third peer reviewer. In the event that the editors or peer-reviewers of the journal request a change/correction in the text of the manuscript in terms of format, method or content, this situation is reported to the author and the author is asked to amend the text again and deliver it in 10 days at the latest. The author can only make corrections in accordance with the peer-reviewers’ evaluations and findings. The amended text can be reviewed again in case the peer reviewers deem it necessary.

The manuscripts submitted to the journal are published with a final decision of the Editorial Board after two peer reviewers give approval as ''publishable''. For manuscripts that are not approved for publication as a result of the peer reviewer's opinion, the justification is notified to the author by the editor on behalf of the editorial board. However, the Journal is not obliged to provide justification to the authors of unpublished manuscripts. Manuscripts submitted to the journal, whether published or not, will not be returned and rejected manuscripts will not be re-evaluated at a later date.

Ethical Rules

For Authors

1. It is essential that the manuscripts submitted to the journal are original, appropriate to scientific theory and methodology, and contribute to existing practices and theories. Manuscripts can be written either in English or in Turkish. The manuscripts should not be published or sent to be published to any domestic or foreign party before. It is not under the journal’s responsibility to investigate this issue. Its ethical responsibility is the author’s. The submission of the manuscript is considered to be the commitment of the author in this respect.

2.The submitted manuscripts that were presented in scientific meetings such as congress, symposium, seminar etc. can be accepted if they have not been published in the related proceedings books and this must be explicitly stated by the author(s).

3. If any research, data collection, analysis, research results etc. within the context of the submitted manuscript were used in any published study, it must be stated in both the manuscript and its references.

4. If the manuscript is prepared by more than one author, all authors undertake having equal responsibility and contributing equally to whole process of the manuscript including planning, research, preparing, organizing, drafting, writing and submitting the last version of the manuscript. If the participation rate differs, the authors must submit participation rate declaration.

5. The submitted manuscripts cannot include fabricated (untrue) information in research, data collection, analysis, research results etc. issues.

6. The authors must show in their manuscripts that they have not only referred to the sources supporting the results and conclusions of the manuscript but also the ones supporting the opposing opinions in both the main text and references section.

7. The manuscripts that are supported by a research institute (TÜBİTAK, TÜİK, Türk Tarih Kurumu etc.) must state the name, date and number of the project in the footnote.

8. The name, place and date of the meeting must be stated in congress or symposium papers.

9. The manuscripts sent to the journal are regularly examined against plagiarism. The application named iThenticate is used to prevent plagiarism.

10. The manuscripts submitted to the journal have to be prepared in accordance with The Directives of Scientific Search and Publication Ethics of the Board of Higher Education (Date: 10 November 2016, Number: 2016.23.497) and The Directives of Scientific Search and Publication Ethics of National Defense University and with the standards of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) (https://publicationethics.org/resources/resources-and-further-reading/international-standards-editors-and-authors).

11. If the submitted manuscript includes any research applied on humans and/or animals or any personal information to be shared, the author of the manuscript must submit the proper permission documents taken from an authorized Research Ethics Committee. Such manuscripts will not be accepted without a proper permission document. The situations that necessitate Research Ethics Committee approval are as follows: The research that are carried out with qualitative and quantitative approaches necessitating data gathering by using questionnaire, focus group work, observation, experiment, interview technics; using of humans or animals for experimental or another scientific purposes; clinical research on humans or animals. The “Informed Consent Form” must be submitted in case reports. For the use of scales, questionnaires, photographs belonging to others, it is necessary to document that permission has been obtained from their owners. It is obligatory to comply with copyright regulations for the intellectual and artistic works used.

12. In the event of finding that a study doesn’t comply with academic and ethical principles, the publication process is stopped, and the manuscript is rejected.

13. The extended abstract must include the information regarding the aim, problem, method, findings, and the conclusion of the manuscript. It is important for your article to get international citations. The extended abstract mustn’t include any findings or results that aren’t given in the main text. The author must not refer to the main text in the extended summary (E.g: “As mentioned in page 2 of the article”, “as mentioned in the introduction part” etc.)

14. The authors must certainly state “This study was prepared in compliance with the scientific search and publication ethics. There is no content necessitating any permission from Ethical Board or any legal/special permission in this study. It has been declared to SAVSAD Journal of Defence and War Research with the signature(s) of the author(s) that there is no conflict of interest related to the study.” in the abstract.

For Peer Reviewers

1. The peer reviewers are the fundamental elements to determine whether the submitted manuscript is scientificaly, grammatically, ethically and academicaly suitable to be published in the journal. Peer reviewers should act accordingly and evaluate with the responsibility of improving academic quality.

2. The peer reviewers must accept only the manuscripts that they are qualified of evaluating according to their academic expertise.

3. The peer reviewers must abide by the rules of double-blind peer reviewer system and respect the confidentiality of the process and act accordingly.

4. The peer reviewers can’t share any information about the manuscripts with the other parties.

5. The peer reviewers must abide by the principles of impartiality. They must evaluate the manuscript in terms of scientific measures, its contribution to the field, the correctness of its content, its academic and grammatical suitability.

6. The peer reviewers must strongly abstain from using any kind of offensive, humiliating or accusatory statements in their reports.

7. The peer reviewers must use clear and detailed statements about the manuscript. For the manuscript they don’t approve to be published, they must give concrete reasons explaining the missing or faulty points.

8. The peer reviewers must evaluate the authors’ loyalty to the objectivity principles. The peer reviewers must feel content that the author does not only refer to the sources that support the argument in the manuscript but also refer to the ones that support the other opinions as well.

9. The peer reviewers must evaluate the manuscript within 30 days. They must notify the journal of their refusal decision within 1 week of receiving the peer reviewing request.

10. When the peer reviewers suspect that there is a conflict of interest in the study, they must inform the editorial board and if necessary, reject the manuscript.

For Editors

1. The editors must accept the manuscripts that will contribute to the field in compliance with the ethical rules and writing form principles of the journal.

2. The editors mustn’t be in any conflict of interest with the accepted/rejected manuscripts.

3. The editors have the whole responsibility and authority to accept/reject the manuscript.

4. The Publication Committee, Responsible Editor and Editorial Secretariat are obliged to keep all studies confidential until they are published. They can’t give any details to anyone except the author(s).

5. It is the editors’ responsibility to keep any information of the peer reviewers and the authors mutually confidential in compliance with double-blind peer reviewer system.

6. The editors must perform plagiarism screening of the manuscripts submitted to the journal before the evaluation process begins and should take the necessary measures to prevent plagiarism.

7. It is the editors' responsibility to fulfill plagiarism screening, pre-evaluation, peer reviewer process, editing and publishing process in time and flawlessly.

8. The editors must comply with the research and ethical rules and academic standards when accepting or rejecting the manuscripts.

For Readers

If the readers find an important error or mistake in the article or find an editorial content problem (plagiarism, repeated articles etc.), they will be highly welcomed when they inform the Editorial Board via savsad@kho.msu.edu.tr and it will be reacted immediately.