ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Ethical Principles for Authors

• The primary responsibility of authors is to comply with general ethical principles, particularly the provisions of the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines, throughout the scientific research process that is the subject of the work they submit to the journal and during the writing and publication process of the research report.
• Authors submit their works for publication, acknowledging that the works are the result of their own research, are original, and do not contain any actions contrary to publication ethics, including plagiarism. They also acknowledge that they are solely responsible for any unethical behavior that may be detected and that the Journal of the Institute of Social Sciences at Süleyman Demirel University bears no responsibility in this regard.
• Authors must guarantee that they have made a scientific contribution to the work they submit for publication and that all authors have equal responsibility for the article.
• The corresponding author, as the author responsible for communicating with the journal editors during the review process, must guarantee that all co-authors listed in the work have consented to its publication and to being named as co-authors. Scientists who have contributed to the scientific research and research report writing process should be listed as co-authors in the articles, while the names of scientists who have not contributed should not be included. Unfair authorship practices should be avoided as inappropriate behavior. Those who have not contributed to the research and publication process but have provided support should be thanked appropriately in the works.
• Authors are required to declare in their works the organizations that support their scientific studies, financial resources, or any conflicts of interest, if any.
• Authors must not have published their works elsewhere or submitted them for publication elsewhere.
• Authors must cite all works they have quoted in their works, either in summary or verbatim, in accordance with APA citation rules.
• Authors must provide access to the datasets included in their works in accordance with copyright regulations if deemed necessary.
• Authors must prepare their works submitted for publication in the journal in accordance with research and publication ethics rules. Separate ethical committee approval must be obtained for studies requiring ethical committee approval, and this approval must be appropriately stated and documented in the work.

Ethical Principles for Editors

• It is the responsibility of the editorial board to accept or reject works submitted for publication in the journal in order to initiate the peer review process. When conducting a preliminary review of works submitted to the journal for publication, the editorial board must evaluate the authors' works without any discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views and beliefs. • Decisions regarding the scientific evaluation of works must be made objectively and transparently, taking into account the journal's pre-determined and published publication and ethical principles, as well as the academic quality and validity of the article in line with the scope of the journal. • Editors act in accordance with existing legal requirements regarding defamation, insults, copyright infringement, and research and publication ethics that may constitute a crime or offense in their review of works. • Editors act in accordance with the principles and guidelines of the “blind peer review” process. Editors or any member of the editorial board should not disclose information about a work to the author, reviewers involved in the evaluation process, potential reviewers, or any other person. • Unpublished materials disclosed in a work submitted to the journal should not be used in the research of the editor, editorial board, or any other person through the editors without the author's express written permission.

Ethical Principles for Reviewers

• If a potential reviewer who has been invited to review a work does not consider themselves sufficiently qualified to evaluate the work in terms of their area of expertise, or if they consider it impossible to evaluate the work comprehensively and quickly, they should decline the offer or inform the editor of this situation and promptly notify them that they cannot fulfill the requirements of the review process.
• Reviewers are obligated to keep the works shared with them confidential and not to use any original information, methods, scales, or other original data obtained during the review process for personal gain.
• Reviewers should not share their reports or opinions on the article with third parties other than the journal editors in accordance with the principles and guidelines of “blind review.”
• Reviewers should be sensitive to the principles and guidelines of research and publication ethics when evaluating works and should bring any potential ethical violations they become aware of to the editor's attention. This includes cases of substantial similarity and inspiration between the work being evaluated and any other published or copyrighted work or works of which the reviewer has personal knowledge.
• Reviewers should act within the framework of scientific objectivity when evaluating works. They should not make subjective, discriminatory, derogatory, insulting, or personal opinions, beliefs, and judgments in their opinions and criticisms. They should take care to ensure that criticisms and opinions made within the framework of scientific objectivity are honest and polite within the bounds of courtesy.
• Reviewers who have contributed to the scientific research and writing process of the work sent to them for review by providing opinions, suggestions, and recommendations, or who have a conflict of interest due to being in competition or collaborating in other ways with the work or authors, must refrain from evaluating the work and report the situation to the editor or assistant editors.

Publication Policy

1) The Süleyman Demirel University Journal of the Social Sciences Institute (SDU-JS) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published electronically twice a year (in June and December), starting from 2026.

2) The journal accepts original research articles, review articles, and translations written in Turkish, English, or Arabic.

3) Süleyman Demirel University Journal of the Institute of Social Sciences adheres to the principles of open access publishing. No fees are charged to authors for the submission, evaluation, or publication of their work. Likewise, no remuneration is provided to authors or reviewers. Readers can access all published articles free of charge via the DergiPark system and the journal’s website. This policy aims to contribute to scientific progress and support a free academic environment.

4)As an open-access journal, the journal endorses the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), which ensures that scientific publications are freely accessible, readable, downloadable, copyable, distributable, printable, searchable, linkable, indexable, transferable as data into software, and usable for any lawful purpose without financial, legal, or technical barriers. Authors of published works accept that all users have free access to their articles.

5) Only research and review articles within the scope of the journal are accepted for publication. However, the proportion of review articles must not exceed 25% of the total content in any given issue.

6) Articles that are outside the scope of the journal are rejected during editorial review with justification. For interdisciplinary articles situated between covered and non-covered fields, decisions are made by consulting expert scholars and upon the proposal of the editorial board, followed by the decision of the publication board.

7) Final decisions regarding acceptance or rejection are made by the publication board based on the editorial board’s reasoned recommendations. In the event of rejection, authors are informed of the decision and the reasons via the DergiPark system or email.

8) Each issue of the Süleyman Demirel University Journal of the Institute of Social Sciences includes a maximum of 16 articles. In addition to research articles, if deemed appropriate by the publication board, translations and book reviews may also be included. Articles are listed according to the date on which their peer review processes are completed. If more than 16 articles are ready for publication within a given issue, subsequent articles are carried over to the next issue in chronological order. Adjustments made to publication schedules to ensure institutional and author diversity, as stipulated in the following articles, do not constitute a violation of the journal’s policy. For such articles, upon request, a document indicating the scheduled issue and publication date is provided. All processes are conducted transparently and traceably.

9) The journal emphasizes author diversity. To this end, within a calendar year, an author may have a maximum of two published articles: one single-authored and one co-authored. This period is calculated from the publication date of the author’s most recently published article. Authors submitting multiple manuscripts simultaneously are considered to have accepted this policy.

10) The journal also monitors institutional diversity. Measures are taken to ensure that the majority of published articles are not authored by individuals from the same institution. Relevant notifications and justifications are communicated to the authors if necessary.

11) Submitted articles are evaluated in accordance with scientific research and publication ethics. Prior to peer review, all manuscripts are checked for similarity using plagiarism detection tools (iThenticate and/or Turnitin and/or intihal.net), including references. A similarity index above 25% results in automatic rejection. In cases where direct quotations are necessary due to the nature of the discipline (e.g., law, literature, theology), the editorial board may consult field experts before making a decision.

12) Authors retain the copyright of their published work, which is protected under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). By submitting their manuscripts, authors are deemed to have accepted the protection of their rights within this framework. (For more information, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.tr)

13) Manuscripts that do not comply with the Publication Policy and editorial principles of Süleyman Demirel University Journal of the Institute of Social Sciences will not be accepted. If noncompliance is detected at any stage of the editorial or peer-review process, the review is immediately terminated, and the manuscript is returned to the author.