Evaluation Process and Publication of Manuscripts
Before submitted manuscripts are sent out for peer review, they are examined in light of the following criteria. Manuscripts deemed suitable for the review process are then forwarded to reviewers:
- The editorial board evaluates each manuscript in terms of its formal features and overall content, taking into account its compliance with the journal's publication principles and publication ethics, as well as its scientific quality and originality, and determines the relevant field of the study.
- During the peer review stage, reviewers access the review copies uploaded to the system and download the electronic version of the manuscript. The downloaded file clearly bears the phrase REVIEW COPY, and no identifying information about the author(s) is included.
- Each reviewer evaluates the manuscript in accordance with the review criteria defined in the system. Reviewers may enter the relevant line numbers and the revisions required in the designated section, or upload their comments as an additional file. They are also asked to select a final evaluation statement indicating their recommendation.
- AJIT-e employs a double-blind peer review system. A manuscript must receive at least two positive reviewer reports in order to be accepted for publication. If one reviewer provides a positive opinion and the other a negative opinion, the manuscript is referred to a third reviewer. Once two positive reports have been received, the editorial board assigns the manuscript to the appropriate year and issue for publication. PDF copies are then generated and uploaded to the system.
- When the publication period of the relevant issue arrives, the issue is published and made publicly accessible.
The contribution fee has no bearing on the evaluation process. As stated in Article 11, all authors are treated equally.
In accordance with the decisions of the relevant boards of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM TRDizin, for the year 2020, authors of submissions other than review articles applying for publication in journals indexed in TRDizin or currently under evaluation are required to provide the following:
- For studies involving data collection through methods such as scales, questionnaires, interviews, or observations, ethics committee approval must be obtained; the name of the ethics committee, the date of the decision, and the decision number must be stated and documented on the first and last pages of the manuscript as well as in the methodology section,
- The manuscript must state that an informed consent form was obtained from participants,
- Evidence that ethical principles were observed during the data collection process must be presented in the manuscript, including, where applicable, permission to use scales, questionnaires, or documents belonging to others,
- The manuscript must explicitly state that the principles of research and publication ethics were followed.
The manuscript will proceed to the peer review stage once the required documents have been uploaded.
Manuscript Corrections
Corrections should be requested only for editorially significant changes. They should not be made for minor issues such as spelling, formatting, or similar matters.
Any correction made is recorded through Crossmark so that it may be shared with readers and researchers. For this purpose, 12 types of updates have been defined:
- Addendum
- Clarification
- Correction
- Printing Error
- Typesetting Error
- Wording Error
- New Printing
- New Version
- Partial Retraction
- Removal
- Retraction
- Deletion
If an update or correction does not fall into one of these categories, the editorial board must be notified.
When a decision of "Correction" is issued for a submitted manuscript, the author(s) are required to make the necessary revisions and upload the final version of the manuscript to the system within 15 days. If the revisions are not completed and resubmitted within the specified period, the editorial board reserves the right to reject the manuscript.
It is anticipated that the manuscript evaluation process in our journal will take no longer than six months for each submission, depending on reviewer reports.
Author(s) are expected to take into consideration the criticisms, suggestions, and revisions recommended by the reviewers and the Editorial Board. Where they disagree, they have the right to provide a reasoned explanation. Authors are informed whether their manuscripts are accepted or rejected for publication.
Authors retain the right to withdraw their manuscripts at any stage.
The similarity rate of manuscripts submitted to our journal is checked using Turnitin. If the similarity rate identified prior to reviewer assignment exceeds 20%, the manuscript is rejected without initiating the peer review process. In cases of plagiarism detected after publication, the article is withdrawn from publication and an editorial note is published in the journal for readers.