Evaluation Principles

1. Articles that have not been previously published or are currently under review for publication in another journal and are approved by each author are accepted for evaluation.
2. Submitted and pre-checked articles are first scanned for plagiarism using Turnitin software.
3. Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies conducts a double-blind peer-review process. For compliance with the journal, the Editor will first evaluate all studies. Articles deemed appropriate are sent to the editorial Board to assess the article's scientific quality—articles deemed appropriate by the Editorial Board's preliminary evaluation move on to peer review.
4. The Editor evaluates articles regardless of the authors' ethnic origin, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, or political philosophy. The Editor ensures that articles submitted for publication undergo a fair double-blind peer-review process.
5. The Editor does not allow conflicts of interest among authors, editors, and reviewers.
6. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final.
7. Editors do not participate in decisions regarding articles related to products or services in which they, their family members, or colleagues have written or are interested. Such submissions are subject to all the ordinary procedures of the journal.

Reviewers must ensure that all information about the submitted articles remains confidential until the article is published. If they detect copyright infringement or plagiarism by the author, they must report it to the Editor.
If a reviewer does not feel qualified about the article's subject or does not think it possible to return it in time, they should inform the Editor of this and request that they not be included in the review process.
During the evaluation process, the Editor clearly states that the articles sent for review are the authors' private property and privileged communication. Reviewers and editorial board members cannot discuss articles with others. The identity of the reviewers should be kept confidential.

Evaluation Process

1. After the plagiarism check, the Editor evaluates relevant articles regarding originality, methodology, relevance to the topic, and compatibility with the journal's scope. Suppose we do not consider the Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies the right journal for the study. In that case, we inform the authors immediately so they can submit their work elsewhere without delay. Common reasons for rejection at this stage are insufficient originality and the topic being outside the journal's scope.
2. After the initial evaluation, the article is sent to the Preliminary Control Editor to check if it meets the journal's formatting requirements (ISNAD SYSTEM) and if the language is adequate.
3. If there is a problem with the article's formatting, the author is given a reasonable time to correct it.
4. The article is then sent to the Writing and Language Control Editor for review. It is later sent to a member of the Editorial Board or Field Editors for Preliminary Review by the Editor.
5. The Editorial Board member or Field Editor provides the Editor with an assessment of the article's importance and originality in the journal's subject matter. We primarily focus on the research question for making editorial decisions on research articles. We may reject the article if there is no research question, even if the article's subject matter suits the journal's scope and is current and essential.
6. Based on the Preliminary Review report, the Editor sends the article to at least two external experts from domestic and foreign areas. The referees provide recommendations to the editors, who will make the final decision. We ask referees to approve their reports and declare any conflicts of interest if they have any. The Editor makes the final decision after the external referee evaluation process.
7. When selecting referees, the suggestion of the Editorial Board member/Field Editor is taken into consideration, and individuals who have obtained a doctoral degree and worked on the topic of the article or a related issue before are preferred, as listed on the YOK ACADEMIC website.
8. In cases where some articles are suspected of serious research misconduct, they may be reviewed by the Ethical Editor of the Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies and third parties approved by the Editor.
9. We aim to decide on publication for all articles within 4 to 6 weeks of submission. If we propose a journal that requires revision, we usually ask the authors to upload their revised article to the system within the following month.

Type of Peer Review: Double-Blind Review

Double-Blind Review: The Editor ensures that articles undergo a fair double-blind peer review process, where the identities of the authors and reviewers are kept confidential. Necessary measures are taken to prevent the authors and reviewers from knowing each other's identities.

Author-Reviewer Interaction: Editors mediate all interactions between reviewers and authors.

Duration of Review: 8 Weeks

For research articles put into the peer review process in the Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies, the time until the first decision is approximately 15 days.
Acceptance Rate: We publish about 70% of the articles submitted to our journal. Approximately one-third of all submissions are rejected during the preliminary evaluation before being sent for peer review.

Plagiarism Check: Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies scans articles through Turnitin software to prevent plagiarism.

Referee Process Policy Web Address: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/siader/page/14517 

Allowed Time: 15 days. This time can be extended by 7 days.

Decision: At least two referees must approve the article to be accepted for publication by the Editor.

Suspected Ethical Violations: When referees suspect research or publication misconduct, they should inform the Editor. The Editor is responsible for taking necessary actions following COPE guidelines.

Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies provides open access to articles as part of its commitment to readers and authors. All of our articles are freely available online. If you notice any errors in your published article, please email the Editor to inquire whether a correction can be made.

Author's Responsibilities

The author must comply with research and publishing ethics. The author should not attempt to publish the same study in multiple journals. The author must provide a complete list of sources used in the article's writing in the references section.

Editorial Responsibilities

The Editor evaluates the manuscripts based on their scientific content, regardless of the author's ethnicity, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, or political views. The Editor ensures that all submitted manuscripts undergo a fair double-blind peer review process and keeps all information regarding the submitted manuscripts confidential until publication. The Editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are privileged communication and should not be discussed with others. The anonymity of the reviewers must be maintained. Sometimes, the Editor may share a review from one reviewer with other reviewers to clarify a particular point. The Editor is responsible for the content and overall quality of the publication. If necessary, the Editor may issue a correction or retraction. The Editor does not allow conflicts of interest among the authors, editors, and reviewers. The Editor has complete authority in appointing reviewers, and the Editorial Board is responsible for the final decision on the publication of the manuscripts.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers should not have any conflict of interest regarding the research, authors, and funders. Reviewers' evaluations should be objective. The language and style of reviewers should not be offensive to the author. Reviewers should ensure that all information related to the submitted articles remains confidential until the article is published. If reviewers notice a copyright infringement or plagiarism in the reviewed work, they should report it to the Editor. If a reviewer feels inadequate to check an article or thinks they cannot meet the deadline, they should withdraw from the review process. Reviewers are expected to evaluate the following during the review process: Does the article contain new and essential information? / Does the abstract clearly and accurately define the content of the article? / Is the method clearly and accurately described? / Are the comments and conclusions supported by the findings? / Are sufficient references made to other studies in the field? / Is the language quality adequate? The "Preliminary Review Form," "Article Evaluation Form," and "Book Review Evaluation Form" used in the Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies can be viewed on the journal's website.

Pre-Evaluation and Plagiarism Check

The Editor reviews the manuscript for compliance with the journal's publication principles, academic writing rules, and citation reference system. It is also subjected to a plagiarism check using the Turnitin program. The pre-evaluation process is completed within a maximum of 15 days. The similarity rate should be less than 20%. Even if the similarity rate is below 1%, plagiarism may still occur if citations and quotations are not used correctly. Therefore, authors should be aware of and carefully apply citation and quotation rules.

Citation/Indirect Quotation: If a thought, discussion, or observation in a source is referred to and the referenced view is put into the researcher's own words, a footnote marker (1) should be added at the end of the sentence. The page number should be provided if the reference is made to a specific page or page range in work. Suppose there is a reference to the entire study, meaning a reference that requires the reader to examine the whole piece. In that case, the source should be identified after the phrase "See," "Regarding this issue, see," "About this discussion, see," or "see" in the footnote.


Quotation/Paraphrase: If a passage, argument, or observation from a source is quoted and written down using the author's own words, without any changes in punctuation, it should be enclosed in "quotation marks" and followed by a footnote number (1) indicating the source. Quotations within the quoted text should be marked with 'single quotation marks.' If the quoted passage exceeds three lines (more than forty words), it should be presented as a separate paragraph, one font size smaller than the standard text size and indented from the left margin. This is to distinguish the long quote from the rest of the text. While quoting directly from a text, some words, sentences, or paragraphs may be omitted without changing the meaning. Three dots (...) should indicate the omitted text in such cases. It is incorrect to cite the source at the end without putting the quoted text in "quotation marks." Failure to follow these rules may result in the author being accused of violating publishing ethics (Plagiarism). (See www.isnadsistemi.org )

Review by Field Editor:

After passing the Initial Review and Plagiarism Check stage, the relevant Field Editor reviews the study in terms of problematic areas and academic language and style. This review is completed within a maximum of 15 days.

Peer Review Process (Academic Evaluation)

The manuscript that has passed the initial review and plagiarism check is sent to at least two external reviewers who have published doctoral theses, books, or articles related to the subject matter. The peer review process is carried out confidentially under the double-blind peer review system. The reviewer is asked to express their opinion and comments on the manuscript by annotating the text or providing at least a 150-word justification on the online reviewer form. The author is given the right to respond to the reviewer's comments and objections. The communication between the Editor, author, and reviewer is facilitated while maintaining confidentiality. If both reviewers' reports are positive, the manuscript is submitted to the Editorial Board for evaluation and publication. If one of the two reviewers expresses a negative opinion, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer. The publication of the manuscript requires at least two positive evaluations. The publication of book and symposium evaluations and other works is decided upon the evaluation of at least two internal reviewers (relevant editors and editorial board members).

Correction Stage

If the reviewers request corrections in the reviewed manuscript, the relevant reports are sent to the author, and they are asked to make the necessary corrections. The author makes the corrections with the "Track Changes" feature enabled in Microsoft Word or indicates the changes in red. After correcting, the author submits the revised manuscript to the field editor.

Field Editor Check

The field editor checks whether the author has made the required corrections in the manuscript.

Editorial Control

The relevant Editor checks whether the author has made the corrections requested in the manuscript.

Expansion of the Abstract and Summary

The authors of manuscripts that have received the "publishable" decision from at least two reviewers are requested to expand the abstract/summary section to 350-400 words.

Turkish Language Control

Manuscripts that have passed the peer review process are reviewed by the Assitant Editors and Editor, and the author is asked to make corrections if necessary. The control process is completed within a maximum of 15 days.

English Language Check

The English Language Editor reviews the papers that have passed the Turkish language check, and if necessary, corrections are requested from the author. The English language editing process is completed within a maximum of 15 days.

Publication Board Review

The papers that have passed the technical, academic, and linguistic reviews are evaluated by the Publication Board to decide whether to publish them and in which issue they will be included. The Board determines by majority vote. In case of a tie, the Editor makes the final decision.

Formatting and Typesetting Stage

The works decided to be published by the Editorial Board are formatted and typeset to be ready for publication and are sent to the author for review. This process takes up to 15 days.

Submission of Data to National and International Indexes

Data for the published issue is submitted to relevant indexes within 15 days.