The Usak University Journal of Educational Research is an international, open-access, free-of-charge, double-blinded peer-review, and academic journal that aims to encourage in-depth thinking and multidisciplinary research in the fields of educational sciences and teacher education. Publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential requirement for the development of a coherent and respected knowledge network. Therefore, Usak University Journal of Educational Research editors, reviewers, and authors undertake to comply with the principles, standards, and recommendations of publication ethics determined by the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) and the International Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The authors confirm that the work is original and unpublished, that it does not contain chapters or other work by other authors, and that the data are accurate. Authors of original research articles must provide an accurate and detailed description of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Fraudulent or intentionally false statements are unethical and unacceptable.

The author should generally not submit articles describing essentially the same research to more than one journal or leading publication. Simultaneous submission of the same article to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable. In general, an author should not submit for consideration an article that has previously been published in another journal.

Authors should ensure that they write completely original works and, when using the work and/or words of others, that they cite them appropriately. Authors must provide accurate attribution of sources and contributions cited in the article, along with their DOI or URL, if available.

The authors ensure the involvement of individuals who have made significant scientific and intellectual contributions in the conceptualization and planning of the study, as well as in the analysis and writing of the results. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, implementation, or interpretation of the work. Authors should be ranked according to their level of responsibility and involvement. If there are others involved in specific aspects of the research project, they should be thanked or listed as contributors. The corresponding author must ensure that the manuscript includes all appropriate co-authors, that there are no inappropriate co-authors, and that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to submit it for publication.

If the members of the Editorial Board deem it appropriate, the authors of the articles must make the sources or data on which the research is based available in such a way that they can be stored for a reasonable period of time after publication and possibly converted into another document.

All authors must clearly state that they have no conflicts of interest that could affect the results obtained or the interpretations proposed. Authors should also disclose funding from the institutions and/or projects from which the research article originated.

The authors are responsible for the content of the articles published in the journal. The authors also commit to reviewing the most recent and relevant scientific literature on the topic analyzed, taking into account different approaches.

If the study involves the use of animal or human subjects, the author should ensure that the manuscript includes a statement that all procedures were performed in accordance with applicable laws and institutional policies and were approved by the appropriate institutional board(s). Authors agree to provide documentation of ethics committee approval of their studies. Authors must include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experiments involving human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must be carefully respected at all times.

If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her article, the author must immediately notify the editors of the journal and provide them with all necessary information so that the appropriate corrections can be published under the same article. If the editor or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a material error, it is the author's responsibility to immediately retract or correct the manuscript or to provide evidence to the editor of the accuracy of the original manuscript.

Reviewers agree to provide and guarantee a critical, honest, constructive, and impartial review of manuscripts in their field of knowledge and skill, both in terms of scientific quality and the quality of the literature.

A reviewer who does not feel competent in the subject matter being reviewed or who cannot complete the review in the time allotted must immediately notify the editors of the situation. Reviewers agree to review the paper as soon as possible in order to meet deadlines.

Each assigned manuscript must be considered a confidential document. Therefore, it should not be shared or discussed with others without the express permission of the editors.

Peer review should be objective. Personal criticism of the author is not appropriate. Reviewers will clearly state their opinions with supporting evidence in accordance with the journal's review protocol.

The reviewers agree to indicate precisely the bibliographical references of fundamental works possibly forgotten by the author. The reviewer should also inform the editors of any similarity or overlap of the manuscript with other published work.

To ensure that the review process is as objective, unbiased, and transparent as possible, the identities of the authors are masked before the paper is submitted for review. If the identity of the authors, their institutional affiliations, or any other information that would compromise the anonymity of the document is compromised, the reviewer must immediately notify the editors.

Unpublished material described in a submitted manuscript should not be used in a reviewer's own research without the express written permission of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Reviewers should not evaluate manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest due to competition, partnership, or other relationships or affiliations with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the manuscript.

The editors will ensure the scientific selection of the most qualified reviewers and scientists to provide a critical and expert evaluation of the paper with the least possible bias. EARDE chooses to select two reviewers for each study to ensure greater objectivity in the review process. In cases of disagreement, a third reviewer will be selected in exceptional cases. The editor may be guided by the journal's editorial policy and is bound by applicable legal requirements in cases of libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Editors will evaluate articles submitted for publication according to the scientific merit of their content, without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political beliefs of the authors.

Editors and Editorial Board members agree not to disclose information about manuscripts submitted for publication to anyone other than the authors, reviewers, and editors. Editors and Editorial Board members agree to maintain the confidentiality of articles, authors, and reviewers.

Editors agree not to use the content of articles submitted for publication in their research without the written permission of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Editors must recuse themselves from manuscripts where they have conflicts of interest arising from competition, partnership, or other relationships or affiliations with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) entities associated with the manuscript. In other words, the editor should request that the co-editor, associate editors, or other members of the editorial board do the reviewing and evaluation on his behalf. Editors should ask all contributors to disclose any relevant conflicts of interest and to make corrections if conflicts of interest arise after publication. 

To ensure rapid dissemination of results, editors have the primary responsibility for meeting the deadlines for review and publication of accepted articles. They are committed to meeting published deadlines.

Authors are responsible for submitting a plagiarism report for the work they submit to the journal. The degree of plagiarism must not exceed 18%. Papers without a plagiarism report will not be considered. In addition, if necessary, the studies submitted to the journal can be checked with different plagiarism software. In the event of an ethical complaint regarding a submitted or published article, the editor, together with the publisher, must take appropriate action. Such action will normally include contacting the author of the article and investigating the complaint or allegations. If an ethical violation is confirmed, a correction, retraction, statement of concern, or other notice regarding the study will be published. Every reported case of unethical publishing behavior is investigated, even if it is discovered years after publication.

Publication Policy

The Usak University Journal of Educational Research is an open-access, free of charge, double-blinded peer-reviewed, and international academic journal published online.

The Usak University Journal of Educational Research accepts scientific, original research, and compilation studies in the field of educational sciences and teacher education, from pre-school to higher education, including postgraduate and adult education. The research areas the journal focuses on are: Teacher Education; Computer and Instructional Technologies Education; Open and Distance Education; Curriculum and Instruction; Educational Management, Inspection, Planning and Economics; Measurement and Evaluation in Education; Biology Education; Science Education; Physics Education; Chemistry Education; Mathematics Education; Special Education and Disability Education; Special Talented Education; Guidance and psychological counseling; Pre-school education; Primary education; Adult Education; Classroom Education; Geography Education; Philosophy Education; Social Studies Education; History Education; Turkish Education; Higher Education Studies; Other Studies in the Field of Education

The journal is published three times a year (April, August, and December) and publishes articles written in Turkish or English. Language control (proofreading) of articles submitted in English is the author's responsibility. Articles that are linguistically inadequate are not published until language validity is ensured.

The journal accepts original research and review studies that have not been previously published or sent to another journal for evaluation.

The journal editors, reviewers, and authors adopt the principles, standards, and recommendations regarding publication ethics determined by the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) and the International Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Manuscripts sent to the journal are first reviewed in terms of journal writing rules, scope, and form. Manuscripts that do not fall within the scope of the journal, do not comply with the spelling rules, and are not prepared in accordance with the template are not taken into the evaluation process.

It is mandatory to submit information about the Ethics Committee Permission Statement, Informed Consent Statement, Conflict of Interest Statement, Researcher Contribution Statement, and Support and Acknowledgment Statement (if any) regarding the studies submitted to the journal. If the manuscript was produced from a thesis or presented at a congress or symposium, it should be stated in the study.

"Ethics Committee Permission" is required for all kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require collecting data from participants using survey, interview, focus group study, observation, experiment, and interview techniques. It is stated in the study whether ethics committee approval and/or legal or special permission are required.

The authors are obliged to sign the Author Declaration Form for the article. Copyright and publishing rights of the author(s) are reserved. The authors declare that if the article is accepted for publication in the journal, it will be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Authors are required to upload similarity reports for each study submitted to the journal using plagiarism scanning software (Turnitin, iThenticate, etc.). Studies with a similarity rate of less than 20%, excluding bibliography, are examined. Candidate articles with a high similarity rate are returned to the author after editorial control.

The journal is a free journal and does not charge authors any fees for any reason during the article submission phase, evaluation process and publication phase.

The journal management has the right to publish or not publish the submitted articles and to make corrections to the articles when deemed necessary. The legal responsibility of an article published in the journal belongs to its author, and the author is deemed to have accepted this issue by submitting an article to the journal.

The journal follows a double-anonymous peer review policy. During the scientific study review process, the journal takes great care to make sure that authors, editors, and reviewers do not have any conflicts of interest. Manuscripts that are suitable in terms of scope, content, and form are sent by the editors to at least two reviewers who are experts in their fields for scientific evaluation. In the manuscript sent to the journal, all information about the authors (author names and institutions, etc.) is kept confidential (blinded) and sent to the referees. A double-blinded peer-review system is used in the review of studies. The article, which receives two publishable reports as a result of reviewer evaluation, is published in an issue deemed appropriate by the journal management. If one of the reviewer reports is positive and the other is negative, the article is sent to a third reviewer. In this case, it is decided whether the article will be published or not according to the report of the third reviewer.

If a violation of ethical rules is detected in studies submitted to the journal, the study is returned to the author. If it is determined that there is a violation of ethical rules in an article previously published in the journal, necessary actions are taken in the form of correction, retraction, statement of concern, or publication of an information note regarding the study. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior is investigated, even if discovered years after publication.

Publication Charge Policy

The Usak University Journal of Educational Research is a free-of-charge and open-access journal. No fee is requested from the authors for any reason during the article submission phase, evaluation period, and publication phase.

Plagiarism Policy

Authors are required to upload similarity reports for each study submitted to the journal using plagiarism scanning software (Turnitin, iThenticate, etc.). The similarity rate must be lower than 20%, excluding bibliography. Works without a plagiarism report are not taken into consideration. For studies with a high similarity rate after the editorial board plagiarism check, the responsible author is requested to correct the errors, and the study is returned to the author.

The Usak University Journal of Educational Research has adopted an open-access policy. Open access creates beneficial results for humanity by increasing the global exchange of information. The Usak University Journal of Educational Research also supports the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Detailed information about open-access policies can be found at https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read/

All articles published in the Usak University Journal of Educational Research are licensed under the "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License". This license grants the right to reproduce, share, and disseminate all published articles, data sets, graphics, and attachments in data mining applications, search engines, websites, blogs, and all other platforms, provided that the source is cited. Therefore, the Usak University Journal of Educational Research contributes to scientific studies by providing more access to its articles and a more transparent review process.