Usul Islamic Studies

USUL exists to join the rivers flowing towards the ummah, to make it flow more abundantly, and to facilitate it to finally reach its goal. The origin of usul is based on the idea that we need to look at the originals and the centuries from the point where we are and again. Here, "usul" has two meanings: The originals of religious knowledge and the methods of reaching the right knowledge. Therefore, the aim of USUL is to show, through the articles it publishes, both the foundations of Islamic knowledge and the methods and means by which these foundations can be reached.

Usul Journal of Islamic Studies publishes previously unpublished articles in Turkish, Arabic and English in the field of theology; book, thesis, conference and symposium reviews and scientific interviews.

Subject Category:
Social Sciences: Education and Educational Research, Geography, Psychology, Sociology
Humanities: History, Fine Arts, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religion
Fields of Science: Tafsir, Hadith, Kalam, Sufism, Islamic Philosophy, Islamic History
Keywords: Religion, Tafsir, Qiraat, Quranic Studies, History of Sects, Theology, Sufism, Islamic Philosophy, Psychology of Religion, Sociology of Religion, Logic, Philosophy of Religion, Religious Music, Islamic Arts, Siyer, History of Religions, Turkish Islamic Literature, Religious Education

Publication Language
Full Text Publication Language: Turkish, English and Arabic

Article Submissions
Submitted manuscripts must be appropriate to the purpose and scope of the journal. Original, unpublished manuscripts that are not in the evaluation process in another journal and whose content and submission have been approved by each author are accepted for evaluation.

Readership
The target audience of our journal consists of academics, researchers, students and related professional and academic institutions and organizations.

Fee Policy
No fee is charged to the author or his/her institution under any name.
• There is no article submission/process management fee in the journal.
• No fee is paid to the author for the published texts.
• All financial and legal copyright transactions of translations are carried out by the translator.
• No financial support is provided to the translator for copyright fees or any other fees.
• The author is deemed to have accepted all financial, legal and scholarly responsibility as of the date of submission of the translation to the Journal of Sufism.

Copyright
The copyrights of the works published in the Journal of Usul Islamic Studies belong to their authors. Authors give permission for the intellectual work they submit to be published by the Journal of Usul Islamic Studies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

Originality of Articles
Usul Journal of Islamic Studies accepts studies that have not been published elsewhere before, provided that they are directly or indirectly related to the field of Sufism. Studies that are outside the purpose and scope of our journal are not published. However, published articles in foreign languages may sometimes be accepted.

Usul Islamic Studies is an international refereed journal published twice a year (June and December).

Usul Islamic Studies strictly adheres to Research and Publication Ethics in all types of articles. Usul Islamic Studies adopts the ethical publishing principles determined by the “Press Law”, “Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions”, “Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)”, “Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)”, “Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)”.
Submitted manuscripts should be appropriate to the purpose and scope of the journal. The manuscripts to be evaluated should be manuscripts that have not been published before or are not in the evaluation process in another journal, and the content and submission must be approved by each author. After the manuscript is submitted to the journal for publication, no name can be deleted from the author list, no new name can be added, and the order of authors cannot be changed without the written permission of all authors.
Plagiarism, duplication, false authorship or denied authorship, research/data fabrication, article slicing, sliced publication, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflict of interest are considered unethical behavior. All articles that do not comply with accepted ethical standards will be removed from publication. This includes articles that contain possible irregularities and improprieties detected after publication.
The content of a published article does not necessarily reflect the views of Usul Islamic Studies.

The publication processes applied in the Usul Islamic Studies are the basis for the development and dissemination of knowledge in an impartial and reputable manner. The processes applied in this direction are directly reflected in the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support the authors. Peer-reviewed studies are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees and editors) comply with the standards for ethical principles. Within the scope of the publication ethics of the Journal of Islamic Studies, all stakeholders are expected to carry the following ethical responsibilities.
Manuscripts are subjected to plagiarism scanning (Intihal.net or iThenticate) at the initial submission stage. The plagiarism report is not binding on its own; even if the similarity rate is expected to be less than 20%, the validity of the findings reflected in the report is decided by the final evaluation of the Editorial Board.

The author(s) submitting scientific articles for publication to the Usul Islamic Studies are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:
• The work submitted by the author(s) is expected to be original. In case the author(s) utilize other works or use other works, they are required to cite and/or quote them completely and accurately.
• Individuals who did not contribute intellectually to the content of the study should not be listed as authors.
• All manuscripts submitted for publication must disclose any conflicts of interest and relationships.
• The author(s) may be requested to provide raw data on their manuscripts within the framework of the evaluation processes, in such a case, the author(s) should be ready to present the expected data and information to the editorial board and scientific committee.
• The author(s) should have a document showing that they have the rights to use the data used, the necessary permissions related to the research/analyses, or that the consent of the subjects of the experiment has been obtained.
• In the event that the author(s) becomes aware of an inaccuracy or error in the published, early view or under review manuscript, they have an obligation to notify the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor in the correction or retraction process. Correction and retraction procedures will be carried out in accordance with the process approved by COPE.
• Authors cannot have their work in the submission process of more than one journal at the same time. Each submission can be initiated after the completion of the previous submission. Work published in another journal cannot be submitted to the Journal of Islamic Studies.
• It cannot be proposed to change the author responsibilities (such as adding an author, changing the author order, removing an author) of a study whose evaluation process has started.

The editors and field editors of the Usul Islamic Studies should have the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as open access:

The editors are responsible for every publication published in the Usul Islamic Studies. In the context of this responsibility, editors have the following roles and obligations
• Strive to meet the information needs of readers and writers,
• Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
• Carrying out processes to improve the quality of studies published in the journal,
• Supporting freedom of thought,
• Ensuring academic integrity,
• Maintaining business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• Demonstrating openness and transparency in terms of publication in matters requiring correction and clarification.

Blind review of all manuscripts directly affects the quality of the publication. This process provides confidence through objective and independent evaluation of the publication.
Usul Islamic Studies applies a double blind review process. In this process, the identities of the article authors are hidden from the selected referees. The peer review is carried out by external experts. All details that could lead the reviewers to recognize the authors are removed before the articles are sent to the reviewers. Likewise, the identities of the reviewers are kept confidential when their comments are forwarded to the authors.
Reviewers cannot contact authors directly, and reviews and comments are communicated through the journal management system (dergipark). In this process, reviewer comments on evaluation forms and full texts are forwarded to the author(s) through the editor. In this context, referees reviewing manuscripts for the Usul Islamic Studies are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:
• Accept to review only the manuscripts related to his/her field of specialization.
• They should evaluate with impartiality and confidentiality.
• If they think that they are faced with a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should refuse to review the study and inform the editor of the journal.
• In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, they should destroy the studies they have reviewed after the evaluation process. They can only use the final versions of the studies they have reviewed only after publication.
• Evaluate objectively only in relation to the content of the study. They should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns to influence the evaluation.
• Conduct the evaluation in a constructive and courteous manner. They should not make derogatory personal comments containing hostility, slander and insult.
• Carry out the work they accept for evaluation on time and in accordance with the ethical responsibilities above.
1. Confidentiality: Reviewers should keep all information about the manuscript confidential and treat it as privileged information. The content of the manuscript, author identity, referee evaluations and correspondence with the editor should not be disclosed to third parties.
2. Objectivity Standards: Reviews should be conducted objectively, without personal criticism of the author. Reviewers should not be influenced by factors such as the author's identity, past work, or personal opinions in making their evaluations.
3. Contribution to Editorial Decision: Reviewers should clearly express their views with supporting arguments. In their evaluations, they should take a clear position for acceptance or rejection of the manuscript and provide concrete evidence to justify this position.
4. Urgency: Reviewers should complete their review within a specific time frame. It is important that they adhere to the refereeing deadline set by the journal and report any delays.
5. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers should not review manuscripts where there are conflicts of interest arising from competition, collaboration, or other relationships or affiliations with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the manuscripts. When there is a potential conflict of interest, reviewers should notify the journal editor and withdraw from the review.
Usul Islamic Studies does not provide any explicit guarantee regarding the acceptance of manuscripts. The journal strives to complete the peer review process as quickly and efficiently as possible, and in case of delays, authors will be notified and given the option to withdraw their manuscripts.
Membership: The institutional affiliation of each author is the institution where most of their work is done. If the author changes institutions, his/her current address can be indicated as an attachment. Addresses cannot be updated or changed after the article is published. Author names are published as they appear in the accepted submission.
Author Identification: Authors are required to use their ORCID ID in manuscripts submitted for review. The ORCID ID makes it easier for authors to track their work and connect with each other.

Usul Islamic Studies is published by Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University.
• The editor is responsible for all processes of the studies submitted to the Usul Islamic Studies. In this framework, the editor is the decision-maker, regardless of economic or political gains.
• The independent editor is committed to the creation of the decision.
• The editor protects the ownership and copyright of every article published in the Usul Islamic Studies and undertakes the obligation to keep a record of every published copy.
• The editor has the responsibility to take measures against all forms of scientific misconduct, citation mongering and plagiarism.

The Editors (in conjunction with Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University) will take responsive measures when ethical concerns arise regarding a submitted manuscript or a published paper. Any reported unethical publishing behavior will be investigated, even if it occurs years after publication. If the investigation determines that the ethical concern is warranted, the parties involved will be notified of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note that may be relevant. This may include a formal notice published in the journal; a formal notice to the individual's employer/institution/organization; and a formal notice of misconduct to the relevant professional bodies.
Reviewers, authors and readers may duly submit objections or complaints to the editor and editorial board of the Journal of Islamic Studies. The journal management/editor is responsible for resolving objections and complaints carefully.
If you encounter any unethical behavior or content in the Usul Islamic Studies other than the ethical responsibilities mentioned above, please report it via e-mail to istam@izu.edu.tr.
The journal publisher, editor, referees, editorial board and authors are responsible for taking the measures deemed appropriate by COPE at every stage of publication against any misconduct.

• The article submission/process management of the Journal of Procedure is free of charge.
• No fee is paid to the author for the published texts.
• All financial and legal copyright transactions of translations are carried out by the translator.
• No financial support is provided to the translator for copyright fees or any other fees.
• The author is deemed to have accepted all financial, legal and scholarly responsibility from the date of submission of the translation to the Journal of Islamic Studies.