The article publication process consists of a series of stages in order to ensure that studies that meet scientific and academic qualifications are selected and published. In this process, articles are first evaluated in terms of content and form. In this context, both scientific quality and compliance with spelling rules are examined. The referee process, guided by the editors and field editors, determines the adequacy of the article in terms of originality, contribution and scientific method. After these stages are completed, the article is reviewed in terms of foreign language and technical regulations and finalized and accepted for publication. The processes carried out in this journal are explained below as “Preliminary Review Process”, “Evaluation Process” and “Publication Process” steps.

1. Preliminary Review Process

At this stage, the article is examined in terms of form. The secretary first checks the documents that must be uploaded to the system. For studies that require ethics committee approval, the “Ethics Committee Report” and the document showing the plagiarism rate of the study (taken from Turnitin and Ithenticate) must be uploaded to the system at the article submission stage. For manuscripts initially submitted in Turkish, a new document will be required to be uploaded after translation into English during the publication process. The plagiarism rate should be below 20%. The article publication process consists of a series of stages in order to ensure that studies that meet scientific and academic qualifications are selected and published. In this process, articles are first evaluated in terms of content and form. In this context, both scientific quality and compliance with spelling rules are examined. The referee process, guided by the editors and field editors, determines the adequacy of the article in terms of originality, contribution and scientific method. After these stages are completed, the article is reviewed in terms of foreign language and technical regulations and finalized and accepted for publication. The processes carried out in this journal are explained below as “Preliminary Review Process”, “Evaluation Process” and “Publication Process” steps.

The article should not contain any elements that reveal the identity of the author or violate confidentiality. The section on the ethics committee in the manuscript should be filled in after the acceptance of the manuscript. Technical details such as the article's conformity with the journal template, compliance with the specified word or page limits, and the conformity of the titles, tables and references with APA 7 spelling rules are meticulously checked at this stage. If deficiencies or inconsistencies are detected, the article is sent back to the author and asked to be re-submitted after the deficiencies are completed. Articles that meet the requirements are assigned to the editor and taken into the evaluation process. 

2. Evaluation Process

The manuscript evaluation process consists of editor's pre-evaluation, field editor's pre-evaluation, referee process and field editor's final evaluation. The processes expected to be followed at these stages are explained step by step below.

2.1. Preliminary Editorial Review

At this stage, it is evaluated whether the article is appropriate for the purpose and scope of the journal, whether the study has an original value and whether it makes a meaningful contribution to educational sciences. Another factor checked at this stage is whether the article has an academically correct and effective writing style. The article is also examined in terms of scientific appropriateness. One or more of the sections of the article (structure of the introduction, research model, sample/study group, analyses, validity-reliability, findings, conclusion, discussion and recommendations) are checked for critical errors/deficiencies in scientific terms. Accordingly, quantitative articles are sent to the statistics editor when necessary. Articles that do not meet any of these criteria at a critical level are rejected. An appropriate field editor is assigned to the articles that are not rejected. 

2.2. Preliminary Field Editor Review

At this stage, field editors review the manuscripts for “contribution to the field” and “scientific relevance”. Manuscripts that do not make a sufficient contribution to the field and contain critical errors or deficiencies in scientific terms are rejected. Scientifically acceptable articles are submitted to the referee process.

2.3. Referee Review

Field editors initiate this process by appointing referees (at least two) with at least a PhD degree appropriate to the topic of the article. They monitor the referees' active participation in the evaluation process and appoint new referees to replace those who do not respond or do not upload the required files.

The referees evaluate the manuscripts in terms of originality, contribution to the field, level of access to relevant sources and research in the literature, accuracy and presentation of the methodology, findings and results, appropriateness of the academic language used, etc. The referees may accept the manuscripts they find suitable for publication as they are. Manuscripts that are weak in terms of language and expression rules, contain critical errors in scientific terms, and have no original value are rejected. In addition, referees may decide to make major or minor revisions for articles containing errors that can be corrected. The referees submit the revision files containing the necessary correction suggestions and the referee evaluation form to the journal via the system. They review articles written in English in English. 

Field editors appoint a third referee when one of the two referees decides to accept and the other to reject. However, manuscripts that are rejected by both reviewers are rejected. If both reviewers give a minor revision, the author is given a minor revision, and if one or both reviewers give a major revision, the author is given a major revision. Authors are obliged to make the requested corrections and improvements in full. However, they can send the corrections they do not deem appropriate to the referees through the system with the reasons. Field editors reassign reviewers who want to see the corrections made. Referees who request major revisions are always reassigned. Referees can review the revised manuscripts received from the authors and decide on their appropriateness, or they can request more than one revision if necessary. For the article to continue the process, it must be accepted by two referees.

2.4. Field Editor Final Review

Articles that receive at least two acceptance decisions from the referees are reviewed in detail by the field editors. At this stage, it is checked whether the requirements of the referees and the statistics editor are met. If deemed necessary, the article is sent back to the author. In cases where the requirements are not met, the article is rejected. Articles that are ready for publication are accepted and taken into the publication process. 

3. Publication Process

The publication process consists of language check process, article editing process and issue publishing process. The procedures followed at this stage are given below.

3.1. Language Check Process

This stage aims to ensure that the article meets international standards in terms of academic and linguistic quality. The editor carries out various procedures to ensure that the articles are suitable for the English language. First of all, he/she requests the authors to translate the articles written in Turkish into English, and refers the English articles to the language editor for evaluation. The language editor evaluates the article in terms of sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In line with the feedback from the language editor, the language editor initiates the proofreading process by contacting the authors for the articles that need proofreading.

During the proofreading process, authors can receive service from one of the accredited institutions listed below:

- Elsevier Editing Service (http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices/)
- SagePub Editing Service (https://languageservices.sagepub.com/en/)
- Wiley Editing Service (https://wileyeditingservices.com/)
- Taylor Francis Editing Service (https://www.tandfeditingservices.com/)

It is mandatory to obtain proof of proofreading from these institutions and this document must be uploaded to the journal system together with the revised final manuscript. Alternatively, authors can also get service from AJI Language Editing Service during the proofreading process. For this, they should contact the editor at eajijournal@gmail.com 

Manuscripts that are not uploaded to the system with the proofreading document will be rejected. For articles that do not require proofreading or proofreading, a publication editor is appointed and the article editing process begins.

3.2. Article Editing Process

The publication editor makes the necessary edits to make the article conform to the journal's format. He/she checks whether all elements in the article, from headings to graphics, comply with the journal standards. They also edit the bibliography to conform to the style of the journal and international standards. In the final stage, the editor proofreads the entire text of the article in detail and corrects any spelling and wording errors. The edited article is sent to the author and approval is obtained from the author. A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) number is provided for the approved article, ensuring the recognition and permanence of the article in the digital environment. This process makes the article suitable for international access. After the DOI process, the publication editor completes the article process and makes sure that the work is ready for publication.

3.3. Issue Publishing Process

The editor plans the new issue of the journal and assigns the articles to this issue accordingly. After the necessary editing and final checks of all articles are completed, the issue is opened for publication. At this stage, the entire content of the journal is ready to be presented to the readers and is officially published.