The Journal of Mediterranean Basin and African Civilisations (AKAF), published by Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, operates in full compliance with international publication ethics standards.
All works are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This licence allows users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or otherwise use them for any non-commercial purpose, provided that appropriate credit is given, a link to the licence is included, and any changes made are indicated.
AKAF follows the ethical standards issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, as set out by COPE, have been adopted by the journal’s editorial board. The principles can be accessed at: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing.
Transparency Principle
The journal’s operations are conducted with transparency and in accordance with established procedures.
As the scientific publication of the Mediterranean Basin and African Civilisations Research and Application Centre at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, AKAF began its international e-journal publishing activities in 2019. It publishes original scholarly works at both national and international levels on the languages, histories, literatures, arts, and cultures of Mediterranean and African countries with which Turkey has historical and cultural ties.
While research- and analysis-based studies from all disciplines within the context of the social sciences and humanities relating to Mediterranean and African civilisations are considered, the journal particularly welcomes articles, translations, reviews, and book notices in Turkish or English in the fields of language, literature, translation studies, history, folklore, sociology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, art history, and related interdisciplinary areas.
The journal is published twice a year—at the end of June and December, or at the latest during the first week of the following month. The system remains open for submissions year-round. The article submission and review process is conducted via the DergiPark platform, allowing relevant parties to access information and track each stage of the process.
Authors submit their manuscripts through DergiPark, a platform providing hosting and editorial process management for peer-reviewed academic journals in Turkey. For more information on DergiPark, see: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/page/about.
All correspondence and processes of the journal are conducted through DergiPark’s highly secure and continuously updated system. Article files, correspondence, and process records are archived via DergiPark.
As a rule, accepted articles are published in the next available issue. However, the Editorial Board may decide to schedule certain articles for a later issue depending on the number of accepted works or their thematic focus. In such cases, authors will be informed accordingly.
Open Access Policy and Copyright
AKAF is an open-access journal. Authors retain the copyright of their works published in AKAF, which are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This licence permits the sharing, copying, and reproduction of the work in any medium or format, as well as its adaptation, transformation, and building upon it—provided that appropriate credit is given, a link to the licence is included, and the work is not used for commercial purposes. However, without written permission, neither the whole nor any part of the journal or its contents may be reproduced or quoted inappropriately or without proper citation.
AKAF does not charge any fees for submissions. Articles are published via the DergiPark system in accordance with its open-access policy. Submissions may be in Turkish or English. [The Copyright Agreement Form can be downloaded here.]

Authors’ Responsibilities
• Submitted manuscripts must align with the journal’s aims and scope. Authors are responsible for ensuring their work complies with scientific and ethical standards. Practices such as plagiarism, duplication, fabricated authorship/denial of authorship, data fabrication, redundant publication, copyright infringement, and undisclosed conflicts of interest are considered unethical. If an ethical breach is discovered after publication, the article will be removed from the system.
• Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the journal’s submission guidelines. Submissions not meeting these requirements will be rejected before editorial evaluation and peer review. In such cases, the author must make the necessary revisions and submit a new application.
• Authors must upload a signed, scanned copy of the Ethics Statement Form, confirming that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration in another journal or language.
• Authors are required to obtain a plagiarism report and upload it as an additional file to the system. The similarity rate must not exceed 20%. For works with a similarity rate of 20% or higher, the editorial board has the right to request revisions or reject the submission, depending on the nature of the similarity. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism will be returned, and responsibility for such violations lies entirely with the author.
• Manuscripts should be submitted via the Article Tracking System at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaf. Authors can track the peer review process through their personal account using their email address and password.
• Material subject to copyright (e.g., tables, figures, or extended quotations) may be used only with the necessary permissions and acknowledgements. The works or contributions of other authors, as well as consulted sources, must be used appropriately and cited in the references. Individuals who did not make a direct academic or scientific contribution to the research should not be listed as authors. The order of authorship must reflect the collective agreement of all authors, and all authors must confirm this order by signing the Copyright Agreement Form. A digital copy of the signed form must be uploaded to the system at the submission stage.
• For translated works, written permission must be obtained from the author or copyright holder and included with the submission.
• Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship but contributed to the study (e.g., technical support, editorial assistance, general guidance, financial or material support) should be acknowledged in a “Thanks / Acknowledgements” section.
• Authors must disclose any financial relationships, conflicts of interest, or competing interests that could influence the results of the research or its interpretation.
• If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obliged to promptly notify the editor and cooperate to correct or retract the article as necessary.
• Authors must hold the rights to use the data presented in the work, have obtained the necessary permissions for research/analysis, and, if applicable, possess documentation of consent from research participants.
• Manuscripts may not be submitted to more than one journal at the same time. A new submission can be made only after the conclusion of the previous submission’s review process.
• Changes to author responsibilities (e.g., adding or removing authors, changing the order of authors) cannot be proposed once the review process has begun.
• Submissions derived from theses, or presented as papers at congresses, symposia, or meetings, are eligible for publication. In such cases, authors must indicate to the editor which event the work was derived from, and this information must also be provided as a footnote in the article.
• Submissions must be received at least 30 days prior to the publication of the next issue in order to be considered for that issue; otherwise, they may be scheduled for a subsequent issue, depending on the journal’s publication capacity.
• The scientific, content-related, linguistic, and legal responsibility for works published in the journal rests entirely with the author(s).
Research Ethics
The Journal of Mediterranean Basin and African Civilisations (AKAF) upholds international standards of research ethics. Compliance with ethical principles is the responsibility of the author, and internationally recognised research ethics must be observed.
• For research involving human participants (e.g., surveys, interviews, experiments), Ethics Committee Approval must be obtained from the relevant institution. Studies lacking such approval will not be accepted. The Ethics Committee Approval document must be uploaded to the system along with the manuscript.
• In human research, it must be stated in the methodology section that informed consent has been obtained from participants.
• Participants in human studies must be informed about the purpose, method, and any potential risks of the research. Participation must be voluntary, not mandatory.
• If the research is conducted in an institution or organisation, documentation proving that the necessary permissions have been obtained from that institution must be provided.
• Any conflicts of interest in the research must be disclosed.
• For research involving children, individuals under guardianship, or those with a documented illness, consent from their legal guardian must be obtained and documented when required.
Responsibilities of Editors and Associate Editors
• The editor is responsible for overseeing the entire editorial and peer review process, from submission to publication, and for ensuring the quality and performance of the journal.
• The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for coordination among editors and associate editors, as well as for maintaining the overall quality of the publication. As a rule, editors handle manuscripts within their areas of expertise.
• Editors evaluate manuscripts independently of the authors’ ethnicity, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, or political views.
• Each manuscript is assigned both an editor and an associate editor, whose names are visible to authors in the DergiPark system. The assignment of manuscripts is based on the expertise of the editors and associate editors and is determined in advance, although exceptions may be made in cases of workload or leave.
• Editors assess submissions in terms of quality, content, and contribution to the field, and decide whether the manuscript will proceed to the review process. At this stage, manuscripts may be rejected without entering peer review.
• Associate editors check whether the manuscript files are complete and compliant with the journal’s author guidelines, ensuring that authors make any necessary revisions. Once the preliminary review is complete, associate editors forward the manuscripts to the relevant field editor for referee assignment.
• Associate editors maintain communication with authors, provide editors with updates and reminders, and help ensure an efficient process.
• Following the initial editorial evaluation, manuscripts deemed suitable are sent for peer review according to the principles of double-blind peer review and the transparent peer review model as applicable. Suitable manuscripts are sent to two national or international referees for evaluation.
• Editors prevent any conflicts of interest among authors, editors, and reviewers. If a referee fails to complete the review within a reasonable period, editors may contact them to expedite the process or appoint a new referee. Editors also monitor referees’ performance in terms of content, timeliness, and tone.
• Referees are selected from among experts in the relevant academic field who hold a doctoral degree and have published in that area. Since AKAF operates via the DergiPark system, referees must also be registered with DergiPark. Care is taken to avoid appointing referees from the same institution and/or department as the author, and peer evaluation principles are considered in referee selection. Information on referees from Turkish universities is obtained from the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Academic website, while referees from abroad are identified via Publons.
• Following referee evaluation, editors review the reports, and the Editorial Board decides whether to accept the manuscript, send it to a third referee, or reject it. In cases of rejection, the reasons and referee reports are sent to the author.
• All information regarding submitted manuscripts remains confidential until publication. The Editor-in-Chief may, with the author’s knowledge, issue a correction or publish an erratum when necessary.
• The final decision on publication rests with the Editorial Board.

Reviewer Responsibilities
• Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts submitted for review objectively.
• Reviewers should accept or decline review requests based on whether the manuscript aligns with their field of expertise, and they should inform the editors of their decision as promptly as possible to ensure the smooth operation of the journal.
• Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of all information related to the manuscripts they agree to review. If they detect any copyright infringement or plagiarism, they must report this—along with their reasoning—to the Editorial Board and prepare a written statement on the matter.
• By accepting a review invitation, reviewers confirm that they will complete the evaluation within the specified time frame. If this is not possible, they are expected to notify the editors without delay.
• Reviewers are expected to provide reasoned and constructive feedback. This practice supports the development of academic work and ensures that authors understand the basis of editorial decisions regarding their submissions.
• Reviewers must record their decision—together with a detailed rationale—in the “Notes to the Author” section of the review form.