Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethical Principles
The publication process in the Akdeniz Theology Journal was created to develop and present information objectively. For this reason, the processes applied to reflect the quality of the authors and the quality of the institutional work that supports the authors. The articles reviewed embody and encourage the scientific method. In this respect, it is important that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees and editors) comply with the standards regarding ethical principles.
Akdeniz Theology Journal expects all stakeholders to bear the ethical responsibilities described below within the scope of publication ethics.
The ethical duties and responsibilities adopted by the Akdeniz Theology Journal have been prepared by taking into account the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and policies.

Actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics:
Plagiarism: Presenting others’ ideas, methods, data, practices, writing, forms or studies partly or wholly without referencing to the owners according to scientific rules,
Forgery: Producing data that is not based on research, editing or changing the presented or published study by basing it on fictitious data, reporting or publishing these, claiming research has been done while actually it has not,
Distortion: Falsifying the obtained data and the research records, showing the methods, devices and materials that were not used in the study as if they had been used, not taking the data that is not suitable to the research hypothesis into consideration, changing the data and/or results to make them be appropriate to the related theory and presuppositions, falsifying or manipulating the research results in accordance with the advantages of the people and the institutions that support the researcher,
Re-publishing: To present more than one work containing the same results of a research separately in evaluations for associate professorship exams and academic promotions,
Dissection: Dissecting the results of a study in a way that would destroy the integrity of the study and inappropriately, publishing them separately without referencing each study, thus increasing the number of publications to present them in associate professorship exam evaluations and academic promotions,
Undeserved Authorship: Including those who don’t have an active contribution among authors, not including those who have an active contribution among authors, changing the ranking of authors without a reason and inappropriately, excluding the names of those with active contribution from the study during publication or in next publications, making one’s name included – by exerting influence – in authors despite having no active contribution,
Other Types of Violation of Ethics: Not naming the people, institutions and organizations and their contributions to the study openly in the publication of the research made by the support of those, not following the ethical rules in studies done on humans or animals, not respecting the rights of patients in the publications, sharing the contents of a study appointed as referee before its publication, using the sources, places, opportunities and devices provided for scientific researches out of their purposes, accusing someone of violation of ethics in a baseless, injudicious and malicious way.

Ethics Statement
- Ethical rules must be followed in research on humans and animals.
- For the intellectual and artistic works used, it must be stated that copyright regulations are complied with.
- For the use of scales, questionnaires, photographs, etc. belonging to others, permission from the owners must be obtained and specified.
- In case presentations, it should be stated that the “informed consent form” has been obtained.
- If the research is conducted in the areas listed below, it is mandatory to upload “Ethics Committee Permission” in the appendix of the study.

Research Requiring Ethics Committee Authorization
All kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group, observation, experiment, interview techniques,
Use of humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes,
Clinical trials in humans,
Research on animals,
Retrospective studies in accordance with the law on the protection of personal data.

Publication of Studies Based on Surveys and Interviews
Akdeniz Journal of Theology adopts the Committee on Publication Ethics' (COPE) “Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” and “Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers” to provide ethical assurance in scientific periodical publishing.
In this context, the following points should be followed in the studies submitted to the journal:
1) For research in all disciplines that require ethics committee approval (ethics committee approval must be obtained, this approval must be stated and documented in the article.
2) In studies requiring ethics committee permission, information about the permission (name of the committee, date and number) should be included in the method section, as well as on one of the first/last pages of the article; in case reports, information on the signing of the informed consent form should be included in the article.

Author's Responsibilities
Article Writing
All authors listed as authors must have contributed significantly to the research. Other contributors should be listed as co-authors. Contributors should be referred to as 'contributors'. In joint studies, the corresponding author should submit the study to the journal with the consent of the other authors. Those who did not contribute directly to the research should not be listed as authors.
Originality and Authenticity
All data in the research must be real and authentic. The author should provide an objective discussion of the significance of the study based on accurate data. Deliberately providing false information is unacceptable unethical behavior.
Multiple, Unnecessary or Simultaneous Publication
The author should not attempt to publish the same research in more than one journal or to republish a previously published article, and should comply with the ethics of scientific research and publication. Such attempts are unacceptable immoral behavior.
References
It is mandatory to show/cite all sources used in the studies.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
All authors should clearly declare any financial and conflicts of interest that may affect the results or interpretation of the study. If financial support was received for the study, the sources should be indicated.
Publication Fee
Authors are not charged any fee for all research published in our journal.
Correction of Published Studies
It is the author's responsibility to notify the editor if significant deficiencies or inaccuracies are detected in the published work. The author should cooperate with the editorial team of our journal to take the necessary actions to correct the situation.
Article Withdrawal
The author can withdraw the work evaluated in the publication processes of our journal only at the pre-control stage. Manuscripts cannot be withdrawn at other stages of the publication process.
Authenticity and Plagiarism
Authors should aim to conduct and report original research. They should properly cite the works they have used. Unauthorized citation of other publications, including the author's own work, is an important ethical problem and a crime. When plagiarism is detected in studies submitted to our journal, it is immediately removed from the publication process. If it is detected after publication in our journal, the necessary information about the author and his/her work will be given to the necessary places.
Double Blind Reviewing
Since double blind refereeing is applied in our journal, author information should not be written in the article file.
Responsibilities of Referees
Contribution to editorial decisions
The referee is obliged to take into account the “Referee Evaluation Criteria” in the evaluation process from the moment he/she is assigned through the system and accepts the task. Assist editors in editorial decisions and help authors to improve their manuscripts through editorial communication. It should indicate the completion of other articles, works, sources, references, citations, rules and similar deficiencies related to the article.

Adhering to the timing
Any reviewer who does not feel qualified to review the manuscript proposal, or who knows that review of the manuscript cannot take place in a timely manner, should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review, so that a new reviewer can be appointed.

Confidentiality
Reviewed manuscripts should be kept confidential before publication.
A reviewer should not share the information contained in a study that he/she has been assigned to review with others before publication.
This also applies to reviewers who decline the invitation to review. The names of the reviewers are not disclosed/published.

Impartiality
Reviewers should be objective in their decision to publish the research they review.
Comments on the manuscript proposal should be made impartially, and suggestions should be made in such a way that the authors can use them to improve the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is not appropriate.

References
Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors. The reviewer should also inform the editor of any significant similarities between the manuscript under review and any other manuscript (published or unpublished).

Conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interest should be reported to the editor. There should be no conflict of interest between the reviewers and the stakeholders of the article under review. In case of any conflict of interest and assignment outside the field of expertise during the peer review process, it is recommended to inform the Editor of the situation and, if necessary, to withdraw from the review.

Ethics
If the referees detect any ethical violations, plagiarism, etc. in the manuscript at any stage of the review process, they are required to notify the Editor.
Reviewers acknowledge that manuscripts submitted for review are the private property of the authors.

Editorial Responsibilities
The Editorial Board has full responsibility and authority to accept or reject an article.
The Editorial Board does not have any conflict of interest regarding the articles it accepts or rejects.
In the publication process, studies are selected and evaluated according to scientific and academic criteria such as contribution to the field and originality.
When errors or omissions are detected in published research, it supports the publication or withdrawal of the correction.
Since the journal adopts double-blind refereeing, the names of the referees are withheld and not published.
The peer review process is central to the success of scientific publishing. Protecting and improving the refereeing process is part of our commitment.
Akdeniz Journal of Theology takes the necessary precautions with sensitivity to cases of violation of publishing ethics.
All kinds of complaints, suggestions, etc. regarding the studies published in Akdeniz Journal of Theology, publication processes and editorial team can be sent to ilahiyatdergi@akdeniz.edu.tr.
Any feedback from stakeholders is considered as an important contribution to R&D studies.

Publication Language
The publication language of Akdeniz Journal of Theology is Turkish. Arabic and English scientific studies are also published.

Publication Principles
All control and evaluation processes of the texts are reported and archived in the Dergipark system.
Articles are accepted between October 1 and January 15 for the March issue and April 1 and July 15 for the September issue. The system is closed for article submission outside of these date ranges.
Texts that are not adjusted according to the Spelling Rules will be returned to the author without being included in the evaluation process.
Mediterranean Journal of Theology publishes texts that have not been published elsewhere before.
Texts that are in the evaluation process in another publication will be returned to the author.
Akdeniz Journal of Theology publishes scholarly texts published in the field of theology. Texts published in the interdisciplinary field related to the field of theology can also be included in the evaluation process, taking into account their contributions to the field.
A maximum of one (1) work by the same author, regardless of its type, can be published in one issue.
A maximum of two (2) studies can be published in the same volume, provided that the type of publication is different.
Members of the editorial board of the journal can submit manuscripts to the journal, but they cannot take part in the publication process during the period when the manuscript is being evaluated.

Publication Policies
Akdeniz Journal of Theology has adopted the mission of contributing to the author and academic journalism as well as publishing qualified scientific research.
The Editorial Processes carried out by the Editorial team, who are experts in their fields and who work devotedly, have been determined in line with this mission.

Akdeniz Journal of Theology is the publication organ of Akdeniz University.
Akdeniz Journal of Theology is an international refereed journal.
Akdeniz Journal of Theology is published electronically.
Akdeniz Journal of Theology is published twice a year, in March and September.
All policies and processes of the Journal of Mediterranean Theology are determined by the editorial board.
Special issues can be published with the decision of the editorial board.
Changes in the publication policies and processes of the journal are announced on the official website of the journal.
Akdeniz Journal of Theology has a unique 6-stage Publication Process. Each stage in the dissemination process is carried out according to specific evaluation criteria within the framework of defined job descriptions and workflows.

Evaluation Policies
Texts in the article and translation genres are subjected to two types of analysis:
Evaluation in terms of form
Spelling Check: Texts are examined in terms of form, spelling rules, and compliance with the ISNAD Citation System. Authors of the texts that require correction must make their corrections within 11 days.
Plagiarism/Similarity Check: Texts are examined for plagiarism/similarity via Turnitin software. The plagiarism/similarity rate set by the Editorial Board is 15%. Manuscripts exceeding this rate are rejected without being included in the referee process.
Language Control: Abstract for Turkish manuscripts and Abstract and Abstract sections for manuscripts written in other languages are grammatically checked.
Proofreading and Redaction: Without interfering with the content of the text, corrections are made within the knowledge of the author regarding the language and style of the text in order to ensure unity of linguistic expression and spelling. After this stage, no corrections are requested from the author, but the text is sent to the author for final reading.

Academic Evaluation
Editorial Board Evaluation:
Studies submitted to the journal are reviewed by two editorial board members, taking into account the field.
The Editorial Board members review and evaluate the studies according to the Editorial Board Evaluation Criteria within the framework of a double blind evaluation system and make referee recommendations.
The articles reviewed and evaluated by the Editorial Board are subjected to a point ranking, and the first 25 articles are included in the evaluation process.
For Book and Symposium Reviews, the evaluation is carried out by the field editor assigned by the editor.

Referee Evaluation:
Texts are subjected to academic evaluation by referees determined by the editorial board according to the Referee Evaluation Criteria. During the referee evaluation process, if the referee requests, text corrections are sent to the author. The author indicates the corrections made in the text in the Author Correction Form.
If the articles receive positive reports from both referees, they are submitted to the final decision of the Editorial Board.
Articles with a negative report from one referee are returned to the author even if the other referee is positive.
It is important that authors do not exceed the deadlines given for corrections in order for the journal publication process to run smoothly. The manuscripts of authors who do not make their corrections within the specified deadlines will be removed from the evaluation process.

Refereeing Policy
Akdeniz Journal of Theology applies a double blind review system.
Confidentiality is essential in referee reports; for this reason, the names of the referees are not included in the journal's imprint.
Multiple articles can be submitted to one referee in one issue.

Archive Policy
The journal is sent to domestic and foreign libraries and international index institutions determined by the Editorial Board within one month from the date of publication.

Copyright Policy
From the date of submission to the Akdeniz Journal of Theology until the end of the evaluation process and from the date of publication, the manuscript may not be published in whole or in part in any visual, audio or printed media without the permission of the Editorial Board of the Akdeniz Journal of Theology, and may be cited with reference to the Akdeniz Journal of Theology.

Plagiarism Policy
The plagiarism/similarity rate determined by the Editorial Board is 15%. Manuscripts exceeding this rate are rejected without being included in the referee process.
Plagiarism / control of the studies is done with the Turnitin program, the similarity report is uploaded to Dergipark.

Financial Policy
Akdeniz Theology Journal is an open access journal, no fee is charged for the journal.
No fee is paid to the author for the published texts.
No fee is paid to the editorial board and referees.
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 Akdeniz Journal of Theology.