Balkan Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Balkan Journal of Social Sciences (BJSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original and qualified works with a scientific approach in the fields of social sciences and human sciences. 

Balkan Journal of Social Sciences aims to be a forum in terms of both theoretical and practical studies, especially in Balkan geography. In this context, BJSS includes original and qualified scientific studies on social sciences. The journal supports interdisciplinary and comparative studies, critical studies and alternative approaches in the social sciences.

BJSS is published biannually in June and December. The purpose of the journal is to make contributions for publishing qualified academic studies in social sciences and humanities.The languages of the journal areTurkish and English.

The articles published in the journal cannot be published or presented anywhere else unless permission is granted from the editorial board. The articles that are published either partially or completely cannot be used anywhere else unless reference is given. The articles that are sent to the journal has to be authentic, not previously published or sent to be published. The authors of the articles have to have a consensus regarding the order of the authors' names in the article.

Please use template (sample_template) to send articles to the Journal of BJSS. The plagiarism / similarity report of the submitted article generated from the plagiarism programs such as iThenticate and Turnitin should be uploaded as an additional file.The article should not contain any plagiarism in any way and the similarity rate should not exceed 15%. Articles that are not prepared by using the template of the journal and submitted to the journal without the plagiarism / similarity report of the article as an additional file are not taken into consideration.


· The articles should be in MS Word 2007 or higher version.

· The layout has to be custom-designed A4 paper (210 x 297 mm). The file format has to be MS Word. The font has to be Times New Roman or a similar one with a size of 10. The file has to have single-line spacing. Page margins have to be 2 cm on the top and 1.5 cm for all the other sides. The pages have to be numbered.

· The articles should include the name(s), surname(s), institutional title(s), institution name(s), e-mail address(es), and ORCID of the author(s). In addition, the corresponding author has to be indicated in the articles.

· The title of the article has to be consistent with the content and must reflect the content in the best way possible. The title has to be boldface with a font size of 13. The first letter of all the words has to be uppercase. The title has to be left-aligned. The articles should have an English title with the same properties.

· The article needs to include an “Abstract” at the beginning not less than 75 words nor longer than 120 words summarizing the content in the most precise and concise way. The abstract must not include references, figures, and table numbers. Leaving a space under the abstract, the author has to add keywords including at least 3 and utmost 5 words. The keywords have to be consistent with the content and should be comprehensive. Similarly, the articles have to include an English title, keywords, and abstract.

· BJSS is published in Turkish and English. However, each issue may include articles written in other languages unless they exceed one third of the journal. The articles written in other languages have to have Turkish and English titles, keywords, and abstracts in addition to those written in its original language.

· The works that are presented in any symposium or congress can be published after specifying the name, place and the date of the congress. The works (BAP, TUBITAK, Word Bank ect.) that are supported by a research organization or fund have to indicate the name of the supportive organization and the number of the project.

· The articles should be organized as introduction, body, and conclusion. Subtitles and lower-level titles must have a font size of 11 (12 nk before and 6 nk after) and be left-aligned.

· Formulas and equations should be written via Math Type or Word Equation Editor.

· The study has to comply with grammatical rules. The latest Turkish Language Association Spell Check has to be employed regarding the use of punctuation, spelling of the words, and abbreviations. The text is expected to be clear and simple. No expressions out of purpose and scope must be included in the work. The valid scientific methods have to be employed to prepare the article. The content, purpose, scope, justification, etc. of the study have to be provided as much as needed in a certain order.

· An article is expected to include abstract, sections of the main text, references, and appendices (if there is any) respectively. An article has to have an “Introduction” and “Conclusion” sections. The “Introduction” is definitely expected to include the purpose, importance, period, scope, data methodology, and outline of the study. If it is necessary for the subject to be dealt with, literature review can be given in this section as well. The “conclusion” needs to be in compliance with the study’s purpose and scope. It needs to be given generally and concisely. The points that are not mentioned within the text must not be included in “conclusion”. Headings, titles, and subtitles can be used to organize the text.

· Tables/Figures should be numbered and given with their titles. No vertical lines must be used to draw the tables. Horizontal lines can only be used to separate the subtitles within the table from each other. Table/Figure number has to be at the top left-aligned and non-Italic. The name of tables/figures has to be written with each word having its first letter uppercase. In addition, tables/figures have to comply with black and white print. If there is anything in the table that requires reference, the references must be given at the bottom of the table with in-text reference format.

· Headings, titles, and subtitles can be used to ensure an ordered information transfer. All the other titles except for the title of the article have to have a font size of 11. First-level titles should be uppercase but boldface; the first letters of all the words in the second-level titles should be uppercase and not boldface; and only the first letters of the words in the third-level titles should be uppercase, and these titles have to be italic. In addition, the titles have to be organized with 6 nk before and after the title.

1. First-Level Title


1.1. Second-Level Title

1.1.1. Third-level Title


· The citation format is APA (American Psychological Association) Style 6th Edition. The authors have to follow the spelling principles and format specified by American Psychological Association in American Psychological Association Publication Manual regarding both quotations and bibliography. For detailed information: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx

(i) Reference to a book:

Stopford, M. (1997). Maritime Economics. New York: Routledge.

(ii) Translated book:

Davison, A. (2006). Türkiye’de Sekülerizm ve Modernlik. Tuncay Birkan (Trans.). İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.

(iii) Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Esen, Ö., & Aydın, C. (2018). Tunisia. In: S. Özdemir, S. Erdoğan, & A. Gedikli (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Sociopolitical Factors Impacting Economic Growth in Islamic Nations (pp. 68-94). USA: IGI Global.

(iv) Reference to a journal publication:

Esen, Ö. (2016). Security of the energy supply in Turkey: Prospects, challenges and opportunities. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 6(2), 281-289.

(v) Two authors:

Aydin, C., & Esen, Ö. (2018). Does the level of energy intensity matter in the effect of energy consumption on the growth of transition economies? Evidence from dynamic panel threshold analysis. Energy Economics, 69, 185-195.

(vi) Theses and dissertations:

Esen, Ö. (2013). Sürdürülebilir Büyüme Bağlamında Türkiye’nin Enerji Açığı Sorunu: 2012-2020 Dönemi Enerji Açığı Projeksiyonu. Doctoral Dissertation. Erzurum: Atatürk University.

(vii) Internet Based Sources

IATA (2016). Annual Reports Review. (15.10.2017), Retrieved from https://www.iata.org/about/Documents/iata-annual-review-2016.pdf

· In-text references have to be indicated in brackets where relevant.

(i) For single author: (Surname, Date of Publication: Page Number)

(ii) For multiple authors: (Surname et al., Date of Publication: Page Number)

· The manuscripts that comply with the publication principles of BJSS are passed through plagiarism checking. The journal uses the turnitin software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. If the similarity level is above 20%, the manuscript is not accepted for publication.

· The articles are sent through Online Application System for the first step of the publication. An automatically-sent confirmation message is sent to your e-mail address upon the completion of the application. For further information, please contact the editor via https://dergipark.org.tr/BJSS.

All stakeholders (authors, readers, researchers, publishers, referees and editors) of Balkan Journal of Social Sciences BJSS are expected to bear the following ethical responsibilities within the scope of publication ethics. While creating the following ethical duties and responsibilities, the "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) were taken into consideration.

Editor (s)
• The editor and field editor(s) should acknowledge receipt of submitted manuscripts to the authors within seven days. The editor and field editor(s) have responsibility for deciding which of the submitted manuscripts could be published.
• The editor and field editors are responsible for the equal, fair and timely completion of the evaluation process through expert referee(s) in the relevant field. Unless any additional referees are required, the editor or field editors ensures that the article submitted to the journal is evaluated by at least two external and independent reviewers.
• Studies without plagiarism / similarity report are rejected by the editor or field editors.
• The unpublished data, information and method in the submitted manuscripts should not be used by anyone in her/his study without the written permission of the author.
• The submitted manuscripts should be evaluated in accordance to the framework of solely intellectual norms in regardless of social, religious, cultural, economic background of authors.
• The submitted manuscripts should not be disclosed by the editor or field editors to anyone other than the author (s) of the study and referees. The confidentiality of all articles submitted to the journal, communications with relevant parties and the identity of referees must be protected by the editor and the field editor.
• Individual and joint articles of the editor, members of the editorial board, and editors and editorial board members of the past years are not included in the publication / evaluation process of the journal.
• The final decision concerning the acceptance or rejection of the submitted manuscripts belongs to the editor. The decision should be made according to the originality and significance of the submitted manuscripts.
• The editor should not oblige to the authors to cite any article in the journal or other study in the other journals for the acceptance of the articles submitted to the journal.
• The editor or field editor(s) are responsible for following processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards.

Referee(s)

• The referees who feel that they do not have sufficient qualification about the study or are unable to complete the review process on time should leave their evaluation duty by informing the editor or the field editors.
• Referees should make their evaluations in accordance with the confidentiality principle. Referees should not share or discuss information on the submitted study with no one except the editor and the field editor(s).
• Referees should not disclose and share any data/content and opinions of the submitted manuscripts and should not use them for their personal interest. Furthermore, the referees should not utilize any data of the unpublished paper.
• The criticism of the referees should be based on objective and scientific perspective. The referees should avoid from personal criticism against the author(s). The referees should express their opinions with supporting arguments.
• Referees should provide clear and detailed reasons for the rejected manuscripts.
• If the referees detect any similarities between the assigned manuscript and another published articles in the journal or in another journal, they should notify the editor about this situation.
• Referees should not evaluate manuscripts whose authors have conflict of interest with them.
• The proposal of the referees appointed to evaluate the paper should be scientifically reasonable for referencing their own work.
• Referees can recommend their or their partner’s studies to be cited. However, this should be scientifically reasonable without the intention of increasing their citations.

Author(s)

• Authors who submit a research article to the journal should make sure that the content of the article includes original results and discussions that emphasize the importance of the study.
• The author (s) must have a document showing that they have the rights to use the data used, the necessary permissions for the research / analysis or that they have carried out the authorization procedures for the experimental subjects.
• Authors should basically not publish a text describing the same research in more than one article and submit it to a journal.
• Authors should not publish the results of basically the same research in more than one article and should not send them to the journals.
• The author (s) should not submit the same article, partially or entirely, to more than one journal. This type of behavior is unethical and not accepted by the journal.
• Authors should provide data on their work within the framework of ethical principles. The publisher, editor, and referee may request the raw data that underpin the work from the author(s).
• Studies submitted to the journal should contain sufficient source information and details. Fraudulent and deliberate misrepresentation is unacceptable as it will lead to unethical situations.
• Unethical issues such as plagiarism, controversial and misrepresentation are never acceptable in the content of an article.
• The submitted manuscripts should be original and the originality of the study should be ensured by the author(s). If others’ papers and/or words are used in the context of the submitted manuscript, the reference should be provided in accordance to appropriate style. Also, excerpts should be in an appropriate style in accordance to the writing rules of the journal and scientific ethics. Authors must cite previous publications that affect the essence of their submitted work.
• Authors are obliged to declare a conflict of interest and the organizations and financial resources that support their submitted work.
• Any person contributing to the design, implementation, or interpretation of the submitted manuscript should be identified in the study. All significant contributors should be listed following the first author. Other contributors should be added to the "Acknowledgment" part of the study.
• If the author detects a material error or flaw in the published manuscript in the journal, the author is obliged to immediately report this situation to the editor or publisher of the journal and to cooperate with the editor to correct the existing error or flaw.

Balkan Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi'nde makale gönderim ücreti, makale işlem ücreti veya başka adlarla ne yazarlardan ne de okuyuculardan hiçbir işlem için ücret talep edilmemektedir. Makalelerin yayınlanmasında ve hakem sürecinde yazarlardan herhangi bir ücret talep edilmemektedir. Ayrıca, Balkan Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi'nde yayımlanan makalelerin okunması ve indirilmesi de ücretsizdir.