1. General Principles

● Manuscripts submitted for publication must not have been previously published, scheduled for publication, or under review by another journal.
● The journal accepts manuscripts in Turkish and English.
● All manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with APA 7 formatting guidelines.
● If the manuscript is based on a paper presented at a conference, symposium, or academic meeting, or derived from a thesis, this must be indicated in a footnote.
● Articles arising from funded projects must include the supporting institution(s) and project number.
● Each author may publish only one (1) article in the same year (excluding special issues).

 

2. Peer Review and Evaluation Process

● Manuscripts are evaluated through a double-blind peer review process. Therefore, the main text must not contain any information that may reveal the identity of the author(s) (name, affiliation, acknowledgments, etc.). Such information may be added after the review process is completed.
● Author information (name, affiliation, ORCID, and contact details) must be provided only on a separate title page, uploaded independently of the manuscript.
● Manuscripts are published only after receiving positive reports from at least two reviewers. If one reviewer recommends acceptance and the other recommends rejection, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer. The third reviewer’s decision is final.
● Translations deemed valuable for the field may be published without peer review upon the decision of the Editorial Board.
● Only one review article may be included in each issue.
● Manuscripts with a similarity rate exceeding 15% (excluding references and bibliography) will not be considered for evaluation.
● Submissions that do not comply with the journal’s publication guidelines may be rejected without peer review.
● Accepted manuscripts may be published as “early view” before the release of the issue.

 

File Anonymization (for Double-Blind Review)

To keep your name hidden from reviewers, in addition to removing identifying details from the text, please also clean the file’s hidden information:
● Remove the document properties and personal information embedded in the file (especially the “Author” field).
● Delete all comments in the document.
● Turn off tracked changes and accept all changes.
These actions can be carried out through Word’s relevant menus; menu names and locations vary by version and operating system. The author is responsible for ensuring the file is fully anonymized.

 

3. Article Types and Length

● Research articles must be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, including abstracts, footnotes, and references.
● Review articles must be between 6,000 and 8,000 words.
● Book reviews must be between 1,500 and 3,000 words, including footnotes and references.
● Manuscripts must include Turkish and English abstracts of 150–200 words. Abstracts should clearly state the scope, aim, method, and key findings of the study. Five keywords must be provided below each abstract.
● For Turkish-language articles, an extended abstract in English of 700–1000 words must also be provided.

 

4. Ethical Principles and Responsibilities

● Manuscripts must not include any information revealing the identity of the author(s).
● Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their submissions.
● No submission or evaluation fees are charged to authors.
● Copyright of all published manuscripts belongs to the journal. No royalties are paid to authors.
● For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the relevant documents must be submitted with the manuscript.
● If applicable, financial support, conflict of interest statements, and acknowledgments must be provided under separate headings.
● If generative AI tools were used in preparing the manuscript, this must be declared using the journal’s Declaration of Generative AI Use form, submitted together with the manuscript.

 

________________________________________

WRITING GUIDELINES

 

1. General Principles

● Manuscripts must be uploaded to the journal system in Word (.docx) format.
● The journal accepts manuscripts in Turkish and English.
● All texts must be prepared in accordance with APA 7 (American Psychological Association, 7th edition) guidelines.
● In the template, only the fields meant for text entry are editable, and these are highlighted in yellow on screen. This highlight is normal: it appears only on screen, does not show in printouts or PDF exports, and does not need to be turned off.

 

2. Formatting

● Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing
● Margins: 2.5 cm (top, bottom, left, right)
● Paragraph indent: First line indented 1.25 cm
● Page numbers: Placed in the bottom right corner
● Page size: A4, portrait
● Paragraph spacing: 6 pt
● Block quotations: Indented 1 cm from both sides, 10 pt, single spacing
● Footnotes: 9 pt
● Table text: 10 pt

 

Heading Structure

● Turkish and English main titles: All capital letters, 14 pt, bold
● Subheadings: 12 pt, bold, title case
● Lower-level subheadings: 12 pt, italic, title case
● All headings must begin 1 cm from the left margin.

 

Manuscript Structure

● Turkish title
● Turkish abstract (150–200 words)
● Keywords (5 words, separated by commas, lowercase except proper nouns)
● English title
● Abstract (150–200 words)
● Keywords (5 words, separated by commas, lowercase except proper nouns)

● Introduction
● Main text
● Conclusion
● References
● Extended abstract — for Turkish-language manuscripts (English, 700–1000 words)
● Appendices (if any)

 

Citation and Reference Guidelines

● APA 7 must be used for citations and references.
● Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, or the Word reference tool must be used for managing citations.

 

In-text citation examples:

○ Single author: (Eco, 1988, p. 24)
○ Two authors: (Papacharissi & Rubin, 2004)
○ Three or more authors: (Rubin et al., 2009) → “et al.” must be used in English texts, while “vd.” is used in Turkish texts.
○ Same author, multiple publications in the same year: (Bucher, 2019a), (Bucher, 2019b)
○ Secondary source: (as cited in Massarani, 2017, p. 15)

● Only works cited in the manuscript should appear in the reference list, arranged alphabetically.
● For English texts, standard spelling and punctuation guidelines must be followed.
● For Turkish texts, the TDK Spelling Guide (TDK İmla Kılavuzu) must be followed for spelling and punctuation.

 

Reference Examples

● Single-author book: Oskay, Ü. (2014). Kitle iletişiminin kültürel işlevleri. İnkılap Kitabevi.
● Translated book: Eco, U. (2019). Foucault sarkacı (Ş. Karadeniz, Trans.). Can Yayınları. (Original work published 1988)
● Book with two or more authors: Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (2014). Anti-Ödipus: Kapitalizm ve şizofreni 1 (F. Ege, H. Erdoğan, & M. Yiğitalp, Trans.). Bilim ve Sosyalizm Yayınları.
● Edited book: Bottomore, T., & Nisbet, R. (Eds.). (2002). Sosyolojik çözümlemenin tarihi. Ayraç.
● Chapter in an edited book: Giddens, A. (2002). Pozitivizm ve eleştiriciler (L. Köker, Trans.). In T. Bottomore & R. Nisbet (Eds.), Sosyolojik çözümlemenin tarihi (pp. 243–291). Ayraç.
● Print journal article: Eco, U., & Pezzini, I. (1982). La sémiologie des Mythologies. Communications, 36(1), 19–42.
● Online journal article: Caoduro, E., & Baschiera, S. (2015). Retro, faux-vintage and anachronism: When cinema looks back. Necsus, Spring 2015. https://www.necsus-ejms.org/retro-faux-vintage-and-anachronism-when-cinema-looks-back/
● Unpublished dissertation/thesis: Özbaş Anbarlı, Z. (2017). Dijital uzamda yaşamak: Twitter’da gündelik hayat [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Anadolu Üniversitesi.
● Newspaper article: Vardan, U. (2025, June 21). Zombiler eşliğinde felsefi bir yolculuk. Hürriyet. https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/ugur-vardan/zombiler-esliginde-felsefi-bir-yolculuk-42846603
● Newspaper article (No author): Google is killing millions of web links to save a few bucks. (2025, August 1). The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/01/google-shuts-down-link-shortener/
● Website: Kemp, S. (2025, March 3). Digital 2025: Turkey. DataReportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-turkey
● Film: Pasolini, P. P. (Director). (1975). Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma [Film]. Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA).
● Social media:
 ○ Twitter: Smith, J. [@jsmith]. (2021, December 2). My new article on media literacy has just been published [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/jsmith/status/1234567890
 ○ Facebook: Brown, A. (2022, March 5). Reflections on digital citizenship and online learning [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/example
 ○ Instagram: Green, L. [@lgreen]. (2023, July 15). Behind the scenes of my fieldwork on media audiences [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/example
 ○ YouTube: Media Studies Channel. (2021, November 10). Understanding disinformation in digital media [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/example

 

CHECKLIST

Before submitting the manuscript, authors must ensure that:
● The title page has been uploaded as a separate file.
● The Copyright Agreement Form and required permissions have been attached.
● The article type (research/review/book review) has been specified.
● Turkish and English abstracts (150–200 words) have been prepared.
● For Turkish-language manuscripts, an extended abstract in English (700–1000 words) has been prepared.
● Turkish abstracts are included in English-language manuscripts.
● Five Turkish and five English keywords have been provided.
● Financial support, conflict of interest, and acknowledgments (if any) have been included.
● References have been formatted according to APA 7.
● The similarity report has been checked (must not exceed 15%).
● If AI tools were used, the Declaration of Generative AI Use form has been completed and uploaded.

CLAIMS conducts its publishing activities in accordance with national and international ethical standards. The principles of transparency, impartiality, and integrity are upheld, and the journal adheres to the COPE Core Practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Responsibilities of Authors

● Authors should submit only original and unpublished work.
● Authors must confirm that the submitted manuscript is not under review elsewhere.
● All sources must be cited accurately and completely; ideas and data belonging to others must not be used without proper attribution.
● Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the data and must provide the data to the editorial board upon request.
● Any conflicts of interest must be clearly declared.
● If an error is identified after publication, authors must notify the editor and cooperate in the correction or retraction process.
● Changes to the author list (additions, removals, or reordering) are permissible only with written consent and justified reasons.

2. Responsibilities of Editors

● Editors evaluate all submissions fairly, impartially, and confidentially.
● Double-blind peer review is applied; the identities of authors and reviewers are kept anonymous.
● Manuscripts that are scientifically inadequate or outside the scope of the journal may be rejected without peer review.
● In cases of suspected ethical misconduct, the necessary procedures are initiated in accordance with COPE guidelines.
● Editors with conflicts of interest withdraw from the evaluation process.
● In cases of plagiarism, data fabrication, data manipulation, or unethical authorship, editors cooperate with relevant institutions.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

● Reviewers evaluate manuscripts objectively, scientifically, and impartially.
● Scientific contribution and methodological rigor take precedence over personal opinions.
● Any suspicion of plagiarism or data manipulation must be reported to the editor.
● Information obtained during the review process must be kept confidential.
● Reviewers are obliged to complete their evaluations within the specified time.

4. Responsibilities of the Publisher

● CLAIMS takes necessary measures against plagiarism and ethical violations and initiates legal processes when required.
● The independence of editors and reviewers is protected.
● In accordance with the open-access policy, the intellectual property rights of published works are safeguarded.

5. Ethical Violations

● Plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, and unethical authorship practices are unacceptable.
● When such violations are identified, the manuscript is removed from the evaluation process, and legal and academic actions are initiated.

6. Ethics Committee Approval and Research Ethics

● Ethics committee approval is mandatory for research involving humans or animals.
● Ethics approval information (name of the committee, date, and approval number) must be stated in the manuscript.
● In studies involving human participants, informed consent must be obtained, and participant confidentiality must be protected.
● Compliance with personal data protection laws is required.

7. Reporting Ethical Violations

● Readers who detect ethical violations may contact the editor.
● If the violation is confirmed, the manuscript is retracted and publicly announced.
● Complaints are handled confidentially.

8. Complaints and Appeals

● Appeals to editorial or reviewer decisions must be submitted in writing.
● Appeals are reviewed impartially and, if necessary, referred to new reviewers.

Evaluation Process

CLAIMS is published twice a year (June and December). All procedures are conducted with transparency and adherence to ethical standards:

Manuscript Submission: Authors upload their manuscripts through the online submission system using the required template. A similarity report (Turnitin or equivalent) must be uploaded; manuscripts with a similarity rate above 15% are returned.

Technical Check: Manuscripts are reviewed for compliance with formatting requirements.

Editorial Assessment: Scope, content, and ethical compliance are evaluated.

Peer Review: Manuscripts are reviewed by at least two reviewers through a double-blind process. If necessary, a third reviewer is consulted.

Reviewer Reports: Authors are notified of acceptance, revision, or rejection decisions.

Revision and Final Decision: After revisions are submitted, the editor makes the final decision.

Final Proof: Accepted manuscripts are sent to authors for pre-publication proofreading.

Second Similarity Check: A final similarity scan is performed before approval.

Post-Publication Communication: Appeals and correction requests are handled transparently.

Open Access and Licensing

CLAIMS adheres to the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).
● All content is published under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license.
● Articles may be accessed, downloaded, shared, and adapted free of charge.
● Proper attribution is required when using or distributing the content.

No fees are charged to the author or his/her institution under any name.