Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) principles of research and publication ethics must be adhered to for submissions to DSJOURNAL. Therefore, attention should be paid to avoiding plagiarism, data fabrication, distortion, redundant publication, ghost authorship, and omitting the names of non-contributing authors in the article preparation process. If any of these issues are identified, the respective article will be rejected during the editor's review.
Articles submitted for publication in the journal should be prepared in accordance with the rules of research and publication ethics. For studies requiring ethical committee approval, the approval should be obtained and documented in the article. In studies requiring ethical committee approval, information regarding the approval (committee name, date, and number) should be included in the methodology section and also on the first/last page of the article. Articles that require ethical committee approval but fail to submit the document will not be considered for evaluation and will be rejected. Additionally, permission should be obtained from the owners for the use of scales used in data collection, and this should be stated in the article.
DSJOURNAL is an open-access, free, peer-reviewed scientific journal available on all platforms. All information can be used with proper citation, and no fees are charged to authors or post-publication readers at any stage of the publication process.
Scientific Research Ethics
Scientific methods should be followed in obtaining, analyzing, interpreting, and reaching conclusions from the data. Non-scientific results cannot be presented as research findings.
Compliance with national and international agreements and obtaining permission from authorized authorities should be maintained during the research.
The use of data obtained in the study should be in accordance with the extent and form permitted by the authorities. Confidentiality of data that should not be presented should be maintained as a principle.
Researchers are obliged to report any adverse situations that may arise as a result of the research to relevant individuals and institutions. Each researcher has the right not to participate in the research due to these potential adverse situations.
Publication Ethics
Individuals who have not contributed to the research should not be listed as authors during the scientific research and writing stages.
Authors should avoid unethical practices such as irresponsible authorship, plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, biased sources, biased publications, and violations of human-animal ethics.
Authors should follow the citation system specified by the journal during the writing stage of the candidate article.
Unpublished or unsubmitted works should not be cited as sources.
The entirety or a part of any work cannot be published (plagiarized) without permission or without proper citation.
Authors should disclose the financial sources of the study if applicable.
Reviewer Ethics
Reviewers should be experts in the field addressed by the submitted manuscript. They are responsible for providing objective and clear critiques. They should not act according to their personal interests/opinions and should decline to review if necessary. Reviewers should consider the confidentiality of the texts during the reviewing process and refrain from sharing them with third parties. They should not extract information from the manuscript for their own work and should not pursue any academic/personal interests. They should provide clear and detailed justifications for rejecting a submitted manuscript. Reviewers should also consider the scientific research and publication ethics rules of the journal.
Editor Ethics
Editors are responsible for appointing at least two reviewers who are relevant to the subject of the work, considering the blind peer review process. They should facilitate communication between the reviewer(s) and the corresponding author. Editors should maintain transparent and objective relationships with authors and reviewers without discrimination. They should not use their position for personal and academic interests. They should provide clear and detailed justifications for rejecting submissions. Editors should also consider scientific research, publication, and reviewer ethics.
Publication Policy
1. DSJOURNAL is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original studies in the fields of International Relations, Security, Strategy, and Regional Studies in Turkish and English languages. Submissions that do not comply with the publication policy of DSJOURNAL will not be accepted.
2. Submitted studies should not have been previously published or currently under review elsewhere.
3. The opinions expressed in the published works are the responsibility of the authors.
4. Articles should be written in Turkish or English. The scientific and linguistic responsibility of the published works lies with the author/authors.
5. Before 2024, submitted articles were screened using plagiarism detection software before being sent to reviewers, and those with a similarity score exceeding 20% were returned to the authors. As of 2024, plagiarism screening is conducted at the time of submission, and the corresponding report must be uploaded to the system. Articles with a similarity score above 20% are automatically rejected.
6. The purpose of the article evaluation process is to ensure the publication of high-quality and original scientific studies. All articles published in DSJOURNAL are peer-reviewed and go through the evaluation process outlined below.
Preliminary Evaluation
Manuscripts submitted to the journal after undergoing plagiarism screening are first subjected to a preliminary evaluation by the Editorial Board and Publication Committee. Articles that are not deemed scientifically adequate, fall outside the scope of the journal, and/or do not comply with the journal's format are rejected before entering the peer review process.
During the preliminary evaluation conducted by the Editorial Board and/or the Publication Committee, feedback regarding the manuscript may be communicated to the author, and certain revisions may be requested.
Peer Review Process
Following the preliminary evaluation, the manuscript is sent to at least two reviewers selected by the Editorial Board and/or the Publication Committee. If deemed necessary by the Editor or the Publication Committee, the number of reviewers may be increased. Reviewers are chosen from the journal’s reviewer pool, considering their expertise in the relevant field.
The journal employs a double-blind peer review system, ensuring that both the reviewers' and the authors' identities remain anonymous throughout the evaluation process.
Reviewers evaluate the submitted manuscripts based on originality, methodology, contribution to the literature, presentation of findings, and the validity of conclusions drawn from the research. Reviewers may accept, reject, or request revisions (either format-related or content-related) from the authors.
For a manuscript to be accepted for publication, at least two positive reviewer reports are required. In cases where one review is positive and the other negative, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer for further evaluation.
As a general rule, authors are required to implement the revisions requested by the reviewers. However, they are also encouraged to express their own perspectives in response to reviewer comments. This is expected to create a research and learning synergy among the editor, author, and reviewer through scientific interaction.
During the revision phase, authors are expected to use the REFEREE'S ASSESSMENTS-AUTHOR'S RESPONSES file, which facilitates the re-evaluation of the manuscript by reviewers and editors, thereby accelerating the decision-making process. Additionally, applying revisions in colored fonts (e.g., red for the first reviewer's comments and blue for the second reviewer's comments) will further streamline the review process and positively impact the final decision.
In DSJOURNAL, opinion pieces and book reviews are not subject to peer review as a general rule. However, in cases deemed necessary, they may undergo the same review process as research articles. Book reviews and opinion pieces that do not require peer review are evaluated by the editorial team and published based on the editor's decision. (These articles are not assigned a DOI number.)
Based on the reviewers' reports, a decision is made on whether the manuscript will be accepted, revised, or rejected, and this decision is communicated to the author(s) via the DergiPark system.
Final Evaluation
Manuscripts that receive positive feedback from reviewers proceed to the publication process. However, even after receiving favorable reviews, the editorial team, publication board, or advisory board may request further improvements or revisions to enhance the scientific quality of the manuscript. The primary goal at this stage is to ensure the highest academic standard of the publication.
7. If any deficiencies are identified in the later stages, the article will be returned to the author(s) regardless of the stage it is in.
8. Manuscripts whose evaluation process is completed can be published in any issue at the discretion of the editor.
9. If the study has received support from any institution or if it has been derived from a thesis, this should be indicated.
June 29, 2025
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