International Journal of Turkish Education Sciences

The International Journal of Turkish Education Sciences (IJTES) strives to contribute to the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge in all fields of education. Its main goal is to provide deeper integration and close cooperation between science and practice through scientifically sound and high academic quality articles involving original and creative approaches, methods, and procedures. The target audience of IJTES is teachers and researchers in all fields of education. IJTES encourages academics, researchers, and scholars to submit original research and review articles with a special focus on the fields/subjects listed below.

Within these goals, the scope of IJTES involves studies which;

• contribute to the professional development of teachers,
• promote the development of in-class and out-of-class practices related to various fields of instruction,
• present different perspectives on school climate and organizational belonging,
• seek solutions to fundamental problems at different stages of education and develop rational and practical suggestions,
• contribute to the development of teacher training programs,
• approach the educational problems from a multidisciplinary perspective,
• consider educational policies from a philosophical and critical point of view.
  

Accepted Types 

IJTES accepts original research and review manuscripts employing qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. 

Publication Language

Both Turkish and English versions of articles are published. Either Turkish or English version of the article should be provided during the initial submission to the journal. Both language versions of the accepted articles will be requested before publication. If the editors feel it necessary, a document proving the text has been proofread by a professional will be required. 

Compulsory Files for Submission

Format

Article Template

The manuscripts that are sent to IJTES for review are strongly recommended to use templates provided above. The manuscripts should be prepared based on the information both in this guideline and the template; otherwise, they will be rejected during the format check.

General Format

The manuscripts should be provided in Microsoft Word or an equivalent format. The manuscripts should be under 10000 words in length including appendices and references. Page layout should be 2,5 cm from all sides. The type character should be Palatino Linotype, 11 type size, single line spacing, and 10,25nk before each paragraph. The abstract, footnotes, and direct quotations should be 9,5 type size. 0nk should be set before and after paragraphs. The title system should be in line with the article template.

Tables, Figures, and Graphs

If a table, figure, or graph is presented in a manuscript, it should be cited in the text and explained. Each visual should have a caption that should be as concise as possible. All visuals should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. The vertical lines should be hidden in tables. Horizontal lines should be used for only the caption and the end of the table. The type size can be 10; however, the same type size should be used in all tables. The alpha value should be provided under each table with 10 type size. The dot (.) should be used for decimals.

Appendices

Documents that are not suitable to be provided in the main body can be added as appendices. The appendices should be cited in the main body. It should be placed after references under the title of “appendices” using the numerals and appendix title.

The Required Sections in Manuscripts

Research articles submitted to IJTES should include Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Findings, Discussion, and References. The sections in review articles may vary. Please click here for detailed information about references.

The International Journal of Turkish Education Sciences (IJTES) adopted some policies based on the guidelines and principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to carry out all steps of the publication process in line with the ethical principles. These policies involve authors, editors, reviewers, and all relevant procedures. When some situations are not involved in these policies, the aforementioned guidelines and principles will be addressed.

General Ethical Principles

Conflict of Interest

A possible conflict of interest should be reported to the journal as soon as possible. Authors are required to declare any possibility of conflict of interest that is likely to influence their results or interpretations. In cases where there is no conflict of interest, it should be declared before references in the articles. If editors have a conflict of interest regarding an article, they should avoid reviewing that article. In such cases, that article should be sent to another editor. When the reviewers have a conflict of interest, they should refuse to review the article. The reviewer should resign after explaining the situation to the editor.

Confidentiality

Any information about an article submitted should not be shared with anyone except for authors, reviewers, and editors. Any article sent for review should be treated as a confidential document. No information should be given to others except as authorized by the editor. Similarly, both the reviewer and author identities are to be concealed from each other. The responsibility of this double-blind review lies with the editor.

Privileged Information

Unpublished materials in an article submitted cannot be used by editors or reviewers without the written consent of the authors. Privileged information obtained during the review should be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors have a right to appeal to the editorial decision based on strong evidence and/or new data/information in response to the editor’s or reviewers’ comments. Authors are expected to provide a detailed explanation of the reasons for disagreement with the editorial decision. Moreover, any new data/information that is wished to be considered by the journal and evidence of technical errors or conflict of interest involving reviewers should be presented. Authors also have a right to appeal to the editorial management of the journal.
Any complaint or appeal can be made through the journal e-mail address (egitim.uteb@gop.edu.tr). After receiving the complaint or appeal, the editor may involve the field editor who managed the peer review process of the concerned manuscript. All efforts will be made by the editor to resolve the appeal in one week. A delay may occur if a response from any third party or organization is required. As a result of an appeal process, the editors may maintain the current editorial decision, may advise the field editor to appoint new reviewers, may appoint a new field editor and restart the evaluation process, or may restart the evaluation process under their editorship.

Allegations of Research Misconduct

If there is suspicion of research misconduct including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication as well as other types, the editors will start an investigation immediately following COPE guidelines. If the investigation reveals valid concerns, the authors will be contacted to address the issue. Depending on the situation and severity of the misconduct, the manuscript under consideration can be rejected or a correction/retraction may occur if the article has been published. Furthermore, the author’s institution may be informed.

Main Principles for Authors

Standards and Reporting the Research Process

Authors are required to report all steps and significance of their research accurately and objectively. The data should be reflected accurately in the report. A report should contain sufficient detail to allow others to replicate the study. Inaccurate statements are unethical. Studies requiring ethics committee approval in nature should contain approval details (the name of the committee, date, and number) in the methods section and the first page of the article. Moreover, the ethics committee approval should also be uploaded during submission. Click here for detailed information about ethics committee approval.

Data Sharing, Access, and Retention

The IJTES recommends that all datasets on which the conclusions rely are available to readers. Using publicly available repositories (where available and appropriate) is one of the ways to share the datasets. Such data should be cited in manuscripts.
The authors who do not share their datasets on publicly available repositories are obliged to share their data with the editor or reviewers on request. It is also recommended to maintain the data for a reasonable time (five years) even if the article is published.

Originality and Plagiarism

The works submitted are expected to be original and plagiarism-free. Authors are required to cite all of the works they used accurately. Any manuscript that is detected to contain plagiarism is rejected at any phase of the review process.

Multiple or Concurrent Publication

Authors are not allowed to send any manuscript that has already been published or under review in another journal. Conference proceedings that have not been published in full text and works produced from theses/dissertations are welcomed on the condition that it is declared on the first page of the article.

Authorship

Only those who made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of an article should be added as authors. Those who contributed to the study but do not qualify for authorship should be acknowledged. The corresponding author should make sure all authors and contributors are included and the final version of the article is approved by all. The final page of the article should contain the author contributions. No demand to add/reorder authors is accepted when the review process starts.

Correcting Errors in Published Work

The authors are obliged to notify and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper when they discover a significant error or inaccuracy.

Main Principles for Editors

Publication Decision

The responsibility of the final decision about the publication of a manuscript sent for review to IJTES lies with the editor. During the decision-making process, the editor may be guided by other editors' or reviewers’ evaluations. However, the editor might decide that a manuscript is not suitable for publication and explain the reasons to the authors. The editor makes their decisions without regard to race, gender, age, religious affinity, ethnicity, citizenship, or political stance.

Reviewer Evaluation Process

The editor is responsible for the fair, objective, and timely evaluation of manuscripts submitted. At least two independent reviewer evaluations are expected in this process. The editor should make sure a double-blind process. The editor is responsible for selecting reviewers that have expertise in the topic of the manuscript. The editor should assess the objections and involve other reviewers if necessary. The editor should examine the conflict of interest explanations and ensure that reviewer reports do not include unethical requests (such as the reviewer’s demand for citing one of their works).

Correcting Errors in Published Work

The editor is obliged to act promptly to retract, correct, or publish a note when they have adequate evidence of a significant error.

Journal Metrics

The editor cannot make demands to artificially improve the journal’s stance. Especially, citation for earlier works in the journal cannot be demanded from authors.

Main Principles for Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Reviewers’ opinions should help the editor’s decision-making process. Their recommendations to the authors should improve their work. The reviewer who feels unqualified or prompt reply will not be possible should excuse them from the review process. This decision should be notified to the editor as soon as possible.

Objectivity

The reviewers are expected to be honest, objective, and free from personal prejudice. Personal criticism should be avoided. Reviewers are encouraged to express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgments of Sources

The reviewers should identify any relevant fundamental work if not cited in the article. If any work cited in the text but not listed in references should be identified. If the reviewers notice a substantial similarity between the manuscript under consideration with previously published work, they should notify the editor.

IJTES Publication Policy

IJTES is published twice a year (March and October) electronically as a refereed journal within the ULAKBİM DergiPark platform. The journal publishes research and review articles in educational sciences both in Turkish and English.

Evaluation and Publication Process

When a manuscript is submitted to the journal, the pre-evaluation phase begins. In this phase, the manuscript is checked in terms of plagiarism, journal scope, and writing rules. Then, the double-blind peer review process starts with at least two reviewers. The reviewers are given 30 days to complete their evaluations. After 30 days, a new reviewer is appointed. At least two recommendations to accept the manuscript are required for publication. When the reviewers disagree, a third reviewer is appointed. The authors are given 30 days to revise their manuscript after they got reviewers’ views. The Article Revision Form is expected to be uploaded by the authors during this phase. When the review and revision process ends with the publication decision, the layout and design process starts. After the authors’ approval, a DOI number is appointed to the article. Then, it is published in the convenient issue. No changes are permitted after the authors approved the final version.

Double-Blind Peer Review

IJTES uses double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from each party throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors need to ensure that their manuscripts and other files that will be reviewed do not involve any information which can give away their identity. Similarly, reviewers need to make sure that the reviewed files do not contain any personal information. The editor in charge of the review process takes every measure to maintain a double-blind review process.

Selection of Reviewers

Authors are permitted to suggest reviewers during submission. When suggesting reviewers, authors should make sure they are totally independent and not connected to the work or themselves in any way. Reviewer suggestions should be made through the suggested reviewers’ institutional e-mail address. The decision to use the suggestions entirely rests with the editor. Whether they are suggested by the authors or not, reviewers cannot be from the same institution. The basic criteria in the selection of reviewers are the expertise on the topic and the independence from the authors.

Similarity Check

All manuscripts submitted to IJTES are scanned using some software including iThenticate©, Turnitin©, and intihal.net© for plagiarism. The similarity percentage of manuscripts is expected to be lower than 20%.

Archiving Policy

The IJTES encourages self-archiving of submitted, accepted, and published papers through our open-access policy before and after the publication of a paper. All published content is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Moreover, the IJTES uses the LOCKSS system to allow the creation of permanent archives in libraries for conservation and restoration, as well as the distributed archiving system of participating libraries.

All expenses of IJTES are covered by Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University. The journal charges no fees from authors during any step of the publication including submission, evaluation, or publication, and pays no fees to the authors. Similarly, all readers have full access to all content published in the journal freely without subscription.