Gaziantep University Journal of Educational Sciences (GAUN-JES) is an international refereed journal that publishes scientific studies in the field of educational sciences and in different sub-disciplines of this field. The aim of GAUN-JES is to improve the quality of the studies done in educational science in Turkey and to follow the latest developments. Apart from this, it aims to provide an equal opportunity that allows academicians working at different universities to publish academic publications. The author's guide has been prepared as a guide for the development of academic studies in line with these principles.

In GAUN-JES;
• GAUN-JES takes studies prepared in Turkish, English into consideration.
• Articles prepared in accordance with APA 7 (American Psychological Association) standards are evaluated.
• Manuscripts which are accepted for publication are published in the written language of the article.
• Journal editors may refuse manuscript submissions that do not meet the preliminary editorial evaluation criteria. Studies that do not match the purpose and scope of the journal are not evaluated.
• No fee is charged for the articles published in the journal.

GAUN-JES publishes:
• Studies on the subject of education, using a quantitative, qualitative, single subject or mixed research design.
• Literature reviews, meta-analysis, or meta-synthesis studies that extensively evaluate the field of education.
• Studies offering models that can be applied practically in education.

Peer Review Process
Blind review is a method used to make sure scientific publications are produced with the highest quality. This method is fundamental to the objective review of scientific studies and is preferred by many scientific journals. Reviewer views are determinant in the publication quality of GAUN-JES. All manuscripts submitted to GAUN-JES are blind reviewed according to the steps below:

Blind Review Method
GAUN-JES uses the double-blind review method in the review process of all studies. In this method the identities of the authors and reviewers are confidential.

Initial Review Process
The studies submitted to GAUN-JES are reviewed by the editors first. At this stage, the studies which are not related with the journal's aim and scope, weak in terms of language and wording, lack originality, contain critical scientific mistakes and do not meet the publishing criteria are rejected. The authors of such studies are informed in two month following the submission date. The studies deemed acceptable, on the other hand, are submitted to a field editor related with the subject of study that the work focuses on.

Pre-review Process
In the pre-review process, the field editors evaluate the introduction and literature, method, findings, results, discussion parts of the studies in detail with respect to the publishing policies and scope of the journal as well as originality. As a result of this process, those studies that are found unacceptable are returned within a month the latest together with the field editor report. And the studies which are deemed appropriate are assigned to reviewers.

Assigning Reviewers
Reviewers are assigned according to the content of the studies and their subject of expertise. The field editor who reviews the study recommends two reviewers, based on their subject of expertise, from the reviewer pool of GAUN-JES or a new reviewer related with the subject of study addressed in the article. The recommendations are then evaluated by the editors and the studies are passed on to the reviewers who are obligated to guarantee that they will not share any document or detail about the study they review.

Reviewer Reports
In general, the reviewer reports are based on the originality of the studies, methods, ethical considerations, consistent presentation of the findings and results and analysis of the studies with respect to literature. This evaluation is done according to the following:

1. Introduction and literature: the reviewer report includes views about the presentation and aims of the problem addressed in the study, the importance of the topic, the scope of the related literature, the originality and topicality of the study.
2. Method: the reviewer report includes views about the appropriateness of the research method, sample choice and properties, validity and reliability issues, as well as data collection and data analysis.
3. Findings: the reviewer report includes views about the presentation of the findings obtained through the method, the accuracy of the analysis methods, the consistency of the aims and findings of the study, the presentation of tables, diagrams and visuals that are needed, and the conceptual evaluation of the scales.
4. Evaluation and Discussion: the reviewer report includes views about discussions based on findings, suitability with the research question(s) and hypothesis(ses), generalizability and applicability.
5. Results and Suggestions: the reviewer report includes views about contribution to literature, recommendations for future studies and suggestions about applications in the field.
6. Style and Wording: the reviewer report includes views about whether the title comprises the content of the study, whether the Turkish language is used accurately and whether APA6 rules are observed in giving references and in-text references in parallel with the language of the full text.
7. Overall Evaluation: the reviewer report includes views about the originality of the study as a whole and the contribution it makes to the education literature and applications.
In the review process, reviewers are not expected to redact the study according to its galley features.

Reviewing Process
It is compulsory for the authors to complete the editing of their work within 1 month. Reviewers may ask multiple editing of a study if they deem necessary.

Review Result
The field editor evaluates the review by reviewers as a result of this evaluation the field editor informs the editors about his/her final decision regarding the study.

Editorial Board Decision
Based on the review done by the field editor and reviewers, editors report the views of the editorial board to the author(s) along with the suggestions made by the field editor and reviewers. In this process the studies that are not accepted for publication are returned without request for plagiarism detection. The final decision about the accepted studies is made based on the results of the plagiarism detection report.

How long does the Publication Review Process last?
It is anticipated that the publication review process of the studies submitted to GAUN-JES be completed in 6 months. However, the period during which editors or reviewers ask the author(s) to do editing and the author(s) complete the editing is not included in this time frame.

Author Rights

Exclusion of Reviewers
Authors may request to exclude certain reviewers who might have perceived competing interests from refereeing their works.
The Editors avoid sending manuscripts to particular reviewers under the following circumstances:
• The reviewer has previously co-published an article with the author(s),
• The reviewer has assisted the author(s) in proofreading their manuscripts,
• The reviewer has experienced problems with the author(s) in the past,
• The reviewer will benefit financially from the publication of the article,
• The reviewer works in the same institution (same department within the same university) as the author(s).

Request to Withdraw
Authors may request to withdraw their manuscript(s) as they progress through the editorial process, reviewer process, or of an accepted but unpublished paper.

Appealing the Editorial Decisions and Reviewers’ Reports
Authors have the right to challenge editorial decisions and reports from reviewers. In that case, authors are required to submit a detailed explanation of their objections. When considered necessary, editor may start a new evaluation process for the manuscript.

Reusing the Published Articles (Erratum)
The editorial feedback is provided for the requests on academic uses or reprinting of the article, etc. which have been received.
About the errors in the editorial process or in the printing process, the author may request an erratum for writing or typing mistakes in the following issue of the journal to be published.

Submission Checklist
Before submitting an article, authors should ensure that their manuscript meet the following criteria, otherwise manuscripts will be sent back to authors.

1. The study submitted to the journal should not have been previously published elsewhere or submitted for publication in another journal. (Detailed information is included in the Author Guidelines).

2. The manuscript is sent in the Microsoft Word (doc) format.
3. The manuscript is related to the field of Educational Sciences.
4. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, GAUN-JES all rights of copyright and related publishing rights.
5. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the author(s) are required to submit the article submission report to the Dergipark stating that the manuscript has been read, approved and not sent to another journal.
6. The manuscript is prepared in accordance with the standards of APA 7.
7. There is no author information in the copy of the manuscript uploaded to the system for evaluation purposes.

Open Access Policy
GAUN-JES adopts open access policy. Open access to information benefits the humanity as it improves the global value of information. GAUN-JES also supports the Budapest Open Access Initiative that was signed on September 12, 2012. Thus, the open access policies adopted by the editorial board of GAUN-JES can be found at http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai-10-recommendations.
All articles published in GAUN-JES are licensed with "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License". This license entitles all parties to copy, share and redistribute all the articles, data sets, figures and supplementary files published in this journal in data mining, search engines, web sites, blogs and other digital platforms under the condition of providing references. Open access is an apporach that eases the interdisciplinary communication and encourages cooperation among different disciplines. GAUN-JES, therefore, contributes to its own field by providing more access to its articles and a more transparent review process.
GAUN-JES recommends that libraries include the article contents into library catalogue records.
Gaziantep University, publisher of GAUN-JES, guarentees that it will not ask for any publication fees from any library or reader to access the electronic articles.