The Journal of Iranian Studies

Journal of Iranian Studies is an international peer-reviewed academic journal published twice a year, in June and December. The journal aims to promote and analyse Iran from an objective perspective at national and international level through scholarly studies on Iran in Turkish and English. Its aim is to publish research in various disciplines in order to provide a closer scientific and academic examination of Iran.

The Journal of Iranian Studies is open to scholarly research in Iran-related fields, especially in disciplines such as history, politics, social policies, economic policies, social studies, religious and sectarian studies, art and literature. Articles submitted on art and architecture should have an analytical and interpretive perspective within social, cultural, political and religious contexts. The journal does not cover formalist-descriptive art history topics.

The information on this page is general information only. Please review the detailed author guideline before submitting your article. CLICK HERE for the guidelines.

a) Publication Principles
The articles published in the journal cannot be quoted without citing the source. Articles published in the journal cannot be published elsewhere. Studies that have been previously published elsewhere or submitted anywhere for publication will not be published in the journal. The journal publishes articles in Turkish and English. Authors are obliged to comply with the copyright and permission status of the visual materials etc. used in the articles. The journal bears no responsibility for the copyright and permission status of the materials used in the articles. Authors are expected to be meticulous in this regard and to indicate the copyright or permission status in the “disclosure” section. The journal does not charge any fee from the authors. The journal applies open access policy and does not charge readers for access.

b) General Rules
1) Articles submitted to the journal should be at least 6000 and maximum 9000 words including citations and references. Book reviews should be minimum 750 and maximum 1500 words.
2) Articles should include an abstract of 150-200 words in Turkish and English. Abstracts should not exceed 200 words. Turkish and English titles and abstracts must be a literal translation. Abstracts should be accompanied by 5 keywords ranked from general to specific in both languages
3) The text of the article should be written in Times New Roman font, 12-point font size and single line spacing. Footnotes used when needed should be written in 10-point font size and single line spacing. The main title of the article in English and Turkish should be written in 14-point font size and all other headings should be written in 12-point font size in bold. The title of the article and the bibliography should be written centrally, and all other headings should be left justified. Paragraph headings should also be left justified; paragraph headings should not be indented.
4) The titles of the articles should be numbered and the first title should be "1. Introduction". The main headings after the title "1. Introduction" should follow the number. Subheadings should also be numbered as 1.1., 1.2. etc. All headings, including the conclusion, should be numbered.
5) The references used at the end of the article should be given under the title "References". The bibliography title should start on a new page.
6) All materials such as tables, figures, photographs, etc. used in the article should be numbered. The materials should be placed above the material in the form of Table 1; Figure 2; Figure 3 etc., left justified and in bold.

c) Author Guidelines
As of 2021, the Journal of Iranian Studies has switched to the APA (American Psychological Association) 7th Edition reference system. The rules in the American Psychological Association - APA Publication Manual 7th Edition (2020) should be applied for references to source types that are not examples below.
Accordingly; citations are given in the form of a reference in the text in accordance with APA style and footnotes are not used in articles unless necessary. Footnotes may be used only when there is a need to explain a point. Citations in footnotes should also be given in accordance with APA style rules.

Important points that you should pay attention to when citing with APA 7 are as follows:

1) When referring in the text, only the surname of the first author should be written in publications with three or more authors. Other authors are indicated with the abbreviation "et al." or "vd." according to the language of the article.

For example; Baykal et al. (2014) or (Baykal et al., 2014). In studies with two authors, the surnames of both authors are written and the symbol "&" is placed between them. For example; "(Yeşil & Dinler, 2020)" or "According to Yeşil and Dinler (2020)...".

2) If the article you will cite has a DOI number, the DOI must be presented in the bibliography.

3) In the new version, the “access date” in references to websites in the bibliography have been removed. Access date can be given only when necessary.

4) In the current version, the place of publication has been removed from the bibliography. The place of publication does not need to be written in the bibliography.

5) The references in the bibliography should be listed alphabetically.

6) In in-text references, if a certain page of the source is used, the page number have to be specified. Paragraph numbers should be given in sources without page numbers such as websites. In cases where the page number is not specified, it will be understood that the entire source is cited. This rule applies to all sources.

For in-text citation and bibliography rules according to APA 7, CLICK HERE

Make sure that your citations are given according to the rules here. Make sure that your citations are given according to the rules here.
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples 

Detailed examples and explanations can also be found in the publicly available Purdue University Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html 

You can also make use of the University Library of Western Sydney's publicly available APA7 examples and explanations.
https://library.westernsydney.edu.au/main/sites/default/files/pdf/cite_APA.pdf

The publication ethics of the Journal of Iranian Studies are based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), 2011).

Editors' responsibilities:

Editorial decisions;
The editor and editorial board are responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal will be published. The editor evaluates the articles without taking into account the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy of the authors. The decision will be based on the importance, originality, and clarity of the article and the relevance of the work and its relevance to the scope of the journal. Existing legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism are also taken into account.

Confidentiality;
The editor and any editorial staff member may not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, prospective reviewers, other advisors, and the publisher.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest;
Unpublished material described in the submitted manuscript may not be used by the editor or editorial board members for their own research purposes without the express written permission of the author.

Reviewers' responsibilties:
During the review process, reviewers assist the editor and editorial board in making decisions and also assist the author in improving the manuscript.
If the referee concludes that he/she is unable to review the research in an article in a qualified manner within the time limit, he/she notifies the editor and withdraws from the review process.

Confidentiality;
Manuscripts submitted for review are treated as confidential documents. They are not shared or discussed with others unless authorised by the editor.

Objectivity standards;
Comments are made objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers clearly express their views with supporting arguments.

Recognition of sources;
Reviewers identify works not included in the reference section of the article. They indicate whether observations or arguments derived from relevant publications are compatible with the sources. Reviewers inform the editor of their personal views on the manuscript under review and any significant similarities or overlaps between the manuscript and other published papers.

Disclosure and conflict of interest;
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review are kept confidential and not used for personal advantage or gain. Reviewers may not evaluate manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive or collaborative relationships with authors or institutions.

Authors' duties:
Reporting standards;
Authors of original research reports should present an objective discussion of the significance and precise results of the work performed. Basic data must be correctly presented in the article. A paper should include sufficient details and references to allow others to reproduce the work. False or deliberately false statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention;
Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study with the manuscript for editorial review and, if applicable, should prepare for the data to be made publicly available. In any case, authors should ensure accessibility to other authorised professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably through an institutional or subject-based repository or other data centre), provided that the confidentiality of participants can be maintained. Legal rights to proprietary data do not prevent publication.

Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources;
Authors shall only submit entirely original work and/or cite other works as appropriate. Reference should also be made to other publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported.

Multiple or simultaneous publication;
In general, articles describing the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same article to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Articles published elsewhere as copyrighted material should not be submitted. However, the submitting author(s) retain the rights to the published material under appropriate conditions. In the event of publication of the work, permission for others to copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and commercially exploit the work is deemed to be granted under the CC-BY licence. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/]

Ownership of the paper:
Ownership should be limited to those who made significant contributions to the design, execution, or interpretation of the submitted work. All significant contributors should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors are included and that persons not participating in the author list are not included. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest;
Authors are obliged to disclose the financial sources, collaborations and conflicts of interest they have used in reaching the results and interpretations of their articles. All sources of financial support for project-based studies should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works;
When an author discovers a major error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, he/she is obliged to notify the journal editor or publisher immediately and to cooperate with the editor to withdraw the article or to correct it in the form of an erratum.

References;
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2011, 7 March). Code of Conduct and Code of Best Practice for Journal Editors;
Retrieved from http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journaleditors_Mar11.pdf

Blind peer review is a method for ensuring that scientific publications are of the highest quality. Blind peer review is at the heart of good scientific publishing and is carried out by all reputable journals. Our reviewers play a crucial role in maintaining the high standards of our journal and all manuscripts are subject to the blind review process outlined below.

Pre-Evaluation:
The pre-evaluation process consists of two stages. In the first stage, all manuscripts submitted for evaluation are subjected to a similarity check in the plagiarism software. Manuscripts with a similarity rate of 20% or more are returned to the author(s). In the second stage, the manuscripts are checked for compliance with the journal's editorial rules and scope. Articles that pass these stages are included in the blind review process. The author(s) of the article rejected at the preliminary control stage are notified within 1 week.

Editorial Review:
The editor is responsible for deciding whether to accept the articles referred to him/her into the refereeing process or to reject them without entering the refereeing process. Manuscripts rejected at this stage are not original enough, have serious conceptual and/or methodological flaws, have inadequate or poor English/Turkish language skills, or are outside the scope and purpose of the journal.
At this stage, the author(s) of the rejected article will be notified within 10 days after the article is taken into consideration. For all articles rejected without review, the editor will provide feedback and, where possible, suggest other suitable outlets.

Manuscripts found suitable for the refereeing process are sent to 2 referees who are experts in their fields. The positive report of at least 2 referees is required for the article to be published. In case of need, it is at the discretion of the editor to apply to the 3rd referee.

Referee Evaluation:
In the double blind review process, the information of both authors and referees is kept confidential. In order to allow this process, authors should not include their identity information directly or indirectly in their articles.

Beyond the need to remove names and institutional information from the title of the manuscript, there are other important edits that need to be made to ensure that the manuscript is properly prepared for double blind peer review. Some considerations to assist in this process are as follows:

Use the third person singular pronoun when referring to previous work by the author(s), e.g. "as previously mentioned (Anonymous, 2007)" instead of "as previously mentioned"

In the text, cite works published by the author as follows (Anonymous, 2007). In the bibliography, the appropriate notation is as follows. (Anonymous, 2007, details omitted due to blind refereeing).

If you have received project support or funding from any private or public institution or organisation within the scope of the study, do not share any information about it. This information will be added at the layout stage if the manuscript is accepted.

Do not thank anyone in the article. This information will be added at the layout stage if the manuscript is accepted. When naming the article file, do not use your name and identity information, and make sure that your name is not mentioned in the document properties.

Our referee database is continuously updated and referees are randomly assigned taking into account their areas of expertise. The points we expect our referees to take into account in the evaluation of the manuscript are as follows:

Originality and contribution to literature

Of potential interest to a wide range of social scientists and/or practitioners

Candidate for the interest of a wide readership

Comprehensive evaluation of the existing literature

Methodology, analysis and interpretation competence

A clear, concise, and fluent style of expression

Reviewers are asked to provide comments to authors without disclosing their identity. Reviewers are also given the option to make confidential comments to the editor. Comments to the author(s) are also visible to other reviewers.

Please note that language correction is not part of the blind review process. However, reviewers are encouraged to make suggestions for improving the language and style of the manuscript.

In general, the refereeing process is completed within 2-3 months. If the referees' opinions contradict each other or if the referee report is delayed for any reason, another referee opinion will be obtained. If necessary, revised manuscripts may be sent back to the author(s) for further revision. Reviewers and/or the editor may request more than one revision, and additional reviewers may be invited at any time to evaluate the manuscript.

Final Evaluation:
The final decision is made by the "Editorial Board" for all articles that have been favourably evaluated by the referees and reached the publication stage. At this stage, the Editorial Board re-examines the article and checks whether the content of the article is compatible with the referees' decisions. Although the referee reports are positive, the Editorial Board may refrain from publishing the article in case of force majeure that the scope and rules of the journal are violated. In this case, the decision is communicated to the author(s) together with the referees' recommendations.

Article submission/process is free of charge.