Lectio Socialis adheres to a set of comprehensive guidelines to ensure the quality and integrity of published works within its biannual editions (January and July). The following rules delineate the parameters for manuscript submission, preparation, and citation:

1. Manuscript Length and Publishing Criteria

- Manuscripts should ideally fall within the range of 4000 to 10000 words.

- Submissions exceeding the upper word limit might be considered, subject to the Editor-in-Chief's discretion.

- Manuscripts must be exclusive to Lectio Socialis and not have been previously published or submitted elsewhere.

2. Submission Process

- Manuscripts must be submitted via the Lectio Socialis webpage on DERGİPARK (www.deripark.org.tr/lectio) after journal subscription.

- Submissions through email will not be accepted.

- The submission should include the author's name, contact information, and ORCID along with the paper title.

- The first page should include the paper's title and author names and affiliations. The second page should repeat the title, abstract (between 150 and 220 words), and 3 to 5 keywords. The subsequent pages should be numbered. 

- It is a must to disclose the contribution rate and specific type of each author at the end of articles that involve multiple authors. This helps to provide transparency and ensures that credit is given where it is due, while also establishing clear expectations and accountability for each author's role in the creation of the article. Example of an author contributions section:

"Author contributions:
J. Erbas: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft
A. Aslan: Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Writing – Review & Editing
M. Lee: Investigation, Software, Visualization
All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript."

- If the research was funded by any agencies, institutions, or organizations, it should be declared in the Acknowledgements section. Also, if there is any Conflict of Interest, the authors should declare it.

- For manuscripts in Turkish, provide both Turkish and English titles, abstracts, and keywords. Turkish submissions necessitate an extended English summary of at least 1000 words.

- An ethics committee approval must be obtained for research conducted in all disciplines, requiring ethical committee decision, and this approval should be stated and documented in the article. In studies requiring ethical committee permission, information about the permission (board name, date, and issue number) should be included in the method section and on the last page of the article. Research that requires permission from an Ethics Committee includes the following:

    - Any research that involves collecting data from human participants through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and experiments using qualitative or quantitative methods.

    - Any research that involves the use of humans or animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes.

    - Clinical studies conducted on human subjects.

    - Research conducted on animals.

    - Retrospective studies that comply with personal data protection laws.

    - Furthermore, when submitting case reports that mention obtaining an "Informed Consent Form," it is crucial to obtain permission from the owners before using any scales, surveys, or photographs that belong to others. It is also important to ensure that all ideas and works of art used are in compliance with copyright regulations and to state this explicitly.

An example Ethics Approval Statement to be included at the end of an article is as follows:

"Ethics Approval Statement
This study was granted ethical approval by the Human Subjects Ethics Committee of Istanbul Yeni Yuzyil University, with decision no. 2019/1 during their meeting held on January 7th, 2019, in Istanbul, Turkey. All procedures that involved human participants were carried out in compliance with ethical standards, and informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study."

3. Peer Review Process

- Manuscripts will undergo double-blind refereeing, ensuring the anonymity of authors.

- Initial language review may result in rejection for manuscripts with subpar language quality.

- Manuscripts will then be evaluated by two referees, and authors are expected to address reviewer feedback within a week.

- If two reviewers reject a manuscript, the review process concludes with rejection.

- When submitting the revised version of a manuscript, it is important for the corresponding author to provide a separate file titled "Respond to Reviewers". This file should include a point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments and suggestions, explaining how each comment has been addressed in the revised manuscript. This will help ensure that the revised manuscript meets the requirements and expectations of the reviewers and increases the likelihood of its acceptance for publication.

4. Manuscript Editing and Formatting

- Upon successful review, the editing process will commence.

- All manuscripts must be paginated.

- Utilize the provided template for manuscript formatting, accessible through the provided link (Please, click on the link).

- Sentence Case for Titles, Headings, and Captions: In keeping with the stylistic standards of "Lectio Socialis," all article titles, headings, subheadings, and table and figure captions should be formatted in sentence case. This means that the first letter of the title, as well as the first letter of any proper nouns, should be capitalized. All other letters should be in lowercase unless grammar dictates otherwise.

Examples:
1. Correct: "Reexamining the role of identity in contemporary politics"
- Explanation: Only the first letter of the sentence and the proper noun 'Reexamining' is capitalized.
2. Incorrect: "Reexamining The Role Of Identity In Contemporary Politics"
- Explanation: This example incorrectly capitalizes the first letter of each word.
3. Correct: "Secularization trends in Turkey: A comparative analysis"
- Explanation: The first letter of the sentence and the proper noun 'Turkey' are capitalized.
4. Incorrect: "Secularization Trends In Turkey: A Comparative Analysis"
- Explanation: This title incorrectly capitalizes the first letter of each word.

- Adhere to APA 7th Edition for citations and references. See below for in-text citation examples. In-Text Citation Examples (APA 7th Edition):

Direct Citation:
- According to Johnson (2019, p. 42), "climate change impacts are evident globally."
- "Climate change impacts are evident globally" (Johnson, 2019, p. 42).

Indirect Citation:
- Johnson (2019) discussed the global evidence of the impacts of climate change.
- Climate change impacts are discussed as evident globally (Johnson, 2019).

Multiple Authors:
- Smith and Brown (2020) suggested a comprehensive approach.
- A comprehensive approach is suggested (Kurt et al., 2023).

Works by the Same Author and Year:
- Smith (2018a) emphasized the ecological impact.
- Smith (2018b) focused on social implications.

Examples for the Bibliography section prepared according to APA 7 rules:

Journal Articles:

Johnson, A., Smith, B., Lee, C., Jones, D., & Brown, E. (2021). The effects of exercise on mental health in college students. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(3), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320987654

Miller, K. L., Davis, R. A., & Jones, S. M. (2020). Exploring the impact of social media use on body image in adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(6), 783-789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.012

Smith, C. D., Johnson, B. A., & Brown, M. E. (2019). An examination of the relationship between sleep and academic performance in college students. Journal of Sleep Research, 28(2), e12871. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12871

Tucker, R. W., Davis, J. L., & Lee, S. M. (2018). The impact of mindfulness practice on stress reduction in healthcare professionals. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000074

Note: In this example, the references are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. The titles of journals are in sentence case and italicized. The volume number is italicized, and the issue number is in parentheses, followed by the page range. A DOI (digital object identifier) is included for each reference, when available.

Books:

Smith, J. (2019). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. Random House.

Jones, R. H. (2018). The psychology of persuasion. Oxford University Press.

Book Sections/Chapters:

Johnson, M. (2020). The role of motivation in learning. In R. Davis (Ed.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 121-137). Routledge.

Brown, N. (2019). Understanding group dynamics. In J. Lee (Ed.), The psychology of teamwork (pp. 55-73). Springer.

Websites:

American Psychological Association. (2021). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/

Jerkins, S. (2020). COVID-19: How to protect yourself and others. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html

Note: For book references, the author's name, publication year, book title, and publisher are included. For website references, the organization or author, publication year (if available), webpage title, and URL are included. When citing webpages, it is important to include the date accessed if the content is likely to change over time.

By adhering to these formatting guidelines, authors ensure consistency and readability across the journal's publications. If you have any questions or require clarification regarding formatting, please contact the editorial team.

5. Plagiarism Prevention and Language Editing

- Plagiarism is strictly prohibited, and all submissions will undergo scrutiny through tools like iThenticate.

- Authors are encouraged to consider language editing, particularly if English is not their first language.

- When submitting a manuscript, the use of AI is typically restricted to language editing tasks, such as grammar and spelling checks, and should not be used for more substantive editing or decision-making tasks. While AI technology can be helpful in identifying errors or inconsistencies in text, it is important to note that it is not a substitute for human expertise and judgment. Authors should carefully review and revise their own work, before submitting their manuscript. Additionally, it is important to disclose any use of AI tools or technology in the manuscript submission process to ensure transparency and ethical practices.

6. COPE Compliance

- Lectio Socialis adheres to the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) Codes of Conduct.

7. Open Access Policy

- Lectio Socialis is an advocate of open access, promoting unfettered access to published articles with proper attribution.

- Authors are not subject to charges for submissions or publication.

8. Review Timeframe

- The peer-review process typically spans three months on average.

By following these meticulous writing guidelines, Lectio Socialis strives to maintain the highest standards of academic excellence, integrity, and accessibility, contributing to the advancement of global scholarly discourse.