ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY
Aims
Journal of Civilization Studies (MAD) aims to enrich its knowledge in the relevant fields by including scientific and academic studies accepted at national and international level in the fields of public administration, political science, international relations, economics, business, econometrics, finance, finance, sociology and philosophy. It is among the main aims of the journal to contribute theoretically and methodologically to the fields related to the studies it publishes and to gain new perspectives and approaches. The studies to be published in the journal are selected from among the original studies prepared in accordance with academic and scientific ethical values in line with the opinions of expert referees. Journal of Civilization Studies aims to develop the scientific and intellectual knowledge of the society by adopting the open access policy for all the studies it publishes.
Scope
Journal of Civilization Studies is an international peer-reviewed journal published semiannually. Areas covered include public administration, political science, international relations, economics, business, econometrics, finance, sociology and philosophy. The journal publishes,
❖ Original research articles
❖ Review articles
❖ Book reviews and
❖ commentaries in Turkish or English languages.
In order for the studies sent to the journal to be published; it must not have been published elsewhere, submitted for publication elsewhere, and must not be accepted for publication elsewhere. Previously published studies are never included in the journal. Papers presented at a scientific meeting can only be accepted if they have not been published and provided this is clearly stated. The studies that will be sent to the journal should not exceed 3 authors. The author should send the document showing the plagiarism rate with the study. Studies with a plagiarism rate (excluding bibliography) above 15% are not evaluated and returned to the author.
Publication Policy
Journal of Civilization Studies is published on behalf of the Center for Civilization Studies (ISMAM) of Istanbul Medeniyet University. The journal is an international peer-reviewed journal published semiannually. Areas covered include public administration, political science, international relations, economics, business, econometrics, finance, sociology and philosophy. The journal publishes original research articles, review articles, book reviews and commentaries in Turkish or English languages. The copyright of the manuscripts published in the journal belongs to the journal. The author agrees to transfer all copyrights of the manuscript which has been approved to be published in the journal. The author accepts full responsibility for the article. The views in the manuscripts published in the journal are personal views of the authors, and do not represent the official views of the journal. All rights reserved.
• The Journal of Civilization Studies adopts open access policy for all published studies.
• No application or evaluation fee is charged from the authors for the studies submitted to be published in the journal. Also, no payment can be made to authors or referees.
• In order for the articles sent to the journal to be published; it must not have been previously published, accepted for publication and submitted for publication elsewhere. All ethical responsibilities regarding the study belong to the author of the study.
• Manuscripts to be sent to the journal should have a maximum of 3 authors. The author must send the document showing the plagiarism rate with the study. Studies with a plagiarism rate (excluding bibliography) over 15% are not evaluated and returned to their authors.
• Manuscripts sent to the journal are first examined by the Editorial Board. The evaluation of the studies sent for publication is made by adhering to academic and scientific ethical values.
• After the preliminary examination, the works found appropriate in terms of form and quality are evaluated by at least two referees who are experts in the relevant field. No information is given to the authors about the identities of the referees evaluating the article and to the referees about who the article belongs to.
• Referees to evaluate the article are selected from different institutions.
• Referees evaluate the work sent to them within 20 days. The referee who does not submit his report within this period is contacted and the referee is given an additional 10 days for the evaluation, for once. If the referee cannot send his report during this period, the referee's evaluation process is terminated.
• If negative reports are received from both referees, the article is rejected. In case of a positive and negative report from the referees, the opinion of a third referee, who is an expert in the field, is consulted. Articles that receive two positive reports are deemed to have been accepted for publication.
• If a situation inconsistent with scientific research and publication ethics is detected at any stage of the publication process, the study is not published. The Editorial Board reserves its final discretion on whether the work is published or not. Unpublished articles will not be sent back to their author. The decision authority on matters not mentioned here belongs to the Editorial Board.
• It is deemed to have been accepted by the authors that the copyrights of all the works submitted for publication in the Journal of Civilization Studies have been transferred to the journal. The journal does not pay copyright to the authors for submitted works. All the responsibility for the views and inferences in the published studies belongs to the authors.
• You can send your works via Dergipark platform (https://dergipark.org.tr/mad).
• When the reader notices an important mistake or mistake in an article published in the journal, or has any complaints about editorial content, they can report this by sending an e-mail to journalmdn@medeniyet.edu.tr. This feedback is welcomed as it will provide an opportunity for us to improve.
Ethical Principles
Journal of Civilization Studies adheres to international publication ethics standards. For this reason, it is important that all parties involved in the publishing process, such as publishers, editors, referees and authors, agree on the expected ethical behavior standards. The Journal of Civilization Studies adopts the ethical publishing principles published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and expects all parties to bear the following ethical responsibilities in this context.
General duties and responsibilities of editors
• The editor has full responsibility and authority to accept or reject an article. The editor is responsible for the total quality of the content and publication.
• The editor should not have a conflict of interest regarding accepted or rejected articles.
• The editor does not allow any conflicts of interest between authors and referees. Has full authority to appoint a referee.
• The editor should keep the referees anonymous and prevent plagiarism / fake data.
• While deciding whether to accept or reject an article submitted for publication, the editor should take into account the principles such as the importance of the study, its originality, clarity, validity, and the journal's suitability to the subject area.
• Editor is obliged to make the final decision on the articles to be published in the journal.
• Articles submitted to the journal should be evaluated in accordance with clear, transparent, scientific and objective criteria without any prejudice. The editor evaluates the articles independently of the authors' ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religious belief and political philosophy. It ensures that the articles submitted for publication are fairly double-sided blind peer review.
• The editor guarantees that all information regarding the submitted articles will remain confidential until the article is published.
• The editor should not hesitate to issue corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when it’s necessary.
• Readers should be informed of who finances research and whether funders have a role in the research and publication process.
Responsibilities of referees
The good functioning of the refereeing process is one of the most important criteria for success in scientific and academic publishing. The Journal of Civilization Studies is committed to the protection and improvement of the refereeing process. Therefore, referees are expected to adhere to the following ethical principles:
• Referee reviews should be critical and impartial.
• A referee who does not find the work presented to him for evaluation relevant to his field, feels insufficient to criticize or is unable to present a timely criticism should be dismissed by informing the editor of this.
• Referees should make an academic evaluation only on the text, and avoid statements about the incompetence of the author / authors and that would harm their personality.
• Referees should not pass by answering the questions asked in the evaluation form as yes or no, but explain their decisions in detail by justifying them.
• The texts evaluated should be classified as confidential documents, should not be shown to anyone other than those authorized by the editor, and should not be discussed about the articles. Privileged information and ideas obtained during the arbitration process must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.
• Referees should identify relevant published work that is not mentioned by the author. A referee should also bring to the attention of the editor a substantial similarity or overlap between the evaluated work and another previously published work within their knowledge.
• Referees should not evaluate studies where there are conflicts of interest that may arise from competition, collaboration or other links with the author. Referees; authors, funders, editors, etc. There should be no conflict of interest with such parties.
• Referees should be able to assist editors in the decision-making process and to authors in improving the texts.
The Journal of Civilization Studies does not offer refereeing as much as possible to those:
❖People with whom the authors have previously published collaborations,
❖People who helped pre-read the relevant study,
❖People known to have problems with the authors,
❖People who will benefit financially from publication of the study,
❖People working in the same institution as the author.
Responsibilities of authors
• All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original and authors must undertake that the work is original work that has not been published elsewhere before.
• The authors are responsible for the compliance of the articles with scientific and ethical rules. The author should provide assurance that the article is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not being reviewed for publication elsewhere, in another language. Copyright laws and treaties in practice should be observed. Corresponding materials (e.g. tables, figures or large quotations) should be used with necessary permission and acknowledgment.
• All sources used in the article should be cited, and all works cited in the text should be included in the bibliography section.
• All authors must have a direct academic and scientific contribution in the submitted article. The name order of the authors should be a joint decision by the authors. The Copyright Transfer Form to be signed by all authors according to the author order must be uploaded to the journal system.
All individuals who do not meet the sufficient criteria for authorship but contributed to the study should be listed in the “acknowledgments / information” section. Examples of these are people who only provide technical support, help with writing or just provide general support, financial and material support.
• The data used in the study should be presented meticulously in the study. Fraudulent and deliberate false statements should not be used as they may lead to unethical situations.
• Authors must follow the journal's spelling rules. In this context, the referee should fulfill the changes requested by the field editor and editor-in-chief in a timely and meticulous manner. All kinds of information and documents requested from the authors by the editor of the journal, the changes requested to be made about the article must be made within 15 days at the latest and sent over the system and the editor must be informed. Failure to fulfill these requests within the time limit leads to the rejection of the article.
• All authors must declare financial relationships, conflicts of interest and competition of interest that have the potential to affect the results of the research or scientific evaluation.
• If author detects a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published manuscript, it is responsible for contacting and cooperating with the editor immediately for correction or retraction of these inaccuracies.
Plagiarism Policy
The Journal of Civilization Studies has begun to evaluate manuscripts in terms of plagiarism starting with December 2018. The journal is strictly against any unethical act of copying or plagiarism in any form. Before submitting manuscripts to the journal, it is suggested to check the similarity ratio with plagiarism software programs (iThenticate or Turnitin). The author(s) should submit the document showing the plagiarism ratio together with the manuscript. In this respect, the manuscript submitted to our journal are subject to preliminary evaluation; manuscripts with a similarity ratio below %15, will be considered acceptable by our Editorial Board. Manuscript with more than the specified ratio are returned to the author(s). All manuscripts submitted for publication to the journal are cross-checked for plagiarism using Turnitin or iThenticate softwares. Manuscripts found to be plagiarized during initial stages of review are out-rightly rejected and not considered for publication in the journal. In case a manuscript is found to be plagiarized after publication, the Editor-in-Chief will conduct preliminary investigation, may be with the help of a suitable committee constituted for the purpose. If the manuscript is found to be plagiarized beyond the acceptable limits, the journal will contact the author’s Institute / College / University and Funding Agency, if any.