Journal of Media and Religion Studies

Medya ve Din Araştırmaları Dergisi (MEDIAD) - Journal of Media and Religion Studies is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published twice a year, in June and December, since June 2018.

In our country, by embodying the initiatives on media and religion relatedness; the journal has a mission to reflect global perspectives by aiming to clarify these initiatives as a field of inquiry, to lay the groundwork for new methodological designs in the field, to open international academic knowledge in the field to national academic interest, to lead academic exchanges related to experience and knowledge, to create unique local, regional and international studies in the field.

1. In order for the submitted articles to be considered for evaluation, it is required that they have not been published elsewhere before.

2. The publishing languages of the journal are Turkish and English.

3. The submitted articles are first reviewed by editors. If an article meets the necessary requirements in terms of content and style, then it will be assessed in terms of appropriateness for publication.

4. In the refereeing process, the double-blind refereeing system is applied and all the articles are evaluated by two referees. If deemed necessary, it is sent to a third referee. The publication of a journal is subject to the approval of the referees and the authors are obliged to make the necessary corrections required by the referees.

5. While preparing the articles, national and international ethic rules should be observed.

6. When submitting an article to the Journal of Media and Religion Studies, it is obligatory to send a file containing

a) Author identification information,

b) Copyright and scientific ethics compliance form,

c) Ethics committee report (depending on the nature of the study),

d) Similarity report,

e) Contribution rate and conflict of interest declaration form

7. The studies submitted to the journal are evaluated within the framework of the similarity report declared at the application stage. Articles that do not comply with research and publication ethics or have a risk of plagiarism will not be evaluated.. In this framework, if the similarity rate detected by the screening programs is above 15%, the relevant study cannot be published even if it receives the approval of the referee. If the study was published without noticing the situation, access to the relevant study is blocked and the study is removed from the publication list and the full issue when the situation is noticed. Journal management accepts the results of self-employed plagiarism/similarity programs as a corporate standard, not as a violation of ethics. For detailed information about the plagiarism policy, you can visit the Plagiarism Policy page.

8. The studies should include the following parts:

o Title: A clear and understandable title in bold and capital letters that reflects the content and does not exceed 15 words, must be put at the very beginning of the study.

o Abstract: Under the title page, an abstract that is consistent with the general framework of the study between 150-200 words should be added.

o Key Words: Under the abstract, maximum 5 key words should be added.

o Turkish Title: After the key words, the Turkish title of the study should be added.

o Abstract in Turkish: Under the title in Turkish, a Turkish abstract of at least 150-200 words should be added.

o Turkish Key Words: Under the abstract, maximum 5 key words should be added.

o Introduction: The study should start with the Introduction section. This section should include the problem, the purpose, the method, limitations etc.

o Text: The part of the text that forms the main body of the study, headings and subheadings including the method should be numbered according to the example given below, headings should be written in bold and the first letters of their words should be capitalized.

o Turkish Extended Summary: It should be in the range of 1000-1250 words, including all the main headings in the study. If the study is written in English, the Turkish abstract should be included here.

Considerations Regarding Research Ethics

The journal adheres to the highest standards in research ethics and follows the principles of international research ethics as defined below. The authors are responsible for the compliance of the manuscripts with the ethical rules.

• Principles of integrity, quality, and transparency should be sustained in designing the research, reviewing the design, and conducting the research.

• The research team and participants should be fully informed about the aim, methods, possible uses, and requirements of the research and risks of participation in research.

• The confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants and the confidentiality of the respondents should be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.

• Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily, not under any coercion.

• Any possible harm to participants must be avoided. The research should be planned in such a way that the participants are not at risk.

• The independence of research must be clear; and any conflict of interest or must be disclosed.

• In experimental studies with human subjects, written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, a legal custodian’s assent must be obtained.

• If the study is to be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization.

• In studies with a human subject, it must be noted in the method section of the manuscript that the “informed consent of the participants and “ethics committee approval” from the institution where the study has been conducted have been obtained. Ethics committee approval should be uploaded to the journal system for related articles.

Plagiarism Policy

The studies submitted to the journal are evaluated within the framework of the similarity report declared at the application stage. Articles that do not comply with research and publication ethics or that have a risk of plagiarism are not evaluated. In this framework, if the similarity rate detected by the screening programs is above 15%, the relevant study cannot be published even if it receives the approval of the referee. If the study was published without noticing the situation, access to the relevant study is blocked and the study is removed from the publication list and the full issue when the situation is noticed. Journal management accepts the results of self-employed plagiarism/similarity programs as a corporate standard, not as a violation of ethics. For detailed information about the plagiarism policy, you can visit the Plagiarism Policy page. The ethical and legal responsibility of the studies belongs primarily to the authors.

The editorial board of Journal of Media and Religion Studies complies with the following rules for plagiarism policy:

The articles with an overall similarity index of greater than 20% are rejected without proceeding for the formal peer review. This rate is 25% for technical notes and book reviews. In such cases, the author(s) will be asked to re-revise the article within three weeks. The similarity index for a single source must be equal to or lower than 5%. This percentage is not required for technical notes and book reviews. Editors may also choose to run a similarity report at any other point during the review process or post-publication.

Correction and Retraction Policy

Correction Policy

If changes are required after the article is published, editorial board of the journal will evaluate the request in accordance with the COPE guidelines. Minor changes in articles that are less than five days past the publication date are carried out immediately if considered appropriate. In cases where the publication date is old or requires major changes, a correction article is published. Correction notifications may come from the author, journal board members or third parties.

Correction Article: The original article and the correction article are linked on the article information page, referencing each other. The reader is presented with a notification that the article has been corrected and is directed by a link to the corrected version. The correction article is published in the first issue following the submission of the correction notice and receives a standalone DOI. For the corrected version published in the new issue, a special "Correction" section is created and [Number]. [Correction:] [Article Title].

Retraction Policy

Articles that are damaging to the results of the study, to its own existence, or that involve ethical, scientific, or legal misconduct will be processed in accordance with COPE retraction guidelines. For these studies: A retraction notice attached to the original article and a retraction statement published in the new journal issue. A special "Retraction" section is created for the retraction article published in the new issue. [Sequence No]. [Retraction:] [Article Title], the retraction statement is published in this section.

Article Removal Status

It is rare however it may be necessary to remove an article for special reasons. In the following cases, the article will be removed immediately and a removal notice is going to be published in the following issues:
• Situations violating the rights of privacy and the right to be forgotten.
• Being defamatory and interfering with the exercise of legal rights.
• Binding notices such as court orders etc.

If the justification includes metadata, doi.org and Indexes are notified to make the necessary changes, and the article data are removed from the journal repositories, if available.

Evaluation Process, Duration and Peer Review Policy

Preliminary Control

• When a manuscript is submitted to the Journal, it is first pre-checked for compliance with the ethical principles and publication policy and author guidelines.

• The time required for the relevant secretary to process the article is maximum 10 days. Within the pre-control process, the time given to the secretary is maximum 10 days.

Editorial Pre-Control

• The manuscripts that are determined to meet the necessary prerequisites are assigned to the editor/field editor and the editor decides whether the manuscript should be taken to the peer review stage within 5 days.

• At this stage, the editor(s) may reject the article as a result of the editorial evaluation. Or they may make editorial editing suggestions to the author.

• English articles are forwarded to the foreign language editor at this stage and their linguistic appropriateness is checked.

Peer Review

• After the editorial evaluation, the manuscripts are sent to two referees in accordance with the double-blind refereeing process, and at this stage, it is ensured that the referees are from different institutions from the author.

• The response time to the invitation sent to the referee for evaluation is 7 days. The evaluation period is 15 days.

• This period(s) can be extended by the editor and/or field editors. If the process is prolonged, the editor and/or field editors may appoint new referees.

• As a result of their evaluation, referees can directly accept, suggest minor corrections, suggest major corrections, or directly reject the manuscript.

• If both referees give an opinion in favor of acceptance, the article is accepted. If both referees give an opinion for rejection, the article is rejected.

• If the referees give a positive opinion about the publication of the article, it is decided to send the article to the author(s) to make the necessary corrections in line with the referees' revisions. After the revisions, the publication process begins.

• If one referee recommends acceptance and the other recommends rejection, a third referee will be appointed and the editorial board will make a decision based on the recommendation of the third referee.

• If authors have justifiable objections to the evaluation result, they can make a scientific argument and reference their grounds. The editorial board will review the objections promptly and may request opinions from relevant referees. Authors will be informed of the results. If the objections are deemed valid, the editorial board will appoint new referees and the peer review process will be restarted.

• Authors are required to implement the revisions suggested by the referees within 14 days. If they fail to do so, the manuscript will be rejected and removed from the system. In exceptional cases, authors may request additional time from the editor.

• After the peer review is complete, manuscripts are reviewed by a foreign language editor to ensure that the English abstracts and extended abstracts meet the standards for acceptance.

Editorial Final Control and Preparation for Publication

• At this stage, manuscripts whose referee evaluations have been completed are checked by the final editor, and if necessary, they may be forwarded to the author for editing. The process is expected to be completed within a maximum of 5 days.

• At this stage, the manuscripts undergo final reading, DOI identification, and design processes. The maximum processing time is 10 days.

Candidate manuscripts are typically expected to complete the publication review process within 3 months.

Repository Policy

Journal of Media and Religion Studies repository the works of willing authors in the Aperta community in accordance with the Tübitak Open Science Policy.

Processing and publication are free of charge with the journal.

There is no article processing charges or submission fees for any submitted or accepted articles.