Volume: 4 Issue: 2

Qualitative Social Sciences (QSS) is a peer-reviewed, open access, international journal published two times a year (June & December). The main aim of this journal is to develop qualitative interpretation and analysis of phenomena in social sciences, including, but not limited to: psychology, organizational behavior, social work, sociology, social anthropology, counseling, marketing, narrative studies, and nursing.

The journal publishes only: research papers based on qualitative methods or mixed methods, review and theoretical papers, and research notes (short papers focusing on methods and how research is conducted). Manuscripts can be written in either English or Turkish.

Writing Rules

Author Guidelines

Authors may submit their manuscript (text, figures and tables) as a single Word file. This can be in any format, and figures and tables can be placed within the text.

There are no strict formatting requirements, but all manuscripts after acceptance should be formatted according to the article template.

For article template click here.

This journal uses a double-blind review, which means that the identity of the author(s) is concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors need to ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in a way that does not give away their identity. The journal accepts submitted studies according to the evaluation report of at least two reviewers.

Articles to be submitted to the journal:

The study should not exceed 9000 words, including an extended summary and references.

In Turkish texts, 750-1000 words of English extended summary should be given in addition to the abstract of 300 words and up to six keywords in Turkish. In English texts, only max. 300 words abstract in English and up to six keywords and Turkish abstract should be included. QSS will assist with the translation of the summary for English texts when necessary.

The use of language that includes sexism, racism, prejudice, or discrimination should be avoided.

The manuscripts should be written in accordance with the writing and style principles of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition https://apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition (APA 7, 2020). You can find references in APA 7th style in this link.

Language Use

The manuscript submitted should not be published elsewhere, whether in print or electronically, partially or completely, nor should it be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts that are reviewed and accepted for publication by the editorial board of the journal may be sent back to their authors for revision, if necessary, in accordance with the criticism and suggestions received from peer reviewers. Submitted articles are to be published only upon the approval of the Editorial Board. The effective use of Turkish or English language according to academic standards is an important criterion for evaluation.

Contribution Statement

Contribution details (eg, equal contribution) must be included in the contributors section at the end of the article.

Declaration of Competing interest

All authors must disclose all financial and personal relationships with other individuals or organizations that may affect the integrity and objectivity of their work. Examples of these relationships are employment, consulting, compensation, paid testimony, patent applications, grants or other support.

Acknowledgements

In this section, acknowledgements should be provided regarding the organizations supporting the study and any individuals who contributed but were not authors.

Reference Style

References should be written in accordance with the guidelines of the APA Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition published by the American Psychological Association (APA 7, 2020).

Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

There is no fee for submission, article-editorial processing, or publication (page or color charges) of manuscripts.

The compliance of manuscripts with QSS/NSB publication principles and research ethics principles are the main conditions for publication. The article may be withdrawn if it is found to be contrary to ethical principles. Ethics committee approval must be obtained for research, clinical and experimental studies (involving human and animal subjects), this approval must be stated in the article and the sample of the document must be uploaded. Authors must observe the high standards of publication ethics set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Plagiarism is unacceptable; plagiarism includes falsifying or deriving data, copying the author's own work without proper citation, and/or misuse of the work.

In case we identify that author(s) of the manuscript use(s) falsified and fabricated data, then we will report this to the institution of the authors. Editorial members of the journal and/or the reviewers reserve the right to ask author(s) to provide raw data and plagiarism analysis (from Turnitin, intihal.net and iThenticate). If deemed necessary by editorial board members, editors have the right to demand similarity report (%25 or below) originated from Turnitin, intihal.net or iThenticate websites.

This journal uses double-blind review, which means that the identity of the author(s) is concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors need to ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in a way that does not give away their identity. Submitted studies are accepted by the journal according to the evaluation report of at least two reviewers.

The Responsibilities of the Editorial Board

• Editorial Board determines and performs journal policies as publication, blind review, evaluation process and ethical principles.

• Editorial Board prepares a “Guide for Authors” to inform authors and “Reviewer Forms” to inform reviewers about evaluation processes.

• Editorial Board determines incentive policies for the authors.

• Editorial Board keeps records of every article electronically.

The Responsibilities of Editors

• Editors try to inform reviewers, authors, researchers and readers, to answer their questions clearly within the principles of clarity.

• Editors, during the publication process, consider that the articles should be original and contribute to the literature, the readers and researchers.

• While editors are making decisions about the article publication, they consider originality, contribution to the field, clarity of expressions, content and validity and reliability of the articles.

• Editors consider the positive views of reviewers, and they do not change the reviewers' decisions unless there is a major flaw.

• Editors implement the policies of blind review and evaluation processes, keep private personal identity information of the authors, and provide impartial evaluation processes in due time for the articles.

• Editors send the articles to reviewers considering their professional fields and care that the articles are evaluated impartially and independently.

• Editors should consider if there are conflicts or collaborations between authors and reviewers.

• Editors ensure that journal publishing processes are operated in accordance with publishing policies and guidelines, and inform those who are in the process of the developments on publishing policies.

• Editors communicate effectively with everyone involved in the publishing processes.

• Editors provide protection of personal data in assessed articles; they keep personal data of authors, reviewers and readers.

• Editors pay utmost attention to the protection of human and animal rights in the articles, emphasize that the clear approval of the participants of the article is documented, and reject the articles without the necessary ethics committee approval.

• Editors take precautions against misconduct. When there are complaints about the abuse of duty, they share the findings about the subject by conducting an objective investigation.

• Editors should highlight errors, inconsistencies, or misleading errors in articles and ask authors to correct them. Editors also take the necessary precautions to ensure that the content of the published articles does not infringe the intellectual property rights of other publications; they can ask authors to check authenticity-similarity.

• Editors consider consistent critiques for the articles published in the journal and enable authors to answer these critiques.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

• Reviewers should only accept to evaluate the articles related to the field of their specializations.

• Reviewers should make the evaluation impartially and confidentially. In accordance with this principle, the articles they review should be annihilated after the evaluation process, but they may be used after publication. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns should not distort the impartiality of the evaluation.

• When reviewers realize that there is a conflict or collaboration with authors, they should inform the editors and refuse to review the article.

• Reviewers must evaluate articles with a constructive attitude in accordance with the academic etiquette rules; they should refrain from insulting and hostile personal comments.

• Reviewers should inform editors about their availability in 15 days and if they agree to review an article.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Authors

The ethical responsibilities of the authors are as below:

• The authors should not send an article already published or in a review of another journal.

• The authors should send original articles to QSS.

• Persons who do not contribute to the articles should not be listed as authors, and it should not be proposed to change the author order of a published article and to add authors.

• Authors must notify the editors of the possible conflicts and collaborations about the article.

• In the evaluation process of the articles, the authors should provide the editors with information about the articles or the raw data if required.

• The authors must document the rights to use the data they use in their articles, the permission for research or the approval of the participants whom they have interviewed.

• Authors should communicate with the editors to provide information, correct the article, or withdraw if they notice a typo, error, or misleading data analysis in early view or the published article in electronic form. Authors can publish their work in preprint archives. Publications within this scope are not considered duplication or plagiarism.