Dec 27, 2025
Publication Type
Articles
Research Article
Review
Systematic Reviews and Meta Analysis
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: social science methodology, social work, psychology, psychological counseling, sociology, marketing, organizational behavior and other related disciplines.
Research and review studies in social science methodology, social work, psychology, psychological counseling, sociology, marketing, organizational behavior, nursing, and other related disciplines can be published in the journal.
The journal publishes only: research papers based on qualitative methods or mixed methods, review and theoretical papers.
Manuscripts can be written in either English or Turkish.
Author Guidelines
For article template click here.
A plagiarism report must be created via the dergipark system using the intihal.net plagiarism program. 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.
When resubmitting revised articles in accordance with reviewer reports, it is necessary to complete the response file addressed to the reviewers separately. The response file can be accessed through the provided link.
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).
Generative AI usage key principles
Qualitative Social Sciences and other publishers declared their principles on AI use in scientific articles. As per the criteria commonly used in academic publishing, copywriting any part of an article using a generative AI tool would not be permissible, including the generation of the abstract or the literature review, the author(s) must be responsible for the work and accountable for its accuracy, integrity, and validity.
The generation or reporting of results using only a generative AI tool is not permissible, the author(s) must be responsible for the creation and interpretation of their work and accountable for its accuracy, integrity, and validity.
The in-text reporting of statistics using a generative AI tool is not permissible due to concerns over the authenticity, integrity, and validity of the data produced, although the use of such a tool to aid in the analysis of the work would be permissible.
Copy-editing an article using a generative AI tool in order to improve its language and readability would be permissible as this commonly employed by other applications to improve spelling and grammar, and uses existing author-created material, rather than generating wholly new content, while the author(s) remains responsible for the original work.
The images created by AI tools are not permitted unless it is stated and credited and used in context.
Articles published in the Qualitative Social Sciences journal should be reported to the editors in case of errors in the last published file. In case of errors in the last published version of the articles, the articles notified to the editor within 4 days from the date of publication can be reviewed and corrected. This correction request can be sent by the authors or readers to the journal editors by e-mail or by message via Dergipark. Editors make the necessary arrangements within 5 days and publish the article at the same address with the same DOI and name stating that the article went under minor corrections.
Retraction
In articles in the Qualitative Social Sciences journal, where an error (e.g., in analysis or methods) invalidates the results in the article, leads to research or publication abuse (e.g. research without necessary ethical approvals, fabricated data, manipulated images, plagiarism, duplicate publication, etc.) articles may be retracted. This retraction is announced by the editors on the main page of the journal. The retracted article and a file indicating that the article is retracted will be added to issue. The decision to retract an article will be made in accordance with COPE guidelines and will include an investigation with the editors. Authors and institutions may request that their articles be retracted if their reasons meet the retraction criteria provided by COPE. COPE withdrawal guidelines can be found on the COPE website. https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines.
Retraction requests will be considered in the following cases:
There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable as a result of unethical behavior (eg data generation or image manipulation) or inadvertent error (eg miscalculation or experimental error).
Findings have been previously published elsewhere without proper reference, permission, or justification (for example, cases of a different publication or repeated publication).
In the case of plagiarism
Undeserved, or gift authorship.
Where there is evidence that peer review has been compromised.
If there is evidence of unethical research.
Editor in Chief
Editor
Editorial Board
Advisory Board