Osmangazi Journal of Educational Research

Osmangazi Journal of Educational Research (OJER) is published by the Institute of Education of Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey. OJER aims at bridging the gap between theory and practice in all areas of educational sciences, and promoting high quality scholarly articles.

OJER is an online, open-access, international, scholarly, peer-reviewed journal offering scholarly research articles on various topics in all areas of educational sciences. OJER publishes scholarly articles including empirical studies, research reviews, methodological reviews of literature, data-based position papers, policy analyses on education related topics, theoretical articles, and book reviews in all areas of educational sciences. OJER welcomes studies from diverse methodologies, including experimental studies (e.g., group designs, single-subject designs etc.), qualitative studies, case studies, and descriptive studies (e.g., observational methodologies, survey methodologies etc.). Technical quality in research designs, the importance and up-to-dateness of the topic, and comprehensive description of studies is considered for review and publication process in OJER.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
Review Policy
Manuscripts submitted to OJER will be checked for plagiarism by using Turnitin/ iThenticate plagiarism detection programs. Manuscripts leading to plagiarism will be rejected by the editor/associate editor. Any manuscripts submitted to Osmangazi Journal of Educational Research (OJER) undergo a process of “Peer Review” before publishing. OJER reviewers play an important role in maintaining the high standards for OJER. Process starts with initial manuscript evaluation. If a manuscript is submitted to OJER, it first undergoes a preliminary check by the Chief Editor. The manuscripts that do not conform to the required format of OJER will be rejected at this stage. The next step is review process by the Field (or Section) Editor who is initially assigned to a submission by an Editor. They manage the Review Process of submissions that are accepted. Editors send requests to Field Editors to see a submission through the editorial process. Submissions to the OJER that are assigned to the Field Editor by the Editor appear in that Field Editor's “Submissions in Review” queue. Field Editors have access only to those submissions to which they have been assigned. Field Editors can reject or assign reviewers to a manuscript submitted to OJER. OJER employs double blind reviewing, where both the reviewer and the author remain anonymous throughout the review process. Therefore, it is very important that all the manuscript files (including any supplemental files for review) have to be anonymized to allow for blind review. Thus, author/s should remove all personal information from the documents to be reviewed. Reviewers are chosen by the editors, field editors or members of the editorial board to whom the task has been delegated. Field editors are responsible for assigning manuscripts to reviewers. Reviewers are matched to manuscripts according to their expertise. OJER management system allows field editors to choose reviewers from our database or to add new reviewers.

Reviewers are expected to evaluate whether a manuscript meets the following criteria:

The first one is presentation. It includes general readability, organization of the manuscript, focus and aim, clear expression, grammar, and APA format. Introduction to manuscript is also important. Reviewers should check the appropriateness of title, structured abstract, rationale for design, appropriateness of research question, literature reviewed and methodology. Reviewers should also check the suitability of research design, sufficiency of research group/sample (described in detail, size justified), research tests and instruments (validity and reliability analysis), procedures and data analysis with enough statistical details. The result section should also be controlled for clarity and completeness. Reviewers should also check the last sections, discussion and conclusion and recommendation whether the results are compared with relevant literature, conclusion is stated clearly and completely, contribution to the field and implications for other areas/studies are presented, and recommendations are given for further research. Finally, reviewers are expected to finish their review with a general evaluation statement whether the manuscript is worth for publishing or needs further editing or rewriting by the author/s.

Final report is sent to the researchers by the Chief Editor. The Chief Editor sends one of the recommended actions to the researcher:

a) Accept as is: no revision needed,

b) Accept: minor revision needed,

c) Major revision needed: Suggest revision and resubmission

d) Reject: Provide reasons in the comments to the editors and authors.

The time required for the review process is mainly dependent on the response of the reviewers. The review process normally takes 2 to 3 months to complete depending on the number of rounds the reviews need to take place. All manuscripts submitted for publication in OJER will undergo rigorous peer review, based on an initial editor screening and then a blind review process by at least two anonymous reviewers. The field editors usually choose the reviewers from the OJER reviewer pool. Normally, the editor will seek reviewers’ feedback before considering the manuscript for publication. In that case, the editor will wait until he/she receives all reviewer comments on submission. If the reviewers’ reports contradict with one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed, a further expert opinion should be sought. In rare cases for which it is extremely difficult to find a second reviewer, or when one reviewer’s report has thoroughly convinced the editor; decisions at this stage to accept or ask for major revision or reject can be made on the basis of only one reviewer’s report.

Manuscript Template

You can reach the journal Manuscript Template via ( word / pdf ).

Paragraphs and Headings
Each paragraph should include at least three sentences but a paragraph cannot be longer than one manuscript page.
The levels of headings of the manuscript should be organized according to APA and reflect the organization of the paper.

Format
The entire manuscript - including quotations, references, author notes, content footnotes, figure captions, and all parts of tables - should be neatly prepared in single spaced format.
Manuscripts should be in length of between 20-30 pages.
The title page, abstract, references, appendixes, author notes, content footnotes, tables, figure captions, and figures should not be on separate pages (with only one table or figure per page). They should be ordered in sequence, with the text pages between the abstract and the references.
All pages should be numbered in sequence, starting with the title page.
Since the manuscript will go through blind review, the author notes should be typed on the title page.
A signed cover letter should be submitted with the manuscript. The cover letter should include "the author's postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number for future correspondence and state that the manuscript is original, is not previously published, and not under concurrent consideration elsewhere." (if needed please see the Cover Letter Template)

Abbreviations

Any unnecessary abbreviations should be eliminated and all the necessary abbreviations must be explained and the long form of the abbreviation should be provided at the initial use.
Abbreviations in tables and figures should be explained in the table notes and figure captions or legends.

Mathematics and Statistics
Greek letters and all but the most common mathematical symbols should be identified on the manuscript.
All non-Greek letters that are used as statistical symbols for algebraic variables should be in italics.

Units of Measurement
Metric equivalents for all non-metric units (except measurements of time, which have no metric equivalents) should be provided.
All metric and non-metric units with numeric values (except some measurements of time) should be abbreviated.

References
Make sure references are cited in both the text and the references list.
Citations in the text and reference list entries must agree in both spellings and dates.
Don’t use abbreviations of journal titles. Journal titles in the reference list should be spelled out fully.
The references (both in the parenthetical text citations and in the reference list) should be ordered alphabetically by the authors' surnames.
Page numbers for all articles or book chapters should be provided in the reference list.
References to studies included in a meta-analysis/literature review should be preceded by an asterisk.

Author Notes and Footnotes
The departmental affiliation should be given for each author in the author notes.
The author note should include both the author's current affiliation if it is different from the byline affiliation and a current address for correspondence.
The author note should disclose special circumstances about the article (portions presented at an academic meeting, report of a longitudinal study, relationship that may be perceived as a conflict of interest).
In the text, all footnotes should be indicated, and footnote numbers correctly should be located.

Tables and Figures
Every table column, including the stub column, should have a heading.
All vertical table rules should be omitted.
The elements in the figures should be large enough to remain legible after the figure has been reduced to the width of a journal column or page.
Lettering in a figure should vary by no more than 4 point sizes of type.
EPS, JPEG, or TIFF files of figures may be submitted in addition to the prints.
Each figure should be labeled with the correct figure number and short title.
All figures and tables should be mentioned in the text and be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned.

Copyright and Quotations
Written/electronic permissions to use previously published text, tests or portions of tests, tables, or figures should be enclosed with the manuscript.
Page or paragraph numbers should be provided in text for all quotations.

Permissions
On final acceptance, authors are required to obtain and provide to the editor all permissions necessary to reproduce in print and electronic from any copyrighted work.
Each author of accepted manuscripts for the publication should fill out, print, sign, scan and email the “copyright form” to the editor via their personal e-mail addresses.
All the papers that are sent to the journal can be withdrawn only before the reviewing procedures have been begin the papers which are in the reviewing process cannot be withdrawn.
The papers submitted by more than one author can only be withdrawn upon submitting a document that bears all the signatures of all the authors stating that the withdrawal of the article is approved by all of the writers.

You can reach the journal copyright form here.

In any case, poorly structured papers are sent back to authors before being forwarded to reviewers for evaluation.

Language of the Manuscripts
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors should note that they are writing for an international audience. National colloquial expressions and idiomatic use of language should be avoided to the extent possible. Word choices and sentence constructions that might imply bias against persons on the basis of gender, racial or ethnic group membership, disability, sexual orientation, or age should be avoided.

Essential Title Page Information
Title of the manuscript must be concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
The family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name) and please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of reviewing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Manuscript Submission
OJER accepts only English-written submissions and all manuscript submissions must be carried out via OJER webpage at DergiPark.
OJER also accepts manuscripts in Turkish for review. However, after the review process and acceptance for publication, the manuscript must be translated into English. After translation, authors can include extended abstract in Turkish.

Please send your manuscripts via DergiPark. Also, all required correspondence can be done via ojer@ogu.edu.tr.

There is no article submission or publishing fees are charged to the authors. OJER is a free and open access journal.

Manuscript Submission Process:
Prepare your manuscript according to the information provided above.

Send your manuscript word file and other additional files via DergiPark with a cover letter (if needed please see the Cover Letter Template).

PUBLICATION ETHICS
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
Osmangazi Journal of Educational Research (OJER) follows the standard for Ethics and Publication Malpractice set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore 2010. As a peer-reviewed and open access journal, one of our priorities is to ensure high standards of publishing. Publication ethics is an important concern and editors, peer-reviewers and authors should pay great attention to meet the ethical standards.

OJER takes its duties of guardianship over all the stages of publishing extremely seriously and recognizes its ethical and other responsibilities. OJER is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions. In addition, the journal’s Editorial Board will assist in communications with other journals and/or publishers where this is useful and necessary.

Conformance to standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected of all parties involved: Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and the Publisher.

Duties of the Editor and the Editorial Board
Publication Decisions
The Editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The publication decision should be guided by the policies of the journal’s Editorial Board, and should be based exclusively on the academic merit and the decision of the reviewers. The Editor must stick to the contemporary regulations pertaining to libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism that are effective. He is entitled to carry out decision-making in consultation with reviewers or members of the editorial board.

An editor must not use unpublished information in the editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Editors should take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

Fair Play
An editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regarding to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality
The Editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Editors should excuse themselves (i.e. should ask a co-editor, associate editor or other member of the editorial board instead of review and consider) for considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. Editors should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.

Involvement and Cooperation in Investigations
OJER will respond to all allegations or suspicions of research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or other editors. Cases of possible plagiarism or duplicate/redundant publication will be assessed by the journal. In other cases, the journal may request an investigation by the institution or other appropriate bodies.

Duties of the Reviewers
Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call the editor’s attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Reviewer Misconduct
Editors will take reviewer’s misconduct seriously and pursue any allegation of breach of confidentiality, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. Allegations of serious reviewer misconduct, such as plagiarism, will be taken to the institutional level.

Duties of Authors
Reporting Standards
Authors reporting results of original research should present an accurate account of work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulently or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and Plagiarism
Authors should adhere to the publication requirements: (i) which are submitted work is entirely original, (ii) is not plagiarized,(iii) has not been published in any other journals, and (iv) if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that are to cited appropriately or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
An author should not generally publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of a Manuscript
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be named in an Acknowledgement section.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors (according to the definition above) and any inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list of the manuscript, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Hazards
If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest in their manuscript that might be construed as influencing the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

DISCLAIMER
Neither the editors nor the Editorial Board are responsible for authors’ expressed opinions, views, and the contents of the published manuscripts in the journal. The originality, proofreading of manuscripts and errors are the sole responsibility of the individual authors.

All manuscripts submitted to review and publication in OJER, go under at least double-blind reviews for authenticity, ethical issues, and useful contributions. Decisions of the reviewers are the only tool for publication in the journal and will be final.

All expenses of the journal are covered by the Eskişehir Osmangazi University. 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.