Manuscript Review Policy: Double Blind Review

In order for the manuscripts submitted to Sinop Journal of Theology to be accepted for evaluation, they must not have been published before or be currently under evaluation in another journal for publication and must be approved by each author.

Manuscript Review Process Stages

• Preliminary review and plagiarism screening
• Editorial (internal) review
• Peer Review (external review) process
• Revision process and post-revision control
• Publication process (language checks, layout and proofreading)

Preliminary Review and Plagiarism Check

The manuscript submitted to the journal is reviewed by the journal secretary for compliance with the journal's publication principles, academic writing rules and ISNAD Citation System, and is scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate or plagial.net program. The plagiarism similarity rate must be less than 20%. The main measure of similarity is the author's compliance with the rules of citation and citation. If the similarity rate is 1%, but the citation and quotation are not done properly, plagiarism may still be in question. The preliminary review is completed within a maximum of 30 days.

Editorial (Internal) Review

At this stage, two internal reviewers are assigned. The internal reviewers are selected by the Editor(s) from the Editorial Board according to their areas of expertise. The internal reviewers evaluate the manuscript in terms of originality, methodology, importance of the topic, compatibility with the scope of the journal, methodology and results, and decide whether the manuscript should be included in the peer-review process for further evaluation. This review is completed within a maximum of 20 days.

Peer Review (External Review) Process

At this stage, two external reviewers take part (Reviewing Type: Double Blind Review)
It is ensured that the manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo a fair double blind peer review. After passing the editorial (internal) review, the manuscript is submitted to the evaluation of at least two external reviewer. If there are no reviewers who have conducted research on the subject of the article, the reviewers are selected from among researchers with a PhD degree in that discipline. The reviewers evaluate the article in detail in terms of its subject, method and results and express their opinions on whether the article should be published or not. The reviewer is requested to either state his/her opinion and conviction about the study he/she has reviewed on the text or justify it with an explanation of at least 150 words on the online reviewer form. If both reviewer reports are positive, the manuscript is accepted for publication with the decision of the journal editor. If one of the reviewer reports is positive (acceptance or minor revision decision) and the other is negative (rejection or major revision decision), the manuscript may be sent to a third reviewer or the Editorial Board may review and decide. The author is given the right to object and defend his/her views if he/she disagrees with the reviewers' opinions. The editor/field editor ensures mutual communication between the author and the reviewer while maintaining confidentiality. During the process, external reviewers cannot learn the identity of the author and the author cannot learn the identity of the reviewers.
The publication of book and symposium reviews is decided as a result of editorial (internal) evaluation without going through the reviewer process.

Revision Process and Post-Revision Control

If the reviewers request revisions, the relevant reports are sent to the author and he/she is asked to revise the manuscript. The revision period is at least 15 days. This period may be extended if major revisions are requested. The author submits the revisions to the editor by indicating them in red color. The editor checks whether the author has made the requested corrections in the text. The checking process is completed within a maximum of 7 days.

Publication Process

Language Controls: The manuscripts accepted for publication are reviewed by the Language Editors and, if necessary, the author is asked to make corrections. The checking process is completed within a maximum of 5 days.
Layout and Final Reading: Layout and proofreading of the manuscripts decided to be published by the Editorial Board are done and the manuscripts are made ready to be assigned to the issue.