These guidelines cover the key principles, requirements, and procedures that authors should consider when submitting a manuscript to Sosyal Mucit Academic Review (SMAR) and throughout the evaluation and publication process.

Authors are expected to review these guidelines carefully before submission and to prepare all submission files in a complete, accurate, and up-to-date manner in accordance with the requirements specified below. All submissions are evaluated in accordance with SMAR’s editorial policies, ethical principles, and scientific evaluation criteria.

1. Pre-Submission Requirements and Alignment with SMAR

Before submitting a manuscript to SMAR, authors are expected to review the journal’s Aim and Scope, Writing Rules, Ethical Principles and Publication Policy, Editorial Evaluation and Peer Review Process, Fee Policy, Open Access, Copyright, Licensing and Archiving Policy, as well as other relevant publication policies.

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original, must not be under simultaneous consideration by another journal, and must be prepared in accordance with the principles of research and publication ethics.

At the time of submission, authors are required to complete and upload the Contribution Statement and SMAR Alignment Form. This form is used to demonstrate the contribution of the manuscript beyond merely reporting its findings and to support the assessment of its alignment with SMAR’s editorial approach and social inventiveness perspective.

Within the form, authors are expected to provide a statement of approximately 100–150 words addressing at least one of the following aspects: how the study reframes or reinterprets the problem it addresses; what interdisciplinary connection it establishes or what original conceptual contribution it makes to the field; or what concrete outcomes or implications it offers for policymakers, practitioners, or society.

The Contribution Statement and SMAR Alignment Form is a supporting document for the editorial evaluation and peer review process. Submission of the form, or a positive assessment of its content, does not guarantee that the manuscript will proceed to peer review, be accepted, or be published.

2. Submission Documents and Anonymization

At the time of submission, the files specified below must be prepared and uploaded to the system in a complete and up-to-date manner and in accordance with the relevant requirements.

Files Required at Submission:

• Anonymized Main Manuscript: The main manuscript file must be prepared in accordance with the journal’s current writing rules and manuscript template. It must not contain any information that could directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the authors.

• Author Information Form: This form must contain complete and accurate author, affiliation, contact, and other information required by the journal for all authors. It must be uploaded separately from the main manuscript.

• Contribution Statement and SMAR Alignment Form: This form must be completed to demonstrate the scientific or practical contribution of the study and to support the assessment of its alignment with SMAR’s editorial approach and social inventiveness perspective. The form must be prepared anonymously and must not contain any information, other than the manuscript title, that could directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the authors.

 Statement of  Contribution and SMAR Alignment Form: 📝 SMAR - Statement of Contribution and Alignment with SMAR.docx 

• Copyright Transfer and Scientific Ethics Compliance Form: This form must be completed in full to record information concerning copyright, compliance with scientific ethics, and other relevant author declarations required by the journal. The declarations contained in the form must be consistent with the journal’s Open Access, Copyright, and Licensing Policies.

Copyright Transfer and Research Ethics Compliance Form: 📝 SMAR - Copyright Transfer and Research Ethics Compliance Form.docx 

• Similarity Report: The similarity report must be generated exclusively through iThenticate or Turnitin. Reports generated through other similarity detection software or systems are not accepted. The report must correspond to the current version of the anonymized main manuscript uploaded to the system and must comply with the similarity thresholds and other requirements specified in the journal’s Similarity Policy.

• Ethics Committee Approval Document: For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the relevant approval document must be uploaded to the system. The name of the ethics committee, the date of approval, and the decision or document number must also be stated in the manuscript in accordance with the journal’s Ethical Principles and Publication Policy.

• Other Supporting Documents: The Editorial Office may request additional documents, permissions, or explanations depending on the nature of the study, the research methodology, or the requirements of the evaluation process.

As SMAR applies a double-blind peer review system, the main manuscript submitted for peer review must not contain names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, email addresses, contact details, or any other information that could directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the authors. Acknowledgements, project information, funding information, or other details that may compromise anonymity must also be appropriately anonymized in the version submitted for peer review.

The Contribution Statement and SMAR Alignment Form must likewise be prepared anonymously in accordance with the principles of double-blind peer review. Other than the manuscript title, the form must not contain any information that could directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the authors.

Authors are responsible for the completeness of their submission and for the accuracy of the title, abstract, keywords, author information, affiliations, and reference information entered into the DergiPark system. Information entered into the system must be consistent with the information contained in the submitted files.

3. Author Contribution Percentages and CRediT Contributor Roles

To promote transparency in authorship and contributions, SMAR requires authors to clearly declare their contributions to the research and preparation of the manuscript. For multi-authored manuscripts, the contribution percentage of each author must be specified based on the joint assessment and approval of all authors, and the total contribution percentages declared must equal 100%. For single-authored manuscripts, the contribution percentage must be stated as 100%.

The CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) is used to describe the nature of each author’s contribution to the study. Authors must indicate only those CRediT roles to which they have actually contributed. An author may assume more than one CRediT role, and the same CRediT role may be shared by more than one author.

The following CRediT contributor roles are used: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, and Writing – Review & Editing.

CRediT contributor roles are not used to mathematically determine author contribution percentages. Contribution percentages are based on the authors’ joint assessment of their overall scientific contributions to the study, whereas CRediT roles describe the nature of those contributions.

Author contribution percentages and CRediT contributor roles must be declared in the Copyright Transfer and Scientific Ethics Compliance Form at the time of submission and must also be included at the end of the manuscript if the manuscript is accepted for publication.

For manuscripts accepted for publication, an Author Contribution Percentage and CRediT Contributor Roles Statement and a Conflict of Interest Statement must be included at the end of the manuscript. Where applicable, a Funding and Acknowledgements Statement must also be provided.

Example Statement:

Author Contribution Percentage and CRediT Contributor Roles Statement: The first author contributed 40% to the study and undertook the roles of Conceptualization, Methodology, and Writing – Original Draft; the second author contributed 60% to the study and undertook the roles of Investigation, Formal Analysis, and Writing – Review & Editing.

For single-authored manuscripts, the author contribution percentage must be stated as 100%, and the author must declare only the CRediT contributor roles actually undertaken.

4. Evaluation, Revision, and Publication Process

Following technical preliminary checks, submissions are assigned to the relevant field editor according to their subject matter and methodology. The field editor evaluates the manuscript in terms of its alignment with the journal’s aim and scope, scientific quality, research problem, engagement with the literature, methodological appropriateness, originality, and contribution to the field.

Manuscripts that successfully complete the editorial preliminary evaluation and satisfy the relevant submission requirements proceed to independent peer review in accordance with the journal’s declared double-blind peer review system. The peer review process and final publication decision are conducted in accordance with the journal’s Editorial Evaluation and Peer Review Process.

Where revision is requested, authors are expected to respond systematically to the comments of editors and reviewers and to clearly indicate the changes made to the manuscript. Where necessary, the Editorial Office may request a clean revised manuscript, a version showing the changes made, and a separate response file addressing the comments of the editors and/or reviewers.

Manuscripts accepted for publication undergo language, formatting, typesetting, and final publication checks. Authors are responsible for carefully reviewing the entire pre-publication version provided to them, communicating any requested corrections within the specified period, and approving the final version of the manuscript for publication.