Journal of Social and Humanities Research (sobbiad)

1. Before submitting a manuscript to the Journal of Social and Humanities Research (sobbiad), authors are required to read the following submission and manuscript preparation guidelines carefully.
2. Manuscripts that do not comply with these guidelines will not be considered for review.
3. Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively through the DergiPark online submission system. Authors are required to register with the system before submission. Submissions sent via e-mail or by any other means will not be considered.
4. All stages of the submission, editorial evaluation, peer review, and publication processes are conducted electronically through the DergiPark platform.

1. Submission Documents

Authors are required to upload the following documents during the submission process:

1. Cover Page: 📝 1_cover_page.docx 
   Must include the full names and contact information of all authors, the order of authorship, author contribution statements, and the copyright declaration. The form must be signed by all authors.
2. Copyright Agreement Form: 📝 2_copyright_agreement_form.doc 
   Must include declarations regarding the originality of the manuscript, intellectual property rights, compliance with publication ethics, and permission for publication. The form must be signed by all authors. Submissions without this document will not be considered.
3. Ethics Statement Form: 📝 3_ethics_declaration_form.docx 
   Must include declarations concerning compliance with ethical principles, ethics committee approval (where applicable), and any required legal permissions. The form must be signed by the corresponding author.
4. Full Manuscript: 📝 4_manuscript_templete_form.docx 
   Must be prepared in Microsoft Word format using the journal's manuscript template. To ensure compliance with the double-blind peer review process, the manuscript file must not contain any information that could identify the author(s).
5. Supplementary Files (if applicable)
   Datasets, supplementary tables, figures, images, or any other supporting materials may be uploaded.
6. Ethics Committee Approval Document (if applicable)
   For studies involving human participants that require ethics committee approval, the official ethics committee approval document must be uploaded to the system.

2. Manuscript Evaluation Process

Submitted manuscripts undergo the following stages:

• Initial Screening: Compliance with the journal template, language quality, citation style, reference list, AI usage policy check, and plagiarism screening using iThenticate.
• Section Editor Evaluation: Assessment of the manuscript's relevance to the journal's scope and its scientific quality.
• Peer Review: Double-blind peer review conducted by at least two reviewers; a third reviewer may be assigned when necessary.
• Copyediting: Proofreading and language editing.
• Final Similarity Check: A final plagiarism screening conducted prior to acceptance.
• Publication Process: Scheduling, DOI assignment, typesetting, and publication.

A manuscript that fails to meet the journal's requirements after being returned to the author twice during the initial screening process will be rejected and will not be processed again within the same publication period.

Due to the workload associated with manuscript processing, authors should not expect or request publication of their manuscripts in the immediately forthcoming issue.

3. Corresponding Author

1. For manuscripts with multiple authors, the corresponding author or any equivalent designation must be clearly identified on the Cover Page.
2. The corresponding author is responsible for all communication with the journal throughout the submission, peer review, and publication processes, coordinating revisions, and keeping all co-authors informed of the progress of the manuscript.
3. The corresponding author's e-mail address may be published with the final article for correspondence purposes.

4. Ethics Committee Approval

1. All manuscripts submitted to the journal must comply with the principles of research and publication ethics.

2. Ethics committee approval is required for studies involving:

   surveys, questionnaires, interviews, observations, or other methods of data collection involving human participants;

   research involving human or animal experiments; and

   retrospective studies involving sensitive or personal data.

3. For research requiring ethics committee approval, the approval must be obtained before the commencement of data collection or any research procedures. Manuscripts that fail to meet this requirement will be rejected during the initial screening process.
4. For studies that do not require ethics committee approval, authors must also clearly state this on the Cover Page.

5. Language and Style

1. Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the current spelling and grammar rules of the relevant language. For manuscripts written in Turkish, authors should follow the guidelines of the Turkish Language Association (Türk Dil Kurumu). For manuscripts written in English, standard contemporary English grammar and spelling conventions should be observed.
2. The handling editor may make minor editorial and linguistic corrections where necessary. English abstracts may also be revised by the journal's language editor when considered necessary.

6. Copyright and License

1. Authors retain the copyright of their published works.
2. The opinions and views expressed in published articles are solely those of the authors. SOBBIAD assumes no responsibility for the content of the published manuscripts.
3. All articles are published as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

7. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

1. Authors are required to disclose any use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the preparation of their manuscripts, including but not limited to text generation or editing, translation, data analysis, image generation, and code development.
2. AI tools must not be listed as authors. The authors remain fully responsible for the scientific accuracy, integrity, and originality of the manuscript, as well as for ensuring that all cited sources have been reviewed and verified by the authors.

3. Where applicable, the disclosure should include:

   the name of the AI tool and its developer or provider; and

   the purpose and extent of its use, including when and in which part of the manuscript it was used.

4. Failure to provide an adequate disclosure upon the journal's request may result in termination of the peer review process, withdrawal of an acceptance decision, or the issuance of a correction or retraction for a published article, where appropriate.
5. Authors are also required to explicitly state when no generative AI tools were used in the preparation of their manuscript.

8. Withdrawal Policy

1. Within the DergiPark workflow, authors may request the withdrawal of their manuscripts at any stage of the editorial process, provided that the manuscript has not been assigned a DOI, included in the accepted manuscripts list, or scheduled for publication in a specific issue.
2. Before submitting a withdrawal request, authors are required to read the relevant notice and provide a mandatory justification for the request.
3. Withdrawal requests without a valid reason are discouraged. DergiPark may maintain withdrawal records on an author basis, and such records may be visible to editors during the evaluation of future submissions.

9. Manuscript Preparation

1. Manuscripts must be prepared in Microsoft Word format using the journal's manuscript template.
2. All in-text citations must follow the APA 7th edition author–date citation system.
3. Every source cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and every source included in the reference list must be cited at least once in the text.
4. Direct quotations of up to 40 words should be enclosed in double quotation marks and incorporated into the main text. Direct quotations exceeding 40 words should be presented as block quotations without quotation marks, indented 1.25 cm from both the left and right margins. Block quotations should be formatted in 9-point font with single line spacing.
5. For direct quotations, the page number is mandatory (e.g., (Doğan, 2018, p. 36)). For paraphrased material, page numbers are not required but may be included where appropriate.
6. The use of footnotes should be kept to a minimum and limited to explanatory notes only. References must not be cited in footnotes; all citations should be provided using the APA 7 in-text author–date citation system.

10. In-Text Citations

1. For works by a single author, citations should follow the format (Author, Year, p. Page Number).
   Example: (Demir, 2018, p. 36).
2. For works by two authors, both authors' surnames should be included.
   Example: (Kayıkçı and Yıldırım, 2022, p. 45).
3. For works by three or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by "et al."
   Example: (Yazıcı et al., 2024, p. 67).
4. When the author's name appears as part of the narrative, only the year and page number should be provided in parentheses.
   Example: Yılmaz (1986, pp. 132–134) examined the primary motivations underlying publishing...
5. When citing works published in the same year by different authors with the same surname, distinguish them by including the initials of their given names before the surname.
   Example: (A. Demir, 2021) and (M. Demir, 2021).
6. When citing multiple works by the same author published in the same year, distinguish the works by adding lowercase letters after the year.
   Example: (Kaya, 2021a, p. 15); (Kaya, 2021b, p. 48).
7. When citing multiple sources within the same parenthetical citation, arrange them alphabetically by the first author's surname and separate them with semicolons.
   Example: (Aktaş, 2019; Demir, 2017; Yılmaz, 2022).
8. The abbreviations "ibid.", "op. cit.", "loc. cit.", or similar forms are not used in APA 7th edition. Every citation should follow the author–date citation system.
9. For works authored by organizations or institutions, use the organization's name as the author.
   Example (first citation): (Turkish Statistical Institute [TÜİK], 2024).
   Subsequent citations: (TÜİK, 2024).

11. Reference List

1. The reference list should not begin on a new page. It should be placed immediately after the Conclusion section, leaving one blank line before the heading References.
2. The reference list must be formatted in 9-point font, and all references should be arranged alphabetically by the surname of the first author.
3. Bullet points should not be used in the reference list, and periods should not be placed after URLs or hyperlinks.
4. Where available, DOIs or permanent identifiers (e.g., persistent URLs) must be provided for all references. If neither a DOI nor a persistent identifier is available, authors should provide the shortest stable downloadable URL. Hyperlinks should be displayed as plain text (i.e., without embedded hyperlink formatting).
5. References must use a hanging indent of 1.25 cm. Paragraph spacing should be set to 0 pt before and 6 pt after, with single line spacing.
6. The reference list should be presented as a single alphabetical list. Subheadings such as Books, Journal Articles, Theses, or similar categories should not be used.
7. The entire reference list should be left-aligned.
8. Preparing a complete and properly formatted reference list is an important part of the journal's initial screening process. Therefore, authors are strongly encouraged to use reference management software such as Zotero, EndNote, or similar citation management tools.

12. General Principles – Research and Publication Ethics

1. All manuscripts submitted to the journal must comply with the principles of research and publication ethics. The journal adheres to the international standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for editors, reviewers, and authors.
2. Once a manuscript has been submitted through the online system, the order of authorship cannot be changed, and no author may be added or removed at any stage of the review or publication process. Therefore, all authorship information must be finalized at the time of submission.
3. For every submission, at least one of the authors must hold a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) or a higher academic qualification.
4. No more than one manuscript by the same author or the same group of authors may be published in a single issue. In addition, the same author(s) may not publish articles in two consecutive issues of the journal.
5. For manuscripts derived from graduate theses (master's or doctoral), the first author must be the thesis author and the second author must be the thesis supervisor. The Cover Page must clearly state that the manuscript is derived from a thesis.
6. For studies requiring ethics committee approval (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other research involving human participants), the official ethics committee approval document must be uploaded during the submission process.
7. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the ethics approval information (name of the ethics committee, approval date, and approval/decision number) must also be reported both in the Method section and in the Declarations section at the end of the manuscript.
8. Only manuscripts prepared in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format using the Calibri font are accepted.
9. All formatting requirements—including page layout, font sizes, headings, and paragraph styles—must fully comply with the journal's manuscript template. Authors are strongly encouraged to prepare their manuscripts directly using the template provided by the journal. Manuscripts that do not conform to the template will not be considered for review.
10. Authors are solely responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts comply with ethical standards. In accordance with the journal's publication ethics and plagiarism policy, all submissions are screened during the initial editorial assessment using iThenticate similarity detection software. The maximum acceptable similarity index is 15%. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold will be rejected without being sent for peer review.
11. Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Oral presentations delivered at conferences, symposiums, or workshops may be considered for publication with the approval of the Editorial Board, provided that the title, date, and venue of the event are clearly stated on the Cover Page. All legal and ethical responsibilities in this regard remain with the authors.
12. To enhance the journal's international visibility, manuscripts written in languages other than English must include an Extended Abstract in English consisting of 750–1,000 words. The Extended Abstract must appear at the end of the manuscript, following the reference list and any appendices.
13. By submitting a manuscript to SOBBIAD, authors are deemed to have accepted the journal's publication policies and ethical principles. Authors bear full legal and ethical responsibility for manuscripts that fail to comply with these principles.
14. Any manuscript found to violate the journal's editorial policies, publication ethics, or ethical standards at any stage of the publication process will be removed from consideration and returned to the author(s), regardless of its stage in the review process.
15. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject or retract manuscripts that do not comply with the journal's policies, either during the review process or after publication.
16. During the initial editorial assessment, manuscripts are evaluated by the editors and the Editorial Board with respect to the journal's aims and scope, publication policies, compliance with the author guidelines, scientific methodology, originality, academic contribution, and scholarly writing quality. Manuscripts that satisfy these criteria are sent to at least two independent expert reviewers under the journal's double-blind peer review system. Manuscripts deemed unsuitable at this stage are returned to the authors without external review.
17. If the reviewers provide conflicting recommendations, the manuscript may be referred to a third reviewer. The Editor-in-Chief or the Section Editor may also appoint an additional reviewer if the existing reports are considered insufficient. Throughout the review process, the identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential in accordance with the principles of double-blind peer review.
18. Each manuscript should begin with an Introduction presenting the purpose, scope, relevant literature, and methodology of the study, and conclude with a Conclusion summarizing and discussing the findings.
19. The manuscript title should consist of no more than 15 words, accurately reflect the content of the study, and clearly represent its scope.
20. Headings and subheadings should reflect the logical structure of the manuscript and be concise, clear, and consistent with the content.
21. Research articles, including footnotes, tables, figures, graphs, and references, must be between 6,000 and 10,000 words.
22. Book Reviews should contain 1,500–2,000 words. The book selected for review must make a meaningful contribution to the field and must have been published within the last five years.
23. All submissions must include a structured abstract of 150–175 words in both Turkish and English, prepared in accordance with the journal template. The abstract must be organized under the following headings: Purpose, Method, Findings, Conclusion, and Originality/Value.
24. The manuscript file submitted for peer review must not contain any author names, institutional affiliations, acknowledgements, personal statements, or metadata that could reveal the identity of the author(s).
25. The use of footnotes should be kept to a minimum and limited to explanatory purposes. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript. Any source cited in a footnote must also be included in the reference list.
26. The journal follows the APA Style (7th edition) citation and referencing guidelines. Detailed guidance is available on the official APA Style website, and basic citation examples are also provided in the journal's manuscript template.