Referee Guidelines

Considering Turkish Journal for the Psychology of Religion’s aim to publish original and significant articles, referees are invited to assist in the evaluation of submitted articles. Below are guidelines on the article evaluation process, how to become a referee, and tips on writing a good review. In addition, our referee requirements and conditions are based on COPE Principles, which provide further information on how to conduct objective and constructive refereeing.
Turkish Journal for the Psychology of Religion adopts the double-blind peer review model.

Selection of Referees
Referees are selected from among experts with a doctoral degree and publications in the relevant field. Information about experts affiliated with Turkish universities can be accessed from the YÖK Academic website, while information about experts abroad can be accessed from Publons.

Duties and Responsibilities of Referees
Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Referees should be aware of any possible personal biases and take them into account when evaluating an article. Referees should clearly express their supportive evaluations.
Contribution to Editorial Decision: Referee evaluation assists the editor in making editorial decisions and provides the author with the opportunity to improve the article. Referees who feel inadequate to review an article or believe they cannot complete the review promptly should not accept the referee invitation.
Confidentiality: All articles submitted to the journal for review should be kept confidential. Referees should not share their reviews or information about the article with anyone or communicate directly with the authors. Information contained in the study should not be used by a referee in their own research without the explicit written permission of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.
Sensitivity to Research and Publication Ethics Violations: Referees should be vigilant about possible ethical issues in the article and report them to the editor.
Conflict of Interest: Referees should not accept to review an article that may have potential conflicts of interest arising from their relationships with the authors or institutions to which the articles are affiliated.
Citation Request: If a referee suggests that an author include references to the referee's (or their associates') work, this should be for genuine scientific reasons rather than to increase the referee's citation count or visibility of their work. (See also Ethical Rules for Referees)

Conducting the Review
Referee evaluations should be objective. Referees are expected to evaluate the following aspects during the refereeing process:
• Does the article contain new and significant information?
• Does the abstract clearly and accurately describe the content of the article?
• Is the methodology clearly and comprehensively described?
• Are the interpretations and conclusions supported by the findings?
• Are there sufficient references to other studies in the field?
• Is the language quality adequate?
• Do the abstract/Abstract/keywords reflect the content of the article accurately?

Referee Guide
Please follow the steps below to evaluate an article submitted from the system:
1. Log in with your username and password.
2. Log in by selecting Turkish Journal of Psychology of Religion in the top menu.
3. Click on the "Articles in Process" button on the left side.
4. On the page that opens, you will see the name and status of the article you are asked to evaluate. Click on the article name.
5. On the new page that opens, you are asked whether you agree to evaluate the article. To accept, you must click on the "I want to evaluate" button in the green section.
6. After accepting the evaluation, you can download the article file by clicking on the "Evaluation Version" title in the dialog section. You can evaluate the article by clicking on the "Complete and Submit Form" link on the same page. Note: The online referee form opens smoothly in CHROME browser; in EXPLORER, errors may occur due to security settings.
7. After completing the entire form, you should click the "Save and Finish" button.
8. If there is an additional file that you have made corrections on, you can upload it to the system from the FILE ADD-SEND section.

Editor Guidelines

Selection of Editors
Editors are selected from among experts with a doctoral degree and publications relevant to the scope of the journal.

Turkey Editors Workshop Group
Turkish Journal for the Psychology of Religion supports communication with other editors, believing it would be beneficial for our editors. Our editors are members of the Turkey Editors Workshop Group.

Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Coordinate the Referee Process
The editor should ensure that the referee evaluation process is fair, impartial, and timely. Research articles should be reviewed by at least two external referees, and the editor should seek additional opinions if necessary.

Selection of Referees
The editor will select referees with appropriate expertise in the relevant field, taking into account the need for suitability, inclusivity, and diverse representation. The editor will follow best practices to avoid selecting fraudulent referees.

Protection of Confidentiality
The editor should maintain the confidentiality of all materials submitted to the journal and all communications with referees unless agreed otherwise with the relevant authors and referees. In exceptional cases and after consultation with the publisher, the editor may share limited information with other journal editors to investigate suspected research misconduct. The editor should protect the identities of the referees. Information contained in a submitted article should not be used by the editor in their own research without the explicit written permission of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained during the referee process should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.

Impartiality
Editors should evaluate articles based on their intellectual content regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or the authors' political philosophy.

Investigation of Allegations
An editor who finds convincing evidence of ethical misconduct should contact the Editorial Board and Publisher to ensure that the article is corrected, retracted, or another correction is made.

Conflict of Interest
Editors should not be involved in decisions related to articles written by themselves or their family members. Additionally, such a study should be subject to all regular procedures of the journal. Editors should apply ICMJE guidelines regarding disclosure of potential conflicts of interest by authors and referees.

Publication Decision
The editor is responsible for determining which articles submitted to the journal should be published based on the referee reports. The editor must comply with the policies determined by the Editorial Board.

Request for Journal Citation
Editors should not artificially increase any journal metric to influence the journal's ranking. Editors will not request citations to their own journal or another journal's articles for reasons other than scientific ones.

Publication of Correction, Retraction, Expression of Concern
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors that do not affect the findings, interpretations, or conclusions are identified in a published article. Editors should consider retracting an article if there are significant errors/violations that invalidate the findings and conclusions. If there is evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors, or if there is evidence that the authors' institution did not investigate the incident, or if a possible investigation seems unjustified or inconclusive, editors should consider publishing an expression of concern. COPE and ICJME guidelines are considered regarding correction, retraction, or expression of concern.