To be considered for scholarly evaluation, manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Turkish Culture and Hacı Bektaş Velî Research must fully comply with the formal, substantive, and citation requirements set out below. Manuscripts that do not conform are returned to the author without entering the review process.
1. General Principles and Editorial Policy
The journal accepts only original research articles, and gives priority to studies grounded in primary sources—archival documents, manuscripts, fieldwork data, and classical texts—that are constructed around an analytical problematic and engage critically with current international scholarship. Work that rehearses the existing literature, confines itself to summarising secondary sources, or fails to develop an original argument falls outside the journal's editorial line.
It is a fundamental condition that submissions have not been previously published elsewhere, nor be under simultaneous consideration by any other publication. All submissions undergo double-blind peer review by at least two independent referees. In matters of publication ethics, the journal observes the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
2. Page Layout and Formal Specifications
Font and size: Manuscripts must be prepared in Microsoft Word using Times New Roman at 10-point font size.
Line and paragraph spacing: The text must be single-spaced. First-line paragraph indents must be set to 1 cm; paragraph spacing must be 3 pt before and 3 pt after.
Page limit: The total length of the manuscript—including the abstract, keywords, main text, bibliography, and any appendices—must not exceed 25 pages.
3. Title, Author Affiliations, Abstract, and Öz
Manuscript title: The title must fully reflect the content of the study; it must be capitalised, bold, centred, set in 11-point font, and limited to a maximum of 12 words. For articles in Turkish, the Turkish title (bold) appears first, followed by the English title (regular); for articles in English, the English title (bold) appears first, followed by the Turkish title (regular). The two titles must be fully congruent in meaning; titles must not contain double quotation marks or slashes, and a colon may be used before a subtitle where necessary.
Author information: The author's full name appears beneath the title, centred, capitalised, and bold in 10-point font. An asterisk (*) follows the name, directing to an 8-point footnote that states, in order, the academic title, institution (university, faculty, department), city, country, an active e-mail address, and the 16-digit ORCID identifier.
Footnote: Explanatory footnotes must be written in 8-point Times New Roman font. If a citation is required, the ISNAD Citation Style (In-Text, 2nd Edition) must be used.
Abstract and Öz: Each manuscript must open with Turkish (Öz) and English (Abstract) summaries stating the subject, scope, aim, method, and principal findings of the research. Each must be written as a single paragraph in 9-point font, single-spaced, and limited to 250-300 words. In Turkish articles the Öz precedes the Abstract; in English articles the Abstract precedes the Öz.
Keywords: Exactly five keywords appear immediately below the Abstract and Öz. The first must be the relevant academic discipline (e.g., Modern History, Sociology of Religion, Sufism); the keywords proceed from the general to the specific, each is capitalised, and a full stop follows the last.
Extended Abstract: Turkish-language articles must include, after the bibliography, an English Extended Abstract of 750-1,000 words set in 9-point font. This is not required for articles written in English. The Extended Abstract is not a mere recapitulation of the article but a miniature model that lays out the theoretical, methodological, and empirical architecture of the study. Submitted texts will be assessed by the editorial board against the following core parameters:
Core Evaluation Criteria and Structural Elements
Construction of the Problematic and Introduction: The principal research question (problematic) addressed by the study must be constructed with clarity, leaving no room for ambiguity. The historical or theoretical gap the study seeks to fill must be stated explicitly.
Use of the Literature and International Engagement: The subject must not be confined to local or national historiography; a robust connection with global and international scholarship must be established. The value the study holds for the international academy and the novelty it brings to the literature must be foregrounded.
Method and Use of Primary Sources: In keeping with the methodological nature of historical research, the primary sources employed (archival documents, mühimme and nişan registers, court records [şer'iyye sicilleri], period publications, etc.) and the method followed in analysing them must be clearly stated.
Originality and Findings: The study's original contribution to the literature must be presented together with its principal findings. Arguments that avoid repetition and offer empirical or theoretical novelty must be brought to the fore.
Academic Language and Style: The Extended Abstract must be written in an objective, forceful, and academic register, with the utmost attention to conceptual consistency and terminological precision.
Note: The Extended Abstract must form a self-contained whole that can be read independently of the main text; it must fall within the range of 750-1,000 words (excluding the bibliography) and be structured under subheadings (Introduction, Methodology & Sources, Findings & Discussion, Conclusion).
4. Internal Structuring and Headings
Heading system: The "Introduction" and "Conclusion" headings are not numbered. All other headings follow a decimal system (1., 1.1., 1.1.1.), with a space between the heading number and the heading. Headings are bold, in sentence case, set in 11-point font and left-aligned.
Tables and figures: Titles use sentence case in the format "Table 1:" and "Figure 1:". Table titles appear above the table; figure captions appear below the image. Graphs, drawings, maps, photographs, and pictures are all treated as figures.
Foreign terms and transliteration: Foreign words and titles of works are italicised in the text. In English-language sections (Abstract, Summary), Islamic and historical terms follow the transliteration system of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Third Edition (EI3); in Turkish-language sections, the usage of the Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (TDV İA) is observed.
5. Substantive and Academic Expectations
Problematisation and originality: Studies must be constructed around an analytical problematic rather than a purely descriptive narrative, filling a gap in the literature or offering a new perspective on an existing problem.
Source utilisation: Research must be grounded in the primary sources of the field (archival documents, manuscripts, classical texts) and engage with current international scholarship.
Academic style: The language of the text must be objective, consistent, and of a strong academic register.
6. Citation System: ISNAD In-Text (2nd Edition)
Manuscripts submitted to the journal must use the ISNAD Citation Style, 2nd Edition, In-Text (Author-Date) model. The full guide is available at: https://www.isnadsistemi.org/guide/
Core in-text patterns:
Single author: (Ocak, 2000, 145)
Two authors (spaced hyphen): (Keyder - Tabak, 1991, 23)
Three or more authors: (Karakaya-Stump et al., 2012, 280)
Multiple works in one parenthesis (separated by a semicolon): (Köprülü, 1922, 285; Ocak, 2000, 145)
Consecutive works by the same author: (Kutlu, 2010, 56; idem, 1997, 317)
Same author, same year: (Koç, 2014a, 44; idem, 2014b)
Principles: The abbreviation "p." is not used for pages. A slash separates volume and page (e.g., 2/416); Roman numerals are not used for volume numbers. An article's DOI is given only in the bibliography, not in the citation. Direct quotations appear within double quotation marks; quotations exceeding three lines (forty words) are set as an indented paragraph one point smaller than the body text.
Sample bibliography entries:
Book: Ocak, Ahmet Yaşar. Alevî ve Bektaşî İnançlarının İslâm Öncesi Temelleri. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 3. Basım, 2000.
Article: Karakaya-Stump, Nurhayat. "The Vefâ'iyye, the Bektashiyye and Genealogies of 'Heterodox' Islam in Anatolia". Turcica 44 (2012), 279-300. https://doi.org/10.2143/TURC.44.0.2988849
Book chapter: Ocak, Ahmet Yaşar. "Dini Hayat". Osmanlı Uygarlığı. ed. Halil İnalcık - Günsel Renda. 1/162-211. İstanbul: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2002.
Encyclopaedia entry: Tanman, Baha. "Hacı Bektaş Velî Külliyesi". Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi. 14/461-463. İstanbul: TDV Yayınları, 1996.
Manuscript: Kaygusuz Abdal. Budalanâme. İstanbul: Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Hacı Mahmud Efendi, 2964, 1a-45b.
Archival document: BOA, Osmanlı Arşivi. Mühimme-i Asâkir Defterleri [A.DVNS.ASK.MHM.d]. No. 989, Gömlek No. 7.
Thesis: Demir, Abdullah. Ebû İshâk Zâhid es-Saffâr'ın Kelâm Yöntemi. Sivas: Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Doktora Tezi, 2014.
For all other source types (hadith, legislation, newspapers, interviews, maps, images, etc.), the ISNAD 2nd Edition guide applies.
7. Publication Ethics
In matters of publication ethics, the journal adopts the principles of COPE. Prior to publication, all submissions are screened with plagiarism-detection software (iThenticate/Turnitin); the similarity rate, excluding the bibliography, must not exceed 20%. Detected violations such as plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, salami slicing, duplication, and improper (gift/ghost) authorship are handled within the framework of the relevant regulations (the Council of Higher Education's Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics, Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works, and Law No. 2547 on Higher Education).
Ethics committee approval is mandatory for research involving surveys, interviews, observation, or experiments with human participants; the approval details (board name, date, and decision number) must be stated on the first page of the manuscript. Informed consent must be obtained from participants, and the principle of confidentiality observed.
Authors are required to provide, at the end of the manuscript, a conflict-of-interest statement, a funding/support statement (where applicable, the name of the supporting body and the project number), and an author-contribution statement. Work derived from a thesis, conference paper, or book chapter must be clearly indicated on the first page.
The Isnad Citation Style (In-Text)
Single Author: (Gooch, 2014, 101)
Two Authors: (Bozorgzadeh - Grasser, 2022, 405)
Three or More Authors: (Eayaz et al. [vd.], 2025, 29)
Multiple Works: (Shaw, 2021, 26-35; Gethin, 2011, 263-279)
Consecutive Citations: (Kutlu, 2010, 56; idem [a.mlf.], 1997, 317)
Sample Bibliography:
Book: Ocak, Ahmet Yaşar. Alevî ve Bektaşî İnançlarının İslâm Öncesi Temelleri. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 3. Basım, 2000.
Article: Karakaya-Stump, Nurhayat. “The Vefâ'iyye, the Bektashiyye and Genealogies of 'Heterodox' Islam in Anatolia”. Turcica 44 (2012), 279-300.
Archival Document: Cevdet Evkaf (C.EV.), 137/6850, 22 Safer 1144/26 Ağustos 1731.
English Literature Examples
Book (Single Author)
Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.
Dressler, Markus. Writing Religion: The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Knysh, Alexander. Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017.
Soucek, Svat. A History of Inner Asia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. Leiden: Brill, 1959.
Journal Article
Bozorgzadeh, S. – Grasser, L. R. “The Integration of the Heart-centered Paradigm of Sufi Psychology in Contemporary Psychotherapy Practice”. Psychotherapy 59/3 (2022), 405–414.
Karakaya-Stump, Nurhayat. “The Vefâ'iyye, the Bektashiyye and Genealogies of 'Heterodox' Islam in Anatolia: Rethinking the Köprülü Paradigm”. Turcica 44 (Aralık 2012), 279-300.
Smith, B. J. – Wardatun, A. “Domestic Violence and Islamic Spirituality in Lombok, Indonesia: Women’s Use of Sufi Approaches to Suffering”. Contemporary Islam 16 (2022), 427–447.
Book Chapter
Lory, Pierre. “Macrocosm and Microcosm in Sufi Thought”. Handbook of Sufi Studies. ed. Christian Lange – Alexander Knysh. 2/234-249. Leiden: Brill, 2023.
Shaw, Sarah. “Has Secularism Become a Religion? Some Observations on Pali Buddhism’s Movement to the International Stage”. Secularizing Buddhism: New Perspectives on a Dynamic Tradition. ed. Richard Payne. 24-41. Boulder: Shambala, 2021.
For all other formats, please refer to the ISNAD In-Text Citation Guide: https://www.isnadsistemi.org/guide/isnad2/isnad-metinici/.
Authors are advised to utilize the manuscript template for the formal specifications and page formatting of their submissions: 📝 Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Veli Dergisi Makale Şablonu.docx