PUBLICATION PRINCIPLES
1) The Umde Journal of Religious Studies publishes academic works in the fields of Social and Humanities Sciences, with a primary focus on religion.
2) The journal accepts only works prepared in Turkish and English.
3) Submitted articles must be consistent with the journal’s purpose and scope.
4) Original, unpublished manuscripts that are not currently under review by another journal, and whose content and submission have been approved by each author, will be accepted for review.
5) The authors retain their copyrights. Click here for more information.
6) Master’s and doctoral students may submit papers to the journal only if they are co-authored with their advisors (with the student as the first author and the faculty advisor as the second author).
7) Papers must be prepared in accordance with the journal’s style guidelines.
8) Articles must be submitted electronically via the “Submit Article” tab on the journal’s website.
9) All documents and files must be submitted as Word documents (.doc or .docx).
10) Articles that do not use the ISNAD 2 Citation System will be rejected outright.
11) Articles exceeding the 8,000-word limit will be rejected outright.
12) Articles must include an abstract of 150–200 words and 5–6 keywords to facilitate electronic searching.
13) All expenses of the journal are covered by the Publisher. The publication of articles in the journal and the management of the publication process are free of charge. No processing or submission fees are charged for articles submitted to the journal or accepted for publication. Click here for more information.
14) Once an article has been submitted to the journal for publication, no author’s name may be removed from the author list, no new name may be added as an author, and the order of authors may not be changed without the written consent of all authors.
15) This journal checks submitted manuscripts for plagiarism. Plagiarism, duplication, ghost authorship/disclaimed authorship, fabrication of research or data, article splitting, split publishing, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflicts of interest are considered unethical conduct. All articles that do not comply with accepted ethical standards will be retracted. This also includes articles found to contain potential irregularities or non-compliance after publication.
16) The journal adheres to international standards regarding research and publication ethics. It has adopted the International Principles of Ethical Publishing published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the  Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
17) This journal checks for plagiarism in the manuscripts submitted for review: Manuscripts that have passed the initial screening are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. If plagiarism or self-plagiarism is detected, the authors are notified. Editors may subject a manuscript to plagiarism checks at various stages of the review or production process, if necessary. High similarity rates may result in a manuscript being rejected before acceptance or even after acceptance. This rate is expected to be less than 15%.
18) Double-Blind Peer Review: After the plagiarism check, eligible manuscripts are evaluated by the editor-in-chief for originality, methodology, the significance of the topic addressed, and alignment with the journal’s scope. The editor ensures that manuscripts undergo a fair double-blind peer review process and, if the manuscript complies with formatting guidelines, submits it to at least two reviewers—one domestic and/or one international—for evaluation. Click here for more information.
19) Publication Decision: If the reviewers deem it necessary, the author makes the required revisions. The Editorial Board decides whether the revised manuscript will be published.
20) On average, it takes 22 weeks from submission to publication.
21) Permanent Article Identifier: All published articles are assigned a DOI as a permanent article identifier.
22) Articles published in this journal are digitally archived in LOCKSS. The LOCKSS system is authorized to collect, preserve, and provide access to this archive. Click here for more information.
23) Articles published in this journal are released as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Click here for more information.
24) The use of artificial intelligence in our journal must comply with the principles of scientific integrity, originality, and confidentiality. The direct generation of scientific article text, peer review reports, and editorial decisions by artificial intelligence is prohibited. Limited uses, such as spell-checking and punctuation checks, are permitted. All users must uphold their own ethical and scientific responsibilities when using artificial intelligence. Click here for more information.
25) In our journal, special issues may be published and guest editors may be appointed in accordance with a decision by the Editorial Board, within the scope of specific themes or scientific events. All manuscripts submitted for special issues are subject to a double-blind peer review process, and the principles of publication ethics, editorial independence, and conflict of interest are upheld. The final decision and responsibility regarding special issues rest with the Editorial Board. Click here for more information.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
• Plagiarism: Presenting the original ideas, methods, data or works of others as one's own work in whole or in part without citation in accordance with scientific rules,
• Forgery: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research,
• Distortion: Falsifying research records or data obtained, falsifying devices or materials that were not used in the research, falsifying or shaping the results of the research in line with the interests of the persons and organizations receiving support,
• Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications for academic appointments and promotions,
• Slicing: Inappropriately and inappropriately dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and publishing them in more than one issue and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
• Unfair authorship: Including or excluding people who have not actively contributed, changing the author ranking in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of active contributors from the work in subsequent editions, using one's influence to have one's name included among the authors even though one has not actively contributed,

Other types of ethical violations include:
a) Failing to acknowledge the individuals, institutions, or organisations that provided support for research conducted with such support, or failing to acknowledge their contributions in publications resulting from such research,
b) Using theses or studies that have not yet been submitted or defended and accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
c) Sharing information contained in a work assigned for review with others prior to publication without the express permission of the author,
ç) Using resources, premises, facilities, and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research for purposes other than those intended,
d) Making unfounded, inappropriate, and deliberate allegations of ethical violations,
e) Publishing data obtained without the explicit consent of participants in surveys and attitude studies conducted as part of scientific work, or without the additional permission of the institution if the research is to be conducted at an institution,
f) Failure to comply with the obligation to inform and warn those concerned about possible harmful practices related to scientific research conducted by researchers and officials,
g) In scientific studies, failing to use data and information obtained from other persons and institutions to the extent and in the manner authorised, failing to respect the confidentiality of this information and failing to ensure its protection,
h) Making false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions,

Principles of Research Ethics
• The principles of scientific integrity, integrity, quality, and transparency must be adhered to at all stages of research; processes must be documented.
• Participants must be informed about the purpose, methodology, scope, potential risks, and intended use of the data.
• The confidentiality of personal data and the privacy of participants must be protected, and relevant data protection laws must be followed.
• Participation in research must be voluntary; participants’ right to withdraw from the study at any time must be guaranteed.
• Measures must be taken to prevent physical, psychological, and social harm to participants; where necessary, consent from legal representatives and approval from ethics committees must be obtained.
• Researchers must clearly disclose any potential conflicts of interest, financial support, and institutional affiliations.
• In research involving children, individuals with limited capacity, or those unable to make decisions on their own behalf, consent from a legal representative and the necessary ethics committee approval must be obtained in accordance with relevant legislation. Participants’ rights, privacy, and best interests must be protected; whenever possible, their own informed consent should also be obtained.
• The necessary permissions from the institution where the research is conducted and the relevant ethics committee approvals must be obtained.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
• To evaluate manuscripts impartially based on scientific merit, originality, and the journal’s publication policy.
• To maintain confidentiality and impartiality during the double-blind peer review process.
• To prevent conflicts of interest and disclose them when necessary.
• To investigate suspected violations of publication ethics and take appropriate measures.
• To base publication decisions on scientific criteria and ethical principles.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
• To evaluate manuscripts in accordance with the principles of impartiality, confidentiality, and scientific competence.
• Not to use or share information obtained during the review process for personal gain.
• To inform the editor in the event of a conflict of interest.
• To base their evaluations on scientific evidence and provide constructive feedback.
• Review manuscripts in a timely manner and carry out the peer-review process in accordance with ethical guidelines.

Authors’ Ethical Responsibilities
• Submit original, scientific, and previously unpublished work.
• Properly cite information drawn from other works; avoid ethical violations such as plagiarism and fabrication of data.
• Comply with research ethics principles, required ethics committee approvals, and relevant legislation.
• Accurately state the scientific contributions of all authors and disclose any conflicts of interest.
• Do not submit the article for review to more than one journal at the same time.
• Respond to reviewer and editor evaluations within a scientific and ethical framework.

Ethics Committee Approval
Our journal requires that all studies in scientific fields requiring ethics committee approval have obtained the relevant ethics committee decision. In this context, information regarding ethics committee approval (committee name, date, and decision number) must be clearly stated in the article text.
In line with the regulations implemented by Ulakbim TR Index since 2020, studies without ethics committee approval are not considered for publication in our journal.
Studies Requiring Ethics Committee Approval
Studies requiring ethics committee approval in our journal include the following:
• All kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group study, observation, interview techniques,
• Retrospective studies within the framework of the Personal Data Protection Law.
For such studies to be considered for evaluation, the relevant ethics committee approvals must have been obtained and clearly stated in the article text.

Plagiarism Action Plan and the Journal’s Measures
The journal respects intellectual property and aims to protect and encourage its authors’ original work. Articles containing plagiarism violate standards of quality, research, and innovation. Therefore, all authors submitting articles to the journal are expected to adhere to ethical standards and avoid plagiarism in any form. If an author is suspected of plagiarism in a submitted or published article, the work is first reviewed by the journal’s Ethics Editor. It is then reviewed by the Editorial Board. The journal subsequently contacts the author(s) to request a response within two weeks. If the journal does not receive a response from the author within the specified timeframe, it will contact the author’s university to request an investigation into the allegation.
The journal will take the following serious measures against published articles found to contain plagiarism:
1. The journal will immediately contact the author(s)’ university to ensure definitive action is taken against the author(s) in question.
2. The journal will remove the PDF copy of the published article from its website and disable all links to the full-text article. The phrase “Plagiarized Article” will be added to the title of the published article.
3. The journal will deactivate the author’s account and reject all future submissions by the author for a period of 3 years.
This journal checks submitted manuscripts for plagiarism: Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. If plagiarism or self-plagiarism is detected, the authors are notified. Editors may subject an article to plagiarism checks at various stages of the review or production process, if necessary. High similarity rates may result in a manuscript being rejected before acceptance or even after acceptance. This rate is expected to be less than 15%.

Relations with the Journal Owner and Publisher
The relationship between the editor and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. Pursuant to the written agreement between the editor and the publisher, all decisions made by the editor are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Privacy Statement
All personal data submitted to our journal is protected. Data belonging to authors, reviewers, and other individuals is not shared with third parties or institutions.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is obligated to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in the event of any potential infringements.

Conflicts of Interest
Our journal ensures that the publication process is completed independently and impartially by taking into account conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, and other editors. Our journal adheres to the COPE guidelines (1-2) regarding potential conflicts of interest.

Author Changes
Changes are accepted only before the article is accepted for publication. Authors must carefully review the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscripts and provide the final list of authors at the time of initial submission. Our journal follows the COPE guidelines (1-2-3-4-5) regarding such changes.

Correction, Retraction, Expression of Concern
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors are identified in a published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations, or conclusions. Editors should consider retracting an article when major errors or violations that invalidate the findings and conclusions are identified. The COPE Guidelines (1,2,3,4,5,6) are taken into account regarding corrections, retractions, or statements of concern.

Reports of Ethical Violations
Readers may submit a report by sending an email to umde@nevsehir.edu.tr if they notice a significant error or inaccuracy in an article published in our journal, or if they have any complaints regarding editorial content (such as plagiarism or duplicate submissions). Our journal adheres to the COPE Guidelines (1-2) regarding complaints.