Aim & Scope
Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies is the interdisciplinary journal on the humanities and social sciences of the Balkan countries and the former Soviet republics. The journal welcomes contributions in the fields of history, economics, politics, international relations, culture, art, geography, literature, theology, ethnography and environmental sciences. The idea behind this initiative is to extend a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary approach over issues of regional importance. Under this light, the journal aspires to act as an academic forum for scholars in historical as well as contemporary context on a wide range of cross-regional issues and to provide the epistemological framework for a comparative investigation, which would enhance our understanding of the Balkan, and Black Sea societies, polities and communities. Furthermore, manuscripts connecting the region with wider scopes, such as technological applications, will be also considered.
The journal will be published online with two issues per year commencing in 2018 and themed issues are anticipated. Submitted manuscripts should be original and not published or under consideration for publication elsewhere. Their length should not exceed 8.000 words and will be subject to anonymous peer-review by at least two members of the scientific committee. The use of graphics and images in colour is encouraged and not subject to limitations (within reason). However, it is the responsibility of the individual authors to acquire copyright permission if needed. The language for submissions is English and Turkish. Articles, other than in English or Turkish, will be occasionally accepted. Articles must have an abstract of up to 150 words in English.
Writing Rules
Guidelines for Submission
Each issue will include articles, review essays, and shorter book reviews. All articles are to be submitted in electronic form to the journal editorial board at dergipark.gov.tr/balkar and mehmethacisalihoglu@gmail.com or balkar@yildiz.edu.tr. Submissions are to be up to 8,000 words in length, and may be accompanied by footnotes and a bibliography (see below). Transliterations will be kept to a minimum, and when used will follow the standard adopted by the appropriate scholarly bodies in the respective language areas. Articles are expected to be written in English though submissions in other languages can also be considered.
Review essays are to be up to 4,000 words in length. They may review one or more books, and may also focus on multiple works of a single author, works in a series, or publications around particular historical sources. Book reviews are to be 1,000 words in length.
Review of Submissions
All submissions are evaluated through a double-blind review process, and include review both by editorial board members and external reviewers. Submissions for publication should be sent by email to the editorial board (balkar@yildiz.edu.tr).
Publishable Copy
Articles are to be submitted via electronic means in Word format, and accompanied by a copy in pdf format. The pictures and figures should be sent separately in 200 dpi resolution in tif format.
General Style Rules
1. The text must be formatted with 1.5-inch margins and be double-spaced.
2. A separate cover sheet must be included with the manuscript title, author’s name, professional affiliation, complete mailing address and telephone number.
3. A short abstract of 70–100 words in English should accompany the article.
4. Capitalization: authors should be consistent in their use of capitalization.
5. Italics: the titles of works and periodicals should normally be italicized. Foreign words should also be italicized.
6. In general, foreign words and phrases, both in main text and footnotes should be provided in translation. All non-Roman alphabets should be transliterated following the style provided under the section ‘Transliteration’ of the guidelines.
7. All articles should include footnotes and bibliography at the end of the article.
8. Illustrations, tables, maps and figures must be numbered consecutively in the text and captions identifying the source of any image or data should be used.
Figure title: below the picture - Figure 1: Black Sea Region Map
Table title: above the table – Table 1: Demography of the Black Sea Region
9. For further reference, The Chicago Manual of Style Online (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org) is recommended.
Abbreviations
Well known journal titles to be kept in contracted form and less known in full form.
Footnote and bibliography style
The following conventions should be followed in footnotes and bibliographies (according to The Chicago Manual of Style Online). Please note articles from periodicals or titles of book chapters are printed within double quotation marks. Book and journal titles are in italics. Initial citations in the footnotes should initially be in full, and subsequent references in the notes omit publication data. Full publication data should be used in the bibliography. The following provide examples:
Journal article:
Footnote:
Suraiya Faroqhi, “Agricultural Activities in a Bektashi Center 1750-1826: The Tekke of Kızıldeli,” Südost-Forschungen 35 (1976): 69-96.
Shortened note:
Faroqui, “Agricultural Activities,” 78.
Bibliography:
Faroqui, Suraiya. “Agricultural Activities in a Bektashi Center 1750-1826: The Tekke of Kızıldeli.” Südost-Forschungen, vol. 35 (1976): 69-96.
Book with Single Author or Editor
Footnote:
Suraiya Faroqhi, Approaching Ottoman History: An Introduction to the Sources (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 83-88.
Shortened note:
Faroqhi, Approaching Otoman History, 83-88.
Bibliography:
Faroqhi, Suraiya. Approaching Otoman History: An Introduction to the Sources. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Book with Multiple Authors
Footnote:
Meliha B. Altunışık and Özlem Tür, Turkey: Challenges of Continuity and Change (London:
Routledge Curzon, 2005), 132-147.
Shortened note:
Altunışık and Tür, Turkey, 95.
Bibliography:
Altunışık, Meliha B., and Özlem Tür. Turkey: Challenges of Continuity and Change. London: Routledge Curzon, 2005.
Chapter in an Edited Book:
Footnote:
Magdalena Elchinova, “Alien by Default. The Identity of the Turks of Bulgaria at Home and in Immigration,” in Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence versus. Divergence. eds. Raymond Detrez and Pieter Plas (Brussels: PIE Peter Lang, 2005), 87-92.
Shortened note:
Elchinova, “Alien by Default”, 87-92.
Bibliography:
Elchinova, Magdalena. “Alien by Default. The Identity of the Turks of Bulgaria at Home and in Immigration.” In Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence vs. Divergence, eds. Raymond Detrez and Pieter Plas, 87-110. Brussels: PIE Peter Lang, 2005.
Theses and dissertations
Footnote:
Neriman Ersoy, “XIX. Yüzyılda Filibe Şehri 1839-1876” (PhD diss., İstanbul University, 2004), 48-50.
Shortened note:
Ersoy, “XIX. Yüzyılda Filibe”, 48-50.
Bibliography:
Ersoy, Neriman. “XIX. Yüzyılda Filibe Şehri 1839-1876.” PhD diss., İstanbul University, 2004.
Electronic Sources
Footnote:
Irène Beldiceanu-Steinherr, “Abdal, l’Étrange Destin d’un Mot: Le problem Abdal Vu à Travers les Registres Ottomans,” Turcica 36 (2004): 50-72, doi: 10.2143/TURC.36.0.578724.
Shortened note:
Beldiceanu-Steinherr, “Abdal,” 87.
Bibliography:
Beldiceanu-Steinherr, I. “Abdal, l’Étrange Destin d’un Mot: Le problem Abdal Vu à Travers les Registres Ottomans.” Turcica 36 (2004): 37-90. doi: 10.2143/TURC.36.0.578724.
Unpublished Conference papers
Footnote:
Mehmet Hacisalihoglu, “The Young Turk Policy in Macedonia: Cause of the Balkan Wars?” (conference paper, Lasting Socio-Political Impacts of the Balkan Wars, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 4-7 May 2011).
Bibliography:
Hacisalihoglu, Mehmet. “The Young Turk Policy in Macedonia: Cause of the Balkan Wars?.”
Paper presented at the Conference Lasting Socio-Political Impacts of the Balkan Wars of the
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 4-7 May 2011.
Transliteration
Transliteration of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish words should follow the style indicated in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES). Transliterations of Cyrillic or Greek scripts should follow the standard set by ISO 9 and Südost-Forschungen Zeitschrift.
Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies follows international principles of transparency and best prctice in scholarly publishing as indicated in the “Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing” by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) on https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing
Responsibilities of the Authors:
- Submitted papers must be original and unpublished, or under review of any other publication.
- The articles must be in accordance with scientific and ethical rules.
- The authors must follow the copyright laws and conventions. Copyright objects can only be used with permission.
- For all ideas and information taken from other studies the author must give the referance with full title of quoted source including the page number where the information is taken.
Responsibility of the Editors:
- Editor-in-Chief and managing editors evaluate the submissions only according to their scientific content without taking into consideration the “ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors.”
- They provide a double-blind peer review of the research articles.
- They must ensure the anonymity of the reviewers.
- They are responsible to treat the manuscripts confidential before publishing.
- They are responsible for the quality of articles published in the journal.
- They are responsible to prevent any conflict between the authors and reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief is also responsible to prevent any conflict between the editors and authors.
- The Editor-in-Chief has the right to share the evaluation of one reviewer with other reviewer in case of necessity (for example to clarify a specific point).
- The Editor-in-Chief has the full authority to decide the publication of the articles in the journal.
Responsibility of the Reviewers:
- If a reviewer feels that she/he is not qualified should refuse the review and inform the Editor-in-Chief.
- If a reviewer recognize the author of the article to be evaluated, she/he must inform the Editor-in-Chief and refuse the evalution.
- The reviewers must be objective in their evaluation of the research articles.
- They are responsible to keep all information in the articles as confidential.
- They must inform the editors when they reconize any plagiarism or copyright violation.
Research Ethics
Cited from the website: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ppil/policy
“The journal adheres to the highest standards in research ethics and follows the principles of international research ethics as defined below. The authors are responsible for the compliance of the manuscripts with the ethical rules.
- Principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be sustained in designing the research, reviewing the design and conducting the research.
- The research team and participants should be fully informed about the aim, methods, possible uses and requirements of the research and risks of participation in research.
- The confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants and the confidentiality of the respondents should be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.
- Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily, not under any coercion.
- Any possible harm to participants must be avoided. The research should be planned in such a way that the participants are not at risk.
- The independence of research must be clear; and any conflict of interest or must be disclosed.
- In experimental studies with human subjects, written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, legal custodian’s assent must be obtained.
- If the study is to be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization.
- In studies with human subject, it must be noted in the method’s section of the manuscript that the informed consent of the participants and ethics committee approval from the institution where the study has been conducted have been obtained.”
