PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs

Perceptions is a biannual English language and peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Center for Strategic Research (SAM) which works under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye.

Regularly published since 1996, the journal accepts commentaries, original research articles and book reviews that focus on a wide range of issues related with Turkish foreign policy and international affairs.

Perceptions is currently included in the following databases: TR Dizin, Asos Index, Index Copernicus, Columbia International Affairs Online, CSA Index, Gale-Cengage, EBSCO, European Sources Online, Index Islamicus, International Political Science Abstracts (IPSA), PAIS Index, ProQuest, Ulrich's.

The journal features articles from many distinguished scholars and experts from Türkiye and abroad. The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and should not be attributed to SAM. 

Manuscripts submitted to Perceptions should be original contributions. If another version of the manuscript is under review by another journal – or has been or will be published elsewhere – authors should clearly indicate this at the time of submission.

All manuscripts should be uploaded via Dergipark: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/perception. 

Manuscripts are subject to initial evaluation by the editors. If found suitable for further consideration, they are evaluated through double-blind peer-review by anonymous scholars and experts.

The final decision on whether a manuscript is accepted for publication in Perceptions is made by the editors in accordance with the reports of the anonymous reviewers.

The previous issues of the journal are also open access on the Dergipark platform. Please visit: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/perception

Perceptions publishes three types of manuscripts:

1. Commentaries should be around 3,000-4,000 words including the endnotes and discuss a topical issue that would be of interest to the readers. They should make a short and provocative argument with policy relevance. 
2. Articles should be around 6,000-8,000 words including the endnotes and comprehensively discuss and analyze the findings of original research in the field of international relations.
3. Book reviews should be around 1,000-1,500 words and evaluate the main strengths and weaknesses of a contemporary book published in the field of international relations.

All manuscripts should include an indented and italicized abstract of around 200-250 words, which should describe the main arguments and conclusions, and 5-6 keywords, indicating the main themes of the manuscript. The name, institution, e-mail address and ORCID of the author(s) should be indicated with a separate footnote to be inserted at the bottom of the first page.

Manuscripts should be single-spaced written by Times New Roman regular font, 12 point throughout. Justified margins; top, bottom, left and right 3 cm are required. Manuscripts should be numbered consecutively throughout the paper. Only the first letters of title words should be ‘upper case’. Quotations should be placed within double quotation marks (“……”). Quotations larger than four lines should be indented at left margin and single-spaced.

All manuscripts should use endnotes (without bibliography). U.S. punctuation and spelling should be used throughout. Dates should be in the form November 3, 1996; 1995-1998; and 1990s.

All diagrams, charts and graphs should be referred to as figures and consecutively numbered. Tables should be kept to a minimum and contain only essential data. Each figure and table must be given an Arabic numeral, followed by a heading, and be referred to in the text. Appropriate places of tables should be indicated in the text and tables should be submitted in a separate file.

If copyrighted material is used in the article, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder.

Names of the authors, places and the publishing houses are required to be written in their original forms. The styles of the references in endnotes should conform the following examples:

Books

John Smith, The Book Title, New York: New York Publishing Co., 1999, p. 100.
John E. Smith (ed.), The Book Title, New York: New York Publishing Co., 1999, pp. 100-102.
John Smith & Mary Jones, The Book Title, New York: New York Publishing Co., 1999, p. 100.
Subsequent references should appear as: Smith, The Book Title, p. 100.

In endnotes ‘ibid.’ should be used where possible, but it should not be used where the previous note contains more than one source.

Articles in Journals

John Smith, “Article Title,” Journal Name, Vol. #, No. # (Month Year), p. #.
Subsequent references should appear as: Smith, “Article Title,” p. #.

Articles in Edited Books

John Smith, “Article Title,” in Mary Jones (ed.), Book Title, New York: New York Publishing Co., 1999, p. 100.

Newspaper Articles

Christopher Hooton, “Japan is Turning its Abandoned Golf Courses into Solar Power Plants,” The Independent, July 21, 2015.

Manuscript References

PRO King’s Remembrancer’s Memoranda Roll, E159/69, m. 78.
BM Add. MS 36042, fo.2 (plural fos.). Four-figure numerals without comma or space: 2572. Titles of other record repositories, and names of collections of papers, in full in first reference:
Scottish Record Office (hereafter SRO), Airlie Papers, GD 16, section 38/82, April 5, 1844.
Compton Papers, kept at the estate office of the Marquess of Northampton, Castle Ashby (hereafter CA), bdle. 1011, no.29.

Official Papers

Parliamentary Papers: Select Committee on Manufacturers (Parl. Papers, 1833, VI), 0.456. Subsequent references as:
SC on ... (PP, 1839, VII), 00.2347.
Hansard (Commons), 4th ser. XXXVI, 641–2, 22 Aug. 1895.

Theses

For titles of published and unpublished theses use italics:
John E. Smith, Title of Thesis, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Name of the University, Year, Chapter #, p. #

Internet References

Azam Ahmed & Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “U.S. and Cuba Reopen Long-Closed Embassies,” The New York Times, July 20, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/world/americas/cuba-us-embassy-diplomatic-relations.html (Accessed: 21.07.2017).

Title of Book Reviews

Türk Basınında Dış Habercilik by M. Mücahit Küçükyılmaz and Hakan Çopur. Ankara: SETA, 2010, 168 pages, ISBN 9786054023073.

Book Reviews

To have their recently published books in the journal, publishers are kindly requested to send copies of their most recent titles on Turkish Foreign Policy, International Relations, International Political Economy, Political Science, Political History and the Middle East, Caucasus, Eurasia, Asian Pacific, Africa and Latin American area studies to the Book Review Editor.

Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs
Center for Strategic Research
Dr. Sadık Ahmet Cad. No: 8 A Blok 12. Kat
Balgat 06100/ Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90-312-292 26 35
E-mail: sam.editor@mfa.gov.tr

Perceptions upholds a strong set of publication ethics to ensure the integrity and credibility of the research that is published in accordance with the principles of the Committee of Publication
Ethics (COPE).

The journal ensures that the submitted manuscripts are judged on their merits regardless of the author's race, religion, nationality, sex, political view, seniority or institutional affiliation.

Authors should present an objective discussion of the significance of their research as well as sufficient details and references in order to enable other researchers to replicate the experiments. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements in the manuscripts are unacceptable. Review articles should also be objective, comprehensive and accurate. Authors should ensure that their work is original. In case the work(s) of other researchers is used, this should be appropriately acknowledged in the manuscript. Plagiarism is unethical and unacceptable. Similarly, submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable. The corresponding author should ensure that the co-authors approve the final version of the paper as well as its submission for publication. Authors should also make sure that there is no conflict of interest in their submissions. They should obtain the approval of the “Ethics Board/Committee” for clinical and experimental studies conducted on humans and animals (including opinion polls, surveys, interviews, observations, experiments, focus group studies). This approval should be clearly stated and documented in the article (board’s name, date and issue number). They should make sure that their submissions comply with the copyright regulations (especially for tables, graphs, illustrations, pictures, photographs).

Reviewers should treat the manuscripts they receive for review as confidential documents. They should not use the original information or ideas that are presented in the manuscripts for their own personal advantage. They should conduct their reviews in an objective manner, and suggest their revisions in a clear and understandable way in order to help the authors improve the manuscript. They should notify the editors if they think they are unqualified to review the manuscript or if they believe they cannot review the manuscript in a reasonable amount of time. They should not accept to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

Editors should evaluate the manuscripts on the basis of their academic merit regardless of the author's race, religion, nationality, sex, political view, seniority or institutional affiliation. They should not use unpublished information in their own research without the written consent of the author(s). They should also take adequate measures to address ethical complaints that could be presented with regard to a submitted manuscript.

The journal applies no-charge policy, which means that there is no charge for submission, publication or management for the authors.