AIMS AND SCOPE
Since its first publication in 1977, Toplum ve Bilim [Society and Science] has aimed to provide researchers with an intellectual and academic platform to expand knowledge in theoretical developments and new debates in human sciences, such as sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, history, psychology, and law, while emphasizing the establishment of solid connections between these disciplines. Toplum ve Bilim features dossiers on specific topics (special issues), original research articles, book reviews, and intervening reviews (değini) on current or neglected scholarly issues that are deemed to contribute to academic knowledge, primarily but not exclusively within the context of Turkey.
Manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim should not have been previously published elsewhere or in another language, or simultaneously submitted to another journal for publication. The stylistic requirements for manuscripts are specified in the “Article Guidelines”. All original research manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim go through a double-blind review process upon the preliminary examination by the journal’s editorial secretary and chief editors. Book reviews and intervening reviews (değini) are evaluated by the members of the editorial board. All submissions must comply with the journal’s stylistic requirements and be sent to [email protected] in “Word” (doc. or docx) format.
Toplum ve Bilim is published in print four times a year (since 2018)
ISSN 1300-9354
Indexes
Toplum ve Bilim is indexed in the Social Sciences Abstracts (EBSCO), Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO), and Historical Abstracts (EBSCO) databases.
Founding Editors-in-Chief
Asaf Savaş Akat
Sencer Divitçioğlu
Editors-in-Chief
Nilgün Toker (Prof. Dr.)
Menderes Çınar (Prof. Dr. Başkent University, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Ankara, https://akademik.baskent.edu.tr/mcinar)
Editorial Secretary
Aybars Yanık (Dr.)
Managing Editor
Kerem Ünüvar
Assistant Managing Editor
Kıvanç Koçak
Editorial Board
Burak Onaran (Prof. Dr. Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Department of Sociology, Istanbul, https://akbis.msgsu.edu.tr/personel_detay.asp?sno=T-0147)
Ebru Voyvoda (Prof. Dr. Middle East Technical University, Department of Economics, Ankara, https://avesis.metu.edu.tr/voyvoda)
Eylem Ümit Atılgan (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Girne University, Department of International Law, Girne/TRNC, https://law.kyrenia.edu.tr/akademik-personel/eylem-umit-atilgan)
Göze Orhon (Dr. Hacettepe University, Department of Communication Sciences, Ankara, https://iletisim.hacettepe.edu.tr/pdata/index.php?page_id=486)
İlker Aytürk (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bilkent University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Ankara, https://pols.bilkent.edu.tr/index.php/tr/tam-zamanli-ogretim-uyeleri/ihsan-ilker-ayturk)
Olcay Akyıldız (Ph.D., Boğaziçi University, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Istanbul, https://turkishliterature.bogazici.edu.tr/tr/node/184)
Ömer Turan (Prof. Dr. Bilgi University, Department of International Relations, Istanbul, https://www.bilgi.edu.tr/tr/akademik/kadro/omer-turan)
Polat S. Alpman (Prof. Dr. Yalova University, Department of Social Services, Yalova, https://is.gd/SP8O4k)
Seda Altuğ (Doç. Dr.)
Serdar Tekin (Prof. Dr.)
Editorial Advisory Board
Ahmet İnsel
Ayşe Buğra
Huricihan İslamoğlu
İsmet Tanıl Bora
Orhan Koçak
Semih Sökmen
Cover and Page Layout Design
Ali Artun
Ümit Kıvanç
Özlem Özkal
Cover
Suat Aysu
Typesetting
Hüsnü Abbas
Offset Preparation
İletişim Publishing
E-mail Address
Publisher and Owner
Iletisim Publishing (İletişim Yayıncılık Anonim Şirketi)
Legal Representative
Tuğrul Paşaoğlu
Copyright
Authors agree that sections or the entirety of their manuscripts to be published in Toplum ve Bilim (in print) may be converted into digital formats and archived on the Toplum ve Bilim website and databases, and that they have granted licensing rights to Toplum ve Bilim for digital access extended to academic institutions, libraries, and subscription platforms that provide digital content distribution services.
Archive
Visit the journal’s home page to browse and purchase back issues of Toplum ve Bilim.
Access
Published quarterly in print.
PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
In accordance with the ethical publishing principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the following statement sets out the ethical conduct guidelines for all parties involved in the publication process at Toplum ve Bilim, including authors, reviewers, the chief editors, and the publisher. Further information about the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing can be found at: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing.
Research and Publication Ethics
Toplum ve Bilim is committed to publishing high-quality scientific articles that adhere to ethical standards in scientific publications, and that have undergone a rigorous peer review process in which the manuscript is judged solely on the basis of its scientific quality, regardless of the authors’ ethnic identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religious beliefs or nationality. Manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim are expected to display a good command of the relevant literature and develop a consistent and comprehensive argument that advances academic knowledge.
Manuscripts submitted for publication in Toplum ve Bilim must be original research articles that have not been published or submitted to another journal for publication.
Plagiarism, fabrication of research/data, article slicing, publication by slicing, duplication, ghost authorship, false authorship, concealment of conflicts of interest and copyright infringement are unethical behaviours. Toplum ve Bilim follows the processes recommended by the COPE for potential unethical behaviour by authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members and publishers, and may refer to the ethics committees of the relevant institution/university when deemed necessary.
Ethical violation allegations raised by readers regarding articles published in Toplum ve Bilim are evaluated by the editorial board in accordance with the processes recommended by COPE. In cases of serious ethical violation allegations, authors are expected to respond with evidence. Authors have the right to appeal to the editorial board against the decisions made by Toplum ve Bilim. To do so, they must first contact the journal’s editorial secretary with their requests and complaints to the editorial board. After the issue is shared with the chief editors, the editorial secretary brings it to the attention of the editorial board at the chief editors’ recommendation. The authors receive the editorial board’s decision and/or statement in writing from the editorial secretary.
Duties and Responsibilities of the Chief Editors
The chief editors are committed to advance scientific knowledge in areas of interest to Toplum ve Bilim by adhering to the code of conduct recommended by COPE. The chief editors determine whether the manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim for publication meet the journal’s standards and qualify for proceeding to peer review by considering their scientific qualities such as relevance to the journal’s scope, format, originality, methodology, and significance. The chief editors may request revisions before initiating the peer review process or may reach a negative verdict (rejection) without initiating the peer review process. It is the responsibility of guest editors to make these decisions when applicable.
The editors and, where applicable, guest editor(s) notify authors of the decision to accept, reject, or request revisions only after receiving at least two reviewer reports. The editors’ decision to publish is based solely on the importance, originality, clarity, validity of the manuscript as well as the appropriateness of the reviewer evaluations and the authors’ responses, and without any regard to the ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, or political views of the authors.
The editors shall not disclose any information about the manuscripts submitted for publication, their content, or the review process to anyone other than the author, potential reviewers, the editorial board, and, when necessary, the publisher. The editors and members of the editorial board shall not use the information contained in manuscripts submitted for publication for their own research. Reviewers, editorial board members, the publisher, and the chief editors do not share or discuss any information about manuscripts with other individuals. Until a final decision is made regarding manuscripts submitted for publication, the journal’s editorial secretary communicates with the chief editors, authors and reviewers to coordinate the process.
In cases of suspected ethical violations, plagiarism or malpractice, the editors demand an explanation and correction from the authors before making a final decision on the manuscript in question.
Peer Review and the Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim are evaluated on the basis of their objective merits by two blind reviewers who have research experience and academic knowledge in the relevant field. The names of the reviewers and authors are kept confidential from each other. The editors may request revisions from the authors and resubmit the manuscripts to the review process before making a final decision on them.
Reviewers are selected from among scholars who have previously served as reviewers or who are known to have conducted research/published in related fields. Authors may suggest reviewers or request the exclusion of certain potential reviewers on the basis of a possible conflict of interest. In any case, to ensure a complete and impartial evaluation process, the editors consider whether there is a conflict of interest between potential reviewers and authors before extending an invitation to review.
Reviewers must not have any financial relationship with the authors, must not work at the same institution, and must not have collaborated with them for at least 5 years. Reviewers must have the necessary knowledge and experience to evaluate the scientific quality of the submitted manuscripts, comply with ethical and professional standards, and provide respectful and constructive evaluation reports aimed at improving the text. When preparing their reports, reviewers must avoid using rude and condescending language and keep in mind that they as peers are interacting with authors on an equal footing.
Reviewers are given a maximum of 30 days to prepare their evaluation reports. The maximum time allowed for evaluating revised manuscripts is 15 days. These periods may be extended at the request of the reviewers. If reviewers do not feel competent in the subject matter of the manuscript or believe that they cannot complete their reviews within a reasonable time, they are expected to withdraw from the review process by notifying the chief editors or the editorial secretary.
If reviewers do not wish to see the revised manuscript, the journal’s editorial secretary and chief editors check whether the requested changes by the reviewers have been made. Reviewers who request extensive revisions are also asked to provide an evaluation report on the revised manuscript. In the event of conflicting reviewer reports, the chief editors may consult a third reviewer. In some exceptional cases, the chief editors may decide to share the reviewer reports with other reviewers by concealing the names for purposes of maintaining anonymity.
Authors’ Duties and Responsibilities
It is solely the authors’ responsibility to ensure that manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim comply with the scientific and ethical rules and that they have not been simultaneously submitted to another journal or previously published elsewhere or in another language. The author is the one who drafted or significantly revised the submitted manuscript, who made significant contributions in one or all of the following stages of research: conceptualization, design, execution, data collection and/or analysis, who has reviewed and approved all versions of the manuscript, and who accepts responsibility and accountability for the content, accuracy and integrity of the manuscript. Authors should have jointly decided on the order of authorship and the submission of their manuscripts to Toplum ve Bilim for publication. Those who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in an appropriate acknowledgment note.
Authors should prepare their manuscripts in accordance with the rules specified in the “Article Guidelines” section. Authors should objectively and accurately state the research and data on which the manuscript is based and the significance of their work. Fabrication, misrepresentation, use of fabricated data and alteration of images in a way that could lead to misinterpretation are unacceptable. Authors may be asked to share the raw data on which the manuscript is based for review by the editors. It is the ethical resposibility of authors to cite the works they have used, including their own, appropriately and to acknowledge works that have influenced the nature of their work.
Authors should acknowledge any text, images, tables, illustrations, or other materials taken from other sources, including their own previously published works, in the manuscripts they submit to Toplum ve Bilim, obtaining permission where necessary. It is the authors’ responsibility to obtain permission to use materials whose copyright is held by third parties.
Copying someone else’s work as if it is one’s own (plagiarism) or copying one’s previously published work in part or in whole without proper citation (publication duplication) is an unacceptable ethical violation. The similarity rates of manuscripts submitted to Toplum ve Bilim are checked by using a software recognized internationally. Plagiarism, unauthorized use of materials whose copyright belongs to third parties, and other allegations of scientific misconduct are examined by the editorial board, authors may be asked for clarification/correction, and the case may be referred the relevant institution when necessary.
It is inappropriate for authors to make excessive and inappropriate citations to their own works or to concentrate their citations on a research group or journal.
Authors should disclose any relationships and interests that could influence their work. Any past or present funding, payments, or services that could influence their work should be disclosed. Funding received for the research on which the manuscript is based must be clearly disclosed, regardless of whether there is a conflict of interest or not. Individuals who have an interest in the findings of the research on which the manuscript is based, or who have ties to an organization with an interest, or who are employed by the funders and have contributed to the conceptualization, planning, execution, data analysis of the research as well as drafting and editing of the manuscript must appropriately be disclosed.
If errors are found in published articles, the chief editors discuss the necessary measures with the editorial board. Errors made by the author and the journal are noted and corrected in the editorial introduction of the following issue of the journal as a corrigendum note. In cases of serious ethical violations, the publication will be retracted with an explanatory note.
Duties and Responsibilities of the Reviewer
The review process is conducted to improve and approve the scientific quality of the authors’ manuscript and to assist the chief editors in making a decision about the manuscript.
Reviewers who do not feel sufficiently competent to evaluate the manuscript or who believe that they will not be able to complete the evaluation report within a reasonable time should withdraw from the process by notifying the chief editors or the editorial secretary.
Reviewers should treat the manuscripts as confidential documents and should not share or discuss it with anyone else without the permission of the chief editors. The information accessed by the reviewer while reading the manuscript is exclusive to the reviewer and must be kept confidential. Reviewers should not use any information related to the manuscript they are evaluating for personal gain. Reviewer evaluations should not contain personal criticism of the authors, should be objective, and should contain substantiated comments/criticisms. Reviewers who have a potential conflict of interest arising from competition, collaboration, or any other relationship with any of the authors should refrain from evaluating the manuscripts.
Reviewers should add to their evaluation reports any instances where a source is cited in the text but not included in the references, or where they know the source has been used but not cited. If a reviewer finds a significant overlap between a known source and the manuscript under evaluation that suggests possible plagiarism, they should report this to the chief editors as suspected plagiarism.
OPEN ACCESS POLICY
Toplum ve Bilim is published only in print, except for one or more articles that may be made digitally available for open access to all readers upon the recommendation of the journal’s editorial board and with the permission of the publisher (İletişim Yayıncılık Anonim Şirketi).