Directives

Senate Decision of our University Senate dated 06.03.2025 and numbered 2025/04.
Revision-Amendment: Senate Decision dated 18.09.2025 and numbered 2025/22.
Revision-Amendment-Approval: Board of Trustees Decision dated 24.09.2025 and numbered 2025/06.

Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University

ISTANBUL SABAHATTIN ZAIM UNIVERSITY
PERIODICALS DIRECTIVE

PART ONE
Introductory Provisions

Purpose
ARTICLE 1- (1) The purpose of this Directive is to regulate the establishment, activities, duties and responsibilities of the Scientific Publications Coordinatorship, as well as the working procedures and principles relating to periodical publication activities for which Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University is the publisher.

Scope
ARTICLE 2- (1) This Directive covers the work and procedures of the Scientific Publications Coordinatorship of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University and the activities relating to periodicals for which Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University is the publisher.

Legal Basis
ARTICLE 3- (1) This Directive has been prepared on the basis of the provisions of Article 14 of the Higher Education Act No. 2547 dated 4.11.1981.

Definitions
ARTICLE 4- (1) In this Directive;

a) Academic Periodical: A peer-reviewed periodical published in Turkish and/or other languages for the purpose of disseminating original research or current scientific developments in a scientific field, discipline or sub-discipline,
b) Field Editor: The researcher who manages the field-specific scientific publication processes of multidisciplinary periodicals,
c) Editor-in-Chief: The researcher who pursues the strategic objectives set by the editorial board for the academic periodical, implements the publication policy, oversees the quality of content, guides the publication process and manages the scientific and technical processes,
ç) Scientific Publications Coordinator: The Scientific Publications Coordinator of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,
d) Regional Editor: A researcher working at a university abroad who manages the processes relating to the international geographical representation of academic periodicals,
e) Advisory Board/Scientific Board: The board established in order to promote the academic periodical on national and international platforms and to make recommendations on other scientific and technical matters,
f) Language Editor: The person who examines works accepted for publication in terms of language, grammar, meaning and expression, and who proposes/makes the necessary corrections,
g) Board of Editors/Editorial Board: The board established for the academic periodical,
ğ) Supplementary/Special Issue: An issue of an academic periodical to be published in addition to regular issues on a theme determined by the Editorial Board,
h) Reviewer: An expert in the field who examines a work submitted to an academic periodical and provides an opinion on it,
ı) Statistics Editor: The expert who evaluates the statistical analysis of a work accepted for publication,
i) Coordinatorship: The Scientific Publications Coordinatorship of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,
j) Article (Work): All works prepared in accordance with the writing guidelines for publication in academic periodicals,
k) Special Issue Editor: The researcher who manages the processes relating to the special issue,
l) Rector: The Rector of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,
m) Senate: The Senate of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,
n) University: Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,
o) Assistant Editor: The researcher who assists the Editor-in-Chief in processes relating to academic periodicals,
ö) Publication Preparation Committee: The researchers and administrative staff who carry out the support services of the Editorial Board and who serve, once the works to be published in the journal have been determined, throughout the period until publication,
p) Editorial Affairs Director: The head of the relevant unit in academic periodicals published by University units,
r) Managing Editor: The researcher who chairs the Publication Preparation Committee and who, once the works to be published in the Journal have been determined, manages the period until publication,
s) Executive Board: The Executive Board of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,

shall have the meanings set out above.

PART TWO
Establishment, Operation and Duties of the Coordinatorship
 

Establishment
ARTICLE 5- (1) The Coordinatorship consists of one Editor-in-Chief from each periodical, under the chairmanship of the University Scientific Publication Coordinator.
(2) The Coordinator is appointed by the Rector for a term of three years.
(3) The Coordinatorship membership of an Editor-in-Chief whose editorial duty ends for any reason is deemed to have ended, and the new Editor-in-Chief of the relevant publication is deemed to have been appointed to the Coordinatorship.
(4) The membership of a member who fails to attend one third of the meetings held within a year without a valid excuse is terminated.
(5) In order to assist in the work and procedures, the Coordinator may appoint two Deputy Coordinators from among the faculty members who hold a doctoral degree, who have high national and international academic competence and visibility, and who take an active role in the academic periodicals published within the University.

Operation
ARTICLE 6- (1) The Coordinatorship meets at least twice a year and may also convene when necessary upon the call of the Chair of the Coordinatorship or of half of the members.
(2) The Coordinatorship convenes with the absolute majority of the total number of members and takes its decisions by the absolute majority of those attending the meeting.

Duties
ARTICLE 7- (1) To determine and implement strategies for the inclusion of academic periodicals in reputable national and international indexes.
(2) To develop projects, methods and promotional strategies that will contribute to the national and international visibility of the academic periodicals and, through these publications, of the University.
(3) To prepare an annual budget for the academic periodicals.
(4) To ensure cooperation, coordination and communication between the academic periodicals and other academic periodicals within and outside the University, as well as the institutions and organizations associated with these publications.
(5) To carry out monitoring and evaluation activities regarding the academic periodicals and to submit a report to the Rector.
(6) To evaluate applications for new academic periodicals and to submit a report to the Rector.
(7) To carry out the procedures for creating a space and defining users on the online academic periodical platform hosted on internet servers for new academic periodicals whose applications have been accepted.

PART THREE
License Holder, Scientific Publication Coordinator, Editorial Affairs Director, Editors and Advisory Board

License Holder
ARTICLE 8- (1) The license holder of the academic periodicals is the Rector.

Powers and Duties of the Scientific Publication Coordinator
ARTICLE 9- (1) To complete and keep up to date the content of the publisher page,

(2) Regarding the journals:

a) To submit applications and to make changes to the journal name/ISSN,
b) To prepare proposals concerning fee policies,
c) To communicate information on the discontinuation of a publication,
ç) To authorize the appointed Editor-in-Chief,
d) To sign the DergiPark Participation Agreement,
e) To respond to questions submitted through the communication channels on the publisher page,
f) To maintain communication with DergiPark staff.

Editorial Affairs Director and Duties
ARTICLE 10- (1) In the academic periodicals published by the academic units of the University, the head of the relevant unit is the Editorial Affairs Director.

(2) The duty of the Editorial Affairs Director is to determine, together with the editorial board, the publication policy of the academic periodicals published by his/her unit, to conduct correspondence on the administrative and financial operation of the periodical through the Editor-in-Chief, and to provide the support necessary for the sustainability of the periodical.

Editor-in-Chief and Duties
ARTICLE 11- (1) In academic periodicals, the Editor-in-Chief is appointed by the Rector, after obtaining the opinion of the University Executive Board, from among faculty members who hold a doctoral degree and who have high national and international academic competence and visibility.
(2) The term of office of the Editor-in-Chief is five years. An Editor-in-Chief whose term has expired may be reappointed.
(3) A new appointment is made to replace an Editor-in-Chief who leaves the editorial post for any reason. The term of office of an Editor-in-Chief appointed in this way is five years.
(4) The duties of the Editor-in-Chief are;

a) To define and carry out all scientific and technical operational processes to ensure that the academic periodicals are published on time and in full, in accordance with the publication principles and ethical rules,
b) To determine strategies for the inclusion of the academic periodical in indexes with high national and international recognition, and to implement the Coordinatorship decisions on this matter,
c) To conduct correspondence relating to the academic periodical and to represent it before institutions and organizations,
ç) To ensure that the panel information of the academic periodicals is updated and monitored,
d) To carry out the procedures concerning the International Standard Serial Number (e-ISSN),
e) In line with the requirements of the indexes in which the academic periodical is included or aims to be included, to establish, as necessary, the Editorial Board/Publication Board, the Publication Preparation Committee, the Field Editors, the Regional Editors and the Advisory Boards, taking into account the number of members from outside the University and from abroad,
f) To carry out the preliminary evaluation of works submitted to the academic periodical in terms of subject, language, format, suitability for the field, contribution to the field, publication principles and ethical rules; to include works found suitable as a result of this evaluation in the peer review process, to appoint an Editor, and to follow and manage the process,
g) To submit DOI applications for articles confirmed for publication in the academic periodical,
h) To finalize the evaluation of articles/works whose process has been completed, taking into account the opinions of the Article Editor and the Reviewers,
ı) To evaluate the performance of the Assistant Editor, the Publication Board members, the Publication Preparation Committee and the Reviewers involved in the academic periodical process, and to make appointments accordingly,
i) To create the content of the website of the academic periodical, to keep it up to date and, where necessary, to arrange the publication frequency of the academic periodical.

Assistant Editor and Duties
ARTICLE 12- (1) The Assistant Editor is appointed by the Editor-in-Chief from among faculty members who have high national and international academic competence and visibility in the field of the academic periodical. More than one Assistant Editor may be appointed if the Editor-in-Chief deems it necessary.
(2) The duty of the Assistant Editor is to assist the Editor-in-Chief in carrying out all scientific and technical operational processes so that the academic periodicals are published on time and in full, in accordance with the publication principles and ethical rules.

Appointment, Duties, Powers and Responsibilities of the Editorial Board/Publication Board
ARTICLE 13- (1) In academic periodicals that do not require field/regional editors, members are appointed by the Editor-in-Chief, with due regard to geographical distribution, from among faculty members holding at least a doctoral degree who have national and international competence and visibility in the fields covered by the academic periodical, with at least 40% from outside the institution and, for international academic periodicals, at least 30% from abroad. The Editor-in-Chief may appoint three further persons actively involved in the publication processes of the periodical to the Editorial Board/Publication Board. The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the performance of the Editorial Board/Publication Board members annually and appoints new members in place of those whose performance is not found satisfactory.
(2) They carry out the preliminary evaluation of the articles/works assigned to them.
(3) They ensure that reviewers are assigned to the articles/works and that the peer review process is conducted within the framework of ethical rules.
(4) They submit their evaluations of the articles/works whose peer review process has been completed to the Editor-in-Chief.

Appointment, Duties, Powers and Responsibilities of the Advisory Board / Scientific Board
ARTICLE 14- (1) The Advisory Board/Scientific Board is formed by the Editor-in-Chief. The members of this board are appointed by invitation from among scholars who are experts in the relevant field of science, who are recognized at national and international level and who hold at least a doctoral degree, with at least 1/5 of them from abroad.
(2) The Advisory Board/Scientific Board convenes at least once a year under the chairmanship of the Editor-in-Chief and reviews the previous year.
(3) It makes recommendations for enhancing the scientific content and quality of the academic periodical.
(4) It makes recommendations on the promotion of the academic periodical on national and international platforms and on other scientific and technical matters.

Regional Editors, Publication Preparation Committee, Managing Editor and Their Duties
ARTICLE 15- (1) Regional Editors are appointed by the Editor-in-Chief, in order to ensure the international geographical representation of the academic periodical, from among researchers working at foreign research institutions who have high national and international academic competence and visibility in the relevant field.
(2) The duty of the Regional Editors is to carry out all scientific and technical operational processes to ensure that works are published on time and in full, in accordance with the publication principles and ethical rules.
(3) It is the body that supports the Editor-in-Chief and the other authorized boards in carrying out all the processes of the periodical and that brings about the publication of the periodical.
(4) The Editor-in-Chief is at the same time the Managing Editor. However, where the Editor-in-Chief deems it necessary, he/she may appoint one of the Editors as Managing Editor. The Managing Editor is the researcher responsible for carrying out all the processes of the periodical and for the publication preparation activities, and is the chair of the Publication Preparation Committee.
(5) The Publication Preparation Committee is the committee that follows the administrative processes of the periodical and that is actively involved at every stage of the works submitted for publication. The members of the Publication Preparation Committee are appointed by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief is the chair of the Publication Preparation Committee.

Field Editors and Their Duties
ARTICLE 16- (1) In multidisciplinary academic periodicals, field editors are appointed by the Editor-in-Chief from among faculty members holding at least a doctoral degree who have national and international competence and visibility in their field, with at least one editor for each relevant field and at least 30% from outside the institution.
(2) The duty of the Field Editors is to carry out all scientific and technical operational processes to ensure that works are published on time and in full, in accordance with the publication principles and ethical rules.

Language Editor and Duties
ARTICLE 17- (1) The Language Editor is appointed by the Editor-in-Chief from among faculty members who are experts in the languages in which the academic periodical is published. More than one Language Editor may be appointed if deemed necessary.
(2) The duty of the Language Editor is to review the articles/works accepted for publication in terms of language, grammar, meaning and expression, and to propose or make the necessary corrections.

Statistics Editor and Duties
ARTICLE 18- (1) The Statistics Editor is appointed by the Editor-in-Chief from among researchers who are experts in the fields covered by the academic periodical.
(2) The duty of the Statistics Editor is to evaluate the statistical analyses in the works.

Special Issue Editor and Duties
ARTICLE 19- (1) The Special Issue Editor is appointed by the Editor-in-Chief from among faculty members holding at least a doctoral degree who have national and international competence and visibility in the subject determined for the special issue planned for publication. More than one Special Issue Editor may be appointed if deemed necessary.
(2) The duty of the Special Issue Editor is to carry out the call, evaluation and publication processes for the articles/works in coordination with the Editor-in-Chief and in accordance with the established schedule.

PART FOUR
Establishment, Support, Monitoring and Evaluation of Academic Periodicals

Establishment of a New Academic Periodical
ARTICLE 20- (1) A faculty member who meets the requirements for being an Editor-in-Chief applies to the relevant Department/Division Head Office with a petition prepared for the new academic periodical and a University Periodical Application Form (ANNEX-1), to be evaluated by the Department/Division Board. Applications forwarded by the Department/Division Board to the Deanship/Institute Directorate are evaluated by the executive board of the relevant unit, and the executive board decision concerning the requests found appropriate is submitted to the Rectorate by the Deanship/Institute Directorate.
(2) For the academic periodical proposals referred by the Rectorate to the Coordinatorship, the evaluation report prepared by the Coordinatorship is submitted to the Rectorate.
(3) Academic periodical proposals whose applications are found favourable are decided upon by the University Executive Board and are sent, together with the approval for the appointment of the Editor-in-Chief, to the Department of Library and Documentation.
(4) Once the academic periodical meets the conditions for inclusion in TÜBİTAK DergiPark, it continues its publication life on the TÜBİTAK DergiPark platform.

Support for Academic Periodicals
ARTICLE 21- (1) The DOI numbers of academic periodicals included in TÜBİTAK DergiPark are obtained from DergiPark. For periodicals that continue to be published on the date this Directive enters into force but are not included in DergiPark, the DOI number is provided by the University, on condition that they join DergiPark within two years.
(2) Journals being published on the date this Directive enters into force benefit from the University's publication support. Academic periodicals that are newly starting publication, on the other hand, receive publication support from the University after being indexed in at least one of TR Dizin, a field index, Scopus, Scimago, Web of Science, or databases recognized as equivalent to these by the University Executive Board/TÜBİTAK.
(3) Other forms of support to be provided to academic periodicals are implemented within the scope of the University's budget for the relevant year.
(4) Publication support is provided to the Editors, Assistant Editors and Reviewers serving in academic periodicals as shown in Table 1. A person may receive payment for at most two of the duties listed in the table.

Table 1. Payments by Periodical Duties and Titles

Monitoring and Evaluation
ARTICLE 22- (1) The monitoring and evaluation of an academic periodical is carried out for the issues published between 1 January and 31 December of each year, by the end of February of the following year.
(2) The Editor-in-Chief submits the Academic Periodical Monitoring and Evaluation Form (ANNEX-2) for the relevant year to the Coordinatorship by the end of February of the following year.
(3) The Coordinatorship reviews the form submitted by the Editor-in-Chief and the website of the periodical, carries out its evaluation of the academic periodical, and communicates the result of the evaluation to the Editor-in-Chief of the periodical and submits it to the Rectorate by the end of April.
(4) The Coordinatorship deems an academic periodical inadequate if any of the following occurs:

a) Removal from two of the TR Dizin, field index, Scopus, Scimago or Web of Science databases in which it was indexed during its publication life,
b) Failure to qualify for indexing in TR Dizin or a field index within four years, and in at least one of Scopus, Scimago, Web of Science or databases recognized as equivalent to these by the University Executive Board/TÜBİTAK within seven years, counting from the date of entry into force of this Directive for existing academic periodicals and from the date of publication of the first issue for periodicals newly starting publication,
c) A decrease of 30% for three consecutive years compared with the previous year in the number of citations according to the Google Scholar database and in the number of articles/works submitted,
ç) The existence of a finalized national or international decision of serious ethical violation concerning the academic periodical in scientific or publishing matters.

(5) Academic periodicals found inadequate following the Coordinatorship's evaluation may not benefit from the support provided by the University as of the beginning of the following year.

FIFTH SECTION
Miscellaneous and Final Provisions

Cases Not Covered by These Principles
ARTICLE 23- (1) In cases not covered by this Directive, the provisions of Higher Education Law No. 2547 and other relevant legislation in force, as well as the decisions of the competent boards of the University, shall apply.

Entry into force
ARTICLE 24-(1) This Directive enters into force on the date it is approved by the Board of Trustees after having been adopted by the Senate.

Execution
ARTICLE 25- (1) The provisions of this Directive are executed by the Rector.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 1- As of the date this Directive enters into force, all boards, coordinatorships, committees and working groups of the existing academic periodicals, including their Editors-in-Chief, continue to serve until new appointments are made by the Rector in accordance with this Directive.

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF OF İZÜ ACADEMIC PERIODICALS

• İZÜ Çekmece Journal of Social Sciences — Prof. Dr. Beytullah KAYA
• Journal of Islamic Economics and Finance — Prof. Dr. Metin TOPRAK
• İZÜ Journal of Natural Sciences — Assist. Prof. Dr. Ahmet KURNAZ
• İZÜ Journal of Education — Prof. Dr. Emrah GÖRGÜLÜ
• Journal of Sufism Studies and Academic Research — Prof. Dr. Özcan HIDIR
• Journal of Social Work — Assist. Prof. Dr. Kaan SEVİM
• Journal of Halal and Ethical Research — Prof. Dr. Mustafa YAMAN
• Usul Journal of Islamic Studies — Prof. Dr. Mustafa ÖZTÜRK