ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

• Authors should take into account the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive specified by the Council of Higher Education.
• Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must submit completely original work. If they have used the work or words of others, this must be cited in accordance with scientific ethics. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. For this reason, a similarity rate report is requested from all authors submitting manuscripts to the journal.
• Multiple, Duplicate, Redundant or Simultaneous Submission/Publication: Authors should not submit a manuscript that has already been published in another journal for consideration. Simultaneous submission of a manuscript to more than one journal is unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
  
• Authorship: Only individuals who fulfill the authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript. These authorship criteria are as follows: (i) contributed to the design, implementation, data collection or analysis, (ii) drafted or made substantial intellectual contributions to or critically revised the manuscript, or (iii) saw, approved and agreed to submit the manuscript for publication. The corresponding author should ensure that all authors (as defined above) are included in the list of authors and that they have seen the final manuscript and agree to its submission for publication.
  
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Authors should disclose conflicts of interest at the earliest possible stage (usually by submitting a disclosure form at the time of manuscript submission and including a declaration in the manuscript). All sources of financial support for the study should be declared (including grant/funding/reference number if available).
  
• Peer Review Process: Authors are required to participate in the peer review process and are obligated to cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications and evidence of ethical approval, and copyright permissions. In the event of an initial decision of “revision required”, authors should revise and resubmit their manuscript by the deadline given for reviewers’ comments in a systematic manner.
  
• Major Errors in Published Works: Authors are obligated to notify journal editors or publishers immediately if they discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work and to cooperate with journal editors or publishers to correct a typographical error or to withdraw the manuscript from publication. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published paper contains a significant error or inaccuracy, the author has an obligation to immediately correct the paper, withdraw it, or provide proof of its accuracy to the journal editors.

Compliance with YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive
The YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 4, under the heading “Actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics” is as follows. Authors should seriously refrain from the matters detailed below:

• Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, practices, writings, forms or works of others as one’s own work in whole or in part without citing the authors in accordance with scientific rules,
  
• Forgery: Producing data that is not based on research, editing or altering a submitted or published work on the basis of untrue data, reporting or publishing such data, presenting research that has not been conducted as if it has been conducted,
  
• Distortion: Falsifying research records and data obtained, falsifying methods, devices and materials that were not used in the research, excluding data that are not in accordance with the research hypothesis, manipulating data and/or results to fit relevant theories or assumptions, falsifying or shaping research results in line with the interests of the persons and organizations receiving support,
  
• Republishing: Presenting more than one work containing the same results of a research as separate works in associate professorship exam evaluations and academic promotions,
  
• Slicing: Inappropriately dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and presenting them as separate works in associate professorship exam evaluations and academic promotions by publishing a large number of publications without citing each other,
  
• Unfair authorship: Including people who have not made active contributions among the authors, not including people who have made active contributions among the authors, changing the order of authors in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, omitting the names of active contributors from the work during publication or in subsequent editions, using one’s influence to get one’s name included among the authors even though one has not made active contributions,
  
• Other types of ethical violations: Failure to clearly indicate the persons, institutions or organizations providing support and their contributions to the research in the publications of the research conducted with support; sharing the information contained in a work that he/she was assigned to review as a referee with others before publication; misusing the resources, places, facilities and devices provided or allocated for scientific research; making completely groundless, unwarranted and deliberate accusations of ethical violations.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

• Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Assist editors in editorial decisions and help authors improve their manuscripts through editorial communication.
  
• Reviewer: Any reviewer who does not feel qualified to review the manuscript proposal or who knows that review of the manuscript cannot take place in a timely manner should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review, so that a new reviewer can be assigned.
  
• Confidentiality: All manuscripts submitted for review are confidential documents and should be treated as such. They should not be shown or discussed with others unless authorized by the editor. This also applies to reviewers who decline an invitation to review.
  
• Standards of Impartiality: Comments on the manuscript should be made impartially and suggestions should be made in such a way that the authors can use them to improve the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is not appropriate.
  
• Acceptance of Sources: Reviewers should cite relevant published but not cited works. Reviewers should also inform the editor of any significant similarities between the manuscript under review and any other manuscript (published or unpublished).
  
• Disclosure and Disagreements: Reviewers should not use unpublished information in a manuscript submitted for their own research purposes without the express written permission of the authors. They should also provide clear and detailed reasons for rejecting a manuscript.
  
• Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers should not have any conflict of interest with the research, the authors and/or research funders. Conflicts of interest should be reported to the editor.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

• Impartiality and Publisher’s Freedom: Editors evaluate manuscript proposals based on their relevance to the scope of the journal and the importance and originality of the work. Editors establish a transparent and objective process without taking into account the race, gender, ethnicity, nationality or political views of the authors who submit manuscript proposals. The decision to revise or publish cannot be influenced by institutions other than the editorial board of the journal. The editors take care to ensure that the published issues contribute to the reader, researcher, practitioner and the scientific field and are of original quality.
• Independence: The relationship between the editors (Editor and Associate Editors) and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. According to the written agreement between the editors and the publisher, all decisions of the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner. Editors should reject incomplete and erroneous research that does not comply with the journal policy, editorial rules and level without any influence.
  
• Confidentiality: Editors should not share information about a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers and editorial board. They should ensure that manuscripts evaluated by at least two reviewers are evaluated according to a double blind review system and should keep the names of the reviewers confidential.
  
• Disclosure and Disagreements: Editors and editorial board members may not use unpublished information in a manuscript submitted for their own research purposes without the express written permission of the authors. Editors should not be in conflict of interest with the authors of manuscripts they accept or reject. They should also provide clear and detailed reasons for rejecting manuscripts.
  
• Publication Decision: The editors ensure that all manuscripts accepted for publication are peer-reviewed by at least two referees who are experts in their fields. The editors are responsible for deciding which manuscript to publish from the manuscripts submitted to the journal, based on the validity of the work in question, its importance for researchers and readers, the comments of the referees, and other legal requirements. Editors have the responsibility and authority to accept or reject manuscripts. Therefore, they must use their responsibility and authority appropriately and in a timely manner.
  
• Ethical Concerns: Editors will take measures when ethical concerns arise regarding a submitted or published manuscript. As a matter of fact, they continue their work processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards. Any reported unethical publishing behavior will be investigated, even if it occurs years after publication. Editors follow the COPE Flowcharts in case ethical concerns arise. If the ethical concerns are significant, a correction, retraction, or the concerns may be published in the journal.
  
• Collaboration with Journal Boards: Editors ensure that all advisory committee members follow editorial policies and guidelines. Inform advisory committee members about editorial policies. Ensure that advisory board members evaluate their work independently. Contribute to new advisory board members and make decisions as appropriate. Send work for evaluation that is appropriate to the expertise of advisory board members. Interact regularly with the advisory board. Organize regular meetings with the editorial board for publication policies and journal development.

Notifying the Editor of the Situation that Does Not Comply with Ethical Principles
Any unethical behavior on the part of editors, reviewers, or authors, or any unethical situation regarding a manuscript in the review process, in early view, or in a published manuscript, should be reported to kitabiyatilahiyat@samsun.edu.tr.

PUBLICATION POLICY AND PRINCIPLES

• The submitted manuscripts should coincide with the purpose and scope of the journal.
• Kitabiyat publishes academic studies within the scope of theology.
  
• Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be prepared in Turkish, English or Arabic in order to be accepted.
  
• The submitted book/article critiques should be original and should not be unpublished or submitted to another journal for publication.
  
• Copyright and publication rights of the author(s) are reserved.
  
• Manuscripts should be prepared according to the journal’s writing guidelines.
• All documents and files should be submitted as Word documents (.doc or .docx).
  
• Manuscripts that contain incomplete information or do not conform to the format of the journal will not be evaluated and will be returned to the author.
  
• Manuscripts that do not use the ISNAD Citation System will be returned to the author for correction.
  
• Manuscripts exceeding the word limit will be returned to the author to reduce the word count.
  
• All expenses of the journal are covered by the publisher. The publication of articles in the journal and the execution of the manuscript processes are not subject to a fee. No processing fee or submission fee is charged for manuscripts submitted to the journal or accepted for publication.
  
• After the manuscript is submitted to the journal for publication, none of the authors’ names can be deleted from the author list, a new name cannot be added as an author, and the order of authors cannot be changed without the written permission of all authors.
  
• This journal checks for plagiarism in manuscripts submitted for review. Plagiarism, duplication, false authorship, data fabrication, slicing and dicing, publication by slicing, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflict of interest are considered unethical behavior. All articles that do not comply with accepted ethical standards are removed from publication. This includes manuscripts that contain possible irregularities or improprieties detected after publication.
• This journal checks manuscripts submitted for review for plagiarism: Pre-checked manuscripts are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate or Turnitin software. Authors are notified if plagiarism/self-plagiarism is detected. If necessary, editors may check the manuscript for plagiarism at various stages of the review or production process. High similarity rates may result in a manuscript being rejected before or even after acceptance.
  
• After the plagiarism check, eligible manuscripts are evaluated by the editor-in-chief for originality, importance of the subject matter and compatibility with the scope of the journal. The editor submits each manuscript that meets the formal guidelines to at least two referees from Turkey and/or abroad.
  
• If the referees deem necessary, changes are made by the author. The Editorial Board decides whether or not to publish the text corrected by the author.
  
• The manuscript is subject to an average of 120 days from submission to acceptance/rejection.
  
• The scientific and ethical responsibility of the published articles belongs to the authors and the determinations and evaluations made do not reflect the opinion of the journal.