Guidelines for Referees and Editors

Guidelines For Referees

Peer-reviewed scholarly works are published by Belleten. Researchers who are authorities in their domains assist it in carrying out this process. Peer review is conducted in a double-blind method by the journal. The following guidelines will help you write a solid review, become a referee, and gain insight into the paper assessment process.

Selection of Referees
Referees are chosen from a pool of specialists with publications and a Ph.D. in the scientific topic in question.

Duties and Responsibilities of Referees
• Objectivity: Reviews ought to be conducted in an impartial manner. Referees should be conscious of their own biases and take this into consideration when evaluating a piece of writing. A referee must concisely state the factors that led to their choice.
• Contribution to Editorial Decision: Peer review gives the author the chance to improve the paper and helps the editor make decisions about what to edit. In this regard, a referee who feels unqualified to evaluate an article or who believes they will not be able to finish the evaluation in a reasonable amount of time should decline the offer to review.
• Confidentiality: Maintaining confidentiality is a requirement for all papers submitted to the journal for evaluation. Referees should refrain from contacting the authors personally or disclosing their comments or information about the article. A referee should not conduct independent research using information from the paper without the author's clear written consent. Peer review's privileged knowledge or ideas should be kept confidential and not used for one's own benefit.
• Sensitivity to Violations of Research and Publication Ethics: Referees should be on the lookout for any potential ethical problems in a paper and bring them to the editor's attention.
• Conflict of Interest: Referees shouldn't accept a paper for review if there could be a conflict of interest due to their connections to the authors or the institutions the article is associated with.
• Requests for Referee Citations: If a referee proposes that an author include citations to the work of the referee (or their associates), this should be done for legitimate scientific reasons and not to increase the referee's citation count or the prominence of their work.

Conducting a Review
Reviews of the referees should be conducted impartially. Referees consider the study's scientific merit in the context of the following inquiries:
• In terms of content, scope, and methodology, is the study scientific?
• Do the study's findings contribute to the field's advancement and offer original data?
• Does the study present the author's interpretations and a critical evaluation of primary and/or contemporary sources? Has the study been successful in achieving its intended goals?
• Are the employed figures, tables, images, maps, etc., as well as the titles, abstract, and conclusion sections, appropriate for the study's content?

Editorial Board Member Selection and Responsibilities
Members of the Editorial Board are chosen among the members of the Turkish Historical Society's Scientific Board who hold a PhD and have works relevant to the journal's scope. The Editorial Board chooses referees based on their competence in the relevant subject, while keeping in mind the need for adequate, inclusive, and varied representation. The Editorial Board makes the final decision on whether to publish or reject a paper.
The Editorial Board can decide to publish a revision in the event that it discovers minor mistakes in the paper after it has been published that do not have an impact on the findings, interpretations, or conclusions. The Editorial Board has the right to withdraw the article in the event there are major mistakes or violations that render the results and conclusions incorrect. Regarding correction, retraction, or expression of concern, the journal complies with COPE and ICJME rules.

Editor's Duties
•The editor makes sure that the peer review procedure is completed in the allotted amount of time.
• The editor assesses the manuscripts irrespective of the writers' nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, or political opinions.
• Within the confines of the double-blind refereeing procedure, the editor conducts the paper's evaluation process fairly. All information regarding the articles is kept confidential during this procedure.
• The editor and the Editorial Board are responsible for the content and overall quality of the publication. When necessary, it is their duty to release a corrective note or retraction.
• The editor prevents any conflicts of interest between authors, the editorial board, and referees. The final decision to publish a paper in the journal rests with the Editorial Board, which also has full authority over the refereeing procedure.
• The Editorial Board will be contacted by an editor who discovers strong evidence of ethical violations in order to have the manuscript revised, retracted, or otherwise changed.
• The editor is not permitted to participate in decisions on papers authored by him- or herself- or by members of her/his family. Such work must follow the journal's established guidelines. The Editor must abide by the ICMJE guidelines regarding authors' and referees' disclosure of any conflicts of interest.
• Except for scientific justifications, the editor does not ask for the journal to be cited.