Guidelines for Authors

Actual Sociology publishes research-based articles and book reviews on a social topic. Researchers from any discipline can submit articles, provided that they contain a sociological perspective and new findings.

Articles
While articles are primarily expected to contain data and analyses obtained through an independent and original study, studies that present original arguments, concepts or findings on a particular social issue through the use of secondary data can also be submitted. Qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods can be used in the articles; although there is no order of priority between the methods, the integrity between the research question, scope and method is sought.

Book Reviews
Book reviews should examine books published in the last 3 years. The books can be published by a national or international publishing house. The books are expected to have a theoretical, methodological or empirical value within the sociological literature. The book review can be on a single book, or it can be a comparative review of multiple books that are close to each other in terms of subject or theme.

Articles or book reviews in Turkish or English can be submitted to Actual Sociology. The submitted articles or book reviews should not have been published elsewhere before. Authors should review and finalise this guide on the publication process, format and form requirements before submission. It is assumed that the author who submits the publication to the journal has read this guide and accepts the criteria specified in the guide.

Application Process
Authors who wish to submit an article to Actual Sociology should send the following files to editor@guncelsosyoloji.com:

  1. Article main file: It is an article file between 5 thousand-8 thousand words including references. Information such as the author's name, title or institution should be deleted in the file or in its properties. It should be prepared in accordance with the rules specified in the Writing Guide.
  2. Cover page: It should be prepared and uploaded as a separate file. The name, title, institution, postal address, e-mail address, ORCID number of the author or authors should be included on this page. This page should also include the title and abstract of the article and keywords. Finally, the financial sources of the study, if any, acknowledgements and information note, conflict of interest declaration, institutional permissions for data use, if any, should be included. Finally, in a multi-authored study, the responsible author should be indicated, and the necessary information should be given for each author. In multi-authored studies, it can also be stated which parts of the study were conducted and written by which author. For articles based on a previously unpublished graduate thesis, the title of the thesis (title, date, department, supervisor and institution) should be indicated. Book reviews do not require a cover page; all information should be included in the main file.
  3. Letter to the Editor: The author can send a short letter introducing himself/herself and his/her work, and also expressing the reasons for submitting his/her article to Actual Sociology.
  4. Ethics Committee Approval Document: If the article is a study that requires ethics committee approval, the Ethics Committee Approval Document must be uploaded. For the list of studies requiring ethics committee approval and criteria, see the Ethical Principles page on the journal's website.
  5. Transfer of Publication Rights Form: Authors submitting articles and book reviews must upload a signed form stating that they transfer the copyright of the article to Actual Sociology. The form should be downloaded from the relevant page on the journal's website.

Evaluation Process
The application evaluation process of articles submitted to Actual Sociology goes through the following stages respectively.

Preliminary Evaluation: Submitted manuscripts and book reviews are first checked by the editorial secretary for formatting. The editorial secretary receives the similarity rate report through the Turnitin programme. If the publication meets the necessary requirements in terms of form and style, it is forwarded to the editorial board together with the similarity rate report. The editorial board decides whether the manuscript will be evaluated in terms of content, quality and the purpose and scope of the journal. In case of a positive decision, a member of the editorial board is appointed as the editor of the article and the publication process begins.

Initial Editorial Evaluation: The editor assigned to the article evaluates the publication and may give corrections to the article in cases and matters deemed necessary. The author is obliged to fulfil these corrections. The editor may stop the publication process in cases where the corrections requested are insufficient or incorrect.

Referee Evaluation: If the editor deems appropriate, the article is sent to at least two referees who are experts in their fields. The article is subjected to blind evaluation by the referees. The referees submit their evaluations to the editor with a detailed report on the publication. The detailed referee report includes the referees' reasoned judgements and, depending on their judgements, also their opinions on points requiring correction and modification. Referee decision can be in 3 ways:

ACCEPTANCE without any correction or modification
ACCEPT if the corrections and changes requested in the referee report are fulfilled
REJECT for the reasons stated in the referee report

Second Editorial Review: The editor of the article decides whether or not to publish the article based on the referee evaluations. He/she may send a manuscript that two referees evaluate in opposite ways to a third referee or make the decision himself/herself. If he/she decides to continue the publication process, he/she transmits the corrections and changes from the referee evaluations to the author. The author is obliged to fulfil the editor's suggestions together with the referee corrections. At the end of this process, the editor evaluates the final version received from the author and makes a final acceptance or rejection decision regarding the publication of the article.

Final Reading and Stylistic Corrections: The accepted manuscript will be sent for proofreading to ensure proper, error-free and standardised language and spelling. The editorial secretary will find a proofreader who will take care of this work and ensure that the proofreading is carried out professionally and quickly. The service cost of this process belongs to the authors and the author will be informed by the editorial secretary. In this process, elements such as visuals, figures, tables used in the article can be requested from the author in high resolution or in more suitable formats.

Application and Publication Policy
The Submission and Publication Policy of Actual Sociology is clearly presented on the relevant page of the journal website. Authors should review this document and submit their publications accordingly.

Ethical Principles
The Ethical Principles and Ethical Policy of Actual Sociology are clearly presented on the relevant page of the journal website. Authors should review this document and submit their publications accordingly.