Sobiad & Asos Index Application and Subsequent Processes

For an academic journal to be indexed in Sobiad and Asos Indexes, it is mandatory for the publisher, editor, or assistant editor to create a user account on the system first. Following this, the application processes can be completed. The most important consideration regarding application conditions is the publication duration requirement. In this context, a journal must have regularly published for 5 years to apply to Sobiad and for 2 years to apply to Asos Index. Journals that apply without meeting these conditions will be subject to a one-year embargo.

Journal evaluations are conducted by in-house experts. These experts have no biases or conflicts of interest with any publication group or journal. We assure that the experts conducting the evaluations possess knowledge in their respective fields and demonstrate a professional approach.

Quantitative Evaluation

The initial step in the application process for Sobiad and Asos Indexes is a technical evaluation. At this stage, team members with degrees in information and document management conduct the review. The information declared by the journal is verified. If a journal changes its declared information (such as the journal name, ISSN number, publisher information, etc.), it must notify the index electronically in the first month following the publication of the relevant issue.

In this evaluation:

1. The journal's ISSN information is verified. During the ISSN center's verification, the e-ISSN and/or p-ISSN information provided at the time of application is checked, and it is verified whether this information is clearly displayed on the journal's homepage.
2. The journal title is checked. During this check, the title in the journal's primary and/or secondary language is reviewed to ensure it is consistently used on the homepage, journal cover, and articles.
3. The declared publication frequency/months are reviewed.
4. The journal publisher's details are examined. Whether it is individual or institutional, and if contact and address details are accessible on the page, is checked.
5. The journal's URL is tracked to ensure it is accessible.
6. The presence of a publication ethics policy and adherence to international standards are reviewed.
7. The presence of the journal's aims and scope on the homepage and their clarity are examined.
8. Archive policies are reviewed.
9. The peer review policy is checked.
10. The publication and writing guidelines are examined.
11. The presence of a similarity report application is evaluated.
12. Whether the editorial team's contact information is accessible for authors is checked.
13. The presence of publication submission, revision, and acceptance dates in article PDFs is verified.
14. The use of DOI in articles is emphasized.
15. Information on copyright policies must be present.
16. The editorial board, including the editor, assistant editor(s), and area editors, should provide their institutional affiliations with links, if applicable.
17. The presence of authors' ORCID numbers is checked.
18. The presence of authors' institutional affiliations is verified.
19. The journal's technical infrastructure should allow single PDF article publication.
20. The presence of "generic" and "table of contents" pages for each issue is checked.
21. The accessibility of past issues is evaluated.
22. Whether article files include abstracts in the primary language and a preferred foreign language is checked.
23. The licensing status of the journal and its publications is reviewed, and if licensing applies, the type of license (e.g., CC-BY, CC-BY-NC) is examined.
24. The journal's open access policy is reviewed.
25. The journal's policy on corrections (e.g., incorrect data, ethical violations, legal proceedings) is evaluated.
26. The transparency of the journal's fee policy is checked on the homepage.
27. The presence of author and reviewer guidelines is examined.
28. The journal's policy on "Personal Data Protection" is reviewed.
29. If applicable, the journal's "artificial intelligence policy" is checked.

Qualitative Evaluation

If the items specified above are adequately fulfilled, the chief editor forwards the journal to reviewers specializing in relevant scientific fields. These reviewers, who are experts in their fields, may also seek support from subfield reviewers when needed.

In this evaluation:

1. Published article titles, abstracts, and keywords in the primary and/or secondary language are evaluated.
2. The standardization of the citation style is checked.
3. The clarity and scientific quality of the language used are reviewed.
4. Compliance with the declared publication frequency at the time of application is verified.
5. The editorial board's compatibility with the journal's content and considerations of diversity in country and gender are evaluated.
6. The journal must be able to provide the contents declared during the application process upon request.
7. The index may request peer review reports from journals when deemed necessary, which should be provided within the relevant month along with report outputs.
8. Article content must align with the keywords declared during the application process.
9. Diversity in citations should be consistent with the publication's content.
10. Citations to the journal and self-citations by the journal are critical points of evaluation.
11. Cross-citation analysis is conducted on citations made by and to authors during the journal review process.
12. The editorial team's Sobiad citation analysis is considered in the journal evaluation processes.
13. The quality of publications should enrich the journal content, offer new perspectives, and avoid repetition of topics.
14. Having multiple publications by the same author in the same year within the same journal can be viewed negatively.
15. The journal's editorial team should avoid publishing in their own journal.

Embargo Policy

1. If the journal does not meet the publication duration requirements at the time of application, it will be subject to a one-year embargo period.
2. If a rejection decision is made following the editorial review, the journal will face a minimum two-year embargo period.

Removal from Index

Sobiad and Asos Index operate under different quality criteria to index journals. Journals meeting these criteria are included in the indexes. During periodic reviews, if journals fail to meet the criteria, they are asked to provide explanations. If these explanations do not satisfy or convince the review committee, the journal is either downgraded (e.g., from Sobiad to Asos Index) or completely removed from the indexes.