AKADEMİK YAZMA AÇISINDAN MAKALE HAKEM DEĞERLENDİRME FORMLARI

Akademik yazmanın çeşitli türleri vardır. Bu türlerin arasında en sık kullanılanı makaledir. Makale yayımlamak hem akademik gelişim açısından hem de akademik unvan edinimi açısından önemlidir. Makalenin akademik bir dergide yayımlanması hakem inceleme süreçlerinden başarıyla geçmesine bağlıdır. Makalenin yayımlanmadan önce hakemler tarafından değerlendirilmesi için kullanılan hakem değerlendirme formlarının incelenmesi akademik yazmanın sınırlarını çizme açısından önemlidir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, makale hakem değerlendirme formlarını akademik yazma açısından incelemektir. Nitel araştırma olarak planlanan bu çalışmada bahsedilen amaca yönelik veri toplamada örneklem şu şekilde oluşturulmuştur: SSCI, SCI-Expanded ve AHCI indekslerine giren 2; Üniversitelerarası Kurul Başkanlığının belirlediği eğitimle ilgili uluslararası alan indekslerine giren ve Türkiye'de yayımlanan 3; ULAKBİM Sosyal Bilimler Veri Tabanı'ndan 5 ve DergiPark'ta yer alan 5 olmak üzere 15 dergi. Bu dergilerin hakem değerlendirme formları okunarak içerik analizi yapılmıştır. Çalışmada öncelikle hakem değerlendirme formlarından elde edilen veriler kodlanmıştır. Daha sonra kodlanan veriler bir araya getirilerek gruplandırılmıştır. Bu gruplamadan yola çıkılarak kategorilere ve temalara ulaşılmıştır. Ortaya çıkan kategoriler ve temalar düzenlenmiş, kategorilerin frekans ve yüzde dağılımları eklenmiştir. Bu araştırma, hakem değerlendirme formlarında makale inceleme ölçütleri açısından farklılıklar olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Araştırmada ulaşılan kategorilerin hakem değerlendirme formlarında yer alma aralığının %6,6'dan %100'e kadar geniş bir çizgide seyrettiği tespit edilmiştir. Hakem değerlendirme formlarının akademik yazma açısından yetersiz olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçlarının Türkiye'de akademik yazma içeriğinin ve hakem değerlendirme formlarının geliştirilmesinde kullanılabileceği düşünülmektedir

REFEREE ASSESSMENT FORMS FOR ARTICLES IN TERMS OF ACADEMIC WRITING

There are various types of academic writing. Among these types, article is the most commonly used one. Publishing an article is important both in terms of academic development and in terms of academic title acquisition. The publication of the article in an academic journal depends on the success of the review process. Examination of the referee evaluation forms used for evaluation by the referees before the publication of the article is important in terms of drawing the boundaries of the academic writing. The purpose of this study is to examine the article referee evaluation forms in terms of academic writing. In this study, which is planned as a qualitative research, the aimed data are summarized as follows: 2 journals which are included by SSCI, SCIExpanded and AHCI index, 3 journals which are published in Turkey and which are included in international indexes related to education determined by the Council of Universities Council, 5 journals, including 5 from ULAKBİM Social Sciences Database and 5 from Dergi Park and total 15 journals. Content analysis was carried out by reading referee evaluation forms of these journals. In the study, the data obtained from the referee evaluation forms are primarily coded. Then the encoded data are grouped together. From this grouping, categories and theme were reached. The resulting categories and themes are arranged, frequency and percentage distributions of the categories are added. This research revealed that there are differences in terms of article review criteria in referee evaluation forms. It has been determined that the categories reached in the research range in the referee evaluation forms range from 6.6% to 100%. The referee evaluation forms were found to be inadequate in terms of academic writing. It is thought that the results of the research can be used in the development of academic writing content and referee evaluation forms in Turkey.One of the elements of Turkish education as the main language is writing education. Primary school, secondary school and high school programs have included writing studies. However, there is no planned and widespread study of this area in universities. Apart from open education and distance education students, 3.536.787 students are studying at pre-license, undergraduate and graduate levels in Turkey according to Council of Higher Education’s 2015-2016 Academic Year data. Reading and writing have important place among the four language skills at the higher level of education where so many learners receive academic education. Because, for academic success in higher education, students have to read academic texts written by scientists and write academic texts. Writing in the academic environment is found in the literature as academic writing. However, there is no education in primary and secondary schools about academic writing, nor is there a planned education at pre-license, undergraduate and graduate levels in Turkey. What academic writing is and how to upskill it is a topic that needs to be investigated in terms of the development of this field. One of the points to look for in-depth insights into this issue is article referee evaluation forms. Examination of the forms used for evaluation of the articles before they are published is important in terms of drawing the boundaries of academic writing. The purpose of this study is to review article referee evaluation forms in terms of academic writing. Method The study is planned as qualitative research. Academic journals in education science field and some social science journals that have researches on educational sciences constitute the universe of this research. 15 journals including 2 journals that are included in SSCI, SCIExpanded and AHCI indexes; 3 journals that are included in international field indexes determined by Republic of Turkey University Council Committee and are related to education and published in Turkey; 5 journals from ULAKBİM Social Science Database and 5 journals in DergiPark constitute the sample of this research. Content analysis was done by reading 15 referee evaluation forms. The data obtained from the referee evaluation forms were primarily coded in this study. Then the encoded data were grouped together. Themes were reached from this groups. The resulting codes and categories were arranged, frequency and percentage distributions were added. Conclusion and Discussion Categories were generated from the data on the referee evaluation forms. The themes were arranged according to these categories. Themes are six pieces including introduction, method, development, result, language and other. A total of forty categories including ten in the introduction theme, five in the method theme, three in the development theme, five in the result theme, two in the language theme, fifteen in the other theme have been reached. It has been found that the range of taking part of categories in referee evaluation forms was in a wide range from 6.6% to 100%. Language and expression category took part in all forms at 100%. This was followed by headline (at 93.3%), summary (at 80%), thoughts at (73.3%) categories. In the introduction theme, introduction was located in one form (6.6%), heading was located in fourteen forms (93.3%), abstract in Turkish was located in twelve forms (80%), abstract in English was located in five forms (33.3%), keywords were located in four forms (26.6%), importance of study was located in one form (6.6%), problem statement was located in six forms (40%), come up and scope of subject matter were located in three forms (20%), purpose was located in ten forms (66.6%), literature review was located in five forms (33.3%In the method theme, method was located in eighteen forms (40%), research design was located in three forms (20%), data collection technincs were located in three forms (20%), data analysis was located in five forms (33.3%). The method section is a point in which a researcher tells us how the research was carried out in great detail. The research design, universe and sample of the research or study group, data collection tools and the presence of information about data analysis have a great importance in terms of the validity of a research. However, subsections which form the method section had not been presented in any forms reviewed. There are deficiencies in forms that enclose general criterions for method section. This situation could lead to the presence of faulty academic works. In the development theme, findings category was located in four forms (26.6%), findings and comments were found in one form (6.6%), sufficiency of samples was found in one form (6.6%). The existence of a scientific research is only possible with those revealed in the findings. The specificity and the contrubition to the field of a research can be mentioned in the light of the data presented in the findings section. Thus, completeness of findings section on the basis of academic writing has great importance. However, the absence of any criterion about findings in 66.6% of reviewed referee evaluation forms is a critical deficiency. This situation may lead to shortcomings in articles presented. In the result theme, result category was located in eight forms (53.3%), result and comment category was located in one form (6.6%), discussion was located in four forms (26.6%), result and discussion category was located in one form (6.6%), suggestions category was located in six forms (40%). Result is a section in which data obtained from the findings of a research is expressed. Besides, discussion is a section in which these data are discussed and compared with other research results. Suggestions is a section in which improving offers based on the results of the research on the subject field presented also. Result, discussion and suggestion sections did not take place in all referee evaluation forms. This is a lackness in terms of academic writing. Language and expression criterion took place in all referee evaluation forms. Expression of academic language criterion in 9 and 10 number forms in detail is needed. In addition, the fact that the graph, table, image and figure criteria are not in 53.4% of the forms is problematic in terms of its coherence of the academic writing principles. Presenting the elements mentioned is very important factor in terms of academic literacy. Thus, the evaluation of these factors in referee evaluation forms should be emphasized. Various data obtained from referee evaluation forms turned into a theme as “other” title. From categories in this theme, bibliography/source writing category was located in eight forms (53.3%), accessing original and first hand sources category was located in two forms (13.3%), formal features, appendix section, page limit and suitability of subject to the journal were located in one form (6.6%), decision/last provision category was located in nine forms (60%), opinions section was located in eleven forms (73.3%), ethical criteria was located in two forms (13.3%), coherence criteria was located in five forms (33.3%), dominance on terminology category was located in three forms (20%), suitibility of journal for writing guideliness was located in one form (6.6%), suitibility of subject for journal was located in one form (6.6%), information about individuality, contribution of research to the field/science, information about originality were located in twelve forms (80%), state of being shortened criteria was located in one form (6.6%), subject integrity was located in three forms (20%). Writing citation and bibliography sections are among the principles that constitutes scientificity of a research. Each journal could determine different bibliography writing methods. However, for the acceptance and reaching large masses of scientific research in the field, journals need to pay attention to making attribution and writing sources. The absence of criteria on writing bibliography in 46.7% of reviewed referee evaluation forms may lead to deficiencies in terms of academic writing bases. Findings showed that journal referee evaluation forms are not standard from the standpoint of academic writing, they focuses on different points and there is no bullets that reflects the opinions of referees. To create evaluation bullets that reflects main lines of academic writing by standardizing forms will contribute to development of this field.

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