Issue 73 · Spring 2015

Dear Readers,

As you know, we previously brought together the first 50 issues of bilig on a CD. Now we have done the same for the first 70 issues. The new CD not only shows the developmental path of our journal but also allows the user to search within a single article, a single issue or the whole CD. I hope you will like this easy search option which enables the user to search all issues by clicking on a single button.

We are still transferring the earlier issues of bilig to our new web address (http://bilig.yesevi.edu.tr). All issues will be accessible on the journal’s web page in a short time.

As our readers all know, our primary aim is to publish a good quality academic journal. bilig is a journal that has its source and origins in Turkey, and Turkish is its primary language of publication. Until the present day we have never made any suggestions to any author to cite the articles in our journal, and this will definitely continue to be the case in the future. Although we are always happy to see the articles in bilig cited, we regard artificial attempts to increase citation numbers as a serious breach of ethics. Our task is to publish articles that have a potential to be cited, and the author’s task is to notice the articles he needs to notice.

ULAKBIM gives incentive awards to authors who publish in citation journals based on certain criteria. bilig is also among such journals. ULAKBIM’s policy in calculating the awards and the scores each journal receives can be found at http://ulakbim.tubitak.gov.tr/tr/hizmetlerimiz/ubyt-yayin-tesvik-programi. The citations that journals from Turkey receive will increase in parallel with the increase in the number journals from Turkey included in citation indexes. That is why all social science journals from Turkey that are listed in citation indexes will eventually make a positive contribution to bilig.

bilig is often compared with other social science citation journals from Turkey. However, all journals have their own qualities, and it is meaningless to consider these journals as competing with each other. The international status of citation journals from Turkey will improve further as the quality of scientific research increases in Turkey.

There are so many experiences to be shared regarding editorship. Especially problems concerning language, methodology and content create difficulties both for the editorial board and for the author who is waiting for his/her article to be published. However, maintaining the quality of our journal is to the benefit of not only the editorial board but also the author. I hope our insistence on maintaining good quality will be understood and appreciated.

I hope you enjoy our 73rd issue, which includes two articles on child brides and Islamophobia, among many other valuable and interesting contributions.

Prof. Dr. Nurettin Demir

Editor-in-Chief