Why My Article Was Rejected?

The desk-rejection rate of the journal of International Relations (Uluslararası İlişkiler) has reached to 62% (about 6 out of 10) of all the articles submitted to the Journal in the last four years. They were returned to their author/s by the Managing Editors without a referee evaluation.

Although some of the articles are returned to their author/s simply because more articles submitted to the Journal than it can handle within a reasonable period, most of the articles are rejected due to one or more of the following reasons:

• The subject of the article is not within the scope of International Relations discipline. The journal mainly publishes papers on International Relations Theories, International Politics, Political History, Foreign Policy Analysis, Area Studies, International Law, International Political Economy, and other similar subfields.
• The article is written as a literature review and does not include any critical analyses of the issues taken up.
• The article is written without a basic argument or with an unclear argumentation. Papers simply listing various international developments without in-depth analysis are considered within this context.
• The article does not have any theoretical and/or conceptional framework.
• The article does not comply with the writing guidelines and/or reference format of the Journal.
• The paper exceeds the word limit or stays substantially below the stated word limit of the Journal.
• The paper itself or its substantially similar version was published elsewhere in the past. Papers published in a different language previously may be considered for the Journal, provided that the author/s consult with the editors before submitting it.
• The paper is very similar to a previously submitted and rejected paper to the Journal, and does not sufficiently differ from its earlier version.
• Plagiarism and/or other academic ethics violations are detected in the paper.
• The paper is clearly written to favor a specific political position with a biased approach, instead of an academic perspective.
• The paper is written as a policy brief, report, summary etc. instead of an academic article.
• The paper is submitted to different journal/s at the same time.
• The paper is not written in clear language or has substantial linguistic problems.
• Even though it depends on the subject and the case, the paper consists of references only in a native language or Internet sources.
• The paper is written with a racist, offensive, or discriminatory tone, and in a way that humiliates specific group of people or groups.