Authors

• Abdullah Demir

  Okut Okut Association, Ankara, Türkiye

  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7825-6573

  Author Biography

  Dr. Abdullah Demir, originally from Yozgat, was born in Kırşehir in 1980. He attended primary and secondary school in Kırıkkale. After graduating from Kırıkkale Imam Hatip High School in 1997, he pursued his undergraduate studies at Uludağ University, Faculty of Theology, completing his degree in 2002. Dr. Demir continued his academic journey and obtained his M.A. from Uludağ University, focusing on "The Imitators' Faith in the Maturidite School" in 2006. Further advancing his scholarly pursuits, he earned his Ph.D. from Sivas Cumhuriyet University in 2014. Dr. Demir's doctoral research, reflecting his commitment to theological scholarship, examines "The Kalām Method of Abū Ishāq Zāhid al-Saffār."

  Between 2003 and 2011, he worked as an imam-hatip, Qur'an course instructor, preacher, and prison preacher in the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs. During this period, one of his books, Dini Değerleri İle Diyarbakır (Diyarbakır with its Religious Values), which he co-written with Ali Melek, was published in 2009. Another book, Ceza İnfaz Kurumları Din Hizmetleri Rehberi (The Guide to Religious Services in Prisons), which he co-authored with Harun Işık, was published by the Presidency of Religious Affairs in 2012.

  He worked as a research assistant and assistant professor at Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Faculty of Theology, between 2014 and 2017. During this period, he also served as a teacher of Religious Culture and Ethics at primary, middle, and high school levels at Sivas Cumhuriyet University College in the academic year 2014-2015. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Nottingham in the UK between 2015 and 2016, which was granted by the TUBITAK 2219 International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Programme for Turkish Citizens. From 2016 to 2019, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief for Cumhuriyet Theology Journal, published in Turkey and indexed in Web of Science ESCI and SCOPUS indexes. In 2018, with the support of Sivas Cumhuriyet University, he initiated a project known as ISNAD focused on academic writing and citation style. The ISNAD Citation Style has been translated into English (ISNAD Citation Style, 2020), Arabic (ISNĀD: Niẓām tawthīq al-marājiʻ, 2022), and Persian (Shīvenāme-i Istināddehī be Reveş-i ISNAD, 2022. As of November 2023, ISNAD, freely accessible at www.isnadsistemi.org, is employed as a citation style by 54 institutes for M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations and by 156 peer-reviewed journals, both domestically and internationally, for scientific articles (www.isnadsistemi.org).

  Dr. Demir is the coordinator of the scientific event organized by Sivas Cumhuriyet University for the first time in 2018, which continued in the following years under the name of the Turkey Editors Workshop (editorlercalistayi.com). He is also the founder of the Turkey Editors Group, established in 2018 as a platform for editors to exchange experiences and consult on peer-reviewing books and journal publishing, which has now reached 498 members, all of whom are peer-reviewed journal editors.

  Dr. Demir began working as a faculty member in the Department of Theology at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Faculty of Theology, in 2017 and continues to hold this position. He is also the editor of the internationally indexed journal Eskiyeni.

  Dr. Demir is the founding president of Oku Okut Association, established in 2020 to enhance students' reading skills, promote reading habits in society, and provide free services in this field. Oku Okut Association offers complimentary services through Oku Okut Academy (www.okuokut.org), an online education portal and reading club platform, and Oku Okut Publications, an open-access publishing brand (yayin.okuokut.org).

  Dr. Demir served as the executive director of the National Theology Citation Index project between 2017 and 2021. In 2023, he worked as a coordinator in the preparation of the Spelling Guide of Religious Culture and Ethics Concepts, which includes 2622 concepts published by the Presidency of the Board of Education. He is the coordinator of the project to ensure the spelling uniformity of the field concepts used in the textbook of religious education, launched by the General Directorate of Religious Education in August 2023. 

  Dr. Demir has publications on "Hanafī-Māturīdī religious understanding" and "scientific research and peer-reviewed publishing." He also provides training and seminars in Türkiye and the Turkic countries (avesis.aybu.edu.tr/abdemir)

  Demir, married with three children, has also served as a board member in various public institutions on issues related to his expertise. He is proficient in English and Arabic.

• Oku Okut Assocation

  Okut Okut Association, Ankara, Türkiye

  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7825-6573

  Author Biography

  Okut Okut Association, which aims to produce projects and provide free services to improve student's reading skills and to inculcate reading habits in society, was established in Ankara on 07 December 2020. Our Association, a non-governmental organization operating within the framework of the law, carries out activities to increase reading habits with its programs in the field of education for the benefit of society.