The URJIC Trap: Unveiling Academic Dependency in Turkish IR

Abstract

Objective: This study examines local institutional mechanisms that reproduce Anglo-American academic hegemony in Turkish International Relations academia. It aims to identify concrete evaluation practices that deepen academic dependency and to explain this process through the URJIC concept.Methods: The study uses qualitative document analysis. It examines appointment and promotion criteria of seventy Turkish public universities, Inter-University Council criteria, university strategic plans, and Council of Higher Education monitoring reports; index and publication indicators are coded by URAP-based university tiers.Results: The findings show that Western-centered indexes such as SSCI, AHCI, Scopus, and Web of Science have become central measures of academic merit. Turkish-language and Türkiye-based publications are often relegated to secondary status in evaluation processes.Conclusions and Recommendations: The article shows that academic dependency is sustained through local policy choices as well as global structures. Assessment systems should prioritize scholarly quality, originality, methodological rigor, local relevance, and Turkish-language scientific production rather than index status.