The 19 Mayıs Journal of Social Sciences is committed to academic publishing in accordance with national and international ethical standards. All stakeholders involved in the publication process (editors, reviewers, authors, and publisher) are expected to comply with the ethical principles outlined below. The journal adopts and follows the principles and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

🔹 1. Publication Ethics and Responsibilities

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts solely on the basis of their scholarly merit, originality, methodological soundness, and reviewers’ evaluations. Factors such as authors’ race, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, or political views do not influence editorial decisions.
All manuscripts are subject to a double-blind peer review process.
Editors have the authority to suspend the review process, reject a manuscript, or retract a published article in cases of suspected ethical misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or conflicts of interest).
Editors are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of authors’ and reviewers’ identities.

Responsibilities of Authors

Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not have been published elsewhere.
Manuscripts must not be under simultaneous consideration by another journal.
All listed authors must have made a significant scholarly contribution to the study.
For studies requiring ethical approval, authors must obtain approval from an appropriate ethics committee and clearly state the name of the committee, date, and approval number in the manuscript.
Where applicable, datasets used in the study should be made accessible.
Authors are obliged to notify the editorial board if they discover a significant error in their published work.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers should only evaluate manuscripts within their field of expertise.
They must adhere to the principle of confidentiality and must not use the information obtained through peer review for personal advantage.
Reviews should be objective, constructive, and based on scientific merit.
Any suspicion of ethical misconduct or plagiarism should be reported to the editor.
Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in cases of conflict of interest.

🔹 2. Studies Requiring Ethical Committee Approval

Ethics committee approval is mandatory for the following types of studies:
– Research involving human participants (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups, experiments)
– Experimental studies on humans or animals
– Retrospective studies using personal data
– Clinical research

For such studies, documentation of ethics committee approval and informed consent must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

🔹 3. Publication Policy

Peer Review Process

All submissions undergo an initial editorial screening and are subsequently sent to at least two independent reviewers. The journal operates a double-blind peer review system.

Submission Fees

The journal does not charge any submission or publication fees.

Publication Schedule

The journal publishes four issues per year:
– March 30
– June 30
– September 30
– December 30

Editorial Workflow

Initial screening: 2–3 days
Reviewer invitation: 7 days
Review period: 12 days
Author revision period: 5 days (may be extended if necessary)

Authors may withdraw their manuscripts only during the initial screening stage. Withdrawal after the start of the peer review process is subject to editorial approval.

🔹 4. Archiving and Repository Policy

The journal permits authors to archive all versions of their manuscripts (preprint, accepted version, and published final version) in institutional repositories, personal websites, and academic sharing platforms.
Authors are required to cite the original publication, provide the DOI, and include a link to the final version published on the journal’s official website.

🔹 5. Open Access Policy

The journal follows an open access policy. All published content is freely available to the public. Readers are allowed to read, download, share, and use the content without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

🔹 6. Copyright and Licensing

All copyrights of manuscripts accepted for publication are transferred to the 19 Mayıs Journal of Social Sciences.
All content published in this journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license permits non-commercial use, sharing, and reproduction of the content, provided that appropriate credit is given.

🔹 7. Plagiarism and Similarity Policy

All submitted manuscripts are screened for similarity prior to the peer review process.
The acceptable similarity rate is below 20%, and the similarity from a single source must not exceed 3%.
In cases of plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or other forms of misconduct, the manuscript will be rejected or retracted if already published.

🔹 8. Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest related to their work.
Reviewers and editors are also required to disclose any conflicts of interest and withdraw from the evaluation process when necessary.
Declared conflicts of interest are recorded to ensure transparency.

🔹 9. Correction, Retraction, and Removal Policy

If significant errors, ethical violations, or scientific misconduct are identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retract the article.
Retraction decisions are made by the editorial board and the reasons for retraction are publicly disclosed.

🔹 10. Complaints and Appeals Policy

Authors may submit written complaints or appeals regarding editorial decisions or the peer review process.
All complaints are handled by the editorial board in accordance with principles of impartiality and confidentiality.
If deemed necessary, independent expert opinions may be sought.

🔹 11. Language Policy

Submissions to the journal may be written in Turkish or English.