Publication Policies of the Anadolu Forest Research Journal
This guide must be carefully reviewed by all researchers who wish to submit their work to the journal.
The sources used in preparing these policies are listed at the end of the guide.
OPEN ACCESS POLICY
The Anadolu Forest Research Journal is a publication aware of the necessity of easy access to information to advance scientific studies. It supports the open access initiative for peer-reviewed journal literature outlined in the Budapest Open Access Initiative and provides all published articles free of charge in an environment where they can be read and downloaded by anyone.
In this declaration, open access is defined as the ability to access, read, save, copy, print, scan, link to full texts, index, transfer to software, and use scientific literature for any lawful purpose via the Internet without financial, legal, or technical barriers. Considering the role of information sharing in advancing science, open access is of great importance for researchers and readers.
Therefore, the articles in this journal can be used as long as proper attribution is given to the author and the original source. Permissions from authors or publishers are not required. Articles in this journal can be accessed through search engines, websites, blogs, and other digital platforms.
This open access policy, adopted by our editorial board on September 12, 2012, can be accessed at the following link: http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai-10-translations/turkish-translation.
CREATIVE COMMONS
A Creative Commons license is a type of public copyright license that allows the free distribution of copyrighted work or material. Authors use the CC license when they want to share their work or grant permission for modifications.
For all articles published in the Anadolu Forest Research Journal, the "Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0))" is deemed appropriate.
This license allows other authors to use your work in their own works for non-commercial purposes, provided proper attribution is given to your work.
Open access is an approach that enhances interdisciplinary development and promotes collaboration among different disciplines. For this reason, the journal contributes to its field by providing greater access to its articles and ensuring a more transparent review process.
ETHICAL POLICY
The aim is to ensure that all stakeholders involved in a scientific study (authors, editors, reviewers, publishers, and readers) contribute to the accurate progression of science. Therefore, it is essential for scientific studies to comply with ethical principles.
These ethical principles are adopted based on the guidelines prepared by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and are recommended to all stakeholders. A summary is provided below:
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
• Ensure the accuracy of the data related to their study, maintain proper records, and provide access to this data upon request.
• Confirm that the submitted manuscript has not been published or accepted elsewhere.
• If there are overlaps with previously published or submitted content, acknowledge this overlap and cite appropriately. Provide the editor with copies of any related works. Obtain necessary permissions and provide proper citations when using or reproducing content from other sources.
• Ensure that all studies involving human or animal subjects comply with national and international laws and guidelines (e.g., WMA Declaration of Helsinki, NIH Policy on Laboratory Animal Use, EU Directive on Animal Use). State the necessary ethical committee approvals and include related details in the "Materials and Methods" section of the manuscript.
• Report any conflicts of interest and inform the editor and publisher if an ethical violation related to their manuscript is identified. This includes issuing corrections, retractions, or other necessary actions.
Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
• Act in a balanced, objective, and fair manner while performing their duties, without discrimination based on gender, religious or political beliefs, or the ethnic or geographical background of authors.
• Evaluate submissions solely on their content and avoid favoritism.
• Take necessary precautions to prevent conflicts of interest and assess any disclosed conflicts.
• Handle sponsored works and special issue submissions with the same rigor as other submissions.
• In cases of ethical violations, follow the journal's policies and procedures. Provide authors an opportunity to respond to complaints and take necessary actions regardless of the identity of the work’s author.
• Reject manuscripts that do not align with the journal's aims and scope.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
• Contribute to editorial decision-making by providing timely and objective reviews and agreeing to review only studies within their area of expertise.
• Perform reviews solely based on the manuscript's content, without bias stemming from religious, political, or financial interests.
• Provide constructive feedback to improve the manuscript's quality, delivering their comments respectfully and professionally.
• Maintain confidentiality, destroy reviewed manuscripts after the review process, and report any potential violations of double-blind peer review to the editor.
• Be aware of potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative, or personal relationships with authors) and inform the editor, withdrawing from the review process if necessary.
Ethical Responsibilities of Publishers
• Publishers must adhere to these ethical principles and guide all stakeholders involved in scientific studies accordingly.
• Publishers are responsible for protecting the ownership and copyright of published works and ensuring their archiving.
• Individuals should not hesitate to contact the publisher if they encounter unethical conduct.
Examples of Actions Violating Scientific Research and Publication Ethics:
• Plagiarism: Presenting others' original ideas, methods, data, or works as one's own without proper attribution.
• Fabrication: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research.
• Distortion: Manipulating research records or data, presenting unused tools or materials as if used, or altering results to suit sponsors' interests.
• Duplicate Publication: Presenting the same work in multiple publications as separate studies for academic promotions.
• Salami Slicing: Dividing research results into inappropriate portions to publish multiple articles, undermining the integrity of the research.
• Unfair Authorship: Including individuals who did not actively contribute to the work as authors or excluding those who did, arbitrarily changing the author order, or misusing one's influence to include their name as an author.
• Failure to Disclose Support: Not acknowledging contributions from individuals, institutions, or organizations that supported the research.
• Unauthorized Use of Theses or Studies: Using unpublished or unapproved theses or studies without the owner's consent as sources.
• Violation of Ethical Rules in Human and Animal Studies: Disregarding ethical guidelines, disrespecting patient rights, harming animal welfare or ecological balance, or failing to obtain necessary permissions.
• Misuse of Resources: Using resources, facilities, or equipment allocated for scientific research for other purposes.
• Misrepresentation: Providing false or misleading information regarding scientific research and publications for academic promotions.
PLAGIARISM POLICY
Plagiarism, regardless of intent, is an ethical violation. Submissions that show similarities with other sources without proper citation and are accepted for publication in such a form are not only unethical but also illegal and unacceptable.
The Editorial Board acts in accordance with COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines when dealing with allegations or suspicions of plagiarism, citation manipulation, or data fabrication related to submitted manuscripts.
COPYRIGHT TRANSFER
Manuscripts submitted to the journal for publication must be original works that have not been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors are required to declare that their work has not been partially or fully published on any other platform and is not under review elsewhere. In cases of non-compliance, authors will be held responsible under relevant penalties.
By submitting a manuscript for evaluation, authors agree to transfer the copyright of their work to the journal. This transfer becomes binding upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication. No part of the published material may be used elsewhere without written permission from the publisher.
The journal’s publication processes are conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the European Association of Science Editors (EASE), and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).
Authors retain specific rights, including:
• Reproducing the work for their purposes, provided it is not sold;
• Using parts or the entirety of the work in their books or other academic publications, provided proper citation is given;
• Making the work available on personal websites or institutional open-access repositories, provided proper bibliographic details are included.
Authors must obtain permission from copyright holders to use previously published content, including images, tables, or other materials, whether in print or electronic format. Authors bear full legal, financial, and criminal responsibility in this regard.
Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal must complete the "Copyright Transfer Form." This form must be signed with a wet signature and submitted to the journal. Initially, a scanned copy of the signed form should be sent via email during submission, followed by a hard copy sent via postal mail.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Situations that provide economic or personal benefits create conflicts of interest. The reliability of the scientific process and published articles is directly related to objectively addressing conflicts of interest during the planning, implementation, writing, evaluation, editing, and publication of scientific work.
Financial relationships are the easiest to identify as conflicts of interest and can inevitably undermine the credibility of the journal, authors, and science. These conflicts may also arise from personal relationships, academic competition, or intellectual biases.
Authors should avoid agreements with sponsors, whether profit-oriented or non-profit, that restrict access to the data of the study or interfere with their ability to analyze, interpret, write, or publish articles.
To prevent conflicts of interest, editors should avoid bringing together individuals with any potential relationships during the evaluation of a manuscript. Editors making the final decision on manuscripts must have no personal, professional, or financial connections with the subject matter of their decisions.
All individuals must inform the Editorial Board of any potential conflicts of interest to ensure that articles are evaluated within ethical guidelines and an independent process is maintained. The Editorial Board works diligently to ensure that the evaluation process is conducted impartially.
References Used in Preparing and Adopting the Policies:
• Budapest Open Access Initiative
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
• Creative Commons
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
• Publication Policies of the Education and Science Journal
• DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, Version 3
• YÖK (Higher Education Council) Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics