Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
The Anadolu Journal of Research in Developmental Disabilities (AJRIDD) aims to maintain the highest level of accuracy in the content it publishes. Ethical principles play an important role in the publication policy of the AJRIDD Journal. Therefore, the ‘AJRIDD Ethical Principles and Publication Policy’ has been prepared in accordance with the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure that published works are impartial and ethical. Works that violate COPE principles will not be published in this journal.

Ethics Checklist
• Has official permission been obtained prior to the use of any unpublished tools, methods, or data to which others may claim rights?
• Are the names of all authors included in the article and the online submission form?
• Have all materials included in the text been referenced clearly and completely?
• Have the data been carefully checked and all supplementary data required by the journal been included?
• Has any conflict of interest relating to the journal been declared?
• Has (written) permission been obtained for the reuse of any figures, tables, and data sets?
• Has the article been submitted simultaneously to only the AJRIDD Journal?
Finally, inform all authors after submitting the article.

Responsibilities of the Author(s)
· AJRIDD expects that the work is original and current. All sources used must be properly and accurately cited, as clearly stated in the writing guidelines.
· Articles submitted to AJRIDD must state that they have not been submitted to any other journal or journals, and the ‘Copyright Transfer Form’ must be completed.
· Individuals who have not contributed to the content during the planning, implementation, and writing processes of the work should not be listed as authors. Any situations or relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest in the work submitted for publication must be disclosed.
· The names and addresses of the institutions/organisations to which the authors of the study belong must be stated correctly and completely.
· Raw data related to the study may be requested from the authors while the article is being evaluated by the reviewers. In this case, the author(s) are expected to submit the raw data to the Editorial Board upon request. Furthermore, the author(s) are obliged to retain the data related to the study for a period of five years.
· The author(s) are obliged to inform the Editorial Board if they discover an error in their work during the peer review or publication process. They should also contact the Editorial Board for corrections or retraction processes.

Reviewer Responsibilities
· Reviewers should only agree to evaluate studies related to their area of expertise.
· They should not investigate the identity of the author(s), and if they discover the identity of the author(s), they must terminate the evaluation process.
· They should evaluate the submitted work impartially, independently, and without bias.
· Reviewers should not take any action that reveals their identity in the work they are evaluating. For example, their names should not appear in the evaluation file.
· Reviewers must inform the journal of their acceptance, rejection or revision decisions regarding the submitted work and the reasons for these decisions using the reviewer evaluation form.
· Reviewers may use accepted works from the studies they have reviewed after the publication process. They must not share any information about rejected works.
· It is important to use scientific and polite language when evaluating. No insults, slander or derogatory comments should be made towards the author(s) or the work.
· They must provide their comments and decisions on the studies they accept for evaluation in a timely manner, taking into account the ethical responsibilities outlined above.

Editorial Responsibilities

1. General Responsibilities
· The editor is responsible for all articles published in the AJRIDD Journal and accepted for the publication process.
· They are responsible for enhancing the quality of the journal and contributing to its development.
· They are responsible for implementing processes aimed at improving the quality of the works published in the journal.
· They are responsible for maintaining ethical principles throughout the entire process and protecting intellectual property rights.
· They are responsible for supporting freedom of thought.

2. Reader Relations
· The editor is responsible for taking reader feedback into consideration and providing explanatory and informative responses to this feedback.
· The editor is responsible for publishing work that is in line with the journal's purpose, which is the reason readers access the journal.

3. Relations with Authors
· The editor must keep track of any information and innovations that authors may need during the submission and evaluation process. Where necessary, updates should be made on the journal's website.
· The editor must evaluate the works submitted to the journal within the framework of the established rules. If a decision to reject is made during the initial submission process, the editor must communicate this decision to the author(s), explaining the reasons for it. If a situation is encountered that does not comply with the writing rules or article template, the editor must explain the situation to the author(s) and allow time for corrections.
· The editor should take positive referee feedback into account unless they identify a serious problem in the submitted work.
· When authors wish to obtain information during the article evaluation process, they should provide information in a way that does not compromise the blind review process.

4. Relations with Referees
· The editor should assign works submitted for publication to referees according to their areas of expertise.
· The editor should provide reviewers with the information they require during the evaluation process.
· The editor should remove reviewers from the reviewer list who use inappropriate language, provide comments lacking in substance, or provide late feedback.
· The editor should continuously expand the reviewer list by following current topics and considering areas of expertise.
· The editor should control situations that reveal the identity of reviewers in a manner that does not compromise the blind review process.
· The editor should plan measures to improve the performance of reviewers.

5. Relations with the Editorial Board
· Plans should be made to ensure that board members evaluate submissions impartially and independently.
· Regular communication should be maintained with the board.
· The editor and board members should hold meetings at regular intervals to support the development of the journal.

Ethical Principles
1. Plagiarism and Unethical Behaviour
Authors must upload a plagiarism report to the system for all works submitted to the journal for publication. Articles exceeding a certain percentage (15%) will not be included in the evaluation process. Works with a plagiarism rate above the specified threshold are examined in detail and, if deemed necessary, are returned to the author(s) for review and correction. If unethical conduct is detected, the work is rejected outright.
2. Ethics Committee Approval Certificate
It is essential that human and animal rights are not violated in works submitted to the AJRIDD Journal. For all research involving humans or animals in this journal, ethical committee approval must be obtained in accordance with the research method. This approval must be obtained from authorised institutions such as universities, institutes or the Ministry of Health. For all studies requiring ethical committee approval in the AJRIDD Journal, it is mandatory to obtain the approval certificate and upload it to the system. In these studies, it is mandatory that all authors mentioned in the study are listed on the document. In addition, the methods section of the study should include a statement regarding informed consent, the name of the ethics committee, the date and number of the ethics committee approval.
3. Relations with the Journal Owner and Publisher
The relationship between the editor and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. The editor conducts all decision-making processes independently of the publisher and journal owner.
4. Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
AJRIDD Journal undertakes to protect the intellectual property rights of published articles. In any attempt to infringe upon these rights, the journal and author(s) will pursue and defend their rights to the fullest extent.
5. Protection of Participants' Personal Data, Rights and Interests
The confidentiality and personal information of participants in the study must be guaranteed. Therefore, the article should not contain any statements that clearly identify the participants and their personal information.
6. Conflicts of Interest
All stakeholders involved in the publication process of AJRIDD Journal, such as authors, editors, or referees, are responsible for considering conflicts of interest. The journal guarantees that the publication process is conducted independently and impartially.
7. Author Changes
Authors who have contributed to the study should be carefully reviewed and added to the article.
Author changes can only be made during the submission stage. During submission, authors' names and order must be correctly added.
8. Use of Artificial Intelligence
Authors are responsible for ensuring that the content of their submitted articles meets rigorous scientific and academic standards of evaluation, research, and verification, and that this content is created by the authors. The use of artificial intelligence in studies submitted to the AJRIDD Journal is acceptable if it does not affect the content and originality of the text, such as during proofreading or reading processes carried out during literature searches. Beyond this (e.g., writing a specific section using artificial intelligence tools), the use of artificial intelligence for unethical purposes is not acceptable. If the author(s) use an artificial intelligence tool in their work, they are responsible for informing our journal of this during the article submission stage. All responsibility for the use of artificial intelligence lies with the author(s).

Journal Policy
1. Article Review Process
· To ensure that submitted works are evaluated objectively, AJRIDD Journal employs a blind peer review process. Any information that could reveal the identities of the author(s) and reviewers is concealed.
· The review process will not be initiated for works that do not comply with the journal's writing rules and template. Authors must make the necessary revisions for the re-evaluation process. Therefore, authors should carefully review the writing guidelines and template files.
· After the initial submission, decisions may be made that the work is suitable for peer review, requires revision before review, or is not suitable for the journal's purpose and scope.
· For works suitable for peer review, the evaluation process is initiated. After completing their evaluations, reviewers may request minor or major revisions for the works or reject them, stating their reasons.
· Decisions regarding the status of the work are made by the editor based on the reviewers' comments.
2. Similarity Rate (Plagiarism) Screening
The responsibility for obtaining a similarity report for studies submitted to the journal lies with the author. The acceptable similarity rate for the journal is a maximum of 15%. The editor has the right to directly reject studies that exceed the specified similarity rate.
3. Open Access Policy
AJRIDD is an open access journal and makes published works directly available to readers. The journal aims to support the open access policy for published scientific content.
4. Publication Fee
AJRIDD Journal does not charge any fees at any stage of the article submission, acceptance, or publication process. No fees are charged to authors or institutions under any name.