ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY

INTRODUCTION AND LEGAL BASIS

Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi (ADED) is a peer-reviewed, open-access periodical aimed at producing scientific literature with original and methodological depth at international standards in the field of Turkish language and literature studies, primarily philology, linguistics, and classical Turkish literature.

In order to maintain scientific transparency and academic integrity at the highest level in its publication processes, our journal commits to full compliance with the provisions of the Press Law No. 5187, the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works No. 5846, and the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive of Higher Education Institutions, as well as the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Academic Publishing declared by international publishing norms such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

 1. PUBLICATION AND ACCEPTANCE CONDITIONS

• Thematic Scope: ADED publishes original research articles that contribute to science in the sub-fields of Classical Turkish Literature, Old Turkish Language, Modern Turkish Literature, Modern Turkish Language, and Turkish Folk Literature under the main department of Turkish Language and Literature.
• Type Restriction: Only studies of the "Research Article" type are evaluated in our journal. In line with international indexing goals; articles produced from postgraduate theses, book reviews, translations, symposium proceedings, and review papers are not accepted.
• Language and Frequency: It is published electronically only (e-journal) in a single volume, three times a year (March, July, November), in Turkish and English. It is mandatory for every article to include a Turkish Abstract/Keywords (Öz/Anahtar Kelimeler) and an English Abstract/Keywords.
• Periodic Article Submission Schedule: To ensure the smooth execution of the journal's editorial processes and international indexing schedules, article submissions are accepted exclusively through the DergiPark system between the following dates:
  • For the March Issue: January 20 – January 30
  • For the July Issue: May 20 – May 30
  • For the November Issue: September 20 – September 30
• Annual Article Quota: To ensure academic diversity and fair evaluation, an author can submit only one (1) article to ADED within a single calendar year (the same volume period).
• Fee Policy (Diamond Open Access): ADED operates on a platinum (diamond) open-access model. No fee (article processing charge - APC) is requested from authors or their institutions at any stage of submission, evaluation, peer review, typesetting, DOI assignment, or publication processes. No sponsorships or commercial revenues are accepted.
• Word Limit: Texts must be between a minimum of 6,000 and a maximum of 12,000 words in length, including titles, abstracts, in-text citations, tables, and references. Works falling outside these limits will be rejected during the preliminary review phase (desk reject).

 2. EVALUATION PROCESS: DOUBLE-BLIND PEER REVIEW

DED uncompromisingly enforces the "Double-Blind Peer Review" system to guarantee impartiality, scientific objectivity, and academic quality. The process consists of the following time-bound stages: 

2.1. Preliminary Review and Plagiarism Screening

• Submitted works are subjected to technical review by the Editor-in-Chief and Field Editor within 10 days at the latest for compliance with publication principles, academic writing rules, and the APA 7 (American Psychological Association 7th Edition) system.
• Concurrently, the article is screened using iThenticate similarity software. It is an absolute requirement that the similarity rate, excluding references, is less than 20%. Works containing heavy citations from a single source will be rejected even if they meet the percentage threshold.
• Manuscripts that do not comply with formal rules or contain high similarity/plagiarism are returned to the author by decision of the Editorial Board without initiating the peer review process.

2.2. Academic Evaluation and Peer Review

• Articles passing the preliminary review are submitted, under the principle of blind peer review, for evaluation by at least two (2) independent external peer reviewers holding a Ph.D. thesis, book, or published article related to the topic under review.
• Reviewers are granted 7 days to accept the invitation and 21 days to complete the evaluation report.
• Reviewers are required to substantiate their opinions on the online reviewer form with scientific justification of at least 150 words or to detail them on the text.
• The author has the right to object by presenting evidence in case of disagreement with the reviewers' opinions; the field editor coordinates this communication confidentially.
• Balance of Publication Decision: If both reviewer reports are positive, the article is submitted to the Editorial Board. If one reviewer provides a negative opinion, the article is sent to a third (3rd) reviewer. At least two positive reviewer decisions are required for an article to be accepted for publication.

2.3. Revision and Control Stages

• Revision Period (Author - Minor: 15 Days / Major: 30 Days): If reviewers request revisions, the author is obligated to complete the requested items within the specified timeframe, highlight all changes within the text in red font, and upload the revised text to the system. Additionally, the author must submit a reasoned "Reviewer Response Form" containing replies to the reviewers' suggestions.
• Field Editor Control (Maximum 5 Days): The field editor verifies whether the author has meticulously incorporated the revisions requested by the reviewers into the text and completes the control process within 5 days.
• Reviewer Control (Maximum 7 Days): The revised text is sent to the reviewer(s) who requested to see the revisions. The reviewer examines the author's revisions for adequacy within a maximum of 7 days and renders a final decision.

2.4. Language Quality Control and Final Proofreading (7 + 7 Days)

Studies that successfully pass the academic process are examined for linguistic perfection by the Turkish Language Editor (max. 7 days) first, followed by the English Language Editor (max. 7 days), and stylistic corrections are requested from the author if necessary.

2.5. Final Decision and Editorial Board Review

Articles passing technical, academic, and linguistic processes are evaluated one final time by the Editorial Board. Even if reviewer reports are positive, the board renders the final publication decision considering the work's contribution to the field and the journal's domain integrity. In case of internal disagreements, majority rule applies. 

 3. ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF STAKEHOLDERS

A. Sponsoring and Submitting Authors

• Originality and Prohibition of Multiple Submission: Authors guarantee that their submitted works are entirely original, have not been published in any medium before, and are not concurrently under review by another journal.
• Authorship Rights and Roster Changes: Adding individuals who have not actively contributed to the research as authors (gift/honorary authorship) or omitting those who have contributed (ghost authorship) is strictly prohibited. Proposals to delete an author's name, add a new author, or change the author order in a manuscript undergoing evaluation will not be considered.
• Citation Standards and Paraphrasing: The bibliography must be complete; strict adherence to APA 7th Edition standards in in-text citations and reference structuring is mandatory. To prevent plagiarism violations, cited works must be integrated into the text by interpreting them in a scientific language (paraphrasing) while preserving their original essence; direct verbatim quotes should be kept to a minimum.
• Data Integrity, Transparency, and Sharing: Authors are obligated to declare the accuracy of data used in the research. They commit to presenting raw data to the editors or reviewers upon request. If a significant error is discovered in the work during evaluation or post-publication, the author must cooperate with the editor to retract the article or publish a correction (erratum/corrigendum).
• Conflict of Interest Statement: Authors are required to explicitly declare at the end of the article whether any potential conflict of interest (financial, institutional, or personal relationships) exists.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy: Generative AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) cannot be listed as authors of an article. If artificial intelligence is utilized for data analysis, language editing, or graphic creation, this must be explicitly stated in the "Methodology" or "Acknowledgements" section of the manuscript.

B. Responsibilities of Reviewers

• Impartiality and Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat reviewed manuscripts strictly as confidential documents and must not share information regarding the content with third parties prior to publication. Evaluated texts or data must not be uploaded to any AI tools for data processing purposes. Evaluations must be conducted objectively and in constructive language, free from bias regarding race, gender, religious beliefs, or political philosophy.
• Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must decline evaluation when they identify any conflict of interest (competition, collaboration, or other relationships) with the authors, institutions, or research funding providers.
• Notification of Uncited Works: Reviewers should identify relevant published works on the topic that have not been cited by the authors and report them to the author and editor.

C. Responsibilities of Editors

• Decision Authority and Independence: The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board hold sole authority to accept or reject manuscripts based strictly on scientific merit, contribution to the field, originality, and methodological rigor. Editorial independence is absolute; publication decisions are entirely independent of commercial or political influences.
• Ethical Supervision and Complaint Management: Editors execute preventive measures against violations such as plagiarism, fabrication, and unwarranted authorship. Upon receiving allegations of error or misconduct in published articles, they conduct investigations in compliance with COPE Flowcharts. Readers and stakeholders may formally submit potential complaints to adeddergi@gmail.com. Reviewer identities remain strictly confidential.

 4. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ETHICS VIOLATIONS

In accordance with the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive (Article 8) and COPE principles, ADED considers the following actions as unethical behavior and will reject the work at any stage of evaluation upon detection:

• Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, writings, or works of others, in whole or in part, as one's own without proper citation.
• Fabrication and Falsification: Producing non-factual data not based on research, editing or altering submitted/published works based on false data, or falsifying research records and obtained data.
• Duplication and Salami-Slicing: Submitting multiple publications containing the same results of a research project as separate works for academic promotion; dividing research integrity into multiple parts to produce numerous publications without cross-referencing.
• Unwarranted Authorship: Including individuals without active contribution among authors, omitting active contributors, or altering the author order without justification.
• Mandatory Ethics Committee Approval: For research involving qualitative/quantitative data collection methods such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups, or involving human/animal subjects, the author must obtain Ethics Committee Approval from their institution. This approval document (including committee name, date, and decision/number) must be declared both in the methodology section and as a footnote on the first page of the article. The approval document must be uploaded as a supplementary file to the DergiPark system. For studies not requiring ethics committee approval, this status must be declared alongside its rationale.

 5. PLAGIARISM ACTION PLAN AND SANCTIONS

If an author is suspected of plagiarism in a submitted or published manuscript, the journal's Ethics Editor and Editorial Board will first examine the work. If suspicion is strong, the author(s) will be contacted and asked to present their official defense within two (2) weeks. If no response is received within the specified period or the defense is deemed insufficient, the journal will initiate official correspondence with the author's affiliated university/institution requesting an investigation.

If plagiarism or an ethical violation is confirmed after a manuscript has been published, ADED will apply the following sanctions without delay in accordance with COPE and ICMJE guidelines:

• Retraction and Marking: The PDF copy of the article will be removed from the website and full-text links will be disabled. The phrase "RETRACTED ARTICLE" will be permanently stamped on the digital title and metadata of the article. An official "Retraction Note" stating the grounds for retraction will be published.
• Academic Notification: The situation will be officially reported with conclusive evidence to the author's affiliated university and the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Board.
• Publication Ban (Blacklisting): The violating author's account on the journal system will be suspended, and all future manuscript submissions will be directly rejected for a period of three (3) years.

 6. OPEN ACCESS, LICENSING, AND COPYRIGHT POLICY

• Open Access License: All studies published within ADED are made available to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license permits third parties to copy, distribute, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given to the original work.
• Copyright and Author Rights: Authors retain the copyright of their works published in the journal and hold publishing rights without restriction. During article submission, a PDF version of the Copyright Agreement Form signed by the authors using blue ink must be uploaded to the system.
• Persistent Digital Identifier (DOI): In alignment with the indexing logic of Scopus and international citation databases, a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) number is assigned to every article published in ADED as a persistent identifier.
• Digital Preservation and Self-Archiving: All published issues and article archives are digitally secured for permanent preservation and open access via the DergiPark infrastructure. Additionally, LOCKSS / CLOCKSS systems are supported for long-term digital preservation. Authors may self-archive the published version (Publisher's Version/PDF) of their articles on personal websites, institutional repositories, or academic networks (ResearchGate, Academia.org, etc.) without an embargo period.

 7. SPECIAL ISSUE PUBLICATION POLICY

• Upon the request and official decision of the ADED Editorial Board, a "Special Issue" dedicated to a specific theme may be published at most once (1) per year.
• All articles submitted to a special issue are subject to the exact same editorial and academic evaluation processes as regular issues.
• These manuscripts undergo technical preliminary review, iThenticate similarity screening (< 20%), and language editing controls first.
• All works are evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers under the double-blind peer review model. No work can be published directly in a special issue without final approval from the Editorial Board. Articles authored by the special issue editors themselves cannot be included in that issue.