Akif is committed to practicing the highest standards of publication ethics and adhering to the following principles of publication ethics. These principles are based on the recommendations and guidelines developed for journal editors by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Council of Science Editors (CSE).
All stakeholders are expected to bear ethical responsibilities within the scope of Akis's publication ethics. In this context, Akif is committed to following the “Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” and “Core Practices” prepared by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). It is the duty of the Editors to follow the COPE Guidance for Editors, while the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers must be followed by the journal reviewers.
The publication processes implemented at Akif are the basis for the impartial and reputable development and dissemination of knowledge. The processes implemented in this direction are directly reflected in the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions supporting the authors. Peer-reviewed studies are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is essential that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees and editors) comply with standards for ethical principles.
1. GENERAL ACTIONS AGAINST SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ETHICS
1) Plagiarism: Representing the original ideas, methods, data or works of others as one's own work in whole or in part without citation in accordance with scientific rules,
2) Forgery: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research,
3) Distortion: Falsifying research records or data, falsifying devices or materials that were not used in the research, falsifying or shaping the results of the research in line with the interests of the persons and organizations receiving support,
4) Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications for academic appointments and promotions,
5) Slicing: Dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and inappropriately and publishing them in more than one issue and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
6) Unfair authorship: Including or excluding people who have not actively contributed, changing the author ranking in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of active contributors from the work in subsequent editions, using one's influence to have one's name included among the authors even though one has not actively contributed,
Other types of ethical violations are as follows
1) Failure to specify the persons, institutions or organizations providing support and their contributions in publications resulting from research conducted with support,
2) Using theses or studies that have not yet been submitted or defended and accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
3) Failure to comply with ethical rules in research on humans and animals, and failure to respect patient rights in publications,
4) Violating the provisions of the relevant legislation in human biomedical research and other clinical research,
5) Sharing the information contained in a work that he/she has been assigned to examine with others before publication without the express permission of the author,
6) To misuse the resources, spaces, facilities and devices provided or allocated for scientific research,
7) Making baseless, unwarranted and intentional allegations of ethical violations,
8) In surveys and attitude surveys conducted within the scope of a scientific study, publishing the data obtained without obtaining the explicit consent of the participants or, if the research is to be conducted in an institution, without obtaining the permission of the institution,
9) Damaging animal health and ecological balance in research and experiments,
10) In research and experiments, not obtaining the permissions required to be obtained before starting the studies in writing from the authorized units.
11) Conducting research and experiments contrary to the provisions of the legislation or international conventions to which Turkey is a party regarding the relevant research and experiments.
12) Failure by researchers and authorities to comply with the obligation to inform and warn those concerned about possible harmful practices related to the scientific research conducted,
13) Not using the data and information obtained from other persons and institutions in scientific studies to the extent and in the manner permitted, not respecting the confidentiality of this information and not ensuring its protection,
14) Making false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions, (YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 4)
Principles of Research Ethics
• In the stages of designing research processes, establishing the methodological framework, conducting ethical evaluations, and carrying out research activities, scientific integrity, a holistic approach, quality, and transparency must serve as the foundation. All stages of the research must be systematically documented and made available for review when necessary.
• The research team and individuals participating in the study must be informed in a clear, understandable, and comprehensive manner about the research’s purpose, scope, methodology, data collection techniques, analysis processes, and the intended uses of the findings. Participants must be clearly informed about the responsibilities, potential risks, and expected contributions associated with participating in the research.
• The confidentiality of all data obtained from participants must be protected; necessary technical and administrative measures must be taken to prevent the disclosure of identifying information. The principles of anonymity and privacy must be upheld, and data processing procedures must comply with applicable data protection legislation. The research design must be structured to safeguard individuals’ autonomy, human dignity, and fundamental rights.
• Participation in research must be entirely voluntary; participants must not be subjected to any form of pressure, coercion, or expectation of benefit. It must be clearly stated that participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any stage without facing any penalties or adverse consequences.
• All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that participants do not suffer physical, psychological, social, or economic harm during the research process. In this context, a risk assessment must be conducted in advance, and the research must be planned to minimize potential harm. In particular, when children, individuals with disabilities, or those with limited decision-making capacity are involved, consent must be obtained from legal guardians, and approval from the relevant ethics committees must be secured.
• Researchers are obligated to maintain their scientific independence. Any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the study design, data analysis, or results must be disclosed in a clear and transparent manner. Additionally, financial support, sponsorships, and institutional relationships related to the research must be clearly stated.
• If the research is conducted within a public institution, private organization, or university, the necessary official permissions must be obtained from the relevant institutions; where deemed necessary, the process must be conducted within this framework after obtaining ethics committee approval.
Within the framework of ethical rules; researches that require Ethics Committee Permission for evaluation in the journal are as follows:
1. All kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group study, observation, experiment, interview techniques,
2. Use of humans for experimental or other scientific purposes,
3. Clinical trials on humans,
In the studies to be evaluated in our journal within this framework;
1. Stating that the "informed consent form" has been obtained in case presentations,
2. Obtaining and indicating permission from the owners for the use of scales, questionnaires, photographs belonging to others,
3. For the intellectual and artistic works used, it must be stated that copyright regulations are complied with.
4. Editors ensure that human rights are protected in the studies evaluated. Editors are responsible for rejecting the study when there is no approval of the ethics committee on the subjects used in the study and no permission for experimental research. In studies requiring ethics committee approval, information about the permission (name of the committee, date and number) should be included in the method section and on the article's first/last page. In case reports, information on the signature of the informed consent form should be included in the article.
2. RESPONSIBILITIES OF STAKEHOLDERS
Akif welcomes the stakeholders and readers of the researches to report the situations regarding scientific research and publication ethics that they see in the reviews published in Akif to the e-mail address akifdergisi@erbakan.edu.tr or Necmettin Erbakan University Scientific Publications Coordinator (biyak@erbakan.edu.tr).
a) Responsibilities of the Editors
The editor and co-editors of AKIF will ensure the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the principles of the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the Publication Ethics Flowcharts developed by COPE for possible cases of misuse or violation of publication ethics:
1. Impartiality and Publisher's Freedom: Editors evaluate submitted manuscript proposals based on their relevance to the scope of the journal and the importance and originality of the work. The editors do not take into account the race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality or political views of the authors who submit manuscript proposals. The decision to revise or publish cannot be influenced by institutions other than the editorial board of the journal. The editors take care to ensure that the published issues contribute to the reader, researcher, practitioner and the scientific field and are of original quality.
2. Independence: The relationship between the editors (Editor and Associate Editors) and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. According to the written agreement between the editors and the publisher, all decisions of the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner. Editors should reject incomplete and erroneous research that does not comply with the journal policy, publication rules and level without any influence.
3. Confidentiality: Editors do not share information about a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers and editorial board. They ensure that articles evaluated by at least two referees are evaluated according to a double blind review system and keep the referees confidential.
4. Disclosure and Differences of Opinion: Editors and editorial board members do not use unpublished information in an article submitted for their own research purposes without the express written permission of the authors. Editors should not have any conflict of interest regarding the manuscripts they accept or reject.
5. Publication Decision: The editors ensure that all articles accepted for publication are peer-reviewed by at least two referees who are experts in their field. The editors are responsible for deciding which manuscript to publish from the manuscripts submitted to the journal based on the validity of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the comments of the referees, and other legal requirements. Editors have the responsibility and authority to accept or reject articles. Therefore, they must use their responsibility and authority appropriately and in a timely manner.
6. Ethical Concerns: Editors will take measures when ethical concerns arise regarding a submitted manuscript or published article. As a matter of fact, they continue their business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards. Any reported unethical publishing behavior will be investigated, even if it occurs years after publication. Editors follow the COPE Publication Ethics Flowcharts in case ethical concerns arise. If the ethical concerns are significant, a correction, retraction may be implemented or the concerns may be published in the journal.
7. Collaboration with Journal Boards: Editors ensure that all advisory committee members follow editorial policies and guidelines. Inform advisory committee members about publication policies. Ensure that advisory board members evaluate their work independently. Contribute to new advisory board members and make decisions as appropriate. Should submit work for evaluation that is appropriate to the expertise of advisory board members. Interacts regularly with the advisory board. Organizes regular meetings with the editorial board for publication policies and journal development.
b) Responsibilities of Authors
1. Reporting Standards: Authors of original research should ensure that the work and results are accurately presented, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. The manuscript proposal should include sufficient detail and references.
2. Data Access and Storage: Authors are required to retain the raw data of their work. When necessary, they should make them available for editorial review if requested by the journal.
3. Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must submit completely original work, and if they have used the work or words of others, this must be properly cited. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. For this reason, a similarity rate report is requested from all authors submitting articles to the journal.
4. Multiple, Duplicate, Redundant or Concurrent Submissions/Publication: Authors should not submit an article that has already been published in another journal for consideration. Simultaneous submission of an article to more than one journal is unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
5. Authorship of the Article: Only those who fulfill the authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript. These authorship criteria are as follows; (i) contributed to the design, implementation, data collection or analysis (ii) drafted or made significant intellectual contributions to or critically revised the manuscript, or (iii) has seen, approved and accepted submission of the final manuscript for publication. The corresponding author must ensure that all authors (as defined above) are included in the list of authors and declare that they have seen the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission for publication. The thesis author must be the first author in the work produced from graduate theses.
6. Declaration and Conflicts of Interest: Authors should disclose conflicts of interest at the earliest possible stage (usually by submitting a disclosure form at the time of manuscript submission and including a statement in the manuscript). All sources of financial support for the study should be declared (including grant/fund number or other reference number, if available).
7. Peer Review: Authors are required to participate in the peer review process and are obliged to cooperate fully by responding promptly to the editors' requests for raw data, clarifications and evidence of ethical approval and copyright permissions. In the event of an initial decision of "revision required", authors should revise and resubmit their manuscripts by the deadline for reviewers' comments in a systematic manner.
8. Fundamental Errors in Published Works: When authors find major errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, they are obligated to notify the journal editors or publishers immediately and to cooperate with the journal editors or publishers to correct a typographical error (erratum) in the manuscript or to withdraw the manuscript from publication. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published paper contains a significant error or inaccuracy, the author has the obligation to immediately correct or withdraw the paper or to provide evidence of the accuracy of the paper to the editors of the journal.
c) Responsibilities of Reviewers
1. Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Assist editors in editorial decisions and help authors to improve their manuscripts through editorial communication. It should point out the completion of other articles, works, sources, references, citations, rules and similar deficiencies related to the article.
2. Speed: Any reviewer who does not feel qualified to review the manuscript proposal or who knows that the manuscript review cannot take place in a timely manner should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review, so that a new reviewer can be appointed.
3. Confidentiality: All manuscript proposals submitted for review are confidential documents and should be treated as such. They should not be shown or discussed with others unless authorized by the editor. This also applies to reviewers who decline an invitation to review.
4. Standards of Impartiality: Comments on the manuscript proposal should be made impartially and suggestions should be made in such a way that the authors can use them to improve the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is not appropriate.
5. Acceptance of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors. The reviewer should also inform the editor of any significant similarities between the manuscript under review and any other article (published or unpublished).
6. Conflicts of Interest: Conflicts of interest should be reported to the editor. There should be no conflict of interest between the reviewers and the stakeholders of the manuscript under review.
3. PLAGIARISM POLICY
As of 01.01.2020, AKIF has started to check the studies submitted for publication through plagiarism program (iThenticate). Assistant editors upload the full article file to the Ithenticate system and get the similarity report. Studies with a similarity rate (excluding bibliography) above 15% will not be evaluated and will be returned to the author. If a work published in the journal is found to be plagiarized, the Editorial Board reserves the right to take various actions, including withdrawing the article, reporting the matter to the head of the department, dean and/or relevant institutions at the institution where the author works.
4. QUALITY ASSURANCE
Editors are responsible for the publication of each article published in the journal in accordance with the journal's editorial policies and international standards.
5. PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA
The editors ensure the protection of personal data related to the subjects or images included in the work under review. Persons who contribute to the journal (editors; authors and referees) are provided with documents showing their contributions upon request.
6. PRECAUTIONS AGAINST POSSIBLE ABUSE AND MISCONDUCT
Editors take precautions against possible misconduct and abusive behavior. In addition to conducting a rigorous and objective investigation to identify and evaluate complaints, editors are responsible for sharing their findings with the competent authorities.
7. ENSURING ACADEMIC PUBLICATION INTEGRITY
The editors shall ensure that decisions involving errors, inconsistencies or misleading decisions that appear in the works are promptly corrected.
8. PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
The editors are obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles, to defend the journal and author rights in case of possible violations, and to take the necessary measures to ensure that the content of all published articles does not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications.
9. CONSTRUCTIVISM AND OPENNESS TO DISCUSSION
The editors take into account the criticisms against the works published in the journal and show a constructive attitude towards these criticisms in line with the purpose and scope of the journal. Authors of the criticized work have the right to reply. Studies containing negative results are rejected.
10. COMPLAINTS
The editors are obliged to review complaints carefully and respond to authors, reviewers or readers in an informative and explanatory manner.
11. POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL CONCERNS
The journal's owner, publisher and no other political or commercial factors can influence the independent judgment of the editors.
12. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The editors guarantee and assure authors and reviewers that the publication process of the journal will be conducted in an independent and impartial manner.
June 30, 2026
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