Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Anadolu Language and Education Journal (AJLE) has adopted the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding ethical duties and responsibilities.

Within the scope of publication ethics, all stakeholders (authors, readers, researchers, publishers, reviewers, and editors) are expected to comply with standards regarding ethical principles.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting works to AJLE are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

The submitted works are expected to be original. If authors utilize or refer to other works, they must provide complete and accurate citations and/or quotations. Individuals who have not contributed intellectually to the content of the work should not be listed as authors. All works submitted for publication must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and relationships. Authors may be requested to provide raw data related to their articles as part of the evaluation process; in such a case, authors should be prepared to submit the requested data and information to the editorial and scientific boards. Authors must possess documentation demonstrating that they have the rights to use the data, the necessary permissions related to the research/analysis, or that the consent of the subjects involved in the experiment has been obtained. If authors notice any errors or mistakes in their published, early view, or under-review work, they have an obligation to inform the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor in correction or retraction procedures. Authors cannot submit their work to more than one journal simultaneously. Each submission can only be initiated after the previous submission is completed. Work published in another journal cannot be submitted to AJLE.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

All studies must be evaluated using "blind peer review." Our journal's review process uses the double-blind peer-review principle. Reviewers cannot directly contact authors; evaluations and comments are transmitted through the journal's management system. In this process, review forms and reviewer comments on full texts are sent to the author(s) through the field editor.

In this context, reviewers evaluating studies for our journal are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:

They should only accept to evaluate studies related to their area of ​​expertise.
They should conduct evaluations impartially and confidentially.
If they believe they are facing a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should refuse to review the study and inform the journal editor.
In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, they should destroy the studies they have reviewed after the evaluation process.
They may only use the final versions of the studies they have reviewed after publication.
They should conduct the evaluation objectively, based solely on the study's content. They should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or commercial concerns to influence the evaluation. They should conduct the evaluation in a constructive and polite manner. They should not make derogatory, hostile, slanderous, or insulting personal comments. They must complete the evaluation of the work they have agreed to review in a timely manner and in accordance with the ethical responsibilities outlined above.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Editors and field editors working in our journal, as an open-access journal, must adhere to the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):

Editors are responsible for every publication in the journal. In this context, editors have the following roles and obligations:

Striving to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
Continuously ensuring the development of the journal,
Implementing processes to improve the quality of studies published in the journal,
Supporting freedom of thought,
Ensuring academic integrity,
Continuing business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
Demonstrating openness and transparency in matters requiring correction or clarification.

Reader Relations

Editors should make decisions considering the information, skills, and experience expectations of all readers, researchers, and practitioners. Editors should ensure that published works contribute to the reader, researcher, practitioner, and scientific literature, and that they are original. Furthermore, editors are obligated to consider feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners, and to provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relations with Authors

The editors' duties and responsibilities towards authors are as follows:

Editors must make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, originality, validity, clarity of expression, and the journal's aims and objectives.
They should accept studies suitable for publication into the preliminary evaluation stage unless there are serious problems.
Editors should not disregard positive peer review recommendations unless there is a serious problem with the study.
New editors should not change decisions made by previous editor(s) regarding studies unless there is a serious problem.
The blind peer review process must be published, and editors must prevent deviations from the defined processes.
Editors should publish a writing guidelines section detailing everything expected of them by the authors. These guidelines should be updated regularly.

Authors should receive the necessary feedback.

Relations with Reviewers

The editors' duties and responsibilities towards reviewers are as follows:

They must select reviewers appropriate to the work's subject matter.
They are obligated to provide reviewers with the information and guidance they need during the evaluation process.
They must monitor for conflicts of interest between authors and reviewers.
In the context of blind peer review, they must keep the reviewers' identities confidential.
They must encourage reviewers to evaluate the work impartially, scientifically, and objectively.
They must evaluate reviewers based on criteria such as timeliness of feedback and performance.
They must establish practices and policies to improve reviewer performance.
They must take the necessary steps to dynamically update the reviewer pool.
They must prevent discourteous and unscientific evaluations.
They must take steps to ensure the reviewer pool is diverse.

Editorial and Blind Peer Review Processes

Editors are obligated to implement the "Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process" policies included in the journal's publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that each study undergoes a fair, impartial, and timely evaluation process.

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion

Editors must consider persuasive criticisms of works published in the journal and adopt a constructive approach to these criticisms. They must grant the author(s) of the criticized works the right to respond. They should not ignore or exclude studies containing negative results.

Complaints

Editors are obligated to carefully examine complaints from authors, reviewers, or readers and respond in an enlightening and explanatory manner.

Publisher's Ethical Responsibilities

As a stakeholder involved in a scientific study, the publisher must also act within the scope of all these ethical principles. In addition, they are obligated to use their communication power without any personal gain and to guide their target audience correctly. The publisher protects the ownership and copyright of every work published within its organization and undertakes to archive every published product. Individuals should not hesitate to contact the publisher if they encounter an unethical situation.