Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Abstracts and full texts of all articles published in this journal are freely accessible to everyone immediately after publication without any form of restriction.

Licence Terms
Under this Open Access journal, peer-reviewed accepted papers are immediately available online, with no charges for access specified by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)
Copyright
Copyrights are reserved by the authors under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) license. The authors grant the right to use the publication to any third party as long as the original authors and citation details should be identified. All published articles can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection under the Open Access policy. The license permits anyone to copy, redistribute, rearrange, transmit and adapt the work, provided the original work and source are properly cited.

Article Processing Charge (APC)

Academic Platform Journal of Natural Hazards and Disaster Management (APJHAD) does not require any fee for article submission, processing and publication of articles.

Peer Review Process

APJHAD uses double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process.

The Editorial Office of APJHAD will conduct a technical review to confirm that all of the required documentation has been submitted and the manuscript is suitable to the Journal. Then, the editorial team will initiate a double-blind review process where the identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential, with a minimum of three independent experts for scientific evaluations. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.

The peer-review process is based on studying the article in terms of originality, literature, methodology, and presenting the results and contribution to the field. Reviewers are given 14 days for the peer-review process. Based on the reviewers’ comments, the manuscript may go multiple rounds of evaluation. If revisions are required, the author(s) are required to prepare a revised manuscript and response to reviewers within 21 days based on the reviewers’ comments.

The editorial team of the APJHAD has a goal to have the first decision within 40 days of submission.

Human Subjects in Research, Ethics Committee Approval and Informed Consent

An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international standards is required for experimental, clinical, and for some case study reports. If required, ethics committee approval should be obtained and this approval should be stated in the article. For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included showing that written informed consent of human subjects and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken on the animals should be stated clearly. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section (or where appropriate) of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to carefully protect the patients’ anonymity. In case of using the intellectual and artistic works, the copyright regulations should be followed and appropriate statement should be included in the manuscript.

Responsibilities of Author(s), Editor(s) and Reviewers

Academic Platform Journal of Natural Hazards and Disaster Management (APJHAD) is a peer-reviewed journal aiming to publish up-to-date and quality research in disaster science and engineering. The journal primarily follows the codes provided in Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE. Compliance with ethical principles is critical in scientific studies published in this journal. The common ethical responsibilities and roles of the journal editor, reviewers, and authors are summarized below:
Author Responsibilities 
  • Articles submitted to APJHAD should be original and has not been published or accepted in other journals.
  • All sources (books, articles, web pages, personal communications, etc.) used in the preparation of the study should be properly cited. If necessary, authors are required to obtain copyright clearance for the reproduction of data, figures, exclusive information, etc., used in the article.
  • Authors are encouraged to cite current articles. Preferably, a significant portion of the cited articles recommended be works published within the last five years.
  • Authors are required to ensure that all work involving human or animal subjects comply with national and international guidelines and obtain necessary approvals (Human Subject Approval, etc). These approvals are needed to be mentioned in the “Materials and Methods” section (or where appropriate) of the article.
  • In case of using the intellectual and artistic works, the copyright regulations should be followed and appropriate statement should be included in the manuscript.
  • In case of any conflict of interest, the authors must inform the journal editor. When necessary, the author should cooperate with the editorial board and publisher for the correction or withdrawal process.
Editor-in-Chief, Editor(s) and Section Editor Responsibilities 
  • The editor must act in a balanced, objective and fair manner for fulfilling the responsibilities in this task. Editors must approach all submitted articles without discrimination on gender, religious or political views, ethnic or geographical origin of the author.
  • The editor is required to evaluate the articles submitted to the journal in a scientific manner, not showing any privileges to any submitting authors
  • The editor is responsible for all articles published in the journal. Furthermore, the editor and the editorial board are encouraged to make an effort for increasing the quality of the articles published in the journal.
  • The editor makes sure that the published articles are compatible with the scope of the journal and the knowledge and skills of journal readers.
  • The editor is responsible for conducting a fair and balanced evaluation in case of a complaint of ethical violation. The editor should give an opportunity to respond to the complaint and not to avoid applying necessary sanction if necessary.
  • The editor ensures that the reviewers are able to reach the necessary data and documentation regarding the evaluation process. Additionally, the editor ensures that the peer-review process is carried out in time, with a double-blind review.
  • The editor ensures that the all necessary approval documentation is provided in case the study includes human or animal subject, or intellectual and artistic works before proceeding with peer review process. 
  • The editor is responsible for evaluating the specialization of the reviewers. Additionally, the editor is responsible for keeping track of reviewers' evaluation including timeliness of response, appropriateness of language, etc.
  • The editor is responsible for communicating with the editorial board regarding updating the publication writing rules in the journal. 
  • The editor is responsible for coordinating with the publisher in regard to the publication of the journals.
Reviewers' Responsibilities 

All articles submitted to Academic Platform Journal of Natural Hazards and Disaster Management (APJHAD) are subject to double blind-review process.

  • Reviewers should only evaluate the manuscripts related to their specialization. If a reviewer realizes that he/she cannot scientifically evaluate a manuscript, he/she should immediately contact to editor/section editor to withdraw his/her assistance.
  • Reviewers are required to fill an Article Evaluation Form to facilitate the decision-making process to accept/reject submitted manuscript.
  • Reviewers must inform the editor/section editor if there is a conflict of interest and refuse to evaluate the article.
  • Reviewers are responsible to review the article in a timely manner and objectively in relation to the content of the study.
  • Reviewers must protect the confidentiality of the information, data, etc. presented in the submitted article, and documentation shared by editors/section editors.
  • Reviewers are expected to provide guidance to increase the quality of the article to be published, and use constructive and courteous language.

Originality and Plagiarism
Authors by submitting their manuscript to APJHAD declare that their work is original and authored by them; has not been previously published nor submitted for evaluation; original ideas, data, findings and materials taken from other sources (including their own) are properly documented and cited; their work does not violate any rights of others, including privacy rights and intellectual property rights; provided data is their own data, true and not manipulated.  It is unethical to fabricate, alter or falsify data in an article. The journal takes into account the COPE guidelines dealing with suspicious data production and falsification cases. Plagiarism in whole or in part without proper citation is not tolerated by APJHAD. Manuscripts submitted to the journal will be checked for originality using anti-plagiarism software, intihal.net and/or ithenticate. The authors may be asked to correct the necessary sections of the manuscript listed in the plagiarism report or the study may be returned to the authors.

Academic Platform Journal of Natural Hazards and Disaster Management (APJHAD)