ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

The ethical principles and publication policy of our journal have been prepared in accordance with the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
• Plagiarism: Presenting 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,
• Forgery: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research,
• Distortion: Falsifying research records or data obtained, 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,
• Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications for academic appointments and promotions,
• Slicing: Inappropriately and inappropriately dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and publishing them in more than one issue and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
• 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 include:
a) Failing to acknowledge the individuals, institutions, or organisations that provided support for research conducted with such support, or failing to acknowledge their contributions in publications resulting from such research,
b) Using theses or studies that have not yet been submitted or defended and accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
c) Sharing information contained in a work assigned for review with others prior to publication without the express permission of the author,
ç) Using resources, premises, facilities, and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research for purposes other than those intended,
d) Making unfounded, inappropriate, and deliberate allegations of ethical violations,
e) Publishing data obtained without the explicit consent of participants in surveys and attitude studies conducted as part of scientific work, or without the additional permission of the institution if the research is to be conducted at an institution,
f) Failure to comply with the obligation to inform and warn those concerned about possible harmful practices related to scientific research conducted by researchers and officials,
g) In scientific studies, failing to use data and information obtained from other persons and institutions to the extent and in the manner authorised, failing to respect the confidentiality of this information and failing to ensure its protection,
h) Making false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions.

Research Ethics Principles
• Scientific integrity, integrity, quality, and transparency should be adopted as fundamental principles in the planning of research, the development of its methodological framework, its ethical evaluation, and the execution of its implementation processes. Every stage of the research process should be documented and open to audit when necessary.
• The research team and participants should be informed in a clear and understandable manner about the purpose, scope, method, data collection tools, how the data will be analyzed, and the possible uses of the findings. The obligations required for participation in the research, possible risks, and expected contributions should be clearly explained to the participants.
• Personal data obtained from participants must be kept confidential; technical and administrative measures must be taken to prevent the disclosure of identity information. The principles of anonymity and privacy must be observed; actions must comply with data protection legislation (e.g., regulations on the protection of personal data). The research design should be structured in a way that protects the autonomy, human dignity, and fundamental rights of participants.
• Participation in the research should be entirely voluntary. Participants should not be subjected to any pressure, coercion, or expectation of benefit. Participants should have the right to withdraw from the study at any stage without facing any repercussions.
• All necessary measures should be taken to ensure that participants do not suffer physical, psychological, social, or economic harm during the research process. A risk analysis should be conducted, and the research should be planned to minimize potential harm. When children, restricted individuals, or persons with limited mental capacity are involved, permission should be obtained from their legal representatives, and relevant ethical committee approvals should be secured.
• Researchers should maintain their scientific independence and clearly declare any conflicts of interest that could influence the design, analysis, or results of the study. Financial support, sponsorship, or institutional affiliations should be transparently disclosed.
• If the research is to be conducted within any public institution, private organization, or university, official permission should be obtained from the relevant institution and, if necessary, ethical committee approval should be secured. 

Responsibilities of Stakeholders

Ethical Responsibilities of the Editorial Board
• The Editorial Board ensures the establishment and implementation of journal policies, such as double-blind peer review, the review process, and ethical principles.
• The Editorial Board is responsible for every submitted manuscript. All decisions made by the editors are independent of other individuals and organizations.
• The Editorial Board takes measures against non-scientific content, plagiarism, and citation errors during the journal’s publication process.
• The Editorial Board electronically stores records of correspondence with the reviewers for each article, as well as correspondence related to the journal.
• When authors request information regarding the status of their manuscripts, the editors provide this information in a manner that does not compromise the double-blind peer review process.
• The editors ensure that manuscripts are original, contribute to the scientific community, employ valid research methods, and align with the journal’s objectives and scope.
• Editors select reviewers for each article based on their areas of expertise, ensuring that the article is evaluated impartially and in a timely manner. They take into account independence and potential conflicts of interest.
• Editors intervene in cases of non-academic or non-scientific evaluations. They make decisions regarding acceptance or rejection solely based on academic quality and ethical principles.
• Editors protect the intellectual property rights of the articles.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
The *Archivum Anatolicum* journal follows the principle of double-blind peer review during the article evaluation process, meaning that reviewers do not know the authors and authors do not know the reviewers.
• Reviewers may not communicate directly with authors; review forms and comments on the text are conveyed to the author(s) by the editors.
• Reviewers should only accept manuscripts for review that fall within their areas of expertise.
• Reviewers conduct their reviews in accordance with the principles of impartiality, scientific competence, and constructive feedback.
• Reviewers must conduct their evaluations impartially and confidentially. Reviewers shall protect the confidentiality of the information and documents to which they have access and shall not share them with third parties.
• If reviewers become aware of a conflict of interest or a common interest, they must decline to review the article and inform the editors.
• Reviewers should conduct their evaluations in accordance with academic standards and in a constructive manner; they should avoid personal comments that are insulting or hostile.
• If reviewers are found to have made non-scientific comments, the editor or editorial board may contact them to ask them to review and revise their comments.
• Reviewers must complete the “Reviewer Evaluation Form” for the articles they review. They must also indicate on this form their decision regarding whether the article is suitable for publication, along with the rationale for their decision.
• Reviewers must review the articles they have agreed to review within the specified timeframe.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
• Authors should not submit articles that have been published elsewhere or are under consideration for publication elsewhere. 
• Authors must submit original articles.
• Authors must properly cite the sources they have used in writing the article.
• Authors must submit their articles in accordance with the journal’s established “Publication Policies.”
• The names of individuals who have not contributed to the article should not be listed as authors. 
• Individuals who contributed to the article must be listed as authors.
• If the article is based on the author’s master’s or doctoral thesis or on a project, this must be stated.
• Splitting a single study into multiple articles is not permitted.
• In publications resulting from research conducted with external support, the individuals, institutions, or organizations providing the support, along with their contributions, must be acknowledged.
• Authors must provide documentation proving that they have obtained permission to use the data (findings/works) in their articles; the relevant documentation must be submitted by the author to the editors along with the article at the beginning of the process. 
• After receiving notification that their article has been accepted for publication, authors must submit the “Copyright Declaration Form” prepared for the Archivum Anatolicum Journal to the editors. (Manuscripts submitted for publication must be original works that have not been previously published in any form or submitted elsewhere for publication.) When submitting their work, authors are required to declare that the work has not been previously published, in whole or in part, on any other platform, nor has it been submitted for publication elsewhere. When using previously published content—including images, tables, or any other type of content in print or electronic format—authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Legal, financial, and criminal liability in this regard rests with the authors.

Principles of Publication Ethics
• Our journal is committed to conducting scientific publication processes in accordance with the principles of integrity, transparency, impartiality, independence, confidentiality, and accountability. The duties and responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers in the publication process are carried out in accordance with the rules of scientific publication ethics.
• It is essential that manuscripts submitted to the journal be original, previously unpublished, and not currently under review by another journal. If a manuscript is under review by another journal, authors are obligated to notify the journal’s editorial board of this situation.
• Manuscripts submitted to the journal are first subjected to an editorial preliminary review to assess their compliance with the journal’s objectives and scope, scientific publication principles, and style guidelines. Manuscripts deemed unsuitable from a scientific or ethical standpoint may be rejected without being sent for peer review.
• Peer reviews are conducted according to the double-blind peer review principle. During this process, the authors’ identities are kept confidential from the reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are kept confidential from the authors. Necessary measures are taken to ensure the impartiality and confidentiality of the peer review process.
• Editors and reviewers avoid any personal, academic, commercial, or financial conflicts of interest that could compromise the impartiality of the review process. If a conflict of interest or a relationship of interest is identified, the situation is reported to the editorial board, and if deemed necessary, the relevant person is recused from the review process.
• Reviewers are expected to base their evaluations solely on the scientific quality, methodology, originality, findings, use of sources, and alignment with the journal’s objectives and scope. Race, ethnic origin, gender, religion, political views, institutional affiliation, or personal characteristics may not influence the review decision.
• Editors make publication decisions based on criteria such as scientific quality, originality, ethical compliance, the journal’s purpose and scope, and peer reviews. Editorial decisions may not be made in accordance with personal, institutional, or commercial interests.
• Authors, editors, and reviewers must clearly disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest arising from research funding, institutional affiliations, or other relationships that could affect the impartiality of the review process.
• Editors are obligated to implement measures to ensure impartiality during the publication process for their own work or for studies with which they have a direct conflict of interest.
• Scientific integrity, impartiality, confidentiality, fair evaluation, and the integrity of research records are accepted as fundamental principles in resolving disputes that may arise within the scope of publication ethics.

Ethics Committee Approval
Our journal requires that the relevant ethics committee decision must be obtained for all studies in all disciplines that require ethics committee approval. In this context, authors should write the date and number of Ethics Committee approval in the “Sampling and Methods/ Materials and Methods” section. 
In line with the regulations implemented by Ulakbim TR Index since 2020, studies that do not have ethics committee permission are not evaluated in our journal.
Studies Requiring Ethics Committee Approval
Studies requiring ethics committee approval in our journal include the following:
• All research conducted using qualitative or quantitative approaches that involve collecting data from participants through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus group studies, observation, and interview techniques.
• Retrospective studies within the framework of the Personal Data Protection Law.
For such studies to be considered for evaluation, the relevant ethics committee approvals must have been obtained and clearly stated in the article text.

Relations with Journal Owner and Publisher
The relationship between the editor and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. In accordance with the written contract between the editor and the publisher, all editorial decisions are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Correction, Retraction, Expression of Concern
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors are identified in the published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations and conclusions. In the case of major errors/violations that invalidate findings and conclusions, editors should consider retracting the article. The COPE Principles (1,2,3,4,5,6) shall be taken into account with regard to corrections, retractions or expressions of concern.

Conflicts of interest
Our journal guarantees the independent and impartial completion of the publication process, taking into account the conflicts of interest between the author(s), reviewers and other editors. Our journal acts in accordance with COPE principles (1,2) regarding potential conflicts of interest. 

Change of Author
Only the article is processed before acceptance. Authors are required to carefully review the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the exact list of authors at the time of original submission. Our journal acts in accordance with COPE principles (1,2,3,4,5) regarding relevant changes.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defending the rights of the journal and authors in case of possible infringements.

Protection of Participants' Personal Data
All personal data submitted to our journal is protected in accordance with legal regulations and ethical rules.

Complaints
If you identify any unethical conduct in our journal, please contact us through our contact page. Our journal follows the procedure outlined in the COPE principles (1,2) regarding complaints.