Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

1. PUBLICATION ETHICS POLICY

Main Objective and Standards

ASA Journal aims to maintain the highest ethical standards in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge and to safeguard the integrity of the academic record. The ethical principles established by the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) are carefully adopted in the publication processes of our journal. All stakeholders involved in the process (authors, reviewers, editors, and the editorial board) are required to comply fully with these policies.

Authorship Rights and Contribution Statement

Everyone listed as an author in submitted manuscripts must have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conduct of the research and the preparation of the manuscript. The inclusion of a person who has not contributed at any stage of the research in the author list is unacceptable.

In accordance with the ICMJE criteria, the following criteria have been specified for qualifying for authorship:

Making a substantial contribution to the establishment or design of the theoretical framework of the study, or to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data.
Drafting the manuscript or critically reviewing it at a level that enhances the scientific quality of its content.
Reviewing and approving the final version to be published.
Agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the research in a manner that ensures that any questions that may arise regarding the accuracy and integrity of any part of the study are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The order of authors must be finalised before submission. No changes may be made to the author list after the manuscript has been accepted.

Conflict of Interest and Transparency

To ensure an objective and impartial editorial evaluation process, authors, editors, and reviewers are required to disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that may affect the evaluation process or scientific judgement.

Financial Support and Sponsorship Statement

Authors are required to disclose clearly all institutional support, projects, grants, and sponsorships from which they benefited during the conduct of the research. These statements are included in the published text so that readers can objectively assess potential influences. It must be clearly stated that the institutions or sponsors providing support did not interfere with the design of the research, the stages of data collection and analysis, the interpretation of the findings, or the publication decision.

Multiple Submission, Duplicate Publication, and Salami Slicing

Studies submitted to our journal must be entirely original and must not have been previously published in any other medium, in any language or format (exceptional cases in which a previous study has been expanded to an academically acceptable extent are subject to the approval of the editorial board).

The simultaneous evaluation of manuscripts by more than one journal (simultaneous submission) or the artificial division of a single research project into multiple publications (salami slicing) is strictly unacceptable.

For manuscripts that have previously been partially presented at a congress or symposium or that have been produced from a master’s or doctoral thesis, this information must be clearly stated on the first page.

Plagiarism and Similarity Screening

Our journal applies a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of plagiarism. The use of data, texts, scales, or theoretical approaches belonging to others without citing the source or providing appropriate attribution is strictly prohibited. All manuscript drafts submitted to our journal must undergo similarity screening using the iThenticate software before being taken into editorial evaluation. The similarity report generated by the software must be uploaded to the system by the author together with the manuscript draft.

Policy on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Our journal carefully adheres to the ethical guidelines and principles issued by COPE and the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) (Ethical Guidelines on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence) regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in academic writing and research processes.

Generative artificial intelligence tools and language models may under no circumstances be listed as the author or co-author of a submitted academic work. Our journal strictly prohibits the use of AI for the purpose of creating false authorship or manipulating researcher identity.

The use of artificial intelligence tools does not reduce or eliminate the scientific, legal, and intellectual responsibilities of authors. Authors bear full responsibility for the originality, accuracy, and content of the work submitted to the system.

Authors are required to individually verify all information, citations, and literature references obtained from artificial intelligence outputs. The detection of fabricated, inaccurate, or unverifiable references/findings generated by artificial intelligence shall be regarded as academic misconduct.

All processes carried out through artificial intelligence tools, such as proofreading, textual improvement, or data visualisation, must undergo human supervision and editing at the final stage.

If any artificial intelligence tool has been used in the preparation of the manuscript for publication, this must be disclosed openly and transparently within the manuscript. Depending on the nature of the study, this statement should be included under the “Method” or “Acknowledgements” heading. The disclosure must specify in detail the full name of the artificial intelligence software/model used, its version number, and precisely at which stage of the research, for what purpose, and to what extent the tool was used.

Post-Publication Evaluation, Correction, and Retraction

The accuracy of the scientific record is a primary responsibility of our journal. If errors, academic misconduct, or ethical violations are identified in published articles, our journal promptly issues a correction (erratum), retraction, or expression of concern by implementing COPE protocols. Retracted articles remain available online, together with an official notice explaining the reason for retraction, in order to preserve the integrity of the scientific archive. Our journal also supports scientific criticism, additional opinions, and discussions concerning articles after publication and submits applications made in this regard to editorial review.

Complaints and Appeals Mechanism

Authors, reviewers, or readers may submit complaints and appeals concerning editorial decisions, processes, or the implementation of ethical procedures directly to our journal through the editors. Applications are examined promptly, fairly, and impartially by the Editorial Board within the framework of established policies. In cases that cannot be resolved within the Board or in which disagreements arise, an independent reviewer/representative is appointed to evaluate the process. The editors have the authority to make the final decision in appeal and complaint processes.

2. RESEARCH ETHICS POLICY

Fundamental Research Standards

Our journal requires compliance with universal ethical principles in all scientific research involving human or animal participants. Ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the research, as well as conducting data collection and reporting processes free from fabrication, falsification, or manipulation, is a fundamental obligation of the authors. The legal and scientific responsibility for all content, theoretical approaches, and views presented in the studies belongs exclusively to the authors.

Protection of Human Participants and Institutional Approvals

All studies involving human participants and case reports involving interventions must comply fully with the Declaration of Helsinki, the Belmont Report, and the relevant national/institutional legal regulations.

Ethics Committee Approval: Official approval must be obtained from an authorised ethics committee before the commencement of research for such studies. The full name of the ethics committee that granted approval, the number of the ethical approval document, and the date of approval must be clearly specified in the “Method” section of the manuscript. An official copy of the ethics committee approval document must also be uploaded when the manuscript draft is submitted to the system.

Informed Consent: Individuals participating in the research must be fully informed about the purpose of the study, the procedures to be applied, and the potential risks and benefits; the acquisition of their legal consent (informed consent) must be clearly documented, and this must be stated in the manuscript. If participants are minors, legally restricted, or unable to provide consent, informed consent must be obtained from their legal representatives, and this must also be stated in the manuscript.

Confidentiality and Protection of Personal Data

The protection of the confidentiality of participants’ identity information and sensitive data is entirely the responsibility of the authors. The manuscript must not include any visual or qualitative data that may disclose the identities of participants. If the use of a patient/client/participant photograph or a distinctive clinical image is scientifically necessary, a wet-signed permission document for the use of the image obtained from the relevant person or their legal guardian must be submitted to the editors during manuscript submission.

Animal Rights and Experimental Research

Ethics Committee Approval obtained in accordance with international ethical standards (the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki) and national animal welfare legislation is mandatory for all studies involving experimental animals. The nature of all experimental procedures applied to animals, details concerning anaesthesia/analgesia, measures taken to protect animal welfare, and the potential effects of interventions on animals must be reported openly and transparently in the manuscript.

Data Verification and Retention Obligation

Authors are required to retain securely the raw data used in the study for at least five (5) years from the date of publication. If requested on reasonable grounds during editorial processes or after publication, access to these data must be provided for verification purposes.

The deliberate distortion, fabrication (fabrication of data), decontextualisation, or manipulation of historical documents, literary texts, oral history interviews conducted with source persons, or archival records constitutes serious academic misconduct and is unacceptable to our journal.

3. Ethical Responsibilities

ASA Journal is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes original scholarly articles, article translations, and book reviews in the fields of anthropology, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and history. All manuscripts submitted to ASA Journal are subject to a double-blind peer review process, after which they are published online with open and free access.

The ethical principles and publication policies outlined below are based on the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines of the Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and the standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Submitted manuscripts must be within the scope of ASA Journal’s focus areas.
Authors must declare that the submitted work is original, has not been published previously, and is not under review by another journal.
All sources used in the manuscript must be properly cited, and permissions for copyrighted materials must be obtained.
Official ethical approval must be obtained from an authorised ethics committee before the commencement of research for such studies.
In the case of multi-authored manuscripts, a signed Copyright License Agreement must be submitted, indicating the agreed author order and the approval of all co-authors.
If the authors detect a significant error in their published work, they must immediately inform the editorial board and cooperate in the correction or retraction process.
The scientific content, claims, and views expressed in the article are solely the responsibility of the author(s); they do not reflect the views of ASA Journal, the editorial board, or the reviewers.
All submissions are screened using iThenticate plagiarism detection software. Similarity ratios are not evaluated by fixed thresholds but are reviewed in context by the editorial board.
evisions may be requested or the submission may be rejected based on the findings.
All manuscripts are reviewed by at least two referees and the assigned editor(s) under a double-blind peer review process.
The following are considered unethical and unacceptable: plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, redundant publication (duplication), salami publishing, inappropriate authorship, copyright infringement, and failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Manuscripts are assigned to reviewers via the DergiPark system.
The peer review process is conducted under a double-blind system; both author and reviewer identities remain confidential.
Reviewers must accept review invitations only for manuscripts that fall within their area of expertise.
Reviewers must provide clear, objective, and well-reasoned evaluations regarding the quality and publishability of the manuscript.
Personal opinions or subjective comments should be avoided as much as possible.
Reviewers should not disclose their identity in any part of the evaluation.
Reviewers are expected to complete their assessments within the designated time frame and to adhere to ethical guidelines.
Any suspected ethical violations should be reported to the editorial board.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for evaluating all submissions based on their scientific merit, originality, and ethical compliance, without bias.
They ensure the fair implementation of the double-blind review process.
Editors maintain the confidentiality of all submissions and related documents until the publication process is complete.
They are responsible for issuing corrections (errata), retractions, or explanatory statements when necessary to uphold publication ethics.
Editors take necessary measures to prevent conflicts of interest between authors, reviewers, and editors, and ensure transparency throughout the process.
Editors hold the final authority over reviewer assignments and publication decisions.

Last Update Time: 10 June 2026