ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
All manuscripts submitted to the Turkish Journal of Geographical Sciences must be original, unpublished, or not under review in another journal. Each manuscript is blind-reviewed by the editor and at least two referees. Plagiarism, duplication, pseudo-authorship/ denied authorship, research/data fabrication, article slicing, sliced publication, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflict of interest are considered unethical behaviors. All articles that do not comply with accepted ethical standards are removed from publication. This includes articles containing possible irregularities and nonconformities detected after publication.

The ethical principles and publication policy of the Turkish Journal of Geographical Sciences have been prepared in accordance with the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

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,

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.

Plagiarism Check
Every study that is submitted to Turkish Journal of Geographical Sciences is scanned with iThenticate software for any plagiarism. A maximum similarity rate of 15% can be accepted by our journal, provided that not all of them are taken from only one or two sources. The studies which have a similarity rate between 15-25% will be sent back to the author(s) for editing. However, the studies which have a similarity rate over 25% will not be accepted for publication. Within this process, matches identified through software are examined in detail, and matches with correct in-text citations and references are filtered out. The remaining matches are reviewed, errors are reported, and shared with the author(s).

If plagiarism is detected in an article submitted or published in our journal, our journal acts in accordance with the COPE principles (Plagiarism in a submitted manuscript - Plagiarism in a published article).

Relations with the 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. COPE Principles (1,2,3,4,5,6) are taken into account in relation to correction, withdrawal or expression of concern.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in possible violations.

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

Complaints
Any unethical behavior of the editors, referees, authors, or any unethical situation related to an article in the review process, in early view, or published in the Turkish Journal of Geographical Sciences should be reported to tucaum.cbd@gmail.com. Our journal follows the procedure outlined in the COPE Principles (1,2) for complaints.

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.

Use of Artificial Intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence in processes that do not affect the originality of the article, such as literature review or language control, is acceptable in studies submitted to our journal. However, the use of artificial intelligence should be carried out within the framework of ethical rules and should never be used for unethical purposes such as fabricated data and manipulation.
For studies involving the use of artificial intelligence, it is mandatory to inform our journal about this situation at the article submission stage. All responsibility for the use of artificial intelligence lies with the authors themselves.

Article Tracking
Authors can obtain information about the stage (field editor review, peer review) of their manuscripts submitted to the journal by sending an e-mail to tucaum.cbd@gmail.com asking about the status of their manuscripts or, in very necessary cases, by contacting the managing editor (Dr. Lect. Prof. Dr. Ayla Deniz: (312) 310 32 80/1207) via telephone.

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

1- Responsibilities of the Editors
• Editors take care to meet the information requests of authors, reviewers, researchers, practitioners and readers and to provide timely and explanatory feedback when necessary. They approach situations that may arise during the publication process that require correction, clarification or withdrawal within the framework of the principle of transparency.
• In the evaluation processes regarding the articles; decisions are made based on the originality of the study, its contribution to the scientific field, the validity and reliability of the method used, the clarity of the narrative and its suitability to the purpose and scope of the journal.
• Editors fully implement the blind review system and evaluation policies adopted by the journal; protect the confidentiality of referee identities and ensure that all articles are evaluated impartially, fairly and in a timely manner.
• In assigning reviewers, attention is paid to the compatibility of the content of the article and the areas of expertise of the reviewers and field editors. An impartial and independent evaluation process is ensured.
• Necessary measures are taken against the possibility of conflict of interest or conflict of interest in the evaluation processes; editors are sensitive to possible ethical problems in author-referee-editor relations.
• Editors prevent reviews that are incompatible with scientific ethics and academic practices; the principle of constructive, scientific and impartial evaluation is observed.
• Editors attach importance to the confidentiality of personal data of all parties involved in the evaluation process and protect the privacy of authors, reviewers and readers.
• Editors protect the intellectual property rights of published works and defend the rights of both the authors and the journal in case of violation. They also meticulously carry out plagiarism and similarity checks to ensure that the articles do not violate the copyrights of other works.
• All complaints, comments and suggestions received by the journal are meticulously examined; necessary explanations are provided in a timely, clear and constructive manner.

2- Responsibilities of Authors
• Authors should not include plagiarism, falsification, fabrication of data or any practice contrary to research ethics in the submitted studies. The footnotes and bibliography section of the study must be complete, accurate and organized in accordance with the citation rules.
• The raw data of the research should be properly preserved in terms of scientific accuracy and transparency. These data should be submitted for editorial review if requested by the journal editorial board.
• In the study submitted for publication, only those who have made direct scientific contributions to the research should be granted authorship. It is an ethical obligation not to list people who do not contribute meaningfully to the research as authors. Those who made non-authorship contributions should be acknowledged appropriately.
• Authors should disclose any potential conflicts of interest at the earliest possible stage (preferably by submitting a declaration form with the manuscript submission and by clearly stating it in the manuscript).
• All authors are obliged to make scientific and technical corrections requested by the editors and referees in a timely and complete manner.

3-Responsibilities of Referees
• Reviewers should be impartial, objective and based on scientific criteria. They are expected to provide evaluations based solely on academic content, free from personal bias.
• Reviewers should not be in any conflict of interest with the study they are evaluating, the author(s) of the study, or the institution or persons funding the research. In the event of such a situation, they should inform the editorial board and withdraw from the review process.
• The review process should not be limited to a superficial opinion of approval or rejection. Reviewers should elaborate on their opinions based on clear, constructive and scientific justifications, especially in cases where they express a negative opinion.
• Criticism and evaluations should be text-centered and should not include any statements that damage the personal rights of the author(s), insulting or subjective. It is essential to evaluate within the framework of scientific respect and courtesy.
• Referees should identify the studies that should be cited in the article but are left incomplete, which can directly contribute to the subject, and suggest that these sources be added to the article.
• All information and documents submitted to the review process should be treated as confidential and should not be shared with third parties or used for personal gain.

PUBLICATION POLICIES

General Principles
• The Turkish Journal of Geographical Sciences, which started to be published within the body of Ankara University, Turkish Geography Research and Application Center, has been continuing its publication life since 2003. The journal is published regularly in April - October and two issues a year.
• In the journal, original articles prepared by researchers from both geography and other disciplines are published on issues related to all branches of geography. The publication policy of the Journal of Geographical Sciences is to publish empirical and review type articles (model proposals, literature reviews and discussions), especially articles based on research and analysis by applying new scientific methods and techniques. In addition to articles, book reviews or evaluations, congress or symposium reports, research reports and news about research reports can also be included in the journal.
• The publication language is Turkish and English. Articles should have two abstracts, one of which should be in Turkish. Abstracts should be given in English for Turkish articles and in Turkish for English articles. Articles can also be published bilingually. Author(s) of the manuscripts found suitable for publication are requested to submit an extended abstract in English of not less than 1500 words and not more than 1800 words, covering all parts of the study in general (introduction, method, findings and conclusion).
• Articles should not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• Manuscripts submitted to our journal are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers within the scope of double blind review. Click here for more information.
• The copyright of articles published in the journal belongs to the authors, while the commercial usage rights belong to our journal. All articles published as open access in our journal are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Non-Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Click here for more information.
• Articles published in our journal are digitally archived in LOCKSS and DSpace. Articles published in our journal can be accessed free of charge at https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/aucbd/archive. Click here for more information.

Special Issue Policy
With the decision of the Editorial Board, a special issue may be published once a year. For articles to be published in the special issue, the publication and evaluation principles are applied as applied in the planned issues.

Price Policy
Article submission, evaluation and publication processes in our journal are completely free of charge. No fee is charged for articles submitted or accepted for publication. In accordance with our publication policy, sponsorship and advertising are not accepted and all expenses of our journal are covered by Ankara University.