ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
The Journal of Ankara Health Sciences adopts the principles and standards set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We advise all our stakeholders to follow COPE guidelines within the framework of academic and ethical rules.
Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
a) 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,
b) Forgery: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research,
c) Distortion: Falsifying research records or data obtained, falsifying devices or materials 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,
ç) Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications for academic appointments and promotions,
d) Slicing: Dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and inappropriately and publishing them in more than one number and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
e) 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) Failing to comply with ethical rules in research conducted on humans and animals, failing to respect patient rights in publications,
c) Acting contrary to the provisions of relevant legislation in biomedical research involving humans and other clinical research,
d) Sharing information contained in a work assigned for review with others prior to publication without the express permission of the author,
e) Using resources, premises, facilities and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research for purposes other than those intended,
f) Making unfounded, unwarranted, and deliberate allegations of ethical violations,
g) Publishing data obtained without the explicit consent of participants in surveys and attitude studies conducted as part of scientific work, or without the additional consent of the institution if the research is to be conducted at an institution,
h) Harming animal health and ecological balance in research and experiments,
ı) Failing to obtain the necessary written permissions from the competent authorities before commencing research and experiments.
i) Conducting research and experiments that violate the relevant provisions of legislation or international agreements to which Turkey is a party.
j) Failure by researchers and officials to comply with the obligation to inform and warn relevant parties about potentially harmful practices related to scientific research,
k) In scientific studies, failing to use data and information obtained from other persons and institutions to the extent and in the manner permitted, failing to respect the confidentiality of this information and failing to ensure its protection.
l) 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 case presentations, the information that the informed consent form has been obtained must be included in the article. In addition, the consent of the legal guardian of children, wards or persons with certified mental illness must be obtained.
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
In our journal, researches that require ethics committee permission include the following studies:
• All research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that involve collecting data from participants through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, experiments and interview techniques,
• Studies in which humans and animals (including materials or data) are used for experimental or other scientific purposes,
• Clinical trials conducted on humans,
• Scientific research on animals,
• Retrospective studies within the framework of the Personal Data Protection Law.
In order for such studies to be included in the evaluation, the relevant ethics committee permissions must be obtained and these permissions must be clearly stated in the text of the article.
Research Ethics Principles
• All research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.
• Experimental studies conducted on animals must be carried out within the framework of ethical responsibility and animal welfare principles, with the approval of the relevant ethics committee and in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines in the planning, execution, and reporting of the research.
• Scientific integrity, integrity, quality, and transparency should be adopted as fundamental principles in the planning of research, the creation of its methodological design, its ethical evaluation, and the execution of its implementation processes. Every stage of the research process should be recorded 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 must 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 must be disclosed transparently.
• If the research is to be conducted within any public institution, private organization, or university, official permission must be obtained from the relevant institution and, if necessary, ethical committee approval must be secured.
Plagiarism Check
Our journal screens all submitted articles to prevent plagiarism. The similarity rate is expected to be less than 20%. Studies exceeding this rate will be rejected at the preliminary review stage.
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) regarding correction, withdrawal or expression of concern are taken into account.
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
The editor/editorial board carefully examines the complaints received from authors, reviewers or readers and tries to respond in an explanatory manner. Complaints should be sent directly to saglikbildergi@ankara.edu.tr. The editor follows the procedure outlined in the COPE Principles (1,2) regarding 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 belongs to the authors themselves.
Responsibilities of Stakeholders
For authors;
• Ethics committee approval should be obtained for researchs that requires ethics committee approval, and this approval should be stated in the appropriate sections according to the article writing rules.
• The ethics committee permission obtained should be documented and uploaded to the system as a separate file. The information in the ethics committee file uploaded to the journal must be compatible with the title of the article and the names of the authors.
• In studies requiring ethics committee permission, information about the permission (name of the committee, date and number) should be stated in the method section, and also on the last page of the article (under the heading "Ethics Committee Statement"). Case reports should include information about signing the informed consent form (under the heading "Informed Consent Statement").
• Authors are required to comply with the copyright regulations (citation of the source for the images, permission for the scales, etc.).
• If there is a funding institution in the research, its information must be stated in the method section.
• If the ethics committee approval is within the scope of the thesis, abstract poster or oral presentation of the article uploaded to the system, this information should be included on the title page ("This article was prepared using the data obtained from the author's master's/doctoral thesis." / " This article was presented as oral/poster at the congress of ..... (name) on .... (date)"). Full-text papers with the same method are not accepted into the journal publication process as an article.
For reviewers;
• In the Journal of Ankara Health Sciences, the selection of revieweres is carried out double-blindly during the refereeing process.
• The reviewers must accept/reject the review invitation within the specified time. After the reviewing is accepted, they must upload their suggestions to the system within the specified time. If there is no return within the specified time, the relevant task may be canceled and a new referee may be appointed by the editors.
• In the reviewing process, all reviewers should evaluate the articles impartially, they should know that this process is confidential and should not be shared with third parties.
• In addition to scientific evaluations, if the revieweres detect a situation where the ethical rules regarding the article are violated, they should notify the editor.
For the editorial board;
• Editors shall evaluate the scientific content of all submitted works impartially.
• Editors shall not withhold any information that could lead to a conflict of interest with authors or reviewers.
• They are responsible for ensuring the confidentiality and impartiality of the double-blind peer review process.
• They are responsible for selecting suitable reviewers and ensuring that the evaluation process is conducted fairly and in a timely manner.
• They are obliged to initiate the necessary procedures when they detect behaviour that violates publication ethics.
• Acceptance or rejection decisions should be based on scientific contribution and the originality of the work.
• They are responsible for ensuring that articles undergo similarity/plagiarism checks.
PUBLICATION POLICY
General Principles
• The Journal of Ankara Health Sciences is the scientific publication of Ankara University Press. The aim of the journal is to convey the current developments in the field of health sciences at national and international level, to share original scientific studies and to support the development of health professionals.
• The journal is published three times a year, in April, August and December, both electronically and in original print, in Turkish and English.
• Original research, review articles and case reports in the field of health sciences are published in our journal.
• Manuscripts must not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• Studies 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 use 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/ausbid/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.
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