Bartın University (BARÜ) Journal of Women, Children and Family Studies adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) principles in its scientific publishing processes and evaluates all articles using a double-blind peer review system. Confidentiality, impartiality, and academic integrity are fundamental principles throughout all stages of the publication process.

1. General Ethical Principles
Honesty, impartiality, and transparency are essential in scientific research.
A zero-tolerance policy is applied against ethical violations throughout all stages of the publication process.
Respect for human dignity, privacy, and research ethics is a fundamental principle.
All stakeholders (authors, editors, reviewers) must be aware of their ethical responsibilities.

2. Authors' Ethical Responsibilities
Authors are deemed to have accepted the following ethical obligations:
The submitted work must be original and must not have been previously published or simultaneously submitted to another journal.
All authors must have made an academic and scientific contribution to the work.
Ghost, honorary (gift), or unauthorised authorship is not accepted.
In-text citations and bibliography must be complete and accurate.
Ethical committee approval for the research must be clearly stated, including the document number where necessary.
In studies involving human participants, it must be stated that informed consent was obtained.
Conflicts of interest and funding sources must be clearly disclosed.

3. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
Editors;
Make publication decisions solely based on the scientific quality, originality, and suitability of the work to the journal's scope.
Do not discriminate against authors based on their institution, title, gender, ethnicity, or political views.
Protect the confidentiality of the blind peer review process.
Take action in accordance with COPE guidelines in case of possible ethical violations.
Withdraw from the evaluation process in cases of conflicts of interest.
The final publication decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief.

4. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers;
Must conduct the evaluation process impartially, objectively, and in a timely manner.
Are obligated to keep the works they review confidential.
Should refuse to evaluate works outside their area of expertise.
Should inform the editor in case of a possible conflict of interest.
Should provide constructive, scientific, and reasoned feedback.

5. Peer Review and Publication Process Policy
BARU-JWCFS applies a double-blind peer review system.
Each article is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers. During the editorial pre-review stage, ethical and formal compliance is checked. Based on the peer review reports, a decision is made regarding revision, acceptance, or rejection.
6. Plagiarism and Similarity Policy
All submissions are checked with similarity scanning software (Turnitin).
The acceptable total similarity rate is 15%.
The similarity rate from a single source should not exceed 3%.
If ethical violations such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or data falsification are detected, the article will be rejected and, if necessary, reported to the relevant institutions.

7. Data Sharing and Open Science Policy
BARU-JWCFS embraces the principles of transparency, accessibility, and reusability of open science. In this context, the journal policy includes the following open science components:
Open Access: All articles published in the journal are freely accessible online without any subscription or fees.
Open Licensing: All works published in the journal are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license permits sharing, reproduction, republication, and adaptation of works provided that proper attribution is given and no commercial purpose is pursued.
Transparency and Reproducibility: Research methods, analysis processes, and materials used should be reported in sufficient detail to ensure the reproducibility of the study.
Ethics and Privacy: Participant confidentiality, protection of personal data, and ethics committee obligations take precedence in open science practices; such restrictions are considered in data sharing. The journal considers data sharing and compliance with open science practices in its editorial review process.

8. Conflict of Interest Policy
Authors, editors, and reviewers are obliged to declare any potential conflicts of interest.
Undeclared conflicts of interest are considered an ethical violation.

9. Authorship Changes Policy
Any changes to the author list (adding, removing, or changing the order of authors) during the manuscript submission or review process, or after publication, are carried out in accordance with COPE flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/flowchart/adding-author-nublication). The change request must be submitted in writing to the editor by the corresponding author, along with a justification. All authors are required to approve the change in writing. Changes made to published articles are recorded with a revision note. Authorship disputes are not resolved by the journal. Such cases are referred to the institutions to which the authors are affiliated. It is the authors' responsibility to meet the authorship criteria and to determine who will be listed as an author. 

10. Correction, Retraction, and Expression of Concern Policy
If a serious error (errors affecting the scientific integrity of the article or the validity of the findings; errors related to data, methods, analysis, ethical approval, or publication ethics) is detected after publication, a correction will be published. In case of ethical violation, the article may be retracted.
In suspicious cases, an expression of concern may be published.
All processes are carried out based on COPE flowcharts.

11. Fee Policy and Independence
The submission, evaluation, and publication processes for articles in the Bartın University Journal of Women, Children, and Family Studies are entirely free of charge. No fees are requested from authors or their institutions under any circumstances.

12. Complaints and Appeals Policy
Authors and reviewers can submit their objections and complaints regarding the publication process in writing to the journal.
All applications are evaluated impartially.
The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION POLICY
Bartın University (BARU) Journal of Women, Children and Family Studies accepts original research articles of high scientific quality, adhering to ethical principles and aligning with the journal's aims and scope. Article acceptance is carried out within the framework of the principles and criteria outlined below.

1. Accepted Article Types
Only original research articles, case reports, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, letters to the editor, and bibliometric studies are considered.

2. Preliminary Evaluation
Each article submitted to the journal undergoes a preliminary evaluation by the editors before being sent to the peer review process.
The following criteria are considered in the preliminary evaluation process:
Suitability to the journal's aims and scope
Adherence to writing rules
Availability of ethical committee approval and ethical declarations
Similarity rate (plagiarism check)
Academic language and expression adequacy
Articles deemed unsuitable at this stage are rejected without being sent to the peer review process.

3. Peer Review Process and Evaluation
A double-blind peer review system is applied. Each article is reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. Reviewers are selected from academics who are experts in their field and experienced in publication ethics. Reviewer evaluations are confidential and used only for editorial purposes.

4. Evaluation Criteria
Reviewers and editors evaluate articles according to the following criteria:
Originality of the study
Level of scientific contribution
Methodological appropriateness and validity
Consistency and clarity of findings
Sufficiency of the discussion and conclusion section
Compliance with ethical principles
Contribution to the literature and timeliness

5. Types of Editorial Decisions
Based on the reviewer reports, the following decisions may be made:
Accept
Minor Revision
Major Revision
Reject
Articles requiring revision must be corrected and resubmitted within the specified time. Articles not revised within the time limit will be excluded from evaluation.

6. Revision Policy
During the revision process, authors are obliged to respond to reviewer opinions point by point. Changes made must be clearly indicated on the text.
If deemed necessary, the revised article may be resubmitted for peer review.

7. Final Acceptance and Publication
The final decision regarding the acceptance of the article is made by the Editor-in-Chief. Accepted articles are published in accordance with the publication schedule and technical processes.
The journal reserves editorial discretion regarding the timing and number of publications.

8. Ethical Violation and Rejection Policy
Articles will be rejected or the process terminated in the following cases:
Detection of plagiarism, data fabrication, or data falsification
Lack of ethics committee approval
Concealment of conflicts of interest
Simultaneous submission
Authorship violations
In these cases, action will be taken based on COPE guidelines.

9. Appeal and Complaint Process
Authors may submit reasoned appeals regarding editorial decisions in writing.
Appeals may be subject to independent editorial review.
The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief.

10. Special Issue Policy
The journal may publish a special issue at most once a year on topics deemed necessary by the editorial board. Special issues cover current scientific developments, interdisciplinary approaches, or studies prepared around a specific theme. The article submission requirements, evaluation criteria, and publication ethics principles for special issues are subject to the same standards as the journal's regular issues. All articles submitted for a special issue undergo a double-blind peer-review process, and the editorial decision-making process is carried out in accordance with the journal's usual evaluation procedures.