The publication processes implemented in Bingöl University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (BİİBFAD) constitute the basis for the impartial and reputable development and dissemination of knowledge. In this respect, the processes implemented directly reflect on the quality of the work of authors and the institutions supporting them. Peer-reviewed works are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, reviewers and editors) comply with standards regarding ethical principles.

BİİBFAD expects all stakeholders to bear the following ethical responsibilities within the scope of publication ethics. The ethical duties and responsibilities set out below have been prepared as open access, taking into account the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

1. Research Ethics

1.1. General Principles and Compliance with International Standards

All studies submitted to the journal must have been conducted in accordance with internationally accepted research ethics principles from the design of the research process to the data collection stage. In this context, our journal adopts the following international standards:

• Helsinki Declaration (for research with human participants)
• Universal Declaration of Animal Rights and relevant international directives (for animal experiments)
• ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendations
• COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines

The principles of integrity, quality and transparency must be ensured in the design of the research, review of the design, and conduct of the research.

1.2. Research with Human Participants

All research involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with internationally accepted ethical standards, particularly the most current version of the Helsinki Declaration. In this context:

• Approval must be obtained from an authorized Ethics Committee before the research begins.
• The ethics committee approval; committee name, approval number and approval date must be clearly stated in the Method section of the article.
• Informed Voluntary Consent Form must be obtained from all participants.
• Participants' identity information and personal data must be protected within the framework of confidentiality principles.

1.3. Animal Experiments

Full compliance with relevant national and international legislation must be ensured for all studies conducted on animals. In this context:

• The study must comply with the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" and animal ethics committee approval is required.
• Animal experiments must be conducted in accordance with international welfare standards, and the welfare and rights of animals must not be ignored.
• Required ethics committee approval documents must be submitted with the article.
• For studies involving animal experiments, compliance with the ARRIVE reporting guideline is expected.

1.4. Ethics Committee Approval and Permissions

Ethics Committee Approval is mandatory for all studies in which data are collected through methods such as surveys, interviews, observation, and experiments. For studies that do not require ethics committee approval, this situation must be stated with its justification in the relevant section of the article (Method).

1.5. Data Security and Confidentiality

The security of the data obtained during the research process and the confidentiality of the participants are essential:

• Participants' personal data must be protected in line with confidentiality principles.
• Data must be used only for research purposes; anonymity and confidentiality must be ensured.
• Data must not be shared with third parties without explicit consent.
• The Editorial Board is obliged to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of all studies submitted to the journal until publication.

2. Publication Ethics

The publication processes implemented in BİİBFAD constitute the basis for the impartial and reputable development and dissemination of knowledge. In this respect, the processes implemented directly reflect on the quality of the work of authors and the institutions supporting them. Peer-reviewed works are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, reviewers and editors) comply with standards regarding ethical principles.

iThenticate may be used for ethical control and prevention of unethical attempts. The ethical duties and responsibilities set out below have been prepared as open access, taking into account the guidelines and policies published by COPE.

2.1. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Author(s) submitting a study to BİİBFAD are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

• The studies submitted by the author(s) are expected to be original. If the author(s) benefit from or use other studies, they must cite and/or quote them completely and accurately.
• Persons who do not contribute intellectually to the content in the creation of the study must not be listed as authors.
• All studies submitted for publication must disclose any situations and relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest, if any.
• Raw data regarding their articles may be requested from the author(s) within the framework of the evaluation processes; in such a case, the author(s) must be ready to submit the expected data and information to the editorial board.
• The author(s) must have the rights to use the data used and the necessary permissions related to the research/analyses, or must have documents showing that consent was obtained from the subjects on whom experiments were conducted.
• If the author(s) notice an error or mistake in their published, early view, or under-evaluation work, they are obliged to inform the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor in correction or retraction processes.
• Authors cannot have their work in the application process of more than one journal at the same time. Each application can be started after the completion of the previous application. A study published in another journal cannot be submitted to BİİBFAD.
• Once the evaluation process has started, changes in author responsibilities (such as adding an author, changing the author order, removing an author) cannot be proposed.

2.2. Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

BİİBFAD editors must have the following ethical duties and responsibilities on the basis of the "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published by COPE as open access:

General Duties and Responsibilities:

• Making efforts to meet the information needs of readers and authors
• Ensuring the continuous development of the journal
• Conducting processes aimed at improving the quality of studies published in the journal
• Supporting freedom of thought
• Ensuring academic integrity
• Continuing work processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards
• Demonstrating openness and transparency in publication regarding matters requiring correction and clarification

Relations with Readers:

• Editors must make decisions by taking into account the information, skills and experience expectations that all readers, researchers and practitioners need.
• They must pay attention to ensuring that published studies contribute to readers, researchers, practitioners and scientific literature and are original in nature.
• Editors are obliged to take into account feedback from readers, researchers and practitioners and to provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relations with Authors:

• Editors must make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, original value, validity of the studies, clarity of expression, and the aims and objectives of the journal.
• Editors must take studies suitable for the publication scope to the preliminary evaluation stage unless there is a serious problem.
• Editors must not ignore positive reviewer recommendations unless there is a serious problem with the study.
• New editors must not change decisions made by previous editor(s) regarding studies unless there is a serious problem.
• "Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process" must absolutely be published, and editors must prevent deviations that may occur in the defined processes.
• Editors must publish an "Author Guide" that includes in detail every subject expected of them by authors. These guides must be updated at certain intervals.
• Authors must be provided with explanatory and informative notifications and feedback.

Relations with Reviewers:

• They must determine reviewers in accordance with the subject of the study.
• They are obliged to provide the information and guides that reviewers will need during the evaluation stage.
• They must consider whether there is a conflict of interest between authors and reviewers.
• They must keep reviewers' identity information confidential in the context of blind peer review.
• They must encourage reviewers to evaluate the study in an impartial, scientific and objective language.
• They must evaluate reviewers with criteria such as timely return and performance.
• They must determine practices and policies that improve reviewers' performance.
• They must take necessary steps to dynamically update the reviewer pool.
• They must prevent impolite and unscientific evaluations.
• They must take steps to ensure that the reviewer pool consists of a wide range.

Relations with the Editorial Board:

• Editors must ensure that all editorial board members carry out processes in accordance with publication policies and guidelines.
• They must inform editorial board members about publication policies and keep them informed of developments.
• They must train new editorial board members on publication policies and provide the information they need.
• They must ensure that editorial board members evaluate studies impartially and independently.
• They must determine new editorial board members as suitable and qualified individuals who can contribute.
• They must send studies suitable for editorial board members' fields of expertise for evaluation.
• They must be in regular interaction with the editorial board.
• They must organize meetings with the editorial board at certain intervals for publication policies and the development of the journal.

Relations with Journal Owner and Publisher:

• The relationship between editors and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence.
• The journal owner, publisher and no other political or commercial element can influence editors' independent decision-making.

Editorial and Blind Peer Review Processes:

• Editors are obliged to implement the "Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process" policies included in the journal's publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that the evaluation process of each study is completed fairly, impartially and on time.

Quality Assurance:

• Editors are responsible for the publication of every article published in the journal in accordance with the journal's publication policies and international standards.

Protection of Personal Data:

• Editors are obliged to ensure the protection of personal data related to subjects or images in the evaluated studies. They are tasked with rejecting a study unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the studies is documented. In addition, editors are responsible for protecting the individual data of authors, reviewers and readers.

Ethics Committee, Human and Animal Rights:

• Editors are obliged to ensure the protection of human and animal rights in the evaluated studies. They are responsible for rejecting a study in cases where there is no ethics committee approval regarding the subjects used in the studies and no permissions regarding experimental research.

Precaution Against Possible Misconduct and Abuse of Duty:

• Editors are obliged to take precautions against possible misconduct and abuse of duty. In addition to conducting a meticulous and objective investigation into the identification and evaluation of complaints regarding this situation, sharing findings on the subject is among the editor's responsibilities.

Ensuring Academic Publication Integrity:

• Editors must ensure the rapid correction of errors, inconsistencies or misleading judgments in studies.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights:

• Editors are obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and author(s) in possible violations. In addition, editors are obliged to take necessary precautions to ensure that the content in all published articles does not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications.

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion:

• Editors must take into account convincing criticisms regarding works published in the journal and display a constructive attitude towards these criticisms.
• They must grant the author(s) of criticized works the right of reply.
• They must not ignore or exclude studies containing negative results.

Complaints:

• Editors are obliged to carefully examine complaints from authors, reviewers or readers and respond in an illuminating and explanatory manner.

Conflicts of Interest:

• Editors ensure that the publication process of studies is completed independently and impartially by considering conflicts of interest among author(s), reviewers and other editors.

2.3. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The evaluation of all studies with "Blind Peer Review" directly affects publication quality. This process ensures objective and independent evaluation of the publication and trust. The BİİBFAD evaluation process is carried out with the principle of double-blind peer review. Reviewers cannot communicate directly with authors; evaluations and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, evaluation forms and reviewer comments on full texts are conveyed to the author(s) through the editor.

In this context, reviewers evaluating studies for BİİBFAD are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:

• They must agree to evaluate only studies related to their field of expertise.
• They must evaluate with impartiality and confidentiality.
• If they think they are faced with a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they must refuse to review the study and inform the journal editor.
• In accordance with the confidentiality principle, they must destroy the studies they review after the evaluation process. They can use only the final versions of the studies they review after they are published.
• They must carry out the evaluation objectively and only in relation to the content of the study. They must not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns to affect the evaluation.
• They must carry out the evaluation in a constructive and courteous language. They must not make derogatory personal comments involving hostility, slander or insult.
• They must complete the study they agreed to evaluate on time and in accordance with the above ethical responsibilities.

2.4. Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher of BİİBFAD, Bingöl University, is a non-profit state university. In this context, Bingöl University acts with awareness of the following ethical responsibilities regarding BİİBFAD:

• Editors are responsible for all processes of studies submitted to BİİBFAD. In this framework, the decision-makers are editors, without considering economic or political gains.
• It commits to establishing independent editor decisions.
• It has the responsibility to take precautions regarding all kinds of scientific misconduct, citation cartels and plagiarism related to editors.

2.5. Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

2.5.1. Purpose and Scope

This policy has been prepared to ensure the ethical, transparent and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence tools in studies submitted to our journal. The policy is binding for authors, editors and reviewers and has been prepared in line with the principles of COPE, ICMJE and the YÖK Ethical Guide on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence.

2.5.2. Basic Principles

• Human Responsibility: Artificial intelligence is a tool; scientific and ethical responsibility for all generated content belongs to humans.
• Transparency: Artificial intelligence use must be clearly declared.
• Verifiability: Information, data and sources generated by artificial intelligence must be verified.
• Research Integrity: Artificial intelligence cannot be used in a way that leads to ethical violations such as fabrication, falsification or plagiarism.

2.5.3. Rules for Authors

• Artificial intelligence tools can under no circumstances be shown as an author or co-author.
• Authors may use artificial intelligence for supportive purposes such as grammar correction, translation, and summarization.
• The name, version and purpose of use of the artificial intelligence tool used must be stated in the Method or Acknowledgements section of the article or under a separate heading "Artificial Intelligence Use Statement".
• Authors bear all responsibility arising from the use of artificial intelligence and guarantee the accuracy of the content.

2.5.4. Rules for Editors and Reviewers

• Editors check the appropriateness of artificial intelligence declarations and may request additional explanation from authors in suspicious cases.
• Editors must not upload unpublished articles or evaluation content to artificial intelligence platforms.
• Reviewers must not have evaluation texts written by artificial intelligence and must inform editors about transparency regarding artificial intelligence use.

2.5.5. Prohibited Uses

• Using artificial intelligence to fabricate data, distort results, or present a text entirely generated by artificial intelligence as an article is strictly prohibited.
• The use of images created by artificial intelligence is generally not accepted due to the risk of copyright infringement.

2.5. If You Encounter an Unethical Situation

If you encounter unethical behavior or content other than the ethical responsibilities mentioned above at BİİBFAD, please report it by e-mail to biibfad@bingol.edu.tr.

3. Publication Policy

• Bingöl University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences is a peer-reviewed, international and free journal.
• Bingöl University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences is published twice a year, in June and December, respectively. The new issue is uploaded to the journal's web page on DergiPark at the end of the relevant month.
• Bingöl University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences is a journal that has adopted an Open Access policy. Therefore, articles published in the journal are freely accessible, readable, downloadable, copyable, distributable, printable, and links to full texts can be given, provided that they are cited, and they can be used for all legal purposes.
• Articles submitted to the journal are first taken into preliminary review in terms of form and content and undergo preliminary control. Studies that are not suitable in terms of form and content are rejected at the editorial stage. Articles found suitable in terms of form and content are submitted to the editorial board to be assigned reviewers. However, no guarantee is given that articles submitted to the journal will be taken into the peer review process, and absolutely no date is given for the evaluation period of articles.
• Articles submitted to the journal are sent to at least two reviewers relevant to the field of the article for evaluation. If one of the reviewer reports is positive and the other is negative, the publication decision is made by the journal editors. If deemed necessary, the article may be sent to a third reviewer for evaluation.
• At least one year must pass for an author's second article to be published.