1. General Principles
The Turkish Journal of Integrative Psychotherapy (TBPD) follows the principles and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Research involving human participants is expected to comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and the American Psychological Association's (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to adhere to these principles.
2. Research Ethics
• Data are collected, analyzed, and interpreted using scientific methods. Fabricated or falsified data may not be reported under any circumstances.
• Research is conducted in accordance with national legislation and international conventions, and all required institutional permissions are obtained.
• Ethics committee approval is mandatory for all quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research involving human participants. The name of the committee and the date and number of the approval are stated in the manuscript.
• Written informed consent is obtained from participants and, for participants under 18, also from their parents or legal guardians. Participants are informed in advance of any potential risks of the research. They have the right to decline participation and to withdraw from the study at any time.
• Participant confidentiality is protected, and identifying information is not published.
• For case reports, written consent for publication must be obtained from the client. Details that could reveal the client's identity are altered, and the manuscript states that such changes have been made.
• Studies involving animals require approval from the relevant local animal research ethics committee.
3. Responsibilities of Authors
• Originality: Submitted manuscripts must not have been published previously and must not be under consideration by another journal. If the work is derived from a conference presentation, thesis, or project, this is stated on the title page.
• Preprints: Manuscripts previously posted on a preprint server are considered for publication. Authors disclose this at submission.
• Authorship: Only individuals who meet all of the following criteria are listed as authors: having made a substantial contribution to the design of the study or to the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; having drafted the manuscript or revised it critically; having approved the final version; and agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Contributions that do not meet these criteria are acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section. Author contributions are declared on the title page. Adding or removing authors, or changing the order of authors, after submission requires a request to the editor with a justification and the written consent of all authors.
• Plagiarism and similarity: All manuscripts are screened for similarity before peer review. The similarity rate, excluding references, must not exceed 20%. Regardless of the rate, any unattributed use of others' work is considered plagiarism. Reusing one's own previously published text without citation also falls within this scope.
• Unethical conduct: This includes data fabrication, data falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, splitting a single study into multiple publications without justification, granting authorship to individuals who do not qualify or omitting those who do, citation manipulation, and violations of human or animal research ethics.
• Citation: References follow APA 7 style. Sources that cannot be verified (e.g., inaccessible unpublished work) are not cited.
• Reporting standards: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research follows the APA Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS). Case reports follow the CARE guidelines, and systematic reviews follow PRISMA.
• Conflicts of interest and funding: Authors disclose any financial or personal relationship that could influence the work, or state that there is none. Funding sources and project numbers are reported.
• Data retention and sharing: Authors retain their research data during the review process and for at least five years after publication. Subject to participant confidentiality and legal restrictions, they make the data available to the editor and to qualified researchers who wish to verify the findings. Previously published data may not be presented as original data; prior use of the same dataset is disclosed in the manuscript. Each manuscript includes a Data Availability Statement explaining how the data can be accessed.
• Copyrighted material: Authors who use copyrighted material (e.g., scale items, photographs, figures) obtain the necessary permissions and submit them to the editor upon acceptance.
• Use of artificial intelligence: AI tools may not be listed as authors. If AI tools are used, the tool and the purpose of its use are stated in the Declarations section. Authors remain responsible for the accuracy and originality of the content.
• Errors: Authors who discover a significant error in their published article notify the editor promptly and cooperate in the correction or retraction process.
4. Responsibilities of Reviewers
• Reviewers are experts in the subject of the manuscript they review. They decline invitations outside their area of expertise or those they cannot complete on time.
• Reviewers who have a personal, professional, or financial relationship with the authors, or any other conflict of interest, inform the editor and withdraw from the review.
• Manuscripts under review are confidential documents. Reviewers do not share them with third parties, do not use their content in their own work, and do not upload them to AI tools.
• Reviews are objective, clear, and constructive, and contain no personal criticism of the authors. Recommendations for rejection or revision are supported by detailed reasons.
• Reviewers notify the editor if they notice an ethical concern such as plagiarism, questionable data, or duplicate publication.
• Reviewers take the journal's reviewer guidelines and publication ethics principles into account.
5. Responsibilities of Editors
• Editors base their decisions solely on the scientific quality and originality of the work and its fit with the journal's scope. The authors' gender, ethnicity, beliefs, nationality, institutional affiliation, or political views do not influence decisions.
• Each manuscript is sent to at least two independent reviewers with expertise in the subject. Editors protect the confidentiality of the double-blind review process; communication between reviewers and authors is conducted through the editor.
• An editor withdraws from the review of their own manuscript or of any manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest, and another editor handles the process. Manuscripts by editorial board members undergo the same peer review process as all other submissions.
• Editors keep information obtained in the course of their duties confidential and do not use their position for personal or academic gain.
• The reasons for rejection are communicated clearly to authors.
• Editors investigate allegations of misconduct in accordance with the COPE flowcharts.
6. Misconduct, Corrections, and Retractions
• Allegations of misconduct, with supporting reasons and documents, may be reported to the editorial office at [email]. Allegations are investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines. Authors are asked for an explanation, and their institutions are informed when necessary.
• Manuscripts found to involve misconduct during the review process are rejected.
• When a problem is identified in a published article, one of the following actions is taken depending on its nature: a correction notice is published, an expression of concern is published, or the article is retracted.
• Retracted articles are not deleted. They remain accessible, marked “Retracted” and accompanied by a notice explaining the reason.
• Appeals: Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a reasoned appeal. The appeal is evaluated by an editor who was not involved in the original decision, and an additional reviewer may be consulted if needed. The decision on the appeal is final.
• Complaints: Complaints about the journal's processes, editors, or reviewers are sent to [email] and are reviewed by the editorial board.
7. Publication Policy
Open access and fees
TBPD is an open-access journal. Articles are freely available to everyone immediately upon publication. The journal charges no fees of any kind for the review, typesetting, or publication of manuscripts. Authors receive no royalties for published articles.
Copyright
By submitting a manuscript, authors agree to transfer its copyright to TBPD and sign the Copyright Transfer Form. Authors retain the right to reproduce the work for their own purposes, to use it in their own books and articles, and to post the accepted version of the manuscript on personal websites or in institutional open-access repositories, provided that it is not sold. Any such posting must cite the original publication in the journal.
Publication frequency and language
• TBPD is published twice a year, in January and July. In addition, one special issue is published each year. Articles in the special issue undergo the same peer review as those in regular issues.
• The languages of publication are Turkish and English. Articles in Turkish must include an English title, abstract, and keywords. References are written in the Latin alphabet.
Article types
The journal publishes quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research, case reports, review and theoretical articles, and book reviews. Work derived from conference presentations, graduate theses, or projects is also accepted within these categories, provided that its origin is stated in the manuscript. Submissions must fall within the journal's Aims and Scope.
Review process
1. Initial screening: The editor assesses the manuscript for fit with the scope, originality, compliance with the author guidelines, and the similarity report. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria are returned to the authors or rejected without external review.
2. Peer review: Manuscripts that pass initial screening are assigned to a section editor, who sends them to at least two independent reviewers. Review is double-blind: authors and reviewers do not know each other's identities.
3. Reviewer recommendations: Reviewers recommend acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. If the reviewers' opinions differ substantially, a third reviewer is consulted.
4. Revision: Authors submit the revised manuscript together with a response letter explaining how they addressed each reviewer comment.
5. Final decision: The editorial board makes the final decision based on the reviewer reports and the section editor's recommendation. Accepted articles are sent to the authors for proofreading after typesetting.
Submission
• Manuscripts are accepted only through DergiPark (dergipark.org.tr) in Word format (.doc or .docx). Manuscripts sent by email or other means are not considered.
• Manuscripts that do not follow the author guidelines are returned to the authors without review.
• The following files are uploaded at submission: the manuscript file without author information, the title page, the Copyright Transfer Form, and, for research requiring ethics approval, the Ethics Committee Approval Document.
Disclaimer
Authors bear full scientific and legal responsibility for their published articles. The views expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the journal, its editorial board, or the Psychotherapy Institute.