Publication Ethics

CBU-SBED (Celal Bayar University-Health Sciences Institute Journal) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and scientific integrity throughout the editorial and publication process. The journal aims to advance knowledge in the health sciences by publishing high-quality, scientifically sound, and ethically conducted research evaluated through a fair, transparent, and impartial peer-review process.

All parties involved in the publication process—including authors, editors, reviewers, the publisher, and readers—are expected to comply with internationally recognized ethical principles and standards. Scientific misconduct, including but not limited to plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, image manipulation, and inappropriate authorship, is not tolerated. If evidence of scientific misconduct is identified at any stage of the editorial process, the manuscript will be rejected or retracted as appropriate, and the relevant institution(s) may be notified. The journal reserves the right to request the original data, statistical analyses, or supporting documentation from authors whenever necessary during the editorial or peer-review process.

CBU-SBED follows the recommendations and best practices of internationally recognized organizations and guidelines, including:

• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
• Council of Science Editors (CSE)
• World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
• World Medical Association (WMA), including the Declaration of Helsinki
• Council of Higher Education of Türkiye (YÖK) Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines
• Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine and its Additional Protocol concerning Biomedical Research
• Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines

The journal adheres to these principles in matters relating to authorship, editorial responsibilities, peer review, conflicts of interest, research integrity, intellectual property, corrections, retractions, and post-publication discussions.

Research Ethics

CBU-SBED requires all research involving humans or animals to be conducted in accordance with internationally accepted ethical principles and applicable national regulations. Respect for human dignity, participant rights, animal welfare, and scientific integrity constitutes the foundation of the journal's research ethics policy.

Ethics Committee Approval

Ethics Committee approval must be obtained before the commencement of studies requiring ethical review and must be clearly stated in the manuscript, together with the name of the approving committee, approval number, and approval date.

Ethics Committee approval is required for, but is not limited to, the following types of research:

• Studies involving human participants using qualitative or quantitative research methods, including questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observations, experimental studies, and similar data collection techniques.
• Clinical research involving human participants.
• Experimental or observational studies involving animals.
• Studies using human biological materials, tissues, medical records, or personal health data.
• Retrospective studies involving identifiable personal data in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.
• Any research requiring ethical approval under national or institutional regulations.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that informed consent has been obtained from all participants whenever required and that studies involving vulnerable populations have been conducted in accordance with applicable ethical standards.

Research involving human participants must comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant national regulations. Animal studies must be performed in accordance with internationally accepted standards for the care and use of laboratory animals and approved by the appropriate institutional ethics committee.

Failure to provide appropriate ethical approval or to comply with ethical requirements may result in rejection of the manuscript or withdrawal of a published article.

Publisher's Ethical Responsibilities

CBU-SBED (Celal Bayar University-Health Sciences Institute Journal) is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published by the Institute of Health Sciences of Manisa Celal Bayar University. The publisher is committed to supporting the dissemination of high-quality scientific research while ensuring the integrity, independence, and transparency of the editorial process. The journal operates on a non-profit basis and does not charge submission, processing, or publication fees.

The publisher is committed to:

• safeguarding editorial independence and ensuring that editorial decisions are made solely on scientific merit and ethical considerations;
• protecting the copyright and intellectual property rights of published content;
• preserving and archiving all published articles to ensure their long-term accessibility;
• supporting editors in maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity;
• taking appropriate action when allegations of research misconduct or ethical violations are raised; and
• encouraging authors, reviewers, editors, and readers to report suspected ethical concerns or misconduct.

Editors' Duties and Responsibilities

The Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board are responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and ethical standards of all manuscripts submitted to the journal. Editorial decisions are made independently, fairly, and without discrimination.

Editors are responsible for:

• evaluating manuscripts solely on the basis of their scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, ethical standards, and relevance to the journal's aims and scope;
• conducting an initial editorial assessment and rejecting manuscripts that are outside the journal's scope or fail to meet the journal's scientific or ethical standards;
• ensuring that all manuscripts undergo a fair, timely, and confidential double-blind peer-review process;
• selecting reviewers based on their scientific expertise while avoiding potential conflicts of interest;
• maintaining the confidentiality of authors, reviewers, and editorial communications throughout the review process;
• making editorial decisions independently and without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, political beliefs, institutional affiliation, or other personal characteristics of the authors;
• considering reviewers' recommendations carefully while retaining full responsibility for the final editorial decision;
• ensuring consistency in editorial decision-making and avoiding unnecessary reversal of previous editorial decisions unless substantial scientific or ethical concerns arise;
• identifying and appropriately managing conflicts of interest involving authors, reviewers, or editors, and requesting additional documentation, including ethics committee approval or supporting information, whenever necessary;
• ensuring that manuscripts supported by commercial organizations or funding agencies are evaluated according to the same scientific and ethical standards as all other submissions;
• investigating allegations of research misconduct, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, image manipulation, or other ethical concerns in accordance with COPE recommendations;
• providing authors with an opportunity to respond to allegations before making a final decision; and
• publishing corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or apologies whenever necessary to maintain the integrity of the scientific record.

Editors are expected to act transparently, objectively, and responsibly throughout the editorial process and to uphold the highest standards of publication ethics in accordance with internationally accepted guidelines.

Reviewers' Responsibilities

CBU-SBED employs a double-blind peer-review system in which the identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential throughout the evaluation process. All correspondence between reviewers and authors is handled exclusively through the journal's editorial management system.

Reviewers play a vital role in maintaining the scientific quality and integrity of the journal. By accepting a review invitation, reviewers agree to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, confidentiality, and ethical conduct.

Reviewers are expected to:

• accept review assignments only for manuscripts within their area of expertise and complete their evaluations within the requested timeframe;
• evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and solely on their scientific merit, originality, methodological quality, ethical standards, and relevance to the journal's scope;
• provide constructive, respectful, and evidence-based comments that assist authors in improving their manuscripts;
• avoid personal criticism or inappropriate language and maintain a professional and courteous tone throughout the review process;
• maintain the confidentiality of all manuscripts and related materials before, during, and after the review process;
• not use, share, reproduce, or disclose unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage;
• immediately inform the editors of any actual or potential conflict of interest and decline the review if impartial evaluation cannot be ensured;
• notify the editors of any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, image manipulation, unethical research practices, or other forms of scientific misconduct;
• destroy or permanently delete manuscript files after completing the review process in accordance with confidentiality requirements; and
• promptly inform the editorial office if circumstances arise that prevent completion of the review or require revision of their recommendations.

Authors' Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts submitted to CBU-SBED are original, scientifically rigorous, ethically conducted, and prepared in accordance with the journal's policies.

Authors are expected to:

• submit only original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal;
• ensure that all data presented are accurate, authentic, and honestly reported, without fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, or selective reporting;
• appropriately acknowledge and cite all sources in accordance with accepted academic citation standards;
• ensure that authorship accurately reflects substantial intellectual contributions to the study. Individuals who have not made a significant contribution should not be listed as authors, and all listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript before submission;
• disclose all financial support, funding sources, potential conflicts of interest, and any relationships that could influence the interpretation of the research;
• obtain all necessary permissions for copyrighted materials, questionnaires, scales, figures, photographs, or other copyrighted content included in the manuscript;
• obtain informed consent from research participants whenever required and clearly state this in the manuscript;
• obtain Ethics Committee approval for all studies involving human participants, animals, biological materials, or research requiring ethical review. The manuscript must include the name of the ethics committee, approval number, and approval date, and supporting documentation must be provided during submission;
• conduct research involving human participants in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable national regulations, and conduct animal research in accordance with internationally accepted animal welfare guidelines;
• promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief if a significant error or inaccuracy is identified in a submitted, accepted, or published article and cooperate fully in issuing a correction, corrigendum, or retraction when necessary; and
• cooperate with the editorial office by providing original data, study protocols, ethics approvals, or other supporting documentation when requested during the editorial or peer-review process.

Ethics Committee Approval

Ethics Committee approval is mandatory for all research requiring ethical review, including studies involving human participants, animals, biological materials, personal data, clinical research, surveys, interviews, observational studies, experimental research, and similar scientific investigations.

The ethics approval statement should include the name of the approving committee, approval number, and approval date and should appear in the Methods section as well as in the designated section of the manuscript during submission. A copy of the ethics approval document must also be uploaded through the journal's online submission system.

Review articles, editorials, and other manuscript types that do not require ethics committee approval should include a clear statement indicating that ethics approval was not required for the study.

Conflict of Interest and Copyright Policy

CBU-SBED is committed to ensuring transparency, integrity, and impartiality throughout the editorial and publication process. All participants in the publication process—including authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher—are expected to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence the evaluation, interpretation, or publication of a manuscript.

A conflict of interest may arise from financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could affect, or be perceived to affect, the objectivity of the research or editorial decision-making process.

Authors are required to disclose all relevant conflicts of interest and sources of financial support at the time of manuscript submission. Reviewers and editors must also declare any conflicts of interest and withdraw from the evaluation process whenever an impartial assessment cannot be ensured.

If a potential conflict of interest or ethical concern is identified during the editorial process, the journal may suspend the review process until the matter has been satisfactorily resolved. When necessary, the editorial office may request additional documentation, including ethics committee approval, informed consent forms, funding information, or other supporting documents.

Copyright

Authors retain the copyright of their published work. Upon acceptance for publication, authors grant CBU-SBED the right of first publication. Articles published in the journal may be shared, distributed, and cited provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the journal in accordance with the terms of the journal's Creative Commons license.

As part of the submission process, the corresponding author must upload a completed and signed Copyright Transfer and Conflict of Interest Declaration Form, signed by all authors.

Publication Fees

CBU-SBED is a fully open-access, non-profit scientific journal and does not charge any fees at any stage of the publication process. There are no submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), editorial processing fees, or publication fees.

All accepted articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and are made freely and permanently accessible to readers immediately upon publication. The journal is committed to promoting the unrestricted dissemination of scientific knowledge without financial barriers for authors or readers.

Early View

To facilitate the rapid dissemination of scientific findings, manuscripts that have successfully completed peer review, editorial processing, and production are published online as Early View articles before assignment to a specific journal issue.

Early View articles receive a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and are considered officially published and fully citable from the date of online publication.

Once assigned to a regular issue, the article is published with its final volume, issue, and page numbers. Minor editorial or formatting revisions may be incorporated into the final version; however, no substantive changes affecting the scientific content will be made after Early View publication.