Editorial Principles

1.  Cyprus Journal publishes academic studies in fields such as education, language, religion, culture, literature, folklore, history, anthropology, and sociology, provided that they concern Cyprus.
2. Only submissions prepared in Turkish and English are accepted to the journal.
3. Submitted articles must align with the aim and scope of the journal.
4. Submissions that are original, unpublished, not under review by another journal, and whose content and submission have been approved by each author are accepted for evaluation.
5. The copyright and publication rights of the author(s) are reserved.
6. Submissions must be prepared in accordance with the writing guidelines of the journal.
7. Articles must be submitted electronically via the "Submit Article" tab on the journal website.
8. All documents and files must be submitted as Word documents (.doc or .docx).
9. Articles that do not use Chicago or APA 6 Citation Style will be returned to the author for revision.
10. Manuscripts exceeding the word limit will be returned to the author for word count reduction.
11. Articles must include a Turkish and English abstract of 125–170 words and 5–8 keywords to facilitate electronic searching. This word limit applies to the Turkish abstract. The English abstract may be longer, provided it remains identical in content to the Turkish abstract.
12. All expenses of the journal are covered by the Publisher. Article publication and process management in the journal are free of charge. No processing fee or submission fee is charged for articles submitted or accepted for publication.
13. After an article is submitted to the Journal for publication, no author's name can be removed from the author list, no new name can be added as an author, and the author order cannot be changed without the written consent of all authors.
14. This journal checks submitted works for plagiarism. Plagiarism, duplication, fake authorship/denied authorship, data fabrication, article slicing, salami slicing publication, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflicts of interest are considered unethical behaviors. All articles that do not comply with accepted ethical standards will be retracted. This includes articles containing potential irregularities or improprieties detected after publication.
15. This journal checks submitted works for plagiarism: Articles that pass the preliminary check are scanned for plagiarism using intihal.net software. If plagiarism/self-plagiarism is detected, the authors are informed. Editors may subject the article to plagiarism checking at various stages of the evaluation or production process if necessary. High similarity rates may lead to the rejection of an article before and even after acceptance. This rate is expected to be less than 20%. For articles derived from dissertations/theses, the similarity rate cannot exceed 30%.
16. Double-Blind Peer Review: Following the plagiarism check, eligible articles are evaluated by the editor-in-chief in terms of originality, methodology, the importance of the subject addressed, and compliance with the journal's scope. The editor ensures that the articles undergo a fair double-blind peer review and, if the article complies with formal criteria, submits the incoming text for evaluation to at least two referees from Turkey and/or abroad.
17. Publication Decision: If the referees deem it necessary, revisions are made by the author. The Editorial Board decides whether the text revised by the author will be published.
18. An average waiting time of 10 weeks is expected from article submission to publication.
19. Persistent Article Identifier: A DOI is assigned to all published articles as a persistent article identifier.
20. Articles published in this journal are digitally archived in LOCKSS. The LOCKSS system has permission to collect, preserve, and serve this Access Archive Unit.

Publication Ethics Statement Correction, Retraction, Statement of Concern Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors that do not affect the findings, interpretations, and conclusions are detected in the published article. Editors should consider retracting the article in case of major errors/violations that invalidate the findings and conclusions. If there is a possibility of research or publication misconduct by the authors; if there is evidence that the findings are unreliable and the authors' institutions have not investigated the incident, or if the prospective investigation appears unfair or inconclusive, editors should consider issuing a statement of concern. COPE and ICMJE guidelines are taken into account regarding corrections, retractions, or statements of concern.

Plagiarism Action Plan and Journal Measures The journal respects intellectual property and aims to protect and encourage the original works of its authors. Manuscripts containing plagiarism violate standards of quality, research, and innovation. Therefore, all authors submitting articles to the journal are expected to comply with ethical standards and avoid plagiarism in any form. If an author is suspected of plagiarism in a submitted or published article, the journal's Ethics Editor first examines the work. Subsequently, this work is reviewed by the Editorial Board. The Journal then contacts the author(s) to submit their explanations within two weeks. If the Journal receives no response from the author within the specified period, it contacts the university to which the author is affiliated and requests an investigation into the claim.

The journal will take the following serious measures against published articles found to contain plagiarism:

1. The journal will immediately contact the university to which the author(s) is affiliated for definitive action regarding the relevant author.
2. The journal will remove the PDF copy of the published article from its website and disable all links to the full-text article. The phrase Plagiarized Article will be added to the title of the published article.
3. The journal will disable the author account and reject all future submissions by the author for 3 years.

This journal checks submitted works for plagiarism: Articles passing preliminary control are scanned for plagiarism using intihal.net software. If plagiarism/self-plagiarism is detected, the authors are informed. Editors may subject the article to plagiarism checking at various stages of the evaluation or production process if necessary. High similarity rates may lead to the rejection of an article before and even after acceptance. This rate is expected to be less than 20%. For articles derived from dissertations/theses, the similarity rate cannot exceed 30%.

Publication Ethics Policy This journal checks submitted works for plagiarism. The journal adheres to national and international standards regarding research and publication ethics. It complies with the Press Law (a), the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (b), and the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive (c). Furthermore, it has adopted the International Principles of Ethical Publishing (d) published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

a) Press Law, https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuatmetin/1.5.5187.pdf

b) Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuatmetin/1.3.5846.pdf

c) Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Kurumsal/mevzuat/bilimsel-arastirma-ve-etik-yonetmeligi.aspx

d) Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.12

The publication processes implemented in Cyprus Journal form the essential foundation for the impartial and reputable development and distribution of knowledge. The processes applied in this direction directly reflect the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions supporting them. Peer-reviewed studies embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important for all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, referees, and editors) to comply with standards regarding ethical principles. Within the scope of publication ethics, Cyprus Journal expects all stakeholders to bear the following ethical responsibilities.

The ethical duties and responsibilities below have been prepared taking into account the open-access guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (See COPE Guidelines and COPE Flowcharts).

If cases such as manipulation, distortion, or fabrication of data used in articles are detected, this situation will be officially reported to the institution where the article's author works, and the article will be rejected. Cyprus Journal reserves the right to request output files regarding analysis results from authors based on feedback provided by the editor and/or referees.

If the work prepared for publication has been produced from a book chapter, unpublished conference paper, or a master's or doctoral thesis, this matter must be specified on the first page of the work in both Turkish and English.

Example: "This study was prepared based on the master's thesis/doctoral dissertation titled '...' presented/completed by us on [date]." / "This article is extracted from my master's thesis/PhD dissertation entitled '...', (Master's Thesis/PhD Dissertation, ..... University, Ankara/Turkey, 2021)."

Example: "This paper is the final version of an earlier announcement called '...', not previously printed, but orally presented at a symposium called '...', the content of which has now been developed and partially changed." / "This paper is the final version of an earlier announcement called '...', not previously printed, but orally presented at a symposium called '...', the content of which has now been developed and partially changed."

In order for articles produced from conference papers to be evaluated, the author must submit their article along with a physically signed commitment letter stating: "My study has not been published previously and will not be published elsewhere." Indeed, duplication/redundant publication/scientific deception/multiple publication is an offense. According to the TÜBİTAK Publication Ethics Committee, redundant publication is submitting or publishing the same research results to more than one journal for publication. If an article has been previously evaluated and published, publications other than this are considered redundant publications.

Click for the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive.

Click for the TÜBİTAK Research and Publication Ethics Board Regulation.

Obtaining Ethics Committee Approval TR Dizin Journal Evaluation criteria were updated to take effect as of 2020, and articles regarding the ethics committee permission required in scientific research have been detailed. The documents and information requested under the heading of ethical rules for "studies requiring ethics committee permission" are not expected to be applied to studies submitted, under review, or accepted in previous years. It will be mandatory for publications whose process began in 2020.

TR Dizin Committee Decision: Although ethics committee approval has been requested by TR DİZİN since 2020, there are studies for which ethics committee approval must be obtained in all circumstances in terms of scientific research ethics. When a scale is used, permission must be requested from the scale owners, informed consent must be obtained from participants, and ethics committee permission must be obtained. Statements regarding these situations must be included in the articles.

Publishing an article in a peer-reviewed journal is a necessary building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. This is a direct reflection of the quality of work of the authors and the institutions supporting them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody scientific methods. Therefore, agreeing on standards of expected ethical behavior is important for all parties involved in the act of publishing: author, journal editor, referee, and publisher:

Actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics are as follows: a) Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, applications, writings, figures, or works of others as one's own, partially or fully, without proper scientific citation to the owners;

b) Fabrication: Producing data not based on research, arranging or altering the submitted or published work based on unreal data, reporting or publishing them, or presenting unconducted research as if it had been conducted;

c) Falsification: Distorting research records and obtained data, presenting methods, devices, and materials not used in the research as if they were used, omitting data that do not fit the research hypothesis, manipulating data and/or results to align with relevant theories or assumptions, or falsifying or shaping research results in line with the interests of supporting persons and institutions;

ç) Redundant Publication: Presenting multiple publications containing the same results of a research project as separate works in associate professorship examinations and academic promotions;

d) Salami Slicing: Presenting the results of a research project by improperly dividing them into pieces in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and publishing them in numerous publications without citing each other as separate works in associate professorship examinations and academic promotions;

e) Unfair Authorship: Including persons who made no active contribution among the authors, excluding persons who made active contributions, changing author ordering without justification and inappropriately, removing names of active contributors during publication or in subsequent editions, or using one's influence to be included among authors despite having no active contribution.

Other types of ethical violations include: a) Failing to state supporting persons, institutions, or organizations and their contributions in publications resulting from funded research;

b) Using theses or studies that have not yet been presented or defended and accepted as sources without the owner's permission;

c) Failing to comply with ethical rules in research conducted on humans and animals, and failing to respect patient rights in publications;

ç) Acting contrary to relevant legislation provisions in biomedical and other clinical research involving human subjects;

d) Sharing information contained in a work assigned for review with others prior to publication without the explicit consent of the work's owner;

e) Misusing resources, spaces, facilities, and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research;

f) Making groundless, unwarranted, and deliberate allegations of ethical violation;

g) Publishing data obtained in surveys and attitude research conducted within the scope of a scientific study without the explicit consent of participants, or without obtaining institutional permission if the research is to be conducted in an institution;

ğ) Harming animal health and ecological balance in research and experiments;

h) Failing to obtain written permissions from authorized units prior to starting research and experiments;

ı) Engaging in studies contrary to the provisions of legislation or international conventions to which Turkey is a party regarding relevant research and experiments;

i) Failure by researchers and authorities to fulfill the duty to inform and warn relevant parties regarding potential harmful applications of scientific research;

j) Failing to use data and information obtained from other persons and institutions to the extent and in the manner permitted in scientific studies, failing to respect the confidentiality of this information, and failing to ensure its protection;

k) Making false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions (YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 4).

Responsibilities of Stakeholders

Our readers and stakeholders may report any significant errors or violations of scientific research and publication ethics observed in articles published in Cyprus Journal by sending an email to cyprus@asbu.edu.tr. We welcome such notifications as opportunities for our improvement and aim to respond quickly and constructively.

a) Responsibilities of Editors

The editors and field editors of Cyprus Journal will ensure the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the principles of the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, and the COPE Publication Ethics Flowcharts developed for potential cases of publication ethics misuse or violation:

• Impartiality and Publisher Independence: Editors evaluate submitted article proposals based on their alignment with the journal's scope and considering the importance and originality of the work. Editors do not consider the race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality, or political views of the authors submitting the article proposal. Institutions other than the journal's editorial board cannot influence correction or publication decisions. Editors take care to ensure that published issues contribute to readers, researchers, practitioners, and the scientific field, and are of an original nature.
• Independence: The relationship between editors (Editor and Associate Editors) and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. According to the written agreement between editors and the publisher, all decisions of the editors are independent of the publisher and journal owner. Editors must reject incomplete or erroneous research that does not comply with journal policy, publication rules, and standards without being under any influence.
• Confidentiality: Editors do not share information about a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and editorial board. They ensure that articles evaluated by at least two referees are assessed according to the double-blind peer review system and keep reviewers confidential.
• Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors and editorial board members will not use unpublished information in a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the explicit written consent of the authors. Editors should not have a conflict of interest regarding articles they accept or reject.
• Publication Decision: Editors ensure that all articles accepted for publication undergo peer review by at least two domain-expert referees. Editors are responsible for deciding which of the submitted articles will be published based on the validity of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, referee comments, and such legal requirements. Editors hold the responsibility and authority to accept or reject articles and must exercise this authority appropriately and in a timely manner.
• Ethical Concerns: Editors will take measures when ethical concerns arise regarding a submitted manuscript or published article. Indeed, they continue business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards. Every reported unethical publishing behavior will be investigated, even if it comes to light years after publication. Editors follow COPE Flowcharts when ethical concerns arise. In cases of significant ethical issues, corrections or retractions may be applied, or concerns regarding the matter may be published in the journal.
• Cooperation with Journal Boards: Editors ensure that all advisory committee members advance processes in accordance with publication policies and guidelines. They inform advisory board members about publication policies and ensure advisory board members evaluate works independently. They may contribute new advisory board members and decide appropriately. They should send works appropriate to the expertise of advisory board members for evaluation. They regularly interact with the advisory board and organize regular meetings with the editorial board regarding publication policies and journal development.

b) Responsibilities of Authors

1. Reporting standards: Authors of original research should ensure accurate presentation of the work done and results, followed by an objective discussion of the work's significance. Article proposals should contain sufficient detail and references.
2. Data access and retention: Authors are required to retain raw data of their work. When necessary, they should present it for editorial review if requested by the journal.
3. Originality and plagiarism: Authors should submit entirely original works, and if they have used the work or words of others, this must be appropriately cited. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Therefore, a similarity report is requested from all authors submitting articles to the journal.
4. Multiple, duplicate, redundant, or concurrent submission/publication: Authors should not submit an article previously published in another journal for consideration. Concurrent submission of an article to multiple journals is unethical publishing behavior and unacceptable.
5. Authorship of the paper: Only individuals meeting authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the content of the paper. These authorship criteria are: (i) made contributions to design, implementation, data collection, or analysis stages, (ii) drafted the paper, made significant intellectual contributions, or critically revised it, or (iii) saw, approved the final version of the article, and agreed to its submission for publication. The corresponding author should ensure all authors (according to the definition above) are included in the author list and declare that all authors have seen and agreed to the final version of the article submitted for publication.
6. Disclosure and conflicts of interest: Authors should disclose conflicts of interest at the earliest possible stage (typically by submitting a disclosure form during article submission and including a statement in the manuscript). All financial support sources for the work should be declared (including grant/funding number or other license number, if any).
7. Peer review process: Authors are obligated to participate in the peer review process and fully cooperate by promptly responding to editors' requests for raw data, clarifications, proof of ethical approval, and copyright permissions. In the case of an initial "revisions required" decision, authors must systematically revise and resubmit their manuscript based on reviewer comments by the given deadline.
8. Fundamental errors in published works: When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, they are obligated to promptly notify journal editors or publishers and cooperate with journal editors or publishers to publish an erratum or retract the paper. If editors or publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, the author must promptly retract or correct the article or provide evidence to the journal editors regarding the paper's accuracy.

c) Responsibilities of Referees

1. Contribution to editorial decisions: Referees assist editors in editorial decisions and assist authors in improving their articles through editorial communication. Missing articles, works, sources, citations, rules, and similar shortcomings related to the article should be pointed out.
2. Promptness: Any referee who feels unqualified to review an article proposal or knows that the article review cannot occur in a timely manner should immediately notify the editors and decline the review invitation so that a new referee assignment can be made.
3. Confidentiality: All article proposals submitted for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such. They must not be shown to or discussed with others unless authorized by the editor. This also applies to referees who decline the review invitation.
4. Standards of objectivity: Comments regarding article proposals should be made objectively, and recommendations should be formulated so that authors can use them to improve the paper. Personal criticism directed at authors is inappropriate.
5. Acknowledgment of sources: Referees should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. The referee should also notify the editor of any substantial similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any other paper (published or unpublished).
6. Conflicts of interest: Conflicts of interest must be disclosed to the editor. There should be no conflict of interest between referees and stakeholders of the article under evaluation.

Blind Peer Review Processes

Editors are required to implement the "Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process" policies contained in journal publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that every work undergoes a fair, impartial, and timely evaluation process.

Quality Assurance

Editors are responsible for ensuring that every article published in the journal is published in accordance with journal publication policies and international standards.

Protection of Personal Data

Editors are obligated to ensure the protection of personal data concerning subjects or visuals included in evaluated works. They are tasked with rejecting the work unless explicit written consent of individuals used in the studies is documented. Additionally, editors are responsible for protecting the individual data of authors, referees, and readers.

Precautions Against Possible Misconduct and Malpractice

Editors are required to take precautions against potential misconduct and malpractice operations. Meticulously and objectively investigating complaints regarding this situation, as well as sharing findings on the matter, are among the editor's responsibilities.

Ensuring Academic Publishing Integrity

Editors must ensure prompt correction of errors, inconsistencies, or misleading statements contained in works.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Editors are obligated to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and author(s) in possible infringements. Furthermore, editors are required to take necessary precautions to ensure content in all published articles does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of other publications.

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion

Editors should consider convincing criticisms regarding works published in the Journal and adopt a constructive attitude toward these criticisms. They should grant authors of criticized works the right to reply and should not ignore or exclude works containing negative results.

Complaints

Editors are required to carefully examine complaints received from authors, referees, or readers and respond in an informative and explanatory manner.

Political and Commercial Concerns

The journal owner, publisher, and any other political or commercial elements do not affect the independent decision-making of editors.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors guarantee that the publication process of works is completed independently and neutrally, taking into account conflicts of interest between author(s), referees, and other editors. In multi-authored works, a contribution rate statement, support and acknowledgement statement (if any), and conflict statement must be included at the end of the work following completion of the referee process (see Article Writing Template). Additionally, upon completion of the referee process, authors are requested to fill out and upload a conflict of interest disclosure form to the system.

If individuals serving on our journal boards publish an article in our journal, all their duties in the corresponding issue are suspended. Violation of the blind peer review system is strictly prohibited under any circumstances. Such publications cannot exceed 1/3 of the total articles in that issue.

If You Encounter an Unethical Situation

If you encounter any matter contrary to publication ethics in our journal, please write to the following email address: volkan.nurcin@asbu.edu.tr