Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology (GUJST) is committed to safeguarding academic integrity and the reliability of the scholarly record throughout the submission, peer-review, editorial decision-making, publication, and post-publication processes.
The journal’s general publication ethics framework is based on the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, jointly developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The official full text is available on the COPE website and the WAME website.
For manuscripts involving medical, biomedical, or health-related research, the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) apply where relevant.
Research involving human participants, identifiable human material, or identifiable human data must comply with applicable national legislation, institutional ethics committee requirements, and the current WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants.
References to these external standards do not imply membership, accreditation, certification, or endorsement by the organizations concerned. The journal applies the most recent official versions available at the time of manuscript submission.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submitted manuscripts are original, have not been previously published, and are not under consideration by another journal. Any form of academic misconduct, including plagiarism, data fabrication, or unethical research practices, is strictly prohibited.
Editors and reviewers are expected to conduct the evaluation process with fairness, confidentiality, and academic integrity.
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology has adopted the principle of full compliance with research and publication ethics, and in the studies sent to our journal for evaluation within this scope, it is mandatory to obtain the approval of the relevant ethics committee in cases requiring ethics committee approval. Regarding the approval of the ethics committee, information such as the name of the committee, the date of approval, and the decision or document number should be clearly stated; this information should be added to the system at the first upload stage together with the article file. In addition, if requested by the editorial board, the ethics committee approval document should also be shared. Ethics committee approval is mandatory for qualitative or quantitative research on humans such as surveys, interviews, focus group studies, observations, clinical trials, animal experiments, biomedical studies requiring special data, and research that falls within the scope of personal data protection. In addition, in studies where intellectual and artistic works are used, it is mandatory to fully comply with the relevant copyright regulations. In this context, the necessary permissions regarding the copyrights of the visual, audio, written or digital materials used must be obtained and this must be clearly stated in the study.
A study submitted to our journal should not have been previously published in any other journal in any language and should not be under review in another journal simultaneously. All manuscripts submitted to the journal should be prepared in accordance with the general ethical rules set by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines (https://publicationethics.org). Authors, reviewers and editors must adhere to international standards in line with COPE's recommendations and general publication requirements. In this context, some important issues are clearly stated below.
Definitions and Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief and Editors
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is based on originality, scientific contribution, methodological soundness and clarity of expression in the articles to be published. Editorial decisions are made in line with the principle of impartiality and in harmony with the purpose and scope of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief must ensure that every manuscript submitted to Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is reviewed for its scientific content, regardless of the author's race, gender, religious belief, ethnicity, citizenship or political philosophy. The Editor-in-Chief and editors evaluate the publications submitted to the journal primarily by taking into account the originality, scientificity, contribution to the field, academic qualities such as comprehensibility in terms of language, and their suitability for the scope of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief and editors are responsible for accepting, rejecting or requesting improvements from the author. In some cases, editors may ask the author for corrections in more than one round before making a decision. Editors forward the evaluation results to the editor-in-chief as soon as possible. The editor-in-chief carefully considers the whole process at the decision stage and finalizes the final evaluation.
Editors strictly adhere to the code of ethics and editorial policies and support freedom of thought and scientific diversity. Protect the personal data and intellectual property rights of authors, reviewers and readers. Reviewer assignments are made in accordance with expertise, credentials are kept confidential, and conflicts of interest are not allowed. We intervene in reviews that are unscientific or exceed the limits of courtesy. The entire evaluation process is transparent, fair and timely. Studies requiring ethics committee approval are rejected unless documented. Studies with negative results are also evaluated within the scope of scientific contribution. The Editor-in-Chief works in effective communication with the editorial board, guides the process and contributes to improve the quality of the journal.
The Editor-in-Chief and editorial board members cannot share any information about a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, referees, potential referees, language editors, layout editor and other editorial advisors.
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology Editor-in-Chief and members of the editorial board may not use unpublished material from a submitted manuscript for their own research without the express written permission of the author. The editor-in-chief assigns another member of the editorial board to carry out the preliminary review and evaluation stages of the publication in cases where the editors have conflicts of interest arising from cooperation or connections with any of the author(s), company(s) or institution(s). The editor-in-chief, together with the publisher, reviews any behavior reported to be in violation of publication ethics, regardless of the date of publication. In the event that an unethical situation is detected according to COPE procedures, it is responsible for issuing a statement that there is an error, inconsistency or misdirection related to the relevant publication.
Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers
The evaluation process in Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is carried out with the principle of double blind reviewing. Referees do not communicate directly with the authors. Evaluation forms and referee reports are sent to the author(s) through the journal management system by the editor. Referee evaluation helps the editor to make decisions about the manuscript and to improve the manuscript through communication with the author through the editor.
Reviewers should use constructive and courteous language in the review process and avoid derogatory or offensive remarks. Comments should be objective and limited to the scope of the work and should not be influenced by religion, language, race, political views or commercial concerns. Impartiality and confidentiality are essential. If there is a conflict of interest, the reviewer should not review and should inform the editor. If the study is outside his/her area of expertise, he/she should decline the review invitation. The review invitation must be responded positively or negatively in a timely manner; accepted reviews must be completed within the deadline.
All studies received for review should be treated as confidential documents. They should not be shown to or discussed with others unless authorized by the editor-in-chief or editor. The Editor-in-Chief or editor may grant such authorization only in exceptional circumstances that may contribute to peer review.
Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not agree to review manuscripts in which there are conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors.
Reviews by referees should be conducted in an objective manner. Personal criticism of authors is not acceptable. Reviewers should clearly express their views with appropriate supporting arguments. Any invited reviewer who feels unable to review the manuscript, or who knows that it will not be possible to review in a timely manner, should notify the editor as soon as possible so that alternative reviewers can be contacted. Reviewers should inform the editors if they recognize any similarities to any previously published work. They should also inform the authors if there are any quotations that are not cited in the study.
Author(s) Duties and Responsibilities
Authors are obliged to follow the journal's spelling rules and manuscript templates. Authors must ensure that the submitted work is completely original. Authors should confirm that the article has not been previously published elsewhere. Authors should cite works that have been appropriately cited. Authors must sign and submit the Article Copyright and Transfer of Copyright Form, which states that the work is original and prevents copyright infringement. The results of a research should be presented in a single publication while maintaining scientific integrity and quality. Information and raw data should be provided when requested by the editorial office. Author contributions should be clearly and accurately written in the section specified in the article writing rules.
All authors mentioned in the article must have contributed significantly to the research. The author responsible for correspondence submitting the manuscript to the journal ensures that all contributing co-authors are included and that non-contributors are not included in the author list. No additions or deletions of authors are made during or after the manuscript evaluation phase. Authors should inform the editors of any conflict of interest that could be interpreted as influencing the manuscript. When an error is detected, regardless of the stage of the manuscript (review, early appearance, published), the editor should be notified for correction or retraction.
If the study involves chemicals, procedures or equipment with any unusual hazards in their use, the authors should clearly indicate these in the manuscript. If the study involves subjects and guinea pigs, the authors must act in accordance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines for all procedures performed in the study and must have obtained the approval of the relevant committees/organizations. In studies that require documents such as ethics committee permission, data use permission, and participant approval, these permissions should be submitted in full; in cases where ethics committee permission is not required, this should be clearly stated in the method section and on the last page of the article.
When the author(s) notices a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, the author responsible for correspondence is obliged to notify the Editor-in-Chief immediately in order to withdraw the article or publish it with appropriate correction. Authors are expected to avoid unnecessary communication with the editorial office during the average review period announced on the journal's website.
Duties and Responsibilities of the Publisher
Gümüşhane University, as the publisher of the Journal of Science and Technology, acts in line with the open access policy that supports the free sharing of information. All articles published in the journal offer free and unlimited access to readers. In this way, it is aimed to disseminate scientific knowledge and present it for public benefit.
The publisher does not charge any fee (application fee, processing fee, page fee, etc.) from the authors in the application, evaluation, publication and all subsequent processes. It is one of the basic principles that the scientific contributions of the authors are published without any financial obstacle.
All content published in the journal is stored using the DergiPark infrastructure for long-term preservation and archiving and backed up through the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system. This guarantees the continuity and security of digital content.
The publishing organization is obliged to ensure that the journal processes are carried out transparently, impartially and in accordance with academic ethical principles. It also provides the technical, administrative and ethical infrastructure necessary for the journal to operate in accordance with national and international publishing standards.
Copyright, Reuse and Permissions Policy
The copyright of articles accepted for publication in the Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is transferred to Gümüşhane University under the Article Copyright Transfer Form signed by the authors. The rights retained by the authors as specified in the Copyright Transfer Form remain unaffected. Permission from the journal/publisher is required to reproduce figures, tables, charts, photographs, or similar materials published in the journal for which Gümüşhane University holds the copyright in another scientific or academic publication.
Permission requests should include the title and authors of the original article, year of publication, volume and issue information, DOI, a clear identification of the material to be reproduced (e.g., figure or table number), and information about the new work in which the material will be used. Where permission is granted, the original source of the reproduced material must be clearly and fully acknowledged, and the original article must be appropriately cited. Permission is limited to the material and purpose specified in the request.
Permission granted by the journal/publisher does not extend to any third-party copyrighted material incorporated into an article. Permission to reuse such material must be obtained separately from the relevant copyright holder, and obtaining such permission is the responsibility of the person wishing to reuse the material. Requests for reuse for scientific and academic purposes are considered free of charge unless otherwise specified. Written permission provided by the editorial office/publisher via e-mail is considered sufficient evidence of permission unless otherwise stated.
Retraction Policy
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scientific record. In cases where serious issues are identified in published articles, the journal may retract the article. Retraction may be considered under the following circumstances:
- Significant scientific errors or misleading findings
- Data fabrication, data manipulation, or falsification
- Plagiarism or other ethical violations
- Duplicate publication in another journal
- Copyright infringement
- Violations of research or publication ethics
The decision to retract an article is made by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board after careful evaluation. When necessary, the authors’ institutions or relevant authorities may be contacted. Retracted articles will not be removed from the journal archive. Instead, the article will remain accessible with a clear “Retracted Article” notice on the article page and PDF file, and the reason for retraction will be clearly stated. The retraction process follows the international ethical standards and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
COPE retraction guidelines: https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines
Correction and Erratum Policy
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is committed to maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the scientific record. When errors are identified in published articles, the journal may issue corrections to address these issues. Corrections may be issued in cases such as:
- Typographical or technical errors
- Errors in tables, figures, or data presentation
- Incorrect or incomplete information in the text
- Editorial errors that occurred during the publication process
Corrections may be published in two forms:
Erratum: Issued to correct errors introduced during the editorial or publishing process.
Corrigendum: Issued to correct errors made by the authors.
Correction requests may be submitted by authors, editors, reviewers, or readers. The editorial board evaluates the request and decides whether a correction should be published. Published corrections are linked to the original article and remain permanently accessible in the journal archive with the original article’s DOI.
Complaint Policy
In the event that a violation of ethical principles is detected about the articles published or in early view in Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology and the editor, referee or authors, this situation should be reported to the editorial office immediately. Notifications regarding ethical violations should be sent to the e-mail address gufbed@gumushane.edu.tr in order to make the necessary evaluations. Notifications will be handled within the framework of the principle of confidentiality and the relevant processes will be carried out transparently in line with the rules of publication ethics.
Open Access Policy
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology advocates that scientific knowledge should be accessible to everyone. In this direction, the journal publishes the content of the journal as open access by adopting the principle that making scientific research free of charge to the public will increase the sharing and impact of knowledge on a global scale . All published articles are available free of charge and unlimited access via the journal's website and the internet, and no subscription or access fee is charged to readers.
Open access does not mean that copyrighted materials published in the journal may be reused without restriction. Requests for reuse are evaluated in accordance with the provisions of the “Copyright, Reuse and Permissions Policy.”
Fee Policy
Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is based on accessibility and compliance with ethical principles in scientific publishing. In this context, no submission, evaluation or publication fee is charged for articles submitted to the journal. All articles that have completed the peer review process and are accepted for publication are made available online free of charge. Authors are under no financial obligation at any stage for the publication of their articles. In addition, all processes such as DOI assignment, page editing, language checks, graphic processing and similar processes performed during the preparation of the articles for publication are completely free of charge for the authors. This policy is implemented to promote equality among researchers and to support free access to scientific knowledge.
Institutional Author Quota Policy
To ensure editorial independence, transparency, and compliance with international indexing standards, the journal applies an institutional author quota. Manuscripts whose author(s) are affiliated with Gumushane University, as well as manuscripts authored by members of the journal’s editorial or advisory boards, are limited to a maximum of 10% of the articles published per volume/year.
Once the quota is reached, submissions falling within this scope will be returned at the editorial pre-evaluation stage without entering the peer-review process. This policy is applied independently of the scientific quality of the manuscript and is an integral part of the journal’s publication policy.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted Technologies Policy
The Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology adopts the following principles regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in scientific research and publication processes:
1. Scope
This policy applies only to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript writing process. AI-based scientific methods used for data analysis, modelling, or other aspects of research are excluded from this scope; such uses should be clearly described in the “Methods” section of the manuscript.
2. Principles of Use During the Writing Process
Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted tools solely for purposes such as grammar checking, spelling correction, readability enhancement, or stylistic improvement. The use of such tools must be conducted under human supervision, and authors are responsible for carefully reviewing and verifying the accuracy and consistency of all AI-generated content. AI tools or systems cannot be listed as authors, co-authors, or cited as sources. Authorship requires scientific contribution, responsibility, and oversight, qualities that can only be attributed to human researchers.
3. Declaration Requirement
If the author(s) have used any generative AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, etc.) or AI-assisted software during manuscript preparation, this must be clearly declared in the manuscript. Basic checks of grammar, spelling and punctuation need no declaration. The declaration should appear before the References section, following the format below:
Declaration of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process
During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL / SERVICE] for [PURPOSE]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed, edited, and approved the content as needed, and take full responsibility for the entire content of the manuscript.
If no AI tools were used in the writing process, this declaration does not need to be included.
4. Responsibility and Oversight
Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the content in their manuscripts. Editors reserve the right to request additional information or clarification if there is any suspicion of improper or excessive use of AI tools. If necessary, the manuscript may be removed from the review process or retracted after publication.
5. Policy Updates
Given the rapid development of AI technologies, this policy will be periodically reviewed and updated when necessary. Authors are required to comply with the most recent version of the policy in effect at the time of manuscript submission.
