Harran University Journal of Sciences adheres to the publication principles set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). Additionally, Harran University Journal of Sciences applies the publication principles set by DergiPark under the umbrella of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, where the journal is located. The language checks for articles published in Turkish and English are conducted by language editors appointed for both languages.
Human and Animal Rights
For experimental, clinical, and drug studies on humans, a declaration of ethical committee approval and compliance of the study protocol with international agreements (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki "Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects," amended October 2013) is required. For experimental animal studies, authors must state that the applied procedures comply with animal rights (Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals) and must have obtained animal ethics committee approval. The ethical committee approval document must be uploaded to the Harran University Journal of Sciences online article system, DergiPark, along with the article text.
Ethical committee approval, a declaration of compliance with the international guidelines mentioned above; and evidence of obtaining informed consent from the patient must be stated in the Materials and Methods section. These items are required for case reports where there is a risk that the data/media may reveal the patient's identity.
For individuals under 18, a consent form signed by both parents or the person's legal guardian or supervisor must be provided.
Ethical Statement Regarding the Use of Plant and Biological Materials
Authors must state that the collection, use, and trade of all plant and biological materials (seed, herbarium specimen, etc.) used in this study were carried out in accordance with relevant national and international laws, conventions, and institutional policies. All necessary permits for field studies (e.g., from the relevant ministry, forestry enterprise, or private landowners) must have been obtained. In the case of using endangered, protected status, or extinct species, authors are required to present valid permits or certificates specifically obtained for these species during the article submission. Authors will be asked to explicitly declare their compliance with these ethical rules in the 'Article Submission Form'.
Plagiarism and Other Violations
The quality of submitted data and analyses is an important matter for Harran University Journal of Sciences. Authors are obliged to provide datasets upon request from editors. Journal editors check the textual content for plagiarism and duplication using relevant software. By submitting their articles to this journal, authors are deemed to have accepted that the article may undergo plagiarism screening against previously published works. If plagiarism is detected prior to publication, the article will be rejected, and the authors will be subject to institutional sanctions. This information may be sent to the authors' institutions and other relevant institutions. Harran University Journal of Sciences does not accept articles that have been previously submitted for evaluation to another journal and/or previously published. Therefore, authors must ensure and declare in the cover letter that the article is not simultaneously submitted to any other journal. An exception to this rule is oral presentations or posters presented as abstracts at scientific conferences. It should be indicated if your article was previously presented as an oral presentation or poster at a scientific conference. This information should be added to the cover page or relevant field in the online article upload system, and details such as the name, date, and location of the conference where the abstract was published must be specified. All ethical, scientific, and legal responsibility for published works belongs to the authors. In the review conducted with plagiarism detection software, articles with a total similarity rate exceeding 20% will be returned to the author for correction without being evaluated. An article in the process cannot be submitted to or published in another journal.
Declarations and Conflict of Interest
All sources of financial support must be disclosed. All authors must declare whether there is a conflict of interest in the process of creating their work. Any kind of financial grant or other support received from individuals or institutions for a study must be disclosed to the Harran University Journal of Sciences Editorial Board. To declare a potential conflict of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form must be filled out and submitted by all authors contributing to the article. The journal's Editorial Board identifies potential conflicts of interest among editors, authors, and reviewers in accordance with COPE and ICMJE guidelines.
Conditions that provide financial or personal gain lead to a conflict of interest. The reliability of the scientific process and published articles is directly related to the objective consideration of conflicts of interest during the planning, implementation, writing, evaluation, editing, and publication of scientific work.
Financial relationships are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and inevitably affect the reputation of the journal, authors, and science. These conflicts may arise from personal relationships, academic competition, or intellectual approaches. Authors should avoid making agreements with sponsors that restrict their ability to access all study data or to analyze, interpret, prepare, and publish their articles, with a view to gaining profit or any other advantage. Editors who make the final decision on articles should have no personal, professional, or financial ties with any of the subjects on which they will decide. Authors should inform the editorial board of potential conflicts of interest to ensure their article is evaluated within an independent evaluation process and within the framework of ethical principles.
The Editor-in-Chief and Editors (Associate Editors) cannot submit articles, but field editors can submit articles provided they are subjected to the confidential peer-review process.
Our publication team works diligently to ensure the evaluation process is conducted impartially, taking all these situations into account.
Authorship and Declaration
We adopt the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria (JAMA. 1997; 277:927-934). For articles with two or more authors, each author must meet the necessary conditions for authorship by being actively and sufficiently involved in the conducted and reported work.
Other individuals contributing to the work should be acknowledged separately in the Acknowledgments section. In the cover letter accompanying submitted manuscripts, confirm that all authors meet both conditions.
The responsibility for compliance with international ethical principles, such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism (theft), salami slicing, gift authorship, ghost authorship, and duplication (multiple publication of a single work) in articles submitted to our journal lies with the authors. If such a situation is detected before or after publication of any research, the article will be withdrawn from the journal.
Editors' Authorship
The peer-review process of Harran University Journal of Sciences is conducted confidentially for all parties. Editors cannot submit their own articles to the journal except for editorial writings, as confidentiality cannot be ensured during the evaluation process. Field editors, however, can submit their own articles to Harran University Journal of Sciences. Articles by field editors are subjected to confidential peer review, like other authors' articles. Editors-in-Chief and field editors are obliged to inform the Journal management if there is any conflict of interest among themselves. Administrators cannot advise and/or pressure editors regarding articles submitted to Harran University Journal of Sciences. Articles should only be submitted for evaluation after obtaining the written consent of all contributing authors. The author list should include all individuals who can be listed as authors, in accordance with ICMJE and COPE authorship policies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Policy for Authors
In line with the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Harran University Journal of Sciences acknowledges the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in academic writing and research. However, to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity, AI usage must comply with ethical publishing standards.
Therefore, authors must adhere to the following rules:
1. Artificial Intelligence Tools Cannot Be Listed as Authors
It follows COPE's view that artificial intelligence tools cannot fulfill the author role and therefore cannot be listed as an author on any submission. Only individuals meeting the authorship criteria (e.g., significant contribution, accountability, and approval of the final version) should be named as authors.
2. Disclosure of AI Use is Mandatory
"Authors who use AI tools in writing a manuscript, creating article images or graphic elements, or in collecting and analyzing data, must transparently explain in the Methods section and in the article's preface how and which AI tool was used." The following format can be used in the preface:
"During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [Tool Name, e.g., ChatGPT, OpenAI] for [specific purpose, e.g., language editing, drafting parts of the introduction, summarizing background literature]. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the content of the publication."
Secret or unethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to the rejection of the article or the retraction of a published article.
This policy will be periodically reviewed and updated in line with COPE guidance and evolving best practices.
If you have any questions regarding the use of artificial intelligence tools, please contact the editorial office before submission.
Advertising Policy
Harran University Journal of Sciences is a periodic, peer-reviewed, open-access, official scientific publication of Harran University. To preserve its academic independence, the journal continues publishing activities without any commercial advertising or sponsorship agreements.
All editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of academic standards, scientific value, and a rigorous peer-review process, without any commercial or financial influence. The journal operates in accordance with Harran University's financial and publication policies, and is committed to serving the public good and advancing scientific knowledge.
In line with these principles, the journal does not publish commercial advertisements or sponsored content; it is solely dedicated to the dissemination of academic and scientific materials. Ethical publishing practices and editorial independence are observed throughout the publication process.
Appeals and Complaints
Appeals and complaints are handled by the journal's Editorial Board in accordance with COPE guidelines. Appeals must be based on the article's scientific content. The final decision on appeals and complaints is given by the Editor-in-Chief. Depending on the situation, a mediator or external ethics editor may be assigned to resolve issues that cannot be resolved internally. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief regarding appeals and complaints via the e-mail address: fethigullu@harran.edu.tr.
Handling Unethical Publishing Behavior
The publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to modify the article in question in cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fabrication, or plagiarism. This includes, in the most severe case, the immediate publication of a correction, clarification, or retraction of the affected work. The publisher, together with the editors, will take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of articles in which research misconduct has occurred, and will under no circumstances encourage or knowingly allow such abuse.
Errors Detected in Published Works
Authors are obliged to immediately inform the journal's editors or publisher if significant errors or inaccuracies are detected in the published work and to cooperate with them to correct or retract the article. If editors or the publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains a material error or inaccuracy, the authors must either correct the article immediately or present the justification for retraction to the editorial board, or provide the journal editors with proof of the article's accuracy.
Data Sharing and Open Science
Transparent reporting of methods is essential for the verifiability of findings. Where appropriate, raw data/codes and analysis scripts should be uploaded to open repositories (e.g., institutional repositories, OSF, Zenodo), and access links should be shared. Permissions for third-party data are the authors' responsibility.
Digital Archiving and Preservation Policy
Digital preservation is a set of processes and activities that ensure the long-term, continuous access and distribution of information in digital form. The preservation policy includes the following measures:
a. Website Archiving
All electronic content (website, manuscript, etc.) is stored in different sources. The content on one server is online and accessible to readers. A copy of the same content is kept as a backup. In case of server failure, the archive is provided from other sources.
b. Abstracting/Indexing Services
Our journal's abstracting/indexing services store basic information about articles. Additionally, some abstracting/indexing services archive metadata for articles and their electronic versions. Thus, copies of articles are presented to the scientific community through these systems as an alternative to journals.
c. Cessation of Publication
In the event this journal ceases publication, the articles will remain online and accessible to readers through third-party services and archiving processes as described above. Access to the content will be provided by the journal's editorial board in specific circumstances, such as the cessation of publication.
Authors' Archiving Policy
a. Abstract and Citation Information
Authors may reuse the abstract and citation information of their articles (e.g., title, author name, publication dates), including on social media platforms; however, a backlink to the article on the Harran University Journal of Sciences website must be provided as a citation.
b. Accepted Manuscript
The "accepted manuscript" is the author's final draft of the manuscript accepted for publication by a journal, including changes made in line with reviewers' suggestions, before undergoing copyediting and typesetting procedures.
Authors of open-access articles have the freedom to publish their articles and share their links anywhere immediately after publication. However, a backlink to the article on the Harran University Journal of Sciences website must be provided as a citation.