JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SCIENCE RESEARCHES ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY
Journal of Communication Science Researches (JCSR) is committed to transparency in scholarly publishing, academic integrity, editorial independence, and adherence to ethical principles. In its publication policy and ethical practices, the journal is based on the international principles and guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In cases of possible ethical violations, misconduct, or situations contrary to publication ethics, the guidelines and flowcharts developed by COPE are taken as the basis.
Manuscripts submitted to JCSR must not have been previously published elsewhere, accepted for publication, or under simultaneous consideration by another journal. Research articles submitted to the journal are taken into a double-blind peer review process after editorial preliminary review. Plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, fraudulent authorship, inclusion of individuals as authors despite having made no contribution, concealment of conflicts of interest, copyright infringement, and similar ethical violations are unacceptable. Manuscripts found not to comply with ethical principles may be rejected at any stage of the evaluation process; if an ethical violation is identified after publication, retraction, correction, or editorial notification procedures may be initiated.
JCSR adopts international standards in research and publication ethics. Compliance with ethical principles, the legitimacy of data use, the obtaining of necessary permissions, and the scientific accuracy of the study are primarily the responsibility of the authors.
Research Ethics
The journal observes high standards in research ethics. The principles of integrity, transparency, and scientific honesty must be followed in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of research. Individuals participating in research must be properly informed about the purpose, method, possible risks, and areas of use of the research. Participant privacy, data confidentiality, and the protection of personal data must be ensured. Research must be planned in a way that protects the autonomy of participants and human dignity; practices that may cause physical, psychological, social, or legal harm must be avoided.
In research involving human participants, informed consent must be obtained when necessary. In studies involving children, individuals under guardianship, or groups with limited decision-making capacity, approval from a legal representative must be secured. If the research is conducted within an institution or organization, the necessary institutional permissions must be obtained. Research conducted on animals must also comply with the relevant ethical standards and legal regulations.
The independence of the research must be protected; conflicts of interest that may arise due to financial support, institutional affiliation, or any other reason must be clearly disclosed.
Ethics Committee Approval
Ethics Committee Approval is required for the following types of research:
- qualitative or quantitative studies involving the collection of data from participants through surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, experiments, and similar techniques,
- experimental or clinical studies conducted on human participants,
- studies conducted on animals,
- studies involving the processing of personal data,
- field research requiring permission from an institution or organization,
- case reports and uses of data requiring special permission.
For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the institution from which the approval was obtained and the necessary explanations must be stated in the article. Where appropriate, a statement indicating that informed consent was obtained should also be included in the text. When using scales, questionnaires, visuals, tables, photographs, and similar materials belonging to others, obtaining the necessary permissions and complying with copyright legislation are mandatory.
Open Access Policy
JCSR adopts open-access publishing. All content of the journal is made available to readers free of charge. Users may access, read, download, and share the full texts of published articles, provided that proper attribution is given, the use is non-commercial, and the work is not modified. This approach is consistent with the fundamental principles of open access.
The reuse of each article is subject to the provisions of the Creative Commons license specified on the article. Open access does not mean that the content may be used outside the license terms or in violation of copyright provisions.
Publication Policy
Manuscripts submitted to JCSR are expected to be consistent with the aims and scope of the journal, original, academically qualified, and scientifically contributive. Plagiarism, duplication, data fabrication, data falsification, salami slicing, fraudulent authorship, denial of authorship, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflicts of interest are considered unethical conduct. When such situations are detected, the manuscript is rejected; if detected in a published article, the editorial process is reassessed and the necessary actions are taken.
Authorship information may not be changed without the explicit written consent of all authors. Requests to add or remove authors or to change the order of authors during the evaluation process are subject to editorial review and are considered only in justified and documented cases.
Submitted manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the journal’s author guidelines. When deemed necessary, authors may be asked to submit a similarity report, additional explanatory documents, and, during the revision stage, a Response to Reviewer File.
Plagiarism Check
Manuscripts that pass the editorial preliminary review are subjected to similarity screening through appropriate plagiarism-detection software. Similarity reports are part of the editorial evaluation process; not only the percentage but also the nature of the similarity is taken into account. A high similarity rate, unattributed quotations, improper citation, or excessive textual overlap are considered within the scope of ethical violation.
As a general principle, the similarity rate is expected not to exceed 20%; however, the final assessment is made as a result of editorial review.
Peer Review Policy
All manuscripts submitted to JCSR must be original. It is unacceptable for a manuscript to be under evaluation by another journal at the same time.
Submitted manuscripts are first subjected to an editorial preliminary review. In this review, the following aspects are evaluated:
- compliance with the journal’s aims and scope,
- compliance with author guidelines and formal requirements,
- similarity screening,
- the arrangement of title, abstract, keywords, and references,
- the adequacy of the scientific presentation of the manuscript,
- the presence of required ethical statements and permissions.
Research articles that pass the preliminary review are sent to at least two independent reviewers who are experts in the field. The peer-review process is conducted as double-blind review. Reviewers are expected to indicate within the specified time whether they are able to complete the evaluation. If no response is received within the given period, a new reviewer may be assigned.
Reviewers conduct their evaluations in line with standard criteria and may provide suggestions and explanations on the text when necessary. Reviewer reports are instructive for the editorial decision; the final decision rests with the editor.
Reviewer evaluation outcomes may be as follows:
- Accept
- Minor Revision
- Major Revision
- Reject
In the case of minor revision, a decision may be made after the corrections are checked by the editorial team. In the case of major revision, the manuscript may be sent for peer review again when necessary. In cases where reviewer reports are contradictory or insufficient, an additional reviewer opinion may be sought.
The evaluation process may vary depending on the subject of the manuscript, reviewer availability, and the need for revisions; however, it is generally aimed to be completed in approximately 4 weeks on average. In cases where suitable reviewers respond promptly and only limited revisions are required, the process may be completed in a shorter period. However, this does not mean that the stages of editorial preliminary review, double-blind peer review, evaluation by at least two independent reviewers, and final editorial decision are omitted.
Duties and Responsibilities
Authors’ Responsibilities
Authors are obliged to declare that the work they submit is original, has not been published before, and is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere. All sources used in the study must be properly cited; the necessary permissions must be obtained for copyrighted materials. All authors must have made a meaningful academic and scientific contribution to the study. Contributions that do not meet the authorship criteria should be indicated in the acknowledgements.
Authors must clearly disclose any financial support, institutional affiliations, and conflicts of interest. In studies involving human participants, information regarding ethics committee approval and informed consent must be presented appropriately. Preparing the manuscript in accordance with the journal’s author guidelines is also the responsibility of the authors.
Editors’ Responsibilities
The editor evaluates submitted manuscripts impartially in line with academic criteria, the scope of the journal, and ethical principles. Editorial decisions are made independently of the authors’ gender, ethnic origin, religious belief, political opinion, institutional affiliation, or similar personal characteristics. The editor is responsible for managing conflicts of interest, selecting appropriate reviewers, maintaining the confidentiality of the evaluation process, and making the final editorial decision.
Reviewers’ Responsibilities
Reviewers should evaluate only those manuscripts that fall within their area of expertise. Reviewers must not have any conflict of interest and are expected to conduct their evaluations in accordance with scientific criteria, impartiality, and confidentiality. If reviewers suspect plagiarism, copyright infringement, ethical violation, or a serious scientific problem, they must inform the editor. All documents related to the evaluation process are considered confidential.
Copyrights and Licensing
Authors retain the copyright of their published works.
Articles published in the journal have been published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license as of Volume 6, Issue 1, 2026. This license permits the work to be shared with proper attribution, for non-commercial purposes only, and without modification.
The type of license used in previous issues of the journal may differ. The license under which the relevant article is published is clearly stated on the article page and in the PDF version.
Authors grant the journal only the non-exclusive right of first publication of the work. The reuse of the article is subject to the terms of the relevant Creative Commons license.
Article Processing Charge
No submission fee, processing fee, or publication fee is charged to authors for the submission, evaluation, or publication of articles in JCSR.
Open Citation Policy
The journal supports the principles of open science and open citations to the greatest extent possible. In this context, open citation standards compatible with the I4OC (Initiative for Open Citations) approach are adopted.
May 1, 2026
Page
74-85
