The article acceptance and publication processes implemented at İDEALKENT form the basis for the impartial and reputable development and distribution of knowledge. The processes implemented in this regard directly reflect the quality of the work of authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed studies are those that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important that all stakeholders in the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, reviewers, and editors) comply with ethical standards. Within the scope of publication ethics, all stakeholders of IDEALKENT are expected to bear the following ethical responsibilities. The ethical duties and responsibilities listed below have been prepared by taking into account the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as open access.
Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
a) Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, applications, writings, figures, or works of others as one's own, either partially or entirely, without properly citing the owners in accordance with scientific rules.
b) Fabrication: Producing data that is not based on research, arranging or altering a submitted or published work based on false data, reporting or publishing such data, presenting research that has not been conducted as if it had been conducted,
c) Distortion: Tampering with research records and obtained data, presenting methods, devices, and materials not used in the research as if they had been used, not evaluating data that does not fit the research hypothesis, manipulating data and/or results to fit relevant theories or assumptions, distorting or shaping research results in line with the interests of the individuals and organizations providing support,
ç) Re-publication: Presenting multiple works containing the same results of a research as separate works in associate professorship examination evaluations and academic promotions,
d) Salami slicing: Presenting the results of a study as separate works in associate professorship examination evaluations and academic promotions by dividing them into parts in an inappropriate manner that disrupts the integrity of the study and publishing them in numerous publications without cross-referencing each other,
e) Unfair authorship: Including individuals who have not made an active contribution among the authors, not including individuals who have made an active contribution among the authors, changing the order of authors without justification and in an inappropriate manner, removing the names of those who have made an active contribution from the work during publication or in subsequent editions, including one's name among the authors by using one's influence despite not having made an active contribution,
f) Other types of ethical violations: Failing to clearly indicate the individuals, institutions, or organizations that provided support for research conducted with such support, as well as their contributions to the research, sharing information contained in a work assigned for peer review with others before publication, using resources, facilities, opportunities, and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research for purposes other than those intended, making completely unfounded, baseless, and deliberate accusations of ethical violations.
Principles of Research Ethics
• Scientific integrity, transparency, and academic quality must be upheld at all stages of the research; ethical violations such as fabricating, falsifying, or plagiarizing data must be avoided. Research processes must be documented in a manner that allows for verification when necessary.
• Participants must be informed in a clear and understandable manner about the purpose, method, potential risks, and benefits of the research; the informed consent process must be conducted based on free will.
• The confidentiality of participants’ personal data must be protected; actions must align with the principles of anonymity, privacy, and data security. Data must be used solely for scientific purposes and stored securely.
• Participation in research must be voluntary; participants must be able to withdraw from the study at any time without providing a reason.
• Necessary precautions must be taken to prevent participants from suffering physical, psychological, social, or economic harm; special attention must be paid to ethical guidelines and legal regulations in studies involving vulnerable groups.
• Researchers must maintain their scientific independence; conflicts of interest, financial support, and sponsorships must be clearly disclosed.
• Where required, approval from an ethics committee and institutional permissions must be obtained before the research begins; the research process must be conducted in accordance with national and international ethical standards.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF STAKEHOLDERS
1-Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
Authors must ensure that the work they submit is original. If authors use or benefit from other works, they must cite and/or quote them completely and accurately.
All works submitted for publication must disclose any circumstances and relationships that could constitute a conflict of interest.
Authors may be asked to provide raw data related to their articles during the review process. In such cases, authors should be prepared to submit the requested data and information to the editorial board and scientific committee.
If the author(s) notice an error or mistake in their published, advance view, or review-stage work, they are obligated to inform the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor in the correction or retraction process.
Authors may not submit their work to more than one journal simultaneously. Each submission may be initiated after the previous submission has been completed. Work that has been published in another journal cannot be submitted to the IDEALKENT Journal.
Changes to author responsibilities (such as adding authors, changing author order, or removing authors) cannot be proposed for a work that is already in the review process.
2-Responsibilities of Editors
General duties and responsibilities
Striving to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
Implementing processes aimed at improving the quality of the works published in the journal,
Supporting freedom of thought,
Ensuring academic integrity,
Continuing work processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
Demonstrating openness and transparency in terms of publication on issues requiring correction or clarification.
Relations with readers
Editors should make decisions taking into account the information, skills, and experience expectations of all readers, researchers, and practitioners.
They should ensure that published works contribute to readers, researchers, practitioners, and scientific fields and are original in nature.
Furthermore, editors are responsible for considering feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners and providing explanatory and informative feedback.
Relationships with authors
Editors should make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, original value, validity, clarity of presentation, and the aims and objectives of the journal.
They should accept studies that are within the scope of the publication for preliminary evaluation, provided they do not have serious problems.
Editors should not disregard positive referee recommendations unless there is a serious problem with the study.
New editors should not change decisions made by previous editors regarding studies unless there is a serious problem.
The “Blind Review and Evaluation Process” must be published, and editors should prevent any deviations from the defined processes.
Editors should publish an “Author Guide” that details everything authors can expect from them. These guides should be updated at specific intervals.
Authors should receive clear and informative notifications and feedback.
Relationships with reviewers
Reviewers should be selected based on their suitability for the subject of the work.
The journal is responsible for providing reviewers with the information and guidelines they need during the evaluation phase.
The journal must ensure that there is no conflict of interest between authors and reviewers.
In the context of blind peer review, the identities of reviewers should be kept confidential.
Referees should be encouraged to evaluate the work in an impartial, scientific, and objective manner.
Referees should be evaluated based on criteria such as timeliness of feedback and performance.
Practices and policies should be established to improve referee performance.
Necessary steps should be taken to ensure the referee pool is continuously and dynamically updated.
It should prevent rude and unscientific evaluations.
It should take steps to ensure that the pool of referees is diverse.
3-Ethical Responsibilities of Referees
They should only accept evaluations of work related to their area of expertise.
They should evaluate impartially and confidentially.
If they believe they have a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should decline to review the work and inform the journal editor.
In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, they should destroy the works they have reviewed after the evaluation process. They may only use the final versions of the works they have reviewed after they have been published.
They should evaluate objectively and solely on the basis of the content of the work. They should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or commercial concerns to influence their evaluation.
They should evaluate in a constructive and polite manner. They should not make derogatory personal comments that are hostile, defamatory, or insulting.
They should complete the evaluation of the work they accept in a timely manner and in accordance with the above ethical responsibilities.
PUBLICATION ETHICS PRINCIPLES
ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVAL
Our journal requires that all studies in scientific fields requiring ethics committee approval have obtained the relevant ethics committee decision. In this context, authors must include the Ethics Committee approval date and number in the “Sample and Method/Materials and Methods” section.
In line with the regulations implemented by Ulakbim TR Index since 2020, studies without ethics committee approval are not considered for publication in our journal.
Detecting Plagiarism
Our journal screens all submitted articles to prevent plagiarism. Submitted studies are checked for plagiarism using software such as Turnitin, iThenticate, intihal.net etc. If plagiarism is detected in an article submitted to or published in our journal, our journal acts in accordance with COPE principles (Plagiarism in a submitted manuscript - Plagiarism in a published article).
Use of Artificial Intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence in studies submitted to our journal is acceptable in processes that do not affect the originality of the article, such as literature review or language control. However, the use of artificial intelligence must be carried out within the framework of ethical rules and must not be used for unethical purposes such as fabricating data or manipulation. For studies involving the use of artificial intelligence, it is mandatory to inform our journal of this situation during the article submission stage. All responsibility regarding the use of artificial intelligence lies with the authors themselves.
Privacy Statement
All personal data submitted to our journal is protected. Data belonging to authors, reviewers, and other individuals is not shared with third parties or institutions.
Relationships with the Journal Owner and Publisher
The relationship between the editor and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. According to the written agreement between the editor and the publisher, all decisions made by the editor are independent of the publisher and journal owner.
Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern
Editors may consider publishing corrections if minor errors are found in a published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations, or conclusions. Editors should consider retracting an article when major errors/violations invalidate the findings and conclusions. COPE guidelines are considered regarding corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern.
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defending the rights of the journal and author(s) in case of possible infringements.
Complaints and Appeals to Our Journal
You can email your complaints and appeals regarding content, procedures, or policies under the responsibility of our journal or our editorial board members to bilgi@idealkentdergisi.com. Complaints and appeals submitted to our journal are carefully reviewed and evaluated in accordance with COPE principles.
PUBLICATION POLICIES
A-Article Evaluation Process
The article evaluation process in our journal consists of four main stages: preliminary review, peer review, revision, and publication. Click here for more information.
B-Open Access and Copyright
Our journal is an open-access journal. Based on the principle of disseminating knowledge, it provides free access to all articles, including the archive. The copyrights of the works published in our journal belong to the authors and are published as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Click here for more information.
C-Archiving Policy
The works published in our journal are digitally archived in LOCKSS. Our journal also allows authors to archive versions of their work on their own websites, institutional websites, and other repositories. As the journal is open access, there is no embargo period. Articles published in our journal can be accessed free of charge from our Archive page. Click here for more information.
D-Special Issue Publication Policy
The Editorial Board may decide to publish a special issue once a year. The publication and review principles for articles to be published in the special issue are applied in the same manner as for regular issues.
