Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

1. Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to all content published in the International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences (IJPAS), including research articles and review articles, and is binding for authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher (Munzur University). The editorial practices of IJPAS are based on the standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing jointly published by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME.

2. Editorial Independence and Impartiality

Editorial decisions are based solely on the scientific merit of the manuscript, including originality, methodological rigor, clarity, and relevance to the scope of the journal. No manuscript is favored or disadvantaged based on the author's nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, religion, or political views. Section Editors and the Editor-in-Chief must disclose any personal, institutional, or financial conflicts of interest related to a manuscript and must recuse themselves from handling such manuscripts. In such cases, the manuscript is reassigned to another qualified editor.

3. Peer Review Process

All submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind peer-review process. Author identifying information is removed from the manuscript file prior to peer review (title, institutional affiliation, and contact information are provided only on a separate title page in accordance with the journal’s Author Guidelines). Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the relevant field and are required to declare any potential conflicts of interest before accepting the review assignment. The final decision regarding publication is made by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the Editorial Board.

4. Originality and Similarity Screening

Each manuscript is screened using iThenticate before entering the peer-review process.

• Overall similarity index (excluding references): must be below 20%.
• Similarity from a single source: must not exceed 7%.
• Self-citation: must not exceed 15% of the total references.

Manuscripts exceeding these thresholds are returned to the authors for revision or rejected before the peer-review process begins. The similarity report must be uploaded to the submission system together with the manuscript. The journal reserves the right to rescreen manuscripts at any stage of the publication process, including after acceptance, and to retract published articles if plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct are identified.

5. Authorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to the study. IJPAS requires a CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) statement for each submission, specifying the contribution of each author. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the author list is complete, accurate, and approved by all authors.

6. Ethical Approval

Ethical approval is required for studies in all disciplines involving procedures subject to ethical review. Where applicable, such studies must comply with internationally recognized ethical standards and guidelines relevant to the nature of the research.

Ethical approval must be documented and clearly stated in the manuscript. Information regarding approval, including the name of the approving ethics committee, approval date, and approval/protocol number, must be provided both in the Materials and Methods section and on the first or last page of the manuscript.

Where informed consent from participants is required, the manuscript must include a statement confirming that signed informed consent forms were obtained.

When using scales, surveys, photographs, or other materials belonging to third parties, permission must be obtained from the original owners/authors, and this permission must be explicitly stated in the manuscript. Compliance with copyright regulations for intellectual and artistic works used in the study must also be confirmed.

Manuscripts requiring ethical approval but lacking such approval will not be accepted and will be removed from the evaluation process regardless of the stage of review.

7. Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could reasonably be considered to influence the objectivity of a submitted manuscript or its evaluation. A Conflict of Interest statement is a mandatory section of every manuscript submitted to IJPAS.

8. Data and Code Availability

Every manuscript must include a Data and Code Availability Statement in accordance with the standard formats specified in the Author Guidelines, regardless of whether the underlying data are openly shared, restricted, or unavailable. This requirement ensures full transparency regarding the status of research data, irrespective of the study outcome.

9. Handling Allegations of Misconduct

Allegations of research or publication misconduct, including plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, duplicate/redundant submission, and authorship disputes, are investigated by the Editorial Board in accordance with relevant COPE guidelines and flowcharts. Investigations are conducted confidentially, and all relevant parties are given the opportunity to respond before a final decision is reached.

10. Corrections and Retractions

If a published article is later found to contain a significant error, unreliable data, plagiarized content, or another serious ethical violation, IJPAS follows COPE’s retraction guidelines. Minor errors that do not affect the scientific interpretation of the article are corrected through a published correction/erratum. Retracted articles remain accessible on the journal platform but are clearly marked as “Retracted,” with a notice explaining the reason for retraction.

11. Copyright and Licensing

All articles published in IJPAS are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright of their work, while the journal is granted the right of first publication. Under this license, readers may share and adapt published content for any purpose, including commercial use, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors and source.

12. Open Access and Publication Fees

IJPAS follows a full open access publishing model, and all articles become freely available immediately upon publication. The journal does not charge authors any fees for submission, peer review, publication, or access, including Article Processing Charges (APCs).

13. Archiving and Long-Term Preservation

All content published in IJPAS is permanently hosted on the DergiPark platform operated by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM under the Ministry of Industry and Technology of Türkiye, ensuring continuous accessibility and long-term preservation of the journal’s complete archive.

14. Language Policy

Prior to Issue 12(2), IJPAS accepted manuscripts in both English and Turkish. Starting from Issue 12(2) (December 2026), the journal accepts and publishes manuscripts exclusively in English in line with its commitment to international accessibility and academic visibility.