Publication Ethics

International Journal of Social Sciences and Education Research is a peer-reviewed online journal that publishes original research papers, reviews, and theoretical manuscripts. IJSSER welcomes submissions related to academic and scientific practices, approaches, applied research studies, and critical reviews of major issues, as well as the development of new technologies and tools in social science and education research, in English or Turkish.

All submitted manuscripts by the author(s) are subject to initial appraisal by the section editors and to peer review as a double-blind by at least two independent and expert referees. For the article to be published, at least two referees must agree on the publication of the work.

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

The ethical principles and rules below have been prepared according to the '' Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors '' directive of the Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf). Based on these ethical principles and rules, the editor's ethical responsibilities, roles, and duties toward the publisher, referees, authors, and readers are explained.

General duties and responsibilities of editors

Editors are accountable for; 

• Meeting the needs of readers and writers' academic publications

• Continually improving IJSSER;

• The implementation of processes to ensure the quality of the material they publish,

• The freedom of expression;

• Maintaining the integrity of the academic record,

• Precluding business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards,

• Publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

Relationships with readers

• Readers know the institution and fund contribution rate that finances research published in the journal.

Relations with authors

• Editors make the decision to accept or reject an article for publication, in terms of the importance of the article, its originality, and compliance with journal rules.

• Editors do not reject submissions unless serious issues are identified.

• Sustainable editorial management is applied in the journal. Even if the editor changes, the decisions made by the previous editor do not change.

• Double-blind review is applied in the journal. And Authors can object to the editorial decision. Editors guide the authors on every topic expected of them. 

Relations with editors

• The editors guide every issue the referees need through updated guides.

• The editors ask the reviewers to be notified of any conflict of interest with authors before making reviews.

• Editors have systems to ensure that peer reviews' identities (both reviewer and author) are protected.

Relations with editorial board members

• Editors provide new information to members of the editorial board and provide information and support on new policies and developments.

• Relations with journal owners and publishers

• Editors act on the principle of editorial independence without being influenced by publishers and make the decision to publish the article for the development of the journal itself.

• The editors have a written contract that determines their relationship with the publisher in accordance with the COPE Code of Conduct.

Editorial and peer review processes

• Editors have systems to ensure that material submitted to their journal remains confidential and they strive to ensure that peer review at their journal is fair, unbiased, and timely.

Protecting individual data 

• Editors obey laws on confidentiality in their own jurisdiction.

• However, they strive to protect personal rights and ensure confidentiality in article data, such as the privacy information of reviewers and authors.

Encouraging ethical research (e.g. research involving humans or animals)

• Editors endeavor to ensure that research they publish was carried out according to the relevant internationally accepted guidelines (e.g. the Declaration of Helsinki for clinical research, the AERA, and BERA guidelines for educational research).

• Editors seek assurances that all research has been approved by an appropriate body (e.g. research ethics committee, institutional review board) where one exists. However, editors recognize that such approval does not guarantee that the research is ethical.

Dealing with possible misconduct

• Editors can decide whatever they suspect about the article. In this case, it follows the process to the end. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers.

• Editors follow the COPE flowcharts where applicable. 

• Editors first seek a response from those suspected of misconduct. And then, they ask the relevant institution, others, or some appropriate body to investigate.

• Editors make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a proper investigation into alleged misconduct is conducted.

Ensuring the integrity of the academic record

• Errors, inaccurate or misleading statements are corrected promptly and with due prominence.

• Editors follow the COPE guidelines on retractions

Intellectual property

• Editors work with their publishers on intellectual property rights issues.

Encouraging debate

• Editors welcome all positive or negative reviews for articles published in the journal and share them with their authors.

Complaints

• Editors respond quickly to complaints. Complainants who are not satisfied with the editor's responses contact the editorial board, chief editor, or publisher.

Commercial considerations

• In the journal, the editorial operations are carried out independently, without being affected by advertisement and sponsor support.

Conflicts of interest

• Editors, including themselves, have a conflict of an interest management system with the editorial board, referees, authors, and journal staff.

• For this, the IJSSER requests a "conflict of interest statement" from all parties.

Relations with reviewers

• The editor appoints the referees (considering the referee's knowledge and expertise) appropriate to the subject of the article and ensures that they make an objective review.

• Editors need to know that there are no conflicts of interest between the authors and the reviewers.

• The editors provide the reviewers with a guide to the article evaluation process and convey all the necessary information.

• According to a double-blind review, the editor keeps the information of the referees and authors confidential in the article evaluation process and does not share them in any way.

• Referees are grouped according to their article evaluation performances and encouraged accordingly.

• Practices and policies that increase the performance of the reviewers are determined.

• A list of reviewers is created based on the constantly updated and increasing performance score.

• Reviewers who do not perform their duties in a timely manner and do not make scientific and objective evaluations are removed from the list. Likewise, those who make disrespectful and unqualified reviews and evaluations are also removed from the list.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

• The articles sent to IJSSER must be original studies in the social sciences and educational sciences.

• It should be noted that the articles submitted to the journal are not sent to another journal and the Copyright Transfer Form (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ijsser) must be filled.

• All citations (authors, online pages, personal interviews, etc.) used in the articles should be cited correctly and appropriately. According to the citation method adopted by the journal; citation-bibliography matching should be done.

• The names of the people who do not contribute to the article should not be written as a writer, it should not be suggested to change the author's order of an article, to remove a writer, or to add an author.

• Conflicts of interest regarding the submitted article should be stated and the reason should be explained.

• In the evaluation process, if the author (s) are asked for information about their articles or raw data, they should present the expected information to the editors.

• The authors should document that they have the participants' consent and the permissions related to the sharing and research of the data that are used.

• Authors should contact the editor to provide information, correct, or withdraw it when they notice the article's error in the stages before its publication.

• The authors received the ethics committee approval for experimental, questionnaire, scale, interview, observation, focus group work that requires ethical committee decision in quantitative or qualitative research; Ethics committee name, decision date, and number should be specified on the first page and method section of the article (footer), and upload the ethics committee document to the system.

• Ethics committee approval is not required from authors for review articles. However, in articles that do not require an ethical committee decision, it should be stated that the ethical committee decision is not required on the first page of the article (footer) and in the method section.

• Authors should present proof of their ethical principles regarding data (such as obtaining permission for others' scale, questionnaire, photograph, etc.) in the article. It should be noted that the articles comply with copyright regulations for research and publication ethics and intellectual and artistic works. It should be reported that researches on human and animal subjects are carried out in accordance with international papers, guidelines, etc.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

In the IJSSER article evaluation process, the principle of double-blind review, in which the authors and the referees do not know each other, is applied, reviewers cannot communicate directly with the authors; the correction requests and notes specified in the article evaluation forms are sent to the authors by the editors through the journal management system. The reviewers registered in IJSSER have the following ethical responsibilities;

• Reviewers should only agree to evaluate articles related to their specialty.

• Reviewers should evaluate the article in neutrality and confidentiality.

• Reviewers are expected not to evaluate articles with conflicts of interest. Reviewers should inform the editor about articles with any conflict of interest and abandon the review of the related article.

• Reviewers should evaluate the article within due time.

• Reviewers should make the assessment in a constructive, gentle language and in an academic style. Never make insulting or humiliating personal comments in the evaluation.

• Reviewers should never use the article data and results they evaluated before it is published.

• Reviewers should not write their own personal information (name, institution, etc.) in the article evaluation forms.

Ethical Responsibilities of Publisher

• The publisher acknowledges that the decision-maker and the refereeing process are the responsibility of the editor during the article publishing process in IJSSER.

• The publisher provides open and free access to the journal's web page.

Notification of unethical behavior and situation

If it is noticed any behavior or situation in IJSSER that does not comply with ethical principles regarding people, articles, processes, and other issues, please email ijsser.contact@gmail.com.