The publication policy of The Business Journal is founded upon the objective, respectful, and transparent development and dissemination of knowledge. The processes carried out in line with this policy directly influence the academic rigor and quality of the manuscripts submitted by authors and affiliated institutions. Peer-reviewed research embodies and advances the scientific method. Therefore, all participants involved in the publishing process—authors, readers, researchers, publishers, peer reviewers, and editors—must adhere strictly to ethical standards.

İşletme complies with national and international standards regarding research and publication ethics, including the Press Law, the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, and the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive. The journal has adopted the international ethical standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

1. Ethical Principles

• Authorship: Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to the conception, design, execution, data collection, or interpretation of the study. All significant contributors must be listed as co-authors. Individuals participating in technical or administrative aspects should be recognized in the acknowledgments section. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible co-authors are included, no inappropriate individuals are listed, and all co-authors have approved the final manuscript for publication.
• Conflicts of Interest:
  • Authors: Authors must explicitly disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest within the manuscript that could be perceived to influence the findings. All sources of external funding must be declared.
  • Reviewers: Referees must notify the editor and decline the review assignment if they identify a conflict of interest regarding the manuscript. Academics affiliated with the same institution as the author(s) cannot serve as peer reviewers for that manuscript.
  • Editors: Editors must not have any personal, commercial, or academic conflicts of interest involving submitted manuscripts.
• Data Access and Retention: Authors may be requested to provide raw research data during the editorial review. Authors should be prepared to provide public access to such data where feasible and retain the data for a reasonable duration following publication.
• Data Fabrication and Falsification: Fabricating non-existent data, altering empirical or experimental findings, and manipulating images constitute severe academic misconduct.
• Data Sharing and Reproducibility: İşletme encourages authors to make replication data and supplementary materials openly accessible, provided this does not compromise human subject privacy or legal rights. Cited data sets must be appropriately referenced in the bibliography. A "Data Availability Statement" is recommended within the manuscript.
• Duplicate and Multiple Submissions: Manuscripts that are under review elsewhere or have been published previously will not be considered. If an article builds upon previous work by the same authors, prior publications must be cited explicitly, clarifying the novel contribution of the current study.
• Intellectual Property: Authors warrant that the submitted work is original and that the copyright has not been transferred elsewhere. Manuscripts, drafts, and proofs remain the intellectual property of the authors. Except where specified by open-access licensing terms, authors retain copyright. Authors, editors, and reviewers are bound to keep all peer review reports and communications confidential.
• Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern: Minor errors not affecting findings may be addressed via corrections. Substantial errors or misconduct that invalidate the findings necessitate a formal retraction. If an investigation into potential misconduct is ongoing or inconclusive, editors may issue an expression of concern in line with COPE guidelines.
• Surveys and Human Studies:
  • Ethics committee approval is mandatory for research involving data collection from participants via surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments. The approving committee’s name, date, and document number must be reported in the method section.
  • Studies must adhere to personal data protection regulations and obtain participant informed consent where required.
  • Formal permission must be secured for copyrighted scales, instruments, or media used in the research.
• Special Issues: A special issue may be published at most once per calendar year upon approval of the Editorial Board, following identical peer-review rigor.

Scientific Misconduct and Ethical Violations

• Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, or published works of others as one's own without appropriate citation and attribution.
• Fabrication: Producing, utilizing, or reporting non-existent or manipulated data within scientific research.
• Falsification: Distorting research records, reporting unused methodologies as used, or manipulating findings to satisfy external interests.
• Duplicate Publication: Publishing identical research results in multiple outlets to gain academic advancement.
• Salami Slicing: Dissecting a single comprehensive study into multiple fragmented manuscripts to artificially augment publication metrics.
• Inappropriate Authorship: Adding individuals who made no substantive contribution, omitting genuine contributors, or altering author order without justifiable academic grounds.

Peer Review and Editorial Procedures

• Manuscript Submission: Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively through the DergiPark Article Management System at https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/isletme. Submissions sent via email are not processed.
• Preliminary Review and Similarity Check: Manuscripts undergo preliminary technical checks and similarity screening using iThenticate. The total similarity score must remain below 20 percent, and similarity to any single source must not exceed 3 percent. Manuscripts exceeding 20 percent similarity are either returned for revision or rejected. The preliminary review phase is completed within 30 days. A manuscript can undergo a maximum of two preliminary review cycles.
• Section Editor Review: Submissions satisfying preliminary checks are assessed by the section editor for scientific merit, scope, and methodology (maximum 30 days).
• Double-Blind Peer Review: Eligible manuscripts are assigned to independent referees under a strict double-blind protocol where the identities of authors and referees remain concealed from one another.
• Author Revisions: Authors must revise their manuscripts in accordance with referee criticisms and editorial directives. In cases of academic disagreement, authors retain the right to submit a formal rebuttal supported by scientific evidence.
• Language Control: Manuscripts accepted following peer review are examined by Turkish and English language editors (completed within 15 days per language).
• Editorial Board Evaluation: Technically and academically approved manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Board for final publication approval, decided by a majority vote.
• Typesetting and Layout: The journal handles typesetting and formatting for accepted papers.
• Publication Language: İşletme publishes articles in Turkish and English. Turkish manuscripts must include an English abstract.

Authorship Alterations

Any request to modify authorship (adding, removing, or reordering authors) after submission requires approval from the Editorial Board. A formal declaration stating the justification, signed by all current and prospective co-authors, must be provided to the Editor-in-Chief. Following approval, a revised Copyright Agreement Form must be completed.

Disclaimer

The perspectives and conclusions expressed in published works represent solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policies or stances of İşletme, its Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, or Publisher. Legal and ethical liability for the content resides entirely with the authors.

Complaints and Appeals

Appeals concerning editorial decisions, processing delays, or potential ethical misconduct are investigated by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board in full accordance with COPE procedural flowcharts. Formal appeals should be directed through the DergiPark system interface and official editorial contact channels.