ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY

1. ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVAL AND LEGAL PERMISSIONS
All studies submitted to the journal must comply with scientific ethical standards. Ethics committee approval is required for all experimental and clinical studies involving humans and animals. This approval must be clearly stated in the manuscript, and the necessary documents should be uploaded to the system during submission.

For research conducted in all fields, including social sciences, and for clinical and experimental studies involving humans and animals that require ethics committee approval:

• Any study involving the collection of data from participants through surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, observations, experiments, or other qualitative or quantitative methods

• The use of humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes

• Clinical research involving human participants

• Research involving animals

• Retrospective studies must comply with personal data protection laws and obtain ethics committee approval where applicable.

• Approval details (committee name, date, and reference number) must be stated in the “Methods” section of the manuscript and also on the first and/or last page.

• During manuscript submission, the Ethics Committee Approval document must also be uploaded to the system alongside the manuscript file.

• In case reports and other human studies, information on the informed consent form signed by participants must be included in the manuscript. For participants under 18 years of age, consent must be obtained from a legal guardian or parent. Additionally, COPE’s recommended ethical standards for case reports must be followed.

• For human research, compliance with national or international guidelines (e.g., ICMJE) should be indicated.

• For animal research, adherence to relevant institutional, national, or international guidelines and the 3R principles must be explicitly stated.

• Plant and field studies must comply with local and national regulations, and any permissions obtained must be reported in the manuscript.

• Participant confidentiality and data protection principles must be observed, and personal information must be safeguarded.

2. AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• The scientific and legal responsibility of published articles rests entirely with the authors. Authors guarantee the accuracy of the content and references. The ITU JFST editorial and advisory boards, as well as the publisher, are not responsible for any consequences arising from the use of published articles.

• Authors are responsible for implementing the corrections requested by the editor.

• When using scales, surveys, photographs, or other materials belonging to others, the necessary permissions must be obtained from the rights holders and appropriately cited in the manuscript.

• Authors must not submit the same study to multiple journals simultaneously; this is considered an ethical violation.

• Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the work, and all contributors must be listed as authors. According to COPE, individuals who have not contributed substantially should not be listed as authors and should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section.

• When necessary, authors are obliged to provide the raw data of the study and retain it for a reasonable period.

• Authors must disclose any financial or other conflicts of interest that may influence their work; all financial support received must be stated in the Acknowledgements section.

• Manuscripts are analyzed using iThenticate or similar plagiarism detection software, and the overall similarity rate should be below 20%.

• All authors must confirm that the manuscript is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration elsewhere.

• The full names and ORCID iDs of all authors must appear on the title page, along with their institutional affiliations. The corresponding author’s valid postal address, telephone number, fax (if applicable), and email address should also be provided on the first page.

3. ETHICAL VIOLATIONS

• Artificially increasing academic impact through excessive self-citation or unnecessary citations.

• Reusing previous work without appropriate citation.

• Dividing a single study into multiple publications without providing meaningful contributions.

• Fabricating or presenting false data.

• Altering, concealing, or presenting research results in a misleading manner.

The journal does not tolerate the above ethical violations and will take appropriate action in such cases.

4. EDITOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Editors assign an adequate number of reviewers for the evaluation of manuscripts and do not disclose the identities of reviewers to the authors.

• Editors evaluate manuscripts objectively, considering the accuracy, significance, and relevance to the scope of the journal when deciding which works to publish.

• All submitted information is kept confidential until the manuscript is published.

• If the editor, a reviewer, or the Editorial Board identifies any conflict of interest, they have the right to reject the manuscript.

• Manuscript materials may not be used by the editor for their own research without the authors’ permission.

• Risks of copyright infringement and plagiarism are considered in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

5. REVIEWER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Reviewers are responsible for ensuring that the evaluation process is fair and conducted properly. Reviewers who feel they do not have the necessary expertise or cannot complete the review within the specified timeframe should notify the editor and refrain from participating in the process.

• Reviewers are given an initial period of 15 days to complete their evaluation.

• Information obtained during the review process must be kept confidential, and data from the manuscript must not be used.

• Reviewers must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest or bias.

• Reviewers should verify that sources are properly cited and report any significant similarities with other works.

6. PEER REVIEW AND EVALUATION PROCESS

The journal adopts a double-blind peer review system. In this system, the identities of both authors and reviewers are kept confidential.

Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are sent to at least two independent experts in the relevant field. Reviewers evaluate the manuscripts in terms of scientific contribution, methodological adequacy, validity of findings, and contribution to the literature.

Reviewers are obliged to inform the editor of any conflicts of interest. If reviewer reports are contradictory, a third reviewer may be assigned, or the editor makes the final decision in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Authors of manuscripts requiring minor or major revisions are informed by the Editor-in-Chief. The decision letter includes detailed comments from reviewers and editors, as well as the deadline for submitting the revised manuscript. Minor revisions should be submitted via DergiPark within 10 days of receiving reviewer comments, whereas major revisions are allowed 15 days.

Revised and accepted manuscripts undergo final checks by the editorial office before publication; authors review and approve the manuscript prior to publication. Manuscripts are published online as final PDFs.

7. REVISION PROCESS

Authors of manuscripts requested for revision are obliged to respond to reviewer comments in detail. All changes must be clearly indicated and submitted together with the revised manuscript.

Revised manuscripts may be sent for further peer review if deemed necessary.
Author changes in the manuscript are only permitted during the revision stage and must be justified with additional work.

Author changes are not allowed after acceptance. Any changes in authorship must be clearly stated in the response and approved by all authors. The corresponding author is primarily responsible for all changes in the revised version, including changes in author order.

8. PUBLICATION POLICY

The ITU Journal of Food Science and Technology is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published twice a year. Manuscripts submitted to the journal can be in Turkish or English. Turkish manuscripts must include an English abstract, and English manuscripts must include a Turkish abstract.

The journal does not charge any fees for submission or publication. All published articles are freely accessible.

9. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest at the end of their manuscript. Reviewers should inform the editors of any conflict of interest during the evaluation process and consider it to ensure an objective review.

Authors are required to suggest at least three potential reviewers during submission; these reviewers cannot be the author’s colleagues or members of the same institution. Editors take necessary measures to ensure reviewer impartiality and minimize bias. All processes follow COPE’s ethical guidelines and transparent publishing practices.

10. FINANCIAL SUPPORT

If a study has been supported by any institution, this support must be clearly stated. Under the heading “ “Acknowledgements,” if the study was funded by an institution or a scientific research project, the project number should be indicated. Additionally, individuals who contributed to data collection or other aspects of the research but are not listed as authors may be acknowledged.

11. USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

It is important to adhere to scientific ethics when using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). The purpose and scope of GenAI should not include research stages that require advanced skills, experience, or expertise, such as hypothesis development, discussion, interpretation, or application. GenAI may be used for literature review, data analysis, translation or language checking, data labeling, and data quality assessment; however, the authors are fully responsible for the scientific accuracy, consistency, and impartiality of the content produced.

If generative AI is used:

• Authors must specify which tool and version were used and at which stage of the study it was applied.

• Content generated by GenAI should be reviewed thoroughly according to academic rigor and ethical standards and properly documented.

•   Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the content.

• Content must be critically evaluated, and any potential biases arising from GenAI should be comprehensively assessed and approved by the researchers. Responsibility for the content, results, and arguments of the report lies with the authors.

Authors may use GenAI tools provided they meet these conditions and submit a written declaration and notification to the journal’s editorial board.

12. POST-PUBLICATION PROCEDURES

Errors or issues identified after publication are assessed with appropriate editorial actions according to their nature. In this context, technical or editorial errors that do not affect the results, as well as errors important for accuracy but not altering core findings, are corrected. In cases of serious issues affecting the reliability of the study, withdrawal may be decided. Decisions are made based on the severity and impact of the issue, following best practices, including COPE recommendations.

Correction requests can be submitted not only by authors but also by readers, reviewers, editors, or relevant institutions. To submit a correction request, the article title, and a brief description of the issue must be sent to the editorial office. The editorial office evaluates the request and determines the necessary action.

All corrections are published as separate records linked to the relevant article. These records clearly indicate the reason, scope, and date of the change. For online articles, changes are visibly marked, and an update history is provided.

Authors are required to promptly inform the journal if they notice an error in a published study. They are expected to provide the necessary data and documents to support the evaluation process and contribute to the editorial review. When necessary, authors are asked to approve the prepared correction text.

Withdrawal is applied to preserve the accuracy of the scientific record and to protect readers from misleading results. Justifications must be clearly stated, and the status of the article must be clearly indicated.

To request withdrawal, authors must submit a letter signed by all co-authors explaining the reasons in detail. Once approved by the editorial board, the article is officially withdrawn, and authors are notified.

All published corrections and notifications are properly recorded, linked to the relevant article, and presented in a way that maintains the integrity of the publication.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are evaluated confidentially and are not shared with third parties until publication. Editors may share the manuscript only with the assigned reviewers, and reviewers must not share or use the materials they receive. A double-blind peer-review system is applied, in which both author and reviewer identities are mutually confidential.

Reviewers are expected to report any significant similarities or suspected ethical violations to the editor confidentially. In cases of suspicion, the editor follows COPE recommendations.

14. COPYRIGHT

Before publication, the corresponding author must sign a copyright transfer form and submit it to the editorial office. Authors may freely use their published articles for non-commercial purposes, but the integrity of the work must be maintained, and the original authors, citation details, and publisher must be clearly indicated.

All published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. This license permits the use, distribution, and reproduction of published works in any medium, as long as the original source is cited and the use is non-commercial.

For non-commercial research and educational purposes, full bibliographic citation must be provided, including authors, journal, article title, volume, year, and page numbers. Copyright notices or disclaimers must not be removed.