ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

The article acceptance and publication processes implemented in the Journal of Spatial Studies are aimed at contributing to the unbiased and reputable development and distribution of knowledge. These processes directly reflect the quality of the work of authors and supporting institutions. It is essential for all stakeholders (authors, readers, researchers, publishers, referees, and editors) to adhere to ethical principles. The criteria for the acceptance of articles include originality, high probability of citation, and adherence to academic principles. No fees are charged to authors for article submission and publication processes. The scientific, ethical, and legal responsibilities of articles published with DOI records belong to the authors.

If it is determined that the author(s) of an article have used manipulated or fabricated data, this situation is reported to the institution where the author works, and the article is rejected.

The editorial board of the Journal of Spatial Studies (Pre-Evaluation Board - Publication Board and editor) conducts text reviews through ithenticate(R) and other scientific controls after the plagiarism, and articles with a similarity rate exceeding 20% (excluding references) are not considered for evaluation.

The editorial group of the Journal of Spatial Studies expects all stakeholders to fulfill their ethical responsibilities and obligations. The specified ethical duties and responsibilities are prepared by taking into account the guides and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct), the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, and the Inter-University Council Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive.

The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeals and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should contact the editorial office directly with their objections and complaints. If necessary, an ombudsman may be appointed to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. The Chief Editor has the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.

Documents showing ethical committee permission for scientific studies that include the following issues must be submitted to the journal, and necessary information must be provided in the article:
• All types of research studies conducted with quantitative or qualitative approaches involving data collection from participants, such as interview techniques, experiments, focus group studies, surveys, observations, and interviews.
• The use of humans and animals, including materials and data, for experimental or different scientific purposes.
• Clinical studies conducted on humans.
• Studies involving animal experiments.
• Retrospective studies in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Law.

In addition, in case studies, information about the signed informed voluntary consent form must be included in the article. If content such as photos, scales, surveys, etc., not owned by the article authors is used for the purpose of the article, permission must be obtained from the owners of these contents, and it must be specified in the article. Compliance with copyright regulations is mandatory when using intellectual and artistic works.

ETHICAL DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND OBLIGATIONS

For Authors:

Authors submitting articles to the Journal of Spatial Studies are expected to comply with the specified ethical responsibilities and obligations:

• The work of the author or authors must be original, and if they benefit from other works or use other works, they must cite and/or quote them accurately and completely.
• All potential conflicts of interest and relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest must be disclosed for all studies submitted for publication. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honorarium, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funds. Potential conflicts of interest should be reported as early as possible.
• Authors may be asked for raw data related to their articles during the review process. In such a case, authors must be ready to submit the expected data and information to the editorial and scientific boards.
• Authors must have the rights to use the data used in the study, and they must have documents showing that they have the necessary permissions for the use of materials and data from humans and animals for research/analyses.
• If an author discovers an error or mistake in their published, early-view, or evaluation-stage work, they have the obligation to inform the journal editor or publisher, and cooperate with the editor in correction or withdrawal processes.
• Authors cannot submit the same study to more than one journal at the same time. Each application can be initiated after the completion of the previous application. A study published in another journal cannot be submitted to the Journal of Spatial Studies.
• Changes to author responsibilities for a study that has started the evaluation process (such as adding or removing authors, changing the order of authors) cannot be proposed.

The financing sources for the reported research in each article must be detailed in the Acknowledgments section at the end of the article before the references.

If an article is written by multiple people, one of the co-authors must be selected as the corresponding author responsible for all correspondence related to the article. Before submitting the article, all authors must accept the order of the authors and provide their current affiliations and contact information. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of this information.

The Journal of Spatial Studies requires relevant authors to submit a signed and scanned version of the authorship contribution form (https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/) during the initial submission process to act in accordance with authorship rights and prevent ghost or honorary authorship. If a case of "gift authorship" is suspected by the editorial board, the application will be rejected without further investigation. The responsible author must also send a brief statement to the editorial office stating that they accept all responsibilities for authorship in the submission and review stages of the article.

For Editors and Section Editors:

Editors and section editors are responsible for each publication in the Journal of Spatial Studies. The editor-in-chief and section editors of the Journal of Spatial Studies must adhere to the ethical duties, responsibilities, and obligations specified based on the "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The editor and section editors:
• Must make efforts to meet the information needs of readers and authors.
• Must continuously ensure the development of the journal.
• Must conduct processes to improve the quality of studies published in the journal.
• Must support freedom of thought.
• Must ensure academic integrity.
• Must continue business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards.
• Must show transparency and openness in terms of publications that require correction or explanation.
• Are responsible for the publication of each article in the journal in accordance with journal publication policies and international standards.
• Must ensure the protection of personal data of participants or visuals in the evaluated studies. They are responsible for rejecting studies unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the studies is documented. In addition, editors are responsible for protecting the personal data of authors, referees, and readers.
• Must prevent non-scientific writings that do not comply with academic etiquette.
• Must communicate effectively with everyone involved in the publication processes and hold regular meetings.

The duties, responsibilities, and obligations of editors and section editors for authors are as follows:
• Editors and section editors must make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, originality, validity, clarity of expression, and objectives of the journal.
• Unless there is a serious problem with studies suitable for publication scope, they should be taken to the pre-evaluation stage.
• Editors and section editors should not ignore positive referee suggestions regarding the study unless there is a serious problem. New editors and section editors should not change the decisions made by previous editors or editors regarding studies unless there is a serious problem.
• "Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process" must be published, and editors must prevent possible negatives in the defined processes.
• Editors and section editors must publish a "Author Guide" containing detailed information about what is expected from authors for studies and a "Referee Guide" to inform referees about evaluation processes. These guides must be updated at regular intervals.

For Referees:

Referees:
• Should provide courteous constructive comments in the evaluation of the article and avoid derogatory comments.
• Must conduct an objective evaluation, should not go beyond the scope of the study. Although blind review is carried out, referees should not allow issues such as religion, language, race, political views, and commercial concerns to affect the evaluation.
• Must complete the process based on the principles of impartiality and confidentiality.
• Should not review the publication if they notice a potential conflict of interest before starting the review process and should inform the editor.
• After evaluating the article, referees should destroy the document related to the article.
• Should refuse the evaluation if the study is outside their area of expertise.
• Should respond to the evaluation invitation positively or negatively, and should conclude the evaluation of the article they accepted on time.

Responsibilities of the Journal of Spatial Studies Editorial Board

The Editorial Board is responsible for all processes of the articles submitted to the journal. This responsibility requires making independent decisions based on the public interest, not personal interests. The relationship between the publisher and the Editorial Board is based on an independence policy, and all decisions of the editors are independent of the publisher and other individuals and institutions.

The Editorial Board works to continuously improve and elevate the quality of the journal.
The journal policies are determined and implemented as publication, blind peer review, evaluation process, and ethical principles.
Copyright of articles published in the International Journal of Spatial Studies is reserved.
The Editorial Board is responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of authors and preventing unethical behaviors, plagiarism, and reference gangs.
For authors, the Editorial Board prepares a "Author Guide" to inform them and a "Referee Guide" to inform referees about evaluation processes.
Encouragement policies for authors are determined.
Records of each article are kept electronically or in writing.