Ethical Principles
International Journal of Social Work Research (JSWR) has adopted the principle of providing the highest level of International Standards for Editors and Authors of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) in scientific articles sent to journals.
Ethics committee approval is required for studies that require ethics committee approval regarding humans and animals sent for publication in the International Journal of Social Work Research (JSWR). For studies that require ethics committee approval, you can visit our "Frequently Asked Questions" page.
Within the scope of TR Index conditions;
1. Ethics committee approval must be obtained separately for research conducted in all branches of science, including social sciences, and for other studies that require an ethics committee decision, and this approval must be documented,
2. Information about the ethics committee permission (name of the committee, date and number) should be included in the method sections of the articles.
Informed consent is required for individual interviews and case presentation studies. The consent received should be included in the method section and it should be stated that ethical principles are followed.
In all studies submitted for publication to the JSWR, scales, questionnaires, etc., belonging to others. In case of use of tools, it is obligatory to obtain the necessary permissions from the authors. It should be stated in the article that this is complied with.
Ethical issues should be taken into account when including the ideas and thoughts of others in all studies submitted for publication to the JSWR. If it is determined that there is a violation of ethical issues at any evaluation stage, the relevant work is returned to the author(s).
If the work submitted to the JSWR Journal for publication contains a direct or indirect commercial link, or if there is an organization that provides material support to the study, the author/authors should indicate the situation in question on the submission page to the editor.
The studies submitted for publication to the JSWR are evaluated with a double-blind referee system. If needed, the editorial board may decide on additional referee evaluation.
The studies submitted for publication to the JSWR must not have been sent to another journal for publication. If at any stage of the evaluation process it is determined that the study has been sent to more than one journal, the study is returned to the author.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors:
• No royalties can be claimed for manuscripts sent to the journal.
• The author(s) are expected to submit original works.
• The bibliography list must be complete and the cited sources must be specified.
• Those who want to withdraw their work submitted for publication from the journal due to delay or other reasons should apply with a letter.
• Author(s) should include a potential conflict of interest statement at the end of the article.
• Raw data regarding their articles can be requested from the author(s) within the framework of the evaluation processes, in such a case the author(s) should be ready to present the expected data and information to the editorial board and scientific committee.
• In the event that the author(s) notices an error or error regarding their published, early appearance or evaluation work, they are obliged to cooperate with the editor in informing, correcting or withdrawing the journal editor or publisher.
• Changing the author responsibilities of a work whose evaluation process has begun (such as adding an author, changing the order of authors, removing an author) cannot be proposed.
• An article whose evaluation process has been completed cannot be withdrawn by the author without showing a reasonable justification within the scope of publication ethics. In case of such a request, the relevant article is removed from the system with a rejection process.
• Editorial board assumes that article owners agree to abide by these conditions in articles submitted for JSWR.
• The studies submitted by the authors to JSWR should not be contrary to scientific research and publication ethics.
Editors' Ethical Responsibilities:
JSWR editors and field editors should have the following ethical duties and responsibilities 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) as open access :
General duties and responsibilities:
Editors are responsible for every publication published on JSWR. In the context of this responsibility, editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
• Making efforts to meet the information needs of readers and writers,
• Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
• Conducting processes to improve the quality of studies published in the journal,
• Supporting freedom of thought,
• Ensuring academic integrity,
• Continuing business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• Demonstrating openness and transparency in terms of publication on issues that require correction and clarification.
Relations with the reader:
Editors should make decisions by considering the knowledge, skills and experience expectations of all readers, researchers and practitioners. Care should be taken to ensure that the published studies provide reader, researcher, practitioner and scientific contribution and are original. In addition, editors are obliged to consider the feedback from readers, researchers and practitioners, and to provide explanatory and informative feedback.
Relations with authors:
The duties and responsibilities of the editors to the authors are as follows:
• Editors should make a positive or negative decision based on the importance, original value, validity, clarity of the narrative, and the journal's goals and objectives.
• Studies that are suitable for the scope of publication should be included in the preliminary evaluation stage unless they have serious problems.
• Editors should not ignore positive referee suggestions unless there is a serious problem with the study.
• New editors should not change the decisions made by the previous editor(s) for studies unless there is a serious problem.
• "Blind Refereeing and Evaluation Process" must be published and the editors must prevent deviations that may occur in the defined processes.
• Editors should publish an "Author's Guide" that includes every subject expected from them by the authors in detail. These guides should be updated periodically.
• Authors should be informed and returned in an explanatory and informative way.
Relations with referees:
The duties and responsibilities of the editors towards the referees are as follows:
• The articles submitted by the editors to the journal are evaluated by two independent referees, provided that they are not from the editorial group.
• The referees should be determined in accordance with the subject of the study.
• It is responsible for providing the information and guides that the referees will need during the evaluation phase.
• It has to consider whether there is a conflict of interest between the authors and the referees.
• In the context of double-blind refereeing, the identity of the referees should be kept confidential.
• Encourage reviewers to evaluate the work in an impartial, scientific and objective language.
• It should evaluate the referees with criteria such as timely return and performance.
• It should determine practices and policies that increase the performance of referees.
• Take the necessary steps to dynamically update the referee pool.
• It should prevent rude and unscientific evaluations.
• Take steps to ensure that the referee pool is broad.
Relations with the editorial board:
Editors should ensure that all editorial board members follow the processes in accordance with editorial policies and guidelines. The editorial board should inform its members about the publication policies and keep them informed of the developments. The new editorial board should educate its members on editorial policies and provide the information they need.
In addition, editors;
• It should ensure that the members of the editorial board evaluate the work impartially and independently.
• New editorial board members should be determined as contributing and suitable.
• The members of the editorial board should send studies suitable for their field of expertise for evaluation.
• Must interact regularly with the editorial board.
• Regular meetings should be held with the editorial board for the development of publication policies and the journal.
Relations with the journal owner and publisher:
The relationship between the editors and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. In accordance with the written contract between the editors and the publisher, all decisions taken by the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.
Editorial and blind peer review processes:
Editors; is obliged to implement the "Blind Refereeing and Evaluation Process" policies included in the journal's publication policies. In this context, the editors ensure that the fair, impartial and timely evaluation process of each work is completed.
Quality assurance:
Editors; is responsible for publishing every article published in the journal in accordance with journal publication policies and international standards.
Protection of personal data:
Editors; is obliged to ensure the protection of personal data regarding the subjects or images included in the evaluated studies. It is responsible for refusing to work unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the studies is documented. In addition, editors; The author is responsible for protecting the individual data of the referees and readers.
Ethics committee, human and animal rights:
Editors; It is responsible for ensuring the protection of human and animal rights in the evaluated studies. Ethics committee approval for the subjects used in the studies is responsible for refusing the study in cases where there is no permission for experimental research.
Precaution against possible abuse and misconduct:
Editors; is obliged to take precautions against possible abuse and misconduct. It is among the responsibilities of the editor to share the relevant findings, as well as to conduct a rigorous and objective investigation regarding the identification and evaluation of complaints regarding this situation.
To ensure academic publication integrity:
Editors should ensure that judgments containing errors, inconsistencies or misdirection in studies are promptly corrected.
Protection of intellectual property rights:
Editors; is obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in case of possible violations. In addition, the editors are obliged to take the necessary measures so that the contents of all published articles do not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications.
Constructivism and openness to discussion:
Editors;
• It should take into account the persuasive criticisms of the works published in the journal and display a constructive attitude towards these criticisms.
• The author(s) of the criticized studies should be given the right to reply.
• Should not ignore or exclude studies with negative results.
Complaints:
Editors; The author is obliged to carefully examine the complaints from the referees or readers and respond in an enlightening and explanatory manner.
Political and Commercial Concerns:
The journal owner, publisher and no other political or commercial factors affect the editors' independent decision making.
Conflicts of interest:
Editors; takes into account the conflicts of interest between the author(s), referees and other editors, and ensures that the publication process of the studies is completed in an independent and impartial manner.
Ethical Responsibilities of Referees:
Evaluation of all studies with "Double-Blind Refereeing" directly affects the quality of the publication. This process provides confidence through an objective and independent evaluation of the publication. The JSWR evaluation process is conducted on the principle of double-blind arbitration. Referees cannot contact the authors directly, evaluations and comments are sent through the Dergipark system. In this process, reviewer comments on evaluation forms and full texts are forwarded to the author(s) through the editor. The articles that pass the evaluations of the referees within the specified process are also scanned through a special program used in plagiarism detection and are determined whether the articles have been published before and whether they contain plagiarism. In this context, the reviewers who evaluate the work for JSWR are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:
• Manuscripts sent to the journal are evaluated by at least two referees.
• If one of the two referees expresses a negative opinion, the manuscript is directed to a third referee or the editor to make the final decision.
• Evaluations should be impartial.
• Arbitrators must be experts on the subject on which they express their opinions.
• Reviewers should not have a conflict of interest with the research, authors and/or research funders.
• Referees should indicate relevant published but not cited works.
• Checked articles should be kept confidential.
• In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, they should destroy the studies they have examined after the evaluation process. They can only use the final versions of the studies they have reviewed after they are published.
• It should make the evaluation objectively only in relation to the content of the study. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns should not be allowed to influence the evaluation.
• The referees should make the evaluation in a constructive and courteous language. Do not make derogatory personal comments that include hostility, slander and insults.
• Author(s) should immediately notify the relevant editor of any abuse (eg, plagiarism or similar unethical activities).
• Referees have to adhere to the ethical rules to which the author of the evaluated article is subject and to apply these rules meticulously.
• They should perform the work they accept to evaluate in a timely manner and with the above ethical responsibilities.
Publication Policy
The articles submitted for publication to the JSWR are first checked by the editor. Studies that fail to pass this stage are returned to the author without being directed to the field editors or sent to the author with a change request. Reasons for return or change include the fact that the similarity report of the article is over 20%, the detection of non-compliance with ethical principles, insufficient spelling and language, and being out of the scope and purpose of the journal.
The articles that pass the first stage are directed to the relevant field editor in line with the appropriate opinions of the editorial board. Editorial board's work is insufficient, ethical violation, etc. may refuse to work for any reason. The relevant work is returned to the author(s).
The articles that pass the second stage are directed to expert referees by the field editors for evaluation. In this process, the double-blind referee system is used. In case of need, the study can be sent to a third referee for evaluation. Studies deemed inadequate by the referees are rejected. Rejected works are returned to the author(s).
Articles that pass the third stage make corrections in line with the referee's recommendations. Studies that do not make corrections during this process, are deemed to be insufficient, or are deemed insufficient in the evaluation of the second/third referee are rejected. Rejected works are returned to the author(s).
Articles that pass the fourth stage are put in the queue for publication by the journal board. The process is carried out in a transparent manner by including the article arrival date and article acceptance date information on the journal page of the accepted articles. The publication process is initiated based on the acceptance date of the relevant studies.
The Copyright Transfer Form for the articles queued for publication is signed by all authors in the article and sent to the journal's e-mail address (jswrpub@gmail.com). If the relevant form is not sent, the article is returned to the author. The copyright form can be accessed from the "Forms" menu of the journal (Copyright Transfer Form is sent to the journal's e-mail address after the article is accepted. There is no obligation to upload it to the system in the first submission)
Moreover;
• The journal is an open access journal and no fee is charged for any of the article publishing processes.
• The average evaluation period of the articles varies between 30-45 days. It should be noted that this period varies depending on the state of the publication.
You can access the flow chart of the publication process prepared by the editorial office as a reference for candidates applying to the journal by clicking here…
November 30, 2025
Page
67-79
