Ethical Principles

The journal adopts scientific integrity, transparency, impartiality, and academic ethical principles as its fundamental publication policy. The journal is based on acting in accordance with national and international ethical standards in research and publication processes. In this context, publication processes are conducted in line with the principles of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive of the Council of Higher Education, and international academic publishing principles. Studies submitted to the journal must be original and must not have been previously published or under evaluation elsewhere. Unethical practices such as plagiarism, data fabrication, data manipulation, fake authorship, salami slicing publication, use of visuals containing ethical violations, and scientific misconduct are strictly unacceptable. Authors are obliged to specify all sources used in the study completely and accurately. When necessary, a plagiarism report may be requested by the editorial board, or a similarity review may be conducted. Studies exceeding the acceptable similarity rate may be rejected without being included in the evaluation process. Ethics committee approval is mandatory for research conducted on humans or animals. In studies requiring ethics committee approval, the committee’s name, decision date, and decision number must be clearly stated in the article. In research requiring voluntary consent from participants, this situation should also be explicitly stated. In multi-authored studies, only individuals who have made direct academic contributions to the research should be listed as authors. The order of authors should be determined by the joint decision of all authors. Individuals who contributed to the study but do not meet the authorship criteria may be mentioned in the acknowledgement section. The peer review process is conducted through a double-blind peer review system. Reviewers are obliged to examine the studies they evaluate within the framework of confidentiality principles and should not be involved in the evaluation process in cases of personal interest, competition, or academic conflict.

Publication Policy

Journal of  Korkut Ata  Fundamental Sciences and Sustainability is an interdisciplinary and innovative academic publishing platform that goes beyond the classical understanding of academic publishing by aiming not only to produce scientific outputs, but also to support the generation of applicable, measurable, sustainable, and socially impactful knowledge. The journal adopts the understanding that scientific knowledge should not remain only at theoretical level; it should also contribute to the solution of environmental problems, the enhancement of social awareness, policy development processes, and the dissemination of sustainable living practices. In this regard, the journal follows a holistic publication policy that evaluates academic quality together with social benefit, environmental responsibility, ethical research understanding, and open science principles. The journal publishes interdisciplinary studies in the fields of biotechnology, environmental sciences, ecology, climate change, biodiversity, energy systems, agricultural technologies, material production, sustainable urbanization, water management, natural resource management, and nature-based solutions, while accepting that the concept of sustainability is not limited only to the natural sciences. In addition, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the journal gives priority within its publication policy to studies contributing to global goals such as climate action, clean energy, sustainable cities, responsible production and consumption, clean water management, and the protection of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Within this framework, it is aimed that the published studies will guide not only academic literature but also decision-makers, local governments, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, and different segments of society. Furthermore, the Korkut Ata Journal of Sustainability and Natural Sciences is structured as an open-access scientific publication platform based on international academic publishing standards. The journal's publication policy is shaped in line with the principles of transparency, scientific ethics, accessibility, sustainability, and global academic visibility, and the necessary editorial and technical infrastructure preparations have been planned, taking into account the open access and discoverability criteria determined by the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals). In this context, the journal aims to implement a double-blind peer-review system, publication ethics principles, an open access policy, DOI and ORCID integration, compliance with international metadata standards, digital archiving policies, copyright, and licensing processes, and transparent editorial management mechanisms. In addition, the journal aims to be a respected scientific publication in the fields of sustainability and natural sciences, cited at the international level, with high visibility, and supporting global academic collaborations.