For the Kocaeli University Journal of Social Sciences (KOSBED), it is crucial to comply with the standards of academic publication ethics, especially for the authors, editors, editorial board, and referees.
The KOSBED Publication Ethics Committee (KOPE) is following the “Behavioral Principles and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” and “Behavioral Principles for Journal Publishers” (https://publicationethics.org/). In this context; authors, editors, and referees are expected to act in accordance with the following ethical principles.

Authors' ethical responsibilities;
In accordance with the TR Index Journal Evaluation criteria, the following criteria regarding ethics committee permissions will be sought and applied in the articles sent to the Kocaeli University Journal of Social Sciences, which are mandatory for publications starting from 2020.
1- Research requiring Ethics Committee permission;
- All research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches, collecting data from participants using interview techniques such as experimental studies, questionnaires, observations, interviews, focus group work,
- Studies in which materials and data of humans and animals are used for experimental or other scientific purposes,
- Clinical studies on humans,
Experimental or clinical research on animals,
- Retrospective (in accordance with the law on protection of personal data) studies
2- In addition;
- Obtaining and indicating permission from the owners for the use of scales, questionnaires and photographs belonging to others,
- Stating that the copyright regulations are complied with for the intellectual and artistic works used,
- In case presentations, it should be stated that the "Informed Consent Form" was obtained (Ethics committee permission is not required for case reports).
3- The authorization of the retrospective ethics committee is not required for articles produced from master's / doctoral studies before 2020 and using research data before 2020 (should be specified in the article).
4- In the submitted articles, in the light of the above information, if the permission of the ethics committee and / or legal / special permission is required, it should be clearly stated from which institution, on what date and with which decision or issue number the permission was obtained.
5- If the study requires the use of human and animal subjects, it must be declared that the study was carried out in accordance with international declaration, guideline, etc.
6- Researchers who are not members of the university can apply to the Ethics Committees in their regions.

The ethical responsibilities of referees;
Accepting the evaluation process of articles that do not have a conflict or conflict of interest, and not participate in the evaluation process of the article by declaring if there is a conflict of interest or conflict.
To consider only the content of the study in the process of evaluating the article.
To comply with the time period during the examination process, to complete it on time (Extension of time may be requested if necessary).
To protect the confidentiality of all information obtained about article and article authors.
Stating their comments in revision requests in a constructive language that helps to improve the quality of the article.

Ethical responsibilities of editors and vice editors;
Editors take care to meet the information needs of referees, authors and readers, to answer their questions when necessary, to act according to the principles of clarity in matters that require correction and explanation during the publication process.
When deciding on the publication of articles, editors take care that the articles are original, scientific, and contribute to readers, researchers and practitioners.
When making positive or negative decisions about articles, editors take into account the original value of the articles, their contribution to the field, the validity and reliability of the research method, the clarity of the statement and the scope of the journal.
• Editors take the submitted articles to the pre-evaluation stage unless they have a significant scientific problem.
• Editors follow the policies of blind review and evaluation process, which are among the publishing policies of the journal, keep the identities of the referees confidential, and endeavor to evaluate each article objectively and within the time limit.
• Editors send the articles by taking into account the expertise of the referees, and they take care to make the evaluations impartial and independent.
• Editors take into account whether there is a conflict of interest between the editors, referees and author (s) for unbiased evaluation of the article.
• Editors seek to ensure that the referee pool consists of a wide range and is constantly updated.
• Editors avoid unscientific evaluations that do not follow academic etiquette.
• Editors ensure that the journal publishing processes are operated in accordance with the publication policies and guidelines, inform their field of duty in the process about the developments in publication policies, and prepare training programs when necessary.
• Editors communicate with everyone involved in the publishing process and organize regular meetings.
• Editors ensure the protection of personal data in reviewed articles; protect individual data of authors, referees and readers.
• Editors; They pay attention to the protection of human and animal rights in the articles, they care about documenting the express consent of the participants of the article, the approval of the ethics committee of the participants of the article, and they reject the article when they do not have permission for experimental research.
• Editors; They take precautions against misconduct. When there are complaints about misconduct, they make an objective investigation and share their findings.
• Editors ensure that errors, inconsistencies or misdirections in the articles are corrected.
• Editors protect the intellectual property rights of published articles and defend the rights of the journal and the author (s) in case of violation. In addition, they take the necessary measures to ensure that the content of the published articles does not infringe the intellectual property rights of other publications; They do the authenticity-similarity check.
• Editors take into account the consistent criticism of the articles published in the Journal, and give the right to reply to the author (s) of the criticized articles.
• Editors also consider studies with negative results.
• Editors examine the complaints submitted to the Journal and make the necessary explanations.