The Kocaeli University Faculty of Law Journal adheres to the highest standards of publication ethics. In this regard, the ethical duties and responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and journal editors are determined in accordance with the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) International Standards for Editors and Authors. The management of the publication process is based on the relevant COPE flowcharts. For the Turkish translation of these flowcharts, see: COPE, “Turkish: All Flowcharts” https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/turkish-all-flowcharts

According to Article 4 of the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of the Council of Higher Education, the following acts are considered violations of scientific research and publication ethics:

Plagiarism: Presenting others' original ideas, methods, data, or works, wholly or partially, as one’s own without proper citation in accordance with scientific standards;

Fabrication: Using data in scientific research that does not exist or has been falsified;

Distortion: Falsifying research records or obtained data; presenting equipment or materials not used in the study as if they were used; falsifying or shaping research results to serve the interests of sponsors;

Duplication: Submitting duplicated publications as separate works for academic appointments and promotions;

Salami slicing: Fragmenting research results in a way that compromises the integrity of the research and publishing them in multiple parts to present each as a separate publication in academic appointments and promotions;

Unjust authorship: Including individuals who did not contribute actively among the authors or excluding those who did, unjustifiably changing the order of authors, removing the names of contributors in subsequent editions, or including one’s own name using influence despite no active contribution;

Other types of ethical misconduct: Failing to acknowledge the contributions of individuals, institutions, or organizations that provided support for the research; using theses or unpublished studies without the owner’s consent; violating ethical principles in research involving humans or animals; failing to respect patient rights in publications; acting against the relevant legislation in biomedical and clinical research involving humans; sharing information from a manuscript assigned for review without the author's explicit permission; misusing resources, facilities, or equipment allocated for scientific research; making unfounded, unreasonable, or deliberate accusations of ethical violations; publishing data from surveys or attitude research without obtaining participants' informed consent or institutional approval; harming animal health or ecological balance in research or experiments; conducting studies without obtaining written approval from the relevant authorities; violating national or international legal regulations relevant to research and experimentation; failing to inform or warn stakeholders about potential harmful practices related to the research; using data or information obtained from other individuals or institutions beyond the scope of granted permission; failing to maintain confidentiality; and making false or misleading declarations regarding scientific publications for academic appointments or promotions.

According to Article 5 of the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics titled “Cases Not Considered as Violations of Research and Publication Ethics”, the use of anonymous information, fundamental scientific knowledge, mathematical theorems, and proofs — provided they are not expressed using someone else’s original wording and style — does not constitute a violation of publication ethics.