ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLISHING POLICY OF THE LYCUS JOURNAL

The scope of studies submitted for publication to the Lycus Journal, the periodical of the Archaeological Institute of Pamukkale University, must comply with the aim and scope of the journal. Lycus Journal prioritizes publishing studies, which are “authentic research” in their fields. Lycus Journal adopts open access policy. Contents are directly published open access without any charges and electronically.
Lycus Journal is committed to apply the publishing ethics at the highest standards and publish in accordance with the standards developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Council of Science Editors (CSE). Lycus Journal expects that all stakeholders fulfil their ethical liabilities.
Manuscripts submitted to Lycus Journal must not be already published elsewhere and must not be in the process of evaluation by another publication. In case the manuscript submitted was derived from undergraduate, master’s or doctoral dissertation of the author or it was already presented at a scientific congress/meeting this must be explicitly stated with a footnote inserted to the title. Such works may be accepted on the condition that place and date be stated if the publishing committee approves.
The entire process from the submission to the publishing stage is carried out electronically (https://dergipark.org.tr/lycus/). Any manuscript uploaded to the electronic system is considered an application for publishing and the evaluation process starts.

Copyright and Permissions: Authors transfer the copyright of their work to the Lycus Journal published by the Institute of Archaeology of Pamukkale University. The journal and papers are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License which may be consulted in http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en. Authors are free to make the pdf files of their own articles available as deemed necessary. Therefore, the journal allows self-archiving of the published version without any restriction. The Authors are free to use all or part of their content (text and figures) in other publications, including edits and adaptations; nevertheless, the original publication in Lycus Journal should always be referenced. Authors are not charged any fees for publication and are not paid any royalty for their published studies. Any scientific, ethical or judicial liabilities possible to arise from articles published in the Lycus Journal belong to the author(s). The Journal does not accept any such liability. The contents of all studies published in Lycus Journal are open access for the Journal follows open access policy. All the authors of manuscripts admitted for publication must fill in the COPYRIGHT TRANSFER FORM and send us the wet-ink signature copy. The articles of authors who have not submitted their Copyright Transfer Form shall not be published.

Within the frame of ethical rules, studies requiring a permission from the Board of Ethics are as follows:
All types of researches requiring data collection from participants via polls, interview, focus group work, observation, experiment and meeting techniques and implemented using qualitative and quantitative approaches, exploitation of humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes, clinic researches conducted on humans, studies on animals, retrospective studies according to the Law for the Protection of Personal Data.

DOI Number: Digital Object Identifier (DOI) allows identification and access to a copy of studies published on electronic media. Studies submitted to and admitted by Lycus Journal are assigned a DOI number, thus securing the study’s official information in electronic media.

Check against Plagiarism: All studies submitted to Lycus Journal are taken into consideration together with a check report against plagiarism (Turnitin). The study is checked for plagiarism and a report is prepared. Maximum parallelism allowed is 20%. Studies with a report level below is admitted for publication. Studies with a level over are scrutinized by the Editors and may be rejected depending on the situation.

Protection of Personal Data: Studies submitted to Lycus Journal are under the assurance of the Law for the Protection of Personal Data. No information regarding the authors or referees are shared with third parties.

Access Policy and Charges: Lycus Journal is a non-profit journal adopting open access policy. Contents admitted are published directly open access without any charges. Users may read, save, print and relink to them on the condition that they cite properly, without any prior permission. No fees are charged for submission, evaluation and publishing processes of the articles. Furthermore, Lycus Journal is not involved in any sponsorship and advertisement proposals.

Article Evaluation Process: Evaluation process starts as soon as the manuscript is uploaded to the Dergipark system of the journal. The Journal Secretary assigns an editor for the manuscript. When the editor receives the manuscripts, he/she assigns referees with expertise on the topic and sends the manuscripts to them, thus starting the evaluation process. Editors make sure that the manuscripts are evaluated within the optimal time frame. When referee evaluations are completed, the manuscripts are returned to the authors, who are expected to fulfil as soon as possible the corrections and suggestions in referee forms and relevant files. Revised manuscripts are investigated by the Editors and those admitted for publication are sent for page layout. Articles with layout completed are sent to the authors for a final check and their approval will complete the publication process. Manuscripts admitted through the peer review process may be kept in the pool for the next issue in case there is an excess number of articles for the concerned issue. Priority is determined by the Editors according to the articles’ submission dates and their quality.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Editors
The Editors are responsible for each manuscript submitted to the Lycus Journal. The Editors reserve the right to admit or reject the manuscripts submitted. The Editors determine and put into practice the journal policies such as the evaluation process, blind peer review and ethical principles. The Editors are responsible for assuring that each manuscript is evaluated at least by two blind peers and that all records of each article is kept in electronic media. The Editors check that the manuscripts submitted conform to the aim and scope of the journal, that they are authentic and shall contribute to the scientific world and that they conform to the journal’s style guide. The Editors find blind peer referees with expertise on the topic of the studies submitted and assure that they are evaluated objectively and within the established process frame. The Editors protect the intellectual property right of the manuscripts. The Editors pay utmost attention that the issue published shall contribute to the readers, researchers, and academia and scientific field as well as that it is of authentic quality. The Editors adopt the ethical duties and liabilities developed by the Council of Science Editors (CSE).

Evaluation Process and Ethical Responsibilities of the Referees
The referees assist the editors during the decision and publishing process and assist the authors to improve their manuscripts pointing to the completion of missing works, sources, citations and rules. Manuscripts submitted to Lycus Journal are evaluated based on two-way blind peer review in which neither the referees nor the authors know the identity of the other party. Author(s) cannot get in direct communication with the referees. All manuscripts submitted are considered confidential. This is valid also for the referees who decline the evaluation invitation. At least two positive referee assessments are required for a manuscript to be published. Evaluation forms and files from the blind peer review process are sent to the authors by the Editors. The manuscripts evaluated by referees must be within their fields of expertise. The referees must evaluate a manuscript objectively and in confidentiality. In case the referees attest any conflict or unity of interests, they need to reject that manuscript and inform the Editors. The referee evaluations must be constructive, polite and respectful, composed in a scientific style, and not contain any adverse, subjective and insulting comments. The referees need to fill the evaluation form and, if applicable, the comments need to be clearly expressed. The referees state their decisions for publishability of the manuscript and their reasons for the decision in the evaluation form. The manuscripts sent to the referees must be evaluated within the designated time frame.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Authors
Manuscripts submitted to Lycus Journal must not be already published elsewhere and must not be in the process of evaluation by another publication. The manuscripts submitted by the authors must be authentic. In case the manuscript submitted was derived from undergraduate, master’s or doctoral dissertation of the author or it was already presented at a scientific congress/meeting this must be explicitly stated with a footnote inserted to the title. Such works may be accepted on the condition that place and date be stated if the Editors approve. The study submitted must be entirely authentic, and quotations from other works must be cited appropriately. Anyone with no contribution to the study must not be listed as an author; only those with a contribution (e.g., design, implementation, data collection and analyses) to the study must be listed as an author. In studies with a support, concerned people and institutions must be referred to. The authors are obliged to partake in the peer review process. In case a revision is asked by the referees, the authors are responsible for revising their manuscripts systematically as per the comments by the referees by the deadline. In case the authors discover important mistakes and fallacies in their own manuscripts they are liable to inform the Editors and publishers right away. The manuscripts submitted to the Journal must be prepared in accordance with the Journal’s guidelines. The publishing sub-committee is authorized not to publish or return for correction to the author(s) the manuscripts not conforming to the guidelines. All the authors of manuscripts admitted for publication must fill in the COPYRIGHT TRANSFER FORM and send the undersigned copy. After the manuscript is submitted to the Lycus Journal, the author names must be used as designated in the Copyright Transfer Form; they cannot be altered, changed in order or a new name inserted or one deleted. Any scientific, ethical or judicial liabilities possible to arise from articles published in the Lycus Journal belong to the author(s). The Journal does not accept any such liability.