1. Publication Ethics and COPE Principles
Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education Journal of Educational Sciences is committed to applying the highest standards of scientific publication ethics. The journal adopts the core principles developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and refers to COPE’s flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts) in cases of misconduct, plagiarism, or data fabrication.
Citation manipulation is strictly prohibited in manuscripts submitted to our journal. Citation manipulation refers to unnecessary, irrelevant, or excessive citations made by authors or editors to increase the scientific impact of an article, to serve personal or institutional interests, or to artificially raise the journal’s impact factor. All authors are expected to adhere to COPE's citation ethics guidelines.
Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original, not previously published, and not under consideration elsewhere. They must comply with ethical principles.
2. Double-Blind Review and Confidentiality
The journal adheres to a double-blind peer review process. During the review process, the identities of authors, associate editors, and reviewers are kept confidential. Author information may only be disclosed in the case of investigations related to ethical violations. The journal defines its principles regarding potential misconduct in accordance with COPE guidelines and shares them with stakeholders via its website.
3. Copyright and License
Authors agree to the publication of their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license by Marmara University. This license allows users to share, copy, reproduce, and adapt the work in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, as long as appropriate credit is given and any modifications are indicated.
Authors are required to provide (if applicable) an ethical committee approval and confirm the Copyright Transfer Form. All manuscripts undergo plagiarism screening, and the similarity rate must be below 10%. Furthermore, quotations from a single source should not exceed 4%.
4. Conflict of Interest
Authors, editors, and reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest. In cases of uncertainty, the evaluation process is suspended. Documents such as Ethical Committee Approval and Consent Forms may be requested.
5. Freedom of Expression and Anti-Discrimination
The journal supports and protects freedom of expression under all circumstances. Racist, sexist, or discriminatory content is considered hate speech and is directly rejected.
6. Open Access Policy
The journal is fully open access and does not charge any fees from authors or readers. Readers may read, download, copy, search, and link to the full texts of articles without prior permission from the publisher or author, provided it is for non-commercial use.
7. Principles Regarding Allegations of Misconduct
• The journal adopts COPE’s measures regarding misconduct and abuse. It outlines the responsibilities of publishers, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and authors in the face of potential misconduct before, during, and after publication.
• In cases where the same study is submitted to multiple journals, the journal aims to compare different versions, verify author statements, collaborate on investigations, and coordinate responses with authors and/or institutions.
• The journal ensures that confidential information regarding authors, associate editors, and reviewers is shared only to prevent or respond to suspected misconduct.
• Editors must conduct preliminary inquiries before sharing information. Information is only shared when the author does not respond, provides inadequate explanations, or when multiple journals are potentially affected.
• Information is shared only with associate editors deemed knowledgeable about the subject and is limited to factual content.
• The Editor-in-Chief commits to maintaining communication confidentiality to the greatest extent possible.
8. Corrections and Retractions
• In cases of conflict of interest related to a published article, the journal clearly upholds intellectual and ethical standards and defines the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors-in-chief, and associate editors.
• Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education Journal of Educational Sciences acts responsibly and sensitively regarding the post-publication of corrections, clarifications, apologies, and retractions.
• Editors and publishers must comply with legal advice in cases of overlap or repetition that violate intellectual property rights.
9. Publisher Responsibilities
• The publisher of the journal is the Rector of Marmara University on behalf of the university and the Dean of Atatürk Faculty of Education on behalf of the faculty.
• The publisher is responsible for implementing publication ethics among all stakeholders, ensuring uninterrupted open access to journal content, archiving, and preserving publications.
• The publisher must take the necessary steps to clarify suspicions of scientific misconduct such as abuse, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, copyright infringement, or text recycling.
10. Editorial Board Responsibilities
• The Editorial Board meets at least twice a year.
• Members accept and evaluate the publication ethics principles and policy of the journal.
• They decide on the journal’s thematic issues and guest editors.
• They propose members for the Advisory Board.
• They suggest ways to increase national and international recognition of the journal.
• They inform the editorial team of suspected violations of scientific publication ethics.
• They propose databases to index the journal.
11. Editor Responsibilities
• Editors evaluate submissions regardless of authors' race, ethnicity, gender, worldview, or beliefs.
• Manuscripts are assigned to associate editors by the Editor-in-Chief. Associate editors decide whether to include the article in the peer review process based on the Editorial Preliminary Review Form.
• Editors may request revisions or recommend direct rejection.
• Editors ensure detailed and constructive evaluations from reviewers.
• The journal includes both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed content. Editors clearly indicate this distinction.
• The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for managing communication throughout the review process.
• If two reviewers disagree, a third opinion is sought.
• If the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, the associate editor assumes full responsibility.
• Editors withdraw in case of conflict of interest and must not use manuscript content for personal gain.
• Editors retract published articles that contain serious errors, plagiarism, or unethical content, and issue retraction statements linked to both versions.
12. Author Responsibilities
• Authors hold academic, ethical, and social responsibility.
• Authors may not submit more than one manuscript to the same issue.
• Submission deadlines are announced in the call for papers.
• Authors are responsible for avoiding plagiarism, authorship misconduct, improper citations, or omission of funding sources.
• Authors must disclose funding sources in the manuscript.
• Authors must declare any financial or personal relationships that may create bias.
• Authors must submit the Copyright Transfer and Conflict of Interest Forms.
• Authors are responsible for ensuring their work has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
• Authors are accountable for all parts of the work.
• All listed authors must agree on the author order.
• Only those who made substantial contributions may be listed as authors.
• Authors must notify the editors of any post-publication errors.
• Authors may not publish the same work in multiple journals without proper justification and cross-referencing.
• Authors accept that manuscripts failing APA formatting or proofreading may not be published even after peer review.
13. Reviewer Responsibilities
• Reviewers shall operate in accordance with the double-blind peer review process and fulfill its requirements.
• Upon receiving an invitation to review, reviewers should respond positively or negatively within a reasonable period.
• If the reviewer lacks sufficient expertise on the topic or can only evaluate a portion of the manuscript, this should be disclosed.
• Reviewers must agree to complete their evaluations within the mutually accepted timeframe and inform the editor if delays are expected.
• Reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest that could bias their judgment and refrain from reviewing the manuscript in such cases.
• If reviewers identify text recycling (self-plagiarism) during their evaluation, they are responsible for informing the editors.
• Reviewers must not use any information in the manuscript for their personal benefit prior to publication.
• If they believe they cannot provide a fair and objective review, they must notify the editors.
• If the manuscript is very similar to another paper they are preparing or reviewing, they must decline the review request.
During the Review Process:
• Reviewers must inform the journal if a conflict of interest arises after accepting the review.
• All documents and evaluations must be kept confidential.
• Reviewers must guarantee that their assessments are purely scientific and are not influenced by personal, financial, or intellectual bias.
• Personal remarks or unsubstantiated accusations against the author should be avoided.
• Criticism must be specific and concrete; for instance, a general comment like “this has already been studied” should be supported by references.
• Reviewers should remember that the manuscript belongs to the authors. If the writing is clear and coherent, they should not attempt to rewrite it according to their own preferences. However, suggestions for clarification are welcome.
• Reviewers must not contact authors directly.
• They should be sensitive to language-related issues, especially when the manuscript is written in a second language, and express such feedback respectfully and appropriately.
• Reviewers must not suggest citations to their own work or to that of colleagues solely to increase citation counts or visibility. If they do make citation suggestions, they must be scientifically justified.
After the Review Process:
• Reviewers must continue to maintain confidentiality regarding the manuscript and the review process.
• If any issue arises that could affect the validity of their previous comments or feedback, they must inform the journal.
• Reviewers should respond to revision or re-evaluation requests from the journal in a timely manner.
14. Plagiarism Policy
• Plagiarism and other ethical violations are unacceptable.
• All manuscripts are screened using Turnitin and iThenticate before the review process.
• Manuscripts with similarity rates above 10% are rejected without being sent for review, and the similarity report is shared with the author.
January 27, 2026
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