PUBLICATION ETHICS AND COPE PRINCIPLES

The Mergen Future Thought Leaders  is committed to the principles of scientific integrity, academic impartiality, transparency, and accountability throughout its publication processes. The journal adopts the ethical principles, standards, and flowcharts published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and conducts its editorial procedures in accordance with these guidelines.

All manuscripts submitted to and published in the journal must comply with the principles of research and publication ethics. Authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial board members participating in the publication process are expected to fulfill their ethical responsibilities.

Peer Review Policy

The Mergen Future Thought Leaders employs a double-blind peer review system. Under this system, reviewers do not have access to the identities of authors, and authors do not have access to the identities of reviewers.

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial screening. During this stage, manuscripts are evaluated in terms of their relevance to the aims and scope of the journal, scientific quality, compliance with author guidelines, and adherence to ethical standards.

Manuscripts that pass the preliminary evaluation are sent to at least two independent reviewers who are experts in the relevant field. Based on reviewers’ reports, manuscripts may be accepted, returned for revision, or rejected. The Editorial Office reserves the right to seek additional reviewer opinions when deemed necessary.

Plagiarism and Similarity Policy

All submitted manuscripts are screened using intihal.net plagiarism detection software.

Manuscripts with an overall similarity rate exceeding 15% are subjected to further editorial examination. Manuscripts with a plagiarism rate exceeding 20% are considered to contain plagiarism and may be rejected without entering the peer-review process.

The following practices are regarded as publication ethics violations:

• Plagiarism
• Citation without proper attribution
• Excessive quotation
• Data fabrication
• Data falsification
• Intentional manipulation of research findings
• Salami publication
• Duplicate publication
• Gift authorship
• Ghost authorship

Manuscripts in which ethical violations are identified may be rejected at any stage of the evaluation process or retracted if already published.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors guarantee that the manuscripts they submit are original works.

Submitted manuscripts must:

• Not have been previously published.
• Not be under consideration by another journal simultaneously.
• Be prepared in accordance with the principles of research and publication ethics.
• Properly acknowledge all sources used.

Authors may not list individuals who have not made a scientific contribution to the study as authors. Likewise, excluding individuals who have made substantial contributions from the list of authors is considered an ethical violation.

If a significant error or ethical issue is discovered after publication, authors are obliged to notify the Editorial Office immediately.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are required to conduct evaluations in accordance with the principles of impartiality, confidentiality, and scientific objectivity.

Reviewers shall:

• Treat all manuscripts as confidential documents.
• Not share manuscripts with third parties.
• Base their evaluations on scientific evidence and reasoning.
• Avoid personal criticism.
• Refrain from reviewing manuscripts in cases of conflict of interest.

Reviewers are expected to notify the Editorial Office if they detect plagiarism, ethical misconduct, or scientific malpractice.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

Editors act solely on the basis of academic and scientific merit during the evaluation process.

Editors are responsible for:

• Acting impartially,
• Preserving the confidentiality of the review process,
• Preventing conflicts of interest,
• Maintaining scientific quality,
• Investigating allegations of ethical misconduct,
• Implementing corrections, retractions, or editorial actions when necessary.

Editors do not consider authors’:

• Gender,
• Age,
• Ethnic origin,
• Nationality,
• Religious beliefs,
• Political views,
• Institutional affiliations

when making editorial decisions.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members are required to disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest to the Editorial Office.

Conflicts arising from financial, academic, institutional, or personal relationships that may influence the impartiality of the evaluation process are reviewed and managed by the Editorial Office.

Correction, Retraction, and Removal Policy

In cases where significant errors, misleading information, or ethical violations are identified in published articles, the journal may apply the following measures in accordance with COPE guidelines:

• Correction
• Editorial Note
• Retraction
• Removal

These procedures are implemented to preserve the integrity and reliability of the scholarly record.

Complaints and Appeals Policy

Authors, reviewers, and readers may submit complaints and appeals regarding publication processes to the Editorial Office.

All submissions are evaluated impartially and handled in accordance with COPE flowcharts when necessary. During the investigation process, editorial decision letters relating to the manuscript may be disclosed partially or in full when required for a fair and transparent resolution.

Complaints and appeals may be submitted through the journal’s contact channels or via the DergiPark system.

Open Access Policy

The Mergen Future Thought Leaders  adopts an open-access publishing model. All published content is freely accessible to readers without subscription or access fees.

No fees are charged to readers for accessing journal content.

Publication Fee Policy

The journal does not charge authors any fees at any stage of the submission, review, or publication process.

No submission fees, review fees, peer-review fees, article processing charges (APCs), or publication fees are required.

Licensing Policy

Unless otherwise stated, all content published in the journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Under this license, works may be shared, copied, reproduced, and adapted provided that appropriate attribution is given and the material is not used for commercial purposes.

Final Provisions

Mergen Future Thought Leaders attaches great importance to the protection of personal data obtained within the scope of its publication processes. The names, surnames, titles, institutional affiliations, e-mail addresses, ORCID information, correspondence, review reports, and system transaction records of authors, reviewers, editors, and other relevant parties are processed for the purposes of receiving manuscript submissions, conducting editorial evaluation and peer review, facilitating communication, publishing, indexing, and archiving.

Personal data are protected in accordance with the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 and the relevant legislation, for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes, and in a manner that is relevant, limited, and proportionate to the purposes for which they are processed. Such data are not shared with third parties except where necessary for the proper conduct of the publication process. Legal obligations arising from applicable legislation and duly submitted requests from authorized public institutions are reserved.

The journal applies a double-blind peer-review system. The identities and contact details of reviewers are not disclosed to authors, and information relating to authors that must remain confidential under the double-blind review process is not disclosed to reviewers. Reviewer reports and editorial correspondence are treated as confidential documents.

The names, institutional affiliations, ORCID identifiers, and contact information of authors whose articles are published may be made publicly available in the article record and full-text file in accordance with scholarly publishing standards and the authors’ declarations.

Personal data are retained for the period required by the publication and archiving processes. Data subjects have the right to access their personal data, request the correction of inaccurate data, and, where permitted by law, request the deletion or anonymization of their data. Applications within this scope may be submitted to the official contact address of the publishing institution, Gazipaşa Science High School: 763638@meb.k12.tr

For data-processing activities carried out through the DergiPark system, DergiPark’s policies and practices regarding the protection of personal data also apply.