Ethical Principles
The publication processes implemented by the Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications form the foundation for the impartial and reputable development and dissemination of knowledge. The processes applied in this regard directly reflect the quality of the work produced by authors and the institutions supporting them. Peer-reviewed studies are those that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is crucial that all stakeholders in the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, reviewers, and editors) adhere to standards regarding ethical principles. Within the scope of publication ethics, theJournal of Accounting and Finance Applications expects all stakeholders to uphold the following ethical responsibilities.
The ethical duties and responsibilities listed below have been prepared in accordance with the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendations and the Principles of Ethical Conduct for Higher Education Institutions.
In studies requiring ethical committee approval, information regarding the approval (committee name, date, and number) should be included in the methods section and also on the first/last page of the article. Studies requiring ethical committee approval include: all types of research conducted using qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group, observation, experiment, and discussion techniques; the use of humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes; clinical research on humans; research on animals; and retrospective studies in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Law. In case reports, information regarding the signing of an informed consent form must be included in the article. Copyright regulations must be complied with for the intellectual and artistic works used. For research conducted in all scientific disciplines, including social sciences, and for clinical and experimental studies on humans and animals requiring ethical committee approval, separate ethical committee approval must be obtained, stated in the article, and documented. Articles must include a statement that the Research and Publication Ethics have been complied with.
Authors must adhere to the recommendations and standards for publication ethics established by Principles of Ethical Conduct for Higher Education Institutions, COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) regarding research and publication ethics. Various ethical irregularities, such as plagiarism, falsifying data, and using studies without proper attribution, are absolutely unacceptable. In case of such a situation, an evaluation will be made within the framework of the rules, standards, and principles published by the relevant organizations.
Articles must be original, not previously published anywhere, and not submitted to any other publication. The article must be free of plagiarism, and all studies used must be cited and listed in the bibliography. To detect plagiarism, articles are checked using plagiarism detection software. Studies with a similarity rate higher than 20% will not be accepted.
The article authors must have made a significant contribution, from data collection and analysis to the evaluation of findings and the final completion of the study and preparation for publication. All authors must have read and approved the submitted version of the article and any subsequent changes, including author order. Only those who have made significant contributions should be listed as authors; no one who has not made a significant contribution should be included among the authors. Those who did not contribute significantly enough to be listed as authors may be included in the acknowledgments section.
If a study is the result of a large-scale collaboration, at least one author must be listed throughout the article, and those who provided the data should be listed and acknowledged. After publication, care should be taken to ensure that there are no circumstances that could create a conflict of interest, raise an academically unacceptable bias, or put the author(s) in a difficult position.
Publication Ethics
Before submitting an article, authors should carefully read the journal's writing guidelines and ethical principles, which are based on international standards and principles. By submitting an article to the Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications, authors declare that they accept these principles and guidelines.
Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
a) Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, applications, writings, figures, or works of others as one's own, in whole or in part, without proper scientific attribution to the original authors.
b) Fabrication: Producing data that is not based on research, editing or altering a submitted or published work based on false data, reporting or publishing such data, presenting research that has not been conducted as if it had been conducted,
c) Distortion: Tampering with research records and obtained data, presenting methods, devices, and materials not used in the research as if they had been used, excluding data that does not fit the research hypothesis from evaluation, manipulating data and/or results to fit relevant theories or assumptions, distorting or shaping research results in line with the interests of the individuals and organizations providing support,
ç) Duplicate publication: Presenting multiple works containing the same results of a research as separate works in associate professorship examination evaluations and academic promotions,
d) Salami slicing: Presenting the results of a study as separate works in associate professorship examination evaluations and academic promotions by dividing them into parts in an inappropriate manner that disrupts the integrity of the study and publishing them in numerous publications without cross-referencing each other,
e) Unfair authorship: Including individuals who have not made an active contribution among the authors, not including individuals who have made an active contribution among the authors, changing the order of authors without justification and in an inappropriate manner, removing the names of those who have made an active contribution from the work during publication or in subsequent editions, including one's name among the authors by using one's influence despite not having made an active contribution,
Other types of ethical violations include:
a) Failing to acknowledge the individuals, institutions, or organisations that provided support for research conducted with such support, or failing to acknowledge their contributions in publications resulting from such research,
b) Using theses or studies that have not yet been submitted or defended and accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
c) Sharing information contained in a work assigned for review with others prior to publication without the express permission of the author,
ç) Using resources, premises, facilities, and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research for purposes other than those intended,
d) Making unfounded, inappropriate, and deliberate allegations of ethical violations,
e) Publishing data obtained without the explicit consent of participants in surveys and attitude studies conducted as part of scientific work, or without the additional permission of the institution if the research is to be conducted at an institution,
f) Failure to comply with the obligation to inform and warn those concerned about possible harmful practices related to scientific research conducted by researchers and officials,
g) In scientific studies, failing to use data and information obtained from other persons and institutions to the extent and in the manner authorised, failing to respect the confidentiality of this information and failing to ensure its protection,
h) Making false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions,
Principles of Research Ethics
a) In the stages of designing research processes, establishing the methodological framework, conducting ethical evaluations, and carrying out research activities, scientific integrity, a holistic approach, quality, and transparency must serve as the foundation. All stages of the research must be systematically documented and made available for review when necessary.
b) The research team and individuals participating in the study must be informed in a clear, understandable, and comprehensive manner about the research’s purpose, scope, methodology, data collection techniques, analysis processes, and the intended uses of the findings. Participants must be clearly informed about the responsibilities, potential risks, and expected contributions associated with participating in the research.
c) The confidentiality of all data obtained from participants must be protected; necessary technical and administrative measures must be taken to prevent the disclosure of identifying information. The principles of anonymity and privacy must be upheld, and data processing procedures must comply with applicable data protection legislation. The research design must be structured to safeguard individuals’ autonomy, human dignity, and fundamental rights.
d) Participation in research must be entirely voluntary; participants must not be subjected to any form of pressure, coercion, or expectation of benefit. It must be clearly stated that participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any stage without facing any penalties or adverse consequences.
e) All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that participants do not suffer physical, psychological, social, or economic harm during the research process. In this context, a risk assessment must be conducted in advance, and the research must be planned to minimize potential harm. In particular, when children, individuals with disabilities, or those with limited decision-making capacity are involved, consent must be obtained from legal guardians, and approval from the relevant ethics committees must be secured.
f) Researchers are obligated to maintain their scientific independence. Any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the study design, data analysis, or results must be disclosed in a clear and transparent manner. Additionally, financial support, sponsorships, and institutional relationships related to the research must be clearly stated.
g) If the research is conducted within a public institution, private organization, or university, the necessary official permissions must be obtained from the relevant institutions; where deemed necessary, the process must be conducted within this framework after obtaining ethics committee approval.
Authors’ Responsibilities
a. Reporting Standards: The authors of the original research must ensure that the work and its results are accurately presented and that the significance of the work is discussed objectively. The manuscript proposal must include sufficient detail and references.
b. Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must submit entirely original works, and if they have used the work or words of others, these must be properly cited. Plagiarism, in all its forms, constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
c. Multiple, Duplicate, Redundant, or Simultaneous Submission/Publication: Authors must not submit an article for consideration that has already been published in another journal. Submitting an article to multiple journals simultaneously constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
d. Authorship of the Article: Only individuals who meet the authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript. These authorship criteria are as follows:
- contributed to the design, implementation, data collection, or analysis stages,
- prepared the manuscript, provided significant intellectual contributions, or critically revised it,
- has reviewed the final version of the manuscript, approved it, and agreed to its submission for publication.
The corresponding author must ensure that all authors (as defined above) are included in the author list and must declare that the authors have reviewed the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.
e. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any conflicts of interest at the earliest possible stage (typically by submitting a disclosure form at the time of manuscript submission and including a statement in the manuscript). All sources of financial support for the study must be disclosed (including grant/funding numbers or other reference numbers, if applicable).
f. Peer Review Process: Authors are obligated to participate in the peer review process and are required to fully cooperate by promptly responding to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, evidence of ethical approval, and copyright permissions. If a decision of “revision required” is initially made, authors must systematically review their manuscripts in accordance with the reviewers’ comments and resubmit them by the specified deadline.
g. Fundamental Errors in Published Works: If authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published works, they are obligated to immediately notify the journal editors or publishers and to cooperate with them to correct the article via an erratum or to retract the article. If an editor or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, the author must be required to immediately correct or retract the article or provide evidence of the article’s accuracy to the journal’s editors.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
a. Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Reviewers assist editors in making editorial decisions and help authors improve their manuscripts through editorial communication. They should point out any deficiencies in the manuscript, such as missing references, sources, citations, or adherence to guidelines.
b. Timeliness: A reviewer who does not feel qualified to review a manuscript or who knows that the review cannot be completed on time must immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review, thereby ensuring that a new reviewer is assigned.
c. Confidentiality: All article proposals submitted for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such. They should not be shown to or discussed with others without authorization from the editor. This also applies to reviewers who decline the review invitation.
d. Standards of Impartiality: Comments regarding the manuscript proposal must be made impartially, and suggestions should be provided in a manner that authors can use to improve the manuscript. Personal criticism directed at the authors is inappropriate.
e. Citation of Sources: Reviewers must identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors. The reviewer must also notify the editor of any significant similarities between the manuscript under review and any other article (published or unpublished).
f. Conflicts of Interest: Conflicts of interest must be disclosed to the editor. There should be no conflict of interest between the reviewers and the stakeholders of the article under review.
Responsibilities of Editors
a. Impartiality and Editorial Independence: Editors evaluate submitted manuscript proposals based on their relevance to the journal’s scope and the importance and originality of the work. Editors do not consider the race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality, or political views of the authors submitting the manuscript proposal. No other institutions may influence the decision to revise or publish outside the journal’s editorial board. Editors ensure that published issues contribute to readers, researchers, practitioners, and the scientific community and maintain originality.
b. Confidentiality: Editors do not share information regarding a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and the editorial board. They ensure that manuscripts are evaluated by at least two reviewers under a double-blind peer review system and keep the identities of the reviewers confidential.
c. Independence: The relationship between the editors (Editor and Associate Editors) and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. According to the written agreement between the editors and the publisher, all decisions made by the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner. Editors must reject incomplete or flawed research that does not comply with journal policy, publication guidelines, and standards without any external influence.
d. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Editors and members of the editorial board shall not use unpublished information from a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Editors must not have any conflicts of interest regarding manuscripts they accept or reject.
f. Ethical Concerns: Editors will take action when ethical concerns arise regarding a submitted manuscript or a published article. They continue their work processes without compromising intellectual property rights or ethical standards. Any reported unethical publishing behavior will be investigated, even if it emerges years after publication. Editors follow the COPE Flowcharts when ethical concerns arise. Depending on the severity of the ethical issues, corrections or retractions may be applied, or concerns regarding the matter may be published in the journal.
e. Publication Decision: Editors ensure that all articles accepted for publication undergo peer review by at least two experts in the field. Editors are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal will be published, based on the validity of the work, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and other relevant legal requirements.
g. Collaboration with Editorial Boards: Editors ensure that all members of the advisory board conduct their work in accordance with publication policies and guidelines. They provide advisory board members with information regarding publication policies. They ensure that advisory board members evaluate their work independently. They may contribute to the selection of new advisory board members and make appropriate decisions. They maintain regular communication with the advisory board. They organize regular meetings with the editorial board regarding publication policies and journal development.
Publication Policy
The Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications is published by Kütahya Dumlupınar University.
The Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications is a international peer-reviewed journal published electronically in February and July; it is free, open access, and adheres to double-blind peer review principles.
Articles to be published in the journal must primarily be original and academic works prepared using research methods appropriate to their respective fields.
Additionally, book reviews, and evaluations that contribute to the scientific field are also accepted.
Articles in all publication categories are sent to two referees.
For articles with two or more authors, the authors’ contribution ratios must be specified.
If the published work is derived from a thesis, this must be stated on the first page of the article.
For articles to be published in the Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications, they must not have been previously published elsewhere or accepted for publication.
A maximum of one work by the same author may be published in a single issue.
Those serving as subject editors on the journal’s editorial board may submit manuscripts to the journal; however, they may not serve on the editorial board during the period in which their manuscript is under review.
Copyright and Fee Policy
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the ideas, suggestions and sources used in their works. No fees are charged to authors for articles published in the Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications. All scientific and legal responsibility for works published in the Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications rests with the author(s).
Author(s) holds the copyright. The copyright of articles published in WLS is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). Under this licence, works may be copied, adapted, distributed and reused for any purpose, including commercial purposes, provided that appropriate reference is given to the journal. For further information on the CC BY 4.0 licence, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Open Access Policy
The Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications adopts an open access policy. In this context, all studies published in the journal are accessible at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/mufuy.
Plagiarism Detection Policy
All submissions to the Journal of Accounting and Finance Applications are screened using plagiarism detection software (such as iThenticate). Submissions with a similarity rate exceeding 20% (excluding the reference list) will not be considered for review and will be returned to the author.
Publication Review Process
A Field Editor is appointed by the Editor for the works that pass the preliminary examination. The Field Editor sends the work to at least two referees for evaluation. In order for the work to be accepted in the journal, it must receive positive evaluation from both referees. If the referee views differ, a third referee may also be asked to contribute to the evaluation process. The Editorial Board primarily examines the articles submitted to the journal in terms of publication principles, journal scope, scientific content and form.
Peer Review Process
At least two reviewers are assigned to each article. The journal uses a blind review process. If revisions are requested by the reviewers, authors must make the requested revisions.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works
If a fundamental error or inaccuracy is identified in a published work, it must be reported immediately to the editors or publisher, and the error must be corrected in cooperation with the editor, or the work must be retracted. If the editors learn of the fundamental error from a third party, the authors must immediately correct the article, retract it, or prove the accuracy of the work to the editors.
Archiving Policy
The journal is sent to libraries in Turkey and abroad, as well as to international indexing agencies, within one month of its publication date, as determined by the Editorial Board.
Ethics Committee Approval
In studies requiring Ethics Committee Approval, the authors acknowledge that they have carried out their studies in accordance with the relevant principles of the scientific research protocol in line with the relevant legislation and obligations; and in the part of the article regarding the research method, they must also state that they have received the Informed Consent Form from the ethics committees of the institutions and the people who participated in the study.
• Any kind of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative methods that require data collection from participants such as questionnaires, interviews, focus group interviews require ethics committee approval.
• In case of using scales, questionnaires and photographs belonging to others, permission should be obtained from the owners and this should be stated in the article.
• If authors use copyrighted intellectual and artistic works whose property rights belong to third parties or organizations, they must present the permission for use in their articles.
