Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
PUBLICATION PRINCIPLES:
It is important for journals to determine the principles to be followed during the preparation of an article, taking into account international standards, and to check compliance with these rules in the articles they will evaluate in order to raise the scientific publishing standards. The standards that must be followed during the preparation of an article to be sent to scientific journals and that are accepted and implemented by international medical journals are specified. Online Türk Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi [Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences (OTJHS)] applies the principles of publication accepted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and World Association of Medical Editors. In addition, the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences applies the publication principles determined by DergiPark under the roof of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM. Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. All articles are Open Access and can be downloaded free of charge.
GENERAL INFORMATION: The journal publishes articles in Original Research, Reviews, Case Reports and Letters to the Editor. Before submitting an article for publication, it is essential to ensure that it has yet to be published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Suppose the paper contains any text, tables, pictures, or other elements that have been previously published. In that case, the author must obtain written permission from the copyright holder and authors and clearly state this in the article. Abstracts presented at scientific meetings are acceptable but must also be mentioned in the article. Authors are expected to follow the guidelines listed below.
1. Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences is a free journal founded in 2016. Our journal is a national and international peer-reviewed journal published four times a year regularly in Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Clinical Nursing and Midwifery, Sports Sciences, and other fields related to human health since 2016. The editor, the editorial advisory board, and the referees evaluate all articles submitted for publication.
2. Original research papers, case reports, and reviews in English are published in our journal.
3. Only the original scientific research is included. It is sought that the information produced in the scientific study is new, proposes a new method, or has given a new dimension to the existing knowledge.
4. Articles submitted for publication are considered to be double-blind by at least externally peer-reviewed, and accept-decline decisions are taken by the editorial board. The Invited review manuscripts are limited to a few articles, and there will be no referee requirement. The invited review articles are published after the approval of the editor.
5. Studies mustn't be published in another journal or should not have been sent to any journal for publication. The corresponding author asks for a cover letter explaining this situation (Please see: Nature Research).
6. All responsibility for the studies belongs to the authors. Studies should be prepared following international scientific ethics rules. Where necessary, a copy of the ethics committee report must be added. See the Ethics Committee Approval Scheme Guidance Scheme for Human and Human Data Use and the Ethics Committee Approval Scheme Guidance Scheme for Animal Experiments. For Turkish: Click; For English: Click
7. Authors are responsible for compliance with international ethical principles such as fabrication, falsification, duplication, plagiarism, slicing, gift authorship, and ghost authorship. If such a situation is detected before or after the publication of any research, the article is withdrawn from the journal. Please click here: COPE.
8. Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences (OTJHS) is protected by copyright laws. The Copyright Agreement Form must be signed by all authors and added to the article submission documents. The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. By signing this form authors agree that the article, if accepted for publication by the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences, will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits third parties to copy, distribute, or reuse the content for non-commercial purposes by giving the appropriate credit to the author and original work. A signed copyright transfer form must be added to the system for the studies accepted for publication in our journal. Please click for the Copyright Transfer Form.
9. Studies submitted for publication in our journal must be prepared according to the journal's spelling rules. Please click https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/otjhs/writing-rules for the spelling rule.
10. The author should make changes 10 days after minor revision, 20 days after major revision, and 30 days after needed to rewrite or edit. If the author does not make the requested corrections in time, the editor writes a warning to the author. If there is a delay again, the manuscript is rejected.
A peer-reviewed journal publication requires the concerned parties' continued work, responsibility, obligation, and cooperation: Authors, Blind Reviewers, Editors, and Board Members. Editors are responsible for maintaining and monitoring ethics and keeping academic records.
ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES: Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences is a scientific journal based on high ethical and editorial standards and evaluated by reviewers. The editorial evaluation is based on suggestions of the COPE. Cope's recommendations for ethical duties, responsibilities and open access in this journal are considered. See COPE. There is no submission or publication fee for the submitted manuscript and the online Turkish Health Sciences Journal process. All accepted manuscripts are published, read, and downloaded free of charge. Poster/ oral presentations presented in scientific meetings related to the fields of health may be published as additional issues. For this reason, the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences has adopted the ICMJE, BOAI, and DOAJ. All the Online Turkish Health Sciences Journal members and authors must be aware of the basic rules and recommendations guidelines set by COPE.
The permission from Ethics Committee/ Institutional Review Board is mandatory for all studies on human subjects. "Documents and information requested for studies requiring ethics committee permission" should be uploaded to the system. An ethics committee approval certificate should be uploaded to the system for scientific studies except for case reports/series and review articles. In the case of reports, an informative volunteer/consent form should be included in the article. In studies requiring ethical committee permission, information about the authorisation (board name, date, and number) should be included in the method section and on the article's first/last page. However, the "Declaration that the study has been carried out following the international declaration, guidelines, etc." description should be included in the Material and Method section.
PUBLICATION RIGHT: According to the 1976 Copyright Act, all publishing rights of articles accepted for publication belong to the institution that publishes the journal. The thoughts and suggestions in the articles are entirely the authors' responsibility. For each article, authors must fill out a "Publication Rights Transfer Form" provided by the journal and send it to the journal along with the article.
AUTHOR: The article is rejected when plagiarism, falsification, distortion, unfair authorship, etc., are detected. An article in the process cannot be sent to another journal or published. The author is responsible for uploading the documents and information requested for studies requiring ethics committee permission to the system. Our journal made it obligatory for the authors to define the ethics committee that approved the study. It also expects the authors of the submitted article to comply with the recognised standards below.
Scientific research should comply with the principles described in the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, the well-known Helsinki Declaration, the US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, and the European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice, COPE, ICMJE. The international rules stated in the Helsinki Declaration and Horizon 2020 must be followed in experiments on humans and experimental animals.
1• All kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches require data collection from participants using surveys, interviews, focus group work, observation, experiment, and interview techniques.
2• Use of humans and animals (including material/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes,
3• Clinical research on humans,
4• Researches on animals,
5• Retrospective studies following the Law on Protection of Personal Data
Also;
1• In the case reports, it is stated that an "Informed consent form" has been taken,
2• Getting and expressing permission from the owners for the Use of scales, surveys, and photographs belonging to others,
3• Indication that copyright regulations are observed for the ideas and works of art used
SCIENTIFIC RESPONSIBILITY OF AUTHORS: Authors have a scientific responsibility to ensure the accuracy and validity of their research findings. This includes conducting experiments with proper controls, accurately reporting data, and acknowledging the contributions of others. It is also important to publish findings in reputable journals and to avoid plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct. By upholding these standards, authors can contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge and maintain the integrity of the research community. Therefore, all authors who are listed on a submitted article must have made a direct academic or scientific contribution to the work. The designated author must have fulfilled all of the following criteria: (1) Planned or carried out the research described in the article, (2) Written or revised the article, and (3) Approved the final version of the article. Once the Discussion and Conclusion section of the article is completed, each author should clearly state their specific contributions to the research.
REVİEWER: Manuscripts submitted for publication are evaluated by at least two blind reviewers. The peer-review process involves receiving advice from the experts of the peers in the field on individual articles. The reviewers have no conflict of interest and keep the papers confidential. The editor reviews the reviewers' evaluation results, informing the author about the decision. The names of the reviewers are not notified to the authors. Referees cannot see the names of the authors. Developing short articles following the referees' recommendations is a general principle. An invitation is sent to the referee through the journal system. The referee accepts or rejects the invitation within seven days. If taken, the evaluation process is 15 days. If they cannot complete the evaluation within 15 days, additional time is given if they wish.
ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF REFEREES: Those who accepted to be a referee in a study sent to the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences; It must take into account the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendations, COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) recommendations and the principles of the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive regarding referees and comply with these principles.
Referees who agree to review a study submitted to the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences undertake that they comply with the above-mentioned ethical principles.
Referees;
1. Since the review process is carried out based on double-blind review, they act following this principle. In this context, they do not try to contact the authors and other referees.
2. They submit their reviews and comments regarding the study to the journal editorship via the Evaluation Form.
3. They agree to examine and evaluate only studies related to their field of expertise.
4. They pay attention to the confidentiality of the studies they examine.
5. They conduct the review process impartially. They conduct the examination according to scientific criteria. As a result of an evaluation made according to impartial and scientific criteria, they make acceptance decisions for studies that they think will contribute to the field.
6. If they notice a conflict of interest or unity of interest, they notify the journal editor.
7. If they refuse to review, they notify the journal editor of their decision and the reason for the rejection.
8. If the referees detect any violation of academic principles and ethical values, national or international principles or standards in the works, they immediately inform the Board.
9. They complete the review of the studies within a reasonable time and submit the evaluation reports to the journal editor.
10. They do not include non-scientific comments and evaluations in the Evaluation Report.
11. Referees cannot discuss articles with third parties.
Referees who agree to review a study submitted to the Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences undertake that they comply with the above-mentioned ethical principles.
Referees;
1. Since the review process is carried out based on double-blind review, they act following this principle. In this context, they do not try to contact the authors and other referees.
2. They submit their reviews and comments regarding the study to the journal editorship via the Evaluation Form.
3. They agree to examine and evaluate only studies related to their field of expertise.
4. They pay attention to the confidentiality of the studies they examine.
5. They conduct the review process impartially. They conduct the examination according to scientific criteria. As a result of an evaluation made according to impartial and scientific criteria, they make acceptance decisions for studies that they think will contribute to the field.
6. If they notice a conflict of interest or unity of interest, they notify the journal editor.
7. If they refuse to review, they notify the journal editor of their decision and the reason for the rejection.
8. If the referees detect any violation of academic principles and ethical values, national or international principles or standards in the works, they immediately inform the Board.
9. They complete the review of the studies within a reasonable time and submit the evaluation reports to the journal editor.
10. They do not include non-scientific comments and evaluations in the Evaluation Report.
11. Referees cannot discuss articles with third parties.
EDITOR: Journal Editors are committed to complying with all COPE Code of Conduct standards. Editors should not have a conflict of interest regarding the articles they accept or reject. Editors should only get papers that will contribute to the field. Manuscripts that do not reach the intended level and studies that are not considered scientifically sufficient are rejected by the editor, explaining the reasons. The editor should be interested in the subject of the article and continue the process. The editor may assign an assistant editor or a field editor to be involved in the process. These editor(s) appoint at least two referees and send invitations to these referees through the journal system. The referee accepts or rejects the invitation within seven days. If the referee agrees with the evaluation, the evaluation period is 15 days. If the review cannot be completed within 15 days, additional time may be given to the referees by the editor(s).
After the evaluation process of the reviewers is completed, the article can be accepted or rejected, taking into account the opinions of the reviewers. If reviewers make revision suggestions about the article, these suggestions are forwarded to the corresponding author and a reasonable time is given for revision (7, 15 or 30 days).
Accepted articles are put into publication order by the editor for publication.EDITORS' ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
1- Editors are responsible to their readers and should learn the needs and expectations of their readers.
2- They should create a system for decisions made after evaluating publications and their implementation.
3- They should try to ensure that the rights and guarantees of the subjects in the studies included in the journal are provided, international ethical rules are complied with, ethics committee approvals are obtained, and the informed consent form is signed.
4- They are responsible for the journal's content and the types of articles.
5- They should ensure that information, publication preparation and submission rules are determined for authors and announced to readers.
6- They must develop an appropriate process/procedure for evaluating articles without delay, accepting or rejecting them for publication and ensuring their continuity.
7- During the evaluation process of the article by reviewers, they must ensure the confidentiality of the study's content and the authors' names.
8- They should stand behind their decisions but not hesitate to reconsider them if necessary.
9- They should make efforts to increase the quality of not only the articles but also the research conducted.
10- They should publish guidelines for authorized evaluation and update them regularly.
11- They should be prepared to correct the mistakes made during the evaluation and printing stages of the article and, if necessary, issue an apology letter.
12- They must make decisions independently, without being influenced by any influence during the editorial evaluation process, and must provide assurance to the authors on this matter.
13- In cases of violation of publication ethics or scientific immorality, they should carry out all research to clarify the issue, if necessary, expand the investigation by taking the problem to higher academic authorities, and wait to publish the article until the issue is clarified. If the problem arose after the article was published and the author's guilt was proven. Editors should explain this fact in a letter from a higher academic institution and should only publish such articles using their initiative and conducting detailed research.
14- They should not have personal, economic or political connections that would affect their duties and responsibilities in any way,
15- They should make plans for the future of their journal and, if necessary, review the publication policy of the journal.
16- Editors must be absolutely independent in determining the content of the journal; They should know the publishing house's approach to advertisements, etc., and should not be under any pressure to keep scientific content completely separate from advertisements.
17- Research results can be presented to the media and the public with the approval of the journal editor after the article is accepted for publication in the journal. An article that is not accepted for publication is a premature work and cannot be reflected in the media.
18- Editors should determine how many issues their journal will publish per year, how long the evaluation process will take, the acceptance rate of articles sent to the journal, and inform their readers.
JOURNAL MANAGEMENT: Journal management consists of the Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, Editors and Layout Editor. The Journal teams will take the necessary steps to prevent the publication of articles identified as abusive, as stated above on the author's part. Under no circumstances should the journal team or editors promote or allow such abuses. If the publisher or editor of the journal is informed of the alleged misconduct in any investigation, the publisher or editor will handle the claims accordingly.
The journal managers will allow the withdrawal or correction of articles if necessary. The journal is willing to publish corrections, explanations, and apologies if necessary.
The journal managers follow the publication order of the accepted articles, obtain the DOI number of the articles, complete the layout editing and publish the article.
Online Türk Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi [Online Turkish Journal of Health Sciences (OTJHS)] is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Click here to get help about article submission processes and "Copyright Transfer Form".