Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education is a peer-reviewed, electronic, and scientific journal which adheres to the following ethical principles and considerations in order to publish high quality objective articles in the field of special education about children at risk, children with developmental delays, and children with and without special needs. Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education is a free access electronic journal in which a double blind review process is conducted. Following are the ethical responsibilities, roles and duties of authors, editor(s), reviewers, and the publisher. This publication ethics and malpractice statement is written according to the guidelines of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Moreover, plagiarism and unethical behaviors according to Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education are included here.

STAKEHOLDERS' RESPONSIBILITIES

1-Authors
• The authors should submit their original works to the Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education in the field of special education about the topics related to children at risk, children with developmental delays, and children with and without special needs.
• Any work of other sources (authors, online pages, personal interviews etc.) should be properly and accurately referenced.
• The authors must indicate that the manuscript has not been submitted to any other journals and they must fill in the form of “Copyright Release.”
• Individuals who have not intellectually contributed to the manuscripts should not be indicated as authors.
• If there are conflicting interests or relations in the manuscripts submitted, these must be declared and explained.
• The authors could be asked to supply raw data related to their manuscripts during the review process, they must provide the raw data required to the editorial board. The authors are supposed to keep data of a published article at least for 5 years.
• If the authors identify mistakes in their studies, they should inform the editor or the editorial board and cooperate with the process of correction or withdrawal.

2-Reviewers
• All the manuscripts submitted to the Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education are reviewed in a double blind review process. It means that both the authors and the reviewers are kept confidential to ensure unbiased, objective, and independent review process. The reviewers are asked to assign manuscripts through journal management system on DergiPark. The reviewers are asked to fill in a form about the contribution of the manuscript to the special education field and their final decision about the manuscript whether or not to be published and the reasons. The ethical responsibilities and roles of the reviewers of our journal are as follows:
• The reviewers must only agree to review manuscripts which align with their expertise.
• The reviewers must only review manuscripts which they do not have any conflict of interests. If they notice any conflict of interest they should inform the editor about it and decline to be a reviewer to the related manuscript.
• The reviewers must review the manuscripts in unbiased and objective manner.
• Referees are expected not to indicate their names on the evaluation form so as not to compromise the double-blind process. Referees must also indicate their decision on whether the article they have evaluated is publishable and the reasons for their decision on this form.
• The suggestions and tone of the reviews should be polite, courteous and scientific. The reviewers should avoid including hostile, disrespectful, and subjective personal comments. When these comments are detected they could be reviewed and returned to the reviewer to be revised by the editor or editorial board.
• The reviewers should respond in time when a manuscript is submitted to them to be reviewed and they should adhere to the ethical responsibilities declared hereby.

3-Editor
The editor is responsible for the articles published. The editor’s ethical duties and responsibilities are as follows:
General responsibilities
• The editor should make the efforts to improve the quality of and contribute to the development of the journal.
• The editor should support authors’ freedom of expression.
Relations with readers
• The editor should ensure that the non-peer-reviewed sections of the journal (letters, essays, announcements of conferences etc.) are clearly identified.
• The editor should make efforts to ensure that the articles published align with the knowledge and skills of the readers.
Relations with the reviewers
• The editor should match the knowledge and expertise of the reviewers with the manuscripts submitted to them to be reviewed ensuring that the manuscripts are adequately reviewed by qualified reviewers.
• The editor should require reviewers to disclose any potential competing interests before agreeing to review a submission.
• The editor must ensure that the review process is double blind and never reveal the identities of the authors to the reviewers or vice versa.
• The editor should evaluate reviewers in terms of performance and timing.
• The editor should develop a database of suitable reviewers and update it on the basis of reviewer performance.
• The editor should cease to use reviewers who continuously produce impolite, poor quality or late reviews.
• The editor should try to enlarge reviewer pool with new reviewers in terms of reviewers’ expertise.
Relations with the authors:
• The editor should provide clear publication guidelines and a template of what is expected of them to the authors and continuously review the guidelines and templates.
• The editor should review the manuscript submitted in terms of guidelines of the journal, importance of the study, and originality and if the decision to reject the manuscript is made editor should explain it to the authors with clear and unbiased way. If the decision is made that the manuscript should be revised by the authors in terms of written language, punctuation, and/or rules in the guidelines (spacing, proper referencing, etc.) the authors should be notified and given time to do the corrections accordingly.
• The editor should provide submission and acceptance dates on the manuscripts.
• The authors should be provided with necessary information about the process of their review (at which stage is the manuscript at etc.) complying with the rules of double blind review.
Relations with editorial board members:
• Editor should provide publication guidelines to the new editorial board members and explain what is expected of them.
• Editor should ensure that the editorial board members have the recently updated publication guidelines and policies.
• Editor should review the editorial board members and include members who can actively contribute to the journal’s development.
• Editorial board members should be informed about their roles and responsibilities such as
- Supporting development of the journal
- Accepting to write reviews in their expertise when asked
- Reviewing publication guidelines and improving them consistently
- Taking responsibility in journal’s operation

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

1-Plagiarism and Unethical Behavior
All articles submitted to the Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education are screened with iThenticate software before publication. The maximum similarity rate accepted is 10%, provided that it does not exceed 1-2 articles in total. Plagiarism refers to the act of presenting another person's data, words, or theories as one's own without providing the necessary citations. Articles submitted to our journal that exceed the 10% similarity rate are reviewed in detail and, if deemed necessary (in cases where the author of the submitted article directly quotes from other authors but fails to summarize in their own words, or where the author of the submitted article directly quotes long sentences or paragraphs from their own previous articles), If plagiarism or unethical behavior is detected, the article may be rejected for publication (submission to multiple journals, taking most of the article from other authors but presenting it as the author's own opinions/comments without the necessary citations). If plagiarism is detected in an article submitted to or published in our journal, our journal acts in accordance with COPE principles (Plagiarism in a submitted manuscript - Plagiarism in a published article).

Following are some of the behaviors which are accepted as unethical:
• Indicating individuals who have not intellectually contributed to the manuscripts as authors.
• Not indicating individuals who have intellectually contributed to the manuscripts as authors.
• Not indicating that a manuscript was produced from author’s graduate thesis/dissertation or that the manuscript included was produced from a project’s data. (If the manuscript is produced from author's thesis/dissertation the rate of it is substracted from the Ithenticate rate).
• Salami slicing, producing more than one article from a single study.
• Not declaring conflicting interests or relations in the manuscripts submitted.
• Unveiling double blind process.

2-Ethics Committee Approval
In our journal, approval from the relevant committee is required for all studies that require ethics committee approval. Surveys, experiments, observations, clinical and animal studies, and research involving personal data are subject to ethics committee approval. This approval must be clearly stated in the text of the article. Studies without ethics committee approval will not be considered for review. Scientific research involving humans and animals must be conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and ARRIVE guidelines and must obtain approval from the relevant ethics committee.

In our journal, studies requiring ethics committee approval include the following:
• All research conducted using qualitative or quantitative approaches that involve collecting data from participants through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus group studies, observations, experiments, and interviews,
• Studies in which humans and animals (including materials or data) are used for experimental or other scientific purposes,
• Clinical research conducted on humans,
• Scientific research conducted on animals,
• Retrospective studies within the framework of the Personal Data Protection Law.

3-Relationships with the Journal Owner and Publisher
The relationship between the editor and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. According to the written agreement between the editor and the publisher, all decisions made by the editor are independent of the publisher and journal owner.

4-Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
Editors may consider publishing corrections if minor errors are identified in a published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations, or conclusions. Editors should consider retracting an article if major errors or violations that invalidate the findings and conclusions are identified. COPE principles are taken into account regarding corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern. If the author(s) notice an error or mistake in their published, early view, or review-stage work, they are obligated to cooperate with the journal editor in the retraction process. Authors wishing to request the retraction of their work in the review stage are required to fill out the Retraction Form, have it signed by each author with a wet signature, scan it, and send it to the editorial board via email at ozeled@ankara.edu.tr. The Editorial Board will review the retraction notification and respond within 15 days at the latest. Unless the retraction request is approved by the editorial board, authors cannot submit their work to another journal for review.

5-Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defending the rights of the journal and authors in case of possible infringements.

6-Protection of Participants' Personal Data
All personal data submitted to our journal is protected in accordance with legal regulations and ethical rules.

7-Complaints
In the Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education, any unethical behavior or unethical situation encountered during the evaluation process, early view, or publication of an article related to editors, reviewers, or authors must be reported via email to ozeled@ankara.edu.tr. Our journal follows the procedure outlined in the COPE flowcharts regarding complaints.

8-Conflicts of Interest
Our journal ensures that the publication process is completed independently and impartially by considering conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, and other editors.

9-Author Changes
Only accepted articles are processed. Authors must carefully review the list of authors and their order before submitting their articles and provide the final list of authors at the time of initial submission.

10-Use of Artificial Intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence in studies submitted to our journal is acceptable in processes that do not affect the originality of the article, such as literature review or language control. However, the use of artificial intelligence must be carried out within the framework of ethical rules and must not be used for unethical purposes such as fabricating data or manipulation.
For studies involving the use of artificial intelligence, it is mandatory to inform our journal of this situation during the article submission process. All responsibility related to the use of artificial intelligence lies with the authors themselves.

PUBLICATION POLICIES

1- Article Evaluation Process
In order to establish a basis for the objective evaluation of scientific studies, the Journal of Special Education uses a double-blind peer review method in the evaluation process of all studies. In the double-blind peer review method, the identities of the authors and reviewers are concealed.

A-Preliminary Review Process
• Studies that do not comply with the journal's writing rules and template are not evaluated and are returned to the author(s) for revision within a maximum of 15 days. In this regard, the writing rules should be reviewed in advance and the sample template file should be used to ensure that the studies are prepared in accordance with the journal's writing rules.
• Articles that are compliant with the writing rules and format are then subjected to plagiarism detection. Plagiarism detection is performed using the iThenticate program. The maximum acceptable similarity rate is 10%, provided that it does not exceed 1-2 articles in total. Articles submitted to our journal that exceed the 10% similarity rate are examined in detail, and if deemed necessary, (in cases where the author of the submitted article directly quotes from other authors' works but fails to summarize them in their own words, or where the author of the submitted article directly quotes long sentences or paragraphs from their own previous articles) the article may be returned to the authors for revision or correction. If plagiarism or unethical behavior is detected, the article may be rejected for publication.
• A “writing editor” and “statistics editor” conduct a preliminary review process for all submitted articles. During this process, the articles are reviewed in detail for compliance with the journal's writing rules, article reporting rules, and the introduction, methods, findings, and discussion sections. Statistical editors review the methods and findings sections of the articles, the tools used in the research process (validity and reliability studies), and the reporting of the analyses. The writing and language editor reviews the introduction, methods, findings, and discussion sections of the studies for compliance with the writing rules and APA 7. Once the process is complete, authors are notified and, if corrections are required, are expected to make them within a maximum of 30 days. During this process, the following decisions may be made regarding the articles: a) suitable for peer review, b) requires revision before peer review, or c) not suitable for peer review or publication in the journal and should be returned to the author.

B-Peer Review Process
• For studies that meet the preliminary review criteria, a double-blind peer review process is initiated. The article is sent to two independent reviewers who are experts in the field. Throughout the review process, both the authors' and reviewers' identities are kept confidential; the process is conducted in accordance with ethical principles and confidentiality standards.
• Reviewers are given 21 days to complete the peer review process. Authors must complete any revisions suggested by reviewers or editors within the specified time frame. Reviewers may decide on the suitability of a paper's revisions or request multiple revisions if necessary.
• After the evaluation is complete, papers requiring minor or major revisions based on reviewer feedback are sent back to the authors for revision. During the revision process, authors are expected to review the reviewers' opinions, suggestions, and questions. In this process, the authors should make the necessary changes and answer the reviewers' questions, taking into account the opinions and suggestions of all reviewers. Valid reasons should be provided for any of the reviewers' suggestions that cannot be implemented. The relevant Revision file of our journal should be downloaded and filled out for revision.
• The maximum time allowed for revision in our journal is 3 months. If authors do not complete the revision of their article within this period, their articles may be returned and a decision may be made not to publish them in the journal. If authors need additional time, they must submit their reasons to our editorial office at ozeled@ankara.edu.tr before the deadline.
• For submissions to be published in our journal, at least two reviewers must approve them for publication. If one reviewer provides a positive opinion and another provides a negative opinion, the article is sent to a third reviewer. The final decision on the publication of submissions is made by the Editorial Board based on the reviewers' opinions.

C-Appealing the Evaluation Result
The author(s) of the Journal of Special Education reserves the right to appeal the evaluation results. The author(s) should send an e-mail to ozeled@ankara.edu.tr with reference to the opinions and comments within the scope of the evaluation results within 15 days after the decision is sent to them and upload it to the system from the DergiPark system. The objections are reviewed by the editorial board within 1 month at the latest. A referee who is an expert in the field is appointed for the objections made by the author(s). The referee first reviews the manuscript, then makes a final evaluation together with the opinions of the other referees, and the result is notified to the author(s).

D-Editorial Proofreading
The editorial team performs the editorial proofreading process for the articles that are "accepted for publication" as a result of the referee evaluation in the Journal of Special Education. In this process, the article is examined similar to the preliminary review within the framework of journal writing rules and APA 7. The introduction-methods-findings and discussion sections of the article are read in detail and the article is reviewed in terms of form and references. As a result of this process, the following decisions can be taken: a) the article is suitable for publication and can be directed to the editor, b) the article needs to be revised in terms of form and content, and c) the article is not suitable for publication in its current form and should be returned to the author(s). At the end of the editorial proofreading process, layout is carried out for articles suitable for publication. At the end of the layout, the articles are given doi and published in early view.

E-Early View
Articles accepted for publication are published in early view in the order of their acceptance date. During the early view, authors are required to review their articles and notify the editorial board of their suggestions for corrections in terms of journal writing rules and layout. No changes can be made to the articles after the journal is published.

F-Volume and Issue Number
Articles in early view are assigned to subsequent issues based on the order in which they appear in early view.

2- Archive, Open Access and Copyright Policies
Articles published in our journal are digitally archived in DSpace and LOCKSS. In addition, published articles can be made available by the author in the institutional archive of the university where the author works, in thematic archives or in any other archive without an embargo period. Thus, anyone can immediately access this publication free of charge.
All articles published as open access in our journal are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). When the article is accepted for publication, the authors agree to transfer their copyrights to our journal under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
All articles published as open access in our journal can be accessed online and free of charge at https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ozelegitimdergisi/archive

License Scope
Sharing: The work may be copied and redistributed in any medium and format. As long as the terms of the license are met, the licensee cannot revoke these freedoms (specified rights).
Under the following conditions:
Attribution: Those using the work must give proper attribution to the author(s), provide the license link and indicate if changes have been made. Even if these have been properly fulfilled, the licensor may not approve you and your use.
Non-Commercial Use: The work may not be used for commercial purposes.
It may not be derived: The work may not be modified, nor may new works be derived and distributed.
No Additional Restrictions: The rights granted by the license cannot be restricted by technological measures or legal regulations.

3- Special Issue Policy
A special issue may be published once a year upon the request of the Editorial Board. Articles submitted for inclusion in the special issue are first subjected to a preliminary editorial review. Then they are examined for compliance with the journal's spelling rules and similarity screening is performed to prevent plagiarism. After these stages, the manuscripts are subjected to a peer review process using a double blinded model.

4-Fee Policy
The publication of articles in the journal and the execution of article processes are not subject to any fee. No processing or submission fee is charged under any name for articles submitted to the journal or accepted for publication.

5-Advertising and Sponsorship Policies
Our journal does not accept advertising and sponsorship. All expenses of our journal are covered by the Publisher.