PAMUKKALE MEDICAL JOURNAL PUBLISHING ETHICS AND PUBLISHING PRINCIPLES

The Pamukkale Medical Journal considers the upholding of ethical standards in scientific publishing to be one of its fundamental editorial principles. The journal’s publication processes are conducted in accordance with the best practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must comply with internationally accepted scientific and ethical principles throughout the research, authorship, peer review, and publication processes.

Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, biological materials derived from humans, or personal data must be conducted in accordance with relevant national and international ethical standards and the current principles of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki.

For studies requiring ethics committee approval, approval must be obtained from an authorized and independent ethics committee before the research begins.

For studies with ethics committee approval, the following information must be clearly stated in the article:

•    The full name of the ethics committee,

•    The date of approval/decision,

•    The decision, protocol, or approval number.

The editorial board may request a copy of the ethics committee approval document from the authors if deemed necessary.

For studies that do not require ethics committee approval, this fact—and, if necessary, the rationale—must be stated in the article in a manner appropriate to the nature of the study.

Informed Consent

In research involving human participants that requires informed consent, appropriate informed consent must be obtained from the participants or, when necessary, from their legal representatives.

If informed consent has been obtained, this must be stated in the article. If the requirement for informed consent has been waived by the authorized ethics committee, the waiver must be clearly stated.

The fact that a study is retrospective does not, in and of itself, imply that the requirement for informed consent has been waived. Authors should not claim a waiver or exemption that has not been granted by an ethics committee.

In case reports and in the publication of text, photographs, images, or other materials from which the patient’s identity could be directly or indirectly identified, written consent for publication must be obtained from the patient or, when necessary, from their legal representative.

Patient Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors are obligated to protect the privacy of patients and research participants.

Unless scientifically necessary, information that could identify an individual—such as names, initials, hospital or protocol numbers, and similar details—should not be published.

In cases where anonymization is insufficient or where there is a possibility that the individual could be identified from the information provided, written consent for publication must be obtained.

Animal Experiments

Research involving animals must be conducted in accordance with relevant national and international ethical principles regarding animal welfare and the use of laboratory animals.

For animal studies requiring approval from an ethics committee or other authorized body, the committee’s full name, the date of approval, and the decision/protocol number must be specified in the article.

Violations of Scientific Research and Publication Ethics

The Pamukkale Medical Journal considers the following practices to be inconsistent with scientific research and publication ethics:

• Plagiarism,
• Data fabrication (fabrication),
• Misrepresentation of data, images, or research results (falsification),
• Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals,
• Duplicate or unnecessary repetitive publication,
• Inappropriate authorship practices,
• Gift or ghost authorship,
• Misleading or inappropriate use of sources,
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest,
• Incorrect or misleading reporting of ethics committee or informed consent information.

When a suspicion or allegation regarding publication ethics arises, the matter is evaluated in accordance with the nature of the incident, taking into account the processes and guidelines recommended by COPE.

The evaluation of ethical issues is not limited solely to the period prior to the article’s publication. Scientific or ethical concerns regarding a published article are also investigated as necessary.

 Author Responsibility

All authors of the article are responsible for the scientific integrity of the work.

Individuals listed as authors must have made a scientifically meaningful contribution to the work, meet the criteria for authorship, and approve the final version of the submitted manuscript.

Detailed provisions regarding authorship and contribution statements are governed by the journal’s Authorship and Author Contributions Policy.

 Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers are required to disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the scientific evaluation or publication process.

Detailed provisions regarding conflicts of interest are governed by the journal’s Conflict of Interest and Financial Support Policy.

 Reports of Ethical Violations

Readers, authors, reviewers, or other individuals may report scientific or ethical concerns regarding a published work or a manuscript under review to the journal’s editorial office.

Reports are evaluated in accordance with the principles of confidentiality, impartiality, and scientific publication ethics. When necessary, authors may be asked to provide an explanation, raw data, an ethics committee document, an informed consent form, or other supporting materials, and the relevant institutions may be contacted.

If deemed necessary as a result of the review, appropriate post-publication actions such as a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction may be taken.