Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

The International Periodical of Recent Technologies in Applied Engineering (PORTA) is published electronically on the DergiPark platform as an "International Peer-Reviewed Journal" utilizing a continuous publication model.

The journal publishes original scientific studies in Turkish and English with an interdisciplinary approach in the fields of applied engineering and current technologies. Studies submitted to the journal undergo an editorial process regarding their purpose, scope, method, and writing principles, after which they are scientifically evaluated by the Reviewer Board using the double-blind peer-review method. The journal primarily features academic works such as research articles, review articles, and technical notes.

PORTA adopts the Open Access approach; it does not charge authors any fees for article submission, editorial processing, or publication. Similarly, no royalties are paid to authors for published articles.

Reported research must be prepared in accordance with ethical rules, and citations made in the text must be clearly indicated. The maximum acceptable similarity rate is 20%. The opinions expressed in the published articles do not reflect the official views of the journal; each article is under the sole scientific responsibility of its author.

The ethical responsibilities outlined below have been prepared in accordance with the guidelines and responsibilities published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The editors, reviewers, and authors of our journal are expected to adhere to the ethical rules detailed below.

1. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The reviewer board is regularly updated. Articles submitted to the journal for publication undergo an editorial review in terms of purpose, scope, methodology, and writing principles. Articles that pass the editorial process are sent to at least two different reviewers. In this context, PORTA reviewers are expected to possess the following ethical responsibilities:

- Evaluations must be objective and impartial.
- Reviewers must be experts in the subject they are evaluating. If they do not have sufficient knowledge about the topic, they should decline the review invitation.
- Reviewers must not have any conflicts of interest with the research or the authors.
- In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, reviewers must destroy the manuscripts they have examined after the evaluation process.
- Reviewers must conduct their evaluation objectively, focusing solely on the content of the study. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political opinions, and commercial concerns must not be allowed to influence the evaluation.
- As a requirement of their educational and guiding responsibilities, reviewers should provide constructive feedback to authors; they must avoid derogatory, offensive comments and personal attacks regarding the author(s)' competencies.
- Reviewers must complete the evaluation of the study they accepted within the given timeframe and in accordance with the ethical responsibilities stated above.

2. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Articles submitted for publication must not violate scientific publication ethics (plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, salami slicing, inappropriate authorship, failing to acknowledge funding sources, failing to comply with ethical rules in animal/human studies, etc.).
- Authors must have conducted the research process of their submitted studies in accordance with ethical rules and relevant legislation.
- If the submitted articles contain research results that require "Ethics Committee Approval," authors must state the ethics committee approval details (committee name, date, document number, etc.) within the manuscript.
- If direct quotations are made from other studies during the research process, the relevant source must be cited.
- The reference list must be complete, and all cited sources must be explicitly indicated.

2.1. Appropriateness and Reliability
- Authors should use appropriate data analysis methods when necessary and seek expert advice if needed.
- In multi-authored studies, authors must take joint responsibility for the content of their publications. Authors should check their publications at every stage to ensure that methods and findings are reported accurately.

2.2. Honesty
- Articles submitted to the journal must not have been published elsewhere or submitted for publication elsewhere.
- Authors must describe the research methods used and present their findings clearly and unambiguously.

2.3. Originality
- Authors must guarantee that their work is original and has not been published elsewhere in any language.
- If the research findings have been previously published or submitted to a different journal for publication, the Editor must be informed during the submission process.
- Multiple publications arising from a single research project (salami slicing) must be clearly stated, and the primary publication must be cited.

2.4. Transparency
- Authors may be asked to provide raw data regarding their articles during the evaluation processes; authors should be prepared to present this data and information to the editorial board.
- Authors must be able to document that they hold the usage rights for the data used and have obtained the necessary permissions for the research/analyses.

2.5. Responsibility
- Authors cannot have their studies in the submission process of more than one journal simultaneously.
- If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published, early view, or under-review work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

2.6. Multi-Authored Studies
- All authors must be listed and entered into the system/copyright transfer form during article submission.
- A "Corresponding Author" must be selected among the authors, and all communication with the Editor must be maintained by this individual.
- Changing the author order, adding, or removing authors cannot be proposed for a manuscript once the evaluation process has begun.

2.7. Peer Review Process and Copyright
- Authors are considered to have accepted the journal's "Peer Review and Evaluation Process" rules when submitting an article.
- Authors must respond to reviewer and editor requests in a timely and satisfactory manner.
- If an author wishes to withdraw their study during the evaluation process, they must inform the editor of the situation along with the justification.

2.8. Reporting Research Involving Humans or Animals
- Appropriate approvals, licenses, or registrations must be obtained before the research begins, and details must be provided in the report (e.g., Institutional Review Board, Research Ethics Committee approval).
- Authors must not publish or share personal data collected during the research without the explicit consent of the individual.

3. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

3.1. Responsibility for Journal Content
The Editor is responsible for every article published in the journal. They must ensure the quality of the published material and maintain the integrity of the published record. In this context, the editor:
- Makes decisions solely based on academic merit and acts in accordance with the principle of impartiality.
- Conducts business processes in accordance with intellectual property rights and ethical standards.
- Protects the confidentiality of authors and reviewers (Double-blind standards).

3.2. Relations with Stakeholders (Readers, Authors, Reviewers)
- The Editor ensures that the published studies provide scientific contributions to readers and the scientific community.
- Ensures that articles are reviewed by appropriately qualified expert reviewers.
- Monitors potential conflicts of interest during reviewer assignments.
- Prevents discourteous and unscientific evaluations.

3.3. Management of the Peer Review and Evaluation Process
- The Editor/Editorial Board makes decisions based on the scientific strength and justifications of the arguments presented by the reviewers, rather than the mere numerical majority of acceptance or rejection recommendations.
- Based on reviewer recommendations, the Editor may publish the study, request revisions (major/minor), or reject it.

3.4. Ethical and Legal Protections
- Editors are responsible for rejecting studies that require ethics committee approval but fail to document it.
- The Editor is obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and author(s) in case of possible violations.

4. Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

PORTA;
- Does not request any fees from authors under any circumstances.
- Takes care to protect the property and copyright policies of every published article and to maintain its records.

5. Licensing and Copyright

PORTA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Under this license, users may distribute, copy, build upon, and use the work for derivative works, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s).

6. Plagiarism Check

Studies submitted to our journal are scanned with Turnitin or similar internationally recognized plagiarism detection software after the peer-review process is completed and before publication, in order to prevent plagiarism. The maximum acceptable similarity rate is 20%.

If You Encounter an Unethical Situation

If you notice a significant error or inaccuracy in a published article, or if you encounter behavior or content that does not comply with the ethical responsibilities mentioned above, please report it via email to fatih.celebi@marmara.edu.tr or teknoloji@marmara.edu.tr.