About Journal
The Pamukkale Journal of Sport Sciences (PJSS) is the official research journal of the Pamukkale University Faculty of Sport Sciences. The PJSS aims to publish articles of international high standards. The PJSS is published three times a year (April, August and December). Manuscripts submitted to the journal for evaluation should be written in English. PJSS publishes research articles and reviews contributing to the knowledge about sport sciences areas.

Publication Ethics and Policy
PJSS editorial, reviewer, authorship and publication processes are organized according to the recommendations of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In addition, the journal complies with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scientific Publishing (doaj.org/bestpractice).

Research Ethics

Manuscripts submitted to the PJSS must be original, unpublished, and not under evaluation by another journal simultaneously. Authors who wish to withdraw their manuscript for any reason should contact the editor promptly.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Editorial Board

• PJSS Editorial Board strives to increase the quality of the publications constantly.
• PJSS Editorial Board is responsible for the establishment and implementation of regulations such as publication, blind review evaluation process and ethical principles.
• PJSS Editorial Board prepares the "Author's Guidelines" that the authors can use in the article submission process and the "Reviewer’s Guidelines" that the reviewers can use during the evaluation process, and updates these guides when necessary.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Editors:
• PJSS Editor-in-Chief and Section Editors are responsible for all ethical components created by the “Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)”.
• PJSS Editors evaluate important components such as the originality of the manuscript, its contribution to the literature, the validity and reliability of the data collection tools, the comprehensibility and fluency of the writing language in the decision-making process for each manuscript submitted, in line with the purpose and scope of the journal.
• PJSS Editors evaluate a manuscript submitted to the journal in terms of its compliance with the publication policy of the journal and have the right to reject it if the editors do not find it appropriate.
• PJSS Editors take a manuscript submitted to the journal in the pre-evaluation stage in terms of the journal's publication policy unless it has a fundamental scientific error.
• PJSS Editors ensure that each article is evaluated within the specified time within the principle of impartiality by applying the policies regarding the double-blind review and evaluation process adopted by the journal and keeping the identity information of the reviewers confidential.
• PJSS Editors are responsible for taking the necessary steps to prevent possible conflicts of interest and evaluate the existing statements that cause a conflict of interest regarding the publication. In the event of a conflict of interest, Editors have the authority to request the original documents such as the Ethics Committee Permission, the Interviewer Voluntary Consent Forms from the author.
• PJSS Editors act in accordance with the journal's policies and procedures in case of a complaint regarding a submitted article that violates ethical principles. The Editors provide the authors with the opportunity to respond to the complaint and implement the necessary sanctions if deemed necessary.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Authors:
PJSS observes the highest standards in research ethics and adopts the principles of international research ethics defined below. The authors are responsible for the compliance of the manuscripts with the ethical rules.
• The principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be ensured in the design of the research, the review of the design and the execution of the research.
• The researchers and the participants should be fully informed about the purpose of the research, its methods and the possible uses anticipated, necessities and, if any, risks of participation to the research.
• Confidentiality of information provided by research participants and respondents should be ensured. Research should be designed in a way that preserves the autonomy and dignity of the participants.
• The author(s) should provide assurance that the manuscript is original, has not been published elsewhere and is not currently being evaluated for publication elsewhere. Copyright laws and treaties in practice must be considered. The materials depend on copyright (e.g. tables, figures or large quotations) should be used with the necessary permission and acknowledgment note.
• The submitted manuscript should have a direct contribution of all authors. In this respect, the "author" has a duty to make a significant contribution to the conceptualization and design of the research, to obtain, analyze or interpret the data, to write the article or to review content critically. All individuals designated as authors must meet all listed criteria, and each individual meeting the above criteria should be cited as authors. The name order of the authors should be a common decision. All authors must confirm the author order by signing the Copyright Agreement Form.
• All individuals who do not meet the sufficient criteria for authorship listed above but contribute to the study should be listed in the "Acknowledgements” section.
• All authors must disclose financial relationships, conflicts of interest and competition of interest that have the potential to affect the results of the research and/or scientific evaluation. If an author detects a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her published article, author bears the responsibility to immediately contact and cooperate with the Editor to correct these inaccuracies.
• Changing the order of authors, removing authors, adding authors to a manuscript submitted for publication should not be suggested to the Editorial Board.
• During the evaluation process, author(s) should submit the expected information to the Editors urgently in case of information or raw data is requested about their manuscripts.
• Research participants should take part in the research voluntarily and should not be under any coercion. Informed consent form should be obtained from the study participants. The legal guardian's consent must be obtained for children and those under guardianship or those with a confirmed mental illness. If the study will be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from the authority of this institution or organization. In studies conducted with human subjects, it should be stated that "informed consent" was obtained from the participants and the ethics committee approval was obtained from the institution where the study was conducted in the "method" section.
• In the studies previously presented in a symposium, workshop or congress, the name, place and date of the organization should be specified on the "Title page".
• The final version is re-sent to the corresponding author for the final check before publication in order to prevent any errors that may occur during typesetting. After the final approval of the corresponding author, the article is published as “online first publication”.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers:
• In PJSS, evaluation is applied according to the double-blind system, and the evaluation period assigned to the referees for submitted articles is 30 days. Reviewers are expected to complete their evaluations within this period and to fill in the evaluation form on the DergiPark system and submit it to the Editor. For each article, 2 reviewers are assigned to evaluate. In case of a difference of opinion in the 2 reviewers’ evaluations, the relevant section editor can engage the third reviewer if necessary, and as a result of these evaluations, the section editor and the editor make the decision about the manuscript.
In this process, our Reviewers are expected to consider the following:

• In cases where the reviewers do not feel confident on the subject of the article, they think they cannot evaluate it on time, or they notice a conflict of interest, they should inform the editor to not to be included in the review process.
• Reviewers are required to complete their evaluations within the time given to them. If the reviewers cannot complete the evaluation within the specified time, they can contact the editor/section editor and request additional time. Otherwise, the editor will be able to change the reviewer, provided that the reviewer is informed.
• Reviewers are expected to take into consideration the journal writing rules as a guide while making their evaluations.
• It must be ensured that personal information and contact information are not included in the reviewer evaluation reports upload to the DergiPark system.
• It is not ethical for reviewers to ask authors to cite their publication(s). We kindly request our reviewers to be sensitive about this issue.
• Reviewers should see the participants’ voluntary consent forms and the consent of the participants. If there is a deficiency in this subject in the study, it must be stated in the reviewer report.
• Reviewers are expected to provide opinions on all parts of the article, including summary, introduction, method, findings and discussion after sharing their general opinions about the manuscript.
• Reviewers are expected to give constructive suggestions to the authors and to make scientific suggestions to improve their manuscripts. In this regard, ambiguous and subjective suggestions are to be avoided.
• Reviewers who decide to reject the manuscript they evaluate are expected to be sure that the reasons and suggestions they convey to the author using a constructive and professional language are concrete.


Copyright Agreement and Authorship
All the copyright of submitted articles must be transferred to PJSS during the article submission process. Therefore, Copyright Agreement Form signed by all authors must be submitted with the article. For Copyright Agreement Form, please click here. For Authorship Form, please click here.

Corrections and Retractions Policy
The PJSS is committed to maintaining the accuracy, integrity, and transparency of the academic record. Comprehensive measures are implemented to address errors, inaccuracies, and ethical concerns systematically and transparently, in alignment with international ethical standards, including the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Corrections Policy
Corrections are issued to address minor errors that do not affect the validity or reliability of the research findings.
• A correction notice will be issued promptly and will be clearly labeled as either an “Erratum” (journal-introduced error) or a “Corrigendum” (author-introduced error).
• The correction notice will be linked to the original article and include a detailed explanation of the changes made.
• The original article will remain accessible to ensure transparency.

Retractions Policy
Retractions are implemented in cases of significant errors or ethical misconduct, such as data fabrication, plagiarism, or duplicate publication.
• A retraction notice will clearly state the reasons for the retraction and will be linked to the original article.
• The retraction notice will be reflected in relevant indexes to maintain the integrity of the academic record.
• The original article will remain accessible but will be marked as retracted.

Ethical Oversight
In cases of ethical misconduct or disputes, the journal will follow COPE guidelines, including relevant flowcharts.
• If necessary, institutions or relevant authorities will be contacted for further investigation.
• Collaborative investigations with other editors or ombudspersons may be conducted to ensure fairness.

Plagiarism Detection
The PJSS editor team will certainly not tolerate any form of plagiarism. Therefore, all manuscripts submitted to PJSS are screened for plagiarism by using intihal.net©. The similarity percentage for the complete manuscript must be less than 20%.

Open Access Policy
PJSS provides open access to its content, based on the principle that offering the public free access to research studies helps towards a better global exchange of knowledge. Each article accepted for publication will be published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online perpetuity.