Rast Müzikoloji Dergisi (Rast Musicology Journal: RMJ) follows and accepts the internationally accepted publishing ethical principles and applies them in all its processes. In particular, the journal team (publisher, editors, reviewers etc), about the accumulation and experiences of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) over the years, participates in discussions, shares and sets good examples in order to educate itself.

RMJ has determined ethic statements based on Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editor, Core Practices and Guidelines. These ethical principles must be followed by all stakeholders of RMJ (publisher, editors, reviewers, authors). RMJ is responsible for constantly updating its ethical principles and publication policies, and all stakeholders are responsible for being aware of and complying with these updated principles and policies.

We can list these principles as follows;

• Makes and implements editorial prevention against variants of Plagiarism containing all scientific definitions.
  

• In addition to the concept of Plagiarism in scientific research, RMJ takes all necessary actions and measures editorially in cases such as theft of any part of a copyrighted musical work in the rate specified in the laws, as well as the concept of Plagiarism in scientific research.

• Requests documents for Ethical Committee Permissions from authors during the article submission process.

• It requests the permission of the music researcher for the use (if necessary) of the musical works used in their research, and a statement that the work has not changed its original form.

• Strictly examines the unethical behaviors of authors such as self-citation during the article pre-review and article review process. Considers the rate of 5% in self-citiation

• Strictly scrutinizes ethical concerns such as "ghost author".

• In the editorial processes, it never takes into account the requirements of the authors to publish their postgraduate thesis and the need to meet the publication conditions for their academic promotions.

• It examines the data in cases that may cause publication concerns, as ensuring the transparency of the authors.

• It asks academics with editorial duties to undertake not to communicate with authors except during article review processes.

• Editorial boards knows that the quality of RMJ is directly related to its commitment to ethical principles.

• The editorial team is aware that their role in RMJ is not a factor to increase their popularity, each member gives their commitment.

• Collaborates with authors' institutions on ethical issues.

• The increase in indexing and the popularity of the journal never changes its strict adherence to the application of ethical principles.

• The authors, editors, referees and members of the editorial board are informed about compliance with ethical principles and commitments are requested.

• The authors, referees, editors and editorial board members do not know about ethical issues as an excuse, and they are dismissed from RMJ.

• All information brought to the literature, practices, models and experiences by COPE must be known and applied by the stakeholders.

• Regarding the hesitation experienced in practices related to ethical problems; Under the chairmanship of the chief editor, the RMJ Ethics Unit (REU), which consists of 4 members of the editorial board and 5 people in total (determined by privacy policy), undertakes the task of consulting. In order to increase the accuracy of its decisions, the REU should seek advice from institutions that work with international ethical issues.

• The concept of double-bilinded peerreview is made a fact by choosing independent and expert reviewers with all its details, it is never left in discourse, it is applied. For this case, the review process reports recorded in the Dergipark Journal System are always available as proof/evidence.

• RMJ fulfills all legal obligations of copyright laws (for Turkish music research in Turkey, in the relevant country where each researcher conducts music research) for the protection of art (music) products, which are inherent in music research, and for art (music) works, open to all its stakeholders, agrees to make transparent and impartial ethical sanctions.

• RMJ cooperates with its sponsors (congress, non-governmental organizations, societies) to contribute to the development of its researcher network and, in particular, to its vision of increasing the visibility and prevalence of Turkish music research around the world. This is never intended for commercial concern in the process.

Now let's explain some of the basics for authors, reviewers and editors.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism the unethical act of copying someone else’s prior ideas, processes, results or words without explicit acknowledgement of the original author and source. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author utilizes large part of his/her own previously published work without using appropriate references. This can range from getting the same manuscript published in multiple journals to modifying a previously published manuscript with some new data.

Types of Plagiarism

Full Plagiarism: Previously published content without any changes to the text, idea and grammar is considered as full plagiarism. It involves presenting exact text from a source as one’s own.

Partial Plagiarism: If content is a mixture from multiple different sources, where the author has extensively rephrased text, then it is known as partial plagiarism.

Self-Plagiarism: When an author reuses complete or portions of their pre-published research, then it is known as self-plagiarism. Complete self-plagiarism is a case when an author republishes their own previously published work in a new journal.

Measures, Obligations and Responsibilities of RMJ

Rast Musicology Journal (RMJ) is strictly against any unethical act of copying or plagiarism in any form. Plagiarism is said to have occurred when large portions of a manuscript have been copied from existing previously published resources. All manuscripts submitted for publication to RMJ are cross-checked for plagiarism using Turnitin/ iThenticate software.

Procedure

RMJ meticulously requests and checks plagiarism reports from authors for their article submissions (Similarity over 15% is unacceptable). Papers found to be plagiarized during initial stages of review are out-rightly rejected and not considered for publication in the journal. In case a manuscript is found to be plagiarized after publication, the Editor-in-Chief/Managing Editor will conduct preliminary investigation, may be with the help of a suitable committee constituted for the purpose. If the manuscript is found to be plagiarized beyond the acceptable limits, the journal will contact the author’s Affiliation (University, Institute) and Funding Agency, if any. A determination of misconduct will lead RMJ to run a statement bidirectionally linked online to and from the original paper, to note the plagiarism and provide a reference to the plagiarized material. The paper containing the plagiarism will also be marked on each pages. This situation is conveyed to the relevant unit (REU) in a report.

Figure 1. Plagiarism Intervention Flow Chart (Adapted from COPE)

Plagiarism Concern Status: RMJ respects intellectual-artistic property and aims at protecting and promoting original work of its authors. Manuscripts containing plagiarized material are against the standards of quality, research and innovation. Hence, all authors submitting articles to RMJ are expected to abide ethical standards and abstain from plagiarism, in any form.

Author(s) Request for Defense: In case, an author is found to be suspected of plagiarism in a submitted or published manuscript then, RMJ shall contact the author (s) to submit his / her (their) explanation within two weeks, which may be forwarded to the REU constituted for the purpose, for further course of action. If RMJ does not receive any response from the author within the stipulated time period, then the director of authors’ affiliations to which the author is affiliated shall be contacted to take strict action against the concerned author.

Ethics Unit Report Preparation: REU prepares a report containing the opinions and evidences of the plagiarism case by taking the defenses of the authors. He gives this report to the chief-managing editor.

Article Related Sanction: RMJ shall take serious action against published manuscripts found to contain plagiarism and shall completely remove them from RMJ journal website (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/rastmd) and other third party websites where the paper is listed and indexed. The moment, any article published in RMJ database is reported to be plagiarized, RMJ will constitute a REU to investigate the same. Upon having established that the manuscript is plagiarized from some previously published work, RMJ shall support the original author and manuscript irrespective of the publisher and may take any or all of the following immediate actions or follow the additional course of actions as recommended by the committee:

RMJ shall remove the PDF copy of the published manuscript from the website (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/rastmd) and disable all links to full text article. The term Plagiarized Manuscript shall be appended to the published manuscript title. RMJ shall disable the author account with the journal and reject all future submissions from the author for a period of 3 years or even ban the authors permanently. RMJ may also display the list of such authors along with their full contact details on the RMJ website. (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/rastmd)

Sanction on Authors: RMJ editorial office shall immediately contact the Head of the Affiliations to which the author(s) is (are) affiliated to take strict action against the concerned author(s).

Human Participants and Vulnerable Populations

Rast Musicology Journal (RMJ) is committed to protecting the rights and psychological well-being of all individuals participating in music research. It should be made clear that research involving human participants and subjects is conducted with informed consent forms and that there are no risks and potential strains to the subjects. Therefore, researchers are required to obtain Ethics Committee Permissions on these issues.  RMJ draws on sources such as the Declaration of Helsinki and The Belmont Report, worldwide legal regulations on human research and vulnerable populations and disadvantaged groups, to create its ethical statements. Genc Bilge (Young Wise) Publishing; publisher of RMJ, follows guidelines from publishers worldwide (e.g. Clarivate) and ethical organizations (e.g. COPE).

Music Researchers (RMJ' authors) adhere to legal regulations in the planning, conduct and reporting processes while conducting their research involving human participants and vulnerable populations. It conducts its research by adhering to the above-mentioned reports and guidelines. Since the group with musicians, music trainees also carries potential obstacles and risks (such as emotional sensitivity, disability), it should adhere to the following points;

* Uses an informed consent form and adheres to universal ethical principles regarding the preparation of this form.
* Protects the personal privacy of human participants and their right to self-determination within research.
* Adheres to national, international and regional legal regulations in its research.
* Ensures that research is undertaken to minimize potential risk and harm, and any risk to provide potential benefits for the participant.
* Adheres to the principles of justice for human participants and vulnerable populations during the research process.

All stakeholders of RMJ in the editorial process (such as publishers, editors, referees) must behave in strict adherence to ethical codes and principles regarding human participants and vulnerable populations.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of All Stakeholders Related to Editorial Processes

In the creation of this section, the scientific knowledge of ethic issues, experiences of editors and experiences of Scopus and Web of Science, which are the most important indexes of the world, in the field of academic publishing were used. We also inform our stakeholders such as authors, referees and editors that we are committed to all ethical principles they have stated and agreed upon.

Duties of Publisher

• RMJ is open access academic journal, and Genç Bilge Publishing Ltd (Turkiye) is defined as a “Publisher” .

• The publisher must arrange all information details, publication policies and ethical statements on RMJ's website in accordance with COPE's Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

• The publisher agrees to publish all accepted articles under open-access and CC BY-NC-ND license.

• Publisher never interferes with editorial processes and decisions.

• The publisher never interferes with editorial processes and decisions. The publisher respects the independence of the RMJ' editorial team

• The publisher guarantees to assist the relevant institutions in ethical investigations.

• The publisher guarantees to comply with the publication policies of the RMJ.

Duties of Authors

• The author(s) must be honest and transparent in all the information he gives, such as the originality of his research, author contributions, and funds received.

•  The author(s) should not communicate with the members of the editorial board in any way that may affect the refereeing processes of their article.

• The author should first convey his problems related to the editorial processes to the editor-in-chief/managing editor. It should not engage in an unethical and legally criminal behavior in the face of RMJ's unfair, groundless, and unsubstantiated accusations, such as defaming it in different environments.

• The author(s) should not submit his/her article without being aware of all RMJ's policies and author's guideline. RMJ's advisory and author support units are in charge of this. It does not engage in careless, unconscious and erroneous submit and review processes only for the rapid operation of the publication processes of the article.

• The author(s) must be willing to apply all the details in the authors guideline. They should not enter into a bargain with the editor, as I will do some matters later.

• Author(s) must pay the Article Processing Fee determined by RMJ after their articles are submitted or before the article is reviewed. They know that if the articles are rejected, the fee paid will not be refunded.

• In articles produced from graduate theses, if the research is submitted to RMJ before the graduation of the first author, the thesis supervisor has to submit a statement that they will actively contribute to the article submit and review processes. Only the author of the thesis can submit his/her article as the author of the article produced from the doctoral thesis. However, in this case, the thesis advisor must submit a signed document stating that he renounces being the second author to the editor.

• Author(s) give the right to access the research data and to request it when necessary, to the editorial board as stated in the guidelines. In this regard, it complies with the principles of transparency and accountability.

• Plagiarim (similarity) Report presented by author(s) without manipulation. It never uses software that changes words without changing the meaning of quotes from other sources (paraphrasing). Presents an original research that he has constructed in his own sentences.

• It uses software such as Turnitin, Ithenticate etc. to receive Plagiarism reports.

• Author(s) should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication.

• The author acts with fairness and ethical sensitivity in the matter that contributors and non-contributors should be written as article authors or thanked in the Acknowledgment section.

• Knows in which aspects the concept of authorship is valid. Definitely identifies the author's contributions in the Acknowledgment section.

• The author acts within the framework of ethical principles with the relevant institutions in terms of specifying the permissions received by the research process in the article or obtaining separate permission to be specified.

• The Ethical Committee Permission receives the for all research (permission required such as human research) and adds it to the Dergipark Journal System during the article submission process. In the Acknowledgment section, it specifies the date of the decision and the number of decisions.

• All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.

• If the author discovers something fundamental, serious and inaccurate in his article after the article is published, he notifies the editor. This puts the author under an important responsibility. Options to retract or publishing of correct paper are implemented with editorial cooperation. It can never exhibit a behavior such as avoiding cooperation in this process.

• The author is responsible for controlling which indexes the RMD is indexed while submitting their article. The do not engage in unnecessary dialogue with the editor or publisher about whether the published article is included in the database of any index.

• Authors comply with the country distribution principles when their accepted articles are assigned to issues by the editors

Duties of the Editors

• Editors are responsible for examining all ethical aspects of a submitted article. They cannot assign this responsibility to someone else, forget or ignore it.

•  It also receives and controls the plagiarism (similarity) report that the authors upload while submitting the article, and does not delegate this task to an assistant or anyone else.

• The selection of editorial board members invited to RMJ does not take into account bias and self-interest.

• It notifies the author of its decision for the decision-making time limits for an article. Cannot engage in unethical behavior such as careless, indifferent and unnecessary waiting towards the author.

• Editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views- philosophy of the authors.

• The editor should not share the knowledge of the review processes of an article with anyone. Information and documents should have a strict attitude in terms of confidentiality.

• The editor cannot use the idea or material in a submitted article for his own research-studies.

• If there is a conflict of interest with the author in a submitted article, the editor should directly request that this article be assigned to another editor.

• The editor meticulously plays a critical role in conducting an investigation between the publisher and the author's institutions regarding any ethical problem.

• The editor is involved in uncovering ethical problems about an author, even if it was published years ago.

• When one of the RMJ editors submits an article to RMJ, his editorial duty is canceled. By appointing another editor as the editor, the review process is carried out impartially.

• RMJ editors have to follow COPE's experiences and shares, and attend in-service trainings offered by platforms such as the Web of Science Academy to improve their editorial skills.

• Editors reflect accurate information on RMJ's indexing status on the website. However, editors are not responsible to anyone for situations that may occur, such as profile page updates on indexes' own websites.

• Editors publish the issues while paying attention to the country distribution (the number of articles from one country cannot exceed 20% of the total number of articles in an issue).

Duties of Reviewers

• The reviewer should be aware that it is a very influential factor in the development of the article and the editor's decision.

• Knows that the minimum requirement for refereeing is to obtain a doctorate degree.

• When the reviewer feels inadequate to evaluate an article, they should ask for another reviewer to be assigned to the article.

• Reviewer should not discuss the information and ideas in an article they are reviewing with others.

• The reviewer should not use derogatory, commanding or humiliating expressions in his comments about the article. Should not criticize the author inappropriately. While expressing their views, they should support them with arguments.

• RMJ's review form is very detailed. This form has been prepared to include all the details of the article. The reviewer should not be in the act of filling in the fields that need to be filled in this form in a short and vague manner such as "it is appropriate, good".

• The reviewer should check whether the author has deliberately or mistakenly cited to any source in the literature, and the editor should warn about this issue.

• The reviewer should check whether the author does self-citiation, dominate the author's own work or a research group's work in the academic community, cite biasedly, and popularize it, and report this situation to the editor with its arguments.

• The reviewer should notify the editor of the eligibility for his appointment and when he can review the article. It should not act recklessly to interfere with the journal's workflow and to waste the valuable time of the author.