The publication processes implemented in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences form the basis for the development and distribution of knowledge in an impartial and respectful manner. The processes implemented in this direction directly reflect on the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support the authors. Peer-reviewed studies are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important for all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers, researchers, publishers, referees and editors) to comply with the standards regarding ethical principles. Within the scope of the publication ethics of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences, all stakeholders are expected to carry the following ethical responsibilities.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences adheres to national and international standards regarding research and publication ethics. It complies with the Press Law, Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works and the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences has adopted the International Ethical Publishing Principles published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

The peer review of articles is one of the effective elements in the development of an integrated and respected information network. In this way, the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them becomes directly observable. Peer-reviewed articles support and shape scientific methods. Therefore, it is important for the author, journal editor, referee and publishing institutions to reach a consensus on the standards of ethical behavior expected from the researcher:

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

1. Authorship

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences requires that publications sent for evaluation be reviewed by a plagiarism program. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences scans all submitted articles with Turnitin software to prevent plagiarism. The similarity rate is expected to be less than 20%. The main measure of the similarity rate is the author's compliance with the citation and quotation rules.
The reference list must be complete.
The same research should not be attempted to be published in more than one journal, and scientific research and publication ethics must be followed.

Actions that are against scientific research and publication ethics are as follows:

a. Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, applications, writings, figures or works of others as one's own work, partially or completely, without citing their owners in accordance with scientific rules,

b. Forgery: Producing data that is not based on research, editing or changing the presented or published work based on false data, reporting or publishing these, presenting a research that has not been done as if it has been done,

c. Distortion: Falsifying research records and obtained data, presenting methods, devices and materials that were not used in the research as if they were used, evaluating data that is not in accordance with the research hypothesis, tampering with data and/or results to fit the relevant theory or assumptions, falsifying or shaping research results in line with the interests of persons and organizations from which support is received,

ç. Re-publication: Presenting more than one work containing the same results of a research as separate works in the evaluations of associate professorship exams and academic promotions,

d. Slicing: Separating the results of a research into inappropriate parts and without citing each other in a way that will disrupt the integrity of the research. to present as separate works in the evaluation of associate professorship exams and academic promotions by publishing a large number of publications,

e. Unfair authorship: Including people who do not actively contribute among the authors, not including people who do actively contribute among the authors, changing the author order in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of those who actively contribute from the work during publication or in subsequent editions, using one's influence to have one's name included among the authors even though one has not actively contributed,

f. Other types of ethical violations: Not clearly stating the supporting persons, institutions or organizations and their contributions to the research in the publications of research conducted with support, not complying with ethical rules in research conducted on humans and animals, not respecting patient rights in publications, sharing information in a work that one has been assigned to review as a referee with others before publication, using resources, places, facilities and devices provided or allocated for scientific research for purposes other than intended, making completely unfounded, unfounded and intentional accusations of ethical violations (YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 8).

2. Author Responsibilities
All authors must contribute significantly to the research.
It is required that all data in the article be declared as real and original. All authors must follow the retraction and error correction procedures when submitting an article.All authors agree to retractions and error correction procedures at the time of submission.

3. Reviewer Responsibilities
Reviews must be impartial.
Reviewers must have no conflict of interest with the research, authors, and/or research funders.
Reviewers must identify relevant published but uncited works.
Reviewed articles must be kept confidential.

4. Editorial Responsibilities
Editors have full responsibility and authority to accept or reject a manuscript.
Editors must have no conflict of interest with respect to the articles they accept or reject.
Only articles that contribute to the field should be accepted.
When errors are found, they must support the publication or retraction of the correction.
Reviewers must keep their names confidential and prevent plagiarism/falsified data.
The review process is central to the success of scientific publication. The protection and improvement of the peer review process is part of our commitment, and the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences has an obligation to assist the scientific community in all cases related to publishing ethics, especially in cases of suspicious, duplicate publications or plagiarism.

If a person notices a significant error or inaccuracy in an article published in the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences, or has any complaints about the editorial content (plagiarism, duplicate articles, etc.), they can complain by sending an e-mail to sbedergi@erdogan.edu.tr. We welcome complaints, as they provide us with opportunities for improvement, and aim to respond quickly and constructively.

5. Publication of Studies Based on Surveys and Interviews
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences adopts the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in order to create ethical assurance in scientific periodical publishing. In this context, it is important for authors to consider the following:
a. Ethics committee approval must be obtained for research conducted in all branches of science that requires ethics committee approval, this approval must be stated on the first page of the article and the “Ethics Approval Document” must be documented by uploading it to the system together with the article.
b. In studies that require ethics committee approval, information regarding the permission (board name, date and issue number) and, in case reports, information indicating that the informed consent/consent form was signed must be included in the article.

6. Repeat Publication
Repeat publication is the publication of the same article or substantially similar articles in more than one journal. The editor sends such an article back without reviewing it. After this, the editor may embargo the author who attempts to republish for a certain period of time, may publicly announce this in the journal in which the author previously published (perhaps as a simultaneous announcement with the editor of the journal that published the previous article), or may apply all of these measures together.

If the article is produced from academic studies (Master's/Doctoral Thesis or Scientific Meetings), this situation must be stated. In order for articles produced from the presentation to be evaluated, the author must submit their article with a signed commitment stating “My work has not been published before and will not be published.”
Submission of the Same Study to More Than One Journal Simultaneously
Author(s) cannot submit the same article to more than one journal at the same time. If the editor learns of a possible simultaneous submission at the beginning of the process, he/she may return the article without reviewing it. If this situation is noticed during the publication process, the editor may reject the article without considering the reviews or may make this decision by discussing it with the other relevant editor(s) and may decide not to accept article submissions from the authors for a certain period of time. He/she may also write to the authors’ employers or implement all of these measures together.

7. Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest occurs when professional judgment regarding a primary interest may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). In order to make the best decision on how to handle an article, the competing interests of the authors must be known and readers must also know about them if the article is published.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences guarantees that the publication process of the studies is completed in an independent and impartial manner, taking into account the conflicts of interest between the author(s), referees and other editors. In studies with more than one author, a contribution rate statement, a statement of support and thanks, if any, and a conflict statement should be included at the end of the study after the referee process is completed.

PUBLICATION POLICY

1. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Social Sciences (RTEÜSBD) is published in the field of social sciences as one volume per year; two issues per volume (June and December issues).

2. The publication language of RTEÜSBD is Turkish. In addition, scientific studies in Arabic and English are published. The Editorial Board decides on the publication of studies in other languages.

3. Copyrighted and translated articles, simplifications, edition critiques, book reviews, scientific meeting evaluations and doctoral dissertation abstracts are published in RTEÜSBD.

4. Articles sent to the journal must not have been published or sent for publication elsewhere.

5. Studies sent to the journal must be original and comply with academic standards.

6. In translation and simplification articles, a copy of the original texts should be transferred to the computer and added to the submission.

7. Articles sent to the journal without complying with the journal writing principles are returned to the author for correction without being sent to the referee.

8. A maximum of two works by the same author (copyright or translation) can be published in one issue.

9. No royalty fee is paid for published articles. No fee is requested from authors for their publications.

10. RTEÜSBD reserves the right to make corrections to submitted articles and to store unpublished articles in the journal archive.

11. The legal responsibility of all works published in RTEÜSBD belongs to the author and cannot be associated with the RTEÜSBD Publication Advisory Board.

12. All policies and processes in RTEÜSBD are determined by the Publication Advisory Board. The Publication Advisory Board has the authority to decide on matters not specified here.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION PROCESS
a. Articles sent for publication are subjected to the stages of pre-control, plagiarism screening, Turkish-English language control and referee evaluation.

b. Works that fail to pass this process despite being examined three times in the pre-control and plagiarism stages are returned to the author and are not processed again in the same publication period.

c. Works that pass the pre-control and language control stages and are deemed suitable for evaluation are taken into the referee evaluation process.

REFEREE EVALUATION PROCESS (PEER REVIEW)
a. A double-blind refereeing system is applied at RTEÜSBD.
b. The editor of the field to which the article is related, if necessary, also contacts the Editorial Board and sends the article to two referees who are experts in their fields. The period for both referees to respond to the invitation is 3 days. The invitations of referees who do not respond positively or negatively to the invitation at the end of the 3rd day are canceled. They are sent to a different referee. The period for completing the evaluation is 15 days from the date that both referees accept the invitation. A period of 3 days is added for referees who do not complete the evaluation at the end of the 15th day. If the referee does not complete his/her evaluation at the end of the 3rd day, his/her duty is canceled and a different referee is assigned.

c. If both referees who have completed their evaluations report a positive report, the article is accepted into the publication process. The article that is passed to the publication stage is sent for re-spelling control. After the 7-day spelling control stage, it goes through the final reading process, which will take 7 days.

d. If both referees decide to reject the article, the relevant article is rejected. If both referees request major revisions from the author or if the referees make major-rejection decisions, the rejection of the article or sending it to a third referee is on the agenda. The Publication Advisory Board makes the decision on this matter. If the referees make acceptance-minor, minor-minor or minor-major decisions, the relevant article is sent to the author for correction. If there is a disagreement between the referees on the decision (acceptance-major, acceptance-rejection, minor-rejection), the article is sent to a third referee. In such a case, the decision on the relevant article is determined by the opinion of the third referee. Once each of these refereeing stages is completed, the editorial process takes 7 days to move on to the next stage. e. Confidentiality is essential in referee reports; for this reason, referee names are not included in the journal's imprint.