All works submitted for publication in the journal are examined in the “iThenticate” plagiarism program. As a result of this review, the plagiarism/similarity rate can be up to 20%. Works with a plagiarism/similarity rate above 20% are not taken into consideration.

Plagiarism Action Plan and Measures of the Journal

The journal respects intellectual property rights and aims to protect and promote the original work of its authors. Having plagiarized content in articles do violate the research and originality standards. Therefore, all the authors submitting articles to the journal are expected to comply with the ethical standards and avoid all forms of plagiarism. If a submitted or published article is suspected of containing plagiarism, the Publication Board of the journal first examines the work. Then the work is reviewed by the Editorial Board. Afterwards, the journal contacts the author(s) and asks them to submit their justifications within 15 days. If the journal does not receive any response from the author(s) within the specified time, it would contact the affiliated university and request the investigation of the claim.
The journal will take the following serious measures for published articles that are found to contain plagiarism:
• The journal will immediately contact the university to which the author(s) are affiliated, in order to take final action against the related author.
• The journal will remove the PDF copy of the published article from the website, will remove the published article from the issue file, and will disable all links to the published article. The phrase "Plagiarized Article" will be added to the title of the published article.
• The journal will disable the author's account and reject all future submissions by the author for the following 2 years.

Note: If readers notice an error or inaccuracy in a published article, they can file a complaint by sending an e-mail to hukukdergisi@sakarya.edu.tr.

The author should submit a similarity report for new studies submitted to the journal. Pre-reviewed articles may again be subjected to plagiarism checking in any software.
If plagiarism/self-plagiarism is detected, the authors are informed. An article with a high overall similarity rate (maximum 20%) or with more than 3% similarity rate from a single source may be rejected or sent back to the author to reduce the similarity rate.

Actions that violate scientific research and publication ethics are as follows:
(Turkish Council of Higher Education [YÖK] Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 4) https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Kurumsal/mevzuat/bilimsel-arastirma-ve-etik-yonetmeligi.aspx

Plagiarism: Showing others' original ideas, methods, data or works as their own work, partially or completely, without reference to scientific rules,
Forgery: Using data that does not actually exist or has been falsified in scientific research,
Distortion: Falsifying the research records or data obtained, displaying the equipment or materials not used in the research as if used, distorting or shaping the results of the research in the interests of the people and organizations that provide support,
Republishing: Presenting repetitive publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
Slicing: Dividing the results of a research into pieces in an improper way or in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and publishing each one separately to increase total publication count for academic appointments and promotions,
Unfair Authorship: Including non-contributors in the author list or not including those who have contributed, changing the author's order in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of contributors from the work in subsequent editions, using influence to include names among the authors despite not being contributors,

Other ethical violations include:
a) Not specifying the supporting individuals, institutions or organizations and their contributions in the publications made as a result of research conducted with support.
b) Using theses or studies that have not yet been submitted or have not been accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
c) Not complying with ethical rules in research on humans and animals, not respecting patients' rights in publications,
ç) Violating the provisions of the relevant legislation in biomedical research and other clinical research related to humans,
d) Sharing the information in a work that has been assigned for review with others before it is published without the explicit consent of the author,
e) Misusing resources, spaces, facilities and equipment provided or allocated for scientific research,
f) Deliberately making a false and ungrounded allegation about ethical violation,
g) Publishing the data obtained from surveys conducted as part of a scientific study without the explicit consent of the participants, or without the permission of the relevant institution if the study is conducted in an institution,
h) Harming animal health and ecological balance in research and experiments,
ı) Failing to obtain written permissions from authorities that are required for starting research activities or experiments,
i) Conducting research activities or experiments in violation of the related legislation or the provisions on research and experiments in the international conventions to which Turkey is a party,
j) Disregarding the obligation to inform and warn the relevant authorities about possible harmful practices related to the scientific research.
k) Not using the data and information obtained from other individuals or institutions in scientific studies to the extent and as permitted, not respecting the confidentiality of this information and not ensuring its protection,
l) Making false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions.