Sakarya University Faculty of Law Journal  (hereinafter referred to as “the Journal” or "SLJ")., published within the body of Sakarya University Faculty of Law, is a peer-reviewed journal, whose publication processes are based upon the impartial production, development and sharing of information by scientific method. The processes followed in this direction are directly reflected in 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 that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers, researchers, publisher, referees, editors) comply with the standards for ethical principles.

The Journal expects all its stakeholders to bear the following ethical responsibilities within the scope of publication ethics.

The ethical duties and responsibilities listed below have been prepared as open access, taking into account the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected knowledge network. Peer-reviewed articles support and shape scientific methods. Therefore, it is important for all parties involved in publishing, authors, journal editors, referees and publishing organizations to agree on the standards of expected ethical behavior.

                                                                                                          1. Ethical Principles

1. Authorship of the Article:
Authorship should be restricted to individuals who have made significant contributions to the design, execution or interpretation of the submitted work. Anyone who has made significant contributions should be listed as a co-author. If there are others who have participated in certain important aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author must ensure that all eligible co-authors are included in the article and that there are no ineligible co-authors, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final manuscript and agree to submit it for publication.

2. Conflicts of Interest:
Authors: All authors must disclose in their articles any financial or other material conflicts of interest that may be interpreted to affect the results or interpretation of their article. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Referees: When reviewers suspect that there is a conflict of interest in the article they are evaluating, they should inform the journal editor about the evaluation process and reject the article review if necessary. In order to avoid conflict of interest, individuals in the institutions where the article authors work cannot act as a referee for the article.
Editors: Editors should not have a personal or financial conflict of interest with articles.

3. Data Access and Storage:
Authors are requested to provide raw data in connection with an article for editorial review and should be prepared to make such data available to the public, if possible, and in any case be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable period of time after publication.

4. Fabrication of Data and Fraud:
Fabricated and/or falsified experimental results, including images, should be avoided.

5. Duplicate/Multiple Article Submissions:
If authors have used their own previously submitted or published work as the basis for a submitted article, they must cite previous work. They should also indicate how new contributions are presented in addition to previous work in the papers they submit.

6. Intellectual Property Rights:
• Authors confirm that the article they submit (and any supporting elements) is their own intellectual property and copyright is not transferred to others.
• The authors confirm that the article is free of plagiarism, fabrication, tampering, manipulated citations, and that the article complies with the JSS authorship policies.
• All manuscripts, revisions, drafts and typesetting remain the intellectual property of the author(s). Except as specified in the agreed license, the author(s) retains the copyright of their work.
• Authors, referees and editors agree to keep all communications, comments or reports from reviewers or editors confidential.
• Referees and editors agree to keep all manuscripts, corrections and drafts confidential, except for the final type(s) published.

7. Correction, Withdrawal, Expression of Concern:
• Editors can make corrections if they detect minor errors in the published article that do not affect the findings, comments and conclusions.
• Editors may withdraw the article in case of major errors/violations that invalidate the findings and conclusions.
• There is a possibility of misuse of research or publication by the authors; Editors may issue a statement of concern if there is evidence that the findings are unreliable and that the authors' institutions did not investigate the incident, or if the potential investigation seems unfair or inconclusive. COPE guidelines are considered regarding correction, withdrawal or expression of concern.

8. Publication of Studies Based on Survey and Interview:
SLJ adopts the principles of “Code of Conduct and Best Practice for Journal Editors” and “Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers” of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to create ethical assurance in scientific periodicals. In this context, the following points should be followed in the studies submitted to the journal:
• Ethics committee approval should be obtained for research conducted in all disciplines that require ethics committee approval, and this approval should be stated and documented in the article.
• In studies that require ethics committee permission, information about permission (committee name, date and issue number) can be included in the method section. However, at the end of the article, information should be included in the article information form, case reports, and that the informed consent/consent form was signed.

Studies that require the approval of the Ethics Committee are as follows:
• All kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from the participants by using survey, interview, focus group work, observation, experiment, interview techniques.
• The use of humans and animals (including material/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes,
• Clinical studies on humans,
• Research on animals,
• Retrospective studies in accordance with the law on the protection of personal data,
Moreover;
• Indicating that an “informed consent form” was received in case reports,
• Obtaining and specifying permission from the owners for the use of scales, questionnaires, photographs belonging to others,
• Indication of compliance with copyright regulations for the intellectual and artistic works used.

9. Addendum or Special Issue Publication Policy:
In our journal, a special issue can be published once a year upon the request of the Editorial Board. All the processes of the articles sent to be included in the special issue are the same as the standard article process.
• Addendum or Special issue: Issues published in addition to the regular issues of a journal published at regular intervals. It consists of congress/symposium etc event notices or articles on a certain subject.
• Page numbers in the Addendum or Special Issue are numbered differently from the regular numbers in the year.
• Number of Addendum or Special Issues shall not be more than 1/3 of the normal period. Special issues containing congress abstracts are not included in this scope.
• Ratios of case reports, reviews and research articles (excluding congress abstracts) published in Addendum or Special Issues will be included in the rates of articles published in other issues.
• Gift numbers are not accepted as special or additional numbers. It is enumerated and loaded as a regular number.

10. Plagiarism Action Plan and Journal's Precautions:
The Journal respects intellectual property and aims to protect and promote the original work of its authors. Articles containing plagiarism are against the standards of quality, research and innovation. Therefore, all authors who submit articles to the journal are expected to comply with ethical standards and avoid all forms of plagiarism. If a submitted or published article is suspected of containing plagiarism, the Editorial Board of the Journal first examines the work. This work is then reviewed by the Editorial Board. Then, the Journal contacts the author(s) to submit their explanations within 15 days. If the Journal does not receive any response from the author within the specified time, it requests the investigation of the claim by contacting the university to which the author is affiliated.

The Journal will take the following serious measures against 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 its website, it will be removed from the full 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 account and reject all future submissions by the author for 2 years.

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

Pre-checked articles are subjected to plagiarism screening using any software. If plagiarism/self-plagiarism is detected, the authors are informed. If an article with high similarity rates (maximum 20%) or more than 3% from a single source is detected, it can be rejected or sent back to the author to reduce the similarity rate.

Actions against science research and publication ethics are as follows:
(YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 4)
https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Kurumsal/mevzuat/bilimsel-arastirma-ve-etik-yonetmeligi.aspx

Plagiarism: To present the original ideas, methods, data or works of others as one's own work, in whole or in part, without attribution in accordance with scientific rules,
Fraud: Using data that does not actually exist or that has been falsified in scientific research,
Distortion: To falsify research records or obtained data, to present devices or materials that are not used in the research as if they were used, to falsify or shape the research results in line with the interests of the people and organizations that receive support,
Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications for academic appointments and promotions,
Slicing: To present the results of a research as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions by disaggregating the results of a research in a way that violates the integrity of the research and publishing it in more than one issue,
Unfair authorship: Including people who have no active contribution among the authors or not including those who do, changing the order of authors unjustifiably and inappropriately, removing the names of those who contributed actively from the work in subsequent editions, using influence to include their name among the authors, even though they have no active contribution.

Other types of ethical violations:
a) Not specifying the people, institutions or organizations that support them and their contributions in the publications made as a result of research carried out with support,
b) To use thesis or studies that have not yet been presented or defended and accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
c) Not complying with ethical rules in research on humans and animals, not respecting patient rights in their publications,
ç) To act contrary to the provisions of the relevant legislation in biomedical researches and other clinical researches related to humans,
d) To share the information contained in a work assigned for review with others before it is published without the express permission of the author,
e) To misuse the resources, places, facilities and devices provided or allocated for scientific research,
f) To allege unfounded, unfounded and deliberate ethical violations,
g) To publish the data obtained without obtaining the explicit consent of the participants in surveys and attitude studies conducted within the scope of a scientific study or, if the research will be conducted in an institution, without obtaining the permission of the institution,
h) Harming animal health and ecological balance in research and experiments,
ı) Not to obtain written permissions from the authorized units before starting the studies in research and experiments.
i) To carry out studies in research and experiments contrary to the provisions of the legislation or the international conventions to which Turkey is a party, regarding the relevant research and experiments.
j) Failure to comply with the obligation of researchers and authorities to inform and warn those concerned about possible harmful practices related to scientific research,
k) Not to use the data and information obtained from other persons and institutions in scientific studies to the extent and in the manner permitted, not to comply with the confidentiality of this information and not to ensure its protection,
l) To make false or misleading statements regarding scientific research and publications in academic appointments and promotions.

Authors' Responsibilities and Ethical Principles:
• Studies must be original and based on research.
• It should be ensured that other authors whose names will be written in the article contribute to the research. It is against scientific ethics to show people who do not have academic contributions as additional authors or to rank the authors by non-scientific criteria such as title, age and gender, regardless of the order of contribution.
• In multi-author articles, it should be clearly stated to what extent the authors contributed to which stage of the article.
• The article should not be sent to different journals at the same time and should not have been sent to another journal before. If it is sent, the publication process will be cancelled.
• It is assumed that the authors who submit articles to the journal have read and accepted the publication and writing principles of the journal, and the authors are deemed to have committed to what is expected of them in these principles.
• Citation notation and bibliography list should be complete.
• Plagiarism should not be done and fake data should not be included.
• As a result of the similarity scan, the similarity rate should not exceed 20% in order to initiate the referee process of the article.
• An article is included in a maximum of 2 PRE-CONTROL processes, if the issues submitted to the author are not corrected in this process, the article will be rejected.
• The corresponding author should inform the journal editor in case of any conflict of interest.
• Studies previously rejected in our journal should not be resubmitted in the same way. In such a case, the studies will be rejected.

Referees' Responsibilities and Ethical Principles:
• Referees should act with the awareness that they are the main determinants of the academic quality of the article to be published in the journal and should evaluate with the responsibility of increasing the academic quality.
• Referees should only accept to referee articles for which they have the necessary expertise to conduct an appropriate evaluation, can respect the confidentiality of blind peer review, and keep the details of the article confidential at all times.
• Any information about the reviewed article, even after the article review process, should not be shared with others in any way.
• Referees should only evaluate the accuracy of the content of the articles and their compliance with academic criteria. The fact that the opinions expressed in the article are different from the opinions of the referee should not affect the evaluation.
• Referee reports should be objective and measured. Insulting, condescending and accusatory expressions should definitely be avoided.
• Referees should avoid superficial and vague expressions in their evaluation reports. In evaluations with negative results, the missing and flawed points on which the result is based should be shown in a concrete way.
•  Referees should evaluate the articles within the time allotted to them. If they are not going to review, they should notify the journal within a reasonable time.

Editors' Responsibilities and Ethical Principles:
• Editors should accept articles that will contribute to the relevant fields specified in the journal policy into the evaluation process.
• Editors should not have any conflict of interest/relationship with accepted or rejected articles.
• Editors have full responsibility and authority to accept or reject an article.
• It is the editors' responsibility to keep the names of the referees and authors mutually confidential.
• Only articles that will contribute to the field should be accepted.
• Support the publication or withdrawal of the fix when errors are found.
• It is the duty of the editors to complete the preliminary review, refereeing, editing and publishing processes of the articles submitted to the journal in a timely and healthy manner.
• Editors should not show people who do not contribute to the journal as members of the editorial board or associate editors.

                                                                                                             2. Publication Policy

Any manuscript scheduled for publication in the journal must meet the following criteria:
• Authenticity
• Not to contain ethical violations
• To contain clear messages to be conveyed to the scientific community
• To what extent it will contribute to the researchers in the field and its importance in terms of legal science.
• Current fields and topics of interest to researchers in the field of law
• Structural and logical integrity
• Research results are based on scientific evidence
• Appropriateness of the scientific method

Evaluation of the Articles:
Article application to SLJ is made by registering to the "Article Management System" at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/journal/3800/submission/step/manuscript/new. Articles sent by e-mail will not be evaluated.

Preliminary Review and Plagiarism Screening:
The submitted article is examined for compliance with the Journal's spelling rules and a similarity scan is made to prevent plagiarism. It is scanned for similarity using the similarity program. It is required that the similarity rate be less than 20% and maximum 3% from a single source. If the similarity rate is more than 20%, the study is either rejected or sent back to the author to reduce the similarity rate. The preliminary review is completed within a maximum of 30 days.

Editor / Field Editor Review:
The study, which has passed the preliminary examination and similarity screening stage, is examined by the relevant editor/field editor in terms of subject, scope, language and academic competence. This review will be completed in a maximum of 30 days.

Refereeing Process (Double-Blind Refereeing):
Studies that pass the preliminary review and editorial review are carried out in secrecy within the framework of double-blind refereeing practice. According to the double-blind refereeing process, authors who submit publications to the Journal cannot access the information by which referees their articles will be evaluated. Likewise, referees evaluating an article cannot know which author(s) they are evaluating. In other words, the evaluation process is completed by keeping the author and referee identities of an article in the evaluation process confidential. In addition, reports are stored in the Article Management System.

Author's Edit:
The authors take into account the criticism and suggestions of the referee and the Editorial Board. If there are issues that they do not agree with, they have the right to object together with their reasons. Within the scope of reports, they edit the article and upload the final version of the article to the system.

Editorial Check:
The editor checks whether the author has made the requested corrections in the text. If there is a “Major Revision” in the referee reports, he sends the article to the relevant referee. If there is an "Acceptance" or "Minor Revision", it can direct the article to the language control stage if the edits have been made (The control process is completed within 7 days at most). If it detects that the corrections have not been made, it resends the article to the author. If the author does not make the corrections again, he may reject the article. Articles that are not accepted for publication are not deleted from the system. The process phase and all its files are recorded in the system.

Turkish Language Check:
Studies that have passed the peer-review process are reviewed by the Turkish Language Editor, and if necessary, corrections are requested from the author. The control process is completed within a maximum of 15 days.

English Language Check:
Studies that pass the Turkish language control are reviewed by the English Language Editor and if necessary, corrections are requested from the author. The control process is completed within a maximum of 15 days.

Editorial Board Review:
The articles that pass technical, academic and linguistic reviews are reviewed by the Editorial Board and the final publication status is decided. In case of objection from the members, the Board decides by majority of votes.

Typesetting and Layout Phase:
The typesetting and layout of the works that are decided to be published by the Editorial Board are made ready for publication.

Writing Language:
Turkish and English articles are published in SLJ English abstracts are also included in the articles published in Turkish. Articles published in English have Turkish abstracts. If the article is written in a language other than English, Turkish abstract should be included.

Change of Author:
SLJ accepts article authors according to the statement on the Title Page of the article. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the authors to submit the final version of the full author list. Requests for change of authorship after article submission (eg removal/addition of authors, change of order, etc.) are subject to editorial approval. The Editorial Board will investigate such cases and act according to the COPE flowcharts.

Requests for change of authorship should be sent to the Editor with an official letter stating the reasons for the change. The letter must be signed by all authors and include their confirmation of the change of authorship. If the request is approved by the Editorial Board, authors are required to submit a new Copyright Agreement Form according to the final order list.

Objection and Complaint:
The Editorial Board of the journal processes objection and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. Authors can contact the editor directly for their objections and complaints. When needed, an impartial representative is appointed for issues that the Editorial Board cannot resolve on its own. The Editor-in-Chief (contact: alper@sakarya.edu.tr) will make the final decision in the decision-making processes for objections and complaints.

Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in the articles published in the Journal reflect the viewpoints of the author(s), not those of SLJ, Editor-in-Chief, Editors, Editorial Board and Publisher. The Editor-in-Chief, Editors, Editorial Board and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability for such cases. All responsibility for the published content belongs to the authors.

Average time for pre-evaluation of articles: 3 days
Average time that articles are reviewed: 60 days
Average publication time of article: 90 days

Updated on: 08/23/2023