Sinop University Social Sciences Journal is committed to ensuring that all research published in the journal complies with internationally accepted principles of research ethics. Manuscripts submitted to the journal must comply with ethical standards regarding ethics committee approval, legal permissions, informed consent, and copyright regulations where applicable.
The journal conducts its editorial and publication processes in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, the ICMJE Recommendations, the Council of Higher Education of Türkiye (YÖK) Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics, and the TR Dizin Ethical Principles.
1. Ethics Committee Approval
Ethics committee approval is mandatory for all studies that require ethical review.
Examples of research requiring ethics committee approval include, but are not limited to:
- qualitative and quantitative studies involving data collection from human participants through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observations, or experiments;
- clinical studies involving human participants;
- studies involving human biological materials or personal data;
- experimental or scientific studies involving animals;
- retrospective studies involving personal data in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.
Manuscripts requiring ethics committee approval will not be considered for publication unless the necessary approval has been obtained.
2. Reporting Ethics Committee Approval
For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the following information must be clearly stated in the manuscript:
- the name of the ethics committee,
- the approval date,
- the approval or decision number.
This information should appear in the Methods section and also on the first or last page of the manuscript.
3. Statement of Research and Publication Ethics
All submitted manuscripts must include a statement confirming that the research was conducted in accordance with the principles of research ethics and publication ethics.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with all applicable national and international ethical standards.
4. Human Participants and Animal Research
Studies involving human participants must have received ethics committee approval where required, and informed consent must be obtained from participants or their legal representatives.
Research involving animals must comply with applicable national legislation and internationally accepted ethical guidelines for animal welfare.
5. Case Reports
For case reports, authors must state that written informed consent has been obtained from the patient or the patient's legal representative prior to publication.
6. Copyright and Permissions
Authors are responsible for:
- obtaining permission to use copyrighted questionnaires, scales, photographs, figures, tables, or other copyrighted materials where required;
- complying with applicable copyright laws and intellectual property regulations;
- providing permission documents to the editorial office upon request.
7. Studies Not Requiring Ethics Committee Approval
Ethics committee approval is generally not required for:
- theoretical studies,
- review articles,
- editorials,
- book reviews,
- studies that do not involve human participants, animals, biological materials, or personal data.
However, all submitted manuscripts must comply with the principles of research integrity and publication ethics regardless of whether ethics committee approval is required.
8. Research Conducted Before 2020
In accordance with the TR Dizin Ethical Principles, retrospective ethics committee approval is generally not required for:
- research completed before 2020,
- manuscripts derived from master's or doctoral theses (provided this is clearly stated in the manuscript),
- studies conducted before ethics committee approval became mandatory.
Nevertheless, authors remain responsible for ensuring that such research was conducted in accordance with the accepted principles of research integrity and publication ethics.
