Publication processes applied in Sinop University Journal of Social Sciences contribute to the development and distribution of information impartially and respectably. The processes applied in this direction are directly reflected in the quality of the work of authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed studies are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers, and researchers, publisher, referees, and editors) must comply with the standards for ethical principles.
Sinop University Journal of Social Sciences expects to assume the following ethical responsibilities from all stakeholders.
Ethical duties and responsibilities listed below have been prepared by considering the guidelines and policies published as open access by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (See COPE Directive in Turkish). Publishing an article in a peer-reviewed journal is necessary for the development of a compatible and respected information network. This process reflects the quality of work of the authors and their supporting institutions. Peer-reviewed articles support and shape scientific methods. Therefore, all parties involved in publishing, authors, journal editors, referees, and publishing organizations need to agree on the standards of expected ethical behavior:
1. Authorship
· The bibliography list should be complete.
· Plagiarism and fake data should not be included.
· No attempt should be made to publish the same research in more than one journal, and it should comply with scientific research and publication ethics.

Actions against science research and publication ethics are as follows:

a) Plagiarism: The practice of taking someone else's ideas, methods, data, practices, writings, figures, or works and passing them off as one's own and in whole or in part, without reference to scientific rules.
b) Fraud: To produce data that is not based on research; editing or changing the submitted or published work based on unfounded data and reporting or publishing them and presenting research that has not been done as it has been done.
c) Distortion: To falsify research records and obtained data, presenting methods, devices, and materials not used in the research as they were used, not to evaluate the data that does not comply with the research hypothesis, manipulate data and/or results to fit relevant theory or assumptions, to falsify or shape the research results in line with the interests of the people and organizations supported.
d) Republishing: To present more than one work containing the same results of research as separate work in associate professor examination evaluations and academic promotions.
e) Slicing: Presenting the results of research as separate works in the evaluations of associate professorship exams and academic promotions by dividing the results of that research in a way that violates the integrity of that research, by dividing it into parts inappropriately, and by making multiple publications without reference to each other.
f) Unfair authorship: To include people who do not have an active contribution among the authors, not to include the person who active contributions among the authors, changing the order of authors unjustifiably and inappropriately, removing the names of those who contributed actively at the time of publication or in subsequent editions, to include his name among the authors by using his influence, although he did not have an active contribution.
g) The other types of ethical violations: Not clearly stating the supporting persons, institutions, or organizations and their contributions to the research in the publications of supported research; failure to comply with ethical rules in research on humans and animals; not respecting patient rights in their publications; the referee's sharing the information contained in the work he has examined with others before the work is published; to misuse the resources, places, facilities and devices provided or allocated for scientific research; to allege unfounded and deliberate ethical violations (YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, Article 8).


2. Author Responsibilities
• All authors must contribute significantly to the research.
• All data in the article must be declared as true and original.
• All authors have the right to withdraw their articles.
• All authors are responsible for correcting article errors.

3. Referee Responsibilities
• Evaluations should be impartial.
• Reviewers should not have a conflict of interest with the research, authors, and/or research funders.
• Checked articles should be kept confidential.

4. Editorial Responsibilities
• Editors have full responsibility and authority to accept or reject an article.
• Editors should not have a conflict of interest regarding the accepted or rejected articles.
• Only articles that will contribute to the field should be accepted.
• Support the correction or withdrawal of work when errors are found.
• Editors should keep the name of the Referees confidential and prevent plagiarism/fake data.

The peer-review process is central to the success of scientific publications. Maintaining and improving the arbitration process is part of our commitment. Sinop University Journal of Social Sciences must help the scientific community in any case related to publishing ethics. The reader can make a complaint by sending an e-mail to sbd@sinop.edu.tr when he notices a mistake in an article published in the Journal of Social Sciences of Sinop University or has any complaints about the editorial content (plagiarism, duplicate articles, etc.). We accept complaints as an opportunity for us to improve, and we aim to respond quickly and constructively.
Revealing Plagiarism

Articles submitted for publication to Sinop University Journal of Social Sciences are subject to double-blind peer-review evaluation by at least two referees.
In addition, it is confirmed that the articles have not been published before and do not contain plagiarism, through the program used in plagiarism detection.

Ethics Committee Approval
1. Including the social sciences, ethics committee approval must be obtained for studies conducted in all branches of science and for clinical and experimental studies on humans and animals that require an ethics committee decision. This approval should be specified and documented in the article.
2. Information on ethical rules should be given under separate headings for the referee, author, and editor.
3. Articles should include a statement that the Research and Publication Ethics are complied with.
4. Ethical principles should be stated under a separate heading in the journal and, /or website by citing according to national and international standards. For example, in scientific articles sent to journals, the recommendations of the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) and the International Standards for Editors and Authors of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) should be considered.
5. In studies requiring ethics committee permission, information about the permission (name of the committee, date, and number) should be included in the method section and on the first/last page of the article. In case reports, information about signing the informed consent form should be included in the article.
6. It is necessary to comply with the copyright regulations for the intellectual and artistic works used.


QUESTION: Is ethics committee approval required for all articles?

No. In the criteria, it is stated as “articles that require the permission of the Ethics Committee”.
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 by the law on the protection of personal data,
Also;
• 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.

QUESTION: Should a retrospective Ethics Committee Permission be obtained for publications produced from studies and thesis completed in previous years?
Retrospective ethics committee approval is not required for articles that were published before 2020, produced from master's/doctoral studies (must be specified in the article), applied for publication to the journal in the previous year, and accepted but not yet published.

QUESTION: Are there any restrictions on publications made outside universities with these rules of the TR Index?
No. Non-university researchers can also apply to the Ethics Committees in their regions.

PUBLICATION PRINCIPLES

• Original research articles prepared in the field of Social Sciences are given priority in the journal.
• An "Ethics Report" is mandatory for articles that require the approval of the Ethics Committee.
• The articles submitted to the journal, after the editorial pre-control, are sent to at least two referees.
• The articles submitted to the journal, should be written by the writing principles (APA) and should not contain the author's name or e-mail address.
• Articles that violate the journal's writing rules are returned to the author for correcting before being sent to the referees.
• Article applications are scanned with the iTenticate Plagiarism Program.