The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the authors’ quality of work and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important for all parties involved in the act of publishing – the author, the editors, the peer reviewers, and the society owned the journals – to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. Sosyal Mucit Academic Review is committed to maintain the highest standards of publication ethics and to meet and uphold the following principles of the Core Practices prepared in accordance with the guidelines and policies developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for journal editors.

• Sosyal Mucit Academic Review (SMAR) adheres to the standards of COPE for publication ethics. Therefore, in cases of misconduct or violation of publication ethics, the journal will take the publication ethics flowcharts developed by COPE (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts) as a reference.
• In accordance with the double-blind peer review process, the SMAR preserves the anonymity of authors and reviewers when submitted articles are sent for review.
• It is the journal’s responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of any information regarding authors. However, such information may be shared in a possible inquiry in order to investigate any allegations of misconduct. SMAR defines its principles regarding any allegations of misconduct in accordance with the guidelines prepared by the COPE and shares these principles with the stakeholders on its website.
• Text recycling, which is using the chapters of a single text in various publications of the same author without any reference, is unacceptable for the SMAR. In such cases, the journal acts according to the relevant guidelines determined by the COPE.
• SMAR protects and supports freedom of expression under all circumstances. Moreover, the journal considers any racist, sexist or discriminatory content as hate speech and uses its right to refuse such content without sending them for review.
• In case of a conflict of interest regarding an article, the journal openly supports intellectual and ethical standards; and defines relevant ethical principles that authors, reviewers, the editor, assistant editors and theme editors should adhere to.
• In case of a conflict of interest regarding an article, the journal suspends the peer review process until the ambiguity is clarified; and it has the authority to request the Ethics Board Waiver Form, Interview Consent Form, and other documents that need to be submitted from authors regarding their articles.
• SMAR is sensitive and responsible for publishing edited contents, commentaries, apologies, and refutations.
• The Editor and publishers of the journal are obliged to follow legal advice in case that repetitions in an article, that is coinciding texts in two different publications, violate any intellectual property rights.

Furthermore;
• Every author agrees on the article’s content and the submission of this content to the journal.
• The article’s content is approved through reviews by authoritative and responsible referees.
• The article, partially or completely, has not been published before, in any language.
• An article submitted to Sosyal Mucit Academic Review for publication must not be submitted to another journal during the review process.
• If a draft submitted to Sosyal Mucit Academic Review includes figures, tables or long text block that have been published before, the author is responsible for obtaining permission from the copyright owners. All copyrighted elements should be specified appropriately in the draft submitted to Sosyal Mucit Academic Review.

Copyright Regulation and the Conflict of Interest Principle

• SMAR is an open-access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Except for commercial purposes, users are allowed to read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
• The articles in SMAR are open access articles licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en)

Open Access Policy 
All articles published in SMAR are fully open access: immediately freely available to read, download and share. Articles are published under the terms of a Creative Commons license which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reporting Standards

The authors provide articles of original research should present an accurate account of the work they have performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements reflect unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Review and professional publication articles must also be accurate and objective. Any editorial ‘opinion’ works should be identified as such.

Data Access and Retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data connected to a paper for editorial review, and authors should be prepared to provide public access to such data. Furthermore, authors are expected to be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors should ensure that they have written genuinely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others this must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms counted as unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Ithenticate is used for checking plagiarism in Sosyal Mucit Academic Review.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Concurrently submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
In general, an author should not submit for consideration in another journal a previously published paper. Publication of some kinds of articles (e.g. clinical guidelines, translations) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. The authors and editors of the journals concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgement of the work of other authors must always be given. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should be cited. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in those services.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.


The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are declared in the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.