ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
The publication processes of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences are based on the unbiased production, development and sharing of information with the scientific method.

Peer-reviewed articles are studies that ensure the application of the scientific method and impartiality. In the realization of scientific production, all components of the publication process; publisher, editors, authors, referees and readers must comply with ethical principles. Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences is committed to adhering to ethical principles at all stages of the publication process. The publication ethics and open access policy of our journal is shaped within the framework of international standards set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In this direction, the compliance of all published studies with the rules of scientific and academic ethics is observed, and all components of the publication process are obliged to adhere to ethical principles.

If it is detected that the data used in the articles are manipulated, distorted or fabricated, the institution where the author of the article works will be officially notified of this situation and the article will be rejected. Our journal has the right to request the output files of the analysis results from the authors according to the feedback given by the editor and/or referees.

Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
Actions against scientific research and publication ethics are as follows:
• Plagiarism: Presenting the original ideas, methods, data or works of others as one's own work in whole or in part without citation in accordance with scientific rules,
• Forgery: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research,
• Distortion: Falsifying research records or data obtained, falsifying devices or materials that were not used in the research, falsifying or shaping the results of the research in line with the interests of the persons and organizations receiving support,
• Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications for academic appointments and promotions,
• Slicing: Inappropriately and inappropriately dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and publishing them in more than one issue and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
• Unfair authorship: Including or excluding people who have not actively contributed, changing the author ranking in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of active contributors from the work in subsequent editions, using one's influence to have one's name included among the authors even though one has not actively contributed,

Click here to get information about other types of ethical violations in the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions.

ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVAL
Our journal requires that the relevant ethics committee decision must be obtained for all studies in all disciplines that require ethics committee approval. In this context, authors should write the date and number of Ethics Committee approval in the “Sampling and Methods/ Materials and Methods” section. In case presentations, the information that the informed consent form has been obtained must be included in the article.
In line with the regulations implemented by Ulakbim TR Index since 2020, studies that do not have ethics committee permission are not evaluated in our journal.

Studies Requiring Ethics Committee Approval
In our journal, researches that require ethics committee permission include the following studies:
• All research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that involve collecting data from participants through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, experiments and interview techniques,
• Studies in which humans and animals (including materials or data) are used for experimental or other scientific purposes,
• Clinical trials conducted on humans,
• Scientific research on animals,
• Retrospective studies within the framework of the Personal Data Protection Law.
In order for such studies to be included in the evaluation, the relevant ethics committee permissions must be obtained and these permissions must be clearly stated in the text of the article.

NOTE: Scientific research on humans and animals must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and ARRIVE guidelines and approval must be obtained from the relevant ethics committee. Studies without ethics committee approval are not evaluated in our journal.

Plagiarism Check
Our journal scans all submitted articles with the Intihal.net programme to prevent plagiarism. The similarity rate is expected to be less than 20%. Manuscripts exceeding this rate will be returned to the authors at the preliminary review stage.
If plagiarism is detected in an article submitted or published in our journal, our journal acts in accordance with the COPE principles (Plagiarism in a submitted manuscript - Plagiarism in a published article).

Relations with the Journal Owner and Publisher
The relationship between the editor and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. In accordance with the written contract between the editor and the publisher, all editorial decisions are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Correction, Retraction, Expression of Concern
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors are identified in the published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations and conclusions. In the case of major errors/violations that invalidate findings and conclusions, editors should consider retracting the article. COPE principles are taken into account in relation to correction, withdrawal or expression of concern.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in possible violations.

Protection of Personal Data of Participants
All personal data submitted to our journal are protected in accordance with legal regulations and ethical rules.

Complaints
In case of any behavior that does not comply with the ethical principles regarding editors, referees, authors in Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences or an unethical situation in the evaluation process, early appearance or a published article, it should be reported via e-mail to spormetre@ankara.edu.tr. Our journal follows the procedure outlined in the COPE flowcharts for complaints.

Conflicts of interest
Our journal guarantees the independent and impartial completion of the publication process, taking into account the conflicts of interest between the author(s), reviewers and other editors.

Change of Author
Only the article is processed before acceptance. Authors are required to carefully review the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the exact list of authors at the time of original submission.

Use of Artificial Intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence in processes that do not affect the originality of the article, such as literature review or language control, is acceptable in studies submitted to our journal. However, the use of artificial intelligence should be carried out within the framework of ethical rules and should never be used for unethical purposes such as fabricated data and manipulation.
For studies involving the use of artificial intelligence, it is mandatory to inform our journal about this situation at the article submission stage. All responsibility for the use of artificial intelligence lies with the authors.

Responsibilities of Stakeholders

Responsibilities of the Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences
• The Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences is responsible for every article submitted to Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, even after its publication, and the Editorial Board knows this responsibility. This responsibility requires making decisions independently, considering only the public interest in the decisions made on issues related to the journal, without considering personal gain.
• The Board of Editors of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences endeavors to continuously improve the Journal and to increase the quality of publication.
• The Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences ensures the determination and implementation of journal policies such as publication, blind refereeing, evaluation process, ethical principles.
• The Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences protects the copyright of the authors of the articles published in Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences.
• The Board of Editors of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences is responsible for taking measures against intellectual property rights, scientific-ethical behavior, plagiarism, and citation gangsterism during the article and journal publication process.
• The Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences prepares an “Author's Guide” containing the information requirements of the author(s) and a “Referee's Guide” containing the information that referees will need during the evaluation phase, and updates it when necessary.
• The Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences determines policies to motivate referees and author(s).
• The Editorial Board of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences keeps the records of each article and the correspondence related to the journal electronically or in printed form.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors, Deputy Editors and Field Editors
• Editors strive to meet the information needs of referees, author(s), researchers, practitioners and readers, to provide feedback when necessary, and to act in accordance with the principles of openness in matters requiring correction and clarification during the publication process.
• While deciding to publish the articles, the editors pay attention to the originality of the articles and their contribution to the scientific literature, readers, researchers and practitioners.
• While making positive or negative decisions about the articles, the editors take into consideration the original value of the articles, their contribution to the field, the validity and reliability of the research method, the clarity of the expression, and the purpose and scope of the journal.
• The editors take the submitted articles to the preliminary evaluation stage as long as there are no serious problems, take into consideration the positive referee recommendations, and do not change the decisions made by the previous editor(s) unless there is a serious problem.
• The editors apply the journal's editorial policies of blind review and evaluation process, keep the identity of the referees confidential, and ensure that each article is evaluated impartially and within the deadline.
• Editors submit manuscripts by taking into account the specialties of the field editors and referees, and support unbiased and independent evaluations.
• Editors consider whether there is a conflict of interest between editors, referees and author(s) for the unbiased evaluation of the article.
• Editors seek to ensure that the pool of reviewers is broad and continuously updated.
• Editors prevent unscientific and unscientific evaluations that do not comply with academic etiquette.
• Editors ensure that journal publication processes are carried out in accordance with publication policies and guidelines, inform those involved in the process about developments in publication policies, and prepare training programs when necessary.
• Editors maintain effective communication with all those involved in the publication process and organize meetings at regular intervals.
• Editors ensure the protection of personal data in the evaluated articles; they protect the personal data of authors, reviewers and readers.
• Editors pay attention to the protection of human and animal rights in manuscripts, care about documenting the explicit consent of the participants of the manuscript, and reject the manuscript in the absence of ethics committee approval for the participants of the manuscript and their permission in experimental research.
• Editors take precautions against misconduct. When there are complaints of misconduct, they conduct an objective investigation and share the relevant findings.
• Editors ensure that errors, inconsistencies or misdirections in articles are corrected.
• Editors protect the intellectual property rights of published articles and defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in case of violation. They also take the necessary measures to ensure that the content of published articles does not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications; they check for originality-similarity.
• The editors take into account consistent criticism of the articles published in the Journal and give the author(s) of the criticized articles the right to reply.
• The editors also take into account studies with negative results.
• The editors review the complaints and notifications submitted to the Journal and make the necessary explanations.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
• In the article evaluation process of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, the principle of two-way double-blind refereeing is applied in which the author(s) do not know the referees and the referees do not know the authors; referees cannot communicate directly with the authors; article evaluation forms and notes and correction requests specified on the text are sent to the author(s) by the editors via the journal management system. The referees who will evaluate the articles submitted to Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences should carry the following ethical responsibilities:
• Referees should only accept to evaluate articles related to their field of specialization.
• Referees should conduct the evaluation with impartiality and confidentiality. In accordance with this principle, they should destroy the articles they have reviewed after the evaluation process and use them only after publication. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns should not impair the impartiality of the review.
• When reviewers realize that there is a conflict of interest, they should refuse to evaluate the article and inform the editors.
• Referees should evaluate the manuscript in a constructive manner in accordance with academic etiquette and avoid personal comments containing insults and hostility.
• Referees should evaluate the manuscript they accept for evaluation within the deadline.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
• Author(s) should not send more than one article at the same time to Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences if they have published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• Author(s) should submit original articles to Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences.
• The author(s) must cite the sources used during the writing of the article correctly in accordance with ethical principles.
• The names of people who do not contribute to the article should not be written as authors, and it should not be suggested to change the order of authors, remove authors, or add authors to an article applied for publication.
• They should notify the editors of any conflict of interest/conflict of interest regarding the article applied for publication.
• In case information or raw data is requested from the author(s) during the evaluation process, they should submit the expected information to the Editors.
• The author(s) should document that the rights to use the data they use in their articles, the permissions related to the research-research, or the consent of the participants on whom they conducted research have been obtained.
• The author(s) should contact the editor to inform, correct, or retract an error in the manuscript that is under review, early appearance, or published electronically.
• The author(s) should indicate that they have received ethics committee approval for research that requires data collection with quantitative or qualitative methods such as experiments, surveys, scales, interviews, observations, focus group studies that require ethics committee approval; the name of the ethics committee, the date and number of the decision should be indicated on the first-last page of the candidate article and in the method section, and the document showing the ethics committee decision should be uploaded to the system with the application of the article. In addition, information on the receipt of the informed consent form in case presentations should be included in the article.
• The author(s) should provide evidence that they pay attention to ethical principles during the data collection process (such as obtaining permission to use other people's documents such as scales, questionnaires, photographs). It should be stated in the articles that research and publication ethics and copyright regulations for intellectual and artistic works are complied with. If the research was conducted on human and animal subjects, it should be reported that the research was conducted in accordance with international declarations, guidelines, etc.
• Ethics committee approval is not requested from the author(s) for review articles. However, in articles that do not require an ethics committee decision, it should be stated on the first and last page of the article and in the method section.

PUBLICATION POLICY

General Principles
• Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences is a reputable National and International refereed publication (Scientific Journal) that has been continuing its publication life since 2003 in order to bring together the relevant reviews and researches including the field of Sports Sciences with the scientific world.
• Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sports Sciences publishes letters to the editor, reviews, research and original research. Scientific articles and theoretical or experimental research or practical applications in the field of sports sciences are expected to contain new data.
• The aim of Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sports Sciences is to examine the current developments in the field of Sports Sciences in a holistic and inclusive manner and to share the studies emerging in this direction with the target audience.
• Spormetre Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences is a peer-reviewed journal that has been published four times a year (March, June, September, December) since 2003. The language of the journal is English and Turkish.
• Manuscripts should not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• Manuscripts submitted to our journal are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers within the scope of double blind review.
• Authors agree to transfer their copyrights to our Journal under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license when the article is accepted for publication.
• All articles published as open access in our journal are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Non-Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
• Articles published in our journal are digitally archived in LOCKSS and DSpace. Articles published in our journal can be accessed free of charge at https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/spormetre/archive.

Special Issue Policy
With the decision of the Editorial Board, a special issue may be published once a year. The publication and evaluation principles for the articles to be published in the special issue are applied as applied in the planned issues.

1- 100th Anniversary Special Issue
The “100th Anniversary Special Issue” of our journal was made available to our readers on 05.12.2023. This issue was published under the editorship of Prof. Dr. Velittin BALCI. Please click here to access our special issue.

2- Sports History Special Issue
The “Sports History Special Issue” of our journal was made available to our readers on 19.05.2020. This issue was published under the editorship of Prof. Dr. Hakan SUNAY. Please click here to access our special issue.

Price Policy
Article submission, evaluation and publication processes in our journal are completely free of charge. No fee is charged for articles submitted or accepted for publication. In accordance with our publication policy, sponsorship and advertising are not accepted and all expenses of our journal are covered by Ankara University.