General Publication Principles and Commitments

Our journal adopts the highest ethical standards to preserve scientific quality and maintain academic integrity. Our publication processes strictly comply with the transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing principles established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics

No actions contrary to academic integrity are tolerated in manuscripts submitted to our journal. Unacceptable major ethical violations include:

• Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data, or works of others as one's own, in whole or in part, without citing them in accordance with scientific rules.
• Fabrication: Producing imaginary or fake data that is not based on research and publishing it.
• Falsification: Altering research records, pretending to use methods not actually used in the research, or hiding data that does not fit the hypothesis.
• Duplication (Multiple Submissions): Sending the same research and its results simultaneously to more than one journal or submitting a previously published work again.
• Salamization (Slicing): Dividing the results of a single study into multiple pieces in a way that disrupts scientific integrity to produce multiple publications.
• Unfair Authorship: Including individuals who have made no active intellectual contribution to the study as authors (gift authorship) or excluding those who have contributed (ghost authorship).

Responsibilities of Authors:

• Originality and Accuracy: Authors must declare that all data is real and that the findings and the manuscript are entirely original. All works belonging to others must be comprehensively included in the bibliography and cited appropriately.
• Reporting Errors: When authors notice a significant error in their published or under-review work, they are obliged to immediately inform the editors and cooperate for correction or retraction processes.
• Data Access: If deemed necessary, authors may be expected to provide the raw data belonging to the research.
• Conflict of Interest: Any financial support, institutional connection, or personal conflict of interest that could affect the research results or interpretations must be explicitly declared.

Responsibilities of Reviewers:

• Confidentiality and Objectivity: Manuscripts sent for review are confidential documents; their contents cannot be used or shared for personal research. Reviews should be objective, supportive, and constructive, avoiding personal criticism of the author.
• Declaration of Conflict of Interest: If a conflict of interest is perceived regarding the subject of the manuscript, funding providers, or the authors (if known), the reviewer must immediately inform the editor and withdraw from the duty.
• Identifying Missing Citations: Reviewers should identify significant relevant published works not cited by the authors and must warn the editor in case of suspected plagiarism.

Responsibilities of Editors:

• Independent Decision Making: Editors have the sole authority and responsibility to accept or reject a manuscript. Decisions are made strictly based on the manuscript's academic merit, originality, and relevance to the journal's scope.
• Fair Play: Editors conduct a completely impartial editorial process, independent of the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, or institutional affiliations.
• Confidentiality: The identities of the reviewers and authors (Double-Blind Peer Review) and the publication process are kept strictly confidential.

Plagiarism Prevention and Sanction Policy

Manuscripts submitted to our journal are screened for plagiarism using the TURNITIN software. It is expected that the overall similarity rate does not exceed 25% and the similarity to a single source does not exceed 2%. High similarity rates may lead to the immediate rejection of the manuscript. In the event that plagiarism is detected in a submitted or published work, our journal operates the COPE flowcharts.

Correction, Retraction, and Expression of Concern Policy

Editors follow COPE and ICMJE guidelines when encountering errors in manuscripts:

• Correction (Erratum): A correction is published when minor errors are detected that do not directly affect the findings and conclusions.
• Retraction: The manuscript is retracted when major errors that invalidate the research findings, plagiarism, ethical violations, or data fabrication are detected.
• Expression of Concern: If there are serious doubts about the research or publication process but definitive evidence cannot be reached immediately, or if the author's institution has not concluded its investigation, editors may publish an independent "Expression of Concern."

6. Ethics Committee Approval and Informed Consent

An Ethics Committee Approval Document is mandatory for all research requiring data collection through quantitative or qualitative methods (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups, experiments, clinical research).

• Information regarding the ethics committee approval must be clearly stated in the section specified in the article template.
• In case reports and studies involving human participants, it must be declared within the manuscript that an “Informed Consent Form” was obtained from the participants.