Publication Ethics and Policies

TARE is dedicated to upholding the highest standards for publication ethics for the editors, reviewers, authors, publishers, and readers and follows the international standards set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Articles submitted to TARE should be in accordance with the aim and scope of the journal.

Ethical Codes and Guidelines for Peer Review

TARE employs a peer-review process to ensure the academic integrity required by the international scholarly community. The following text is created to provide guidelines for peer reviewers and adapted from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines which defines peer review process as
"Peer review, for the purposes of these guidelines, refers to reviews provided on manuscript submissions to journals, but can also include reviews    for other platforms and apply to public commenting that can occur pre- or post-publication. Reviews of other materials such as preprints,    grants, books, conference proceeding submissions, registered reports (pre-registered protocols), or data will have a similar underlying ethical    framework, but the process will vary depending on the source material and the type of review requested. The model of peer review will also    influence elements of the process." (Source: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines)         

Models for Peer Review

Plagiarism
The editorial team first examines every article submitted to the journal to evaluate whether it conforms to the TARE Submission Guidelines. Authors who submit articles to the journal accept that their manuscript is not published or under review elsewhere. Articles are checked for plagiarism by uploading them to plagiarism detection software (IThenticate) and creating a plagiarism report. The similarity rate should not be higher than 20%. Articles with more than 20% similarity rates are either rejected or go through a more rigorous examination during which authors might be contacted to make some changes to specific sections of the articles depending on the nature of the similarity report.

Review Process
Articles that pass the editorial examination start the double-blind review process. They are sent to at least two independent reviewers that work on a related topic. In order to be accepted, an article should be accepted by at least two reviewers. Reviewers fill out the review form where they elaborate on their opinions about the article and whether it should be accepted. In the case of conflicting opinions, a third reviewer might be appointed for the article.

Ethics Codes for Reviewers

Professional Responsibility
TARE encourages submitting authors to contribute to the peer review process as members of the professional scholarly and scientific community. TARE editors are responsible for appointing appropriate reviewers for the submitted manuscripts in terms of content and scope of their study to receive the best reviews possible. Accepting reviewers are expected to provide accurate professional information on their scientific expertise and credentials, including verifiable contact information. Potential reviewers should be aware that providing inaccurate information such as impersonation of other individuals is considered a breach of TARE's policy and serious unethical behavior. Reviewers are further advised to accept to review a manuscript if their scientific and scholarly expertise matches the manuscript and if they can provide an unbiased report. In cases where reviewers detect incompatibility or gap between the manuscript and their expertise, they are encouraged to convey this to the TARE editors before starting the review process.

Conflicts of Interest
Reviewers are responsible for disclosing any conflict or competition interest that may affect the review process. In cases where reviewers are not completely clear or sure of these interests, which may be of personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political, or religious nature, they are encouraged to ask the TARE editors for advice. Furthermore, reviewers are not allowed to accept reviews to gain an advantage by accessing manuscripts that bear considerable resemblance to their own works currently under reconsideration at other journals.

Timeliness
When approached by the TARE editors, potential reviewers are kindly asked to respond in a timely manner. Please agree for a review if you are available to produce a report within the timeframe that will be agreed upon mutually. In cases where there would be changes in the reviewer's schedule or ability to complete the review, please inform the TARE editors as soon as possible. When reviewers are unable to accept, suggestions for alternative reviewers based on their specialty and without any personal influence will be much appreciated.

Conducting a Review

Initial steps: Before starting a report, reviewers are asked to carefully read all the submitted materials, including any additional data files and the journal policy documents. In cases where there are any unclear matters or questions, inform the TARE editors and do not contact the manuscript's authors directly. Furthermore, reviewers need to confirm the scope of their reviews with the TARE editor before starting on their reviews.

Confidentiality: Reviewers are expected to respect the confidentiality of the peer-review process and not to use any information received as part of the review process to their advantage or others' disadvantage. Involvement of third parties other than the reviewer and the editors, such as advisees or assistants, is not allowed without the permission of the journal. In cases where other individuals are involved with the review after getting permission from the TARE, their names should be communicated to the journal editors for acknowledgment of their efforts and the journal's own records.

Bias and competing interests: Reviewers are expected to refrain from any bias based on nationality, political or religious beliefs, gender, or any other characteristics related to the submitting authors as well as commercial interests or the origins of the manuscripts. If reviewers were to notice any reasons that might prevent them from an unbiased review, they are advised to contact the TARE editors. They are asked to discontinue their review process and abstain from looking into the related materials while waiting to hear from the TARE editors should the review process be terminated. Reviewers are further advised to contact the TARE editors if they concur that they do not possess the required expertise to go on with the review process. They are further asked to notify the TARE editors if they suspect the identity of authors during the double-blind review process.

Suspicion of ethics violations: Any suspected violation of ethical conduct should be communicated to the TARE editors. These may include but are not limited to misconduct during the research of the writing of the submitted work, considerable similarity between the submitted work and other published material, or submitted works to another journal. Reviewers are also advised not to pursue the violations individually and keep the matter private after contacting the TARE editors.

Preparing a Report: Reviewers are asked to follow the manuscript review form provided by the TARE and consult these documents and TARE editors for further guidance.

Author’s responsibilities

Authors that submit articles to the journal accept that their articles are original manuscripts that have not been published or are currently being reviewed elsewhere. It is the authors' duty to ensure that their article adheres to the scientific and ethical rules and standards. Authors are responsible for following the copyright laws and regulations for any material they use for the manuscript. Appropriate permissions and acknowledgments must be obtained to reproduce and reuse copyright materials such as figures, drawings, and extensive quotations.

Any contributions or words that do not belong to the author(s) must be credited. In manuscripts with multiple authors, all authors must provide direct scientific or academic contributions to the manuscript. Contributions that are not extensive enough to qualify for authorship should be credited in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

All authors must disclose any conflict of interests that might potentially affect the results of the scientific research. It is the authors' responsibility to cooperate with the editors and inform them if they realize a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article and provide corrections to their mistakes or retract their article.

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Archive

All TARE volumes are stored in a digital format in the archives of the Turkish Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.

​Price and Open Access Policy

Journal of the Turkish Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage adopts open access policy. Readers can download, read and share all articles that have been published by the journal for free of charge. TARE does not request processing or publication fees from the authors.