ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY OF TURKISH NURSES ASSOCIATION JOURNAL
Publication Ethics
The Journal of Turkish Nurses Association is a peer-reviewed journal and the submitted articles are evaluated by a double blind review process. No subscription fee, publication fee or similar payment is requested for the Journal of Turkish Nurses Association, which is published electronically. The ethical responsibilities of the publisher, editors, referees and authors given below are based on the guidelines prepared by the ‘Committee on Publication Ethics’ (COPE) and ‘The European Association of Science Editors’ (EASE) and the Declaration of Helsinki.
Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher
- The publisher and the board of directors of the Journal of the Turkish Nurses' Association are aware of the need to comply with ethical responsibilities.
- The publisher of the Journal of the Turkish Nurses' Association is not for profit.
- The publisher is committed to ensuring that independent editorial decisions are made without any vested interest.
- It protects the ownership and copyright of every work published within its body and undertakes the task of archiving every published product.
- Editors are responsible for the publication process of the Journal of the Turkish Nurses Association.
Ethical Responsibilities of the Editor
General Responsibilities
- To endeavour to meet the scientific needs of readers and authors
- To endeavour for the continuous development of the journal
- In case of a complaint of ethical violation, to implement the necessary procedures by adhering to the policies and procedures of the journal
- Supporting freedom of expression
Relations with Readers
- Ensuring that all published manuscripts are evaluated by appropriately qualified peer reviewers (including statistical evaluation where necessary)
- Adopt processes to ensure that manuscripts are accurate and complete (e.g. technical editing, use of CONSORT checklist for randomised trials)
- Authorship that promotes good practice, or ensuring that authors clearly indicate the areas of their contribution in the paper
Relationships with Authors
- Publish clear instructions on publications and expectations of authors
- Providing guidance on authorship criteria and/or who should be included in the list of contributors
- Regularly update author instructions and provide links to relevant guidelines (e.g. ICMJE, COPE)
- Ensuring that appropriate reviewers are selected to review manuscripts
Relations with Referees
- To clearly and clearly communicate to the referees what they are expected to do regarding the evaluation process of the manuscripts
- Requesting reviewers to declare the absence of potential conflicts of interest before agreeing to review a submission
- Not disclosing authors to referees and referees to authors
- Encouraging reviewers to ensure the originality of submissions and to be vigilant against plagiarism
- Encouraging reviewers to comment on possible plagiarism in submissions (e.g. unethical research design, insufficient information on patient consent)
- Monitor the performance of referees and take steps to ensure high quality
- Establishing a database of suitable referees and updating the database according to the performance of the referees
- To remove from the journal's database referees who consistently do not behave in accordance with the rules of courtesy, do not evaluate the manuscript correctly/attentively, and make late reviews
Relations with the Editorial Board
- Identify members of the editorial board with appropriate qualifications who can actively contribute to the development and good management of the journal
- Appointing editorial board members for a specific term of office (e.g. three years)
- To explain to the members of the editorial board the responsibilities expected of them
- Consult regularly (at least once a year) with the members of the editorial board to obtain their views on the operation of the journal and to inform them of changes in journal policies
Conflict of Interest
- Publish a list of interests (financial, academic and other types) of all editorial staff and editorial board members (which should be updated at least once a year)
- Adopt and put in writing appropriate policies for handling submissions from themselves, their employees or editorial board members to ensure an objective review
- To ensure that the publication process of the articles will be completed in an impartial manner
- To avoid as far as possible entering into agreements with both for-profit and non-profit sponsors that restrict access to all data of the study or interfere with their ability to analyse and interpret data, prepare and publish papers, etc.
Ethical Responsibilities of Referees
- Agreeing to review only articles in his/her area of expertise
- Evaluate articles in an impartial and confidential manner
- To inform the editor if he/she thinks that he/she has any conflict of interest
- To comply with the principle of confidentiality after the review process of articles
- Reviewing articles objectively and only for their content
- Ensure that race, gender, religious or political beliefs or economic considerations do not influence the review
- Analysing the article in a constructive and respectful manner, avoiding personal comments and disrespectful remarks
- To review the accepted manuscript in a timely manner and in accordance with the ethical rules stated above
- To fill in the Referee Evaluation Form for the articles they evaluate
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
- To submit original studies to the journal
- In all studies in which the ‘human’ element is included, to state and document in the ‘materials and methods’ section of the article that they carried out the study in accordance with the Principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, and that they obtained Informed Voluntary Consent from the ethics committees of their institutions and the people who participated in the study
- In the ‘materials and methods’ section of the manuscript, to state and document that they protect animal rights and that they have obtained approval from the ethics committees of their institutions in studies where ‘animal’ element is used.
- If photographs, figures, etc. belonging to someone else are used in the article, to obtain and document written permission from the owners of these materials
- To state and document that they have obtained ‘Informed Voluntary Consent’ from the patients regardless of revealing the identity of the patient in case presentations
- To cite all sources used in the articles correctly and appropriately
- Not to submit their work to more than one journal at the same time (Each submission can only be made after the completion of the previous one. A study published in another journal cannot be submitted) and filling out the Copyright Transfer Form
- Not to show people who did not contribute to the article as authors
- To clearly and precisely state the distribution of tasks of all authors
- To disclose any conflict of interest related to the article submitted for publication
- Document the consent of the study participants and the necessary permissions regarding the research / analysis and sharing of the data used
- To inform the editor and the editorial board if an error is noticed in the work during the publication process, to cooperate during the correction or withdrawal process
- Not to change the responsibilities of the authors after the review process of the manuscript has started (e.g. adding authors, reordering of author names)
- Keeping the data related to the published article for 5 years
Plagiarism and Unethical Behaviour
According to the Interuniversity Council Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics, the following are the actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics:
a) 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,
b) Forgery: Using non-existent or falsified data in scientific research,
c) Distortion: Falsifying research records or data obtained, showing devices or materials not used in the research as if they were used, falsifying or shaping the results of the research in line with the interests of the persons and organisations receiving support,
d) Republishing: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
e) Slicing: Dividing the results of a research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and inappropriately and publishing them in more than one number and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
f) Unfair authorship: Including people who have not made active contributions among the authors or not including people who have made active contributions, changing the author ranking in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of those who have made active contributions from the work in subsequent editions, using his/her influence to have his/her name included among the authors even though he/she has not made active contributions,
g) Failure to specify the persons, institutions or organisations providing support and their contributions in the publications made as a result of research carried out with support,
h) Using theses or studies that have not yet been submitted or defended and accepted as a source without the permission of the owner,
i) Failure to respect patient rights in their publications,
j) To act contrary to the provisions of the relevant legislation in human biomedical research or other clinical research,
k) Sharing the information contained in a work that he/she has been assigned to examine with others before publication without the express permission of the author,
l) To misuse the resources, spaces, facilities and devices provided or allocated for scientific research,
m) Publishing data obtained in surveys and attitude surveys conducted within the scope of a scientific study without obtaining the explicit consent of the participants or, if the research is to be conducted in an institution, without obtaining the permission of the institution,
n) In research and experiments; harming animals and ecological balance, not obtaining the permissions required to be obtained before starting the studies in writing from the competent units, conducting studies contrary to the provisions of the legislation or international conventions to which Turkey is a party regarding the relevant research and experiments,
o) Failure to comply with the obligation to inform and warn those concerned about possible harmful practices related to the scientific research conducted by researchers or authorities,
p) Not using the data and information obtained from other persons and institutions in scientific studies to the extent and in the manner permitted, not respecting the confidentiality of this information and not ensuring its protection,

Notifying the Editor of the Situation that Does Not Comply with Ethical Principles
Any behaviour that is not in accordance with the above-mentioned ethical responsibilities of editors, referees, authors and any unethical situation in the evaluation process or in a published article should be reported via e-mail to info@thder.org.tr.