Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
General Principles
The Turkish Medical Journal (TMJ) is committed to the principles of integrity, transparency, impartiality, and accountability in scientific publishing. The journal conducts all editorial and publication processes in accordance with internationally accepted ethical standards and expects editors, reviewers, authors, and the publisher to fulfill their ethical responsibilities.
The journal follows the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and the TR Dizin Ethical Principles and Application Criteria.
Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions in the Turkish Medical Journal (TMJ) are made solely on the basis of scientific merit. The publisher, sponsoring organizations, institutions, or any third parties have no influence over editorial decisions. The acceptance or rejection of manuscripts is determined exclusively by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board based on scientific evaluation.
Publication Ethics
All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original, must not have been previously published, and must not be under consideration by another journal simultaneously.
Scientific misconduct, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, salami publication, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, and other forms of unethical publishing practices, is strictly prohibited.
Any suspected publication misconduct is handled in accordance with the guidelines and flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Authorship Criteria
Authorship is limited to individuals who meet all four criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
- Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
- Final approval of the version to be published;
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Individuals who do not meet all authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors, editors, and reviewers are required to disclose any financial, personal, institutional, or academic conflicts of interest that could influence the evaluation or publication process.
Editors shall not participate in the editorial process of manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.
Peer Review Policy
The journal operates a double-blind peer review system to ensure scientific quality, objectivity, and fairness. Under this system, the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another throughout the review process.
All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial evaluation by the Editor or an Associate Editor to assess their suitability for the journal's scope, scientific originality, ethical compliance, methodological quality, and adherence to the journal's author guidelines. Manuscripts deemed unsuitable at this stage may be rejected without external peer review.
Manuscripts that successfully pass the preliminary evaluation are assigned to at least two independent reviewers who are experts in the relevant field. Reviewers assess the originality, scientific merit, methodological rigor, statistical analyses (where applicable), ethical compliance, contribution to the literature, and validity of the study's conclusions.
Reviewers are expected to recommend acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. The final editorial decision is made by the Editor based on the reviewers' reports. In cases of conflicting reviews or when additional expertise is required, the manuscript may be referred to a third or additional reviewer(s).
Authors requested to revise their manuscripts are expected to provide a detailed point-by-point response to all reviewer and editor comments. Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers or sent to new reviewers if necessary.
Reviewers are expected to conduct their evaluations objectively, confidentially, and in accordance with accepted ethical standards. They should decline review assignments if they have a conflict of interest, lack sufficient expertise, or are unable to complete the review within the requested timeframe. All information obtained during the review process must remain strictly confidential.
Editorial decisions are based solely on scientific merit. The authors' academic title, institutional affiliation, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, or political views do not influence editorial decisions.
Confidentiality
Editors and reviewers are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of all information related to submitted manuscripts throughout the editorial and peer review process.
Reviewer reports are shared only with the responsible editors and the corresponding author.
Plagiarism Policy
All submitted manuscripts are screened using similarity detection software prior to peer review. By submitting a manuscript, authors declare that their work is entirely original, that all sources have been appropriately cited, and that the manuscript has not been published previously or submitted simultaneously to another journal.
Similarity scores alone are not considered sufficient grounds for rejection. Editorial decisions are based on the nature, source, extent, and context of the detected similarities. Similarity arising from references, standard methodological descriptions, legal statements, or commonly used scientific terminology is evaluated accordingly.
Manuscripts containing excessive similarity, inappropriate citation practices, or evidence of plagiarism may be rejected or returned to the authors for clarification. To protect scientific integrity, the Editorial Office reserves the right to request raw data, ethics committee approval documents, or any additional documentation supporting the originality and authenticity of the submitted work.
Ethics Committee Approval
Research involving human participants must have prior approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee.
The manuscript must clearly state the name of the ethics committee, the approval date, and the approval number in the relevant section.
Studies involving animals must comply with internationally accepted ethical standards for animal research.
Informed Consent
For case reports and other studies involving human participants, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants or their legal representatives.
Written permission must also be obtained for any photographs or materials that may reveal the identity of participants.
Data Integrity
Authors should be prepared to provide the raw data supporting their findings upon reasonable request by the Editor.
Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the data presented in their manuscripts.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy
Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies do not meet the criteria for authorship and therefore cannot be listed as authors.
If AI tools have been used during manuscript preparation, authors must clearly disclose the name of the tool, its purpose, and the extent of its use within the Methods section or the Acknowledgments.
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all AI-assisted content.
Copyright and Open Access
The Turkish Medical Journal is an open-access scientific journal.
All published articles are freely accessible without subscription or payment.
Copyright and licensing conditions are governed by the journal's copyright policy.
Archiving Policy
All published articles are permanently archived electronically to ensure long-term accessibility and preservation.
Reporting Publication Misconduct
Any concerns regarding publication ethics may be reported to the Editorial Office.
All allegations are handled confidentially and investigated in accordance with the COPE Core Practices and Flowcharts.
Final Provisions
By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors acknowledge that they have read, understood, and agreed to comply with these Ethical Principles and Publication Policies.
The Editorial Office reserves the right to revise and update these policies whenever necessary.
ETHICS FOR AUTHORS
• Authors and researchers are deemed to have accepted all kinds of ethical principles and related written documents in advance.
• The research should be conducted by responsible and competent people, and non-experts should not be allowed to participate.
• The purpose of the research, the implementation process, possible risks and benefits should be explained to the participants.
• Participants' right to participate in the research, or to withdraw at any time, should be respected.
• If the participants are under the age of 18, information about the research is given to the participants themselves and their parents (guardians), and if the participants do not have the power to decide for any reason (mental disability, illness, dementia, etc.), the legal guardian (guardian) of the participant should. Informed consent forms should be completed and signed by the person himself, if he is over 18 years old, or by a parent/guardian if he is a minor.
• Care should be taken to ensure that the information in the informed consent forms is clear and understandable according to the age of the participants.
• Information of the participants, like personal data or that may cause their identities to be exposed should be kept confidential.
• No one should be deprived of their right to participate in research unless there is a just and acceptable reason.
• No participant should be deprived of their rights or be harmed by not participating in or withdrawing from the research.
• If there are applications different from the initial explanations during the research process, the participants should be informed about the new situation.
• Content and method/data collection tools (questionnaire, interview, etc.); should not include negative features like humiliating, discriminating, disturbing, tiring, disruptive, etc.
• The possibility of negative effects of the applications in the process of experimental research on the participants should be minimized.
• To the participants; Information about the purpose of the research, expected benefits, how it will be conducted, possible risks, confidentiality policy and what is expected should be given.
• These explanations should not affect the participants' behavior regarding the research and their responses to the data collection tools.
• The name, address and telephone number of the researcher or research team leader should be stated in this letter. If the research will be carried out in an institution, the written approval of the relevant institution managers must be obtained.
• If the application made to one application group is more effective than the applications to other groups; After the end of the research, all groups should be given the chance to benefit from this practice.
• The researcher is obliged to ensure that the data collected during and after the research is protected and stored in accordance with the confidentiality rule.
• In co-authored studies, everyone's roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined. The level of contribution of the shared tasks should be clearly stated and the corresponding author order should be established. In principle, those who have contributed significantly to the research and reporting should be co-authors.
• It should not show unethical behaviors such as Scientific Misleading, Scientific Negligence/Undisciplined Research, Scientific Distortion/Deliberate Fraud, Distortion, Concealment, Fabrication, Scientific Stealing, Complete Stealing, Scientific Piracy, Self-Picturing, Duplication, Slicing, Sibling Publication, and No Attribution.
• When making use of the ideas, discourses, opinions, data, comments, evaluations, suggestions, publications, drawings and applications of others, permissions and sources should be clearly indicated.
• A researcher who uses a table or figure in a source as it is, should clearly indicate the original source under the relevant table or figure.
• In addition to citing sources, copyright etc. Where required by legal obligations, permission must be obtained from the person or organization holding the copyright.
• Ethical rules regarding author names should be followed in articles. Author names and order should be determined by the contribution made to the study. The ranking on the published work expresses this contribution. In co-authored studies, all authors are scientifically and ethically responsible for the entire work.
• It is not ethically appropriate to include people who do not contribute actively or not to include contributors, to change the order of authors without justification and inappropriately, to remove the names of those who contributed actively from the work in subsequent editions, to include their names among the authors even though they do not have an active contribution, by using their influence.
• Thesis or studies that have not yet been presented or defended should not be used as a source without the permission of the owner.
• In the works, the addresses of the institutions/organizations must be given correctly and completely.
• If a research has been financially supported by a particular institution or person, the source of the financial support must be specified in the research report. Sometimes the number of institutions providing financial support can be more than one. In this case, all supporting institutions should be specified.
EDITORIAL CODE FOR EDITORS
In the evaluation process of a submitted work, the scientific ethical principles that the editors must comply with are as follows:
• Working; without prejudice (regarding race, religion, nationality, gender, opinion, affiliation, institutional or personal affinity), impartial, objective and independent.
• Negligently or deliberately delaying the evaluation process.
• It should take into account whether the study is carried out in accordance with ethical rules.
• Members of the editorial board should not exchange information about the study with people other than the referees and authors.
• The referee should not make any changes on the reports, and should not issue false reports, use the work in their own research before the work is published; should not allow others to use it.
• At any stage of the evaluation and publication process, the authors should not give false information that may have positive or negative meanings.
• Double-blind evaluation is carried out under the responsibility of the editor.
ETHICAL RULES ABOUT REFEREES
In the evaluation process of a submitted study, the scientific ethical principles that the referees must comply with are as follows:
• Working; without prejudice (regarding race, religion, nationality, gender, opinion, affiliation, institutional or personal affinity), impartial, objective and independent.
• In cases where they cannot or do not want to evaluate the work due to conflict of interest, personal or professional affinity, conflict of interest and time constraint; should return the work to the editor or the chairman of the board as soon as possible.
• They should not exchange information about the study with people/authors other than the editor or the chairman of the board who sent the study to him.
• They are responsible for ensuring that the data related to the work are protected and stored in accordance with the confidentiality rule.
• It should be taken into account whether the study is carried out in accordance with ethical rules. They should share the ethical problem of the article with the editor.
• They should express their opinions, evaluations and suggestions about the study in a clear and understandable way and should support them with literature data when necessary. They should clearly state their comments and suggestions and should not use general expressions.
• The journal does not accept sponsorship or advertising in accordance with its publication policies.
Publications are licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0). The journal's policy is based on scientific contribution and does not allow commercial use of publications. CC's NonCommercial (NC) licenses prohibit uses that are "primarily directed toward or intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation." At this point, authors sign an exclusive license agreement in which they own the copyright but license exclusive rights in their article to the publisher. This means that by special agreement the publisher has the right to make and authorize commercial use. Publications can be used or shared in whole or in part, provided that the journal and authors are cited.
PUBLICATION POLICY
Our journal adopts the principles declared by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPEⓒ) in all its processes. Publications are handled within this scope. Authors can access more detailed information on this issue through the links https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines, https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts, https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Case.
It is essential that human and animal rights are not violated in studies. In studies in which human participants or animal subjects are used, ethics committee approval based on the Declaration of Helsinki must be obtained from the authorities authorized to give ethical approval (universities, institutes, Ministry of Health, etc.) in accordance with the research method. In the materials and methods section of the manuscript, an explanation of informed consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the date and number of ethics committee approval should be provided.
In studies on animals, the measures taken to prevent pain and suffering of the animals must be clearly stated. It is the authors' responsibility to carefully protect the anonymity of patients. For photographs that may reveal the identity of patients, signed permission from the patient or legal representative must be attached.
The ethics committee approval document must include all authors mentioned in the study. It should not be allowed for someone who is not named in the ethics committee to take part in the publication unfairly within the scope of gift authorship or in line with other interest relations. With the ethics committee document, it should be clearly stated in which part of the study the researchers took part.
All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be free of plagiarism, duplication and salamization, and authors are responsible for this. Authors should include their plagiarism reports when submitting the publication.
No study contrary to the principles of COPEⓒ may be published in this journal.
The editorial and publication processes of the journal are structured in accordance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE) and National Information Standards Organization (NISO). In addition, these processes are carried out in accordance with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (doaj.org/bestpractice).
Submitted articles are evaluated for originality and scientific quality. The submitted manuscripts must not have been previously presented or published in any other electronic or printed journal, book or other medium. It is recommended that the journal be informed about manuscripts that have been previously submitted to another journal but not accepted for publication. Sending the old referee reports of these manuscripts to the Editorial Board will speed up the evaluation process.