Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

General
The Journal of Turkish Political Science upholds an academic publishing approach in accordance with ethical standards to achieve the objectives stated in its publication aims. All articles in our journal are subject to impartial review by referees. Throughout the publication process, all parties contributing to the journal—including the publisher, editors, authors, and reviewers—are obliged to comply with ethical rules.

In this process, the principles set forth in the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) must be followed. From the moment an article is submitted through DergiPark, ethical principles are taken into account. The Journal of Turkish Political Science reserves the right to request corrections, to publish, or to reject articles uploaded to the system.

Open Access Policy

The Journal of Turkish Political Science (TSBD) is an open-access publication. All content published in the journal is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 International License. This license permits the non-commercial use, sharing, and adaptation of the content, thereby promoting the wider dissemination and effective use of the research published in the journal.

All published content is freely accessible online via https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tsbder
.
Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions from the relevant copyright holders when using texts, figures, tables, or any other materials from previously published works, whether in print or electronic formats. Any legal, financial, or criminal liabilities arising from this process rest solely with the author(s).

Copyright Policy

Submission of a duly completed Copyright Agreement Form is mandatory for all manuscript submissions. By signing this form, authors agree that, should their manuscript be accepted for publication in the Journal of Turkish Political Science, the work will be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits third parties to share and adapt the content for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate attribution is given to the original work.

Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions from the relevant copyright holders when using figures, tables, or any other materials—whether in print or electronic form—from previously published works. Any legal, financial, or criminal liabilities arising from such use rest solely with the author(s).

Authors retain the copyright of their works published in the Journal of Turkish Political Science.

Article Processing Charge Policy

No fees are charged to authors at any stage of the submission, evaluation, or publication process.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Board
• The Editorial Board and Editors/Associate Editors are responsible for the publication process and subsequent stages of articles uploaded to the system for publication in the Journal of Turkish Political Science.
• The Editorial Board is responsible for determining and implementing all matters related to the evaluation process, double-blind peer review, ethical issues, and publication decisions.
• The fact that an article uploaded to the system has been sent for peer review does not constitute a commitment that the article will be published. Even if reviewers submit positive reports, the final decision rests with the Editorial Board and Editors/Associate Editors.
• To ensure originality and prevent plagiarism, the Editorial Board checks the submitted article through the iThenticate program.
• In the event of any allegations of plagiarism or misconduct regarding submitted or published articles, the Editorial Board initiates an investigation. In proven cases of plagiarism, the Editorial Board reserves the right to retract the article. Furthermore, it may inform the relevant institutional authorities of its findings.

Responsibilities of Editors / Associate Editors / Issue Editors
• Editors, associate editors, and issue editors are responsible for protecting intellectual property rights, preventing unethical conduct, and taking measures against plagiarism during the publication process.
• When making decisions regarding submitted articles, they must consider the article’s originality, its contribution to the field, the reliability and validity of its research methods, clarity of expression, and whether it aligns with the journal’s scope and policies.
• To prevent any misconduct, editors and issue editors implement a double-blind peer review policy. The identities of authors and reviewers remain confidential to prevent bias or favoritism.
• Editors ensure the protection of personal data in line with publication policies and ethical principles.
• Editors act with particular sensitivity regarding the protection of human and animal rights in articles to be published.
• Editors verify whether studies involving experimental research or surveys have received ethics committee approval; if approval is lacking, the article is rejected.

Responsibilities of Reviewers
• The opinions expressed in referee reports are the basis for the Editorial Board’s publication decisions.
• Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts anonymously under the double-blind review system, acting fairly and impartially.
• Reviewers must comply with confidentiality policies and may not share information about the manuscript. They must not use information obtained during the review process for their own benefit.
• Reviews should be objective and supported by arguments that contribute to the field. The Editorial Board does not consider biased or unsubstantiated criticism. Evaluations without an approval or rejection recommendation are not accepted, and a new reviewer is appointed in such cases.
• Reviewers should decline review invitations if they have a personal or institutional conflict of interest with the manuscript.
• Reviewers must inform the Editorial Board if they detect plagiarism, duplicate publication, or simultaneous submission.
• After completing their evaluation, reviewers must delete or destroy the manuscript to maintain confidentiality.
• Reviewers must ignore factors such as gender, religious beliefs, nationality, or political views and provide impartial evaluations.
• Reviewers are required to complete their evaluations within the specified time frame. Reviewer comments are sent to authors, and if necessary, reviewers may review revisions.

Responsibilities of Authors
• Manuscripts submitted via DergiPark must not contain plagiarism. A plagiarism report is mandatory for article submission. Authors are required to obtain the report through intihal.net on the article submission page. The similarity rate of articles submitted to the journal must not exceed 20%. Articles must be original and contribute to the field.
• Any form of plagiarism—even self-plagiarism—is a serious ethical violation. In case of detected plagiarism, the article will be returned and the review process terminated. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the Editorial Board will take necessary action.
• Authors may withdraw their manuscripts during the publication process, but they must inform the Editorial Board.
• Authors must not use discriminatory language based on race, gender, language, culture, belief, or class.
• Manuscripts must not infringe on the intellectual property rights or privacy of third parties.
• All individuals who have contributed significantly to the manuscript must be listed as co-authors, while those who have not contributed must not be listed. In jointly authored manuscripts, publication requires the approval of all authors.
• Authors should not propose changes to the author list (adding/removing authors or changing order) during the review process.
• If the manuscript is based on a thesis or a previously published preliminary version, this must be stated on the first page.
• Authors must comply with applicable copyright laws and regulations.
• Authors must provide additional information about the manuscript to the editorial office upon request during the evaluation process.
• Authors are expected to implement revisions suggested by reviewers or editors. If they disagree, they must submit their justifications to the editorial office.
• Authors must notify the editorial office if they discover any errors in their published articles and collaborate in issuing corrections.
• For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the necessary approval must be obtained and stated in the manuscript.

Peer Review Process

Articles submitted to the Journal of Turkish Political Science undergo a double-blind peer review process, ensuring mutual anonymity between authors and reviewers. Each submission is reviewed by at least two external independent reviewers who are experts in their respective fields, to guarantee an impartial evaluation process.

Submissions first go through a technical evaluation stage. At this stage, editorial office staff check whether the manuscript has been prepared and submitted in accordance with the journal’s guidelines. Submissions that do not comply with the journal’s rules are returned to the authors along with requests for technical corrections.

Submissions that comply with the journal’s rules are assigned to the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief evaluates each submission in terms of scope and quality for its suitability for the journal. Manuscripts deemed unsuitable for the journal may be rejected at this stage.

For manuscripts deemed appropriate for the journal, the Editor-in-Chief works with the Associate Editors to assign reviewers. Once assigned, Associate Editors may decide to reject a manuscript, proceed with the double-blind review process, or request revisions before peer review begins.

Associate Editors submit their recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief based on the reports provided by the reviewers. Revised manuscripts are re-evaluated by the Associate Editor, who may work again with reviewers to form a new recommendation.

For all submissions, the Editor-in-Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process.

In case of delays, if authors notify the journal of the reason, they are given the option to withdraw their manuscripts.

When the peer review process is completed, authors will receive the anonymous peer review reports and the editorial decision on their manuscript. Peer review reports will not be made public in any medium. All submitted material is treated as confidential and must not be used in any way until publication.

Authors may suggest reviewers during submission. The responsible editor has sole discretion in deciding whether the suggested reviewers will be invited to evaluate the manuscript.

Reviewers must comply with COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, which provide a framework for maintaining the integrity and impartiality of the double-blind review process.

Potential reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest to the editor before accepting an invitation to review a manuscript. This information allows the editor to make an informed decision on whether to include the reviewer in the evaluation process, thereby ensuring the integrity and transparency of the review process.

Communication between editors and reviewers contains confidential information that must not be shared with third parties.

The Journal of Turkish Political Science will assign external editors to manage the double-blind peer review processes of articles submitted by members of the editorial board. In the event that a member of the editorial board submits a manuscript, the Scientific Journals Coordination Office of Yozgat Bozok University will identify and invite an editor who is an expert in the relevant field, independent from both Yozgat Bozok University and the author’s institution. A system account will be created for the invited editor, who will be asked to proceed with and monitor the double-blind peer review process. The invited editor acts independently in their decision.

If the peer review of a manuscript deviates from the journal’s standard policy, the type of review conducted will be indicated in the article to ensure transparency of the evaluation process.

Publication Ethics

The Journal of Turkish Political Science adheres to widely recognized national and international ethical guidelines and fundamental publishing standards, particularly the principles established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, a joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME. These principles and recommendations are intended to promote transparency, integrity, and best practices throughout the scholarly publishing process. By complying with these standards, the journal aims to ensure the high academic quality of the works it publishes and to meet the ethical expectations of the scholarly community.

Authors are encouraged to use the EASE Ethics Checklist to assess the compliance of their submissions with ethical principles and publishing practices. Manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Turkish Political Science without ethical committee approval will be evaluated in accordance with COPE’s guidelines on Research, Audit and Service Evaluations. These guidelines provide direction on how to handle manuscripts lacking ethical approval and enable the journal to assess potential ethical concerns and risks associated with publication. If the absence of ethical approval is deemed to constitute a serious concern, the manuscript may be rejected following editorial evaluation. This approach is intended to uphold the journal’s high ethical standards and to ensure that only research that has been appropriately reviewed and approved by a recognized ethics committee is published.

If a study reports findings obtained through surveys or interviews, authors must clearly state that participants took part voluntarily, provided informed consent, and agreed to the recording and use of their personal data. In cases where quotations or other attributable statements are included, such information must be anonymized, or it must be explicitly stated in the manuscript that the individuals concerned have consented to the disclosure of their identities.

Information regarding informed consent, together with other relevant methodological details concerning how the research was conducted, should be presented in the Methods section of the manuscript.

Ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of research participants and conducting the study in accordance with privacy and confidentiality principles are the responsibility of the authors. This is particularly important with respect to the use of photographs that may reveal participants’ identities, as the publication of such images without appropriate consent may result in the violation of individuals’ rights.

Plagiarism and Unethical Practices

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened multiple times using similarity detection software (iThenticate via the CrossCheck system) during the peer-review process and/or the production stages.

When referring to the work of others or to their own previously published studies, authors are expected to ensure that all materials used are cited accurately and appropriately.

Authors are strictly expected to avoid any form of plagiarism or unethical conduct, including but not limited to the practices outlined below:

Citation manipulation: Any attempt to artificially influence citation metrics by means such as excessive self-citation, disproportionately citing articles from the same journal, or including honorary citations or citation stacking in order to increase the citation counts of an author, a journal, or other publications.

Self-plagiarism: The reuse of sections, statements, or sentences from an author’s previously published works in a new manuscript without proper citation. This practice is considered a form of plagiarism, as it involves the reuse of one’s own work without appropriate acknowledgment.

Salami slicing (salami publication): The use of the same dataset from a single research project across multiple publications. Reporting the same hypotheses, study population, and methods in more than one article is regarded as an unethical practice.

Data fabrication: The inclusion of data that were not obtained through actual data collection or experimental procedures. Presenting false or misleading information as if it were real data constitutes a serious form of research misconduct.

Data manipulation or falsification: The deliberate alteration of research data in order to create a misleading impression. This may include manipulating images, removing outliers or “undesirable” results, altering data points, or engaging in other forms of data tampering. Such practices are considered research misconduct, as they involve presenting inaccurate or misleading information as genuine data.

In cases of alleged or suspected research misconduct—such as plagiarism, citation manipulation, data fabrication, or data falsification—the Editorial Board will follow the relevant COPE flowcharts to ensure that all allegations and concerns are handled in a fair, transparent, and consistent manner.

Reporting a Breach of Ethical Principles to the Editor
If you detect any breach of ethical principles concerning the editors, reviewers, or authors of the Journal of Turkish Political Science, or if you notice an ethical violation in any article in early view, please report it via email to siyasetdergisi@yobu.edu.tr.