In accordance with the decisions made by ULAKBİM TR Index, starting from 2020, ethical approval must be obtained for all research conducted in every scientific field, including Social Sciences.

For studies requiring ethical approval, information regarding the approval (name of the committee, date, and approval number) should be included in the methods section and at the end of the article. When submitting your paper to our journal, you must also upload the Ethical Approval document along with your manuscript. If your study does not require ethical approval, you must sign a declaration form stating this and also indicate the situation clearly in your manuscript.

NOTE: The scales used and raw data collected must be uploaded to the system in an Excel file. Survey-based studies that do not include this information will not be considered for review.

QUESTION: Is ethical approval required for all articles?
No. Ethical approval is required for the following types of research:

• Research conducted using qualitative or quantitative methods that involve data collection from participants through techniques such as surveys, interviews, focus group studies, observation, experiments, and interviews.
  
• Studies involving humans or animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes.
  
• Clinical studies conducted on humans.
  
• Research conducted on animals.
  
• Retrospective studies in accordance with the law on the protection of personal data.
  

Additionally:

Case reports must state that informed consent was obtained,
Permission must be obtained and specified for the use of scales, surveys, and photographs belonging to others,
Compliance with copyright regulations must be stated for the use of intellectual and artistic works.

QUESTION: Is retrospective ethical approval required for studies and theses completed in previous years?
For studies using research data collected before 2020, or for publications derived from master's/doctoral theses (which must be specified in the manuscript), retrospective ethical approval is not required if the article was submitted for publication, accepted, but not yet published before the introduction of this regulation.

QUESTION: Does TR Index's requirement impose any restrictions on publications conducted outside universities?
No. Researchers who are not affiliated with universities can also apply to the ethical committees in their respective regions.

Authors submitting articles that fall under this category to the Journal of University Research must upload the ethical approval obtained during submission and indicate this information in their manuscript. This information should be provided before the references at the end of the manuscript as follows:

Ethical Approval: Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Istanbul University Social and Human Sciences Ethics Committee, with the decision dated 17/05/2020 and numbered 1044.