ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
The publication processes of the International Journal of Science and Education (UBED) are based on the impartial production, development, and dissemination of knowledge through scientific methods. Peer-reviewed studies serve this purpose; therefore, it is of utmost importance that all parties involved in the publication process (the publisher, editors, authors, reviewers, and readers) comply with ethical principles. UBED expects all parties involved in the publication process to observe their ethical responsibilities. The relevant ethical principles and responsibilities have been adopted in accordance with the guidelines and policies set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. All parties involved in the publication process are encouraged to adopt and adhere to these principles.
Plagiarism Report: In accordance with the decision of the Editorial Board, as of January 1, 2021, a Plagiarism/Similarity Report is required for all manuscripts submitted to UBED. The maximum acceptable plagiarism/similarity rate, excluding references and author information, is 25%.
Ethics Committee Approval Document: In accordance with the amendments made to the TR Dizin Journal Evaluation Criteria for 2020, “Ethics Committee Approval” is required for relevant articles. Accordingly, as of January 1, 2021, all manuscripts submitted to UBED must include an Ethics Committee Approval/Permission Document. [See TR Dizin Journal Evaluation Criteria, Article 8: “Ethics committee approval must be obtained separately for research conducted in all fields of science, including the social sciences, and for clinical and experimental studies involving humans and animals that require an ethics committee decision. This approval must be stated and documented in the article. In studies requiring ethics committee permission, information regarding the permission (name of the committee, date, and approval number) must be provided in the Method section and also on the first or last page of the article. For case reports, the article must state that an informed voluntary consent form was signed.”]
Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher
The publisher and Editor-in-Chief of UBED, Gürbüz OCAK, is a non-profit academic who acts in the public interest.
The Editor(s) are responsible for all publication processes concerning research submitted to UBED. UBED undertakes to protect the ownership and copyrights of every published article and to maintain records of all published copies.
The Editor(s) are responsible for taking measures against actions that violate scientific research and publication ethics. Some of these responsibilities include the following:
Plagiarism: Presenting another person’s original ideas, methods, data, or works, in whole or in part, as one’s own without proper citation in accordance with scientific conventions.
Unjustified Authorship: Including individuals who have made no active contribution among the authors, excluding individuals who have contributed, changing the order of authors without appropriate justification, removing the names of active contributors from subsequent editions, or using one’s influence to have one’s name included among the authors despite having made no active contribution.
Plagiarism/Piracy: Republishing all or part of a previously published work as one’s own without citing the original source.
Fabrication: Publishing data or results that do not actually exist.
Salami Slicing: Dividing the results of a study into multiple publications in an inappropriate manner that compromises the integrity of the research and presenting these publications as separate works for academic appointment or promotion.
Duplicate Publication: Presenting duplicate publications as separate works for academic appointment or promotion.
Violation of Human and Animal Ethics: Failure to comply with ethical principles in research involving humans and animals, failure to respect patient rights in publications, causing harm to animal welfare or ecological balance, or failing to obtain the necessary permissions.
Biased Publication (Conflict of Interest): Failing to disclose individuals, institutions, or organizations that provided support for the research and failing to acknowledge their contributions.
Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
The Editor(s) strive for continuous improvement and enhancement of publication quality. The Editor(s) of UBED establish and implement the journal’s policies concerning issues such as blind peer review, the evaluation process, and ethical principles.
When deciding whether to accept manuscripts for publication, the Editor(s) consider the originality of the research and its potential contribution to the scientific literature, readers, researchers, and practitioners.
The Editor(s) assign reviewers based on their areas of expertise and take care to ensure that evaluations are conducted impartially and independently. They also consider whether there are any conflicts of interest or relationships between the reviewers and the author(s).
The Editor(s) maintain effective communication and cooperation with everyone involved in the publication process.
The Editor(s) ensure the protection of personal data contained in manuscripts under review and safeguard the personal information of authors, reviewers, and readers.
The Editors pay particular attention to the protection of human and animal rights in manuscripts, emphasize the documentation of participants’ explicit consent, and reject manuscripts when the required ethics committee approval for participants or permissions for experimental research have not been obtained.
The Editors protect the intellectual property rights of published articles and defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in cases of infringement. They also take the necessary measures to ensure that published articles do not infringe the intellectual property rights of other publications and conduct originality/similarity checks.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
Every manuscript submitted to UBED by the author(s) must be original.
Author(s) must not submit to UBED a manuscript that has been published elsewhere or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere, nor should they submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.
Author(s) must properly cite the sources used in their manuscripts in accordance with ethical principles.
Author(s) must inform the Editors about individuals who may have conflicts of interest or competing interests related to the manuscript submitted for publication.
Individuals who have not contributed to the manuscript should not be listed as authors. After a manuscript has been submitted for publication, changes to the order of authors, removal of authors, or addition of authors should not be proposed.
If the author(s) are asked to provide information or raw data concerning their manuscript during the evaluation process, they must provide the requested information to the Editor(s).
Author(s) must upload ethics committee approval to the system together with the manuscript submission for studies requiring an ethics committee decision. The author(s) are responsible for any ethical violations that may be identified if this document is not uploaded. UBED accepts no responsibility in this regard.
Author(s) must obtain the appropriate approvals, permissions, or registrations before conducting the research (e.g., Research Ethics and Publication Committee Approval or authorization from national licensing authorities for the use of animals). If requested by the Editor(s), authors must provide evidence demonstrating that the research received appropriate approval and was conducted ethically (e.g., copies of approvals or participant consent forms).
If the author(s) identify an error in a manuscript that is under review, available as an early-view publication, or published electronically, they must contact the Editor to report and correct the error or withdraw the manuscript.
The authors are responsible for the scientific and linguistic quality of articles published in the journal. UBED and the Editors cannot be held responsible in this regard.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
UBED adopts and implements a double-anonymous peer-review process. Reviewers may not communicate directly with authors. UBED manuscript evaluation forms and suggested corrections made to the manuscript are communicated to the author(s) by the Editors through the journal management system.
Reviewers should accept only manuscripts that fall within their areas of expertise.
Reviewers are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of information provided by the Editor and the author, destroying the manuscript after completing the review process in accordance with the principle of confidentiality, informing the Editor if they become aware of any situation that compromises anonymous peer review, and declining to review the manuscript in such cases.
Reviewers should carefully examine manuscripts and provide guidance that contributes to improving the quality of articles considered for publication.
Reviews should be conducted objectively and without regard to any personal interest.
To contribute to the Editor’s decision-making process and avoid delays in the journal’s publication process, reviewers should evaluate assigned manuscripts objectively and within the specified time frame.
Reporting Violations of Ethical Principles to the Editor
If any action that violates the ethical principles and responsibilities stated above concerning editors, reviewers, or authors is identified in the International Journal of Science and Education (UBED), or if an unethical situation is encountered in relation to an article published online, in early view, or already published, it should be reported to ubed.iletisim@outlook.com.
JOURNAL POLICY
Publication Frequency
UBED is an international peer-reviewed journal and publishes three issues per year, in April, August, and December.
Review Process (Peer/Double-Anonymous Review)
The evaluation process begins with the Editors and the Assistant Editor. The Editorial Assistant checks whether the manuscript is consistent with the journal’s aims and scope. To ensure an impartial evaluation process, each submission is reviewed by at least two independent reviewers who are experts in their respective fields. For a manuscript to be accepted, at least two reviewers must provide a favorable recommendation.
In accordance with journal policy, each submitted study is screened using plagiarism-detection software (iThenticate and others) to identify overlapping or similar text. UBED does not tolerate plagiarism in any form.
Initial Review Period
For manuscripts accepted for initial evaluation, the following checks are carried out within 1–3 weeks:
Publication ethics
Suitability for the journal’s aims and scope
Plagiarism screening
Peer-Review Process
Manuscripts that proceed to the evaluation stage and are submitted for peer review are evaluated by assigned reviewers over a period of 2–3 months. This period may be extended by up to an additional two months due to factors such as delays in reviewers accepting invitations or completing their evaluations.
Publication Process
Once a manuscript is accepted for publication following the evaluation process, the publication process takes approximately 3–4 weeks. UBED publishes two issues per year, in winter and summer. Authors may take these publication periods into consideration.
Publication Language
The publication languages of the International Journal of Science and Education are Turkish and English.
Open Access and Fee Policy
UBED is an online, open-access, and free-of-charge journal.
Indexing
The International Journal of Science and Education is indexed in various databases and indexing services. (The indexes in which the journal is included are displayed at the bottom of the journal’s webpage.) However, indexing services reserve the right to terminate their agreements unilaterally and to discontinue the indexing of any article at any time. Therefore, UBED and its Editors assume no responsibility for issues arising from indexing services.