AIJSS Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
The publication processes followed by the Ankara International Journal of Social Sciences form the foundation for the impartial and reputable development and dissemination of knowledge. In this regard, our journal adheres to national and international standards regarding research and publication ethics.
National Legislation
• Press Law
• Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works
• Guidelines on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics for Higher Education Institutions
International Legislation
• Committee on Publication Ethics
• Directory of Open Access Journals
Actions Contrary to Scientific Research and Publication Ethics
ARTICLE 4 - (1) Actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics include the following:
• Plagiarism: Presenting the original ideas, methods, data, or works of others—in whole or in part—as one’s own without proper citation in accordance with scientific rules,
• Fabrication: Using data in scientific research that does not actually exist or has been falsified,
• Falsification: Tampering with research records or obtained data; presenting equipment or materials not used in the research as if they had been used; or distorting or manipulating research results to serve the interests of individuals or institutions providing support,
• Duplicate Publication: Presenting duplicate publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
• Salami-slicing: Dividing the results of a single study into multiple publications in a manner that compromises the integrity of the research and is inappropriate, and presenting these publications as separate works in academic appointments and promotions.
Objections, Complaints, and Reports of Ethical Violations
Readers who notice a significant error or inaccuracy in an article published in AUSBD (Ankara International Journal of Social Sciences), or who have any complaints regarding editorial content (plagiarism, duplicate submissions, objections, complaints, etc.), may submit a report by sending an email to info@usdad.org.tr. All objections, complaints, and reports submitted to our journal will be evaluated in accordance with COPE principles.
Ethics Committee Approval
Our journal requires that studies in all scientific disciplines requiring ethics committee approval have obtained the relevant ethics committee decision. In this context, information regarding ethics committee approval (committee name, date, and decision number) must be clearly stated in the article text.
In accordance with the regulations implemented by Ulakbim TR Index starting in 2020, studies without ethics committee approval will not be considered for publication in our journal.
Research Requiring Ethics Committee Approval
In our journal, research requiring ethics committee approval includes the following studies:
• All research conducted using qualitative or quantitative approaches that involve collecting data from participants through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, and other interview techniques,
• Retrospective studies conducted within the framework of the Personal Data Protection Law.
For such studies to be considered for publication, the relevant ethics committee approvals must have been obtained and clearly stated in the article text.
Principles of Research Ethics
Artuklu Humanities Journal upholds the highest standards of research ethics and adheres to the international principles of research ethics defined below. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their articles comply with ethical guidelines.
• The principles of integrity, quality, and transparency must be upheld in the design, review, and conduct of the research.
• The research team and participants must be fully informed about the purpose of the research, its methods, and the intended uses of the data; the requirements for participation; and any associated risks, if any.
• The confidentiality of information provided by research participants and the anonymity of respondents must be ensured. Research must be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of participants.
• Research participants must take part in the study voluntarily and must not be subject to any coercion.
• Harm to participants must be avoided. Research must be planned in a way that does not put participants at risk.
• Research independence must be clearly and explicitly stated; any conflicts of interest must be disclosed.
• If the study is to be conducted at any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from that institution or organization.
Principles of Publication Ethics
Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors are identified in a published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations, or conclusions. However, they may consider retracting the article if there are major errors or violations that could invalidate the findings and conclusions.
If there is a possibility that authors have misused research or the publication; if there is evidence that the findings are unreliable; and if the authors’ affiliated institutions have not investigated the matter, or if the investigation appears inadequate or inconclusive, editors may consider publishing a statement of concern.
In such cases of corrections, retractions, or statements of concern, our journal adheres to the COPE principles.
Plagiarism Check
Plagiarism is the act of presenting the ideas, methods, data, applications, writings, figures, or works of others—in whole or in part—as one’s own without properly citing the original authors in accordance with scientific standards.
Our journal screens all submitted articles to prevent plagiarism. Submitted works are checked for plagiarism using the iThenticate software. The similarity rate is expected to be less than 20%. Works exceeding this rate will be rejected during the preliminary review stage.
If plagiarism is detected in a work published in our journal or currently under review, the following steps are strictly enforced:
• The detection of plagiarism is officially reported to the author’s university, and cooperation is sought to initiate the necessary legal proceedings.
• A PDF copy of the relevant article is removed from the journal’s website, and access to the article links is blocked. The violation is publicly noted by adding the phrase “Plagiarized Article” to the article title.
• The account of the author responsible for the plagiarism is closed, and the author is permanently barred from submitting any future articles to our journal.
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Our journal is responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all published articles and, in cases where these rights are infringed, the rights of the journal and the author(s). Furthermore, our journal must take the necessary measures to prevent the content of all published articles from infringing on the intellectual property rights of other publications.
Protection of Personal Information
All personal data submitted to our journal is protected in accordance with legal regulations and ethical guidelines.
Conflict of Interest
Authors must clearly disclose any financial or other significant conflicts of interest that could influence their findings or interpretations in their articles. Potential conflicts of interest that must be disclosed include consulting activities, salary payments, and grant funding. Such conflicts of interest must be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.
Financial Support
Authors must clearly disclose in the text of the article any financial support provided by any organization in connection with their work.
Author Changes
Changes are accepted only before the article is accepted for publication. Authors must carefully review the list and order of authors before submitting their articles and provide the final list of authors at the time of the initial submission.
Publisher’s Responsibilities
• To establish the necessary policies to prevent plagiarism and ethical violations in accordance with COPE and other international ethical principles.
• To protect intellectual property rights and ensure the protection of personal data.
• To establish journal policies and undertake the necessary efforts to secure inclusion in international indexes.
• To undertake efforts to address the journal’s infrastructure and other needs.
Note: All decisions made by the editors serving on the journal are independent of the publisher. The relationship between the editors and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence.
Responsibilities of Editors
• Ensure that the publication process is conducted in an ethical, impartial, and transparent manner.
• Evaluate the compliance of articles with scientific standards, manage the peer review process, resolve conflicts of interest, and identify situations that violate publication ethics.
• Carry out correction or retraction procedures in the event that errors or violations are identified in articles.
Note: Editors evaluate manuscripts fairly based on their intellectual content, regardless of the author(s)’ gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political views.
Authors’ Responsibilities
• Prepare their work in accordance with ethical and scientific standards.
• Ensure that the data in the article are original and accurate; do not engage in plagiarism, fabrication, or manipulation of data.
• Clearly disclose any conflicts of interest, financial support, or individuals and institutions that contributed to the study.
• To act in accordance with international ethical principles when interacting with editors and reviewers during or after the manuscript review process.
Reviewers’ Responsibilities
• To accept only manuscripts that fall within their area of expertise.
• To evaluate manuscripts impartially in accordance with scientific, ethical, and academic standards.
• Maintain the confidentiality of study data during the review process.
• Disclose any conflicts of interest during the review process and provide objective and constructive feedback.
• Notify editors in cases of suspected plagiarism, data manipulation, or ethical violations.
Publication Policies
• All processes and procedures of our journal are conducted through the DergiPark platform; our journal does not have a separate website.
• Manuscripts submitted to our journal must be unpublished and must not have been submitted simultaneously to another journal for review.
• Submitted manuscripts must be consistent with the journal’s objectives and scope and must adhere to the formatting guidelines. Manuscripts that do not meet the specified criteria will be returned to the authors during the preliminary review stage.
• Our journal publishes original research articles, review articles, translated articles, conference papers, and book reviews.
• A single author may have no more than one work published in the same issue.
• Manuscripts prepared in Turkish or English are accepted for review by our journal.
• All articles published in our journal are made available as open access under the CC-BY-NC license and can be accessed free of charge from our archive page.
• The peer review process follows a double-blind system. Authors and reviewers do not know each other’s identities. Members of the editorial board who submit articles to the journal (such as editors or editorial board members) have their duties suspended and are barred from viewing the review process until it is completed.
• During the article review process, care is taken to ensure that reviewers are experts in their field, hold at least a Ph.D., and are not affiliated with the same institution as the author. To ensure double-blind peer review, members of our editorial board do not serve as reviewers.
Special Issue Publication Policy
In accordance with the decision of the Editorial Board, our journal may publish a special issue once a year. Articles submitted for special issues undergo the same review processes as those in our regular issues. These articles must comply with our journal’s Style Guidelines and Ethics and Publication Policies.
Fee Policy
There are no fees for publishing articles in the journal or for the management of the publication process. No processing or submission fees of any kind are charged for articles submitted to or accepted for publication in the journal.
Advertising Policy
In accordance with our publication policies, our journal does not accept sponsorships or advertisements. All expenses of the journal are covered by USDAD.
Open Access Policy
Articles published in our journal are made available as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. The full texts of all published articles are available free of charge at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/ahu/lockss-manifest. Click here for more information.
Copyright Policy
Authors retain the copyright to their works published in our journal, and these works are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. Click here for more information.
Archiving and Data Distribution Policy
All works published in our journal are digitally archived in LOCKSS. Click here for more information.
Article Review Process
The article review process in our journal consists of four main stages: initial review, peer review, revision, and publication. Click here for more information.
1- Preliminary Review
• The manuscript is reviewed by the editor for compliance with the journal’s publication policies, academic writing guidelines, and the APA and Chicago citation systems, and is screened for plagiarism using the iThenticate program. The similarity rate must be less than 20%. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold are returned to the authors during the preliminary review stage.
2- Peer Review Process
• For manuscripts that pass the preliminary review stage, the double-blind peer review process is initiated. As part of this process, the manuscript is sent to two reviewers who are experts in the field for evaluation. Throughout the peer review process, the identities of the reviewers and authors are kept confidential, and the process is conducted in accordance with the principle of confidentiality. For a manuscript to be published in our journal, both reviewers must provide a positive opinion. However, if one reviewer provides a positive opinion and the other a negative one, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer for a final decision.
3- Revision Process
• If reviewers request revisions, authors must mark the changes they make to their manuscripts in red. Revisions made in accordance with the reviewers’ requests are first evaluated and reviewed by the editor, and then by the reviewers.
• Manuscripts for which the peer review process has been completed are reviewed by the journal’s language editors. If deemed necessary, authors are asked to make revisions regarding language and spelling. Revisions made by the authors are reviewed again and approved by the language editors.
4- Publication Process
• Articles that have passed technical, academic, and linguistic reviews are typeset and formatted to prepare them for publication and are published in the next issue.