Publication Ethical Principles and Policies

Publishing processes implemented in the Journal of Protected Areas Resources (JoPAR) form the basis for the development and distribution of information in a neutral and respected manner. The processes implemented in this direction are directly reflected in the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions supporting the authors. Reviewers are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees and editors) must comply with the standards for ethical standards. Our journal is expected to have the following ethical responsibilities in the context of publication ethics.

 In the articles to be published in the Journal of Protected Areas Resources (JoPAR), the ETHICAL COMMITTEE PERMIT will be mandatory for the publications that started in 2020. In the articles to be published in the journal, the rules of Scientific Ethics and Publication Ethics must be strictly followed. It should be stated in the article whether it is necessary to obtain ETHICAL BOARD PERMIT and/or LEGAL / SPECIAL PERMIT. If these permits are required, they should be presented from which institution, on which date, with which decision or number, the permit was obtained.

Researches requiring Ethics Committee Permit;

·         Any research carried out with qualitative or quantitative approaches requiring data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group work, observation, experiment or interview techniques,

• ·         Use of humans and animals (including material/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes,
• ·         Clinical studies on humans,
• ·         Research on animals,
• ·         Retrospective studies by the Law on Protection of Personal Data,
• ·         In the case reports, it was stated that the “Informed consent form” was taken,
• ·         Obtaining and expressing permission from the owners for the use of scales, questionnaires, and photographs belonging to others,
• ·         Indicating that copyright regulations are observed for the ideas and works of art used.

The following ethical duties and responsibilities have been prepared by considering the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as open access.

 Authors' Ethical Responsibilities

Author(s) who submit their manuscript to the Journal of Protected Areas Resources (JoPAR)  are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

• ·      The manuscripts submitted by the author (s) are expected to be original. If the author (s) benefit from other studies or use other studies, they must cite or quote completely and accurately.
• ·      People who do not contribute to the content intellectually in the creation of the study should not be specified as a writer.
• ·      If there is a conflict of interest in all manuscripts submitted for publication their situations and relations that may constitute should be explained.
• ·      Raw data about the articles can be requested from the author(s) within the framework of the evaluation processes. In such a case, the author(s) should be ready to present the expected data and information to the editorial board and the scientific board.
• ·      The author(s) must have the right to use the data they use,  have the necessary permissions regarding research/analysis, or have a document showing that the test subjects have obtained their consent.
• ·      If the author (s) notices a mistake or error regarding the published, early view, or evaluation phase, there is an obligation to inform the editor of the journal or the publisher, to cooperate with the editor in the correction or withdrawal.
• ·      Authors cannot keep their manuscripts in the process of application of more than one journal at the same time. Each application can be started following the completion of the previous application. The article published in another journal cannot be sent to us.
• ·      Changing author responsibilities (such as adding authors, changing author order, removing authors) of a study whose evaluation process has started cannot be offered.

 Declaration on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and AI-Enabled Technologies:

· I have not utilised artificial intelligence or AI-enabled technologies in any part of the book chapter. Alternatively, during the preparation of this book chapter, AI or AI-enabled technologies were utilised as auxiliary tools in areas such as translation, coding, brainstorming, text/content production, analysis, discussion, conclusions and recommendations, adding references, and editing, ............ etc. 

Editors' Ethical Assignments and Responsibilities

Journal of Protected Areas Resources (JoPAR)  editors and field editors must have the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the guidelines of "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as open access :

 General Assignments and Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for every publication published in the journal. In the context of this responsibility, editors have the following roles and obligations:

• ·      make efforts to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
• ·      ensure the development of the journal on a continuous basis,
• ·      carry out the processes for improving the quality of the articles published in the journal,
• ·      support freedom of thought,
• ·      provide academic integrity,
• ·      continue their work  processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• ·      show clarity and transparency in terms of publication on issues requiring correction and explanation.

Relations with The Reader

Editors should decide by considering the knowledge, skills, and experience expectations of all readers, researchers, and practitioners. The reader should pay attention to the fact that the published studies contribute to the reader, researcher, practitioner, and scientific literature and be original. In addition, editors are obliged to take into account feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners and to provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relationships with Authors

The assignments and responsibilities of the editors towards the authors are as follows:

• ·      Editors should make a positive or negative decision based on the importance of the manuscript, its originality, validity, clarity of its expression, and the goals and objectives of the journal.
• ·      The manuscripts that are suitable for publication should be taken to the preliminary evaluation stage unless they have a serious problem.
• ·      Editors should not ignore the positive referee suggestions unless there is a serious problem with the manuscript.
• ·      New editors should not change the decisions made by previous editors for the manuscript unless there is a serious problem.
• ·      "Blind Review and Evaluation Process" must be published and editors must avoid any deviations that may occur in the defined processes.
• ·      Editors should publish an "Author's Guide" that contains detailed information on each topic expected by the authors. These guides should be updated at specific time intervals.
• ·      Editors should provide descriptive and informative notifications or feedback to the authors.

 Relations with Reviewers

The assignments and responsibilities of the editors towards the reviewers are as follows:

• · Editors should identify the reviewers by the subject of the manuscript.
• · They are obliged to provide the information and guides that the reviewers will need during the evaluation phase.
• · Editors must look for any conflict of interest among the authors and reviewers.
• · Editors should keep the reviewers' credentials private for blind review.
• · They should encourage reviewers to evaluate the manuscript impartially, scientifically, and objectively.
• · They should evaluate the reviewers with criteria such as timely return and performance.
• · Editors should determine practices and policies that increase the performance of the reviewers.
• · They should take the necessary steps to dynamically update the reviewer pool.
• · They should prevent unkind and unscientific reviews.
• · Editors must take steps to make the reviewer’s pool a wide range.

Relationships and Policies Regarding Editorial Board Members

• · Editors and all Editorial Board members must comply with the journal’s publication policies and guidelines.
• · Editorial Board members must be informed about publication policies, kept up to date on developments, and trained accordingly.
• · Editorial Board members must be assigned roles appropriate to their areas of expertise and carry out their duties and responsibilities impartially and independently.
• · Subject editors must consult with the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial staff during the decision-making process.
• · Members of the Editorial Board have the right to publish articles in the JoPAR journal, provided that the total number of articles they publish in a year does not exceed 25% of the journal’s annual total. Submissions by members must undergo the publication process under the supervision of other subject editors, in accordance with confidentiality and ethical standards.

Relations with The Journal Owner and Publisher

The relationship between editors and publishers is based on the principle of editorial independence. As per the written agreement between the editors and the publisher, all decisions taken by the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Editorial and Blind Review Processes

Editors are obliged to apply the "Blind Review and Evaluation Process" policies included in the journal's publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that each article is completed on time in a fair and impartial evaluation process.

Quality Assurance

Editors are responsible for publishing every article published in the journal by journal publishing policies and international standards.

Protection of Personal Data

Editors are obliged to ensure the protection of personal data related to the subjects or images included in the evaluated manuscripts. They are responsible for refusing to the manuscript unless there is a document showing the consent of the individuals used in the works. Editors are also responsible for protecting the individual data of authors, reviewers, and readers.

The ethics committee, Human and Animal Rights

Editors are obliged to ensure the protection of human and animal rights in the evaluated manuscripts. They are responsible for refusing the manuscript when there is no ethics committee approval and permission for experimental research for subjects used in the studies.

Measure Against Possible Abuse and Misconduct

Editors are obliged to take action against possible abuse and misconduct. In addition to conducting a rigorous and objective investigation regarding the identification and evaluation of complaints regarding this situation, sharing the findings on the subject is among the responsibilities of the editor.

Ensuring Academic Publication Integrity

Editors should ensure that articles with errors, inconsistencies, or misleading are quickly corrected.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Editors are obliged to protect the intellectual property right of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and author(s) in possible violations. In addition, editors are obliged to take necessary precautions so that all published articles do not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications.

Positivity and Openness To Debate

Editors;

·  should take into account persuasive criticism of the articles published in the journal and take a positive attitude towards these criticisms.

·  should grant the right to reply to the author(s) of the criticized manuscripts.

·  should not ignore or exclude studies with negative results.

Complaints

Editors are obliged to carefully examine complaints from the author, referee, or readers and respond in an illuminating and descriptive manner.

Political and Commercial Concerns

Journal owners, publishers, and no other political and commercial factors affect the editorial decision-making of editors.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors take into account conflicts of interest between authors, reviewers, and other editors, ensuring that the article is completed independently and impartially.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Evaluation of all studies with "Blind Review" directly affects the quality of the publication. This process provides confidence through the objective and independent evaluation of the publication. The evaluation process is carried out with the principle of double-blind peer review. The reviews cannot contact the authors directly, the reviews and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, the review forms and the reviewer comments on the full texts are sent to the author (s) through the editor. In this context, reviewers evaluating manuscripts for our journal are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:

• ·      They should only agree to evaluate manuscripts related to their area of expertise.
• ·      They should evaluate neutrality and confidentiality.
• ·      If the referees consider that they face a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should refuse to review the study, and inform the journal editor.
• ·      They must destroy the manuscript they have reviewed by the principle of confidentiality after the evaluation process. They can only use the final versions of the studies they have studied only after their publication.
• ·      They should perform the evaluation objectively only about the content of the study. Reviewers should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political thoughts, and commercial concerns to influence evaluation.
• ·      They should evaluate positive and courteous language. They should not make humiliating personal comments that include hostility, slander, and insults.
• ·      They should carry out the manuscript they accepted the evaluation on time and with the above ethical responsibilities.

Publisher's Ethical Responsibilities

The Journal Board of Directors acts with the awareness of the following ethical responsibilities:

• ·      Editors are responsible for all processes of the manuscript submitted to the journal. In this framework, decision-makers are editors regardless of economic or political gains.
• ·      They are committed to the creation of an independent editor decision.
• ·      JoPAR protects the property and copyright of every published article and undertakes to keep a record of every published copy.
• ·      It has the responsibility to take all precautions against scientific abuse, improper citation, and plagiarism.

If you encounter an Unethical Situation

If you find that the JoPAR journal does not comply with the ethical responsibilities mentioned above and you encounter unethical behavior or content, please report it to atilagul@gmail.com via e-mail.