Publication Ethics

It is very important that the editors, authors, and reviewers of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences (e-ISSN: 2667-8055) comply with publication ethics. Our journal publishes articles that comply with the rules set by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

The publication processes of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences are based on producing, developing, and sharing knowledge evenhandedly within scientific methods. Refereed articles are studies that require scientific methods and they provide objectivity. All articles should be prepared to take into account the general ethical rules specified by COPE. Based on the recommendations made by COPE and general publication requirements, Authors, Reviewers, and Editors must adhere to given international standards. If the author(s) of the article is found to be using falsified and fabricated data, the institution where these authors work will be reported and the article will be rejected. Editorial members of the journal and/or reviewers reserve the right to ask the author(s) to provide the raw data used in the article.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

Konya Technical University, the publisher of Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences, is a public-spirited and nonprofit-making public educational institution.
Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences is one of the long-established journals of engineering sciences under the management of the editorial board and continued its duty with the managerial support of the Konya Technical University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Board of Directors.
Members of the Editorial Board of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences are appointed by considering the branches of engineering science. As the head of the Editorial Board, a chief editor and, depending on the situation, one or more assistant editors and field editors are determined. A new member is appointed to replace the departed member. According to the subject of the article, when necessary, the editor can send articles to faculty members who are not members of the Board of Editors for review as a field editor.

The Responsibilities of the Editorial Board of Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences

The Editorial Board of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences is responsible for all processes of the articles sent to the journal. This responsibility requires deciding independently by considering the public interest, not personal gains. The relationship between Publisher and the Editorial Board is based on an independence policy, and all decisions of the editors are independent of the publisher and the other persons and institutions.
• Editorial Board of Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences permanently strives to develop and raise the quality of the journal.
• Editorial Board of Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences determines and performs journal policies as publication, blind review, evaluation process, and ethical principles.
• Editorial Board of Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences keeps copyrights of the articles published in Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences
• Editorial Board of Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences is responsible for keeping the intellectual property rights of authors in publication processes and guarding against unethical behaviors, plagiarism, and reference gangs.
• Editorial Board of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences prepares a “Guide for Authors” to inform authors and a “Guide for Reviewers” to inform reviewers about evaluation processes.
• Editorial Board of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences determines incentive policies for the authors.
• Editorial Board of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences keeps the records of each article electronically or in written form.

The Responsibilities of Editors, Editor Assistants, and Field Editors

• Editors try to inform reviewers, authors, researchers, and readers, to answer their questions clearly within the principles of clarity.
• Editors, during the publication process, consider that the articles should be original and contribute to the literature, the readers, and the researchers.
• While editors are making decisions about the article publication, they consider originality, contribution to the field, clarity of expressions, content, and validity and reliability of the articles.
• Editors take the articles without any problem to the preliminary evaluation, consider the positive views of reviewers, and they do not change the decisions of the reviewers unless there is a big problem for publishing.
• Editors implement the policies of blind review and evaluation processes, keep private personal identity information of the authors, and provide impartial evaluation processes in due time for the articles.
• Editors send the articles to field editors and reviewers considering their professional fields and care that the articles are evaluated impartially and independently.
• Editors, in evaluation processes, consider if there are conflicts or collaborations between authors and reviewers or not.
• Editors generate a large number of reviewers, and they update it consistently.
• Editors prevent non-scientific that do not comply with academic etiquette rules.
• Editors ensure that journal publishing processes are operated in accordance with publishing policies and guidelines, inform those who are in the process of the developments on publishing policies, and prepare training programs when necessary.
• Editors communicate effectively with everyone involved in the publishing processes and organize meetings at regular intervals.
• Editors provide protection of personal data in assessed articles; they keep the personal data of authors, referees, and readers.
• Editors attach importance to the protection of human and animal rights in the articles, emphasize that the clear approval of the participants of the article is documented, and reject the articles without the approval of the ethics committee on the participants of the article and without any permit in experimental investigations.
• Editors take precautions against misconduct. When there are complaints about the abuse of duty, they share the findings about the subject by conducting an objective investigation.
• Editors provide errors, inconsistencies, or misleading errors in articles to be corrected.
• Editors protect the intellectual property rights of the published articles and defend the rights of the journal and the author (s) in case of violation. Editors also take the necessary precautions to ensure that the content of the published articles does not infringe on the intellectual property rights of other publications; they control authenticity-similarity.
• Editors consider consistent critiques for the articles published in the journal and enable authors to answer these critiques.
• Editors consider the studies to include negative conclusions also.
• Editors evaluate the complaints sent to the journal and make necessary statements.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The articles are evaluated by double-blind review in a process, in which neither the authors know the reviewers nor the reviewers know the authors; reviewers cannot communicate with the authors directly; article evaluation forms and proofreading requests are sent to the authors through the website of the journal. Reviewers must bear the ethical responsibilities below:
• Reviewers should only accept to evaluate the articles related to the field of their specialization.
• Reviewers should make the evaluation impartially and confidentially. In accordance with this principle, the articles they review should be annihilated after the evaluation process, but they should be used after publication. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and commercial concerns should not distort the impartiality of the evaluation.
• When reviewers understand that there is a conflict or collaboration, they should inform the editors and refuse to evaluate the article.
• Reviewers must evaluate articles with a constructive attitude in accordance with the academic etiquette rules; they should refrain from insulting and hostile personal comments.
• Reviewers who agree to review a manuscript must complete their reviews within the specified time period.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Authors

The ethical responsibilities of the authors that apply to The Editorial Board of the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences are as below:
• The authors should not send an article published in or sent to be published in another journal to KONJES at the same time.
• The authors should send original articles to KONJES and should refer to the sources they use in writing articles in the correct way in the direction of ethical principles.
• Persons who do not contribute to the articles should not be listed as authors, and it should not be proposed to change the author order of a published article and to add authors.
• In the evaluation process of the articles the authors should provide the editorial staff with information about the articles or the raw data if required.
• The authors must document the rights to use the data they use in their articles, the permission for research, or the approval of the participants to whom they have searched.
• Authors should communicate with the editors to provide information, correct the article, or withdraw it when they are aware of the error associated with the evaluation and early appearance phase or the published article in electronic form.
• The author(s) must specify that they received the ethics committee approval for the research that requires data collection by using quantitative or qualitative methods such as experiment, survey, scale, interview, observation, focus group work that require ethics committee decision; the author(s) must also specify the name of the ethics committee, the date and the number of the ethics committee decision on the first-last page and in the method section of the candidate article. In addition, the author(s) must include information on the fact that the informed consent form was received for the case reports in the articles.
• The author(s) should present proof of their ethical principles for the data collection process (such as obtaining permission from others to use their documents such as scale, questionnaire, photograph, etc.) in the article. It should be noted in the articles that the copyright regulations for research and publication ethics and intellectual and artistic works are complied with. If the study is conducted on human and animal subjects, it should be reported in the article that the study was carried out in accordance with international reports, guidelines, etc.
• Ethics committee approval is not required for review articles from the author(s). However, it should be stated in articles not requiring an ethics committee decided that the ethics committee decision not required on the first-last page and in the method section of the article.

Post-Publication Corrections and Ethical Misconduct Handling

All applications for post-publication corrections are reviewed by the editor and editorial board to determine whether the application is necessary and appropriate. In addition to compliance with COPE guidelines, the nature of the error, its potential impact on the manuscript, and supporting evidence are important criteria considered when evaluating the request for correction. The editor and editorial board may seek opinions from authors, referees and relevant experts when necessary. If the correction application is accepted, the relevant correction is made in the archive of the journal.

The editor and editorial board will act in accordance with the relevant COPE flowchart when allegations of misconduct are reported directly by whistleblowers; in accordance with COPE's flowchart on how to respond to whistleblowers when concerns about a published article are raised on a social media site; and in accordance with COPE guidelines when other institutions are contacted to report suspected misconduct by researchers and provide evidence to support these concerns. The editor and editorial board may also share information with other editors-in-chief to investigate possible ethical misconduct more efficiently and effectively. In such a case, the editor and editorial board will follow the relevant COPE recommendations.

If concerns of ethical misconduct are confirmed, the editor-in-chief issues a retraction notice. This notice is published in the journal and the record of the article is updated to reflect the retraction, including in relevant indexes. The retracted article will remain in the journal's archives but will be clearly marked as withdrawn.

Appeals and Complaint

To submit an appeal or complaint to the journal, the editorial office should be contacted directly via e-mail at konjes@ktun.edu.tr. Appeals and complaints to the journal are evaluated by the editor and editorial board. The editorial board reviews the appeal or complaint in accordance with COPE's directives, guidelines and recommendations, and decides.

Withdrawal Requests

If a retraction application is to be made to the journal, the editorial office should be contacted directly via e-mail at konjes@ktun.edu.tr. Withdrawal applications are evaluated by the editor and the editorial board. To apply for withdrawal, authors must submit a withdrawal form signed by all co-authors, stating their request and the reasons for withdrawal. The editor and editorial board review the request and decide based on the reasons provided by the authors. If the application is approved, the article is withdrawn from the journal and the authors are notified of the decision. Until the application process is complete, authors are advised not to submit their work to another journal for consideration to avoid potential conflicts of interest or duplication of publication.

Notification of Ethics Non-Principles Status Editor

In case of encountering an unethical situation in articles about editors, reviewers, and authors or in articles that do not comply with the ethical principles regarding in the Konya Journal of Engineering Sciences, it should be reported by konjes@ktun.edu.tr.