Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethical Principles

Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Journal of Science (hereinafter referred to as Journal) takes into account the principles published by the Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In this context, the issues that are important for the authors, referees and editors are listed below.

A. Authors:
1. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that the work is original.

2. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that only the contributor authors are listed in the work.

3. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that all of the contributor authors are listed in the work.

4. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that the work has not been previously published and has not been submitted to any other journal than this one.

5. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that when any content is taken from other sources (even from the previously published own material of the authors) the source is clearly cited in addition to obtaining appropriate permission.

6. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that the work does not violate any rights of anyone else, including their right to privacy and their right to intellectual property.

7. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that all the information and data presented in the article is true, not manipulated and unaltered.

8. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that all the data in the article either belongs to them or that they have permission to use data reproduced in the article.

9. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that all kinds of conflicts (real or apparent) or interests are fully and truly disclosed on submission (including financial support /funding).

10. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that following of all research ethical rules when human or animal subjects are involved.

11. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that immediate contact to the editor-in-chef or any member of editorial board will be provided to identify and correct any noticed material errors (both before and after the publication of the relevant work).

12. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that all persons identified as authors are the real authors of the work, that there is no gift/ghost authorship, and that all authors have given their consent for publication by stating their contributions.

13. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that they are ready to present the raw data of their work if deemed necessary by the editor-in-chef, members of the editorial board or the referees evaluating the work.

14. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that only online submissions made through the system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure will be accepted by the journal.

15. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that the submitted articles are prepared in the format announced on the relevant page of the journal website and as shown in the template.

16. The author(s) should avoid all actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics. All responsibility belongs to all author(s) in all situations that may arise in respect of compliance with ethical principles. The author(s) are responsible for plagiarism, forgery, distortion, republishing, slicing, unfair authorship, not stating the contributions of the institutions and organizations from which support is received, the use of thesis studies that have not yet been presented or defended without the permission of their owners, the use of surveys and similar studies without the explicit consent of the participants, the study being carried out without obtaining the necessary permissions before starting the studies in research and experiments, and all other violations.

17. The author(s) can follow the processes related to their articles through the system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure. If they disturb the editor-in-chef or any member of the editorial board via e-mail, telephone and/or other communication channels regarding the status of their work, the evaluation processes of the relevant article can be stopped and terminated.

B. Reviewers
1. Referees are expected to check whether the scientific order, compliance with the principles and standards of the journal, and whether it is suitable for publication in a way that will be made available to the public and the scientific community about the article they are invited to evaluate. Considering these issues and ethical principles, the invitation should be accepted or rejected.

2. The entire process related to the referee invitations and evaluation is done only through the online system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure. If it is determined that the referees are trying to reach the article authors or third parties regarding the article they are invited to evaluate, by phone, e-mail, fax or other communication channels, the refereeing invitation is canceled and the refereeing process is terminated.

3. The names of researchers and/or experts invited as referees are not disclosed to the authors.

4. Researchers and/or experts invited as referees are expected to act as referees for studies that they can devote sufficient time to and are confident that they are included in their field of expertise.

5. Researchers and/or experts invited as referees are expected to make their evaluations with impartiality and confidentiality in an honest, fair and objective manner only regarding the content of the study. They should not allow factors such as gender, nationality, political opinion, religious belief, commercial concerns, etc. to affect the evaluation.

6. Researchers and/or experts invited as referees are expected to understand that the refereeing process requires effort and should be done with sufficient time. The evaluation process must be completed within the time allowed to the referees in the online system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure. In case of personal or special circumstances that can be considered reasonable, such as health problems, the referees may request additional time by conveying this to the editor via the online system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure.

7. If researchers and/or experts invited as referees have any conflict of interest and/or conflict with the author(s) of the study whose evaluations are requested, this should be reported to the relevant field editor or editor-in-chief as quickly as possible.

8. Researchers and/or experts invited as referees are required to convey their views on the relevant study via the online form provided with the DergiPark infrastructure. All fields in this form should be answered sensitively using clear and explanatory statements. Appropriate explanations justifying the final decision of the referee should be provided in areas to be shown only to the editor and only to the author. Constructive and courteous language and attitude should be used in explanations and statements. Criticism and suggestion should be conveyed in accordance with academic ethics. Expressions with feelings such as humiliation, hostility, insult, contempt and personal emotional comments should be avoided.

9. Researchers and/or experts invited as referees are expected to express their opinions on the relevant study in a clear and descriptive manner in the online form provided with the DergiPark infrastructure. Keeping in mind that sloppy and careless evaluations require a re-evaluation process, they should avoid attitudes that waste the time of all parties involved.

10. Researchers and/or experts invited as referees are required to keep their opinions confidential during and after the process, regardless of their opinions about the work they are evaluating.


C. Editor(s) / Subject Editor(s):
1. The processes and policies regarding the evaluation of studies are stated on the journal website. In this context, the editor/ subject editor(s) assigned to a study should act by adopting these explanations.

2. The submitted articles are forwarded to the subject editor after the similarity index and template compatibility checks are made. This preliminary evaluation process is carried out by the editor-in-chief of the journal and no academic evaluation is made in this process. All participants involved in this process must act with due sensitivity regarding the confidentiality of information about the studies.

3. The editor/subject editor(s) should be responsible for their duties so that the article can be evaluated fairly, impartially and in a timely manner.

4. The editor/subject editor should be able to act objectively during the referee assignment and decision stages in the evaluation process of an article. The characteristics of the authors such as gender, nationality, political opinion, religious belief, institution, office and position and any academic, commercial, political, social and similar interests or conflicts should not affect the editors/ subject editors.

5. Editor/subject editors have the right to decide whether to accept or reject any article by considering factors such as its academic value, originality, compliance with the focus and scope of the journal, scientific contribution, academic level, similarity index, and compliance with the template.

6. An impartial, objective and effective evaluation process is expected to be provided by the editor/subject editors, with the appointment of at least three (3) researchers and/or experts as referees in accordance with the content of the study.

7. The decision about a study is made by the editor/subject editor, taking into account the opinions of the referees. In addition, if deemed necessary, the editor-in-chief has the right to change the decision by presenting academically acceptable justifications and taking into account the opinions and suggestions of the referees and the answers of the authors during the evaluation process.

8. Editor/subject editors act with the knowledge that they should not share the content of any work that has been or is under their responsibility with third parties other than the referees and members of the editorial board, except for legally obligatory situations.

9. Editor/subject editors act with the knowledge that they should not use any content in a submitted article in any of their research without the written permission of the author(s).




Publication Policy

1. Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Journal of Science (hereinafter referred to as Journal) is a peer-reviewed journal published regularly twice a year, in May and November, and indexed in national and international directories and platforms.

2. Original scientific research articles prepared in English in the fields of Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics can be submitted to the journal. Since 2017, technical notes, letters to the editor, case presentations, discussions and compilations are not accepted for evaluation in the journal.

3. No fee is charged from the author or institution under any name for the articles submitted to the journal.

4. The articles submitted to the journal should be prepared using the writing rules available on the relevant page of the journal's website and the template provided to the authors. It is extremely important to prepare the article file by paying maximum attention to the author guidelines and the template. All other requested documents along with the article file must be submitted online only through the system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure. All information (name, middle name, surname, institution information, ORCID information, etc.) of all authors in the article must be given in the same and complete way in the DergiPark system and the article file.

5. The articles submitted to the journal must be prepared in accordance with the rules of research and publication ethics. For each article, regardless of its content, “Copyright transfer form” and “Publication ethics and ethics committee permission document declaration form” must be signed by all authors and submitted to the journal online, together with the article file, through the system provided with the DergiPark infrastructure. In case of missing documents, the works will be returned to the corresponding author.

6. In all articles submitted to the journal (even if there is only one author), the “Authorship contribution statement” field, “Declaration of competing interest” field and “Ethics Committee Approval and/or Informed Consent Information” field must be present. If applicable, an "Acknowledgment" field should be added for funding or acknowledgment.

7. The process is the same for each article submitted to the journal, and the stages are preliminary evaluation, evaluation and publication process. If, for any reason, the authors want to withdraw their articles, this is only possible while the article is in the preliminary evaluation stage. At other stages, it is not possible for the article to be withdrawn by the authors and it is necessary to wait for the finalization of the whole process.

8. The articles submitted to the journal are first taken to the preliminary evaluation stage by the layout editors in the relevant field. At this stage, the article is examined in terms of compliance with the aim and scope, writing rules and publication policy of the journal. The article is expected to be prepared in accordance with the template and not to exceed the maximum similarity index criteria specified in the writing rules and publication policy. This stage is attempted to be completed within a maximum of thirty (30) working days. With the recommendation of the layout editors in the relevant field and the decision of the editor-in-chief, the work can be returned to the author for corrections, continue the evaluation process or be excluded from the evaluation process. The period given to the author(s) in the works returned for corrections is thirty (30) calendar days. In case of personal or special circumstances that can be considered reasonable, such as health problems, the corresponding author may request additional time by conveying this to the editor via the online system provided with the DergiPark infrastructure. In such cases, an additional period of up to fifteen (15) days can be defined. If no response is received within the defined periods, the article is rejected and the process is terminated.

9. The articles submitted to the journal are checked with plagiarism screening programs at the preliminary evaluation stage. Articles with a similarity index of at most 25% can be submitted to the journal. Even if it has not reached this value, it is necessary not to include a full paragraph, bulk text quote or block quote in the text. When such cases are detected, the article is returned to the responsible author. Plagiarism scanning is done by the relevant layout editors. Author(s) do not need to submit any reports or documents in this context. Such document, even if they are submitted, they will not be considered. All authors in an article agree to all the items shown under the “Ethical Principles” heading. In this context, they declare and accept that there is no plagiarism in the article, otherwise all responsibilities that may arise belong to them and that the journal has no responsibility in this regard.

10. After the preliminary evaluation phase, the articles that are decided to continue the evaluation process are taken into the refereeing process by the editor-in-chief or the relevant section editor to be appointed by the editor-in-chief. At this stage, if the study is not found to be in accordance with the criteria, purpose, publication policy and scope of the journal or if it is not found to be scientifically original and of high quality, it may be rejected by the editor-in-chief or the section editor.

11. In order for the article to be evaluated academically in terms of its contents, at least three (3) researchers and/or expert referees are invited by the editor-in-chief or the field editor appointed by him. At this stage, the authors are not informed about the identities of the referees. It is possible to accept or reject the invitation to arbitrate. The response time to the invitation is five (5) calendar days. At the end of this period, the editor-in-chief or the assigned field editor may renew the invitation or invite a new researcher and/or expert as a referee. After the referee invitation is accepted, the referees are expected to submit their opinions and suggestions within thirty (30) calendar days via the online form provided with the DergiPark infrastructure. In case of personal or special circumstances that can be considered reasonable, such as health problems, the referees may request additional time by conveying this to the editor via the online system offered with the DergiPark infrastructure. In such cases, an additional period of fifteen (15) days can be defined for a maximum of two times. The processes of the referees who do not submit an answer despite the additional time given are terminated and a new researcher and/or expert is invited as a referee. After the first round, which is completed according to the opinions and suggestions of the referees, the periods are run by starting from the beginning in the studies where the second and next round evaluations are needed.

12. As a result of the opinions and suggestions of the referees and the evaluation of the editor-in-chief or the field editor, the article may be accepted, rejected or minor/major corrections may be requested. The time allowed to the author(s) for corrections is a maximum of thirty (30) calendar days. If no response is given within this period, the article is rejected and the process is terminated.

13. Articles that successfully complete the evaluation stage are accepted and passed to the publication process stage. At this stage, the articles are forwarded to the layout editors for layout and control. Layout editors, if they deem it necessary, may ask the author(s) to make formal arrangements to make their articles suitable for the journal's writing rules and template. At this stage, authors should not make any academic or content changes in their work, but should only correct spelling and figural errors in their articles by following the notes and warnings of the layout editor. If it is determined otherwise, the article will be sent to the evaluation stage.

14. The articles that complete the process with the layout editors are prepared for publication by going through a series of processes according to the decision of the publishing editor and the editorial board. At this stage, steps such as volume/issue assignment, article order assignment, page number assignment, DOI request procedures are followed based on the date of submission to the journal. Authors should act by understanding and knowing that all these stages may take time. The completed articles are published in the following issue. If, for whatever reason, a member of the journal team is exposed to an offer or pressure for an article to be published earlier, the relevant article is returned to the responsible author, and necessary and appropriate actions are initiated.

15. All responsibility for all articles published in the journal belongs to the authors of the relevant article. No content in any article can be cited or claimed as any scientific, political, economic, academic or similar view of the journal. No fee is charged from the author or institution under any name for any article published in the journal, and no royalties are paid to any author or institution in cash or in kind.

16. The journal is an open access journal where all published articles can be accessed free of charge. All authors knowing this, submit their articles to the journal, and when an article is published, it is freely accessible under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Non-Derivative 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Click for detailed information about this license.

17. Submissions of articles that do not comply with the aim and scope, writing rules and publication policy will not be accepted. Articles that are found to have deficiencies in the specified issues, even after submission, will be rejected by being excluded from the process regardless of the stage.

18. No correction or editing is possible on any content, including author information, after any article has been published. In this context, it is assumed that all authors accept that they are responsible for all the content in the article they submit. All authors submit their articles to the journal by agreeing to present their name, surname, institution, address, ORCID and all other personal information and all content in the article accurately and completely. Responsibility for all possible errors belongs to the author(s) of the relevant article. Correction of possible errors is only possible by publishing a correction article. For this reason, it is imperative that all authors show the utmost importance and care.