General Principles

• The journal’s ethical policy is based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and is consistent with the Codes of Conduct of the editorial board of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

• All parties involved in the journal— including authors, reviewers, editors, and the editor-in-chief—are required to comply with these ethical policies.

• For comprehensive information on publication ethics guidelines, please consult: http://publicationethics.org

Regulations Related to the Publisher

Academic Independence and Scholarly Judgment

• The editor-in-chief’s and editorial board’s decisions regarding the final acceptance or rejection of manuscripts are final and are made solely on the basis of professional judgment and scholarly criteria. These decisions must not be influenced by financial, advertising, or commercial interests.

• The publisher is responsible for continuously monitoring and ensuring that the editor-in-chief, editors, editorial board members, reviewers, authors, and readers adhere to publication-ethics principles.

• The publisher is responsible for issuing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and relevant notices when necessary.

Confidentiality and Data Protection

• All personal information of authors must be kept confidential and be accessible only to relevant parties (editor-in-chief, editorial board members, reviewers, editors, and advisors).

• Disclosure of personal information is permitted only in cases related to investigating plagiarism and in compliance with legal regulations.

• The publisher must ensure the anonymity of reviewers and authors until the final decision is made.

Equity and Impartiality

• Decisions on manuscripts must be made without regard to authors’ race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or political/philosophical orientations.

• The publisher is obliged to identify, manage, and—where necessary—disclose any conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, and editorial board members.

Transparency and Communication

• The journal’s policies and instructions must be communicated clearly to authors, reviewers, and readers.

• These policies must be periodically reviewed and updated, particularly in accordance with new COPE recommendations and guidelines.

• If potentially fraudulent research practices or scientific misconduct are suspected, the publisher must pursue necessary follow-up through relevant organizations, funders, and responsible bodies.

Financial Transparency and Intellectual Property Rights

• The publisher must ensure that advertising, sponsorships, or economic relationships do not affect the peer-review process or scholarly decision-making.

• The publisher must respect intellectual property rights, copyright, and relevant licensing arrangements, and prevent any potential misuse.

Complaints Handling and Scholarly Support

• The publisher must establish a clear mechanism for receiving and reviewing complaints from authors, reviewers, or readers and must respond in a transparent and fair manner.

• The publisher is required to support innovations and emerging technologies that improve peer review, publication, and article accessibility, thereby enhancing the journal’s scholarly standards.

• The publisher is responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the scholarly record and the academic credibility of the journal and all published content.

Regulations Related to Authors

General Principles

• Manuscripts must be original, based on the authors’ research or experience, and prepared in accordance with the journal’s formatting requirements and author guidelines.

• Simultaneous submission to other journals is not permitted. Withdrawal is only possible before the manuscript enters the peer-review process.

• Plagiarism, fabrication, data manipulation, or rewriting others’ work without proper attribution is unacceptable.

• Authors are required to observe academic integrity and avoid any form of ethnic, cultural, gender-based, age-based, linguistic, or medical discrimination.

Authors’ Responsibilities

• All listed authors must have made a substantial contribution to the design, writing, data analysis, or critical revision of the manuscript.

• The corresponding author must confirm all co-authors’ awareness and consent through a letter of commitment and must assume responsibility for communication with the journal at all stages.

• Any change in authorship order, or addition/removal of an author after acceptance, is permitted only with written consent from all authors.

• Acknowledgements, institutional affiliations, and research funding sources must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Authorship Criteria

• An individual’s name may be included as an author only if they meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • Designing the study; collecting, analyzing, or interpreting data;

  • Drafting the manuscript or making substantial revisions;

  • Providing final approval of the version to be published;

  • Accepting public accountability for the scientific and substantive parts of the work.

Research Ethics

• Manuscripts involving human or animal research must have approval from an ethics committee, and informed consent must be obtained from participants.

• Authors are required to protect participants’ privacy and confidentiality and to anonymize identifying information.

• If an error or problem is identified in a published article, authors must immediately inform the editor-in-chief so that a correction or retraction can be issued.

Transparency and Conflicts of Interest

• Authors must transparently disclose all financial resources, support, or relationships that could give rise to a conflict of interest.

• Conflicts of interest may be financial, organizational, political, personal, or academic; failure to disclose them may result in rejection or subsequent actions.

• Authors must declare the presence or absence of conflicts of interest by completing the journal’s conflict-of-interest form.

Data Analysis and Access

• Data must be analyzed scientifically and accurately; any fabrication or manipulation is considered research misconduct.

• Upon the journal’s request, authors must provide research data to the editor-in-chief for assessment.

Review and Publication Process

• All manuscripts will be checked with plagiarism-detection/similarity software prior to peer review.

• Manuscripts that overlap with published or in-press works must be explicitly disclosed so the editorial board can decide on acceptance or rejection.

• After six months, rejected or withdrawn submissions will be removed from the journal’s archive, and the journal bears no responsibility for them.

Regulations Related to Reviewers

Acceptance of Review Assignments

• Reviewers should accept an invitation only if they can complete the review within the specified timeframe and within their area of expertise.

• If unable to fully review the manuscript (in whole or in part), reviewers must promptly notify the journal office.

Timeliness and Responsiveness

• Review reports must be submitted by the deadline; if this is not possible, reviewers must inform the journal office without delay.

• Reviewers should respond to journal communications regarding the review and provide necessary information when requested.

Conflicts of Interest

• Reviewers must decline reviewing in cases of conflict of interest, including prior collaboration with the author(s), personal relationships, financial or organizational ties, or ongoing similar research.

• If reviewers identify the author(s) or encounter any specific incompatibility, they must immediately report it to the journal.

Confidentiality

• Reviewers must keep the submitted manuscript, their comments, and all details of the review process confidential.

• Reviewers must not use manuscript information for personal or organizational benefit (their own or others’).

• Reviewers must not involve others (including students or colleagues) in the review process without the journal’s permission; if assistance is provided, the contributor’s name must be formally disclosed.

Impartiality and Fairness

• Reviews must be fair and free from bias, and must not be influenced by nationality, religion, gender, political views, or personal/commercial considerations.

• Comments must be constructive, expert, and evidence-based—not vague or grounded in personal judgment.

• Reviewers must avoid offensive language or unfounded accusations.

Review Quality and Reporting

• Critiques should be precise and well-reasoned, supported by evidence and references where appropriate.

• Reviewers should provide clear, practical revision suggestions to improve the manuscript.

• Reviewers must avoid recommending citations to their own work solely to increase citation counts.

• If scientific errors, irregularities, or ethical issues are detected, reviewers must inform the journal.

• Where requested, reviewers should cooperate with the journal in revising or updating their review report.

Professional Standards

• Manuscripts must be evaluated solely on scholarly and substantive quality.

• Reports should be consistent in content addressed to both the author and the editor, avoiding contradictions.

• Reviewers must not intentionally delay the review process or accept a review to gain access to information without genuine intent to review.

• In re-reviewing a revised manuscript (even if they have reviewed it before), reviewers should reassess the manuscript from the beginning with full diligence.