General Principles:

Akdeniz İİBF Journal adopts the high standards of publication ethics set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Editors, authors, and reviewers are expected to adhere to these standards rigorously.

A blind peer review process is followed where each article is evaluated by at least two reviewers if the editor deems it necessary. Plagiarism, duplication, false authorship, denied authorship, research/data fabrication, article slicing, slicing and dicing, copyright infringement, concealment of conflict of interest, etc. are all considered unethical behaviors. All articles that do not comply with ethical standards are removed from publication. This includes articles that are found to be unethical after publication. COPE Ethics Flowcharts are taken into consideration in cases of ethical violations.

The entire content of Akdeniz İİBF Journal is provided to the readers with open access. Readers can read, download, copy, search, or link to the full text of articles without permission from the publisher or author, except for commercial purposes. There are no publication fees deducted for open access.

Ethical guidelines for authors:

• It is the sole responsibility of the authors to ensure that the manuscript complies with scientific and ethical rules.
• Authors warrant that the submitted manuscript is original, has not been previously published elsewhere, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and/or in another language.
• In the submitted manuscript, all authors should have a direct academic and scientific contribution (such as conceptualization, research design, data acquisition, analysis, interpretation or planning, execution, revision of the study). Persons/institutions that do not meet this criterion but have contributed to the study such as technical support, financial support, material support, or just helping with the writing can be included in the 'acknowledgments' section.
• After the manuscript is submitted to the journal, none of the authors' names can be deleted without the written permission of all authors; a new name cannot be added as an author and the order of authors cannot be changed.
• Authors should disclose any financial relationships, conflicts of interest and competition of interest (such as employment relationships, consultancies, stock ownership, fees for services, paid expert witness testimony, patent applications and registrations, grants, or other sources of funding) that have the potential to influence the results of the research or scientific evaluation.
• If the research is derived from a thesis, this should be indicated as a footnote on the first page of the article.
• The source of funding, if any, received for the conduct and completion of the research should be clearly indicated.
• All permissions must be obtained where necessary to avoid intellectual property infringement.
• The production of any part of an article, including the abstract or literature review, using a generative artificial intelligence tool/large language model is unacceptable according to the authorship criteria of Akdeniz İİBF journal because the author(s) is(are) responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and validity of the work.
• It is unacceptable to produce or report the results of an article using a generative AI tool/large language model, because according to the authorship criteria of the Akdeniz FEAS journal, the author(s) should create and interpret their own work. The author(s) is(are) responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and validity of the work.
• In-text reporting of statistics using a generative AI tool/large language model is not acceptable due to concerns about the accuracy, completeness and validity of the data generated, but it is acceptable to use such a tool to assist in the analysis of the study.
• It is acceptable to use a generative AI tool/large language model to improve the language and readability of an article, as this mirrors standard tools already used to correct spelling and grammar and does not generate new content. The author(s) is(are) responsible for the originality of the work.
• Images generated by AI tools or large-scale generative models are not allowed for submission and publication in the journal.

Ethical guidelines for editors:

• Editors are responsible for deciding which manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, based on the article’s importance to researchers/readers and comments from the reviewers.
• Editors may reject a manuscript without sending it to the reviewers if it does not comply with the journal's purpose, scope, and editorial principles, if ethical violations are detected, or if academic originality is not sufficient.
• Editors should consider authors and their articles independently of their views on gender and sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political views, etc.
• No board or institution other than the editorial board of the journal can influence the decision to correct or publish the articles.
• Editors cannot share information about submitted manuscripts with anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, and the editorial board. They guarantee that all information regarding the submitted articles will remain confidential until the article is published.
• Editors may not use unpublished information from manuscripts submitted to the journal for their own research without the express written permission of the authors.
• Editorial Board members cannot apply to the journal to have their own work published.

Ethical guidelines for reviewers:

• Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts independently of their views on gender and sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political views, etc.
• If they have conflicts of interest with the people or institutions that support the research, they should inform the editor before starting the evaluation.
• They should ensure that all information regarding the submitted manuscripts is kept confidential; if they notice any copyright infringement or ethical violation on the part of the author, they should notify the editor.
• Reviewers may not use unpublished information from submitted manuscripts for their own research purposes.
• Reviewers should complete their reviews in a timely and meticulous manner that will not interfere with the journal's review process.