ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY

Gazi University Journal of Graduate School of Health Sciences has adopted ethical policies in accordance with ethical and scientific standards. Articles are published in line with these standards. Researchers are expected to act in accordance with ethical standards. Authors are responsible for the compliance of the articles with ethical rules. The basic principles in terms of scientific research and publication ethics are listed as follows:

• Avoiding Plagiarism: Not using the ideas, methods, data or works of others without attribution.
• Avoiding Data Fraud: Not manipulating, fabricating or misrepresenting the accuracy of data.
• Correct Attribution of Contributions: Accurately naming everyone who contributed to the research.
• Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest: Researchers or publication owners clearly state any conflicts of interest.
• Protecting the Rights of Human and Animal Subjects: Complying with ethical standards in studies on humans and animals and  protecting the rights of subjects.
• Scientific Soundness and Transparency: Transparently reporting the research process and results and ensuring compliance with scientific principles.
 • Compliance with Ethical Rules in Medical Research: Taking special precautions in medical research, especially with regard to the rights, privacy and safety of participants.
 • Effective Use of Public Resources: Using public resources effectively and efficiently and not wasting them.
 • Social Responsibility: Conducting research to benefit society and sharing the results with the public.
 • Consideration of Environmental Impacts: Considering the environmental impacts of research and publication activities and complying with sustainability principles.

According to the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions, behaviors contrary to scientific research and publication ethics are listed as follows;

• Plagiarism: Presenting the ideas, methods, data or works of others as one's own work in whole or in part without citation in accordance with scientific rules,
• Forgery: Using non-existent or altered data in scientific research,
• Distortion: Changing research records or data obtained, presenting devices or materials that were not used in the research as if they had been used, changing and shaping the results of the research in line with the interests of the people and organizations receiving support,
• Republishing: Submitting or publishing the same research results to more than one journal for publication,
• Slicing: Inappropriately and inappropriately dividing the results of the research into parts in a way that disrupts the integrity of the research and publishing them in more than one issue and presenting these publications as separate publications in academic appointments and promotions,
• Unfair authorship: Including or excluding people who have not actively contributed, changing the author ranking in an unjustified and inappropriate manner, removing the names of active contributors from the work in subsequent editions, using one's influence to have one's name included among the authors even though one has not actively contributed,

Ethics Committee approval for all prospective studies to be submitted to our journal must be obtained from the institution where the study is conducted and must be stated in the manuscript. Case reports; due to ethical and legal rules, care should be taken to protect the patient's privacy. The patient's identity should not be published without the written consent of the patient (or permission from the legal guardian).

Gazi University Journal of Graduate School of Health Sciences reminds the need to comply with generally accepted ethical rules in studies with experimental animals. Ethics Committee approval must be uploaded to the system with the manuscript. In the presence of such studies, the authors must indicate in the materials and methods section of the article that they have conducted the study in accordance with these principles and that they have obtained "informed consent" from the ethics committees of their institutions and from the people who participated in the study.

The ethical policy of our journal has been established in accordance with the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the International Standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for editors, reviewers and authors. Fulfillment of these responsibilities is important to ensure credibility, integrity and quality in scientific publications.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

• Fair Evaluation Process: EdFair Evaluation Process: icles in a fair and impartial manner and determine the content to be published according to objective criteria.
• Application of Ethical Rules: Editors should confirm that the articles to be published comply with research ethics standards.
• Management of Conflicts of Interest: Editors should effectively manage conflicts of interest for themselves or the journal.
• Credibility and Quality: Editors should ensure the publication of reliable and high quality content to protect the reputation of the journal.
• Author and Reviewer Feedback: Editors should take into account feedback to authors and reviewers and take necessary measures to improve the process.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

• Application of Research Ethics and Standards: Authors should consider ethical standards in the design, conduct and reporting of their work. Scientific research must comply with the necessary ethical rules.
• Presentation of Original and Accurate Information: It is unacceptable to intentionally alter or misrepresent study data. Authors must ensure that the information presented is original and accurate.
• Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Authors must clearly indicate any conflict of interest. This could be financial, commercial, political or personal interests.
• Author Contributions: All authors' contributions to the article should be clearly stated. This includes contributions such as research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or drafting the manuscript.
• Correct Use of Sources and References: Authors should accurately cite and reference the sources they have used.
• Approval of Relevant Ethics Committees: Approval must be obtained from the relevant ethics committees for research on humans or animals.

Ethical Responsibilities of Referees

• Confidentiality: Reviewers must keep the content of the manuscripts they review confidential and disclose any conflict of interest.
• Research Ethics: Reviewers should assess that the research they review conforms to ethical standards.
• Accuracy and Quality: Reviewers should rigorously assess the scientific accuracy and quality of the articles they review.
• Interpretation and Feedback: Reviewers should provide objective and constructive feedback on manuscripts. This helps authors to improve their manuscripts.

Publication Ethics Policy

Our journal adheres to the ethical guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and we expect all authors, reviewers, and editors to comply with these rules. The following policies have been adopted to ensure ethical standards during the publication process:

1. Authorship and Contribution Policy

• The article should include all authors who contribute scientifically, and author order must be mutually agreed upon.
• Each author must have made significant contributions and be responsible for the entire content.
• Honorary authorship and ghost authorship are strictly prohibited.
• Authors must approve the final version of the article before publication.

2. Complaint and Appeal Process

• Authors may appeal peer review and editorial decisions.
• Appeals will be evaluated objectively by the editorial board, and independent reviewer opinions will be sought if necessary.
• Complaints will be handled according to COPE guidelines.

3. Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections

• If a serious error or ethical violation is found in a published article, the editorial board has the right to make corrections or withdraw the article.
• Critiques and scientific discussions of published articles will be evaluated by the editorial board.
• Authors are responsible for notifying the editorial board of errors in published articles.

4. Research Misconduct Claims Identification and Handling

• Our journal follows publication ethics and academic integrity principles to prevent research misconduct such as plagiarism, citation manipulation, data fabrication, and falsification.
• The publisher and editors apply strict ethical review processes to prevent publishing articles with research misconduct.
• The journal does not encourage or allow research misconduct.
• Claims of research misconduct related to published articles will be handled following COPE guidelines and international ethical standards.
• Articles with suspected research misconduct will be suspended until the ethical investigation is completed.
• If an article is found to have ethical violations, it will be retracted or corrected, and the relevant institutions will be notified.

5. Conflict of Interest Policy

• Authors must declare any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest related to the study.
• Reviewers must inform the editor of any conflict of interest and recuse themselves from the evaluation process.
• Editors must act in accordance with the principle of impartiality in the decision-making process.

6. Data Sharing and Reproducibility Policy

• Research data should be shareable within ethical guidelines.
• Authors must clearly state how the data was collected and analyzed.
• When necessary, authors must be ready to share raw data with the editor or reviewers for reproducibility purposes.

7. Ethical Review Policy

• If ethical approval is required, authors must explicitly state this.
• In studies involving human or animal subjects, ethical rules must be followed, and the ethics committee approval must be provided.
• Articles are checked for plagiarism and ethical violations using plagiarism detection software.

8. Intellectual Property Rights Policy

• Authors must guarantee that their articles are original and unpublished elsewhere.
• Articles may be retracted if copyright infringement, data manipulation, or incorrect citations are detected.
• Our journal adopts an open access policy.

9. Access Policy

• Readers can access articles on our journal’s website without any subscription or payment.
• We do not charge fees for viewing articles or subscription costs, supporting the free circulation of scientific knowledge.
• Full-text articles are available in PDF format.
• We encourage sharing published articles on institutional archives, academic social networks, and other digital platforms.

10. Archiving Policy

• Our journal uses reliable digital archiving systems to ensure long-term access and preservation of published scientific content. Our content is backed up and preserved through the DergiPark platform.
• In the event of the journal’s cessation, all published articles will continue to be accessible through the DergiPark archiving system.

11. Revenue Sources Policy

• No fees are charged to authors, reviewers, or readers.
• There are no publication, processing, subscription, or article submission fees in our journal.
• The publication process is conducted according to independent and impartial editorial review principles, and financial support or revenue sources do not influence editorial decisions.

12. Advertising Policy

• Our journal does not accept any commercial or institutional advertisements.
• The publication process is fully conducted according to academic and scientific principles, and editorial decisions are independent of external influence or financial sources.

13. Direct Marketing Policy

• Our journal does not engage in any direct marketing activities.
• All information provided to authors and readers is accurate and reliable, with no misleading content.