Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethics Policy

In accordance with the journal's policy, an approval of research protocols by an ethics committee in accordance with international agreements WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil), Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (8th edition, 2011) and/or International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (2012) is required for all experimental, clinical and drug trial studies. For articles concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. The journal may request a copy of the Ethics Committee Approval received from the relevant authority. Informed consent must also be obtained for case reports. More details on the ethical principles of the journal may be found at the Instructions to Authors pages.

Ethical Responsibilities of

Editorial Board;

-Each article submitted to the Maltepe Medical Journal is evaluated independently.
-Editorial board aims to continuously improve the quality of publications.
-The editorial board adopts and ensures that publications are evaluated within the framework of publication and research ethics principles in the blind review process in accordance with the journal policies.
- The editorial board keeps the records of the articles and their correspondence with the journal on the Dergipark system.

-Editorial boards declares to obey ethical rules listed in following and below -COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines Journal Editors (https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf) and 'COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (https://publicationethics.org/files/u2) /Best_Practice.pdf)).

Editor, Assistant Editors and Section Editors;

-Editors strive to meet the information needs of reviewers, authors and readers.
- When making decisions about articles, editors take into account the aims of the journal, the originality of the articles, their contribution to emergency medicine and general medicine, and the validity of the methods used.
- Editors ensure that each article is evaluated within the blind refereeing rules, in accordance with objective and scientific data, and within its time.
-The articles are sent to the referees considering their areas of expertise.
-Editors take care to protect personal data, human and animal rights in articles.
-Editors take care to submit Ethics committee approval and patient / participant consent documents by the authors.

Reviewers;

-Referees should evaluate articles related to their field of expertise, objectively and confidentially.
-Referees should not evaluate the article with a conflict of interest.
-Referees should take into account the Maltepe Medical Journal Evaluation Form and use a constructive language in accordance with academic rules, within the time limit.

Authors;

-Authors should not submit their articles to more than one journal for evaluation at the same time.
-Persons who cannot contribute to the article should not be added to the list of authors, and it should not be suggested to change or add or remove the authors of the accepted article.
-Ethics committee approval was obtained for researches requiring ethics committee approval; The name of the ethics committee, the meeting date and approval number should be indicated at the end of the article and the material and method (s) section of the article, and the document showing the ethics committee approval should be uploaded to the Dergipark system. In case reports, the informed consent form should be stated in and at the end of the article, and the signed consent form should be uploaded to the Dergipark system.
-Authors must declare they obey the rules of research and publication ethics at the end of the article.

Plagiarism Policy

We make a special effort to screen for plagiarism in our peer review process. In cases of suspected plagiarism, the manuscript will be immediately rejected, and the authors' institution will be notified by the journal editors.

Maltepe Medical Journal operates to the highest standards of research and publication ethics. All submitted texts are requested to be uploaded to the system along with reports that they have been scanned with plagiarism software to detect conflict examples and similar texts. High similarity scores (>20%) may lead rejection of a manuscript.

The editors will act in accordance with the relevant international rules of publication and research ethics (COPE guidelines, WAME resources, WMA policies and ORI) if any ethical misconduct is suspected.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Maltepe Medical Journal Editorial Review Process is accordance with the Good Editorial Practice set by international editorial organizations (WAME, COPE).

WAME indicates that conflict of interest exists when an author, reviewer, or editor in the publication process (submission of manuscripts, peer review, editorial decisions, and communication between authors, reviewers and editors) has a competing interest that could unduly influence his or her responsibilities (academic honesty, unbiased conduct and reporting of research, and integrity of decisions or judgments) in the publication process.

Maltepe Medical Journal requires that each author, reviewer, and editor must disclose to the Editor any conflict of interest related to family, personal, financial, political or religious issues as well as any competing interest outlined above at the WAME's definition.

Whether or not a conflict of interest and financial support exist, they must be declared at the Conflict of Interest Statement as well as at the end of the manuscripts. If a reviewer, an associate editor, or a section editor has a conflict of interest and/or believes that it is not appropriate to be a reviewer, or an editor for a given manuscript, the reviewer or the editor should resign from the assignment.

You will be asked to verify on behalf of all authors the presence or absence of the potential conflicts of interest listed in the ICMJE guidelines (please review them at www.icmje.org). Specifically, you will be asked whether any authors or their institutions have received: grants, consulting fees or honoraria, support for meeting travel, fees for participation in review activities such as data monitoring boards or statistical analysis, payment for writing or reviewing the manuscript, and/or provision of writing assistance, medicines, equipment, or administrative support? All positive responses should also be noted on the title page of the manuscript.

The Editorial Board members of the Maltepe Medical Journal may also submit their own manuscripts to the journal. However, they cannot take place at any stage on the editorial decision of their manuscripts. They will be treated like any other author, and if any, final acceptance of such manuscripts can only be made by the positive recommendation of at least two external reviewers.

Authors should not contact any of the section editors during the review process. All necessary information regarding the process of a manuscript can be obtained from the editorial office. However, the names of the handling editor and the reviewers are not given to the author(s). Due to the Maltepe Medical Journal double-blinded review principles, the names of authors and reviewers are not known to the other.

You will be asked to verify on behalf of all authors the presence or absence of any financial relationships in the past 36 months with entities in the bio-medical arena that could be perceived to influence, or that give the appearance of potentially influencing, what you wrote in the submitted work. Examples include, but are not limited to: board membership, consultancy, employment, expert testimony, grants/grants pending, payment for lectures including service on speaker’s bureaus, payment for manuscript preparation, patents (planned, pending, or issued), royalties, payment for development of educational presentations, stock/stock options, other travel/accommodations/meeting expenses. All responses, positive or negative, should also be noted on the title page of the manuscript (and will be published with the manuscript if accepted).

Open Access Policy

Maltepe Medical Journal is a journal published under the Maltepe University Rectorate, and all articles can be printed, read and downloaded free of charge via Dergipark.

Other Publishing Policies

Original Content: Maltepe Medical Journal prefers publishing original researches as they provide higher level of evidence. All articles containing original information and data must not have been published or simultaneously submitted for publication in another scientific journal. This restriction does not apply to an abstract presented in scientific meetings and congresses.

Multiple Authors: All authors share the responsibilities of the content and duties in the preparation of the submitted material.

Statistical Consultant: All articles containing statistical analysis must be prepared in consultation with an individual experienced in statistical analysis in the given subject. One of the authors or a person other than the author(s) who experienced in statistical analysis should claim responsibility for the correctness of the statistical information.

Permissions: Written consent for reproduction should accompany any submitted material, such as the tables and figures that have appeared in another journal or a book. Approval from the appropriate ethics board should be obtained for original research and written consent should be obtained from the patients referred to in case reports, images and case series.

Prior or similar publications: You will be asked whether a prior version of this manuscript or study has been submitted to Maltepe Medical Journal under a different submission sequence and/or manuscript number. You will be asked whether any data used in this study have been included as part of another manuscript (whether published, submitted, or in preparation).

Access to Data: Editors of the Maltepe Medical Journal may request the author(s) to submit the original data during the peer-review process in order to better assess the manuscripts. It is, therefore, vital to submit a full address and other contact information on the title page of the manuscript.

Responsibility for Published Information: The authors are responsible for all the information contained in the text. Maltepe Medical Journal is not responsible for statements made by the author(s).

Material Disclaimer

All ideas and information in the articles published in Maltepe Medical Journal are the personal opinions of the authors. Maltepe University and Maltepe University Rectorate, the editors and publisher of Maltepe Medical Journal, do not accept any responsibility for these articles. Advertisements cannot be included in articles.

Article Evaluation Process

Articles uploaded to the Dergipark system are reviewed by the Front Secretariat Unit within 1 week. If missing documents are detected during this review process, the authors are asked to complete the missing documents. Editor and Assistant / Section Editor are appointed for the articles whose documents are completed. Each article is evaluated by at least 2 referees and 1 assistant / field editor.

Research articles;
In research papers, the period prescribed for referees is 14 days. If the referees request additional time or the referee is delayed in the evaluation, this period may be extended. If the referee does not accept the evaluation within the time limit or if there is equality in the positive and negative opinions of the referees, the editors may request additional referee evaluation.

Case Reports and Letters to the Editor;
The peer review period envisaged for case reports and letters to the editor is 14 days. In case the referees request additional time or the referee evaluations are delayed, an additional evaluation time may be given by the assistant editor. If the positive and negative referee opinions are equal, the editor / assistant editor can make a decision or request additional opinions.

Review articles;
Review articles are requested by the editorial board from experts. Review articles uploaded to the system are also evaluated by the referees and editorial board within 14 days.

Revision and Withdraw Process

Revision Process;
Authors must make revisions suggested by the editorial board within 14 days. Authors should submit their requests for additional time for revision to the editorial board.
Articles that are not revised within the revision period or whose revisions are not accepted by the authors may accepted as rejected by the editorial board.

Withdraw Process;
Authors can withdraw their articles at any stage before the article evaluation process completed (pre-secretariat, reviewer evaluation period).
Authors' withdrawal of articles that have reached the decision stage (accepted, rejected or revised):
- The editorial board evaluates the withdrawal request for the articles that are accepted.
- In articles for which a rejection / revision decision is made, the article is considered rejected when requesting withdrawal.