Ethical Responsibilities
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Journal of Medicine aims to contribute to the correct progress of science by publishing articles that comply with ethical and scientific standards. In this context, compliance of studies with scientific ethics is important. Ethical principles have been adopted by Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Medical Journal based on the directive prepared by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) (https://publicationethics.org/resources/resources-and-further-reading/international-standards-editors-and-authors) and it is recommended to be adopted by authors, reviewers and editors. Some of these recommendations are given below.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors:
- To keep the data records related to the study in order and to be able to access these data on a possible request.
- One should make sure that the article sent is not published or accepted elsewhere.
-To ensure compliance with national and international laws and guidelines for all studies involving human or animal subjects, (for example, WMA Declaration of Helsinki, NIH Policy on the Use of Laboratory Animals, EU Directive on the Use of Animals), confirm that necessary permissions and approvals have been obtained, respect the privacy of the subject, indicate the relevant ethics committee approvals and research details for the study in the “Materials and Methods” section of the study.
- In case of any conflict of interest, share an ethical violation with the editor and publisher, publish an error statement, addendum, compensation notice or withdraw the work when deemed necessary.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers:
- In order to contribute to the editor's decision-making process, one must review the article in a timely manner objectively and agree to consider only studies related to one’s area of expertise.
- Make the evaluation objectively only in relation to the content of the study.
- Evaluate the study regardless of religious, political and economic interests.
- Give directions that will help to improve the quality of the article to be published and carefully examine the study. Comments to the author should be conveyed in a constructive and courteous language.
- The information provided by the editor and the author should be kept confidential, if there is a situation contrary to blind refereeing, the editör should be notified and the study should not be evaluated.
- Be aware of potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative or other relationships between authors) and alert the editor to withdraw assistance for this article if necessary.
Editors’ Responsibilities:
- Act in a balanced, objective and fair manner in the performance of duties without discrimination on the basis of gender, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.
- Evaluate the studies submitted to the journal according to their content and should not give any privilege to any author.
- Take the necessary measures to prevent possible conflicts of interest and evaluate existing statements, if any.
- In case of an ethical violation complaint, follow the necessary procedures by adhering to the journal’s policies and procedures. Give the authors an opportunity to respond to the complaint, and should not avoid applying the necessary sanctions, regardless of who the work belongs to.
- If not suitable for the journal’s purpose and scope, reject the submission.
In all research articles (including retrospective studies), Ethics Committee Approval should be obtained for the study and the place, date (day, month and year) and approval number of the Ethics Committee Approval should be obtained in the "Materials and Methods" section and "Ethics Committee Approval" sections. (The ethics committee approval document should also be uploaded to the system electronically during the article submission). In all human studies, it should be stated that the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki http://www.wma.net/en/30/publications/10policies/b3/index.html) In case reports, the sentence "Written informed consent was obtained from the patient (or his /her legal guardian) that his/her medical data can be published" should be stated together with the patient's consent date (The consent document should also be uploaded to the system). Institutional or national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals for animal experiments should be followed and stated. The editor and the editorial board are not responsible for the sentences used by the authors in their studies. Scientific, legal and ethical responsibility belongs to the authors.
The corresponding author should state in the cover letter that the submitted work has not been published elsewhere and is not in the process of being evaluated in another journal simultaneously. If a part of the study was presented as an oral or poster presentation at the congress, it should be stated on the title page by giving the name, place and date of the congress (The title page sample can be accessed via the relevant link).
All rights of use and publication of the accepted article belong to the journal and cannot be published elsewhere without permission.
Evaluation: All articles are evaluated by at least two reviewers using the double-blind evaluation method. Evaluation of the articles is made by considering their scientific importance and originality. Manuscripts accepted for publication can be rearranged by the editorial board by notifying the authors without changing the content.
Plagiarism screening: For articles sent to the journal, a plagiarism report should be uploaded to the system. Studies with a similarity rate higher than 20% should not be uploaded to the system.
Conflict of interest: If there is an institution that directly or indirectly provides financial support for all personal, commercial connections or studies that may be a party to their work, the authors must notify that they have no commercial relationship with the commercial product, drug, company used or what kind of relationship they have (consultant, other agreements, etc.) in the cover letter and under the relevant heading at the end of the article.