ETHICAL POLICY

If you encounter an unethical situation or content in the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences, please report it to ijnls@yahoo.com, ugurcakilcioglu@munzur.edu.tr 

Effective studies are studies that embody and support the scientific method. All stakeholders (writers, publishers, referees, and editors) at this point must comply with the standards for ethical principles. Within the framework of the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences publication, all stakeholders are expected to carry out the following ethical responsibilities.

1. The International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences follows the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, 

 2. Refereed articles are studies that require scientific methods and they provide objectivity. All components of the publication process (publisher, editors, authors, reviewers, and readers) should obey ethical rules for scientific production. Within this context, the policies of ‘publication ethics’ and ‘open access’ also require all components of the publication process to obey the ethical principles, in the direction of guides and policies of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as “Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” and “COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”.The authors are expected to fulfill the criteria proposed by McNutt et al., (2018)

3. The editorial and publication processes of the journal are managed according to the regulations of the SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ETHICS GUIDELINE.

General rules
 Original research articles, reviews, case reports and short communications on all aspects of nature and life science, which had not been previously published elsewhere in whole or in part except abstract not exceeding 300 words, are published in the journal.
 All manuscripts are checked by a plagiarism checker (iThenticate/Turnitin/intihal.net) allowing for peer review under the %20 score after filtering the references.
 The manuscript copyright release form is signed by all authors.
 International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences uses a double-blind review procedure, in which both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from each other throughout the process. The authors approve to submit of their manuscript in compliance with the double-blind review policy.
 The authors are responsible for the article published in the journal.
 Studies comparing products with trade names are not the interest of this journal.
 Any materials or products used in the study should not include their trade names.
 Studies based on animal experiments should include an approval statement of the Ethical Committee in the materials and methods section.

Please take into consideration the recommendations for following ethical codes:
 Authorship
 Plagiarism (including self-plagiarism)
 Data fabrication/data falsification
 Duplicate submission
 Corrections and retractions
 Human and Animal Rights
 Conflicts of interest / Competing interests
 Intellectual property

The Ethical Responsibilities of the Authors

For Authors; as journal's policy, approval of research protocols by an ethics committee by 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 research studies. If the submitted manuscript does not include ethics committee approval, it will not be processed for evaluation.

It is expected that the author (s) who submit the study to the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences complies with the following ethical responsibilities:
 The works submitted by the author (s) are expected to be original.
 If the author (s) benefit from other studies or use other studies, they must cite completely and accurately.
 People who do not contribute to the content intellectually in the creation of the study should not be specified as authors.
 If the study sent for publication has situations and relations that may constitute a conflict of interest, it should be explained.
 The raw data regarding the articles can be requested from the author (s) within the framework of the evaluation processes, in such a case the author (s) must be ready to present the expected data and information to the editorial board and the scientific board.
 If the author (s) notices a mistake or error related to the published, early-view, or evaluation phase, there is an obligation to inform the editor of the journal or the publisher, to cooperate with the editor in correction or withdrawal.
 Authors cannot submit their work to the evaluation process of more than one journal at the same time.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of the Editors
The Editorial Board and Reviewers of the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences adhere to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), the World Medical Association (WMA), and National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

 Making efforts to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
 Continuous development of the journal,
 Carrying out processes to improve the quality of the works published in the journal,
 Ensuring academic integrity,
 Continuing business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
 Show clarity and transparency in terms of publication on issues requiring correction and explanation.
 Editors should make a positive or negative decision based on the importance of the work including the originality, validity, clarity of expression, and the goals and objectives of the journal.
 Unless there is a serious problem for the studies that are suitable for publication, they should take the preliminary evaluation stage.
 The editors should not ignore the positive reviews of the referees unless there is a serious problem with the work.
 New editors should not change the decisions made by the previous editor (s) for the work unless there is a serious problem.
 The editor must determine the referees by the subject of the study.
 It is obliged to provide the information and guides that the referees will need during the evaluation phase.

Ethical Responsibilities of Referees
The process of evaluating the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences is carried out with the principle of double-sided blind refereeing. Reviewers cannot communicate directly with the authors, and the reviews and comments are shared through the journal management system. In this process, the review forms and the referee comments on the full texts are sent to the author (s) through the editor. In this context, the reviewers who evaluate the study for the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:
 The referee should only accept to evaluate work related to his area of expertise.
 The referee should evaluate the assessment in neutrality and confidentiality.
 If the referee thinks he/she is facing a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, he/she should refuse to review the study and inform the journal editor.
 The referee should make the assessment objectively only about the content of the study. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and commercial concerns should not affect the assessment.
 The assessment should be constructive and kindly.
 The referee should evaluate on time.
If you encounter an unethical situation or content in the International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences, please report it to ijnls@yahoo.com

Publication Policy

International Journal of Nature and Life Sciences (IJNLS) is an international peer-reviewed, open-access journal. The journal accepts English language manuscripts two times a year including in June and December regularly. The journal publishes original articles, reviews, and short communications that are prepared by the ethical guidelines. The review process will take in generally 5-25 days. Printed in Turkey (2017 to date).

IJNLS uses a double-blind review procedure, in which both the reviewer's and author's identities are concealed from each other throughout the process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. 

- For the publication of articles, two positive reports are required. 
- No correction can be made in a published article.