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Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Publication Policy
- Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences is a peer-reviewed, international, and free-charge journal.
- The journal is published semi-annually, in December and June, respectively. The new issue will be uploaded to the web page in DergiPark at the end of each December or June.
- Journal has adopted the Open Access policy. Therefore, the articles published in the journal can be freely accessed, read, downloaded, copied, distributed, printed, linked to the full texts, and can be used for any legal purpose.
- The manuscripts submitted to the journal are pre-examined in terms of format and content. Manuscripts that are not suitable to the journal template are rejected at the editorial stage, and the suitable ones are submitted to the editorial board for the peer-review process. However, there is no guarantee that the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be included in the reviewing process and no date is given for the evaluation period.
- The manuscripts submitted to the journal are sent to (at least) two referees related to the discipline of the article for evaluation. If one of the referee reports is positive and the other is negative, the publication decision is made by the journal editors. If deemed necessary, the article can be sent to a third referee for evaluation.
- An author (even with multiple authors) cannot submit more than one article in a year.
Publication Ethics
The publication processes implemented in the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences form the basis for the development and distribution of information in an impartial and respectable manner.
The processes implemented in this direction are directly reflected in the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support the authors.
Peer-reviewed studies support the scientific methods.
At this point, it is important that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, peers, and editors) comply with the standards for ethical principles.
Within the scope of publishing ethics of the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, the author(s) should follow the ethical responsibilities that are listed below.
For ethical control and to prevent unethical practices, the editorial board initially uses intihal.net, iThenticate, or Turnitin programs to subject articles to similarity checks.

The ethical duties and responsibilities listed below have been prepared considering the guidelines and policies of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
The author(s) who submit a manuscript to the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:
- The manuscripts submitted by the author(s) are expected to be original. If the author(s) benefit or quote from any other works, they are required to cite completely and accurately.
- Persons who do not contribute to the content intellectually should not be specified as the author.
- Author(s) should declare any possible situations that may constitute a conflict of interest.
- Raw data can be requested from the author(s) within the framework of the evaluation processes; In such a case, the author(s) should be ready to present the expected data and information to the editorial board.
- Author(s) must have a document showing that they have the right to use the data, the necessary permissions for the research/analysis, or the consent of the experimental subjects.
- If the author(s) notice any error in their publication, they are obliged to cooperate with the editor in case of informing journal editor or publisher, correcting the errors, or withdrawal.
- Author(s) cannot submit their manuscripts more than one journal at the same time. Each application can be started following the completion of the previous application. A study published in another journal cannot be sent to the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences.
- Changing the author(s) responsibilities of a manuscript (such as adding an author, changing the order of authors, removing an author) cannot be proposed after the evaluation process has begun.
Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Editors
Editors of the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences should have the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
General duties and responsibilities
Editors are responsible for every publication in the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. In this context, editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
- Making an effort to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
- Continuously developing the journal,
- Conducting processes to improve the quality of the work published in the journal,
- Supporting freedom of thought,
- Ensuring academic integrity,
- Continuing the business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
- Showing transparency and clarity in terms of publishing in cases that require correction or explanation.
Relations with the readers
Editors must make decisions based on the information needs of all readers, researchers, and practitioners. They should pay attention to the originality and contribution of the published works to readers, researchers, practitioners, and the scientific literature. Additionally, editors are obliged to take into account feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners, and provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relations with authors
The duties and responsibilities of editors towards authors are as follows:
- Editors should make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, originality, validity, clarity of expression, and objectives of the journal.
- Editors should only evaluate works that are appropriate for the scope of the publication and do not have any serious problems.
- Editors should not ignore positive recommendations from reviewers unless there is a serious problem with the work.
- New editors should not change decisions made by previous editors regarding works, unless there is a serious problem.
- “Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process” should be published, and editors should prevent deviations from the defined processes.
- Editors should publish an "Author Guide" that includes all the information authors expect from them. These guides should be updated at certain intervals.
- Explanatory and informative notifications should be provided to authors.
Relations with referees
The duties and responsibilities of editors towards reviewers are as follows:
- Editors should determine reviewers appropriate to the subject of the study.
- They should provide the information and guides that reviewers need during the evaluation process.
- They must ensure that there is no conflict of interest between authors and reviewers.
- Editors must keep the identities of reviewers confidential in the context of blind peer review.
- They should encourage reviewers to evaluate work in neutral, scientific, and objective language.
- They must evaluate reviewers in terms of their timely responses and performance.
- They must establish policies and practices to increase the performance of reviewers.
- Necessary steps must be taken to update the reviewer pool dynamically.
- Unscientific and impolite evaluations must be prevented.
- Steps should be taken to ensure that the reviewer pool consists of a wide range of experts.

Relations with the editorial board
Editors are responsible for ensuring that all editorial board members progress in accordance with publication policies and guidelines. They should inform and keep editorial board members up to date on publication policies and developments. They should train new editorial board members on publication policies and provide them with the information they need. Additionally, editors should:
- Ensure that editorial board members evaluate works independently and impartially.
- Identify new editorial board members who can contribute and have the appropriate qualifications.
- Send studies to editorial board members that are suitable for their expertise.
- Interact regularly with the editorial board.
- Hold meetings with the editorial board at regular intervals to discuss publication policies and the development of the journal.

Relationship with the journal owner and publisher
The relationship between the editors and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence.

Editorial and blind peer review processes
Editors are responsible for implementing the "Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process" policies included in the journal's publication policies. In this context, editors ensure the fair, unbiased, and timely completion of the evaluation process for each work.
Quality assurance
Editors are responsible for ensuring that every article published in the journal is in compliance with the journal's publication policies and international standards.


Protection of personal data
Editors are responsible for protecting the personal data of subjects or visuals included in the evaluated works. They are obliged to reject studies unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the studies is documented. Additionally, editors are responsible for protecting the individual data of authors, reviewers, and readers.
Ethics committee, human and animal rights
Editors are responsible for ensuring the protection of human and animal rights in evaluated works. They are responsible for rejecting studies that do not have ethical approval for the subjects used or permits for experimental research when they are not available.

Precaution against possible misconduct
Editors are responsible for taking measures against possible abuse and misuse of duty. It is among the editor's responsibilities to conduct a rigorous and objective investigation into identifying and evaluating complaints related to this issue and sharing the findings.

Ensuring academic publication integrity
Editors should ensure that any errors, inconsistencies, or incorrect judgments in the work are corrected promptly.

Protection of intellectual property rights
Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defending the rights of the journal and author(s) in case of possible violations. Additionally, editors are responsible for taking the necessary precautions to ensure that the contents of all published articles do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of other publications.
Constructivism and openness to discussion
Editors;
- should take convincing criticisms regarding the works published in the journal into account and show a constructive attitude towards these criticisms.
- should grant the authors of criticized works the right to reply.
- should not ignore or exclude studies that contain negative results.

Complaints
Editors are responsible for carefully reviewing complaints from authors, reviewers, or readers and responding to them in an illuminating and explanatory manner.

Political and Commercial Concerns
The journal owner, publisher, and no other political or commercial entity influence the independent decision-making of the editors.


Conflicts of interest
Editors ensure the independent and impartial completion of the publication process of works while considering conflicts of interest between authors, reviewers, and other editors.
Ethical Responsibilities of Referees
The evaluation of all studies through "Blind Peer Review" directly affects the quality of the publication. This process provides confidence in the objective and independent evaluation of the publication.
The evaluation process of the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences is conducted using the double-blind peer review principle. Reviewers cannot communicate directly with authors; evaluations and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, evaluation forms and referee comments on full texts are transmitted to the author(s) through the editor.
In this context, it is expected that referees who evaluate the work for the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences will have the following ethical responsibilities:
- Should only accept to evaluate studies related to their area of expertise.
- Should conduct evaluations in a neutral and confidential manner.
- If they think that they are facing a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should inform the journal editor and refuse to review the work.
- Should destroy the studies they have evaluated in accordance with the confidentiality principle after the evaluation process. They can only use the final versions of the studies they have reviewed after they have been published.
- Should make the evaluation objectively and only regarding the content of the study. They should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or commercial concerns to influence the evaluation.
- Reviews should be conducted in a constructive and polite manner. Derogatory personal comments that include hostility, slander, or insult should be avoided.
- Reviewers should perform the review of the accepted work within the established ethical responsibilities and on time.


Publisher's Ethical Responsibilities
Tarsus University, a non-profit state university, is the publisher of the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. In this context, Tarsus University acts with awareness of the following ethical responsibilities concerning the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences:
- The editors are responsible for all processes of the submissions to the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences . In this framework, the decision-makers are the editors without considering any economic or political gain.
- Editors pledge to create an independent editorial decision.
- The responsibility to take measures against any form of scientific misconduct, citation manipulation, or plagiarism is related to editors.
Retraction Policy
A retraction is a notice that the paper should not be regarded as part of the scientific literature. Retractions are issued if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, this can be as a result of misconduct or honest error. Retraction takes place if:
• The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper referencing, permission or justification.
• If the work is plagiarized
• If the work reports unethical research.
To protect the integrity of the record, the retracted article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of retraction is given, also it is made freely available to all readers, and is linked to the retracted article.


For further guidelines about retraction policy please visit COPE Retraction Guidelines
If you encounter any unethical behavior or content outside of the aforementioned ethical responsibilities in the Tarsus University Journal of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, please report it via e-mail to iibfdergisi@tarsus.edu.tr.