Ethical Principles
1. General Principles
• Our journal is committed to strict transparency and impartiality in all publishing processes. All parties involved in the publication process ensure that articles are evaluated solely based on scientific quality and academic contribution.
• Editors, reviewers, and journal staff must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and take necessary measures to prevent these from influencing the evaluation process. Individuals with conflicts of interest must recuse themselves from tasks related to the relevant article.
• According to Article 4 of the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions, the following constitute violations of scientific research and publication ethics:
(a) Plagiarism: Presenting others' original ideas, methods, data, or works partially or fully as one's own without proper attribution.
(b) Fabrication: Using nonexistent or falsified data in scientific research.
(c) Distortion: Manipulating research records or data, pretending to use equipment or materials that were not used, or falsifying research results to align with the interests of funding individuals or institutions.
(d) Duplicate Publication: Submitting duplicate publications as separate works for academic appointments and promotions.
(e) Slicing: Dividing research results inappropriately to produce multiple publications and submitting them separately for academic evaluation.
(f) Unjust Authorship: Including individuals without meaningful contributions as authors or omitting those who did contribute; arbitrarily altering author order, or including individuals as authors who did not contribute but exert influence.
• Additional ethical violations include:
- Failing to acknowledge support from individuals or institutions in research funded by them.
- Using unpublished theses or works as sources without permission.
- Conducting research with human or animal subjects without ethical compliance or failing to respect patient rights.
- Violating relevant regulations in biomedical or clinical studies.
- Disclosing information from works under review without permission.
- Misusing resources allocated for scientific research.
- Making baseless, unjustified accusations of ethical violations.
- Publishing data from surveys or research without the informed consent of participants or institutional permission.
- Damaging animal health or ecological balance in research.
- Failing to obtain written permission from authorized bodies for research and experiments.
- Violating relevant research and experimentation clauses in national or international agreements to which Turkey is a party.
- Not informing relevant authorities of potentially harmful practices in scientific research.
- Failing to maintain confidentiality or authorized use of data and information provided by other institutions or individuals.
- Making misleading claims about scientific research in academic appointments or promotions.
In addition, “According to the TR Index 2020 criteria, research articles must obtain an Ethics Committee Approval and include the name, date, and reference number in the methodology section. The Ethics Committee Approval document must be submitted as a supplementary file upon article submission. Submissions requiring ethics committee approval will not be accepted without this approval.”
2. Authors' Responsibilities
• Authors must submit only original works and properly attribute the work of others. Plagiarism is strictly unacceptable, and all sources must be accurately referenced.
• All listed authors must have made meaningful contributions to the study. Names should be listed according to contributions, with detailed explanations provided.
• Submitting the same work to multiple journals is prohibited. Authors must disclose if the work has been previously published or is under review elsewhere.
• Authors should adhere to the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines outlined by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).
3. Reviewers' Responsibilities
• Reviewers evaluate articles based on scientific and objective criteria, independently of personal bias or conflicts of interest.
• Reviewers must keep information from the article review process confidential and share it only with relevant parties in the evaluation process.
• Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest. Those with conflicts should recuse themselves from the review process.
4. Editors' Responsibilities
• Editors have the authority and responsibility to accept or reject articles, using this authority judiciously and timely.
• Editors must avoid conflicts of interest with accepted or rejected articles.
• Editors should accept original articles that contribute to the field.
• Editors must reject incomplete or incorrect research without external influence.
• Editors should allow for the withdrawal or correction of flawed articles, either before or after the peer review process.
• Editors ensure that articles evaluated by at least two reviewers undergo a double-blind review process and maintain reviewer anonymity.
• Editors assess plagiarism status using the Turnitin software, ensuring submitted works are original.
5. Publication Process
• Each article undergoes a preliminary review, peer review, and editorial review to ensure fair and scientific evaluation. The process is conducted transparently.
• Errors or inaccuracies found in published articles are corrected promptly. In case of rejection, authors are informed with detailed reasons.
6. Ethical and Legal Compliance
• Our journal fully complies with international ethical standards and legal regulations. Publishing processes are conducted in accordance with ethical principles.
• Personal data is protected during article review and processed confidentially. Authors’ and reviewers' personal information is kept confidential.
7. Complaints and Appeals
• Complaints regarding errors or inaccuracies in published articles are fairly assessed. Appeals are examined according to journal procedures, and results are communicated to the relevant parties.
These principles reflect Cognitio Litterarum's commitment to upholding the highest ethical standards in scientific research and publishing. Authors and reviewers are expected to uphold these principles to fulfill their responsibilities to the academic community and society.
