Ethical Principles

Scientific Responsibility 

All the authors have made direct academic and scientific contributions to the submitted manuscript. The authors should have all of the following specifications: Should plan or execute the study in the manuscript, should write or revise the manuscript, and accept the final draft 

Ethical Rules and Plagiarism 

This Journal is committed to the standards of research and publication ethics, and does not allow for any form of plagiarism. The journal uses a plagiarism screening service to verify the originality of the submitted content before publication. If plagiarism is detected in articles submitted to a journal for publication, the responsibility is assigned to the authors. In case of any suspicion or claim regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the journal reserves the right to submit the manuscript to supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Journal accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.

This Journal uses "iThenticate" to screen all submissions for plagiarism prior to publication. This journal does not accept articles that indicate a similarity rate of more than 25%, according to international reports. The authors must avoid all forms of plagiarism and ethical misconduct, as described below. 

We disapprove of unethical practices and efforts to influence the review process with practices such as gifting authorship, inappropriate acknowledgments, and references, in line with the COPE flowcharts. 

The authors are obliged to acknowledge if they have published study results in whole or in part in the form of abstracts. 

Correction, Retraction, Clarification Policy, and Editorial Responses 

This journal recognizes its obligation to correct errors in the work that it has published and to consider readers’ criticisms of that work. 

Corrections and Retraction 

Errors of this type will be corrected online as soon as possible, in coordination with the publisher, and printed on an erratum sheet that will appear in the next issue and be included in the digital version of the article. The corrected article will include a footnote stating the date of correction, and the volume and issue in which the erratum will appear. In a situation where the corrections are significant in scope or quantity, they would not be corrected online, but the digital version would include a footnote signaling the publication of the erratum. 

Erratum or publisher correction: Correction of a significant error made by the journal that affects the scholarly record, scientific integrity of the article, or reputation of the authors or journal. 

Corrigendum or author correction: Correction of a significant error made by the author that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the article, or the reputation of the authors or the journal. 

Editorial Responses 

Responses of this type will be peer-reviewed and, where possible, sent to referees who have reviewed the original submission. All parties remained anonymous to the extent possible. Responses are subject to oversight by the editors of the journal and will be published after full consultation with all the interested parties. 

Editorial expression of concern: Notifies the addition of information to an article, for example, in response to a reader’s request for clarification or correction of a significant omission. Such addenda are published when editors decide that they are crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of a published contribution. 

Retraction: Notifies the readership of unsound results or misconduct following an investigation of the issue by the editor and publisher. The original article will remain available, but will be marked as retracted through a published note from the editor. 

Article removal: In rare instances, a journal may be obliged to remove an article as a consequence of legal action. Such removal will be marked on the issue table of contents, and a notice indicating removal will replace the article’s content. 

See the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for further information on professional standards for publishing. 

Clarification and Appeals 

If something in the editor’s decision letter or review material is unclear or inconsistent, the authors may email questions to the editorial office to request clarification from the editor before revising the manuscript. 

Editors cannot discuss submissions or the review process directly with the authors (by phone, video, in-person, etc.). 

The corresponding author should email all correspondence regarding your submission to the editorial office (not to the editor). 

The staff will upload your written clarification request to the peer review system, where it will only be visible to the editor and associate editor (reviewers will not see the authors’ clarification requests). The editor will decide whether to consult the associate editor and the editor will provide a response that will be archived in the system (reviewers will not see the editor’s response). 

The requirement of written requests for clarification is not intended to act as a barrier. This process ensures good record-keeping, provides the editor with sufficient time to reflect on their answers, and allows the editor to consult before responding. 

This Journal does not provide or approve formal revision plans. The editor considers your request and attempts to provide the best possible feedback. However, clarification from the editor does not guarantee a positive outcome, and should not be mistaken as a signal of the approval of a specific revision plan. If a revised manuscript is submitted, it will be evaluated by the entire review team. 

Plagiarism:  Republishes the whole or part of the content in another author's publication without attribution. 

Fabrication:  Publish data and findings/results that do not exist.
Duplication: Using data from another publication, this includes re-publishing an article in a different language. 

Salamization: Creating multiple publications by abnormally splitting the results of a study. 

Data Manipulation/Falsification: Manipulating or deliberately distorting research data to give a false impression. 

We disapprove of such unethical practices and efforts to influence the review process with practices such as gifting authorship, inappropriate acknowledgments, and references, in line with the COPE flowcharts. 

The submitted manuscripts were subjected to automatic software evaluation for plagiarism and duplicate publication. The authors are obliged to acknowledge if they have published study results in whole or in part in the form of abstracts. 

Human and Animal Rights

For experimental, clinical, and human drug studies, approval by the ethical committee and a statement on the adherence of the study protocol to international agreements (World Medical Association of Helsinki "Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects," amended October 2013) are required. In experimental animal studies, the authors should indicate that the procedures followed are based on animal rights (Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals), and they should obtain approval from the animal ethics committee. The Ethics Committee approval document should be submitted to the journal along with the manuscript.

The approval of the ethics committee, a statement on the adherence to the international guidelines mentioned above, and proof that the patient's informed consent was obtained should be indicated in the “Method” section. These items are required for case reports whenever data or media can reveal the identity of the patient. For persons under 18 years of age, please provide a consent form that includes both the parents' signatures and the person's legal guardian or supervisor.