Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Publication Ethics
Publication ethics can be defined as a self-regulatory mechanism insisting on integrity on the part of authors, peer reviewers, and publishers to establish higher standards for editorial processing for the scholarly journals. Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high quality of scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas.
- Ethical researchers do not plagiarize.
- They do not misreport sources.
- They do not conceal objections that they cannot rebut.
- They do not distort opposing views.
- They do not destroy or conceal data.
Peer-reviewed studies support, and are themselves examples, of the scientific method. It is important to follow standards of expected ethical behavior by all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher and journals. The Journal of Turkish Diaspora Studies adheres to national and international standards of research and publication ethics. It complies with the Press Law, Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, and the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics for Higher Education Institutions. It follows the International Ethical Principles for Scholarly Publication set by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). It also undertakes to comply with the decisions of Türkiye Editors’ Workshop.
- Press Law (national legislation)
- Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (national legislation)
- Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics for Higher Education Institutions (national legislation)
- Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (international standards)
- Decisions of Türkiye Editors’ Workshop (national standards)

Duplication
Duplicate publication is the publication of the same article or substantially similar articles in more than one journal. Further, the editor may return the article unreviewed. The editor may consider no articles by any of the authors for a period of time, may announce publicly in the journal (perhaps a simultaneous announcement with the editor of the journal that published the earlier article) that the authors have submitted a previously published article, or may do any combination of these actions, at the editor’s discretion.

Simultaneus Submission of Manuscripts
Authors are not allowed to submit the same manuscript to multiple journals at the same time. If an editor becomes aware of possible simultaneous submission, they reserve the right to consult with other editors who have received the article. The editor may return the article without review or reject it without considering the reviews. The editor may also discuss the matter with other editors and may decide not to consider any articles from the author for a certain period. Additionally, the editor may contact the author's employer or take any combination of these actions at their discretion.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's work, thoughts, methods, data, practices, or images as your own without giving the appropriate scientific credit. All manuscripts submitted for publication undergo a plagiarism check using plagiarism detection software. Submissions to Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies must have a similarity level of less than 20%. Even if the similarity level is only 1%, the author may still be considered to have plagiarized if they have copied any statements verbatim from other sources without appropriate citation and quotation. Therefore, authors should be aware of citation and quotation guidelines (APA 7) and follow them carefully. Unethical behavior includes plagiarism, duplication, false authorship/denial of co-authorship, manipulation of research data, salami publication, copyright infringement, and undisclosed significant conflicts of interest. Manuscripts that do not comply with publication ethics may be withdrawn from submission and/or publication.

Data Fabrication/Data Falsification
Data fabrication refers to creating false research results and data and presenting them as genuine. Data falsification, on the other hand, refers to manipulating research data to create a false impression. Falsification involves the manipulation or alteration of data, research materials, processes, equipment, and results to conform to the desired outcome.

Protection of Participants’ Personal Data
Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies requires researchers to obtain formal ethical approval from a recognized review committee if their research involves personal or sensitive data of human participants, or materials that are not legally available to the public.

Allegations of Research Misconduct
To prevent research misconduct, such as plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) "Ethics Toolkit for a Successful Editorial Office". The journal does not encourage or knowingly allow misconduct to take place. If the editors become aware of any allegation of research misconduct in a published article, they will follow COPE's guidelines to address the issue.

Notification of Ethical Violations
If you suspect potential misconduct or inaccuracies in an article published in Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies, you can contact the editorial office (info@tjds.org.tr). The journal welcomes feedback and inquiries that will allow for improvement.

Corrigendum, Retraction, Expression of Concern
Journal editors have certain options if they come across any issues with a previously published paper. If a small portion of the publication is misleading due to an honest error, the editor may issue a corrigendum. However, if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct or error, the editor may retract the publication. In cases where there is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors, or if the investigation into alleged misconduct is not fair, impartial, or conclusive, the editor may issue an expression of concern. The editor must follow the guidelines provided by COPE for corrigendum, retraction, and expression of concern.

Research Involving Surveys and Interviews
Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies is committed to maintaining high ethical standards in publishing quality scientific research. To ensure this, we adhere to the "Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers" set forth by COPE. When submitting a manuscript, please ensure that it conforms to the following policies:
1. If your research required ethical approval, please provide documentation of the approval in your article. The relevant ethics committee that provided approval must be stated and named.
2. In the methods section of the article, please specify the name of the ethics committee that approved the study protocol, along with the reference number and date. This information should also be included on the first or last page of the article. Additionally, please mention in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

Special Issue Policies
The editorial board may publish one special issue per year, upon request. However, all manuscripts submitted for a special issue are subject to preliminary editorial review. Moreover, all papers submitted should conform to the editorial and publication policies of the journal. To ensure that the papers are original, they will be checked for plagiarism through a plagiarism check software. Lastly, each manuscript submitted must be double-blind peer-reviewed.

Editorial Confidentiality
The editors of the journal are required to protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal. This means that any manuscripts received for review are treated as confidential documents. During the article review process, only editors, reviewers, and editorial board members may access the manuscript. In exceptional circumstances, the editor may share limited information with third parties where it is necessary to investigate suspected ethical breaches.

Allegations or Suspicion of Scientific Misconduct
Different authorities have their own definitions of scientific misconduct. Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies deals with these issues on a case-by-case basis while following the guidelines provided by the main regulatory bodies. The editors of the journal have a responsibility to investigate potential scientific misconduct in manuscripts submitted to or published in the journal. They should not simply reject papers that raise concerns about possible misconduct; instead, they are ethically obligated to pursue any alleged cases. The editors should follow COPE flowcharts when applicable. They should first seek a response from those accused. If they are not satisfied with the response, they should ask the relevant employers or some appropriate body to investigate. The editors should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that an appropriate investigation is conducted. If this does not happen, the editors should make every attempt to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem. This is an important but challenging duty.
Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies has a strict policy for handling allegations of scientific misconduct. The policy is based on the guidelines provided by COPE's "Ethics Toolkit for a Successful Editorial Office". The editors take necessary measures to prevent the publication of papers involving research misconduct, which includes plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification/fabrication, and other related issues. The journal and its editors do not encourage or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. If any allegations of scientific misconduct come to the editor's notice regarding a published article in the journal, they follow the guidelines set out by COPE to deal with such allegations. Additionally, all reviewers have a responsibility to report any suspected issues with the manuscript to the editor, who will handle the matter according to the guidelines provided by COPE. Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies undertakes to follow COPE flowcharts in the following cases:
- Duplicate submission
- Plagiarism
- Falsification of data
- Changes of authorship
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest
- Improprieties of authorship
- Violation of generally accepted research practices

Complaints Procedure
This procedure is applicable to complaints regarding content, procedures, or policies that come under the purview of Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies or its editorial staff. We consider complaints as an opportunity to improve our services and aim to provide a prompt, courteous, and constructive response. Please email your complaints directly to info@tjds.org.tr,  and be assured that they will be handled with confidentiality. The editor-in-chief promptly responds to complaints and follows COPE's guidelines for dealing with them. The relevant member of the editorial team handles the complaints, and if the issue cannot be resolved, the following steps may be taken:
- If the initial response is deemed insufficient, the complainant can request that their complaint be escalated to a senior member of the team.
- If the complainant remains unhappy, the complaint may be escalated to an executive editor, and ultimately the editor-in-chief whose decision will be final.
- We aim to provide a full response within two weeks, if possible. COPE publishes a code of practice for editors of scientific journals. It will facilitate the resolution of disputes with editors, journals, and publishers, but only after the journal's own complaints procedures have been exhausted.

Appeal Process
If you feel that your article has been unfairly rejected due to a misunderstanding of its scientific content, you may submit a letter of appeal (rebuttal) to our editorial team at info@tjds.org.tr. However, please note that you should not submit a revised version of your article at this stage. Once we have received your rebuttal letter, we will review it and decide whether your appeal is warranted. If we agree that your appeal is justified, we may invite you to submit a revised version of your article, which will be entered into our peer review process once again. It is important that you provide as much detail as possible in your rebuttal letter and respond point-by-point to any comments from external peer review and/or the full editorial committee. Please note that we can only consider one appeal per manuscript, so please ensure that your rebuttal letter is written clearly and persuasively. We have found that prolonged negotiation over rejected papers can be unsatisfactory for both authors and editors, so we no longer engage in this.

Conflicts of Interest
Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies believes that it is necessary to identify any conflicts of interest that authors may have when submitting articles. Conflicting interests arise when professional judgment regarding a primary interest may be influenced by personal rivalry or financial gain. To make the best decision on how to deal with an article, the journal should be aware of any competing interests that authors may have, and if the article is published, readers should also be informed of them. A conflict of interest is defined as any financial or other interest that could significantly impair an individual's objectivity in carrying out their responsibilities or could create an unfair competitive advantage for any person or organization. All sources of financial support for the research and/or preparation of the article should be disclosed, as well as the role of the sponsor(s). Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include employment, consultancy, and grants. It is recommended that potential conflicts of interest be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.
Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies has a process for handling submissions from editors, employees, or members of the editorial board to ensure unbiased review. Such submissions are primarily directed to other journals. If this is not possible, the submitter's position in the journal will be suspended. These submissions are reviewed through a double-blind process. The editor must not be involved in the decision-making process of papers that they have written themselves or have been written by family members. Any such submission must be subject to all of the journal's procedures. The editor shall apply ICMJE guidelines relating to the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest by authors and reviewers.

Research and Publication Ethics
Every author must ensure that their research complies with ethical standards. Turkish Journal of Diaspora Studies adheres to the highest standards of integrity and follows international guidelines on research and publication ethics, which are as follows:
- Research must meet recognized standards of integrity, and quality and transparency must be assured through proper design, review, and implementation.
- Participants and research staff must be fully informed about the purpose, methods, potential uses, risks, and benefits of the research. The confidentiality and anonymity of participants must be respected, and their dignity and autonomy must be protected.
- Participation in research must be voluntary, free from coercion or undue influence.
- Researchers should aim to maximize the benefits of the research and minimize any potential harm or risks, which should be mitigated by appropriate precautions.
- Research must be independent, and any conflicts of interest or bias must be disclosed.
- Informed consent must be obtained from participants, preferably in writing, and must be ongoing and freely given. For individuals who lack decision-making capacity, authorized third parties should provide consent on their behalf.
- Researchers must obtain permission from institutions or organizations where research will be carried out.
- All research that requires ethical approval should specify the name of the ethics committee that approved the study protocol, reference number, date, and informed consent in the methods section of the article.