Ethics Policy

Anatolia Sport Research, an official journal published every four months, is a peer-reviewed online journal that includes scientific articles based on original research as well as review articles.

The publication process at Anatolia Sport Research is the basis of the improvement and dissemination of information objectively and respectfully. Therefore, the procedures in this process improves the quality of the studies. Peer-reviewed studies are the ones that support and materialize the scientific method. At this point, it is of utmost importance that all parties included in the publication process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, reviewers and editors) comply with the standards of ethical considerations. Anatolia Sport Research expects all parties to hold ethical responsibilities.

Anatolia Sport Research ethical duties and responsibilities are written in the light of the guide and policies made by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)   (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/ )

EDITORS' RESPONSIBILITIES

The role of a journal editor

The editor of a journal plays a vital role in advancing knowledge within fields of research. In this respect, the editors have the following roles and responsibilities:

  • Maintaining and improving the quality of work the journal publishes and the integrity of its peer review process.
  • Supporting the journal’s authors and reviewers.
  • Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
  • Maintaining and improving the journal’s reputation.
  • Supporting freedom of expression,
  • Ensuring academic integrity,
  • Being transparent and clear in issues that require correction or explanation.

Editorial Ethics

The editor and field editors of Anatolia Sport Research should hold the following ethical responsibilities that are based on the guides "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published as open Access by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

  • The editor must follow COPE's core practices and guidelines
  • The editor shoud ensure the journal maintains a reputation for ethical standards and fair processes.
  • The editor must ensure that intellectual property is respected, and research integrity maintained.
  • The editor shoud avoid any bias in editorial decision-making.
  • The editor must ensure, as far as possible, that papers meet ethical standards on:
  1. authorship
  2. originality of content
  3. no duplicate publication
  4. no redundant publication
  5. no fabrication/falsification
  6. correctly referencing use of another’s ideas (published or otherwise)
  • The editor must be alert to any instances of potential citation manipulation and should never engage in any behaviour that implicitly or explicitly makes citing their journal, or their own published articles in other journals, a prerequisite for acceptance.
  • The editör where required uses Crossref Similarity Check to check for potential plagiarism and work following COPE guidelines, when dealing with papers where any significant levels of similarity to other works are detected.
  • The editor should ensure that editorials, while expressing or supporting a particular view or perspective, should aim for balance and fairness and not be defamatory.
  • The editör should avoid unconstructive criticism in reviews and make all efforts to ensure that all editorial board members and reviewers provide constructive criticism.
  • The editör should create a route for all editorial board members, reviewers and interested parties to raise points of concern about an article or the peer review process.
  • The editör should develop an understanding of relevant copyright rules around sharing of published and unpublished work and the different forms of open access licences.
  • The editör ensure articles submitted to the journal meet appropriate subject-specific ethical standards and deal with any points of concern appropriately.
  • The editör should keep submission and peer review details confidential, as required. Do not upload files, images or information from unpublished manuscripts into databases or tools that do not guarantee confidentiality, are accessible by the public and/or may store or use this information for their own purposes (for example, generative AI tools like ChatGPT).
  • Act with good faith and without ethical compromise as editor of the Journal. The Editor shall not allow or accept any payments in relation to the Journal that are not specifically authorised by the Publisher in writing. The Editor shall immediately report to the Publisher any unauthorised payments or unethical non-financial incentives that are offered to them or the Editorial Team by any third party in respect of the Journal, or if they become aware of any suspicious activities in relation to the Journal.

Journal Editorial Management

Peer Review And Manuscript Handling

Ethical, timely, effective peer review is fundamental to a journal, in conjunction the editor is responsible for managing and assuring the integrity of the peer review process.

  • The editor ensure that a journal’s aims and scope are kept up-to-date.
  • The editor give unbiased consideration to each manuscript submitted and judge each on its merits, without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, gender, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s).
  • The editor comply with and uphold the journal’s peer review policy and ensure that reviewers’ identities are protected as stated in that policy.
  • The editor ensure that rigorous peer review is conducted on each article, where detailed constructive peer review reports have been obtained from at least two independent peer reviewers.
  • The editor respect and maintain confidentiality throughout the peer review process.
  • The editör, not set barriers to submission or publication other than the quality of the work.
  • The editor provide guidance for peer reviewers which is in line with the journal’s peer review policy and COPE guidelines.
  • The editor ensure peer review and editorial decision processes are auditable by ensuring that peer review reports are uploaded via the peer review system.
  • The editor ensure that any editorial board members, or other members of the editorial team (including any guest editors) involved in the peer review process, are working in an ethical, timely and effective manner.
  • The editor comply with data protection regulations and ensure all user data is kept secure and is maintained as required in accordance with the editor agreement.
  • The editor verify the contact details of reviewers suggested by authors or other third parties.
  • The editor develop and maintain a consistent and fair policy around returning, rejecting and withdrawing papers.
  • The editor collaborate to resolve any issues or queries regarding submissions or published articles, using COPE guidance where appropriate.

Managing the Editorial Board

  • The editor regularly communicate with all decision-making editors on the journal and meet as often as necessary (virtually if necessary)
  • The editor actively involve editorial board members in the peer review process where appropriate.
  • The editor mentor and support other editors and editorial board members when required, including management and oversight of any guest editors
  • The editor engage with all editorial board members so they are confident in advocating for the journal’s aims and scope.
  • The editor supply guidelines to ensure that all editorial board members understand their role and are active contributors to the journal.
  • The editor discuss and agree strategic objectives with decision-making editors on the journal, to review the editorial board regularly, preferably annually, and refresh the board as required to ensure and maintain an active, diverse and engaged editorial board.

Confidentiality

  • The editor must ensures that all necessary declarations of interest are made (by authors, reviewers and decision-making editors, including the editor-in-chief) and that, where necessary, consent of research participants is obtained by the authors.

Competing Interests

  • The editor ensures that all necessary declarations of interest have been made (by authors, reviewers and decision-making editors, including the editor-in-chief) and that, where necessary, consent of research participants has been obtained by the authors.
  • Avoids the referee process and editorial decisions for articles written by the editor or for which there is a conflict of interest. In such cases, the editor should delegate responsibility for the peer review and editorial decision process of his/her own work submitted to the journal (excluding editorials) to another appropriate editor at the journal (e.g., deputy editor, advisory or editorial board member) or nominates an appropriate guest editor who will be given responsibility for evaluation, peer review, and final editorial decision-making.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

The authors who submit their manuscripts to Anatolia Sport Research are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

  • Articles submitted for publication should not be contrary to the ethics of scientific publications (plagiarism, falsification, distortion, republishing, slicing, unfair authorship, not specifying the supporting organization, not following ethical rules in animal studies, etc.).
  • The authors should obtain Ethics Committee Permission for required studies such as conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using questionnaires, interviews, focus group work, observation, experimentation, clinical trials on humans or animals. The authors should obtain and specify permission from the owners for the use of scales, surveys and photographs.
  • Any changes in authorship prior to or after publication must be agreed upon by all authors, including those being added or removed. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to obtain confirmation from all co-authors and to provide evidence of this to the editorial office with a full explanation about why the change is necessary.
  • All authors of a paper should agree on the corresponding author and the order of the co-authors, and check affiliations and contact details before submitting.
  • A corresponding author should inform the editor if they want to withdraw their paper from the journal with the consent of the other authors of the paper.
  • All authors of a paper should have the ability and responsibility to publicly defend their paper.
  • An author should provide the dataset if it is required in review process by the reviewers.
  • The authors should declare the competing interest in their cover letters or on the manuscript submission form in the journal’s online peer review system.
  • After acceptance of a paper, the author should follow the writing rules of Anatolia Sport Research and use the Anatolia Sport Research style files.
  • An author should not share his/her paper with Anatolia Sport Research logo during the review process in any platforms.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The fact that all manuscripts are reviewed through "Blind Review" has a direct influence on the publication quality. This process ensures confidentiality by objective and independent review. The review process at Anatolia Sport Research is carried out on the principle of double blind review. Reviewers do not contact the authors directly, and the reviews and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, the reviewer views on the evaluation forms and full texts are assigned to the author(s) by the editor. Therefore, the reviewers doing review work for Anatolia Sport Research are supposed to bear the following ethical responsibilities:

  • Reviewers should not contact the author(s) of the paper that they accepted to review.
  • Reviewers should keep the ideas and findings of the paper received for review confidential. The paper should not be shared with others and also should not be used by the reviewers in their own research works.
  • Reviewers should evaluate the papers objectively and professionally. Reviews should be well-written which benefit the authors so that they can use them to improve their works.
  • If a selected reviewer thinks that he/she is not qualified on the subjects of the paper, he/she should inform the editor and excuse himself/herself from the review process.
  • Reviewers should fill in the “Evaluation form for the referees” with the explanatory, detailed arguments supporting their final decisions.
  • Reviewers should complete the referee report within the period given by the journal. If a reviewer thinks that he/she will not be able to complete the report on time, then he/she should inform the editor.
  • If there is a potential conflict of interest, the reviewer should report this to the editor.
  • Reviewers should inform the editor if they think that the paper has some ethical problems like duplication or plagiarism.