Etik İlkeler ve Yayın Politikası

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Semptom Health Researches is based on the guidelines of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which serve as a guide for authors, reviewers, and editors.

All stakeholders involved in the publication process (authors, readers, researchers, publishers, reviewers, and editors) are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities to contribute to the objective and accurate advancement of science. These responsibilities have been formulated in light of the policies prepared by COPE.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

  • Guarantee the originality of the submitted manuscript.
  • Ensure the manuscript is not submitted to more than one journal simultaneously.
  • Do not submit a previously published full-text conference paper as a new article.
  • Guarantee that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere before.
  • Prevent unfair authorship (ghost or guest authorship).
  • In multi-authored studies, authors must clearly state their contribution rates (design, data collection, analysis, writing, etc.), any financial support/funding agencies, and conflict of interest statements at the end of the article (before the References).
  • Disclose any relationships or situations that may constitute a conflict of interest.
  • Guarantee that the research was approved by the relevant Ethics Committee, that informed consent was obtained from participants, and that institutional permissions were secured; these must be explained in the Methods section.
  • For case reports, obtain signed informed consent and state this in the Methods section.
  • In animal studies, guarantee that animal rights were protected in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (www.nap.edu/catalog/5140.html), that the research was approved by the Ethics Committee, and that institutional permissions were obtained.
  • Ensure accurate citation and complete inclusion of all references in the bibliography.
  • Obtain written permission from copyright holders for previously published quotes, tables, figures, images, or scales, and indicate this in the article.
  • Be prepared to provide raw data or additional information to the editorial board if requested during the evaluation process.
  • Do not request changes to the author order, or the addition/removal of authors, after the manuscript has been accepted or published.
  • Notify editors immediately if a conflict of interest, ethical violation, or error is detected in a published, early-view, or under-review article, and cooperate with editors for corrections or retractions.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

General Duties and Responsibilities

  • Strive to meet the scientific information demands of readers and authors.
  • Ensure the continuous development of the journal and improve the scientific quality of published articles.
  • Support freedom of expression and maintain academic integrity.
  • Manage processes without compromising intellectual property rights or ethical standards.
  • Maintain transparency regarding corrections or comments.

Relations with Readers and Authors

  • Readers: Decisions should consider the needs and expectations of all readers, researchers, and practitioners. Editors aim for original work that contributes to the literature and provide informative feedback.
  • Authors: Decisions on manuscripts should be based on importance, originality, validity, clarity, and suitability for the journal's scope. Editors should not disregard positive reviewer suggestions unless there are serious issues with the study. New editors should not overturn the decisions of previous editors unless serious concerns arise.

Relations with Reviewers

  • Select reviewers appropriate to the study’s subject.
  • Maintain the Double-Blind Peer Review process by keeping identities confidential.
  • Monitor potential conflicts of interest and encourage objective, scientific, and polite reviews.
  • Prevent unscientific or discourteous evaluations and regularly update the reviewer pool.

Relations with the Editorial Board and Publisher

  • Ensure the board follows publication policies and evaluate manuscripts independently.
  • The relationship between editors and the publisher is based on editorial independence; all editorial decisions are independent of the publisher and journal owner.

Quality Assurance and Protection of Rights

  • Personal Data: Editors are responsible for protecting the personal data of subjects, authors, and reviewers. Manuscripts involving human subjects without documented consent must be rejected.
  • Human and Animal Rights: Editors must ensure the protection of rights in evaluated studies and reject work lacking necessary ethics committee approvals.
  • Misconduct: Editors must take precautions against potential misconduct and carry out meticulous, objective investigations into complaints.
  • Intellectual Property: Editors must protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defend the rights of the journal and authors in case of violations.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Accept only manuscripts within their area of expertise.
  • Review with impartiality and confidentiality.
  • Notify the editor and decline the review if a conflict of interest is identified.
  • Destroy the manuscript after the review process (Reviewers may only use the final version after it is published).
  • Conduct evaluations objectively based solely on content, regardless of nationality, gender, religion, or political views.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

  • The editors are responsible for all processes of manuscripts submitted to Semptom Health Researches. Decision-makers are the editors, independent of economic or political interests.

Unethical Behavior: If you encounter any unethical behavior or content in Semptom Health Researches, please notify the journal by emailing info@semptom.org.

PUBLICATION POLICY

Evaluation and Acceptance Process

Each submission is first screened by editors for formatting, scientific value, and originality. Similarity scans are performed via iThenticate, Turnitin, or intihal.net. Studies with a similarity rate (excluding references) above 20% or those identified as salami-slicing are rejected without review.

  • Preliminary Review: Manuscripts are checked for adherence to writing rules, statistics, and language.
  • Peer Review: Suitable papers are assigned to field editors who send them to two independent expert reviewers (Double-Blind). Reviewers have 5 days to accept the invitation and 15 days to complete the review.
  • Decision: Acceptance requires two positive reports. If reports conflict, a third reviewer is assigned.
  • Revision: Authors have 15 days to upload requested corrections.
  • Duration: The review process is typically finalized within 3 months.

Retraction Policy

  • A manuscript can be retracted by the corresponding author during the pre-evaluation
  • It cannot be retracted once it enters the evaluation or publication
  • For published works, authors must submit a petition signed by all authors to bongoren@gmail.com, stating the reasons for retraction. The Editorial Board will respond within 15 days.

Digital Archiving and Preservation

  • Zenodo Archive: Full texts and datasets are archived in the Zenodo (CERN) database for open access and long-term preservation.
  • DOI: Every article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier for permanent traceability.
  • Self-Archiving: Authors may archive the "Publisher’s PDF" version in institutional repositories or personal websites without an embargo period.

Fee Policy

There are no fees for the evaluation or publication of manuscripts. No royalties are paid to authors.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING

  • Copyright: Authors retain the copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication.
  • Licensing: All articles are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
    • Share: You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
    • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the original author and journal.
    • Non-Commercial: The material may not be used for commercial purposes.
    • No Derivatives: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

 Author Rights: Authors have the right to share their published work (e.g., in an institutional database or on their own websites) without any embargo period, provided that they cite the original publication in this journal.