Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethical principles
Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University (NOHU) Journal of Engineering Sciences aims to publish and share the information obtained through scientific research through impartial processes and to contribute to the development of scientific studies. Compliance with ethical principles by the stakeholders involved in impartial processes is one of the most important principles of our journal.

Ethical principles adopted by NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences for authors, editors, reviewers and publishers; have been prepared on the basis of the national “Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive” and the international “COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”, “COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” and “Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers”.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
• Know that the article sent for publication is original.
• Does not transfer the copyright of the article sent for publication.
• Cites the sources used in the article appropriately.
• Supports the article with the references used in the article.
• Indicates only contributors to the article as authors.
• If there is financial or similar support in the article, indicates these supports appropriately.
• Indicates whether there is a conflict of interest in the article.
• Returns the raw data of the article when requested.
• If a mistake or error is detected in the early view or evaluation process of the article, the responsible author and the editor or publisher cooperate on correction or withdrawal.
• If the evaluation process of the article has started, the author does not add, remove or change the order of the authors.
• Authors have necessary permissions for the data and subjects used in the article.
• If there are situations that require ethics committee decision in the article, uploads the ethics committee decision together with the article to the system.
• Does not publish an article previously published in another journal.
• If the article is in the application or evaluation process in a journal, it is not submitted to another journal.
• Uploads the "Article Submission Commitment" to the system with the article.
• Prepares the article in accordance with the "Author Guidelines" template on the journal page and uploads it to the system.
• Prepares the article submitted for publication by taking into account the specified similarity rate limits and uploads the article's similarity rate report to the system.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
• Works for the continuous improvement of the journal.
• Takes into account the feedback from authors, reviewers, readers and practitioners, and gives the necessary answers according to ethical principles.
• Takes care that the article is original and contributes to the literature, readers and practitioners.
• Communicates with everyone involved in the evaluation process of the article. Holds meetings when necessary.
• Ensures that the article is prepared according to the "Author Guidelinestemplate on the journal page and uploaded to the system.
• Pays attention to whether there is a conflict of interest between the authors and reviewers in the evaluation process of the article.
• Strives to protect personal data in the evaluation process of the article.
• While making a positive or negative decision in the evaluation process of the article, takes into account the originality, contribution to the field, validity and reliability of the method, and the purpose and scope of the journal.
• Applies the blind review policy in the evaluation process of the article and protects the personal information about the reviewers.
• Takes each article the evaluation process according to the profession area of the editor and reviewer.
• Ensures that each article is evaluated impartially and independently within the given time.
• Keeps the pool of reviewers who will evaluate the article broad and updates it continuously.
• Prevents non-academic and non-scientific reviews for the article.
• Gives importance to freedom of thought for each article.
• Evaluates each article according to its content, does not show privileges to authors.
• Does not distinguish sponsored or special articles from others.
• Provides necessary information, document and guidance to reviewers in the evaluation process for each article.
• Protects the intellectual rights of every article and defends the rights of journals and authors in case of violation.
• Protects the rights of other publications, checks for originality and similarity.
• Ensures correction of errors, inconsistencies or misdirections for each article.
• Takes measures against misconduct for every article to be published and published. Makes the necessary investigations about the misconduct.
• Pays attention to the protection of human and animal rights in every article. When necessary, asks for ethics committee approval.
• Protects personal data regarding the subjects and visuals in the article. When necessary, takes the explicit consent of the people.
• Takes into account consistent critics for each article and gives the author(s) of the article a right to reply.
• Does not discriminate on the author(s) of each article by gender, religion or political belief, ethnic or geographical origin.
• Performs his tasks objectively and fairly for each article.
• Appraise the reviewers according to their performance and timing.
• Strives for the academic integrity of the journal.
• Inform the journal staff about the developments in publishing policies. Prepares a training program when necessary.
• Behaves independently of the publisher for each article.
• The decisions for each article are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
The evaluation process of NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences is carried out with the principle of double-blind peer review. The evaluation and comments of the reviewers are forwarded to the corresponding author by the editors.
• Does not directly contact the author / authors for the article they evaluate.
• The article they evaluated is related to their profession.
• Examines the article they evaluate with objectivity and confidentiality.
• If there is a conflict of interest in the article they evaluate, they will not examine them.
• Until the article they evaluate is published, they do not use it for any purpose.
• Does not discriminate on gender, religion or political belief, ethnic or geographical origin for the article they evaluate.
• Examines the article they evaluate in a constructive and appropriate language.
• Examines the article they evaluate within the given time and according to ethical responsibilities.

Ethical Responsibilities of Publisher
• Declares that the article evaluation process is under the responsibility of the editor.
• Declares that editor decisions are independent.
• Uses the power of communication without any interest.
• Obliged to direct its target group correctly.
• Provides open, electronic and free access to the journal on the journal page.
• Protects the property and copyright of every published article.
• Undertakes the archiving of every published article.
• Communicates with the author(s) if encounter an unethical problem.

Editor-Reader Relationship
The editor makes the decision to meet the knowledge, skill and experience needs of the researcher, reader and practitioner. The editor takes care that the published article is original in a way that contributes to the researcher, reader, practitioner and scientific literature. The editor takes into consideration the feedback from researcher, reader and practitioner and makes the necessary explanations.

Editor-Author Relationship
The editor accepts or rejects the article, taking into account the aims and objectives of the journal according to the originality, validity and clarity of expression. The editor evaluates the article suitable for the content of the journal as long as it has no serious problems. The newly appointed editor does not change the decision made by the previous editor for the article, unless there is a serious problem. “Blind Peer Review” and “Evaluation Process” is applied by the editor for each article. The editor publishes the Author's Guide to be used by the author(s) in preparing an article. The editor provides notification and feedback to the author(s) when necessary.

Editor-Reviewer Relationship
The editor sends article for the reviewer to evaluate according to his profession. The editor provides the information and guidance the reviewer needs in the evaluation process. The editor oversees whether there is a conflict of interest between the author(s) and the reviewer. Editor protects the reviewer's personal information through Blind Peer Review process. The editor encourages the reviewer to evaluate the work in an impartial, scientific and appropriate language. Editor appraise the reviewer according to performance and timely turnaround. The editor sets policies and practices to improve the reviewer's performance. The editor constantly updates and expands the reviewer pool.

Editor-Editorial Board Relationship
The editor informs the editorial board member about the ethical principles and publishing policy and keeps them informed of the developments. The editor asks the editorial board member to progress the article evaluation process in accordance with ethical principles and publication policy. The editor asks the editorial board member to evaluate the article impartially and independently. The editor appoints a new contributing and suitably qualified editorial board member. The editor sends an article for the editorial board member to evaluate according to his field of expertise. The editor regularly interacts with the editorial board. The editor organizes meetings with the editorial board periodically for the development of the journal. 

Editor-Journal Owner-Publisher Relationship
The relationship between editor, journal owner and publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. In accordance with the contract between the editor and the publisher, all decisions taken by the editor are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Blind Peer Review
The editor applies the “Blind Peer Reviewing” and “Review Process” policies in the journal publishing policy and ensures that the article is evaluated fairly, impartially and on time.

Quality Assurance
The editor ensures that every article published in the journal meets international standards in accordance with the journal's ethical principles and publication policy.

Protection of Personal Data
The editor protects the personal data of the subjects or images in the articles and refuses to work unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the article is documented. It protects the personal data of the editor, author, reviewer and readers.

Ethics Committee, Human and Animal Rights
The editor ensures the protection of human and animal rights in the articles and rejects the article when there is no ethical committee approval for the subjects used in the article and permissions for experimental studies.

Precautions against Misappropriation and Misconduct
The editor takes precautions against the possibility of misconduct and misconduct. Conducts a meticulous and objective investigation and shares findings in case of such complaints.

Academic Publication Integrity
The editor ensures that the errors, inconsistencies or misdirections in the article are quickly corrected.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
The editor protects the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defends the rights of the journal and the author(s) in possible violations. The editor takes the necessary precautions to ensure that the content in all published articles does not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications and requests a similarity report from the author(s) for each article uploaded to the system.

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion
The editor considers persuasive criticism of each article published in the journal and takes a constructive attitude towards criticism. The editor gives the author(s) the right to reply to the criticized article.

Author, Reviewer and Reader Complaints
Editor takes into consideration the complaints and criticisms from the author, reviewer and reader. Gives enlightening and explanatory answers by examining the complaints and criticisms.

Political and Business Concerns
Editor's decision is independent of the journal owner, publisher, and other political and commercial factors.


Publication Policy
Articles uploaded to Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University (NOHU) Journal of Engineering Sciences are published after being subjected to impartial processes in accordance with the publication policy. One of the most important principles of our journal is that the stakeholders involved in impartial processes comply with the publication policy. NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences publishes using the DergiPark system. Processes related with articles are carried out through the DergiPark system.

Publication Language
NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences publishes articles written in Turkish and English.

Publication Frequency
NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences is published "online" in January, April, July, and October, four times a year. A special Issue can also be published if the Editorial Board approves.

Fee Policy
All articles accepted in NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences are published without charge for article submission, evaluation or printing.

Privacy Policy
Personal information entered into the website of NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences is used only for the stated purposes of this journal, and cannot be used or shared for other purposes.

Open Access Policy
Open Access (Open Access-OA) is the online access of the reader, researcher and practitioner to all article contents in the internet environment without any legal or technical obstacles. Open Access offers unlimited access and reuse opportunities. In this way, it creates the opportunity to reach a wide audience and share all articles.

NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences is an Open Access journal. The reader, the researcher and the practitioner have the permission to read, download, copy, distribute and print all articles in this journal without obtaining permission from anyone.

In this context, NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences has adopted the open access principles defined by the "Budapest Open Access Initiative”.

Commitment
NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences asks the author(s) to fill and sign the “Commitment” document submitted on the journal website for each article sent to the journal and upload it to the system. The articles of the author(s) who do not send a signed undertaking document will not be taken into evaluation. 

Similarity Report
Similarity report is mandatory for all articles evaluated for publication in NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences as of 01.11.2019.

NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences wants author(s) to check the entire text of each article sent to the journal except the references section with the "iThenticate®" program and upload the scanned article in this program to "Similarity Reports" field found in the "Article Metadata" tab in the system together with the similarity report. Also, it is requested that the similarity report rate be stated before the references section in the article.

The similarity rate determined by the Editorial Board is maximum 20% for research articles, 30% for review articles, and even within these limits, the similarity rate in a single source is at most 5%. Articles with similarity rates above the specified values will not be evaluated.

Copyright
Articles published in NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences have the international license of "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0". Accordingly, the authors who publish their articles in the journal are deemed to have accepted the following conditions:
• The author(s) retain the copyright of the article and give the journal the first publication right. The article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows it to be shared by others, provided that the author(s) are specified and published first in this journal.
• The author(s) can make a separate agreement for the distribution of the published version in the journal of the article (such as sending to an institutional database or publication in a book) without giving full authorization.
• The author(s) can share the published version of the article on the corporate database or on their own websites. This can lead to efficient exchanges, earlier dissemination of the article and more citations (see The Impact of Open Access).

Creative Commons License ( CC-BY-NC License)
Indicates that the article has a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 international license. If your article has this license, you can do the following;
• You can share, copy and reproduce the article published in the journal in any size and format provided that you provide the source.
• The licensor does not restrict freedoms as long as you maintain the license terms.

By providing that the following conditions are met;

Attribution: You must give the appropriate information, the license link, and if the change was made, the change information. You may properly carry out these operations without the knowledge that the licensor approves your use.
Non-commercial: You may not use this article for commercial purposes.
Not derived: If you mix, transfer, or work on the material, you may not distribute updated material.
No additional restrictions: You may not limit the rights permitted by the license on others by law or by using technology.

Archiving Policy-LOCKSS
NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences uses LOCKSS based archiving service provided by DergiPark. This allows for the creation of permanent archives for the protection and restoration of libraries.

The LOCKSS program (https://www.lockss.org/) is a digital protection system based on the Stanford University Libraries and built on the principle of “securing multiple copies”. This program is an award-winning program for libraries and publishers to provide access to permanent and authoritative digital content provides low-cost, open source digital protection tools. This program develops and supports libraries using end-to-end digital protection software. The program also provides librarians at each institution with access to and protection of e-content they subscribe to and restoring the print buying model librarians are familiar with.

The global LOCKSS network is a proven protection approach managed by the Stanford University Libraries LOCKSS program, empowering libraries and publishers in a unique way. This network maintains up-to-date e-magazines and e-books for tomorrow's readers. The global LOCKSS network explains in more detail how protection works in LOCKSS networks with the link https://www.lockss.org/about/how-it-works.

Article Withdrawal
Articles submitted to the NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences may be withdrawn before the evaluation phase is completed. Articles in the "Pre-Control", "Resubmission Request" or "Revision Request" stage can be withdrawn using the "Withdraw Article" button on the article page. At this stage, the reason for the withdrawal must be specified. If the article has passed to other evaluation stages, this should be reported to the editor.

According to the publishing policies of NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences, the duties and responsibilities of the corresponding author and editorial board during the retraction phase of an article are as follows.

Corresponding author: In case of noticing a mistake about the published, early view or in the evaluation process article, it is obliged to cooperate with the journal editor in withdrawal procedures. The author who requests to withdraw the article in the evaluation process is obliged to fill in the "Article Withdrawal Form" containing the reasons for withdrawal and send the scanned version including the wet signatures of each author to the editorial board via e-mail to mbdergisi@ohu.edu.tr. The editorial board reviews the withdrawal request and responds to the corresponding author within 15 days. Articles for which the withdrawal request has not been approved by the editorial board cannot be sent to another journal since their copyrights are transferred to the NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences at the application stage.

Editor: The editorial board of NOHU Journal of Engineering Sciences is obliged to initiate an investigation into the article in case of suspicion of copyright and plagiarism regarding an article that published, in early view or in the evaluation process. As a result of the investigation, if it is determined that there has been a copyright violation or plagiarism in the article in the evaluation process, the editorial board withdraws the article from the evaluation and returns it to the responsible author by explaining the determined situations in detail. If it is determined that there has been a copyright infringement or plagiarism in a published or early view article, the editorial board will take the following recall and notification procedures within 15 days. For the article that has been determined to be a violation of ethics or plagiarism;
• The phrase "Withdrawn" is added to the beginning of the title of the article in electronic display.
• Instead of the abstract and full text contents of the article in electronic display, the reasons for withdrawal of the study, if there are detailed sources of evidence, are published together with the notifications of the author(s)' affiliated institutions and organizations.
• Withdrawal notice is announced on the main page of the journal's website.
• As of the date of withdrawal, it is added to the table of contents of the electronic copy of the first issue to be published as "Withdrawn: Study Title". The reasons for withdrawal and the original citations referring to it are shared with the public and researchers, provided that they start from the first page.
• Withdrawal notifications are sent to the institutions/organizations to which the author/authors are affiliated.
• Withdrawal notifications are sent to the institutions and organizations in which the journal is indexed and to the National Library Presidency to be recorded in index systems and catalogs.

In addition, the editorial board may recommend that author(s) of articles who commit ethical violations and plagiarism to publishers or editorial boards of their previously published articles to ensure the validity and reliability of the published articles or to withdraw them.

23135