Ethics

Atatürk University Publications is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and follows recommendations and guidelines developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) (https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-). Recommendations and guidelines of Council of Science Editors (CSE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) are taken into consideration as well.

Research Ethics

Atatürk University Publications adheres to the highest standards in research ethics and follows the principles of international research ethics as defined below.

–    Principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be sustained in designing the research, reviewing the design and conducting the research.

–    The research team and participants should be fully informed about the aim, methods, possible uses and requirements of the research and risks of participation in research.

–    The confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants and the confidentiality of the respondents should be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.

–    Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily, not under any coercion.

–    Any possible harm to participants must be avoided. The research should be planned in such a way that the participants are not at risk.

–    The independence of research must be clear; and any conflict of interest or must be disclosed.

–    In experimental studies with human subjects, written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, legal custodian’s assent must be obtained.

–    If the study is to be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization.

–    In studies with human subject, it must be noted in the method’s section of the manuscript that the informed consent of the participants and ethics committee approval from the institution where the study has been conducted have been obtained.

Human Subjects and Animal Research

Atatürk University Publications publications take as principle to comply with the ethical standards of World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects and WMA Statement on Animal Use in Biomedical Research.

Informed Consent and Ethics Committee Approval

Approval of research protocols from national or local ethics committees must be submitted together with the manuscripts. Manuscripts that report the results of experimental investigation with human subjects must include a statement that informed consent was obtained after the procedure(s) had been fully explained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, authors are asked to include information about whether the legal custodian’s assent was obtained.

Conflict of Interest

Authors, editors and reviewers are required to disclose existing or potential conflicts of interest. Conflict of interest exists when a participant in the publication process (author, peer reviewer or editor) has a competing interest that could unduly influence (or be reasonably seen to do so) his or her responsibilities in the publication process (submission, peer review, editorial decisions, and communication between authors, reviewers and editors).

To disclose potential conflicts of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (http://www.icmje.org/) should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors. Cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers are resolved by the  Editorial Board within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

Disclosure of Funding Sources

All financial support received to carry out research must be declared while submitting the paper. The role of the funder in the research must also be declared.