PUBLICATION ETHICS
Authorship CRITERIA
BESSED follows the ‘Who is the author?’ criteria specified in the guidelines of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The ICMJE's authorship criteria are as follows:
• Significant contributions to the research design and/or data collection, analysis, or interpretation;
• Preparing the research or contributing critically to content that will contribute to the relevant field of literature;
• Final approval of the version of the research to be published;
• Accepting responsibility for the accuracy or integrity of any part of the research.
Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the acknowledgements section.
For more detailed information on authorship, please refer to the documents of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Research Ethics (Ethical Approval Document)
All research submitted to the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort must have obtained ‘Ethical Committee Approval.’ Detailed information regarding permission (ethical review committee, date, and number) must be included in the methods section of the research and in the relevant section of the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort article template.
Authors should take into account the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines specified by the Higher Education Council.
Ethical Policies for Special Groups
Informed consent forms must be obtained from participants in all research involving human subjects. In studies involving participants under the age of 18, parental consent forms must also be obtained. The researcher must not use any research procedures that have the potential to cause physical or psychological harm to participants in any way. The researcher is also obliged to use the least stressful research procedures possible at all times.
Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
Authors submitting their work to the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:
• The publication processes applied by the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort form the basis for the impartial and respectable development and distribution of information. The processes applied in this regard directly reflect the quality of the work of authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed studies are studies that concretise and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important that all stakeholders in the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees and editors) comply with ethical principles. Within the scope of publication ethics, all stakeholders of the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort are expected to fulfil the following ethical responsibilities.
• The works submitted by the author(s) are expected to be original. If the author(s) use or refer to other works, they must provide complete and accurate references and/or quotations.
• Individuals who have not contributed intellectually to the content of the work should not be listed as authors.
• All works submitted for publication must disclose any potential conflicts of interest or relationships that may arise.
• Authors may be requested to provide raw data related to their articles as part of the review process. In such cases, authors must be prepared to submit the requested data and information to the editorial board and scientific committee.
• Authors must possess the necessary rights to use the data, obtain the required permissions for research/analysis, or provide documentation demonstrating that consent was obtained from participants in experiments.
• If the author(s) notice any errors or inaccuracies in their published work, early view or review stage, they are obliged to inform the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor in the correction or withdrawal process.
• Authors may not submit their work to multiple journals simultaneously. Each submission may be initiated following the completion of the previous submission. A work published in another journal may not be submitted to the Journal of Physical Education, Sport, Health, and Effort.
• Changes to author responsibilities (such as adding authors, changing author order, or removing authors) cannot be proposed once the review process has begun.
EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
BESSED editors are independent, and decisions regarding the editorial review process are not determined by third-party institutions or government policies.
BESSED editors are responsible for the peer review process of articles and make the final decision on which articles will be published based on the comments of the reviewers and the editorial board members.
BESSED editors conduct the editorial review of submitted articles based solely on their scientific merit, without regard to the author's gender, age, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, political views, or institutional affiliation.
BESSED editors are responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the journal's publication policies.
BESSED editors manage the process by forming a committee consisting of members of the editorial board in cases of copyright infringement, plagiarism, and defamation.
BESSED editors, editorial board members, and editorial assistants may not disclose any information about submitted articles to anyone other than the relevant author and publisher.
The BESSED Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the timely publication of accepted articles in the journal.
BESSED editors are responsible for assigning articles to reviewers who are experts in the relevant research fields.
BESSED editors ensure that all submitted articles undergo peer review by at least two reviewers who are experts in the field of research related to the submitted articles. If the decision is not final, BESSED editors appoint a third reviewer to make a final decision.
BESSED editors, editorial board members, and editorial assistants may not use unpublished materials or information contained in submitted articles for their own research purposes without the written permission of the authors.
BESSED editors may not use any confidential information or ideas obtained during the review process for personal gain and are obligated to maintain confidentiality.
BESSED editors shall refrain from editing articles that involve a conflict of interest arising from competition, collaboration, or other relationships with authors, authors' affiliated companies, or institutions; instead, they shall request assistance from another editorial board member to conduct the editorial process.
BESSED editors require all authors of published articles to disclose any relevant conflicts of interest and to publish corrections if conflicts of interest arise after publication. If necessary, other appropriate measures, such as retraction or a statement of concern, are taken.
BESSED editors preserve the integrity of published articles through corrections and retractions when ethical concerns arise regarding a submitted or published article.
BESSED editors are responsible for monitoring the misconduct of reviewers and editors. When ethical complaints are submitted regarding submitted or published articles, BESSED editors must take appropriate measures in accordance with the journal's policies.
BESSED editors investigate any reported unethical publishing actions, even if they come to light years after publication. If an ethical violation is found, retraction or correction rules are applied and published in the journal.
BESSED editors follow the COPE Flowcharts when dealing with cases of suspected misconduct.
BESSED editors, editorial board members, and editorial assistants may submit original articles to BESSED, but they should be aware that they cannot be involved in the peer review and editorial decision-making process for their own articles. In such cases, the publisher appoints a guest editor to independently conduct the peer review and editorial decision-making process for the articles of BESSED editors, editorial board members, and editorial assistants. The publisher clearly informs readers (e.g., in a footnote, endnote, or on the journal website) about how the articles of BESSED staff will be handled. When BESSED encounters a conflict, it follows the COPE Guidelines.
General duties and responsibilities
Editors are responsible for all publications in the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort. In this context, editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
• Making efforts to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
• Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
• Conducting processes to improve the quality of studies published in the journal,
• Supporting freedom of thought,
• Ensuring academic integrity,
• Continuing work processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• Demonstrating clarity and transparency in publication regarding issues that require correction or clarification.
Relations with readers
Editors should make decisions taking into account the information, skills, and experience expected by all readers, researchers, and practitioners. They should ensure that published works contribute to readers, researchers, practitioners, and scientific literature and are original in nature.
In addition, editors are responsible for considering feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners and providing explanatory and informative feedback.
Relations with authors
The duties and responsibilities of editors towards authors are as follows:
• Editors should make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, originality, validity, clarity of presentation, and the aims and objectives of the journal.
• They should accept works that are suitable for publication for preliminary review unless they have serious problems.
• Editors should not disregard positive referee recommendations unless there is a serious problem with the work.
• New editors should not change decisions made by previous editors regarding works unless there is a serious problem.
• The ‘Blind Refereeing and Evaluation Process’ must be published, and editors should prevent any deviations from the defined process.
• Authors should be provided with clear and informative notifications and feedback.
Relations with Reviewers
• Editors have the following duties and responsibilities towards reviewers:
• They should select reviewers who are suitable for the subject of the work.
• They are responsible for providing reviewers with the information and guidance they need during the review process.
• They must ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between authors and reviewers.
• They must keep the identities of reviewers confidential in the context of blind review.
• They must encourage reviewers to evaluate work in an impartial, scientific, and objective manner.
• They must establish practices and policies to improve the performance of reviewers.
• Take the necessary steps to ensure that the pool of reviewers is dynamically updated.
• Prevent rude and unscientific evaluations.
• Take steps to ensure that the pool of reviewers is diverse.
Relations with the editorial board
Editors should ensure that all members of the editorial board proceed in accordance with publication policies and guidelines.
They should inform editorial board members about publication policies and keep them up to date on developments. In addition, editors should:
• Ensure that editorial board members evaluate submissions impartially and independently.
• Identify new editorial board members who can contribute and are qualified.
• Assign editorial board members to evaluate submissions that are appropriate to their areas of expertise.
• Maintain regular communication with the editorial board.
• Organise meetings with the editorial board at regular intervals to discuss publication policies and the development of the journal.
Relations with the journal owner and publisher
The relationship between editors and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. In accordance with the written agreement between the editors and the publisher, all decisions made by the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.
Editorial and blind peer review processes
Editors are responsible for implementing the ‘Blind Peer Review and Evaluation Process’ policies outlined in the journal's publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that each work undergoes a fair, impartial, and timely evaluation process.
Quality assurance
Editors are responsible for ensuring that every article published in the journal is published in accordance with the journal's publication policies and international standards.
Protection of personal data
Editors are responsible for ensuring the protection of personal data relating to subjects or images appearing in the works under review. They are obliged to reject works unless the explicit consent of the individuals involved in the work is documented. In addition, editors are responsible for protecting the personal data of authors, reviewers, and readers.
Ethics committee, human and animal rights
Editors are responsible for ensuring that human and animal rights are protected in the works under review. They are responsible for rejecting works that do not have ethical committee approval for the subjects used in the works or permission for experimental research.
Preventing potential misconduct and abuse of authority
Editors are responsible for taking measures to prevent potential misconduct and abuse of authority. This includes conducting a thorough and objective investigation into complaints related to such issues, as well as sharing the findings with relevant parties.
Ensuring academic integrity
Editors must ensure that any errors, inconsistencies or misrepresentations in the work are corrected promptly.
Protection of intellectual property rights
Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all articles published and for defending the rights of the journal and the author(s) in the event of any infringement.
In addition, editors are responsible for taking the necessary measures to ensure that the content of all published articles does not infringe the intellectual property rights of other publications.
Constructiveness and openness to discussion
Editors should
• Take into account convincing criticism of works published in the journal and adopt a constructive attitude towards such criticism.
• Grant the authors of criticised works the right to respond.
• Not disregard or exclude works with negative results.
Complaints
Editors are responsible for carefully reviewing complaints from authors, reviewers, or readers and responding in an informative and explanatory manner.
Political and Commercial Concerns
The journal owner, publisher, and any other political or commercial entities shall not influence the editors' independent decisions.
Conflicts of Interest
Editors shall ensure that the publication process is completed independently and impartially by taking into account any conflicts of interest between authors, reviewers, and other editors.
Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
The evaluation of all works through ‘blind peer review’ directly affects the quality of publication. This process ensures objectivity and independence in the evaluation of the publication. The evaluation process of the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort is conducted according to the double-blind peer review principle. Reviewers cannot communicate directly with authors; evaluations and comments are communicated through the journal management system. In this process, the review forms and reviewers' comments on the full texts are communicated to the author(s) through the editor. In this context, reviewers evaluating studies for the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:
• They should only accept to review studies related to their area of expertise.
• They should conduct their reviews impartially and confidentially.
• If they believe they have a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should decline to review the work and inform the journal editor.
• In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, they should destroy the works they have reviewed after the evaluation process. They may only use the final versions of the works they have reviewed after they have been published.
• They should evaluate the work objectively and only in relation to its content.
They should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or commercial concerns to influence their evaluation.
• They should evaluate in a constructive and polite manner. They should not make derogatory personal comments that are hostile, defamatory, or insulting.
• They should evaluate the work they accept in a timely manner and in accordance with the above ethical responsibilities.
Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher
The editors and editorial board of the Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort Journal act in accordance with the following ethical responsibilities:
• Editors are responsible for all stages of the process of works submitted to the Physical Education, Sports, Health and Effort Journal. In this context, editors are the decision-makers, regardless of economic or political gains.
• They commit to ensuring independent editorial decisions.
• They protect the ownership and copyright of every article published in the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health, and Effort and undertake the obligation to keep a record of every published copy.
• They are responsible for taking measures against any scientific misconduct, citation fraud, and plagiarism related to editors.
If You Encounter an Unethical Situation
If you encounter any unethical behaviour or content in the Journal of Physical Education, Sports, Health, and Effort that is not covered by the ethical responsibilities mentioned above, please report it via email to editor@bessedjournal.com.
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