Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Journal of Culture and Communication Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
Articles submitted to the Journal of Culture and Communication are evaluated through a double-blind review process and published electronically with free access. Apart from articles, activity evaluations, commentaries, book reviews can be published in the journal. Book reviews and references may also be subject to peer review if necessary. Corrections, explanations and rebuttals can be published in the journal when necessary.
The duties and ethical responsibilities of the authors, editors, referees and publishers contributing to the Journal of Culture and Communication have been prepared on the basis of the guidelines published by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE). ( https://publicationethics.org/resources/resources-and-further-reading/international-standards-editors-and-authors, https://publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf, https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf)

Editor
• When making decisions about articles, the editors consider the following criteria: that the article is suitable for the purpose and scope of the Journal of Culture and Communication; that it is original and contributes to the scientific literature; that the research method is valid and reliable; that the narrative is clear and understandable.
• Editors are obliged to make fair and impartial decisions, and to evaluate articles regardless of the authors' ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religious belief, and political opinion.
• An important part of the responsibility to make fair and impartial decisions is the maintenance of the principle of editorial independence and honesty.
• The editor protects the confidentiality of the authors' materials, guarantees that all information about the articles will remain confidential until the article is published and reminds the referees of this.
• One of the most important responsibilities of editors is to organize peer review fairly. Editors select people with sufficient expertise for blind reviewing and avoid those with conflicts of interest. Editors ensure that referee evaluations are received in a timely manner.
• Editors ensure that the identities of referees remain confidential.
• Editors apply for the evaluation of a third referee if two referees give different opinions for the evaluated article.
• Editors are obliged to make the final decision regarding the articles’ publication in the journal.
• Journal of Culture and Communication is an interdisciplinary academic journal dedicated to publishing the best critical articles produced in the fields of communication, cultural criticism and social thought. Editors may reject articles that they think are not suitable for this criterium or that they think are weak in terms of quality without the need for referee evaluation. They make this decision in a fair and impartial manner. They should communicate to the author the criteria they used to make this decision.
• If errors that do not invalidate the study are detected by readers, authors or editors in a published study, a correction is published as soon as possible. If the error invalidates all or parts of the study, if it contains plagiarism or ethical violations, the article may be withdrawn and a description of the reason for this will be published.
• Editors ensure that the referee pool is regularly updated and they create a database of referees.
• Editors respond to authors' requests for information about the status of their articles in a way that does not disrupt the referee process.
• Editors consult the editorial board when a dispute arises regarding the studies submitted to the journal.
• The editor of the journal changes every two years with the decision of the Editorial Board.

Author
• Authors undertake that the submitted work is original and not published elsewhere. The study should not be submitted to more than one publication at the same time. If the study has been previously published in another language for a different audience, the editor should be informed about this.
• Authors are obliged to conduct their research in an ethical and reliable manner. According to the decision taken by TR DİZİN, it is stated and documented on the first or the last page and in the method section of the article that the ethics committee approval has been obtained for the researches sent to be taken into the publication process and requiring data collection by means of surveys, interviews and observations; including in the article the information that the informed voluntary/consent form has been signed; If scales, questionnaires, etc. belonging to other authors are used, the information that permission is obtained from the relevant persons for this should also be included in the article. In addition, the articles should contain the statement that the Research and Publication Ethics are complied with.
• Applicable copyright laws and agreements must be followed. Copyrighted materials (e.g. photographs, illustrations, paintings, figures) must only be reproduced with appropriate permission and consent.
• Researchers should honestly present their conclusions without fabrication, falsification, or data manipulation. Research images must not be altered in a misleading manner.
• Researchers should try to describe their methods and present their findings clearly and concisely.
• Authors should warn the editor if they find an error in any submitted or accepted or published work. Authors should collaborate with editors to correct or retract their work when necessary.
• Authors should accurately represent the work of others in citations.
• Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the study mentioned in their articles.
• New findings should be presented in the context of previous research. The work of others should be fairly represented. Scientific review and synthesis of existing research should be complete, balanced, and include findings regardless of whether they support the proposed hypothesis or interpretation.
• Data, texts, figures or ideas created by other researchers should be appropriately referenced and should not be presented as if they were the authors' own. Original statements from other researchers' publications should be quoted and referenced appropriately.
• If the data and expressions of the previous studies made by the authors themselves are used in the new publication, they should be referenced by self-citation.
• If there is more than one publication produced from a single research project, this should be clearly stated and references should be given to publications made before the project. Translations and adaptations for different readers must be clearly indicated, reference to the original source, and comply with relevant copyright agreements and permission requirements.
• If the article is produced from a dissertation or thesis, it should be stated.
• All sources of research funding, including direct and indirect financial support, procurement of equipment or materials, and other support (such as expert, statistical or writing assistance), must be disclosed.
• Authors should explain the role of research fund(s) or sponsor (if any) in research design, conduct, analysis, interpretation and reporting.
• All authors need to contribute directly to the article and be familiar with all its content. However, only those who make a significant contribution to the study should be referred to as authors, and those who do not make a significant contribution to the study should not be included in the list of authors. The names of those who do not contribute enough for authorship, but who contribute to the article such as technical support, review, etc., should be written in the acknowledgment section.
• All authors must agree to be referred to as authors in the article; approve the versions of the publication submitted to the journal and accepted. Any changes to the author list must be approved by all authors, including those removed from the list.
• All authors are expected to take joint responsibility for the whole study. However, if the authors have taken responsibility for only a certain part of the research and the article, this should be stated in the publication.
• Authors should respond to the comments of the referees in a professional and timely manner.
• If there is more than one author contributing to the study, the authors should have made a joint decision on the name order.
• All kinds of ethical violations in the studies are the responsibility of the authors. When an ethical violation is detected, the article is rejected.
• A study that has been submitted to the journal and rejected for any reason cannot be resubmitted.

Referee
• Referees should make a fair and impartial evaluation.
• Referees should make their evaluations within the specified period of time.
• Reviewers should inform the editor in case of a conflict of interest, if they think that an impartial review is not possible.
• Referees should protect the confidentiality of the article and their evaluations.
• Referees should evaluate the issues of research and publication ethics (i.e. whether the research is done ethically or whether there is plagiarism, fabrication, falsification).
• If referees detect an ethical violation or copyright violation in the study, they should notify the editor.

Publisher
• The publisher of Culture and Communication Journal is İmge Kitabevi Yayınları.
• The relationship between the editors and the Editorial Board and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence.
• The publisher accepts that all decisions in the publication process of the articles belong to the editors.
• For commercial or political reasons, the publisher should not intervene decisions concerning published content.

Editorial Board
• The Editorial Board of the Journal of Culture and Communication convenes at least twice a year.
• The Editorial Board determines the new members of the board.
• The Editorial Board unanimously elects the editor of the journal every two years.
• The Editorial Board expresses its opinion when a dispute arises regarding the studies submitted to the journal.
• The Editorial Board proposes referees in certain areas to be included in the referee pool.