Ethics & Policies

Ethical Responsibilities and Policies

Archiving Policy

The content published by the TASARIM KURAM is electronically preserved by using Internet Archive. https://www.tasarimkuram.com/index.php/dtj/issue/archive

Authorship Policy

Each individual listed as an author should fulfill the authorship criteria. The authorship should be based on the following 4 criteria:

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND

Final approval of the version to be published; AND

Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In addition to being accountable for their own work, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors and each author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for other parts of the work.

All of those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who provided a contribution but do not meet all four criteria should be recognized separately on the title page and in the Acknowledgements section at the conclusion of the manuscript.

The TASARIM KURAM requires that corresponding authors submit a signed and scanned version of the authorship contribution form during the initial submission process in order to appropriately indicate and observe authorship rights and to prevent ghost or honorary authorship. Please note that the list of authors on the final manuscript will be presented in the order provided on this form. If the editorial board suspects a case of “gift authorship,” the submission will be rejected without further review. As part of the submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author should also send a short statement declaring that they accept all responsibility for authorship during the submission and review stages of the manuscript. 

Complaint and Appeal Policy

Appeal and complaint cases are handled within the scope of COPE guidelines  by the Editorial Board of the journal. Appeals should be based on the scientific content of the manuscript. The final decision on the appeal and complaint is made by Editor in Chief. An Ombudsperson or the Ethical Editor is assigned to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. Authors should get in contact with the Editor in Chief regarding their appeals and complaints via e-mail at tasarimkuram@msgsu.edu.tr

Corrections Policy

If the editors or publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains a material error or inaccuracy, the authors must promptly correct or retract the article or provide the journal editors with evidence of the accuracy of the article.

Ethics Policy

The Editorial Board of the TASARIM KURAM and the Publisher adheres to the principles of the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), and the European Association of Science Editors (EASE).

If the submitted manuscript does not include ethics committee approval, it will be reviewed according to COPE's guideline (Guidance for Editors: Research, Audit and Service Evaluations). If the study should have ethical approval, authors will be asked to provide ethical approval in order to proceed the review process. If they cannot provide ethical approval, their manuscript will be rejected and also their institutions and when needed, the related bodies in their country will be informed that such studies must have ethics committee approval. If they provide approval, review of the manuscript will continue.

If the study does not need ethics committee approval after the editorial board’s review, the authors will be asked to provide an ethics committee approval or a document given by a related independent committee that indicates the study does not need ethics committee approval according to the research integrity rules in their country. If the authors provide either an approval or a document showing that ethics approval is not needed, the review process can be continued. If the authors cannot provide either documents, the manuscript may be rejected.

Fee Waiver Policy

There is no fee waiver.

Funding Sources Policy

All authors are required to declare what support they received to carry out their research. Declaring funding sources acknowledges funders’ contributions, fulfills funding requirements, and promotes greater transparency in the research process.

Each author must individually declare all sources of funding received for the research submitted to the journal. This information includes the name of granting agencies, grant numbers, and a description of each funder’s role. If the funder has played no role in the research, this must be stated as well.

Authors are not required to provide the complete list of every single grant that supports them if the grant is not related to the research published.

Licenses and Copyright Policy

Authors publishing with the journal retain the copyright to their work licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0) and grant the Publisher non-exclusive commercial right to publish the work. CC BY-NC 4.0 license permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Open Access Policy

The TASARIM KURAM supports the Budapest Open Access Initiative statement of principles that promotes free access to research literature. The declaration defines open access to academic literature as free availability on the internet, permitting users to read, record, copy, print, search, or link to the full text, examine them for indexing, use them as data for software or other lawful purposes without financial, legal, or technical barriers. Information sharing represents a public good, and is essential to the advancement of science. Therefore, articles published in this journal are available for use by researchers and other readers without permission from the author or the publisher provided that the author and the original source are cited. The articles in the TASARIM KURAM are accessible through search engines, websites, blogs, and other digital platforms. Additional details on the Budapest Open Access Initiative and their guidelines are available at https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org.

Open Access Policy is based on rules of Budapest Open Access Initiative the TASARIM KURAM applies the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license to articles we publish. If you submit your paper for publication, you agree to have the CC BY-NC 4.0 license applied to your work. Under this Open Access license, you as the author agree that anyone can copy, distribute or reuse the content of your article for non-commercial purposes for free as long as the author and original source are properly cited. The corresponding author must sign the Creative Commons License Agreement after their articles are accepted.

Open Access Statement

The journal is an open access journal and all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Except for commercial purposes, users are allowed to read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. The open access articles in the journal are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

 

Peer Review Policy

Only those manuscripts approved by its every individual author and that were not published before in or sent to another journal, are accepted for evaluation.

Submitted manuscripts that pass preliminary control are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. After plagiarism check, the eligible ones are evaluated by Editor-in-Chief for their originality, methodology, the importance of the subject covered and compliance with the journal scope. Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors and ensures a fair double-blind peer review of the selected manuscripts.

The selected manuscripts are sent to at least two national/international referees for evaluation and publication decision is given by Editor-in-Chief upon modification by the authors in accordance with the referees’ claims.

Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.

Reviewers’ judgments must be objective. Reviewers’ comments on the following aspects are expected while conducting the review.

  • Does the manuscript contain new and significant information?
  • Does the abstract clearly and accurately describe the content of the manuscript?
  • Is the problem significant and concisely stated?
  • Are the methods described comprehensively?
  • Are the interpretations and consclusions justified by the results?
  • Are adequate references made to other Works in the field?
  • Is the language acceptable?

Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.

A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees is important.

Plagiarism Policy

All submissions are screened using similarity detection software at least two times: on submission and after completing revisions. In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, or data falsification/fabrication, the editorial board will follow and act in accordance with COPE guidelines. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, that is identified at any stage will result in rejection of the manuscript.

Publication Charges Policy

The TASARIM KURAM assesses no submission fees, publication fees, or page charges.

Retraction Policy

The publisher will take all appropriate measures to modify the article in question, in close cooperation with the editors, in cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, disclosure, or retraction of the affected work in the most severe case. Together with the editors, the publisher will take reasonable steps to detect and prevent the publication of articles in which research misconduct occurs and will under no circumstances promote or knowingly allow such abuse to occur.

Withdrawal Policy

The TASARIM KURAM is committed to providing high quality articles and uphold the publication ethics to advance the intellectual agenda of science. We expect our authors to comply with, best practice in publication ethics as well as in quality of their articles.

Withdrawal of a manuscript will be permitted only for the most compelling and unavoidable reasons. For withdrawal of a manuscript authors need to submit an "Article withdrawal Form", signed by all authors mentioning the reason for withdrawal to the Editorial Office. Authors must not assume that their manuscript has been withdrawn until they have received appropriate notification to this effect from the editorial office.

In a case where a manuscript has taken more than five months’ time for review process, that allows the author to withdraw manuscript.

Manuscript withdrawal penalty: After receiving the Article withdrawal Form, the TASARIM KURAM Editorial Board will investigate the reason of withdrawal.

If the reason finds to be acceptable, the author is allowed to withdraw the manuscript without any withdrawal penalty. If not the TASARIM KURAM will not accept any manuscripts from the same author for one year.

Important notes: Manuscripts may be withdrawn at any stage of review and publication process by submitting a request to the editorial office. Manuscript withdrawal will be permitted after submission only for the most compelling and unavoidable reasons.

If the author wants to withdraw a manuscript, the author needs to submit a completed "Article withdrawal Form", signed by all authors of the manuscript stating the reasons for manuscript withdrawal.

The manuscript will not be withdrawn from publication process until a completed, signed form is received by the editorial office. Authors must not assume that their manuscript has been withdrawn until they have received appropriate notification to this effect from the TASARIM KURAM editorial office.

Ethical Responsibilities and Policies

Archiving Policy

The content published by TASARIM KURAM is protected electronically using the Internet Archive. https://www.tasarimkuram.com/index.php/dtj/issue/archive

Publication Ethics

The publication processes applied in the Journal of Design + Theory ensure the development of knowledge in an impartial and reputable manner. The processes applied in this direction are directly reflected in the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions supporting the authors. Peer-reviewed studies are studies that embody and support the scientific method. At this point, it is important that all stakeholders of the process (authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees and editors) comply with the standards for ethical principles. Within the scope of Design + Theory publication ethics, all stakeholders are expected to carry the following ethical responsibilities.

The following ethical duties and responsibilities are based on the guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as open access(https://publicationethics.org)

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Ethics Committee Approval

  • For the studies specified below, the Report on ‘Ethics Committee Approval’ should be uploaded to the journal together with the article.
  • All kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group study, observation, experiment, interview techniques,
  • Use of humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes,
  • Clinical trials on humans,
  • Research on animals,
  • Retrospective studies in accordance with the personal data protection law.
  • Stating that the ‘informed consent form’ has been obtained in case presentations,

Author(s) submitting a study to Design + Theory Journal are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

  • The work submitted by the author(s) must be original. In case the author(s) utilise other works or use other works, they are required to cite and/or quote them completely and accurately.
  • Persons who do not contribute intellectually to the content of the study should not be listed as authors.
  • All manuscripts submitted for publication must disclose any conflicts of interest and relationships, if any.
  • The author(s) must have a document showing that they have the rights to use the data used, the necessary permissions related to the research/analyses, or that the consent of the experimental subjects has been obtained.
  • Raw data related to their articles may be requested from the author(s) within the framework of the evaluation processes.
  • In the event that the author(s) notices an error or mistake in the published, early view or under review manuscript, the author(s) has the obligation to inform the journal editor or publisher and to cooperate with the editor in the correction or retraction process.
  • Authors cannot have their work in the submission process of more than one journal at the same time. Each application can be started after the completion of the previous application. The work published in another journal cannot be submitted to Design + Theory Journal.
  • It cannot be proposed to change the author responsibilities (such as adding an author, changing the author order, removing an author) of a study whose evaluation process has started.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

Design + Theory editors and field editors should have the following ethical duties and responsibilities based on the ‘COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors’ and ‘COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors’ published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as open access:

General duties and responsibilities

The editors are responsible for every publication published in Design + Theory Journal. In the context of this responsibility, editors have the following roles and obligations

  • Endeavour to meet the information needs of readers and authors,
  • Ensuring the continuous development of the magazine,
  • Carrying out processes to improve the quality of studies published in the journal,
  • Supporting freedom of thought,
  • Ensuring academic integrity,
  • Maintaining business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
  • Demonstrating openness and transparency in terms of publication in matters requiring correction and explanation.

Relations with the Reader

Editors should make decisions by taking into account the expectations of knowledge, skills and experience needed by all readers, researchers and practitioners. They should pay attention to the fact that the published studies contribute to the readers, researchers, practitioners and scientific literature and that they are original. In addition, editors are obliged to take into account feedback from readers, researchers and practitioners and to provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relations with Authors

The duties and responsibilities of the editors of the Journal of Design + Theory towards the authors are as follows:

  • The editors make a positive or negative decision based on the importance, original value, validity, clarity of expression and the aims and objectives of the journal.
  • Studies that are suitable for the scope of publication are taken to the preliminary evaluation stage unless there is a serious problem.
  • Unless there is a serious problem with the manuscript, editors do not ignore the favourable referee recommendations.
  • New editors do not change the decisions made by the previous editor(s) unless there is a serious problem.
  • The ‘Blind Review and Evaluation Process’ has been notified to the authors in the information section.
  • Authors are notified and returned in an explanatory and informative manner.

Relations with Referees

The duties and responsibilities of the Editors of the Journal of Design + Theory towards the referees are as follows:

  • Referees are determined in accordance with the subject of the study.
  • They provide the information and guides that the referees will need during the evaluation phase.
  • Observe whether there is a conflict of interest between authors and referees.
  • In the context of blind refereeing, the identity information of the referees is kept confidential.
  • Reviewers are encouraged to evaluate the manuscript in an impartial, scientific and objective manner.
  • Reviewers are evaluated by criteria such as timeliness and performance.
  • Necessary arrangements are made to dynamically update the referee pool.
  • Unkind and unscientific evaluations are prevented.
  • Arrangements are being made to ensure that the referee pool is broad.

Relations with the Editorial Board

Editors work to ensure that all editorial board members carry out the processes in accordance with the publication policies and guidelines. Editorial board members are informed about the publication policies through regular meetings and announcements. New editorial board members are trained on publication policies.

Editors

  • Ensure that the members of the editorial board evaluate the studies impartially and independently.
  • Identifies new editorial board members who can contribute and are of appropriate quality.
  • Sends the studies suitable for the expertise of the editorial board members for evaluation.
  • Interacts regularly with the editorial board.
  • Organises meetings with the editorial board at regular intervals for the development of publication policies and the journal.

Relations with the Journal Owner and Publisher

The relationship between the 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 taken by the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.

Editorial and Blind Review Processes

Editors apply the ‘Blind Review and Evaluation Process’ policies in the journal publication policies. In this context, the editors ensure that the evaluation process of each work is completed in a fair, impartial and timely manner.

Quality Assurance

Editors are responsible for the publication of each article published in the journal in accordance with the journal's publication policies and international standards.

Protection of Personal Data

Editors are obliged to ensure the protection of personal data regarding the subjects or images included in the evaluated studies. Unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the studies is documented, they are responsible for rejecting the study. In addition, editors are responsible for protecting the individual data of authors, reviewers and readers.

Ethics Committee, Human and Animal Rights

Editors are responsible for ensuring the protection of human and animal rights in the evaluated studies. The ethics committee approval for the subjects used in the studies is responsible for rejecting the study in the absence of permissions for experimental research.

Precautions Against Possible Abuse and Misconduct

Editors are obliged to take precautions against possible misconduct and abuse of office. In addition to conducting a rigorous and objective investigation in identifying and evaluating complaints regarding this situation, it is among the responsibilities of the editor to share the findings on the subject.

Ensuring the Integrity of Academic Publications

Editors should ensure that errors, inconsistencies or misleading judgements in the manuscript are corrected quickly.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all published articles and defending the rights of the journal and the author(s) in case of possible violations. In addition, editors are obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure that the contents of all published articles do not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications.

Constructivism and Openness to Discussion

Editors

  • Take into account convincing criticisms of the works published in the journal and show a constructive attitude towards these criticisms.
  • The author(s) of the criticised studies are given the right to reply.
  • Work with negative results is not ignored or excluded.

Complaints

Editors are obliged to carefully examine complaints from authors, reviewers or readers and respond in an enlightening and explanatory manner.

Political and commercial concerns

The journal owner, publisher, and no other political or commercial factors influence the independent judgement of the editors.

Conflicts of Interest

The editors ensure that the publication process of manuscripts is completed in an independent and impartial manner, taking into account conflicts of interest between the author(s), reviewers and other editors.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The evaluation of all studies by ‘Blinded Refereeing’ directly affects the quality of the publication. This process provides confidence through objective and independent evaluation of the publication. The evaluation process of the Journal of Design + Theory is carried out with the principle of double blind refereeing. Referees cannot communicate directly with the authors, evaluations and comments are communicated through the journal management system. In this process, reviewer comments on evaluation forms and full texts are communicated to the author(s) through the editor. In this context, referees who evaluate studies for the Journal of Design + Theory are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:

  • Accept to evaluate only the manuscripts related to their field of expertise.
  • They should evaluate with impartiality and confidentiality.
  • If they think that they are faced with a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, they should refuse to review the study and inform the journal editor.
  • In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, they should destroy the studies they have reviewed after the evaluation process. They can only use the final versions of the studies they have reviewed only after publication.
  • They should make the evaluation objectively only with regard to the content of the study. They should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns to influence the evaluation.
  • They should make the evaluation in a constructive and courteous manner. They should not make derogatory personal comments containing hostility, slander and insult.
  • They must carry out the work they have agreed to evaluate on time and in accordance with the ethical responsibilities above.

If You Encounter an Unethical Situation

If you encounter any unethical behaviour or content in Design + Theory Journal other than the ethical responsibilities mentioned above, please report it via e-mail to tasarimkuram@msgsu.edu.tr.