Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (JOTSA) is dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and JOTSA does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting articles to JOTSA affirm that manuscript contents are original.
The following duties outlined for editors, authors, and reviewers are based on the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors.
Duties of Editor
Publication Decisions: Based on the review report of the editorial review board, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript.
Review of Manuscripts: Each editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality. Following desk review, the manuscript will be sent out for blind peer review, which the editors will use to determine whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript.
Fair Review: The editors must ensure that each manuscript received by JOTSA is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.
Confidentiality: The editors must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editors of JOTSA will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without written consent of the author.
Duties of Authors
Reporting Standards: Authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Manuscripts will follow the submission guidelines of the journal.
Originality: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work.
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. It is also expected that the author will not publish redundant manuscripts or manuscripts describing the same research in more than one journal.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in the research work.
Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contribution must be listed as co-authors. Authors also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and their inclusion of names as co-authors.
Data Access and Retention: Authors should provide raw data related to their manuscript for editorial review and must retain such data.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works: If at any point of time, the author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in submitted manuscript, then the error or inaccuracy must be reported to the editor.
Duties of Reviewers
Confidentiality: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Manuscript reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in the research. Any kind of similarity or overlap between the manuscripts under consideration or with any other published paper of which reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to the editor’s notice.
Standards of Objectivity: Review of submitted manuscripts must be done objectively and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Promptness: In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible for them to complete review of manuscript within stipulated time then this information must be communicated to the editor, so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer.
