Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences journal is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics, integrity, and transparency in all editorial and publishing processes. The journal adheres to the following internationally recognized guidelines:

COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics)

ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)

WAME (World Association of Medical Editors)

Declaration of Helsinki (for human studies)

1. Responsibilities of Authors

Submitted manuscripts must be original, not previously published, and not under review elsewhere.

All references must be accurately cited; plagiarism in any form is strictly prohibited.

Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed.

All listed authors must have made significant contributions to the manuscript and take public responsibility for its content.

Studies involving human participants must have obtained ethics committee approval and informed consent; these must be stated in the manuscript.

Studies involving animals must adhere to national/international animal welfare regulations.

Authors are required to submit their roles in the research according to the CRediT Taxonomy.

Data falsification, fabrication, or manipulation is strictly prohibited. If identified, the manuscript may be withdrawn, and institutions will be notified.

2. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors evaluate manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors.  Editors evaluate manuscripts based on scientific quality and ethical compliance without any bias.

The editorial process is conducted transparently and fairly. They provide a fair double-blind peer review of the submitted articles for publication. They ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential before publishing.

The editors are not responsible for the content of the publication.

Editors may issue retractions, corrections, or expressions of concern where necessary.

Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers. Only he has the full authority to assign a reviewer and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Aiming to establish ethical assurance in scientific periodicals, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences journal adopts the principles of the "Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors. They should have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the research funders. Reviewers must provide objective, constructive, and timely feedback.

Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the Editor-in-Chief 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-in-Chief and excuse himself from the review process. Moreover, if a reviewer detects unethical conduct or significant flaws, they should notify the editor

If a reviewer has a conflict of interest, they must decline the review.

Reviewers should identify the relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. 

Please review the COPE publication ethics guidelines on:

http://publicationethics.org/files/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf

4. Publisher's Responsibility

The publisher ensures an independent, ethical publishing environment.

All content is permanently archived and made accessible through open access and DOI systems.

Backup and preservation policies are in place to protect published content.

5. Ethical Misconduct Handling

Plagiarism, duplicate submission, data fabrication, ghost authorship, and lack of ethical approval are considered serious ethical violations.

Upon detection, actions are taken based on COPE guidelines, including retraction or correction, and notifying the authors’ institutions if necessary.

6. Misconduct Reporting Process

If any ethical misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication, ghost authorship, duplicate publication, lack of ethical approval) is identified or reported in a submitted or published article, the journal follows the steps below:

Notification:

Ethical concerns can be reported to the editorial team by editors, reviewers, readers, institutions, or third parties.

Notifications should be sent via muhammedtayyib.kadak@iuc.edu.tr

Preliminary Evaluation:

The editorial board assesses the validity and seriousness of the concern.

Authors may be asked to respond to the allegations.

Formal Investigation:

Actions are taken in accordance with the COPE Flowcharts.

If needed, ethical committees, institutional authorities, or independent experts are consulted.

Decision and Action:

If misconduct is confirmed, the editorial board may decide to: reject the manuscript, issue a retraction, publish a correction, or release an expression of concern.

When applicable, the author’s institution may be officially informed.

7. Retraction Policy

An article may be retracted if:

It contains a serious scientific error.

Plagiarism, data fabrication, or ethical approval violation is detected.

Author contribution manipulation is proven.

The article is published in more than one journal (duplicate publication).

Legal requirements (e.g., court order) necessitate retraction.

The retraction process includes:

Adding a clear "Retracted" watermark to the article PDF and title.

Publishing a formal retraction notice explaining the reason.

The DOI remains active but is marked as “Retracted”.

The article stays accessible for the record with a retraction statement attached.