Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Publication Ethics and Policies

Journal of Accessible Education & Recreation (JAER) adheres to national and international standards regarding research and publication ethics. The journal operates in accordance with Turkish legislation and international ethical publishing principles.

  • Press Law and Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (Turkey)

  • Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions (Turkey)

  • International publication ethics standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)

Ethics Committee Approval

For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the relevant committee approval must be obtained and indicated in the article (committee name, date, and approval number). JAER does not review studies without ethics committee approval. In case reports, informed consent from participants must be obtained.

Research requiring ethics committee approval includes:

  • Studies collecting data via surveys, interviews, focus groups, or observations

  • Clinical and experimental studies involving humans and animals

  • Research using human or animal materials

  • Retrospective studies involving personal data

Authors must also confirm that:

  • All used works comply with copyright regulations

  • Permission has been obtained for using scales, surveys, or photos belonging to others

  • In case reports, informed consent has been obtained

Protection of Human, Animal, and Environmental Rights

  • Human research must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA).

  • Informed consent must be obtained from human participants; legal guardian approval is required for children and individuals under guardianship.

  • Participants’ privacy, autonomy, and dignity must be protected.

  • Animal experiments must comply with ARRIVE and ICLAS guidelines, and ethics committee approval must be obtained; measures to minimize pain and suffering should be indicated.

  • Plant studies must comply with IUCN and CITES policies; necessary permits must be stated in the article.

Personal Data Protection

All personal data are protected under the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK) and are not shared with third parties.

Duplicate Publication and Plagiarism

  • Submitting the same or substantially similar manuscripts to multiple journals constitutes an ethical violation.

  • All manuscripts are screened via Turnitin or iThenticate; similarity must not exceed 20%.

  • In case of violation:

    • The author’s affiliated institution will be informed

    • The article will be removed from the website, and the title updated as “Plagiarized Article”

    • The author’s submission rights to the journal will be suspended for 3 years

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

  • Minor errors are corrected via an editorial note.

  • Major errors or ethical violations may require retraction.

  • Expressions of concern may be published following COPE guidelines.

Conflicts of Interest

  • Authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest during submission.

  • Reviewers must not participate if a conflict exists.

  • Editors must not participate in decision-making for manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.

Reporting Ethical Violations

Readers can report suspected ethical violations, plagiarism, or errors to editor@accessiblejournal.com.

Responsibilities of Stakeholders

Publisher:

  • Ensure honest and unbiased evaluation

  • Protect confidentiality

  • Guarantee editorial independence

Editors:

  • Ensure manuscripts comply with journal scope

  • Manage peer review and detect ethical violations

  • Enhance scientific quality

Authors:

  • Submit original and ethical research

  • Comply with ethical guidelines and approvals

  • Present data and results transparently

  • Avoid duplicate publication and plagiarism

Reviewers:

  • Conduct scientific and ethical evaluation

  • Provide impartial and confidential reports

  • Give constructive feedback

Manuscript Review Process

  • Conducted under a double-blind peer review system.

  • Preliminary review and plagiarism check are performed by editors (20% similarity threshold).

  • At least two positive peer reviews are required; if negative, a third reviewer is assigned.

  • Accepted manuscripts undergo language editing, typesetting, and layout processes.

Special Issue Policy

  • Special issues may be published once a year upon the recommendation of the editorial board.

  • Articles submitted to special issues are subject to editorial pre-review and double-blind peer review.

Copyright and Open Access

  • Authors retain copyright of published works.

  • All articles are published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, providing open access.

Archiving and Fee Policy

  • All publications are digitally archived via the LOCKSS system.

  • The journal is fully open access; no submission or publication fees are charged.