Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

The following ethical duties and responsibilities are written in the light of the guide and policies made by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). https://publicationethics.org/

Publication Ethics
Release Declaration
The journal is tightly bound to the principles of good publishing practices in the guidelines of the Editorial Committee (COPE). Authors in the article application; that their work is in compliance with ethical, legal and scientific rules and that they have not been published before and are not in the evaluation stage to be published elsewhere during the application. Previously published tables, figures and articles must be clearly stated and permission must be obtained from those holding the broadcasting rights. The journal requires that appropriate ethics committee applications are made, that informed consents are received and that they are reported to the article. In medical studies involving human subjects, the Helsinki Declaration is firmly attached to its principles. Authors are required to report that they are in compliance with institutional or national guidelines for the use and care of laboratory animals.

Scientific works are studies which are concluded as a result of scientific methods and which provide with the application of scientific methods and objectivity. In the process of production of these works, all the components of the publication process; namely, publisher, editor, author, reviewers, and readers must follow the ethical principles. In this scope, International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging (IJAHA) must also follow the ethical principles of the all components of the publication process in the light of the guides and policies published in the open access by the Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE (e.g. COPE “Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” ve “COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”, ICMJE Recommendations, WAME resources, WMA policies, and WMA Helsinki Declaration).

Ethical Approval (ETHICAL CONSENT REPORT)
In the articles evaluated in International Journal of International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging (IJAHA) Ethics Committee Approval is needed for the following items:
* Research conducted in qualitative or quantitative approaches which require data collection from the participants using survey, interview, focus group study, observation, and/or experiment techniques,
* Using humans or animals (including material/data) with experimental or other scientific aims,
* Clinical research on humans,
* Research on animals,
* Retrospective studies in accordance with the law on the protection of personal data.

Informed Consent Statement

Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data, or human tissue must include a statement of informed consent for participation in research. Verbal informed consent to participate in a study can be acceptable under some circumstances (such as in ethnographic studies). The authors must explain the rationale for using this kind of consent in the “Informed Consent Statement” Section. For verbal informed consent, a copy of the script used must be provided during the submission stage.

For all manuscripts that include identifying patient/participant information (personal details, images, or videos relating to an individual person), written informed consent for the publication of these details must be obtained from patients/participants (or their relatives/guardians) before submitting to an IJAHA journal. A blank version of the form used to obtain permission (without the patient/participant names or signature) should be provided upon submission. You may refer to our template permission form and provide an appropriate form after consulting with your affiliated institution.

Publisher's Responsibility
International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging  is an independent and self-publishing academic journal, and the "NDP Academic Publishing (NDPAP)" is defined as a “Publisher” (as hereinafter defined).
Publisher has to prepare policies and design the journal’s website according to COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. The publisher agrees to make all accepted manuscripts open access under the CC BY license by charging a publication fee at the time of submission, processing and/or publication. Publisher agrees to work with editors, section editor, editorial board members, and editors' assistants to determine the journal policies in line with COPE periodically and follows these policies. Publisher guarantees editorial independence, respect the peer review process and disclaims being involved in editorial decisions. Publisher guarantees to publish the volume and issues on a timely basis. Publisher declares to remain neutral concerning jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliation. Publisher conducts rules and policies for research ethics, consent, including confidentiality, and the legal requirements for human and animal research.
Publisher conducts the relationship rules between publisher, editors and third-parties in any contract, protects intellectual property and copyright, respects privacy and supports editorial independence. Publisher guarantees not to allow any sponsors to be involved in decisions about the journal's publishing policies even if they support the publisher financially. Publisher guarantees to comply with the journal's publishing policies, particularly in the context of transparency and integrity (e.g., research funding, conflicts of interest, and reporting standards). The publisher guarantees to comply with the journal's publishing policies, particularly in the context of appeals and complaints. The publisher guarantees to maintain the integrity of the scientific work. The publisher guarantees to assist-third parties (grant funders, institutions, etc.) responsible for the investigation of suspected research and publication misconduct and to facilitate the resolution of these cases whenever possible. Publisher guarantees to publish clarifications, corrections, and retractions based on editorial board decisions.

Responsibilities of Authors
The author is expected to be held accountable for the accuracy of the data and information about the submitted article. A proper and relevant citation should be considered by presenting the original original output of the authors' research, documenting the data and documenting the discussion. A writer should not repeat any research data from himself or herself when making an original manuscript for a primary publication in the magazine. The reported scope of work should be based on the appropriate references of other publications that affect it. Before submitting any article, the authors should check the extent of the journal and, in the case of any inquiries, contact the Editorial Office.
Authors should strictly comply with the authorship criteria. All listed authors have made important contributions to the research presented in the manuscript and must have approved all their claims. Anyone who should be considered as the author of an original research article should contribute to any of the following methods: designing the study, conducting the study or conducting the experiments, taking part in the analysis of the data. It is necessary to include everybody who makes a significant contribution to the completion of their research work. The financial and personal benefits governing the findings or research of the nature, as well as financial support details and resources, should be clearly stated

Author Contributions
For full transparency, all submitted manuscripts must include an author contribution statement that identifies the work of each author. For research articles with multiple authors, a short paragraph should be provided indicating their individual contributions. Please indicate the contribution of each author to the submitted article in the table below. Authorship Form
The following statements should be used: Study Design, XX and XX; Data Collection, XX; Statistical Analysis, XX; Data Interpretation, XX and XX; Manuscript Preparation, XX and XX; Literature Search, XX and XX. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Please see the CRediT taxonomy for a definition of terms. Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the reported work.
The corresponding author should act as a point of contact between the editor and other authors, keeping co-authors informed and involved in important decisions regarding publication. Co-first authors may be identified in the manuscript by including the statement "X and X contributed equally to this article." The roles of co-authors should also be adequately explained in the contribution statement.
For review articles where individual statements are less valid, a statement should be included explaining who was responsible for the idea, who performed the literature review and/or data analysis, and who drafted and reviewed the work.
For articles based primarily on a student's thesis or dissertation, IJAHA recommends that the student be listed as the lead author.

Deceased Authors
If a manuscript is submitted with a deceased author in authorship during the process, or if an author dies during peer review, the corresponding author or co-authors should notify the IJAHA editorial office. If the deceased author is a corresponding author, the authorship group should nominate a co-author for this role. The corresponding author should confirm the deceased author's contribution and any potential conflicts of interest. A note will be added to the author list after publication.

Changes in Authorship
Authors are expected to carefully consider authorship before submitting a manuscript. Any changes to the author list should be made during the editorial process prior to acceptance of the manuscript. Authorship changes, including adding, removing, or rearranging author names, require approval from all authors, including those to be removed. To request any change in authorship, the journal must receive a completed authorship change form that includes signatures from all authors and indicates the reason for the change. Any change in authorship requested after the manuscript has been accepted will result in a delay in publication. If the manuscript has been previously published, requests for changes in authorship will be considered and a correction will need to be published. We reserve the right to request proof of authorship, and changes in authorship after acceptance will be made at the discretion of the IJAHA editorial board.

Author Name Change Policy
Some authors may wish to change their name after publication. In such cases, IJAHA will update and republish the article and resubmit the updated metadata to the appropriate indexing databases (please note that all updates are subject to the policies of the databases). Our teams recognize that name changes for various reasons, such as gender identity, marriage, divorce, or religious conversion, can be sensitive and/or private. Therefore, to protect author identity, no correction will be published and co-authors will not be notified. Authors should contact the journal's "Editorial Office" with name change requests.

Responsibilities of Evaluators
Editors are obliged to comply with the policies of "Blind Review and Review Process" stated in the journal's publication policies. Therefore, the editors ensure that each manuscript is reviewed in an unbiased, fair and timely manner.
Privacy Policy: Observers should not share or disclose any information about an assigned manuscript with strangers without permission from the Editor.
Competency Principle: You must complete the assessment with a qualified person. The appointed observer with unauthorized competence must feel responsible and may refuse to review because the evaluator is assumed to be an expert on the relevant field.
Constructive Evaluation
Reviewer's comments should assess the positive aspects of the studies, constructively describe their negative aspects and indicate the necessary equipment. An evaluator (Observer) should clearly and adequately explain and support the judgment of the editors and the authors for their interpretation. The reviewer must ensure that he or she is accompanied by a relevant reference to an observation or argument previously reported, and should immediately notify the editor if he / she is aware of the repetitive publication. The interpreter should not use any kind of abusive language when commenting on a article. The evaluation of each article should be made without prejudice and personal attention by the person who has been appointed.
Disclosure of Conflict of Interest
The observer should minimize conflict of interest as much as possible. In such a case, the eye must inform the editor of the conflict of interest. Observers must be sufficiently active to present their review comments in a timely manner, and to respond to questions asked by the editor, if any.

Selection Process of the Editorial Board
The Editorial Board must include members from diverse geographic locations to enhance the journal COPE: Editorial board participation and WAME: Syllabus for Prospective and Newly Appointed Editors. The establishment of a thriving journal necessitates the presence of a reliable and unwavering editorial committee. All potential candidates shall obtain a comprehensive overview of the assigned accountability. In addition, the editorial Board shall offer voluntary, unpaid responsibilities/accountabilities.
The journals of International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging (IJAHA)  provide an opportunity to be part of the editorial Board by submitting the membership form, which allows interested individuals to express their interest and qualifications for serving on the Board. It also provides the journal with a means of selecting candidates who can contribute to the publication’s mission and goals. The membership form should be completed and submitted promptly and professionally, with careful attention paid to the information provided and the requirements for eligibility. By submitting a membership form, individuals can demonstrate their commitment to the field and willingness to contribute to advancing knowledge and research in their area of expertise.
Editors: The size of the Board may change annually, depending on various factors. The editors are selected based on expertise, applicability, outstanding research metrics, geographical diversity, and recognition in significant organizations/institutions.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Board
The editor and field editors of International International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging  should hold the following ethical responsibilities that are based on the guides "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published as open Access by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
Editors are obliged to publish corrections or corrections as soon as possible, preserving the integrity of the published article, if necessary. The editor must comply with the policy guidelines provided by the publisher and fulfill its responsibilities in its entirety. Review process: Editors are responsible for monitoring and providing justice, timing, rigor and courtesy of the arbitration review process. Ensure that the content or author information contained in the article is legible. To evaluate all the manuscripts so that they are not covered by the journal. Promoting corrections, dealing with withdrawal, additional data, etc. To protect the inner integrity of the magazines with themes. Try to publish the best articles and research that attract readers.
Decision Making: It has the right to be in consultation with decision-making, eye-catching or editorial board members.
Impartiality: The editorial and editorial board should evaluate manuscripts in terms of their intellectual content, without putting any prejudice against race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship, or political philosophies of authors.
Confidentiality: The Editor or any Editor board staff should not pass any information about a submitted manuscript, the related author, the reviewers, other editorial advisers, or the outside of the publisher.

International Journal of Active & Healthy Aging (IJAHA) editors, editorial board members, and editors' assistants are welcome to submit their original manuscripts to the IJAHA, but they have to know that they cannot be involved in the peer-review and editorial decision-making process for their own manuscripts. In this case, the publisher chooses a guest editor for the IJAHA editors, editorial board members, and editors’ assistants' manuscripts to handle independently the peer-review and editorial decision-making process. The publisher clearly states the case to the readers (e.g., via a footnote, endnote on the article or on the journal website) on how to carry out the IJAHA staff's manuscripts. When IJAHA encounters disagreements, IJAHA follows COPE Guidelines.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
The fact that all manuscripts are reviewed through "Blind Review" has a direct influence on the publication quality. This process ensures confidentiality by objective and independent review. The review process at IJAHA is carried out on the principle of double blind review. Reviewers do not contact the authors directly, and the reviews and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, the reviewer views on the evaluation forms and full texts are assigned to the author(s) by the editor. Therefore, the reviewers doing review work for IJAHA are supposed to bear the following ethical responsibilities:
Reviewers must
• Agree to review only in their subject of expertise.
• Review in an unbiased and confidential manner.
• Inform the editor of the journal if they think that they encounter conflict of interests and decline to review the manuscript during the review process.
• Dispose the manuscripts they have reviewed in accordance with the principle of confidentiality after the review process. Reviewers can use the final versions of the manuscripts they have reviewed only after publication.
• Review the manuscript objectively and only in terms of its content and ensure that nationality, gender, religious and political beliefs, and economic apprehension do not influence the review.
• Review the manuscript in a constructive and kind tone, avoid making personal comments including hostility, slander and insult.
• Review the manuscript they have agreed to review on time and in accordance with the ethical rules stated above.

Vulnerable Population Policy

International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging will not publish research that does not comply with the following policies. The purpose of these policies is to protect vulnerable groups as research participants and to ensure that research is scientifically sound, ethical, and socially beneficial.
Vulnerable groups research must be conducted in accordance with the WMA Helsinki Declaration, Articles 19 and 20, and approved by an ethics committee decision by the legal authority. The study must meet the needs and priorities of the group/individuals in which it is conducted. The case in which the study cannot be carried out outside of these groups and individuals is taken into consideration. In research involving vulnerable groups, additional measures to protect volunteers must be documented by researchers/s. The journal editor/advisory board may conduct an additional review within the framework of basic ethical principles. Additional information may be requested in addition to ethics committee permissions during the journal review process.

Scientific Quality
The scientific quality of research conducted with vulnerable groups must be in accordance with the standards of the Helsinki Declaration, ICH, and the Human Rights and Biomedicine Convention. This means that the research must be well-designed, the research protocol must be properly implemented, and the methods for compiling and analyzing the data must be valid.

Autonomy Principle
Vulnerable groups and individuals must be protected in terms of informed consent processes that are not based on coercion, pressure, or incomplete information. This includes ensuring that research participants are fully informed about the nature, risks, and benefits of the research, and that they have the right to freely decide whether or not to participate.

Privacy Principle
For the publication of research conducted with vulnerable groups, the confidentiality of participants and the anonymity of data must be ensured. This means that the identities and personal information of research participants cannot be disclosed.

Justice Principle
Research on vulnerable groups must be in accordance with the principles of equality and justice. This means that research should not discriminate on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religious belief, socioeconomic status, or other demographic factors.

Social Benefit
The fundamental criterion is that the interests of the volunteers who participate in the research should take precedence over the social and scientific benefits. It is expected that research conducted with vulnerable groups will provide social benefits.

Preview
The articles which are submitted to the International Journal of Active and Healthy Aging (IJAHA) accepted after the evaluation process and completed the process after the acceptance are presented with preview along with their DOI (Digital Object Identifier) numbers on the electronic environment in order to distribute the scientific information in an up-to-date manner. The articles which are published in the preview are published in an issue and voice with a page number approved by the editor board and they are removed from the preview afterward. The articles in preview may not be the last version which will be published in the intended issue. Small changes may occur in the last version of the studies.