Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics

The process of writing an article, journal submission and peer review process involves a number of people who must be aware of their own duties to obey the international regulations accurately and ethically. As far as moral aspects are concerned, the authors, the journals’ editor-in-chief, and the editorial board, as well as the reviewers must follow special rules to minimize the risks and fraud in knowledge dissemination. In the following, the ethical issues relevant to the complete procedure of writing and publishing a research article in the International Journal of Transportation Engineering (IJTE) are outlined based on the international regulations and documents.

According to the final decision made by the IJTE editor-in-chief and the editorial board, the following decisions are announced regarding authors’ responsibilities

  • The authors are required to express any types and forms of financial, professional and personal relations and dependencies with other people or research institutions and organizations. Undeclared conflict of interest is not accepted at all.
  • The authors must be aware of the fact that any signs of data fabrication and falsification, duplicate submission and publication, redundant publication and plagiarism are unacceptable and would lead to rejection of the article.
  • The authors must submit an original research work to the IJTE. The submitted article must not be published previously in other journals in another language. In addition, the article must not be submitted to other journals simultaneously.
  • The authors must insert the name of co-authors appropriately and in the correct order. Any changes in the name of the co-authors must be done before the final acceptance of the paper. The corresponding authors must request for any modification by contacting the editor-in-chief (e-mail) and discussing the issue. Provided the article has been accepted and published online, no request for change is acceptable.
  • The authors must clarify any financial supports from relevant organizations or universities. The exact name of any scholarships or grants awarded to the authors to carry out the research project must be presented in details.
  • Provided any mistake, inaccuracy or error have been found in the submitted paper, the corresponding author must inform the editor-in-chief as soon as possible.
  • The references used to write the articles must be cited appropriately.
  • If an exact sentence of any previous research work has been used in the papers, it must be quoted.

In addition to these, the editor-in-chief as well as the editorial board must report any conflict of interest, conserve the contents of the submitted articles, and follow the peer review process. In addition, they are responsible for the quality of the accepted papers and must do their utmost for constant improvements in the quality of published research works and the integrity of the IJTE.

The ethical points concerning the reviewers are as follows.

  • The reviewers must not use the data available in any research project.
  • The reviewers must report the conflict of interest.
  • Any sign of data fabrication and falsification, duplicate summation and publication, redundant publication as well as plagiarism must be reported to the editorial-in-chief.
  • The contents of the papers must be reviewed with respect to the academic perspectives.
  • The authors must feel responsible for the journal and put their effort to evaluate the journal critically by proposing constructive comments and ideas.
  • The authors must be held accountable for the integrity of the journal.
  • The reviewers must review the paper before the determined deadline.

 This journal follows the  Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and complies with the highest ethical standards in accordance with ethical laws.