Policy on Publication by Editorial Team Members

This policy governs how submissions authored by members of the editorial team are handled, in order to safeguard the editorial independence and impartiality of Kemal Tahir Çalışmaları. It is aligned with the ethical principles of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), ICMJE, and TR Dizin (ULAKBİM).

1. Scope

For the purposes of this policy, the “editorial team” includes the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Section and Field Editors, members of the Editorial and Advisory Boards, Language Editors, and editorial office staff, together with their close collaborators and immediate family members.

2. Core Principle

Publication in Kemal Tahir Çalışmaları by editorial team members is not prohibited; scholarly merit is the decisive criterion. However, because such submissions constitute a structural conflict of interest, they are subject to a stricter and fully independent evaluation than standard submissions.

3. Evaluation Procedure

The following rules apply to submissions authored by an editorial team member:

1. Recusal. The authoring member is excluded from all stages — reviewer assignment, evaluation, revision, and final decision.
2. Independent handling. The submission is managed by another editor who has no conflict of interest with the author. If the Editor-in-Chief is an author, the process is conducted by a designated independent or guest editor.
3. Restricted system access. The authoring member has no access to reviewer identities or to the manuscript’s workflow panel in the journal management system.
4. Double-blind peer review. The work is assessed by at least two independent external reviewers who are not informed of the author’s editorial role.
5. Transparent declaration. The published article clearly states that the author is a member of the editorial team and that the review was conducted independently of that role.
6. Documentation. It is recorded who handled the process and how its independence was ensured.

4. Limits

• Submissions by editorial team members may not constitute a disproportionate share of any issue or volume; the journal keeps editorial-authored content at a reasonable level.
• The Editor-in-Chief is discouraged from authoring in the journal during their term; where this occurs, the process is fully delegated to an independent editor.
• Annual submission limits for editorial team members may be applied to protect editorial independence.

5. Sanctions

Submissions found to breach this policy may be rejected irrespective of peer review, or, if already published, subjected to correction or retraction.

6. Conflict-of-Interest Statement — Sample Wording

Editorial team members who author submissions are expected to include the following statement (or an equivalent) in their manuscript:

Related Policies

This policy applies in conjunction with the following documents:

• Ethical Principles and Publication Policy (Conflict of Interest § 5, Generative AI Policy § 6, Retraction § 8)
• Notes for Reviewers (confidentiality and independent review)
• Notes for Authors (submission process)

This policy is based on the ethical principles of COPE, ICMJE, and TR Dizin (ULAKBİM).