Ethical Policy

Publication Ethics

This document is based on the Committee on the Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines, Turkish Council of Higher Education Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive, and Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK). All parties involved in the publishing process (Editors, Reviewers, Authors, and Publishers) are expected to agree on the following ethical principles.

Advertisement Policy

Turkish Endodontic Journal, as an official scientific journal of Turkish Endodontic Society, does not accept advertisements.

Ethical duty and responsibilities of the Publisher (Turkish Endodontic Society)

The role of the Turkish Endodontic Society includes stewardship of the scholarly record. As such, the publisher should:
Abide by ethical principles related to research integrity; the process of application, review, and selection; and publication;
Collaborate with the editor and the editorial board to maintain and develop the journal in a relationship that recognizes editorial independence and is defined by written agreement;
Publish content promptly, including corrections, clarifications, and retractions;
Preserve published work.
The publication processes of the journal are conducted according to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) and National Information Standards Organization (NISO).
Some examples that are contrary to scientific research and publication ethics are given below:

Plagiarism: The representation of the ideas, methods, data, or other work of another, in whole or in part, as one’s own. The original source must be appropriately acknowledged. Authors are encouraged to offer unique work that does not rely on substantial use of other sources, regardless of citation.

Fraud: The use of fabricated or falsified data or other deceptive misrepresentation of fact. Distortion: Manipulation of the research records, data, images, or results, or presenting unused devices or materials as if they were used in the research, particularly in the interests of study sponsors.

Republication: Duplicate submissions presented as unique publications.

Slicing: The use of a portion of data or findings derived from a single research idea in multiple smaller units as separate publications.

Inaccurate authorship: The inclusion of individuals as named authors who were not active contributors, the failure to include contributors or the inappropriate ranking of authors.

Lack of acknowledgment of individuals, institutions, or organizations that provided financial or other substantial support to the work.

Use of a thesis or unpublished study without the permission of the owner.

Failure to comply with ethical rules for human and animal research, including respect for patient rights and animal welfare, or obtaining the required approval.

The misuse of resources, facilities, or devices provided for scientific research.

The use of false or misleading statements.

On rare occasions it may be necessary for a journal to impose sanctions on researchers who have engaged in questionable research practices or publishing ethics malpractice: For example, a ban against publishing any further articles in the journal when doing so puts the journal’s reputation demonstrably at risk, or not permitting a researcher to serve as a reviewer or editor. Bans of this nature may be implemented for some time and revoked or extended if necessary, upon review after the allotted period. Sanctions may be appealed by writing to the journal editor.

Ethical duty and responsibilities of the editorial board

When making decisions about articles, editors consider the originality of the articles, their contribution to the field, the validity and reliability of the research method, the clarity of expression, and the aims and scope of the journal.
Editors should act in a balanced, objective, and fair manner while performing their duties, without discrimination based on gender, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origins of the authors.
Editors must take necessary precautions to prevent potential conflicts of interest and evaluate any existing declarations if present.
Editors must follow the necessary procedures by the journal's policies and procedures in the event of a complaint about an ethical violation.
Editors should provide authors with an opportunity to respond to the complaint and should not refrain from implementing necessary sanctions, regardless of who the work belongs to.
Editors should reject submissions if they are not suitable for the aims and scope of the journal.
Members of the editorial board are permitted to submit their papers to the journal. In cases where an author is associated with the journal, they will be removed from all editorial tasks for that paper and another member of the team will be assigned responsibility for overseeing peer review.
The editorial board of the Turkish Endodontic Journal is responsible for ensuring that corrections and retractions are handled promptly, transparently, and by best practices. All corrections and retractions will be marked and accessible to readers.

Ethical duty and responsibilities of authors

Turkish Endodontic Journal strictly adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) standards to define the authorship qualifications. We recommend that an author should provide ALL of the following four criteria:

(1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;

(2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

(3) Final approval of the version to be published;

(4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be mentioned under ‘Acknowledgements’.

Authors should take collective responsibility for their work and the content of their publications. The corresponding author should state the Authors' Contributions before proceeding with further submission and evaluation processes.

Plagiarism policy

The authors submitting articles to the journal are expected to comply with the ethical standards and avoid all forms of plagiarism. By submitting their manuscripts to the Turkish Endodontic Journal, authors also accept that their manuscripts may be screened for signs of plagiarism using any means necessary and available, including, but not limited to, the use of plagiarism detection software.

Ethical approvals

Experimentation involving human subjects should be conducted in full accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html) and the legal requirements of the country where the research had been carried out. The manuscript must include a statement indicating that informed consent was obtained from all participants. A statement confirming that the study has been reviewed and approved by an ethical or advisory board with the approval number and board name should also be included. The patient’s privacy should not be violated. Identifying information such as names, initials, hospital numbers, and unnecessary details in photographs should be omitted from the submission. When detailed descriptions, photographs, and/or videos of faces or identifiable body parts that might permit a patient to be identified must be included in the submission, authors must obtain written informed consent for its publication from the patient or his/her parent/guardian.

Experiments on laboratory animals must comply with the Guidelines of the European Communities Council Directive 2010/63/EU and with local laws and regulations. A statement confirming that the study has been reviewed and approved by an ethical or advisory board should also be included (http://www.eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32010L0063).

Disclosure Statement

Authors must declare any financial support or relationships that may pose a conflict of interest by disclosing any financial arrangements they have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript with a company making a competing product, or any conflict relating to technology or methodology. The absence of any interest to disclose must also be stated.

Standards

All submissions should comply with the ICMJE Uniform requirements. Submission of checklists and flow charts of Preferred Reporting Items for Study Designs in Endodontics (PRIDE) requirements are mandatory before proceeding with the article processing for case reports (PRICE), animal studies (PRIASE), randomised clinical trials (PRIRATE), laboratory studies (PRILE). Systematic reviews and meta-analysis should comply with Transparent reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA). Observational studies should comply with Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE). Diagnostic accuracy studies should comply with Essential Items for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD). All relevant and required checklists and flow charts can be found at: https://turkishendodonticjournal.com/Forms

Declaration of Artificial Intelligence (AI)–Assisted Technology in Scientific Writing

At submission, authors should disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)– assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work. Authors who use such technology should describe, in both the Title Page and the submitted work, how they used it. Authors who used AI technology to conduct the study should describe its use in the methods section in sufficient detail to enable replication to the approach, including the tool used, version, and prompts where applicable. Chatbots (such as ChatGPT) and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author nor cited because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, and these responsibilities are required for authorship. Therefore, humans are responsible for any submitted material that includes the use of AI-assisted technologies. Authors should carefully review and edit the result because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in text and images produced by the AI. Humans must ensure there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations.

Disclaimer and Copyright

Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else entirely or partially, nor will it be submitted for consideration of publication anywhere else until a final publication decision concerning this manuscript has been made by the Editor(s) of the Journal; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher cannot be held legally responsible should there be any compensation claims.

Copyright of open access article is retained by the author(s). Turkish Endodontic Journal provides free access and allows free download of its contents from the journal’s website (https://turkishendodonticjournal.com/default.aspx). Both anonymous or registered users can read and/or download articles for personal use. The material cannot be used for commercial purposes. The license does not give the user all permissions necessary for his/her intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how the material can be used.

Articles published in this journal are available for use by researchers and other readers without permission from the author or the publisher provided that the author and the source are cited. The responsibility for the content(s) and/or opinion(s) provided in the articles that are published in the print and/or online versions of the journal belongs exclusively to their respective author(s). The publisher/editor/editorial board/reviewers cannot be held responsible for errors, scientific or otherwise, in the contents or any consequences arising from using the information contained therein. The opinions expressed in the articles published in this journal are purely those of their respective authors and in no way represent the opinions of the publisher/editor/editorial board/reviewers of the journal.

Data Sharing and Accessibility

The journal encourages authors to share the data and other artifacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors may include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used so that this statement can be published alongside their paper.

Corrections and Retractions

The Turkish Endodontic Journal (TEJ) is committed to maintaining the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record. We adhere to high ethical standards in publishing and ensure that our correction and retraction policies are in line with best practices in academic publishing. This policy outlines the procedures for correcting errors and retracting articles when necessary. All articles have their proofs checked before publication by the author and editorial board, which should ensure that content errors are not present. Please contact your editorial manager if an article needs correcting.
Post-publication changes are not permitted to the publication, unless in exceptional circumstances. If an error is discovered in a published article then the publisher will assess whether a Correction paper or Retraction is required.
The editorial board of the Turkish Endodontic Journal is responsible for ensuring that corrections and retractions are handled promptly, transparently, and in accordance with best practices. Minor errors that do not affect the results or conclusions of an article, such as typographical errors, will be corrected through a Correction Notice. Major errors that impact the findings will necessitate a more substantive correction. If errors or ethical issues, such as scientific misconduct or breaches of ethical standards, are identified, a thorough investigation will be conducted. Depending on the findings, a Retraction Notice may be issued to inform readers of the article's invalidation. Both correction and retraction notices will be published in subsequent journal issues and linked to the original articles online, ensuring transparency and accountability. All corrections and retractions will be clearly marked and accessible to readers. In rare cases, articles may be withdrawn before publication. This may occur if ethical violations or significant errors are identified during the editorial process. A withdrawal notice will be issued, and the article will not be published.
Readers are encouraged to report any suspected errors or ethical violations to the editorial office. The integrity of the scholarly record relies on the vigilance and responsibility of the entire academic community.