Peer Review, Publication Ethics, and Malpractice Statement

Peer Review

Submissions are considered on the condition that manuscripts have not been published previously and are not under consideration elsewhere; that all authors have read and approved the full content and declared all competing interests; and that the work complies with applicable ethical approval requirements and has been conducted in accordance with internationally accepted ethical standards. If ethical misconduct is suspected, the Editorial Board will act in accordance with the relevant international rules of publication ethics, i.e., the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The editorial policies of the journal are implemented in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Science Editors and those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Accordingly, authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to adhere to internationally accepted standards of ethical conduct in scholarly publishing.

Submitted manuscripts are subjected to double-blind peer review. Manuscripts considered suitable for peer review are assigned by the Editor-in-Chief to an Associate Editor with appropriate expertise in the relevant subject area. Original research articles are evaluated by at least three independent external expert reviewers, while other manuscript types are evaluated by at least two independent external expert reviewers. The identities of the authors and reviewers are concealed from each other throughout the peer review process.

Human and Animal Rights

For experimental, clinical, and drug studies involving human participants, approval from the relevant ethics committee and a statement confirming adherence of the study protocol to the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki (“Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants”), as revised in October 2024, are required. For experimental animal studies, authors must indicate that the procedures were conducted in accordance with applicable animal welfare standards ( National Research Council’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals), and they must obtain animal ethics committee approval. Documents confirming ethics committee approval must be submitted to the Turkish Journal of Hematology together with manuscripts.

Ethics committee approval details, a statement regarding adherence to the international guidelines mentioned above, and information regarding informed consent (if applicable) should be provided in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. Written informed consent is required whenever patient data, images, or other materials could reveal the identity of an individual. For persons under 18 years of age, written informed consent should be obtained from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s), as applicable, in accordance with relevant ethical and legal requirements.

Plagiarism and Ethical Misconduct

The Turkish Journal of Hematology uses iThenticate to screen submitted manuscripts for plagiarism and text overlap before publication. This plagiarism screening service is used to verify the originality of submitted content. The journal does not accept articles with similarity rates of more than 30% according to iThenticate reports.

It is essential that authors avoid all forms of plagiarism and ethical misconduct, including the following:

Plagiarism: Using another author’s content, in whole or in part, without appropriate attribution.

Fabrication: Publishing data, findings, or results that do not exist.

Duplication: Using or republishing data or content from another publication without appropriate disclosure; this includes substantially republishing the same article in different languages.

Salami Slicing: Creating multiple publications by inappropriately dividing the results of a single study.

Data Manipulation/Falsification: Manipulating or deliberately distorting research data to give a false or misleading impression of the results.

The journal disapproves of such unethical practices and of attempts to influence the review or publication process through practices such as gift authorship, inappropriate acknowledgements, or inappropriate references, in accordance with COPE flowcharts.

Submitted manuscripts are subjected to software-based evaluation for plagiarism and potential duplicate publication. Authors are obliged to disclose if study results have been previously published, in whole or in part, including in abstract form.

Duties of the Publisher
Handling of Unethical Publishing Behavior

The publisher will take all appropriate measures, in close cooperation with the editors, in cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism. This may include the prompt publication of a correction, disclosure, or retraction of the relevant work, depending on the nature and severity of the case. Together with the editors, the publisher will take reasonable steps to detect and prevent the publication of articles involving research misconduct and will under no circumstances promote or knowingly allow such misconduct to occur.

Editorial Autonomy

The Turkish Journal of Hematology is committed to ensuring the autonomy and independence of editorial decisions without influence from commercial partners.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

The Turkish Journal of Hematology protects the intellectual property and copyright of articles published in the journal and maintains the published version of record of each article. The journal is committed to ensuring the integrity and transparency of its published content.

Scientific Misconduct

The publisher of the Turkish Journal of Hematology takes appropriate measures regarding fraudulent publication, plagiarism, and other forms of scientific misconduct.

Duties of Editors
Decision on Publication and Responsibility

The Editor-in-Chief strives to meet the needs of readers and authors and to ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final editorial decisions regarding manuscripts submitted to the journal, except in cases where the Editor-in-Chief has a relevant conflict of interest. Editorial decisions are guided by the journal’s policies and applicable legal requirements regarding issues such as libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The Editor-in-Chief may consult reviewers and other editors as appropriate during the decision-making process and is responsible for the overall quality and integrity of the publications.

Objectivity

Articles submitted to the journal are evaluated objectively and without prejudice.

Confidentiality

Editors must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than authorized editorial staff, reviewers, and the publisher, as necessary for the editorial process.

Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure

Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose relevant conflicts of interest. Editors must not participate in the editorial evaluation or decision-making process of manuscripts in which they have a relevant conflict of interest. Unpublished materials contained in a submitted article must not be used by anyone without the express written permission of the author.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

Authors are obliged to notify the journal’s editors or publisher immediately and to cooperate with them to correct or retract an article if significant errors or inaccuracies are identified in the published work. If the editors or publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains a material error or inaccuracy, the authors must cooperate with the journal to correct or retract the article or provide the editors with evidence supporting the accuracy of the published work.

Duties of Reviewers
Evaluation

Reviewers evaluate manuscripts objectively and without prejudice regarding the origin, gender, sexual orientation, political philosophy, or other personal characteristics of the authors. Reviewers are expected to contribute to a fair and impartial blind peer review process.

Confidentiality

All information related to submitted manuscripts must be kept confidential. Reviewers must not share or discuss manuscripts with others unless authorized by the editor.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflict of interest involving the authors, institutions, funders, editors, or other relevant parties. Reviewers should decline review invitations when they are unable to provide an independent and impartial assessment.

Contributions to Editors

Reviewers assist editors in making editorial decisions and may also assist authors in improving their manuscripts through constructive comments.

Objectivity

Reviewers should provide objective judgments and evaluations and express their views clearly with appropriate supporting arguments.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published studies that the authors have not cited. Reviewers should also bring to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript and any other published work of which they have knowledge.

Duties of Authors
Reporting Standards

A submitted manuscript should be original, and authors should ensure that the manuscript has not been published previously. Research data should be presented accurately in the manuscript. A manuscript should include sufficient detail and references to allow others to understand, evaluate, and, where appropriate, replicate the study.

Originality

Authors must ensure that their study is original. References to the literature should be appropriately cited.

Multiple Submissions

Authors should not submit the same study to multiple journals. Simultaneous submission of the same study to more than one journal is unacceptable and constitutes unethical behavior.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Appropriate acknowledgement of the work of others must be provided. Authors should cite publications relevant to their own study, and all sources used in the study should be appropriately acknowledged.

Authorship of Manuscripts

Authorship of a manuscript should be limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the study. Individuals who have participated in the research but do not qualify for authorship should be appropriately acknowledged as supporting contributors. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the manuscript.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All sources of financial support should be disclosed. All authors should disclose any relevant conflict of interest related to their study. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board of the Turkish Journal of Hematology. The ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be completed and submitted by all contributing authors to disclose potential conflicts of interest. Potential conflicts of interest involving editors, authors, or reviewers are evaluated within the scope of the COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

Financial, personal, professional, academic, institutional, or other relationships may constitute a conflict of interest. The reliability of the scientific process and published articles depends on the appropriate disclosure and management of conflicts of interest throughout the planning, implementation, writing, evaluation, editing, and publication of scientific studies.

Financial relationships are among the most readily identifiable conflicts of interest. Conflicts may also arise from personal relationships, academic competition, or intellectual considerations. Authors should avoid agreements with sponsors that restrict their ability to access study data or independently analyze, interpret, prepare, and publish their work. Editors involved in the evaluation and decision-making process should not have relevant personal, professional, academic, institutional, or financial conflicts of interest related to the manuscript under consideration. Authors should inform the Editorial Board of potential conflicts of interest to ensure that their manuscripts are evaluated independently and in accordance with ethical principles.

If the Editor-in-Chief, an Associate Editor, or any other Editorial Board member is an author of a submitted manuscript or has a relevant conflict of interest, that individual is completely excluded from the editorial evaluation and decision-making process for that manuscript. In such cases, the manuscript is assigned to an independent editor with no relevant conflict of interest. Under the journal’s double-blind peer review process, the identities of the authors and reviewers are concealed from each other.

The Turkish Journal of Hematology is committed to ensuring that the evaluation process is conducted independently and impartially.

Conflict of Interest

Authors submitting a manuscript are required to declare relevant conflicts of interest and acknowledge any financial or material support. The conflict of interest statement should appear at the end of the manuscript. Reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflict of interest involving the authors, institutions, funders, or other relevant parties.

Appeals and Complaints

Appeals and complaints are handled by the Editorial Board of the journal in accordance with COPE guidelines. Appeals should be based on the scientific or procedural aspects of the manuscript. The final decision on an appeal is made by the Editor-in-Chief, except where the Editor-in-Chief has a relevant conflict of interest. In such cases, the matter is evaluated independently by an editor with no relevant conflict of interest. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief regarding appeals and complaints via e-mail at [email protected].