THE JOURNAL ‘OLBA’, ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY

The Journal ‘Olba’, has been published by the Cilician Archaeology Research Center of Mersin University (Turkey) since 1998.

The Journal ‘Olba’, publishes archaeological studies containing original results related to Asia Minor, the Mediterranean region, and the Middle East. It aims to present original studies to the scientific world by embracing the sciences of antiquity as a whole.

The Journal ‘Olba’ is a non-profit organization. Publications are conducted in accordance with international standards and guidelines (COPE, EASE, ICMJE for medicine, the Declaration of Helsinki, etc.). Throughout the scientific publication process, it is essential that authors, editors, scientific committees, reviewers, and readers adhere to ethical principles.


The Editorial Board's Ethical Responsibilities: • The Editorial Board ensures the establishment and implementation of journal policies, such as blind peer-review, the peer-review process, and ethical principles.

• The Editorial Board is responsible for every submitted article. All decisions made by the editors are independent of other individuals and organizations.

• The Editorial Board takes precautions against non-scientific content, plagiarism, and citation errors during the journal's publication process.

• The Editorial Board electronically maintains records of correspondence with reviewers for each article or correspondence related to the journal.

• When authors request information about the status of their articles, Editors inform them of their manuscript status in a manner that does not disrupt the double-blind peer-review process.

• Editors prioritize the originality of articles, their contribution to the scientific community, the validity of the research method, and their relevance to the journal's objectives and scope.

• Editors select reviewers for each article based on their expertise and ensure that the article is reviewed impartially and within a timely manner.

• Editors intervene in academic and non-scientific reviews. • Editors protect the intellectual property rights of articles.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers The OLBA Journal article evaluation process employs a two-way blind review process, where the author(s) do not know the reviewers, and the reviewers do not know the authors.

• Reviewers cannot communicate directly with authors; article evaluation forms and notes included in the text are forwarded to the author(s) by the editors.

• Reviewers must agree to review only articles related to their areas of expertise.

• Reviewers must conduct their evaluations impartially and confidentially. According to this principle, they must destroy the articles they review after the review process and use them only after publication.

• Reviewers must decline to review the article if they discover a conflict of interest or a commonality of interest and inform the editors.

• Reviewers must conduct their evaluations in a constructive manner, in accordance with academic rules, and avoid insulting or hostile personal comments. If reviewers are found to have made unscientific comments, they may be contacted by the editor or editorial board to reconsider and correct their comments.

• Reviewers are required to complete the "Reviewer Evaluation Form" for the articles they review. Reviewers must also state their decision on whether the article they review is publishable and the reasons for their decision.

Reviewers must evaluate the article they accept for review within the timeframe.

Authors' Ethical Responsibilities

• Authors should not submit articles they have published elsewhere or submitted for publication.

• Authors must submit original articles.

• Authors must accurately cite the sources they used in writing the article.

• Authors must submit articles in accordance with the journal's established Publication Principles.

• Names of individuals who did not contribute to the article should not be listed as authors.

• Individuals who contributed to the article should be listed as authors.

• If the article originates from the author's master's/doctoral thesis or a project, it should be stated.

• Slicing (publishing multiple articles from a single study) should not be used.

• Publications resulting from research conducted with support should identify the supporting individuals, institutions, or organizations and their contributions.

• Authors must document that they have obtained permission for the publication rights of the data (findings/works) they use in their articles; The relevant document must be sent to the editors along with the article at the beginning of the process.

• Authors must submit the "Copyright Transfer Form" prepared for the Journal ‘Olba’ to the editors after receiving notification that their article has been accepted for publication.

(Works submitted for publication must be original and have not been previously published or submitted elsewhere. When submitting their work, individuals are obligated to declare that the work has not been published, in whole or in part, elsewhere, or is not under consideration for publication. Authors agree to waive copyright on their work, and no portion of the published material may be used elsewhere without the publisher's written permission. Authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder when using previously published content, including images, tables, or any other content, whether in print or electronic format. All legal, financial, and criminal liability in this regard rests with the authors.)