ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
International Journal of Biosystems Engineering has accepted and undertaken to comply with the provisions of the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors prepared by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In this context, ethical duties and responsibilities accepted by the journal were prepared by taking into account the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics and Council of Science Editors.

PUBLICATION ETHICS
The publication processes implemented in the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering are the basis for developing and distributing information in an impartial and respected manner. The procedures applied in this direction directly reflect the quality of the authors' work and the institutions that support the authors.

Studies published in the journal are studies that have been reviewed by referees and support scientific methods. In submitting the article to the journal until its publication, it is of great importance that the authors, readers and researchers, publishers, referees, and editors comply with the standards of ethical principles. Within the scope of the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering's publication ethics, all stakeholders are expected to bear the following ethical responsibilities.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AUTHORS
Author / Authors who submit their work to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering are expected to fulfill the following ethical responsibilities:
- Authors/authors must submit their submitted work to be original and cite the sources used in the study completely and accurately.
- The person (s) who do not contribute to the study intellectually should not be stated as the author.
- Conflicts of interest regarding the work sent for publication should be stated, and the reason should be explained.
- The author/authors may be asked for raw data regarding their articles within the evaluation processes framework; therefore, the Author / Authors should be ready to present the expected data and information to the editorial board and scientific board.
- Author / Authors must have a document showing that they have the rights to use the study's data. They have the necessary permissions for the research/analysis or that the experimental subjects' consent has been obtained.
Author / Authors should cooperate with the editor to inform, correct, or withdraw the journal editor or publisher if they notice a mistake or mistake about the published work, in print or at the evaluation stage.
- Cannot include author/authors' works in the application process of more than one journal at the same time. Each application can be initiated following the completion or withdrawal of the previous application. A study published in another journal cannot be submitted to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering.
- Changing the author responsibilities of a study whose evaluation process has started (such as adding author, changing author order, removing author) cannot be proposed.

ETHICAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS
Editors and field editors of the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering, the following ethical duties and responsibilities in line with the guidelines of "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) should have responsibilities:

General duties and responsibilities
Responsible for every publication published in the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering. In the context of this responsibility, editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
- Continuous improvement of the journal,
- Conducting the processes to improve the quality of the studies published in the journal,
- Supporting freedom of thought,
- Continuing business processes without compromising intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
- Showing clarity and transparency in terms of publication in matters that require correction and explanation.


Relations with the reader
Editors should make decisions by considering all readers, researchers, and practitioners' knowledge, skills, and experience expectations. It should be careful that the published studies contribute to the readers, researchers, practitioners, and scientific fields and to be original. Also, editors are obliged to consider the feedback from readers, researchers, and practitioners and provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relations with authors
Editors' duties and responsibilities towards authors are as follows:
- Editors should make positive or negative decisions based on the importance, original value, validity, clarity of expression, and the journal's goals and objectives.
- Unless the studies that are suitable for the publication's scope do not have serious problems, they should be included in the pre-evaluation stage.
- Editors should not ignore the positive referee suggestions unless there is a severe problem with the work.
New editors should not change the previous editor (s) ' decisions regarding the work unless there is a severe problem.
- "Blind Review and Evaluation Process" must be published, and editors must prevent deviations that may occur in the defined processes.
- Editors should publish an "Author's Guide" that includes in detail every subject that will be expected of them by the authors. These guides should be updated periodically.
- Authors should be provided with descriptive and informative notification and feedback.

Relations with referees
The duties and responsibilities of editors towards referees are as follows:
- It should determine the referees by the subject of the study.
- It is responsible for providing the information and guides that referees will need during the evaluation phase.
- It has to observe whether there is a conflict of interest between the authors and referees.
- In the context of blind refereeing, the identity information of the referees should be kept confidential.
- Encourage referees to consider working in an impartial, scientific, and objective language.
- Evaluate the referees with criteria such as timely return and performance.
- It should determine practices and policies that increase the performance of referees.
- Take the necessary steps to update the referee pool and make it a wide range.
- Avoid impolite and unscientific evaluations.

Relations with the editorial board
Editors should ensure that all editorial board members comply with the processes and editorial policies and guidelines. The editorial board should inform its members about the publication policies and keep them informed of new developments. The new editorial board should educate its members on broadcast policies and provide the information they need.
Also, the editors;
- Advisory board members should ensure that they evaluate the work impartially and independently.
- Identify new Advisors board members who can contribute and are appropriate.
- The advisory board should send relevant studies for the field of expertise of the members for evaluation.
- regularly interact with the advisory board.
- It should organize meetings with the advisory board at regular intervals to develop publishing policies and the journal.

Relations with the magazine owner and publisher
The relationship between editors and publishers is based on the principle of editorial independence. By the written contract between the editors and the publisher, all editors' decisions are independent of the publisher and the magazine owner.

Editorial and blind review processes
Editors; It is obliged to implement the "Blind Refereeing and Evaluation Process" policies in the journal publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that each work is evaluated relatively, impartially, and on time.

Quality assurance
Editors; He is responsible for publishing every article published in the journal by publishing policies and international standards.

Protection of personal data
Editors; It is obliged to protect personal data regarding the subjects or images in the evaluated studies. Unless the individuals' express consent in the studies is documented, it is responsible for refusing to work. Also, the editors; is accountable for protecting the author, referee, and readers' individual data.

The ethics committee, human and animal rights
Editors; are obliged to ensure the protection of human and animal rights in the evaluated studies. Ethics committee approval for the subjects used in the studies is responsible for refusing to work in cases with no permission for experimental research.

Prevention against possible misconduct and misconduct

Editors; are obliged to take measures against possible misconduct and misconduct. In addition to conducting a meticulous and objective investigation in determining and evaluating complaints regarding this situation, it is among the editor's responsibilities to share the subject's findings.

Protection of intellectual property rights

Editors; It is obliged to protect all published articles' intellectual property rights and defend the rights of the journal and Author / Authors in possible violations. In addition, editors are obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure that the content in all published articles does not violate other publications' intellectual property rights.



Constructiveness and openness to discussion
Editors;
Consider the persuasive crAlso the works published in the journal and display a constructive attitude towards these criticisms.
- Author (s) of the criticized studies should give the right to reply.
- Should not ignore or exclude studies containing negative results.

Complaints
Editors; Responsible for responding in an enlightening and descriptive manner by carefully reviewing complaints from authors, referees, or readers.

Political and Commercial concerns
Journal owner, publisher, and any other political or commercial aspect do not affect the editors' independent decision-making.

Conflicts of interest
Editors; It guarantees an independent and impartial completion of the studies' publication process, taking into account the conflicts of interest between the author/authors, referees, and other editors.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF REFEREES

The evaluation of all studies within the framework of "Blind Reviewing" directly affects the publication's quality. This process provides confidence through objective and independent assessment of the publication. The evaluation process of the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering is carried out with the principle of double-blind review. Referees cannot contact the authors directly; evaluations and comments are submitted through the journal management system. In this process, referee comments on evaluation forms and full texts are forwarded to the Author / Authors via the editor. In this context, it is expected that the referees evaluating a study for the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering will have the following ethical responsibilities:
- He should only accept study evaluation related to his / her specialty.
- It should evaluate with impartiality and confidentiality.
- If he/she thinks that he/she faces a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, he/she should refuse to examine the study and inform the journal editor.
- Due to the confidentiality principle, they should destroy the studies they examine after the evaluation process. They can only use the final versions of the studies they have reviewed after they are published.
- Make the assessment objectively only about the content of the study. It should not allow nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and business concerns to influence the assessment.
- The assessment should be made in constructive and polite language. He should not make derogatory personal comments that contain hostility, slander, and insult.
- They should perform the work they have accepted to evaluate, on time and with the above ethical responsibilities.

PLAGIARISM CHECK

International Journal of Biosystems Engineering requires that every study that has passed the "Blind Review Process" must be checked for plagiarism to protect the integrity and prevent ethical violations. In this context, the articles' similarity to be sent to our journal with the appropriate plagiarism software programs (iThenticate, Turnitin, etc.) should be specified first. For this reason, the articles/reviews submitted to the journal during the pre-evaluation process; Similarity rates should be determined through software such as iThenticate and Turnitin. Our Editorial Board accepts the similarity rate to be below 20%. Articles/reviews above this specified rate can be returned to the author (s). Financial responsibilities arising within the scope of the evaluation belonging to the Author / Authors.

PUBLICATION POLICY

International Journal of Biosystems Engineering is published twice a year, in June and December.

Open Access Policy: An open-access journal that does not charge an article processing fee (evaluation fee or publication fee) from the articles accepted to be published in the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering does not require international peer-review and subscription fees for access to articles.

Confidentiality Statement: International Journal of Biosystems Engineering agrees to use personal information such as the author's name and e-mail addresses added to the management system only for this journal's scientific purposes. This information will not be used for any other purpose or part and will not be shared with third parties.

Archiving: All articles published in the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering are stored and presented in pdf format on ULAKBİM servers at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/biyosistemmuhendisligi via TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM Life Sciences Database.

Sponsorship and Advertising: Sponsorship and advertisement are not accepted within the scope of the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering publication policies.

-Transfer of Copyright: The studies submitted to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering must not have been published before, submitted to a place for publication, and their publication rights have not been transferred. The responsibility of the works published in the journal belongs to the author (s). Authors who will submit a work to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering must sign the "Copyright Transfer Form" document and upload it to the system. Thus, the authors agree to relinquish the copyright of their work and transfer the copyright of their work to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering with submission for evaluation. The works of the authors who do not submit the Copyright Transfer Form will not be evaluated or published.

-Blind Refereeing and Evaluation Process: Blind refereeing is a method applied to publish scientific publications with the highest quality. This method forms the basis of scientific studies' objective evaluation process and is preferred by many scientific journals. Reviewer views have a decisive place in the publication quality of the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering. All studies submitted to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering are evaluated by blinding according to the following stages.
Blinding Refereeing Type: The International Journal of Biosystems Engineering uses the method of blind review and evaluation to evaluate the studies received. In this method, the author and referee identities of the studies are hidden, and they are not informed of each other.

- Initial Evaluation Process: Studies submitted to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering are first evaluated by editors who are experts in their fields. Studies that do not comply with the purpose and scope of the journal and the journal's writing rules are weak in terms of language and expression rules in Turkish and English, contain critical scientific errors, do not have original value, and do not meet the publication policies are rejected without direct evaluation. Authors of rejected studies are informed within two weeks at the latest from the date of submission.
Studies that are deemed appropriate outside of this scope are sent to a field editor for the relevant field for preliminary evaluation.

- Pre-Evaluation Process: The article submitted to the journal is pre-evaluated by the Journal Editorial Board. The Board has the right to return an article that it does not find suitable for publication in the journal in terms of spelling rules and content without sending it to the referees. The articles published in the journal are sent to three expert referees in the field they belong to for review. The author is informed about the article that the referees find unanimously or mostly unsuitable for publication, and the documents of the work are not returned.

- Referee Assignment Process: Studies are sent to the referees according to their content and expertise of the referees. The editor of the field who examines the study suggests three referees from the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering referee pool, according to their area of expertise, or may offer a new referee suitable for the study's field or select the relevant referee from the Dergipark Referee pool. Care is taken to ensure that each article referee is from a different institution and not from the same institution as the referees. The study is then forwarded to the referees determined by the Field editor. Referees must guarantee that they will not share any process and document about the work they evaluate.


- Referee Evaluation Process: The period given to the referees for the referee evaluation process is four weeks. The authors must complete correction suggestions from referees or editors within one month. Referees can review the revisions of work and decide whether it is appropriate or, if necessary, request corrections more than once. Evaluation Result The referees' opinions are reviewed by the field editor within two weeks at the latest. As a result of this review, the Field Editor transmits its final decision on the study to the editors.

- Editorial Board Decision: The editors prepare the editorial board's opinions on the study based on the field editor and referee opinions. The opinions organized are forwarded to the Author / Authors by the editor, together with the field editor and referee recommendations, within one week at the latest. In this process, works with opposing opinions are returned without a plagiarism control request.

- Article Submission: To submit a study to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering Author / Authors Being a member of the journal park management system at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/login https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/journal Article submission can be done from / 3185 / submission/step/manuscript / new.

- Authors: Author / Authors must cooperate with the journal editor in the withdrawal process if they notice a mistake or mistake about their published work, early appearance, or evaluation stage.

-Withdrawal of Articles: Author (s) who want to request to withdraw their work at the evaluation stage can send the petition with each author's original signature and scanned the current journal editor or via e-mail bsmdergi@uludag.edu.tr. is obliged to convey to the editorial board. The Editorial Board reviews the withdrawal notification and returns within one week at the latest. Authors cannot submit their work to another journal for evaluation unless the studies' withdrawal request, whose copyrights have been transferred to the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering, is approved by the editorial board.

- Editors: Editorial board of the International Journal of Biosystems Engineering; If there is a suspicion of copyright and plagiarism regarding a published, published, or under evaluation work, it is obliged to initiate an investigation regarding the work. If, as a result of the investigation, the editorial board detects copyright and plagiarism in the study at the evaluation stage, it withdraws the evaluation's work. It returns the seen situations to the authors with detailed reference. If the editorial board detects a copyright infringement and plagiarism in a published or printed work, it will take the following recalls and notification procedures within one week at the latest.