Policies & Transparency
Our commitments to ethical, transparent and equitable scholarly publishing for the international clinical and academic community.
Our publishing commitments
JOCASS is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal. Editorial decisions are made independently and on scholarly merit, with transparency, confidentiality and research integrity at the centre of our process.
Open access · no APC
All published content is freely available to readers worldwide. JOCASS does not charge authors article-processing or publication fees.
Independent double-blind review
Manuscripts are evaluated through double-blind peer review, normally by at least two independent external experts.
Ethics and integrity
Our editorial practice follows recognised principles of COPE, ICMJE and WAME, alongside the journal’s official policies.
Editorial and peer-review practice
Fair editorial assessment
Submissions are assessed for relevance, quality, originality and ethical soundness, without discrimination on personal or institutional grounds.
Confidentiality and conflicts
Editors and reviewers must protect manuscript confidentiality and declare any competing interests. Those with a conflict do not take part in the decision.
Corrections and concerns
Concerns are assessed carefully. When needed, the published record may be clarified through corrections, expressions of concern or retractions.
Author responsibilities
Originality and authorship
Authors are responsible for original work, accurate citation, appropriate authorship and disclosure of contributions. ORCID identifiers are encouraged.
Ethics, consent and privacy
Research involving people or animals requires relevant ethical approval, informed consent and protection of personal or participant information.
Reporting and data
Use appropriate reporting guidance where relevant and include a clear data-availability statement. Clinical trials should be registered when applicable.
Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies
AI-assisted tools may support scholarly work only where their use is transparent, responsible and compatible with research integrity.
- Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors and cannot accept responsibility for a manuscript.
- Authors should disclose the tool, version and purpose of any substantive AI-assisted use in the manuscript or cover letter.
- Authors remain fully responsible for accuracy, originality, citations, confidentiality and the absence of fabricated or misleading content.
- Confidential manuscripts, reviewer reports, participant data and other protected information must not be entered into public AI systems without a lawful and ethical basis.
- AI-generated or AI-altered images must never misrepresent research findings; any permitted use must be clearly disclosed.
Copyright, licensing and preservation
Licence
JOCASS publishes open-access content under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), as stated in the official policy.
Permanent scholarly record
Published articles remain accessible through JOCASS and the official DergiPark journal archive, supporting long-term access to the scholarly record.
Policy updates
Policies are reviewed as standards and editorial practice evolve. The official DergiPark policy pages are the authoritative source for current requirements.
Official policy documents
For detailed and current procedural requirements, including submission, ethical principles, conflicts of interest and indexing information, please consult the official journal profile.