Open Access Policy
Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry is an open-access publication. This means all published content is freely available to everyone without subscription fees or access barriers. This approach follows the principles outlined in the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003).
Copyright Policy
All authors must sign a Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship form and submit it through the online submission system during the first revision stage. By signing this form, authors transfer copyright of their work to Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry and agree that accepted articles will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License. This license allows readers to freely access, copy, redistribute, and adapt the published material in any format for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given to the original work.
Publication Fee Policy
Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry is funded by the the Turkish Clinical Biochemistry Association.
Authors are not required to pay any fees during the evaluation and publication process.
Authorship Policy
Authorship Criteria
Authorship confers both responsibility and accountability for published work. In accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, all authors must satisfy four essential criteria:
1) substantial contributions to the study's conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation
2) participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content
3) approval of the final version to be published
4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions regarding accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved. All four conditions must be met for authorship eligibility. Individuals who do not meet these criteria should not be listed as authors but may be acknowledged for their contributions to the research.
Author Contributions and Accountability
Authors are expected to clearly identify their individual contributions and specify which co-authors are responsible for particular aspects of the work. Contributors may use CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to document these contributions at submission. The corresponding author should confirm that all authors have agreed upon the contribution statement, which will be published with the final article. Authors must have confidence in the integrity of their co-authors' work and trust that the research was conducted ethically with accurate and reliable results. The journal will investigate suspected cases of ghost, honorary, or gift authorship in accordance with COPE guidelines on authorship and contributorship.
Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the author group and the journal throughout the submission, peer review, and publication process. This individual is responsible for ensuring that all administrative requirements are completed, including submission of authorship details, ethics committee approvals, clinical trial registration documentation, and conflict of interest disclosures. While these responsibilities may be delegated to co-authors, the corresponding author must remain available to respond promptly to editorial queries during peer review and to address any post-publication questions, critiques, or requests for additional data or information.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Authors must disclose any use of AI-assisted technologies, including Large Language Models, chatbots, or image generators, in both their cover letter and the submitted manuscript. The specific application of such technologies should be described in the appropriate section: writing assistance should be noted in the Acknowledgments, while use in data collection, analysis, or figure generation should be detailed in the Methods section. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work. Authors remain fully accountable for all content produced with AI assistance and must carefully review and edit AI-generated material, as it may contain errors, incompleteness, or bias. Authors must ensure their work contains no plagiarism, including in AI-generated text and images, and that all quoted material is properly attributed with complete citations.
Changes in Authorship
Any modifications to authorship after manuscript acceptance, including the addition, deletion, or reordering of author names, require written confirmation from the corresponding author explaining the rationale for the change, signatures from all co-authors, and approval from the Editor-in-Chief.
Peer Review Policy
Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry uses a double anonymized peer-review process. This means authors and reviewers do not know each other's identities, ensuring unbiased evaluation based on scientific merit.
Initial Review
When a manuscript is submitted, the editorial office first checks that it meets the journal's formatting and submission guidelines. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements are returned to authors for correction. Manuscripts that meet the guidelines are sent to the Editor-in-Chief, who evaluates whether the work is suitable for the journal. Unsuitable manuscripts may be rejected at this stage.
Evaluation
Suitable manuscripts are assigned to Associate Editors, who select appropriate reviewers. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two independent experts in the field. Authors may suggest potential reviewers when submitting their manuscript, though the handling editor decides whether to use these suggestions.
All reviewers must follow COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and must disclose any conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment. This allows editors to determine whether the reviewer can provide an unbiased evaluation. The Editorial Board follows COPE procedures to prevent and detect peer review manipulation.
Based on the reviews, Associate Editors may recommend rejection, continuation of the peer review process, or request revisions before further review.
Reviewer Use of AI
To maintain manuscript confidentiality, reviewers must not upload manuscripts to AI software or other technologies where confidentiality cannot be assured unless explicitly permitted by the journal. Reviewers who use AI must disclose its use to the journal and ensure the content is appropriate and valid, as AI can generate output that may be incorrect, incomplete, or biased.
Confidentiality
All review reports and communications remain confidential and are not made public. Submitted manuscripts are confidential until publication. Reviewers must not use or share information from manuscripts under review. Any suspected misuse of manuscript content by reviewers will be handled according to COPE guidelines.
Final Editorial Decisions
Editorial decisions are based on reviewer reports and recommendations from Associate Editors. The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on all submissions.
After review, authors receive anonymous reviewer reports and the editorial decision. Revised manuscripts are reassessed by the same editors, who will attempt to work with the original reviewers when possible. In the event of delays, authors will be informed and given the opportunity to withdraw their manuscript.
Manuscripts from Editorial Board Members
Manuscripts submitted by Editorial Board members are handled by external editors to ensure impartiality. External editors are selected based on their expertise and peer review experience. The identities of external editors and reviewers remain confidential. All must disclose potential conflicts of interest.
Archiving Policy
Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry ensures permanent preservation and access to published content through electronic archiving in Portico and the journal's website. This guarantees long-term accessibility of all published articles.
Self-Archiving Policy
Authors may self-archive their published articles on institutional or personal websites and in open access repositories. When doing so, authors must acknowledge the original publication, include the DOI, and provide a link to the published version on the journal's website. The version published on the Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry journal website is the authoritative version of record.
Data Sharing Policy
Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry encourages authors to share research data whenever possible, unless prevented by ethical, privacy, or confidentiality concerns. Authors may deposit data in publicly accessible repositories and include the DOI link in their manuscript.
Clinical Trials
Manuscripts reporting clinical trial results must include a data sharing statement that indicates:
- Whether participant data will be shared
- What data will be shared
- What additional documents will be available (protocol, analysis plan, etc.)
- When and for how long data will be available
- Who can access the data and how
Clinical trials that began enrolling participants after January 1, 2019, must include a data sharing plan in the trial registration. Any changes to this plan must be updated in both the manuscript and the title page.
The journal follows ICMJE data sharing recommendations.
Advertising Policy
Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry may display digital advertisements on its website. The Editor-in-Chief reviews and approves all advertisements, which must be clearly identified as advertising content. Editorial independence is maintained, and advertisers cannot influence journal content or editorial decisions.
Advertisements for products demonstrated to be harmful to health are prohibited. All advertisements must meet relevant regulatory and industry standards.
Preprint Policy
The journal accepts manuscripts previously posted on non-profit preprint servers, provided authors retain copyright to the preprints. Authors must share preprint details during submission to allow reviewers and editors to assess the content.
Upon acceptance, authors must update their preprint with a link to the published version using the following text: "This article has been published in the Journal of Turkish Clinical Biochemistry after peer review and can be viewed at [insert DOI]."
Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions
All post-publication correction requests are reviewed by the Editorial Board, which evaluates the nature of the error, its impact, and supporting evidence. The board may consult with authors, reviewers, and experts before deciding. Approved corrections are published as erratum and implemented in the journal's archive.
Misconduct Allegations
The Editorial Board investigates misconduct allegations following ICMJE and COPE guidelines. When allegations arise from whistleblowers or social media, the board follows relevant COPE flowcharts. In complex cases, an ombudsperson may be assigned. The board may share information with other editors or institutions to facilitate investigations.
Retractions
Retraction corrects the scientific literature by alerting readers to articles with seriously flawed content that makes their findings unreliable. The purpose is to protect the integrity of science, not to punish authors.
If misconduct is confirmed, the Editor-in-Chief may issue a retraction notice. When there is insufficient information to determine reliability, an expression of concern may be published instead.
Retraction notices are published in the journal and all indexes are updated. Retracted articles remain in the archive but are clearly marked as retracted.
Withdrawal Requests
Authors may request withdrawal of their manuscript at any time before publication. Withdrawal requests must meet the following conditions:
- A formal written request must be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief providing clear justification for the withdrawal
- All co-authors must consent to the withdrawal without coercion
Once a withdrawal request is received and approved, the manuscript will be removed from the submission and review process. Authors will receive confirmation of the withdrawal.
Disclaimer
The opinions and conclusions in published articles are those of the authors, not the journal, editors, or publisher. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their work. The journal, editors, and publisher are not responsible for the content or claims made in published articles.