Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) adheres to the ethical standards and best-practice guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All stakeholders—editors, authors, and reviewers—must follow these principles. For ethics inquiries, contact editor.elene@gmail.com.

Publication Ethics

The journal’s editorial and peer-review processes aim to generate, improve, and disseminate knowledge with scientific rigor and fairness. Submissions must follow COPE’s general ethical rules. Where necessary, the editorial office may request the raw data underlying a study. If falsification, fabrication, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or other severe ethical breaches are detected, the manuscript will be rejected and, when appropriate, the authors’ institutions may be notified.

Research Ethics

Research ethics safeguard the credibility of science, enable responsible collaboration, and uphold researchers’ duties to society. ELENE expects authors, reviewers, and editors to observe the following principles:

• Openness and clarity: Share data, materials, tools, and findings to the extent permitted by law and ethics; be receptive to critique and new ideas.
• Integrity and truthfulness: Do not fabricate, falsify, misappropriate, or misrepresent data or results. Report methods, procedures, and outcomes accurately.
• Do no harm: Respect privacy and confidentiality; avoid unnecessary harm to research objects or subjects.
• Intellectual property: Respect IP rights and cite contributors appropriately.
• Confidentiality: Protect confidential communications and records.
• Objectivity: Avoid bias in design, analysis, and interpretation.
• Consistency and rigor: Check the work carefully to minimize errors.
• Social responsibility: Refrain from research that could harm society.
• Non-discrimination: No discrimination based on factors irrelevant to scientific merit.
• Animal welfare: Treat animals with care; avoid poorly designed or unnecessary experiments.
• Human participant protection: Minimize risk; obtain informed consent; take special care with vulnerable groups.

Plagiarism & Similarity Check Policy

ELENE is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity. All submitted manuscripts are screened for similarity using iThenticate (or equivalent plagiarism-detection software) before entering the review process.

• Similarity threshold: Manuscripts with an overall similarity index above 20% (excluding references, quotations, and commonly used phrases) may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected outright.
• Unacceptable practices: Copying text, ideas, figures, or data from other sources without proper attribution constitutes plagiarism and will not be tolerated.
• Duplicate submission: Submitting the same or substantially similar manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously is considered unethical and leads to rejection.
• Self-plagiarism: Authors must avoid reusing large portions of their previously published work without citation. Secondary publication (e.g., translations) must be clearly disclosed and approved by the editor.
• Consequences: If plagiarism or excessive similarity is detected at any stage, the editorial board may reject the submission, retract a published article, and notify the authors’ institutions.

By submitting to ELENE, authors confirm that their work is original, properly cited, and free of plagiarism or inappropriate duplication.

Data Availability Policy

ELENE promotes transparency and reproducibility. Authors must include a Data Availability Statement specifying where data, code, and materials can be accessed, and the conditions for access when public sharing is not possible. Use trusted repositories and follow FAIR principles.

Data Sharing & Reproducibility

ELENE strongly supports transparency and reproducibility in research and requires authors to include a Data Availability Statement specifying where datasets, code, and materials can be accessed, whether within the article, as supplementary files, or through trusted repositories that follow FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). When ethical, legal, or confidentiality restrictions prevent open sharing, authors must explain the conditions under which the data can be accessed. Authors are responsible for ensuring that datasets are preserved in stable repositories, that permissions are obtained for third-party materials, and that information provided is sufficient for replication and verification of results. By submitting to ELENE, authors agree to make underlying data available upon reasonable request and to comply with relevant institutional, national, and international regulations on data protection and ethical standards.

Conflict of Interest Policy

All participants must disclose any potential conflicts of interest (financial, personal, academic, or ideological). Authors declare conflicts in the manuscript; reviewers decline conflicted assignments; editors recuse where impartiality is compromised.

Open Access Policy

All articles in Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) are published as open access and are freely available online immediately upon publication. The journal applies the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license to published content, allowing use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided appropriate credit is given and a link to the license is provided.

• Reader rights: No subscription or paywall barriers to access.
• Reuse rights: Users may reuse the material under CC BY 4.0 with proper attribution (license text).
• Author rights: Authors retain copyright. The published version should be cited with its DOI.
• Self-archiving (Green OA): Authors may deposit preprints, accepted manuscripts, and the version of record in repositories at any time, linking to the DOI and stating the license.

Licensing & Copyright Statement

Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) publishes all content under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. This means:

• Authors retain copyright to their work without restrictions.
• Users are free to share (copy, redistribute) and adapt (remix, transform, build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors and the source.
• The license terms must be clearly stated with the article, including a link to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
• No additional restrictions: The journal does not allow legal or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

By submitting a manuscript to ELENE, authors agree to publish their article under CC BY 4.0 and acknowledge that the final published version will be freely available worldwide.

Authorship Policy

Authorship signifies credit, accountability, and professional reputation. ELENE expects author lists to reflect genuine intellectual contributions and for all named authors to accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Who Qualifies as an Author

An individual should be listed as an author only if all of the following are met:

• Substantive contribution: Meaningful input to study conception/design or to data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
• Manuscript development: Drafting the article or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
• Final approval: Explicit approval of the version to be published.
• Accountability: Agreement to be responsible for all aspects of the work and to address questions about accuracy or integrity.

Contributors who do not meet all criteria should be named in the Acknowledgments, not as authors.

Documenting Contributions

For transparency, submissions should include a concise Contributor Roles statement (e.g., CRediT taxonomy) clarifying who did what (conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, writing, supervision, funding, etc.).

Author Order and Changes

• Author order is a collective decision of the research team and should be discussed early; it may be updated as roles evolve.
• After submission, any addition, removal, or reordering of authors requires written consent from all listed authors with a justification. The Editorial Board will review such requests to prevent abuse and may seek further documentation.

Responsibilities of All Authors

• Be familiar with the full content of the manuscript and have confidence in the integrity of co-authors’ contributions.
• Disclose relevant conflicts of interest and funding.
• Ensure data, materials, and code (where applicable) support the claims and are available per the journal’s policies.
• Remain available post-publication to respond to queries or corrections.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author coordinates submission and peer review, manages communications with the journal, confirms that ethical/administrative requirements are met (e.g., approvals, consents, declarations), and oversees completion of authorship/change forms when needed. This role does not diminish the shared accountability of all authors.

Group or Consortium Authorship

Group names may appear on the byline for large collaborations. However, specific individuals who accept credit and responsibility must be identifiable in the manuscript and metadata to ensure proper indexing.

Non-Author Contributors

Activities that alone do not justify authorship include: securing funding; general supervision or administrative oversight; routine data collection; or purely editorial/language assistance. Such contributions should be acknowledged (individually or as a group) with brief role descriptions (e.g., “data collection,” “scientific advice,” “language editing”). Obtain written permission from anyone named in Acknowledgments.

AI-Assisted Tools

Use of AI systems (e.g., large language models, chatbots, image generators) in writing, analysis, or figure creation must be disclosed in the manuscript’s Declarations section under “Declaration of AI Usage,” and in the cover letter where applicable. AI tools cannot be authors and must not be cited as standalone sources. Authors remain fully responsible for verifying accuracy, removing bias, and ensuring originality of any AI-assisted content. See also the journal’s AI & Generative AI Usage Key Principles.

Acknowledgments Policy

The Acknowledgments section provides a transparent way to recognize contributions that do not meet the full criteria for authorship but nevertheless supported the research or manuscript preparation. ELENE encourages clear, respectful, and accurate acknowledgment practices.

Purpose of Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments highlight individuals, groups, or organizations that contributed in meaningful but non-authorial ways, ensuring credit is given without inflating authorship.

Examples of Appropriate Acknowledgments

• Administrative or technical support
• Provision of materials, equipment, or facilities
• Assistance with data collection or routine analysis
• Editing, proofreading, or language polishing
• General supervision without direct intellectual contribution
• Financial support, grants, or institutional backing (with grant numbers where applicable)

Consent Requirement

Corresponding authors must obtain written permission from each individual named in the Acknowledgments. This ensures that contributors agree to be mentioned and avoids unintended endorsement.

Clarity and Transparency

Whenever possible, specify the type of contribution (e.g., “provided statistical advice,” “assisted with laboratory experiments,” “supported manuscript editing”). Group acknowledgments (e.g., “Clinical Investigators,” “Research Team”) may be used with a brief description of collective contributions.

Funding Acknowledgments

Authors are expected to disclose all sources of financial support, including grant agencies, project numbers, or sponsoring institutions. This helps readers assess potential conflicts of interest and understand the context of the work.

AI Tools in Acknowledgments

When AI-based assistance (e.g., grammar correction, figure design, or drafting support) does not meet the threshold for authorship but contributed to the manuscript, this must be disclosed in the Acknowledgments or in the Declaration of AI Usage section. AI tools cannot be listed as authors under any circumstances.

Funding & Financial Support Policy

ELENE requires authors to disclose all sources of financial or material support, including grants, institutional resources, and project numbers, in order to ensure transparency and maintain research integrity. The role of funders, if any, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation must be specified; if no involvement exists, this should be clearly stated. Financial support that does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section with written consent. Decisions on acceptance or rejection of manuscripts are made independently of financial support, and the journal currently does not charge submission or publication fees. Funding disclosures must also align with the Conflict of Interest Policy.

Self-Archiving Policy

Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) permits authors to archive and share different versions of their manuscripts in institutional or disciplinary repositories, personal websites, or academic social networks, fully consistent with the journal’s open access policy. Authors may deposit the following versions without embargo:

• Submitted version (pre-print): Before peer review
• Accepted version (post-print): After peer review, before typesetting
• Published version (Version of Record): Final PDF as published by the journal

All deposited versions must include a proper citation to the original publication in ELENE and, where possible, the DOI and a direct link to the final version on the journal website. This policy complies with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits sharing and reuse with proper attribution.

Archiving & Preservation Policy

ELENE ensures long-term digital preservation and accessibility of its content through multiple mechanisms:

• LOCKSS: Our journal is compatible with the LOCKSS system. LOCKSS gateway
• CLOCKSS: Content is also preserved through CLOCKSS. CLOCKSS gateway
• OAI-PMH: Metadata and content can be harvested via OAI-PMH service
• Persistent identifiers: Articles are assigned DOIs for reliable citation and linking.
• Self-archiving: Authors may deposit the published version in repositories with DOI and license details.

If a preservation service becomes unavailable, the journal will migrate content to alternative solutions to maintain continuity of access.

Special and Supplemental Issue Policy

Special and Supplemental issues are assessed under the same scientific and ethical criteria as ELENE’s regular issues. In addition, the following rules apply:

• Decision to publish: The Editor-in-Chief and/or Editorial Board may decide to publish a Special or Supplemental issue to address timely themes and contribute to the literature.
• Transparency on the journal site: For each Special/Supplemental issue, the editors/guest editors, editorial/scientific board, issue description, aim and scope, and any special policies (beyond general journal policies) are clearly presented on the journal website.
• Peer review: Submissions are evaluated according to ELENE’s double-blind Peer-Review Process (COPE-compliant standards apply).
• Article volume: The number of articles in any Special/Supplemental issue shall not exceed the average number of articles published in the journal’s regular issues.
• Pagination: Page numbers in Special/Supplemental issues may be numbered separately from the regular issues of the year.
• Annual limit: The number of Special/Supplemental issues published in a year cannot exceed one-third (1/3) of the number of regular issues published in that year.
• Minimum content: A Special/Supplemental issue must include at least five (5) accepted articles. If this threshold is not met, the issue will not be published.
• Editorial consultation: The decision to publish or return manuscripts whose evaluations are complete is made following consultation between the Editorial Board and the authors.
• Default policies: Where not otherwise specified, ELENE’s general journal policies and ethics apply in full to Special/Supplemental issues.

Indexing and Abstracting

ELENE takes every effort to ensure that its published articles are visible and discoverable across major search engines and indexing services. Authors are also encouraged to share their published work through academic networks and repositories such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, SSRN, ArXiv, TechRxiv, institutional DSpace repositories, Mendeley, ISSUU, Internet Archive, and similar platforms.

Currently, published articles are indexed in Google and Google Scholar, ensuring accessibility to a wide academic audience. Our open access policy further guarantees that anyone can access and reuse the articles free of charge with proper attribution, thus supporting global dissemination of research.

Please note that external indexing services operate independently, and the journal cannot take responsibility for errors such as misattribution or unintended merging of author profiles by third-party crawlers.

For the up-to-date list of indexing and abstracting services, please visit: https://www.jelene.org/index.php/elene/Indexing

Privacy Statements

The names, email addresses, and other personal data provided to this journal will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Publisher / Editorial Office Responsibilities

• Safeguard the editorial independence of decision-making.
• Maintain and improve journal quality and policies.
• Preserve authors’ intellectual property rights and protect against unethical conduct.
• Provide clear Guidelines for Authors and Guidelines for Reviewers.
• Keep complete editorial records in electronic form.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Board and Editors

Editors are responsible for the integrity of the editorial process and make decisions independently, guided by scientific merit and the public interest.

• Ensure clarity and transparency in communications.
• Evaluate manuscripts for originality, clarity, and scientific rigor.
• Operate a double-blind peer-review process.
• Select qualified reviewers without conflicts of interest.
• Monitor and act upon unethical behavior.
• Ensure compliance with international ethics standards.
• Correct the literature when errors are identified.
• Consider well-founded post-publication critiques.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer review in ELENE is double-blind. Reviewers must:

• Accept reviews only within their areas of expertise.
• Conduct reviews impartially and confidentially; securely delete manuscript files after completing the review; not use information prior to publication.
• Disclose any conflicts of interest and decline the review when such conflicts exist.
• Provide constructive, respectful, evidence-based feedback; avoid personal criticism.
• Deliver reviews within the agreed timelines.

Responsibilities of Authors

• Submit original work not under consideration elsewhere; properly cite relevant prior work.
• Ensure only those with significant contributions are listed as authors and that author order is agreed by all contributors.
• Provide data/method details sufficient for replication or verification and supply raw data on request.
• Obtain permissions/rights for datasets, instruments, images, figures, and third-party materials used in the manuscript.
• For human/animal studies, obtain ethics committee approval and informed consent where applicable; clearly state the committee name and approval date/number on the first/last page and in the Methods section.
• For case reports, confirm that informed consent was obtained.
• Indicate compliance with copyright, research ethics, and relevant international declarations/guidelines.
• Promptly notify the editorial office to correct or retract their article if significant errors are discovered after submission or publication.

Note: Ethics committee approval is generally not required for narrative reviews. When not required, authors should explicitly state this in the manuscript (first/last page and Methods).

Ethical Approval & Data Protection

ELENE requires that all research involving human participants, animals, or sensitive data complies with national and international ethical standards and has received prior approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board, with the committee name and approval number clearly stated in the manuscript. For studies involving human subjects, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained and that privacy, dignity, and confidentiality were protected; special care must be taken with vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Research involving animals must demonstrate compliance with recognized welfare standards and avoid unnecessary suffering. In addition, authors are responsible for adhering to data protection regulations (such as GDPR or national equivalents), ensuring secure storage of personal data, and anonymizing datasets before sharing where required. Manuscripts without appropriate ethical approval or data protection safeguards will not be accepted for publication, and serious breaches may lead to rejection, retraction, or notification of relevant institutions.

Post-Publication Corrections & Misconduct Handling

Correction requests are assessed by the editor and Editorial Board with reference to COPE guidelines. Decisions consider the error’s nature, impact, and supporting evidence; input may be sought from authors, reviewers, or external experts. Approved corrections will be applied to the journal record.

Allegations of misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation) are handled in line with COPE flowcharts. When needed, the editor may consult other editors-in-chief or relevant institutions. Confirmed ethical breaches may result in retraction. Retracted articles remain archived with a clear retraction notice and indexing updates.

Appeals and Complaints

Appeals of editorial decisions or complaints about journal processes should be sent to editor.elene@gmail.com. Appeals and complaints are reviewed by the editor and Editorial Board in accordance with COPE guidance, and a decision is communicated to the appellant.

Withdrawal Requests (Pre-Publication)

Authors wishing to withdraw a submission must email editor.elene@gmail.com with a signed withdrawal form from all co-authors, stating reasons for withdrawal. The editor and Editorial Board will evaluate the request and notify authors of the decision. To avoid duplicate submission and ethical conflicts, authors should not submit the manuscript elsewhere until the withdrawal process is completed.

Reporting Ethical Concerns

Suspected ethical issues should be reported to editor.elene@gmail.com. All reports are handled confidentially in line with COPE recommendations.

Revenue Sources / Financial Model

Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) is an international open access journal that operates on a non-profit basis and does not charge authors any submission or article processing fees (APCs). The journal’s sustainability is ensured through institutional support from Selçuk University, voluntary contributions of the editorial team. ELENE does not accept advertisements or sponsorships that may influence editorial independence, and all editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of scientific merit. If new revenue models such as sponsorship, advertising, or service fees are introduced in the future, they will be clearly announced on the journal’s website to maintain full transparency.

Advertising & Sponsorship

Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) does not currently accept or display commercial advertising or paid sponsorships. The journal’s editorial decisions are made independently of any financial considerations, ensuring that published content is evaluated solely on its scientific merit. If, in the future, ELENE considers limited advertising or sponsorship opportunities, these will be managed transparently, clearly separated from editorial content, and will never influence the peer-review or editorial decision-making process.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Electrical Engineering and Energy (ELENE) is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion across all aspects of its editorial and publishing processes. Manuscripts are evaluated solely on their scholarly merit, without discrimination based on gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, institutional affiliation, or geographic location. The journal actively seeks participation from a diverse range of authors, reviewers, and editorial board members to ensure a broad representation of perspectives within the global research community. ELENE supports an inclusive environment where all contributors are treated with fairness and respect, and where diversity is recognized as a strength that enhances the quality and impact of scientific communication.

Last updated: 09 November 2025