COVID-19 Data Published by Turkey is Fake or Not?

COVID-19 Data Published by Turkey is Fake or Not? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article COVID-19 Data Published by Turkey is Fake or Not? Hasraddin Guliyev This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-489724/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Turkey attempt to control the fast-rising number of coronavirus cases and deaths since the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in every country. Likewise, researchers from different fields have been an effort to explore COVID-19 with distinctive aspects for minimizing the cost of a pandemic on the economy and social life. We know that is impossible reliable and unbiased results of studies without accurate data. Thus, if we gather inadequate data and analysis it, we will be faulty decisions and make policies. For this reason, Benford's Law may be useful for assessing the effects of the current control interventions and may be able to answer the question, ‘‘How flat is flat enough?’’. In this study, we explore whether the COVID-19 data published by Turkey is fake or not with Benford's Law. Environmental Policy Benford’s Law COVID-19 data quality Figures Figure 1 Full Text Declaration All authors have participated in (a) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of the data; (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (c) approval of the final version. (d) The authors have no affiliation with any organization with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-489724","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":24659463,"identity":"029b5018-5f2a-47c6-90fa-067a69b0f408","order_by":0,"name":"Hasraddin Guliyev","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABFklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAzDJxswDph+AuOwNIHELIrUkgLg8B0DiEgS1QHgJIEICQuLUYs5+/NmHH2XWMuYM7NckEgoOyxncfH51w48CCQb+9u4EbFose3KMZ/acS+exbOApk0gwOGxscDun7GYP0GESZ85uwOqwAznMDLxth3kMDvCkgbQkzpydk3aDB6jFQCIXu5bzzx8z/kXSUj9z5pm0m3/wabmRYMwMsYX9GEhLAr8E+7HbeG258caYWQboF4PDPMwWCQbphv08OWy3ZQwkeHD65Xz6Y8Y3Zdb2BsfbH9748Mdang0Yhjff/LGR42/vxaoFAZh5QHHUDMRgBgMPfuVgwP4ASNTBGKNgFIyCUTAK4AAAB/dhD3b8A6EAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8192-0401","institution":"Istanbul University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hasraddin","middleName":"","lastName":"Guliyev","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-05-02 21:51:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-489724/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-489724/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":8819729,"identity":"f71365d3-cedf-4005-9965-cb0d66652162","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-05-05 18:41:35","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":31468,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Comparison through bar charts of the distribution of COVID-19 confirmed case data in Turkey with first digits Distribution of Benford's Law.","description":"","filename":"Picture1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-489724/v1/527cdd2b90611f1cce736417.png"},{"id":13628306,"identity":"a656c078-624b-4a68-8b4f-fe4ff0681f89","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-09-17 07:58:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":320779,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"benfordlaw3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-489724/v1_covered.pdf"},{"id":8819893,"identity":"868b3082-9197-4eed-9157-d10d41d829b3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-05-05 18:44:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":505497,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"benfordlaw3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-489724/v1_stamped.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eCOVID-19 Data Published by Turkey is Fake or Not?\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-489724/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."},{"header":"Declaration","content":"\u003cp\u003eAll authors have participated in (a) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of the data; (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (c) approval of the final version. (d) The authors have no affiliation with any organization with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript\u003c/p\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Istanbul University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Benford’s Law, COVID-19, data quality","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-489724/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-489724/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTurkey attempt to control the fast-rising number of coronavirus cases and deaths since the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in every country. Likewise, researchers from different fields have been an effort to explore COVID-19 with distinctive aspects for minimizing the cost of a pandemic on the economy and social life. We know that is impossible reliable and unbiased results of studies without accurate data. Thus, if we gather inadequate data and analysis it, we will be faulty decisions and make policies. For this reason, Benford's Law may be useful for assessing the effects of the current control interventions and may be able to answer the question, ‘‘How flat is flat enough?’’. In this study, we explore whether the COVID-19 data published by Turkey is fake or not with Benford's Law.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"COVID-19 Data Published by Turkey is Fake or Not?","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2021-05-05 18:41:33","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-489724/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"9a65f1e7-c497-4014-9c65-a3e9ec90915a","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 5th, 2021","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":4042433,"name":"Environmental Policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2021-05-05T18:41:33+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2021-05-05 18:41:33","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-489724","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-489724","identity":"rs-489724","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"_2-kVJe1T_tPrBINL-cwx","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}