EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
• Editors of Hafıza Journal are responsible for the publication, rejection, or return of manuscripts in accordance with academic standards and criteria.
• Editors may decide to submit a manuscript to reviewers or to reject it without peer review.
• Editors may consult members of the editorial and advisory boards regarding the publication process.
• Authors are evaluated based solely on academic criteria, without regard to race, religion, language, ethnicity, gender, political views, academic title, or institutional affiliation.
• In cases of conflict of interest, authors, reviewers, and editors are mutually responsible. Any party involved must declare conflicts of interest when present.
• Except for the editors, other board members are not informed of the identity of the authors. These identities are not disclosed to third parties.
• Articles published in the journal may be shared, copied, or distributed with proper citation. However, they may not be used for commercial purposes.
• If a manuscript includes previously published text, tables, images, or other copyrighted material, the author must obtain written permission from the copyright holder and clearly indicate this.
• Authors are solely responsible for ensuring that their submissions adhere to scientific and ethical standards.
• Hafıza Journal does not charge any fees during the submission, evaluation, or access phases of publication.
• The journal adheres strictly to international ethical guidelines.
• All submitted manuscripts are subject to plagiarism detection.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES
• For all scientific research, including those in the social sciences, studies involving clinical or experimental research on humans or animals require separate ethical approval. This approval must be clearly stated and documented in the article.
• Research requiring ethical approval includes:
o Studies involving the collection of data from participants using surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, experiments, or other qualitative/quantitative methods
o Experimental or other scientific use of humans or animals (including data/materials)
o Clinical studies conducted on humans
o Animal studies
o Retrospective studies conducted in compliance with personal data protection laws
o Additionally, informed consent forms must be obtained for case reports; permissions must be secured for the use of scales, questionnaires, or photographs belonging to others; and copyright compliance must be ensured for the use of intellectual and artistic works.
• Hafıza Journal commits to adhering to its Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines and the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

PEER REVIEW PROCESS
• All submitted manuscripts are initially reviewed by the editors.
• The journal follows a double-blind peer review process.
• As the copyright of the submitted manuscript belongs to the author, reviewers and editors must not share, copy, publish, or discuss the manuscript publicly.
• At the editorial stage (prior to peer review), manuscripts are rejected if they:
o Are outside the scope of the journal
o Fail to meet language and expression standards
o Contain scientific errors
o Do not comply with the journal’s publishing policy
• Rejected manuscripts may be resubmitted after the necessary revisions.
• Manuscripts deemed suitable are sent to two field experts for evaluation. Reviewers submit their reports through the online system.
• If one of the two reviewers submits a negative report, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer.
• Articles receiving approval from two out of three reviewers are accepted for publication.
• Reviewers have a 15-day period to complete their assessments.
• Reviewers may:
o Reject the manuscript
o Request major/minor revisions
o Accept the manuscript
• Reviewers are selected based on their expertise and field of interest.

AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES
• Authors are expected to submit original and scientifically valuable studies.
• Proper citation and referencing are required for all used sources.
• Individuals who did not contribute to the content must not be listed as authors.
• Any potential conflicts of interest must be declared during the submission process.
• Authors must have the legal rights to use their data and possess the necessary research permissions. Ethical approval and permissions for experimental studies must be documented and clearly stated in the text. Otherwise, the manuscript may be rejected.
• Authors may not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.
• Previously published works cannot be resubmitted to Hafıza Journal.
• Once the review process has begun, requests to add/remove authors or change the order of authorship are not accepted.
• Papers presented at meetings, symposia, or congresses but not published in full may be considered for review, provided this is clearly stated in the manuscript.
• Manuscripts derived from postgraduate theses may be evaluated for publication in the journal.

REVIEWER RESPONSIBILITIES
• The review process is conducted under a double-blind peer review system.
• Reviewers may not contact the authors directly.
• All comments and revision requests are communicated to the authors by the editors.
• Reviewers must:
o Only accept to review manuscripts within their field of expertise
o Evaluate the manuscript impartially and based on its content, without bias regarding race, nationality, gender, religious belief, or political views
o Decline to review if there is a conflict of interest
o Provide constructive feedback using respectful and appropriate language
o Complete the review within the assigned time frame

EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES (continued)
Editors must:
• Promote the development of the journal, improve the quality of the published content, oversee processes, uphold academic standards, prioritize intellectual property rights and ethical principles, and maintain transparency and openness
• In certain cases, inform the editorial board
• Implement the double-blind peer review system and ensure the evaluation process is fair, impartial, and timely