Manuscripts evaluations in AYNA Clinical Psychology Journal are conducted within the framework of a double-blind review process. In this context, the identities of the reviewers and authors are kept anonymous throughout the process. In order to ensure anonymity, authors are required to send the cover page containing their credentials (personal information) as a separate file from the article. Also, authors must ensure that their manuscripts are crafted in a manner that does not reveal their identity.

The reviewer evaluation process is carried out within the framework of the steps specified below:

1. The manuscript should be submitted to the journal via the online system (Please create an account on DergiPark, visit journal’s website for detailed information).

2. Editorial board pre-evaluation: Associate Editorial Board Member of the Journal conduct a preliminary evaluation of the submitted manuscript in terms of its quality and content before the peer review process takes place.

3. Assignment of an Editor: An editorial board member, who will oversee the peer review process, is assigned to the article that has passed the associate editorial board's preliminary evaluation.

4. Inviting reviewers for evaluation: The assigned editorial board member invites potential reviewers to the evaluation process based on their research areas/interests. At least two peer reviewers, acknowledged experts in the relevant topic and field of the submissions, are selected by the editor.

5. Reviewers submit their evaluation reports.

6. Informing the authors about the initial decision to publish the article in the journal and sending the referee evaluations to the authors anonymously. All peer review reports are delivered to contributors electronically and anonymously.

7. Controlling whether the author(s) have considered and handled all the reviewer comments with explanations. This is handled by the assigned editorial board member.

8. When necessary, such as in cases where reviewers recommend reevaluation following revisions, the revised manuscript is resubmitted to reviewers for further assessment.

9. Making the final decision on the acceptance of the revised manuscript. Following the review process, the Editor-in-Chief is responsible for determining the publication status of the manuscript submitted to the journal. This decision is informed by the validation of the work, its significance to researchers and readers, feedback from reviewers, and compliance with legal requirements related to copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Editor-in-Chief may seek input from other editors or reviewers when making this decision.

10. If the submitted article is authored by a researcher affiliated at the same institution as the Editor in Chief, to ensure the editorial independence the following steps are taken: For all submissions where the Editor-in-Chief has any institutional or personal connection with the authors, the editorial process is assigned to another Editorial Board member who takes full responsibility for the peer review process and final decision. Particularly for these submissions, the Editor-in-Chief is completely excluded from the reviewer selection, editorial correspondence, and decision-making processes.

b. Conflict of Interest

The journal defines a conflict of interest as any situation where the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board members have co-authorship or prior collaboration with the author(s) within the past three years or any personal or financial relationship that could affect the editorial objectivity. The Journal Editorial Board takes necessary precautions to ensure that there is no conflict of interest during the assignment of editors who will be responsible for monitoring the editorial process. When such a potential conflict is identified with the Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief withdraws from the editorial process for that submission and leaves the responsibility to another editor who does not have a conflict of interest with the author(s) of the submitted manuscript, and this process is noted in journal’s internal workflow system.

As for the management of verification of potential conflicts of interest between the authors and the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board members, the members of the Editorial Board check the affiliation and the previous publication history of the author(s) in order to detect any potential conflict of interest. Moreover, authors are asked to declare any conflict of interest during the submission period. When such conflict is detected, the above-mentioned procedure immediately takes place.

Also, if the reviewers identify a potential conflict of interest while evaluating the manuscripts sent to them, they are required to inform the relevant editor and withdraw from their reviewing duties.

c. Disclosure Statement

Ayna Clinical Psychology Journal requests authors of submitted articles to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest and to take necessary steps in this regard. Support received from relevant individuals or institutions for a submitted study to our journal should be reported to the Editorial Board. The Disclosure Statement Form, to convey this information, must be signed by all contributing authors  during the article submission process. The Editorial Board, following COPE guidelines, endeavors to address and resolve potential conflicts of interest involving editors, authors, or reviewers.

Publishing Policy and Publication Ethics

a. Open Access Policy

AYNA Journal of Clinical Psychology is an open-access journal. Its past issues can be accessed online without any charge. All content of the journal is freely available to readers or their institutions. Readers can read, download, copy, search, and link to the full texts of the articles without asking for permission from the publisher or the author, provided it is not for commercial purposes. The open-access articles of the journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

b. Copyright Information

Authors hold the copyright to their works published in the journal, and these works are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license allows the work to be shared, copied, reproduced, and adapted in any format and size, provided that appropriate credit is given and the use is non-commercial. For detailed information, please refer to the CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

In the "Copyright Agreement Form", the corresponding author, on behalf of all authors, certifies that: a) the submitted article is the original work of the author(s); b) all authors have individually contributed to this work and take full responsibility for it; c) all authors have seen and approved the final version of the submitted article; d) the article has not been published elsewhere, has not been submitted for publication, and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere; e) the text, figures and documents contained in the article do not violate the Copyrights of other individuals.

c. Publishing Rights

The author(s) retains the right to reproduce and distribute the article, either by mail or electronically. With proper citation to AYNA Clinical Psychology Journal as the original place of publication, permission is granted for the use of any part of the article in another publication. The citation should include the Journal Name, Article Title, Author(s) Name, Volume No, Issue No, and Year.

d. Plagiarism Policy

Ayna Clinical Psychology Journal has a policy to evaluate submitted articles in terms of plagiarism. In order for the evaluation process to begin, submitted articles are first assessed using iThenticate, Turnitin, and Intihal.net programs. Articles found to have utilized other works without appropriate referencing methods or with similarities to existing literature (including the authors' previously published works) are considered to have committed plagiarism. In such cases, the article is either rejected without being included in the evaluation process, or the author(s) are advised to revise the article and resubmit it for review.

e. Publication Ethics

In the event of any ethical violation or suspicion thereof related to manuscripts previously published or submitted for publication in AYNA Clinical Psychology Journal, the Editorial Board takes the necessary actions. In this context, it is the responsibility of the Editorial Board to thoroughly investigate the ethical violation or prevent the publication of manuscirpts identified as having experienced an ethical violation. The Editorial Board reserves the right to request responses from relevant individuals during the investigation of an ethical violation. Within the framework of our journal's publication ethics, any form of support for the occurrence of an ethical violation is not endorsed. Authors whose work is published in AYNA Clinical Psychology Journal may, if necessary, request the withdrawal of their articles or make corrections by contacting the Editorial Board. Necessary corrections, clarifications and explanations regarding the articles are published by the Editorial Board.

f. No Article Processing Charge

There are no article processing charges (APCs) and submission charges.

Authors and Their Responsibilities

a. Authorship of the Manuscript

All authors are required to contribute significantly to the manuscript. Additionally, all authors must agree to the publication of the final version of the manuscript.

b. Errors in Published Works

If authors notice an error in their published work, they are required to notify the editor and collaborate with the editor in correcting the error.

c. Ethical Permission

Starting from 2020, it is expected that manuscripts submitted to the journal will include ethical committee approval.

d. Informed Consent

In any research that involves human participants, it is essential to acquire voluntary and informed consent from the individuals involved (or from the parent or legal guardian for participants under the age of 16). Additionally, the manuscript must include a statement acknowledging the obtained consent.

Participants may agree to take part in a study but may raise objections to the publication of their data in a journal article. Therefore, authors should ensure they obtain explicit consent from individuals for the publication of their data before submitting their paper to our journal, with special attention given to case studies.

e. List of References

Authors are required to indicate the sources they have used in their articles.

f. Financial Support

If there has been financial support for the study, it should be indicated by the authors.

g. Originality

When authors submit a manuscript to the journal, they acknowledge that the article is a wholly original work and has not been published in any other journal.

Journal information can be accessed from here according to Scopus data:

https://www.scopus.com/results/results.uri?sort=plf-f&src=s&sid=d7f252332c755939e843aa248c6f1974&sot=a&sdt=a&sl=47&s=REFSRCTITLE%28%22Ayna+Clinical+Psychology+Journal%22%29&origin=searchadvanced&editSaveSearch=&txGid=1f775f63788d57fe8c3e7f5d1969054f