ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
Author(s) submitting articles to the journal are expected to adhere to the following ethical responsibilities:
• Submission of the Ethical Declaration Form is mandatory at the time of manuscript submission. Link: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/35300 
• Submission of the Copyright Transfer Form is mandatory at the time of manuscript submission. Link: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/35298 
• For all studies involving human participants, approval from an appropriate ethics committee must be obtained and submitted during the manuscript submission process.
• Written informed consent is required for all case reports.
• All research must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
• For animal studies, approval from an animal ethics committee is required.
• Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF REFEREES
Referees who submit articles to the journal are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:
- Referees should not contact authors directly.
- They must make their evaluations impartially and confidentially.
- If he/she thinks that he/she is faced with a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, he/she should not accept to review the study and should inform the journal editor.
- Must complete the evaluation objectively and use constructive and courteous language.
- If they deem necessary, they should exchange opinions with the editor during the evaluation process.
ETHICAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS
Editors who submit articles to the journal are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:
— Must make efforts to meet the information needs of readers and writers.
— The author should carefully examine feedback from referees or readers and respond in an enlightening and explanatory manner.
— Must contribute to the development of the journal and carry out processes to improve the quality of the studies.
— Journal processes must be completed fairly, impartially and on time, in accordance with ethical principles.
—Must be ensure that the submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind peer review process.
— Editor and editorial board members can also send articles to the journal and publish in the journal.

The journal uses the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) Open Access Journals Guide (https://doaj.org/apply/transparency/). Transparency principles are taken as reference in scientific publishing. Although the publication language of the journal is Turkish, articles in English with Turkish abstracts can also be included in the journal.
Balkan Journal of Health Sciences attaches importance to ethical rules in terms of protecting the rights of both the journal and the authors. The provisions of the "Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive" (https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Kurumsal/mevzuat/bilimsel-arastirma-ve etikyonetmeligi.aspx), relevant legislation and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ) takes into account the ethical rules and responsibilities published by https://publicationethics.org/
Article submission and evaluations by Scientific Advisory Board Members are carried out electronically. Manuscripts sent to the journal are first examined by the first reading/language editor team in terms of the journal's basic rules. Articles that do not comply with the basic rules of the journal may be rejected by the editorship or revision may be requested. Manuscripts that are determined to comply with the basic rules of the journal are first evaluated by the journal editorship and sent to the field editor. After being reviewed by the field editor, it is sent to at least two members of the Scientific Advisory Board (double-blind peer review) and these members are asked to give their opinions within 4 weeks about whether it is suitable for publication.
In order for the article to be published, at least two referees must express positive opinions. If one of the two referees expresses a negative opinion, the Journal Publications Commission may review the referee reports and decide to appoint a third referee for the article or to return the article to the author. Referees evaluate articles in areas such as scientific quality and contribution to national/international science and practice. After review by the referee, the article is sent to the journal editor with a recommendation regarding rejection, revision or acceptance of the article.
The Field editors makes a decision in line with the referee recommendations, which will be notified to the author. The article is sent back to the author along with the referee reports. Authors revise the article in line with the recommendations given by the referees and upload all revisions to the system as a response letter to the referee. The final revised version of the articles that pass this review is re-evaluated by the journal editorship and field editors, and the issue in which they will be published is decided.  The changes are marked by the authors/s using yellow color. An acceptance letter is sent to the relevant author and the article is placed in the printing queue. 
After the article is sent to the journal for publication, none of the authors can be deleted from the author list, no name can be added as an author and the author order cannot be changed.
The evaluation process for the article takes approximately 3 months.
Process for Retraction of an Article
Link: https://confluence.ulakbim.gov.tr/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=187301946&preview=/187301946/187301950/Geri%20C%CC%A7ekme%20I%CC%87s%CC%A7leyis%CC%A7i.png