EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Coordination of the Peer Review Process
The Editor and the Field Editor should ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely. Research articles should be reviewed by at least two external referees, and the editor should seek additional opinions when necessary.

Selection of Reviewers
The Editor will select reviewers with appropriate expertise in the relevant field, taking into consideration the need for suitability, inclusivity, and diverse representation. The Editor will follow best practices to avoid selecting fraudulent reviewers.

Protection of Confidentiality
The Editor must maintain the confidentiality of all materials submitted to the journal and all communications with reviewers, unless agreed otherwise with relevant authors and reviewers. In exceptional circumstances and after consulting with the publisher, the Editor may share limited information with editors of other journals to investigate suspected research misconduct. The Editor must safeguard the identities of reviewers. Information contained in a submitted manuscript should not be used by the editor in their own research without the explicit written permission of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through the peer review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Impartiality
The Editor should evaluate manuscripts based on their intellectual content, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Investigation of Allegations
An editor who finds convincing evidence of ethical misconduct should contact the Editorial Board and Publisher to ensure that the manuscript is corrected, retracted, or other correction is made.

Conflict of Interest
Editors or field editors should not be involved in the processes of articles written by themselves or family members. Additionally, such a study should be subject to all normal procedures of the journal. The editor should follow the ICMJE guidelines regarding the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest by authors and reviewers.

Publication Decision
The Editor is responsible for determining which of the submitted articles should be published, based on the examination of peer review reports. The Editor must adhere to the policies set by the Editorial Board.

Journal Citation Requests
The Editor should not attempt to artificially increase any journal metric to influence the ranking of the journal. The Editor will not request citations to their own journal or to any other journal, except for scientific reasons.

Correction, Retraction, Expression of Concern Publication
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors that do not affect the findings, interpretations, and conclusions of the published article are identified. When significant errors/violations occur that invalidate the findings and conclusions, editors should consider retracting the article. If there is evidence that the research or publication may involve misconduct, or if there is evidence that the findings are unreliable and the authors' institutions have not investigated the matter, or if a potential investigation appears unfair or inconclusive, editors should consider publishing an expression of concern. COPE and ICMJE guidelines are considered regarding correction, retraction, or expression of concern publication.

Selection of Editors
Field editors and other editors are selected from experts who hold a doctoral degree and have publications relevant to the scope of the journal.

Turkey Editors Workshop Group
Habitus Journal encourages its editors to stay in communication with other editors, believing it would be beneficial. Our editors are members of the Turkey Editors Workshop Group.