Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences
i) Article Types
Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences accepts the following types of submissions matching its Aim & Scope.
Original research articles, review articles, research notes/short communications, case studies/case reports, and letters to the editor are welcome. The editor-in-chief can change the manuscript type after the manuscript submission.
Research Articles: A research article reports the results of original research and assesses its contribution to the body of knowledge in a given area with the relevant data and findings in an orderly, logical manner.
Review Articles: A review article is written to summarize the recent developments, improvements, discoveries, and ideas in various subjects. Review articles should present an unbiased summary of the current understanding of the topic. Review articles should cover subjects that fall within the scope of the journal and are of active, current interest. Review articles should be no longer than 50 pages, should have an abstract of 300 words at most, should contain a limit of 120 references, and should have no more than 12 figures and tables combined. Principal sections should be numbered consecutively (1. Introduction, 2. Historical background, etc.), and subsections should be numbered 1.1., 1.2., etc. All reviews should contain an introduction section and a conclusion section, with relevant section headings in between. The introduction should explain the importance of the subject, the text should be comprehensive and detailed, and the references should be exhaustive. Review articles should be written with the support of original published studies of the author(s).
Research Notes/Short Communications: Research notes/short communications are short papers that present original and significant material for rapid dissemination. A research note/short communication may focus on a particular aspect of a problem or a new finding that is expected to have a significant contribution to science. Research notes/short communications should be a concise but complete description of a limited investigation that will not be included in a later paper. These should be as completely documented, both by reference to the literature and by description of the experimental procedures employed, as a regular paper. Research notes/short communications should be no longer than 15 pages, should have an abstract of 300 words at most, and are limited to 30 references and to 5 figures and tables combined. Research notes/short communications should include all relevant study background and contain all of the sections described below, but without section titles or numbers.
Letters to the Editor: Letters to the editor reflect the opinions of other researchers on articles in previously published issues of the same journal. Typically, letters address the contents of an original journal article for one or more of the following reasons: to identify errors and make a correction, provide an alternate theory, provide additional information, offer additional evidence, or provide a counterpoint. The letter should be brief and concise. Letters to the editor should not exceed 800 words and 10 references. Letters are always written to the editor; they are never addressed to the authors of the article in question. While writing a letter, one should avoid assuming a personal and biased attitude or the use of aggressive language. All suggestions should be supported by scientific data. General comments not reinforced by logical arguments are not acceptable (e.g., “I think that this is a very important article” or “I think that this article is worthless”).
Reference formatting should be used in letters; however, all the references used should be published works. Materials that were not published or reported elsewhere should not be used. Otherwise, the letter will not be accepted. The writer should not repeat the original article at length in his/her letter.
Only letters submitted within 4 months of the original publication date will be considered. The reason for this is that corrections to the record should be done in a timely manner. If there will be a reply to the letter, the next step is to designate which issue of the journal it will be published in. Thus, letters are not necessarily published in the very next issue since it may take some time for the original author to reply.
The letter authors’ names and affiliations should be written clearly at the top of the letter, and the title of the article about which the letter is written should be clearly stated in the introduction of the letter.
ii) ORCID
All authors are required to provide their ORCID iD during the submission process so that the process of evaluation and publishing of the manuscripts can continue in accordance with our publishing policy. If you do not have an ORCID iD, you can visit https://orcid.org/ to get your unique 16-digit ORCID iD number.
iii) Instructions for Authors/Submission Guidelines
You must proofread your manuscript before submission to check for spelling and grammatical errors. During submission, please choose the most suitable category (article type) for your paper. The manuscript should be in standard MS word document format only, and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files.Papers are accepted for evaluation on the understanding that
- they have not been published,
- they are not being considered for publication simultaneously elsewhere,
- they are not going to be submitted for publication elsewhere.
After a manuscript has been submitted, it is not possible for authors to be added or removed or for the order of authors to be changed. If authors do so, their submission may be canceled (see Policies and Publishing Ethics Section for details).
All authors need to send their ORCID iDs so that the process of evaluation and publishing of the manuscripts can continue in accordance with our publishing policy. Authors can visit https://orcid.org/ to get a unique 16-digit ORCID iD number.
During the first check, journal administrators may return the articles for the following reasons:
- The manuscript is not prepared in the format provided on the journal’s website,
- The manuscript file is not the same as the manuscript template file given on the journal’s website,
- The number of references or pages exceed the specified limits,
- The authors did not perform the requested corrections or provide the necessary documents within the requested time,
- Similarity index (iThenticate result) is higher than the permitted threshold. There is no single number for the similarity percentage since each report is investigated in detail, but submissions exceeding 25% score are generally returned to authors. The resubmission of the same title without reducing the similarity score may cause a ban of the authors from the journal. Similarity reports with more than 50% scores, even in a single submission, may cause a ban from the journal and the authors’ future submissions may not be considered for publication.
a) Preparation of the Manuscript
Manuscripts that are not prepared using the template will not be considered for publication.
All authors who report experiments on animals are required to give assurance in the “Materials and methods” section that the animals were treated in accordance with the guidelines of the local ethics committee; approval reference number should be included where relevant.
Manuscripts should be divided into clearly defined and numbered sections as appropriate. Principal sections should be numbered consecutively (1. Introduction, 2. Materials and methods, etc.) and subsections should be numbered 1.1., 1.2., etc. Do not number the Acknowledgements or References sections.
- Title and contact information
The first page should contain the full title in sentence case (e.g., Mineralogy, geochemistry, and depositional environment of the Beduh Shale (Lower Triassic), Northern Thrust Zone, Iraq), the full names (last names fully capitalized) and affiliations of all authors in English (Department, Faculty, University, City, Country), the ORCID iDs of all authors, and the contact e-mail address for the clearly identified corresponding author. Only one corresponding author is permitted per manuscript.
- Abstract
The abstract should provide clear information about the research and the results obtained and should not exceed 300 words. It should include all new names, combinations, and rank transfers. It should not contain citations. Abstracts of review articles should be a brief overview of the main points from the review.
- Key words
Please provide a minimum of 3 and maximum of 6 key words or phrases to enable retrieval and indexing. Only the first letter of the first key word should begin with a capital letter; the other key words should be written in lower case. Please do not put a period at the end of the list of key words. Acronyms should be avoided. Key words should not be a virtual copy of the title.
- Acknowledgments/disclaimers/conflict of interest, if any
Please include any necessary acknowledgments or disclaimers here. Names of funding organizations should be written in full.
All authors should also disclose any conflict of interest that may have influenced either the conduct or the presentation of the research.
- Informed Consent
Manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigations conducted with humans must clearly state that the study protocol received institutional review board approval and that all participants provided informed consent in the format required by the relevant authorities and/or boards. Please reference the relevant review board(s) and approval code(s) here.
- Style and Format
In general, the journal follows the conventions of Scientific Style and Format, The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, Council of Science Editors, Reston, VA, USA (7th ed.).
The manuscripts (except Letters to the Editor) should be divided into logically ordered and numbered sections. Principal sections should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (1. Introduction, 2. Materials and methods, etc.) and subsections should be numbered 1.1., 1.2., etc. Do not number the Acknowledgments and References sections.
Manuscripts should be double-spaced with 3-cm margins on all sides of the page, in Times New Roman font size 12. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered. All copies of the manuscript should also have line numbers starting with 1 on each consecutive page. Manuscripts must be written in English. Contributors who are not native English speakers are strongly advised to ensure that a colleague fluent in the English language or a professional language editor has reviewed their manuscript. Concise English without jargon should be used. Repetitive use of long sentences and passive voice should be avoided. It is strongly recommended that the text be run through computer spelling and grammar programs. Either British or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent throughout.
- Symbols, Units, and Abbreviations
If symbols such as ×, μ, η, or ν are used, they should be added using the symbols menu of Word in Times New Roman font. Degree symbols (°) must be used from the symbol menu, not superscripted letter o or number 0. Multiplication symbols must be used (×), not the letter x. Spaces must be inserted between numbers and units (e.g., 3 kg) and between numbers and mathematical symbols (+, –, ×, =, <, >) but not between numbers and percent symbols (e.g., 45%). Please use SI units. All abbreviations and acronyms should be defined at first mention. Any Latin terms such as et al., in vitro, or in situ should not be italicized.
- Tables and Figures
All illustrations (photographs, drawings, graphs, etc.), not including tables, must be labeled “Figure.” Figures must be submitted both in the manuscript and as separate files.
All tables and figures must have a caption and/or legend and be numbered (e.g., Table 1, Figure 2), unless there is only one table or figure, in which case it should be labeled “Table” or “Figure” with no numbering. Captions must be written in sentence case (e.g., Macroscopic appearance of the samples.). The font used in the figures should be Times New Roman. If symbols such as ×, μ, η, or ν are used, they should be added using the symbols menu of Word in Times New Roman font. All tables and figures, including subfigures, must be numbered consecutively as they are referred to in the text; e.g., Figures 2a, 2b, and 2c should be referred to in the text in that order before Figure 3. Please refer to tables and figures with capitalization and unabbreviated (e.g., “As shown in Figure 2…”, and not “Fig. 2” or “figure 2”). The tables and figures themselves should be given at the end of the text only, after the references, not in the running text.
The resolution of images should not be less than 118 pixels/cm when the width is set to 16 cm. Images must be scanned at 1200 dpi resolution and submitted in jpeg or tiff format. Graphs and diagrams must be drawn with a line weight between 0.5 and 1 point. Graphs and diagrams with a line weight of less than 0.5 point or more than 1 point are not accepted. Scanned or photocopied graphs and diagrams are not accepted. Charts must be prepared in 2 dimensions unless required by the data used. Charts unnecessarily prepared in 3 dimensions are not accepted.
Figures that are charts, diagrams, or drawings must be submitted in a modifiable format, i.e. our graphics personnel should be able to modify them. Therefore, if the program with which the figure is drawn has a “save as” option, it must be saved as *.ai or *.pdf. If the “save as” option does not include these extensions, the figure must be copied and pasted into a blank Microsoft Word document as an editable object. It must not be pasted as an image file (tiff, jpeg, or eps) unless it is a photograph.
Tables and figures, including caption, title, column heads, and footnotes, must not exceed 16 × 20 cm and should be no smaller than 8 cm in width. For all tables, please use Word’s “Create Table” feature, with no tabbed text or tables created with spaces and drawn lines. Please do not duplicate information that is already presented in the figures. Tables must be clearly typed, each on a separate sheet, and double-spaced. Tables may be continued on another sheet, if necessary, but the dimensions stated above still apply.
- References
Do not include personal communications or unpublished data or materials (such as project final reports, websites, computer programs, poster papers, presentations, and manuscripts that are not published yet) as references. However, these materials may be inserted as a footnote in the main text. The footnotes for websites should be given in the format shown below:
KOERI-RETMC (2018). Recent Earthquakes in Turkey [online]. Website http://www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/scripts/lasteq.asp [accessed 00 Month Year].
University of California (2006). The Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation [online]. Website http://opensees.berkeley.edu/OpenSees/home/about.php [accessed 00 Month Year].
References within the text
References should be cited in the text by the last name(s) of the author(s) and year of publication with a comma between them: for example, (Knott, 1987) or (Cochran and Cox, 1957). If the citation is the subject of the sentence, only the date should be given in parentheses: “According to Knott (1987)…” For citation of references with 3 or more authors, only the first author’s name followed by et al. (not italicized) should be used: (Güneş et al., 2002). If there is more than one reference in the same year for the same author, please add the letters a, b, etc. to the year: (Jones et al., 2004a, 2004b). References should be listed in the text chronologically, separated by semicolons, and references published in the same year should be further ordered alphabetically: (Anderson et al., 1987; Knott, 1987; Zheng and Li, 1987; Güneş et al., 2002; Jones et al., 2004a, 2004b).
Reference list
If the author of a reference is an organization or corporation, use its name in the reference list (using an abbreviation in the citation, if appropriate); do not use “Anonymous”. In the case of publications in languages other than English, the published English title should be provided if one exists, with an annotation such as “(in Turkish)”. If the publication was not published with an English title, provide the original title only; do not provide a self-translation. Please transliterate the titles of publications published in non-Latin alphabets. References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the text without numbering. All authors should be included in reference lists unless there are 6 or more, in which case only the first 5 should be given, followed by et al. (not italicized). The manuscript should be checked carefully to ensure that the spellings of the authors’ names and the years are exactly the same in the text as given in the reference list. Please ensure that author names are given exactly as they were published; e.g., if the names of Turkish authors were originally published with Turkish characters, include the Turkish characters: (Güneş et al., 2002). If the original publication did not use Turkish characters, do not include them in your citations: (Gunes et al., 2002).
The reference list must not contain more than 10, 30, 120, and 60 references for letters to the editor, research notes/short communications, review articles, and research articles, respectively.
References should be formatted as follows (please note the punctuation and capitalization):
Journal articles: Journal titles should not be abbreviated; the whole name of the journal should be given. Include the doi number at the end in the format Reference Linking:
As stated on https://www.crossref.org/display-guidelines/, when displaying DOIs, it’s important to follow these display guidelines. Crossref DOIs should:
- always be displayed as a full URL link in the form https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
- not be preceded by doi: or DOI:
- not use dx in the domain name part of DOI links
- and we recommend HTTPS (rather than HTTP).
For more information, please click on https://www.crossref.org/documentation/reference-linking/how-do-i-create-reference-links/
To create your reference links, please visit: https://apps.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery
Bozcu A (2017). Organic geochemical characteristics and depositional environment of Lower-Middle Miocene Küçükkuyu Formation, Edremit Gulf, NW Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 26 (5): 354-376. https://doi.org/10.3906/yer-1703-23
More than 5 authors
Nabighian MN, Ander ME, Grauch VJS, Hansen RO, Lafehr TR et al. (2005). Historical development of the gravity method in exploration. Geophysics 70 (6): 63-89. https://doi.org/10.1190/1.2133785
Article not in English
In the case of publications in languages other than English, the published English title should be provided if one exists, with an annotation such as “(in Turkish)”. If the publication was not published with an English title, provide the original title only; do not provide a self-translation.
Özdemir S, Sukatar A, Öztekin GB (2016). Production of Chlorella vulgaris and its effects on plant growth, yield and fruit quality of organic tomato grown in geenhouse as biofertilizer. Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi 22 (4): 596-605 (in Turkish with an abstract in English). https://doi.org/10.1501/Tarimbil_0000001418
Books and reports
Didier J, Barbarin B (editors) (1991). Enclaves and Granite Petrology: Developments in Petrology 13. 1st ed. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier.
Norman MD, Griffin WL, Pearson NJ, Garcia MO, O’Reilly SY (1998). Quantitative Analysis of Trace Element Abundances in Glasses and Minerals: A Comparison of Laser Ablation ICPMS, Solution ICPMS, Proton Microprobe, and Electron Microprobe Data. Mineralogical Association of Canada Short Course 40. Vancouver, Canada: Mineralogical Association of Canada.
Chapters in books
Neubauer F, Raumer JV (1993). The alpine basement-linkage between Variscides and East-Mediterranean mountain belts. In: Raumer JV, Neubauer F (editors). Pre-Mesozoic Geology in the Alps. 1st ed. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer, pp. 641-664.
Conference proceedings
Demirbilek M, Mutlu H (2012). Geochemical, geochronologic and Sr/Nd isotopic characteristics of the late PaleoceneMiddle Eocene granitoids in the Tavşanlı zone, NW Turkey. In: International Earth Science Colloquium on the Aegean Region; İzmir, Turkey. pp. 210-211.
Theses
Arıç C (1955). Haliç-Küçükçekmece gölü bölgesinin jeolojisi. PhD, İstanbul Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey (in Turkish).
Conflicts of Interest
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ definition of conflicts of interest is as follows: “A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain). Perceptions of conflict of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest.”
A conflict of interest defines the situations that might raise the question of bias, direct or indirect, in the work reported. These situations occur when an individual’s objectivity is potentially compromised by a desire for financial gain, prominence, professional advancement, or a successful outcome. Conflicts can also arise for other reasons, such as personal relationships or rivalries, academic competition, and intellectual beliefs.
Authors should avoid entering into agreements with study sponsors, both for- profit and nonprofit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret. In order to preserve the reliability of the TUBITAK academic journals, authors are required to disclose all and any potential conflicts of interest when they submit their manuscripts.
Conflicts of interest are the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and science itself. That is why our editors are working diligently to ensure that what is published in our journals is balanced, evidence-based, and evaluated independently. In this manner, editors and reviewers are required to notify the journal if they find they do not have the necessary expertise to assess the relevant aspects of a manuscript, if they decide that the manuscript is very similar to one in preparation or under consideration by another journal, or if they suspect the identity of the author(s), which raises potential competing or conflicting interests.
