Writing Rules

General Principles

ISPEC Journal of Institute of Science publishes original research articles in the field of agricultural sciences, as well as review articles that explain significant scientific and technological innovations and methods. The publication languages of the journal are Turkish and English. For articles written in Turkish, the new orthographic guide and Turkish dictionary published by the Turkish Language Association should be followed. It is recommended that articles written in English be reviewed by a linguist prior to submission. Articles submitted for publication must not have been previously published or submitted elsewhere. Works must be prepared in accordance with scientific ethics. For studies requiring an Ethics Committee Approval, a copy of the Ethics Committee Report must be attached when submitting the manuscript. The authors bear full responsibility for the content of the articles published in the journal. Manuscripts are sent to referees according to their content and the expertise of the reviewers. The section editor reviewing the manuscript recommends at least two reviewers from the ISPEC Journal reviewer pool based on their expertise or may suggest new reviewers suitable for the subject area. Reviewers are selected from different institutions than the authors, and care is taken to ensure that they are not affiliated with the same institution. Reviewer suggestions from the section editor are evaluated by the editorial board and then forwarded to the reviewers. Reviewers must guarantee that they will not share any part of the review process or documents related to the manuscripts. Proofs of accepted articles are sent to the corresponding author, who must review them for typographical errors and return them within a short time. After the article is accepted for publication, no changes can be made to the manuscript, authors, or the order of authors. All authors listed in the article must sign the Copyright Transfer Form to transfer publishing rights to ISPEC Journal of Institute of Science. A maximum of two (2) articles with the same first author may be published in the same issue. ISPEC Journal of Institute of Science is published twice a year, in June and December.

Manuscript Preparation

The manuscript should be written on one side of A4-sized paper using Times New Roman font, 12-point size (including all titles), single-spaced. Margins must be 2.5 cm on all sides. Paragraph indentation should be 1 cm. The manuscript should include the following sections: Turkish Title, Turkish Abstract, Keywords, English Title, English Abstract, Keywords, 1. Introduction, 2. Material and Method, 3. Results and Discussion, 4. Conclusion, Author Contributions (if applicable), Conflict of Interest Statement (if applicable), Funding (if applicable), Ethics Approval (if applicable), Acknowledgment (if applicable), References, Figures, and Tables. If appropriate for the writing style, the Discussion section may be separated from Results and given as a distinct main section. In manuscripts written in Turkish, the Turkish abstract should precede the English abstract; in manuscripts written in English, only the English abstract is required. All main and subheadings must be aligned to the left, bold, and without paragraph indentation. Subheadings must be written in lowercase letters (except proper nouns).
The submitted manuscript file must not include any identifying information such as author names, affiliations, or contact details following the Turkish/English title (see Templates and Forms). The manuscript must not exceed 24 pages, including the References section. Authors are advised to use the Manuscript Preparation Template available on the journal's website.

Title

The title should be short, concise, and appropriate to the content of the manuscript. Each word should start with a capital letter, bold, and centered. The English title must fully match the Turkish title.

Abstract

Use "Özet" for Turkish and "Abstract" for English. The abstract should provide a concise summary of the entire work, addressing why, what, and how the study was conducted, what was found, and what the findings imply. Each abstract must not exceed 200 words. Literature should not be cited in this section. Abstracts should be placed one line below their respective titles without paragraph indentation.

Keywords

Following the abstract (one line below), the heading "Anahtar Kelimeler" or "Keywords" should be used. All keywords should be written in lowercase letters (except proper nouns), and should not exceed six terms that best describe the content of the study, preferably not included in the title.

  1. Introduction

This section introduces the subject and rationale of the study using relevant literature and clearly states the objective and hypothesis to be tested.

  1. Material and Method

Material and methods should be provided under the same heading. If subheadings are used, they should be numbered (e.g., 2.1., 2.2.). The material and especially any new or modified methods used should be described in sufficient detail for replication. Previously published methods may be cited without detailed explanation. The statistical methods used must address the hypothesis and be clearly explained. Measures of variability (e.g., standard error or standard deviation) should be included where necessary.

  1. Results and Discussion

Findings should be presented clearly, supported with tables, figures, or graphs as needed. Data in tables should not be repeated in figures or text, although important figure data may also be highlighted in the text. If statistical analysis is inappropriate or inadequately performed, the manuscript may be rejected by statistical editors. The discussion should assess the significance of the results and their contribution to science and practice, supported by literature.

  1. Conclusion

The section should succinctly state the contributions of the findings to science and practice, along with recommendations if applicable. Statements from the Introduction or Results & Discussion should not be repeated verbatim.

Author Contributions

Statements describing each author's contribution should be included. Example: “All authors contributed equally to the manuscript and have seen, read, and approved the final version.”

Conflict of Interest

All authors must declare that there is no conflict of interest related to this study.

Funding

Example: “This work was supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Sivas University of Science and Technology (Project No: 2016.10.07.1091) and by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) (Project No: 120O576).”

Ethics Approval

For studies requiring ethical approval, information about the approval (institution, date, and approval number) must be included in the method section and on the first/last page of the article. For case reports, informed consent must be obtained and mentioned in the article.

Acknowledgments

Example: “This study was produced from the master’s/Ph.D. thesis of the first author.”

References

In-text citations must follow the pattern:

  • For Turkish articles: do not use “and” or “et al.” regardless of the source language.
  • For English articles: do not use “ve” or “ve ark.” regardless of the source language.

In-text citation examples:

  • (Çilesiz, 2022), (Çilesiz ve Seydoşoğlu, 2023), (Çilesiz ve ark., 2018)
  • (Çilesiz and Seydoşoğlu, 2023), (Çilesiz et al., 2018)

Multiple citations:

  • (Çilesiz, 2010, 2012, 2013)
  • (Çilesiz et al., 2011a, 2011b)
  • (Aydın, 2022; Çilesiz and Karaköy, 2022; Özyazıcı et al., 2022)

References list:

  • Must include only sources cited in the text, sorted alphabetically by surname and in original language.
  • Journal and conference titles should be written in full and in italics, without abbreviations.
  • Only the first line of each reference should be aligned to the left; subsequent lines must be indented 0.5 cm.
  • Article titles must be in lowercase letters (except proper nouns).

Figures and Tables

All visual materials (figures, graphics, photos, maps, etc.) should be labeled as Figure, and tables as Table, in bold. All figures and tables must be referenced in the text and numbered consecutively. Figures must be high-resolution (600 dpi). Figure/Table titles: 11 pt; text within tables/figures: 9 pt. Footnotes (e.g., abbreviations, statistical notes): 7 pt, separated by commas, and without punctuation at the end.

Abbreviations and Symbols

Avoid unnecessary abbreviations. If used, define the term upon first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses (e.g., phosphorus (P)). Symbols must comply with the SI system. Abbreviations must not be used in the title.

Equations

Equations should be numbered and aligned to the right in parentheses. Use Word's equation editor: 10 pt font, variables in italics, numbers and symbols in regular font. Citations within the text should appear as “Equation 1”.

Supplementary Files

Along with the manuscript, the following files must be uploaded via the journal’s online system:

  • Title Page (Word format, with author names, affiliations, and corresponding author's contact info),
  • Signed Copyright Transfer Form (PDF format),
  • Ethics Committee Report (if applicable). The original Copyright Transfer Form must be mailed after acceptance.

Article Submission

Manuscripts and supplementary files must be uploaded electronically only by the corresponding author via the journal's online submission system: https://ispecscience.com/index.php/pub/about/submissions.
Authors can track their submission status through the same portal. Authors encountering submission issues may contact the editorial office via email: submission@ispecjournal.com.

NOTE: THE JOURNAL’S WRITING RULES WERE UPDATED ON 01.01.2023.