Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology (GUFBD) is the official publication of Gümüşhane University. The journal publishes original, unpublished research articles, reviews, and letters to the editor in all fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Architecture (survey studies are not within the journal's scope). The journal is scientific and peer-reviewed, published online in March, June, September, and December four times a year.

The journal aims to transform research and development activities into scientific publications and contribute to universal science by being included in national and international indexes.

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology (GUFBD) is the official publication of Gümüşhane University. The journal publishes original, unpublished research articles, reviews, and letters to the editor in all fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Architecture (survey studies are not within the journal's scope). The journal is a scientific and peer-reviewed journal, published online four times a year in March, June, September, and December.

The journal aims to transform research and development activities into scientific publications and to contribute to universal science by being included in national and international indexes.

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

1. SCOPE AND GENERAL INFORMATION

The Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology (GUJST) is the official publication of Gümüşhane University. It publishes original research articles, reviews, and letters to the editor in all fields of Science, Technology, and Engineering that have not been previously published elsewhere (survey studies do not fall within the journal’s scope). The journal is scientific and peer-reviewed, published online four times a year in March, June, September, and December.

The aim of the journal is to transform research and development activities into scientific publications, to be indexed in national and international databases, and to contribute to universal science.

2. LANGUAGE AND EXPRESSION

The publication languages of the journal are Turkish and English. Keywords should be listed in alphabetical order. English keywords should also follow alphabetical order. Authors should avoid using the first person when describing their experimental work or analyses; instead, third-person expressions are preferred.

3. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION

All correspondence related to the journal should be conducted through the interface provided by DergiPark. Manuscripts prepared in accordance with the journal’s writing guidelines should be submitted via the ULAKBİM DergiPark system at https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/gumusfenbil/, without the need for a printed copy. Authors must ensure that their manuscripts comply with the “Submission Checklist.” The accuracy of all content in the manuscript is the responsibility of the author(s).

Compliance with research and publication ethics is essential for accepted articles. The “Copyright Transfer Form” must be completed and signed by all authors. The publication process begins only after this form is submitted. If authors live in different cities, they may sign and send separate copies of the form. Authors must also carefully review the “Ethical Principles and Publication Policy” available on the journal’s homepage.

In studies involving animals or harmful substances, an “Ethics Committee Approval Certificate” must be attached. For studies involving human participants, authors must certify compliance with the ethical standards of the authorized committee on human experimentation and with the revised Declaration of Helsinki (1983).

4. REVIEW PROCESS

Manuscripts submitted to the journal are first evaluated for format and content by the section editor designated by the editor-in-chief, based on the subject and keywords. During this pre-check, plagiarism detection software is used to generate similarity reports. The total similarity index should be below 20%, and no single source should exceed 4%. Manuscripts without a “Copyright Transfer Form” or with high similarity indices are not accepted for pre-review. Manuscripts that pass pre-review are forwarded to the relevant section editor by the editor-in-chief for scientific review.

The section editor assigns at least three reviewers with expertise in the manuscript's subject area, chosen preferably from the journal’s editorial board or other subject matter experts. Reviewers may recommend: suitable for publication, publish after revisions, resubmission after revision, review by the editorial board, or rejection.

Authors must revise their manuscripts accordingly and provide justification for any points of disagreement. When reviewer opinions vary, the section editor adds their evaluation and forwards the manuscript to the editor-in-chief, who makes the final decision. The editor-in-chief may appoint additional reviewers or make a final decision directly.

All decisions are communicated to the corresponding author via DergiPark, with reasons included. Accepted manuscripts are forwarded to the language and format editors to ensure conformity with language standards and journal guidelines. Final formatting is completed by the editorial office.

Articles published in the journal cannot be published elsewhere or presented at conferences without proper citation. Submitted work must be original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere. A cover letter must state that the manuscript has not been submitted to or published in another journal.

If a manuscript is not accepted, the “Copyright Transfer Form” becomes null and void. By signing the form, authors transfer the rights of reproduction and distribution (in whole or in part) to Gümüşhane University and waive their own rights.

5. ARTICLE TYPES

The journal accepts the following types of manuscripts:

5.1 Research Articles:
Should include: Turkish and English titles, authors, affiliations, Turkish and English abstracts and keywords, Introduction, Objectives, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions, Ethical considerations (if applicable), Author Contributions and Acknowledgments, References, and Figure/Table captions. Main text should be 3500–4000 words with no more than 40 references.

5.2 Review Articles:
Should critically evaluate and synthesize previous research in the author’s field of expertise, proposing a new perspective. Authors should have at least 10 SCI-Expanded publications, with at least 5 in the review topic area. Should include: Turkish and English titles, authors, affiliations, abstracts and keywords in both languages, Introduction, Main and Subsections, Conclusion, Contributions and Acknowledgments, References, and Figure/Table captions. Main text up to 5000 words; minimum of 40 references is expected.

5.3 Letters to the Editor:
Used for commenting on previously published articles or discussing related topics. Ethical considerations are essential. Main text up to 1000 words and no more than 10 references.

6. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Authors submitting to the journal must use the provided templates and upload all required documents to the journal website.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND PUBLICATION POLICY

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology has published this guideline in order to ensure that the publisher, editor-in-chief, editor, referee and authors act in accordance with ethical rules and behaviors as well as scientific values and principles with the awareness of scientific and academic responsibility. This guideline is based on the "Journal Editors' Practice Guidelines" of the International Committee on Ethical Principles and Publication Policy Publication Ethics (COPE-Committee on Publication Ethics) with its general principles.

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology has adopted the principle of full compliance with research and publication ethics, and in the studies sent to our journal for evaluation within this scope, it is mandatory to obtain the approval of the relevant ethics committee in cases requiring ethics committee approval. Regarding the approval of the ethics committee, information such as the name of the committee, the date of approval, and the decision or document number should be clearly stated; this information should be added to the system at the first upload stage together with the article file. In addition, if requested by the editorial board, the ethics committee approval document should also be shared. Ethics committee approval is mandatory for qualitative or quantitative research on humans such as surveys, interviews, focus group studies, observations, clinical trials, animal experiments, biomedical studies requiring special data, and research that falls within the scope of personal data protection. In addition, in studies where intellectual and artistic works are used, it is mandatory to fully comply with the relevant copyright regulations. In this context, the necessary permissions regarding the copyrights of the visual, audio, written or digital materials used must be obtained and this must be clearly stated in the study.

A study submitted to our journal should not have been previously published in any other journal in any language and should not be under review in another journal simultaneously. All manuscripts submitted to the journal should be prepared in accordance with the general ethical rules set by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). Authors, reviewers and editors must adhere to international standards in line with COPE's recommendations and general publication requirements. In this context, some important issues are clearly stated below.

Definitions and Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief and Editors

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is based on originality, scientific contribution, methodological soundness and clarity of expression in the articles to be published. Editorial decisions are made in line with the principle of impartiality and in harmony with the purpose and scope of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief must ensure that every manuscript submitted to Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is reviewed for its scientific content, regardless of the author's race, gender, religious belief, ethnicity, citizenship or political philosophy. The Editor-in-Chief and editors evaluate the publications submitted to the journal primarily by taking into account the originality, scientificity, contribution to the field, academic qualities such as comprehensibility in terms of language, and their suitability for the scope of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief and editors are responsible for accepting, rejecting or requesting improvements from the author. In some cases, editors may ask the author for corrections in more than one round before making a decision. Editors forward the evaluation results to the editor-in-chief as soon as possible. The editor-in-chief carefully considers the whole process at the decision stage and finalizes the final evaluation.

Editors strictly adhere to the code of ethics and editorial policies and support freedom of thought and scientific diversity. Protect the personal data and intellectual property rights of authors, reviewers and readers. Reviewer assignments are made in accordance with expertise, credentials are kept confidential, and conflicts of interest are not allowed. We intervene in reviews that are unscientific or exceed the limits of courtesy. The entire evaluation process is transparent, fair and timely. Studies requiring ethics committee approval are rejected unless documented. Studies with negative results are also evaluated within the scope of scientific contribution. The Editor-in-Chief works in effective communication with the editorial board, guides the process and contributes to improve the quality of the journal.

The Editor-in-Chief and editorial board members cannot share any information about a submitted manuscript with anyone other than the corresponding author, referees, potential referees, language editors, layout editor and other editorial advisors.

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology Editor-in-Chief and members of the editorial board may not use unpublished material from a submitted manuscript for their own research without the express written permission of the author. The editor-in-chief assigns another member of the editorial board to carry out the preliminary review and evaluation stages of the publication in cases where the editors have conflicts of interest arising from cooperation or connections with any of the author(s), company(s) or institution(s).

The editor-in-chief, together with the publisher, reviews any behavior reported to be in violation of publication ethics, regardless of the date of publication. In the event that an unethical situation is detected according to COPE procedures, it is responsible for issuing a statement that there is an error, inconsistency or misdirection related to the relevant publication.

Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

The evaluation process in Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is carried out with the principle of double blind reviewing. Referees do not communicate directly with the authors. Evaluation forms and referee reports are sent to the author(s) through the journal management system by the editor. Referee evaluation helps the editor to make decisions about the manuscript and to improve the manuscript through communication with the author through the editor.
Reviewers should use constructive and courteous language in the review process and avoid derogatory or offensive remarks. Comments should be objective and limited to the scope of the work and should not be influenced by religion, language, race, political views or commercial concerns. Impartiality and confidentiality are essential. If there is a conflict of interest, the reviewer should not review and should inform the editor. If the study is outside his/her area of expertise, he/she should decline the review invitation. The review invitation must be responded positively or negatively in a timely manner; accepted reviews must be completed within the deadline.

All studies received for review should be treated as confidential documents. They should not be shown to or discussed with others unless authorized by the editor-in-chief or editor. The Editor-in-Chief or editor may grant such authorization only in exceptional circumstances that may contribute to peer review.

Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not agree to review manuscripts in which there are conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors.

Reviews by referees should be conducted in an objective manner. Personal criticism of authors is not acceptable. Reviewers should clearly express their views with appropriate supporting arguments.

Any invited reviewer who feels unable to review the manuscript, or who knows that it will not be possible to review in a timely manner, should notify the editor as soon as possible so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Reviewers should inform the editors if they recognize any similarities to any previously published work. They should also inform the authors if there are any quotations that are not cited in the study.

Author(s) Duties and Responsibilities

Authors are obliged to follow the journal's spelling rules and manuscript templates. Authors must ensure that the submitted work is completely original. Authors should confirm that the article has not been previously published elsewhere. Authors should cite works that have been appropriately cited. Authors must sign and submit the Article Copyright and Transfer of Copyright Form, which states that the work is original and prevents copyright infringement. The results of a research should be presented in a single publication while maintaining scientific integrity and quality. Information and raw data should be provided when requested by the editorial office. Author contributions should be clearly and accurately written in the section specified in the article writing rules.

All authors mentioned in the article must have contributed significantly to the research. The author responsible for correspondence submitting the manuscript to the journal ensures that all contributing co-authors are included and that non-contributors are not included in the author list. No additions or deletions of authors are made during or after the manuscript evaluation phase.

Authors should inform the editors of any conflict of interest that could be interpreted as influencing the manuscript. When an error is detected, regardless of the stage of the manuscript (review, early appearance, published), the editor should be notified for correction or retraction.

If the study involves chemicals, procedures or equipment with any unusual hazards in their use, the authors should clearly indicate these in the manuscript. If the study involves subjects and guinea pigs, the authors must act in accordance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines for all procedures performed in the study and must have obtained the approval of the relevant committees/organizations. In studies that require documents such as ethics committee permission, data use permission, and participant approval, these permissions should be submitted in full; in cases where ethics committee permission is not required, this should be clearly stated in the method section and on the last page of the article.

When the author(s) notices a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, the author responsible for correspondence is obliged to notify the Editor-in-Chief immediately in order to withdraw the article or publish it with appropriate correction. Authors are expected to avoid unnecessary communication with the editorial office during the average review period announced on the journal's website.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Publisher

Gümüşhane University, as the publisher of the Journal of Science and Technology, acts in line with the open access policy that supports the free sharing of information. All articles published in the journal offer free and unlimited access to readers. In this way, it is aimed to disseminate scientific knowledge and present it for public benefit.

The publisher does not charge any fee (application fee, processing fee, page fee, etc.) from the authors in the application, evaluation, publication and all subsequent processes. It is one of the basic principles that the scientific contributions of the authors are published without any financial obstacle.

All content published in the journal is stored using the DergiPark infrastructure for long-term preservation and archiving and backed up through the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system. This guarantees the continuity and security of digital content.

The publishing organization is obliged to ensure that the journal processes are carried out transparently, impartially and in accordance with academic ethical principles. It also provides the technical, administrative and ethical infrastructure necessary for the journal to operate in accordance with national and international publishing standards.

Complaint Policy

In the event that a violation of ethical principles is detected about the articles published or in early view in Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology and the editor, referee or authors, this situation should be reported to the editorial office immediately. Notifications regarding ethical violations should be sent to the e-mail address gufbed@gumushane.edu.tr in order to make the necessary evaluations. Notifications will be handled within the framework of the principle of confidentiality and the relevant processes will be carried out transparently in line with the rules of publication ethics.

Open Access Policy

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology advocates that scientific knowledge should be accessible to everyone. In this direction, the journal publishes the content of the journal as open access by adopting the principle that making scientific research free of charge to the public will increase the sharing and impact of knowledge on a global scale . All published articles are available free of charge and unlimited access via the journal's website and the internet, and no subscription or access fee is charged to readers.

Fee Policy

Gümüşhane University Journal of Science and Technology is based on accessibility and compliance with ethical principles in scientific publishing. In this context, no submission, evaluation or publication fee is charged for articles submitted to the journal. All articles that have completed the peer review process and are accepted for publication are made available online free of charge. Authors are under no financial obligation at any stage for the publication of their articles. In addition, all processes such as DOI assignment, page editing, language checks, graphic processing and similar processes performed during the preparation of the articles for publication are completely free of charge for the authors. This policy is implemented to promote equality among researchers and to support free access to scientific knowledge.

Makale gönderim/süreç işlemleri ücretsizdir.