Author Guidelines

1. General Principles

• Manuscripts submitted to The Aegean Geographical Journal  must be prepared in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.
• Manuscripts should be written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, single-spaced, and in a single-column layout.
• The default page margins of Microsoft Word should be used.
• As a general rule, the manuscript, including figures, tables, maps, photographs, references, and appendices, should not exceed 25 A4 pages. Longer manuscripts may be considered at the discretion of the Editor.
• Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the APA 6th edition citation and referencing style adopted by The Aegean Geographical Journal 
• The manuscript submitted for review must not contain any information that could directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the author(s), thereby compromising the double-anonymized peer review process. Authors should ensure that all identifying information has been removed not only from the manuscript itself but also from the Microsoft Word document properties, including the "Author" and "Last Modified By" fields.

2. Manuscript Structure and Components

• The manuscript submitted for peer review is not identical to the final published version. In accordance with the principles of double-anonymized peer review, any information that could directly or indirectly identify the author(s) must be omitted from the review manuscript. Such information will be requested by the Editorial Office after the manuscript has been accepted for publication and incorporated into the final version.

The manuscript should be arranged in the following order:

• Turkish Title
• English Title
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Turkish Abstract (Öz)
• Turkish Keywords (Anahtar Kelimeler)
• Main Text
• Acknowledgements (if applicable – included only in the accepted final version)
• Funding Statement (if applicable – included only in the accepted final version)
• Ethics Approval Statement (where applicable – omitted from the review manuscript and included only in the accepted final version)
• Author Contributions Statement (included only in the accepted final version)
• Conflict of Interest Statement (included only in the accepted final version)
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Statement (where applicable – included in both the anonymized review manuscript and the accepted final version)
• References
• Appendices (if applicable)

3. Title

• The title should accurately and clearly reflect the content of the manuscript.
• Unnecessary abbreviations should be avoided.
• The Turkish and English titles must be equivalent in meaning.
• The Title (Turkish) should be presented in bold, with only the first letter of each word capitalized.

Example: Üniversitenin Kentin Nüfus Yapısına Etkisi: Gümüşhane Örneği

• The Title (English) should be presented in bold italics, with the first letter of each principal word capitalized.

Example: The Impact of the University on the Population Structure of the City: The Case of Gümüşhane City

4. Abstract

• Both the Turkish and English abstracts should clearly and concisely summarize the purpose, methodology, principal findings, and conclusions of the study. Each abstract must not exceed 300 words.
• Abstracts should not contain citations, tables, figures, footnotes, or unexplained abbreviations.
• The Turkish and English abstracts should be equivalent in content and accurately reflect the same information.

5. Keywords

• Each manuscript should include a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of six (6) keywords.
• Keywords should accurately represent the main themes and content of the manuscript to facilitate indexing and retrieval.
• The Turkish and English keywords should correspond closely in meaning.

6. Main Text

Although the organization of the manuscript may vary depending on the nature of the research, authors are encouraged to structure their manuscripts using the following general format:

• Introduction
• Theoretical Framework / Literature Review
• Data and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion

A clear hierarchical heading structure should be maintained throughout the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to limit the heading hierarchy to no more than three levels, whenever possible.

Text emphasis (e.g., bold, italics, or <u>underlining</u>) may be used at the author's discretion, provided that it is applied consistently throughout the manuscript.

Mathematical expressions and equations should be numbered consecutively. Equations should be left-aligned, while equation numbers should appear in parentheses and be right-aligned.

7. Figures, Maps, Photographs, and Other Visual Materials

• All figures, maps, photographs, and other visual materials should be placed in appropriate locations within the manuscript.
• Visual materials should be numbered consecutively according to their type (e.g., Figure 2, Table 5, Photograph 3).
• Captions for figures and photographs should be placed below the corresponding visual material.
• Captions should be concise and informative. Each caption must be provided first in Turkish, followed immediately by its English equivalent in italics.
• Within the manuscript, drawings, maps, diagrams, charts, graphs, and similar visual materials should be designated as Figures; photographic images as Photographs; and data presented in rows and columns as Tables. Beginning with submissions for the 2027 publication year, photographs will also be designated as Figures.
• All visual materials must be of publication quality and suitable for both electronic and print reproduction.
• In addition to being embedded in the manuscript, each figure should be uploaded separately during submission in PNG format with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
• Text, symbols, and labels used in figures and maps must remain clearly legible at the final publication size.
• Where appropriate, maps should include essential cartographic elements such as a scale bar, north arrow, and legend.
• The data sources used in maps must be properly acknowledged. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any copyrighted visual material.
• Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images may not be presented as original research data. When AI-generated visual materials are used for illustrative or explanatory purposes, this must be clearly stated in the figure caption.

8. Tables

• Tables must be created using the Microsoft Word table function.
• Each table should have a sequential number and a concise, descriptive title placed above the table.
• Tables presented as images or screenshots are not acceptable.
• Where data are reproduced or adapted from another source, the source should be acknowledged below the table.

9. Numbers, Units, and Abbreviations

• The International System of Units (SI) should be used throughout the manuscript.
• In manuscripts written in Turkish, decimals should be indicated using a comma (,), whereas in manuscripts written in English, a period (.) should be used as the decimal separator.
• Abbreviations should be defined in full when first mentioned in the text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, only the abbreviation should be used.

10. In-text Citations

• All sources cited in the manuscript must be referenced in accordance with the APA Publication Manual (6th Edition).
• In-text citations should include the author's surname and the year of publication. For direct quotations, the page number must also be provided.
• Every source cited in the text must appear in the References section, and every source listed in the References section must be cited at least once in the text.

11. References

• The reference list must be provided at the end of the manuscript under the heading "References."
• Only works cited in the text should be included in the reference list.
• References must be arranged alphabetically according to the surname of the first author.
• If multiple works by the same author are cited, they should be listed chronologically from the earliest to the most recent publication.
• References in Turkish and other languages should not be separated into different sections; instead, they should be presented together in a single alphabetical list.
• For publications with multiple authors, all authors must be listed in the reference list.
• For publications with an assigned DOI, the DOI must be included in the reference entry.

12. Capitalization

• Titles of journal articles, books, and book chapters should be written in sentence case, with only the first word of the title and subtitle (if applicable) and proper nouns capitalized.
• Journal titles should be presented in title case, with the principal words capitalized and the journal title italicized.

13. Italics

Italics should be used only for the elements specified by the APA 6 style.

In general, the following elements should be italicized:

• Journal titles
• Book titles
• Titles of edited books
• Volume numbers

The following elements should not be italicized:

• Article titles
• Chapter titles
• Issue numbers
• Page numbers

14. DOIs and URLs

• When available, a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) must be included in the reference entry.
• DOIs should be presented as complete URLs (e.g., https://doi.org/...) and should remain as active hyperlinks.
• If a DOI is not available for an online source, the corresponding URL should be provided.
• Authors are responsible for ensuring that all URLs are accurate, complete, and accessible.                       

15. Consistency

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that:

• All in-text citations correspond exactly to entries in the References section.
• Every source cited in the text is included in the reference list.
• Every reference listed has been cited at least once in the text.
• Authors' names, publication years, and bibliographic information are fully consistent between in-text citations and the reference list.
• A single referencing style is applied consistently throughout the manuscript.
  Journal Articles
   
• Article titles should be written in sentence case, with only the first word, the first word following a colon (if applicable), and proper nouns capitalized.
• Journal titles should be written in italics using title case.
• The journal volume number should be italicized, whereas the issue number should appear in parentheses in regular (non-italic) font immediately after the volume number.
• Where available, the DOI should be included at the end of the reference. DOI links should be presented as active hyperlinks.

📄 Examples of In-Text Citations and Reference List Entries.pdf