AUTHOR GUIDELINES

EKSEN Dokuz Eylül University Journal of the Faculty of Architecture is an international, scientific, open-access e-journal that employs a double-blind peer review system and aims to make high-quality contributions to the fields of Architecture and Urban Planning. General information about the journal (link) and its aims and scope (link) can be accessed on the relevant pages. All authors who submit their work to the journal for evaluation are obliged to comply with the rules set out in this guide.

A. GENERAL RULES

1. The legal responsibility of the articles published in Eksen JFA belongs to the authors.
2. Articles published in this journal may be cited provided that proper reference is given.
3. Manuscripts/articles intended for publication must be submitted in Word (.docx or .doc) format via the TÜBİTAK DergiPark System after registering as a member and uploading through the interactive platform. Eksen JFA is not responsible for files lost electronically, lost before publication, and/or destroyed. In this regard, the data in the DergiPark system shall prevail.
4. All author names must be defined on the DergiPark System initial submission page and must not be changed afterward, nor should such a change be requested.
5. Manuscripts/articles submitted to the journal must be written in Turkish or English.
6. Only manuscripts/articles that have not been previously published elsewhere and are not currently under evaluation for publication elsewhere may be submitted.
7. The first title and abstract must be in the main language of the article; the second title must be in English for Turkish-language manuscripts and in Turkish for English-language manuscripts.
8. Scientific research and academic writing rules must be followed in manuscript preparation.
9. The types of articles published in the journal are research articles and review articles.
10. All authors submitting their work to the journal are deemed to have accepted the journal’s ethical rules and policies (Turkish: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/eksen/policy; English: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/eksen/policy).
11. There is no evaluation and application fee for article submission or publication fees.
12. If the visual or other versions of the table have already been published, it is the author's responsibility to obtain the copyright permission for the Images and Tables. The relevant information should be provided in the text and in the References.
13. A double-blind peer review system is applied in the evaluation of manuscripts. Please read the Policy – Peer Review Process (Turkish: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/eksen/page/20199; English: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/eksen/page/20199) for details.
14. Eksen JFA does not require compliance with a template at the initial submission stage (template-free journal). The quality of scientific content is essential, and formal corrections will be recommended after acceptance. Although formatting is flexible at initial submission, there are mandatory content-related rules, especially regarding declarations. Please read the writing rules below carefully. If the manuscript is accepted, authors must format their work according to the template (Post-Acceptance Manuscript Template).

B. INITIAL SUBMISSION – AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Manuscripts can only be submitted via DergiPark. Manuscripts sent to the email addresses of the editorial board will not be considered. All authors must register in the DergiPark system and obtain an ORCID number. For multi-author studies, the corresponding author must upload the submission; however, the final versions of the uploaded files must have been reviewed and approved by all authors before submission.
The following files must be uploaded separately during initial submission: Anonymous Full-Text File, Title Page, Copyright Transfer Form, and Plagiarism Report. These files must be prepared in accordance with the rules below.

Anonymous Full-Text File
- The initial submission anonymous full-text template may be downloaded as an example (Turkish: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/36560; English: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/36561), but compliance is not mandatory. Any manuscript format (Template-free Journal) may be submitted provided that it is A4 size, internally consistent in headings, figure, and table numbering, compliant with a consistent scientific reference style for in-text citations and references, and includes Turkish/English title, abstract, keywords, and article type.
- Due to the double-blind peer review system, author names, affiliations, and any identifying information must not appear in the anonymous full text or in its file properties. Before submission, a personal information inspection must be conducted (for Microsoft Word files) by following: File > Check for Issues > Inspect Document > Inspect > Document Properties and Personal Information > Remove All > Close > Save.
- A scientific manuscript is expected to include main sections such as Title, Abstract, Keywords, Başlık, Öz, Anahtar Kelimeler (Turkish), Introduction, Literature, Method, Findings, Discussion, Conclusion, References, etc.
- Manuscripts written in Turkish must include an Extended English Abstract (700–1000 words) at the end, covering introduction, method, findings, and discussion sections. This is not required for manuscripts written in English.
- While formatting is flexible at this stage, the Content, Length, Language, and Expression sections specified in the Post-Acceptance Author Guidelines below must be followed.

Title Page
- The initial submission title page template may be downloaded as an example (Turkish: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/36559; English: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/36557), but compliance is not mandatory. Although formatting is flexible, required content must be included. The title page must present the article title, abstract, keywords, author information in both Turkish and English, and declarations (Acknowledgements, Ethics Committee Approval, Author Contributions, Conflict of Interest Statement, Funding Statement, AI Use Statement, and Data Availability) in English. If guidance is needed regarding declarations, please consult the template or the Post-Acceptance Guide. International authors should not hesitate to contact the editor for assistance with the Turkish translation.
- Manuscripts written in Turkish must also include the English versions of the Declarations.
- Authors’ name, surname, title, university/institution, city, country, ORCID, and email information must be provided, and the corresponding author must be specified. Authors who do not wish their email addresses to be published should contact the editor.

Copyright Transfer Form
- This is a standard form. Please download the template from the system (https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/16057), complete, sign, and upload it to the system.

Plagiarism Report
- All authors submitting their work to Eksen MFD commit that they have not engaged in any actions contrary to scientific research and publication ethics. For details, please review the ethics principles and policies page (Turkish: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/eksen/policy; English: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/eksen/policy).
- The DergiPark system generates a plagiarism report for all uploaded manuscripts via the Intihal.net software. The similarity rate in the downloaded report must comply with the journal’s requirements.

C. REVISION PROCESS - AUTHOR GUIDELINES

If a revision decision is made following peer review, authors must consider all reviewer suggestions and criticisms and respond to each of them individually.
Authors accepting revision must upload two files to the system, ensuring that neither file name nor content contains author information:
1. Revised Manuscript: Revisions must be clearly indicated in the full-text file using “track changes” mode or by marking changes (e.g., colored text).
2. Response to Reviewers File: Each reviewer comment must be answered separately. If revisions are made, specify the page and line numbers where changes were implemented. If certain suggestions are not adopted, provide justification.

D. POST-ACCEPTANCE - AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Authors whose manuscripts are accepted must format their texts according to the journal’s formal standards before typesetting. Compliance with the Post-Acceptance Manuscript Template (Turkish: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/36558; English: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/36556) is mandatory.
The details of formatting rules are summarized below:
- CONTENT: The article must be prepared with scientific content. The article type must be specified.
- The Abstract must be 200–250 words and state the aim, scope, method, significance, originality, and contribution to the field. It must not contain information not included in the manuscript. It should not include definitions, descriptive information, visuals, tables, quotations, or references.
- The Introduction must clearly state the research topic, purpose, scope, and significance. The Conclusion must discuss the study’s contribution to the literature, how findings support previous studies and theories, and its practical value. Figures, tables, and long quotations are not recommended in this section.
- Sections between Introduction and Conclusion must be titled according to content and may include literature review, method, findings, and discussion. Declarations and references (and Extended English Abstract for Turkish articles) must appear at the end.
- LENGTH: The total length of the manuscript, including abstract, main text, tables, and references—but excluding “Declarations”—is expected to be between 6000–8000 words. In rare cases, longer manuscripts may be accepted if required by the subject.
- LANGUAGE AND STYLE: Inclusive language must be used throughout. Inclusive language avoids exclusionary or generalized expressions based on gender, age, disability, ethnicity, belief, etc., and promotes respectful expression (e.g., “businesspeople” instead of “businessmen”).
- The journal uses American English. Authors should ensure consistent language use in English sections.
- TITLE PAGE: Both Turkish and English title pages prepared at initial submission must be included. The title page in the manuscript’s main language must appear first. Compliance with the Post-Acceptance Manuscript Template is mandatory.
- FORMAT: The Tahoma font must be used in the manuscript. The manuscript must be uploaded in .doc or .docx format on vertically aligned A4 pages.
- Page margins must be set to 2 cm on the left and right, and 2.5 cm on the top and bottom (in MS Word: Page Layout > Margins > Custom Margins).
- Paragraphs must be justified, with 0 cm indentation from the left and right, single-spaced, with 0 pt spacing before and 6 pt spacing after (in MS Word: Paragraph > Indentation and Spacing).
- The article title must be bold, 14-point font, single-spaced, with the first letter of each word capitalized, and centered on the page.
- The Abstract must be 10-point font, single-spaced, and justified.
- Keywords must be 10-point font, single-spaced, and justified.
- Section headings must be bold, 11-point font, single-spaced, in uppercase letters, and left-aligned. No punctuation mark should be used after section headings. There must be no blank line before or after the heading.
- Secondary headings must be bold, 11-point font, single-spaced, with the first letter of each word capitalized, and left-aligned. In secondary headings, only the first letters of the words should be capitalized; the remaining letters must be lowercase. No punctuation mark should be used before or after the heading.
- The main text must be 11-point font, single-spaced, and justified.
- Figure captions must be 10-point font, single-spaced, and centered on the page.
- Table captions must be 10-point font, single-spaced, and centered on the page.
- Equation explanations must be 10-point font, single-spaced, left-aligned, and written in parentheses.
- Footnotes (if any) must be 9-point font, single-spaced, and centered on the page.
- All declarations (Acknowledgements, Ethics committee approval, Authors’ contributions, Declaration of competing interest, Funding statement, Declaration of AI use, and Data availability) must be prepared in 10-point font, single-spaced, and justified. Their headings must be in the same style but bold, with only the first letter capitalized. For manuscripts whose primary language is Turkish, the English versions of the declarations must also be presented separately under the heading “DECLARATIONS.”
- CITATION AND REFERENCES: All citations in the text must comply with the rules of the American Psychological Association (APA Style), 7th edition (see: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines). More detailed information on references is provided in the template.
- Use the author–date system for in-text citations. In-text citations may present the author information either in parentheses or as a narrative citation. In parenthetical citations, use the “&” symbol between the names of two authors, or place “&” before the last author when all names must be included. In narrative citations, use the conjunction “and” instead of “&.”
- In in-text citations, direct quotations longer than 40 words must appear in a freestanding block, without quotation marks, written in italics, and indented 1 cm from the left margin. Quotations shorter than 40 words must appear within double quotation marks in the text. For direct quotations, the page number must also be included in parentheses in the in-text citation.
- The reference list must be in 10-point font, single-spaced, and centered on the page. The second and subsequent lines of each reference must be indented 1.25 cm from the left (hanging indent). A blank line must be left after each reference.
- All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and all references listed must be cited in the text.
- References must be arranged alphabetically. The reference list must not be divided into subsections.
- If an author has many studies published in the same year, letters (a, b, c) should be used (e.g. according to Berndt (1981a) ...).
- If authors have the same surname, the first letter of their first names should be used to prevent confusion (e.g. E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998).
- When there is more than one citation, they should be given in alphabetical order with semicolons between the two studies (e.g. (Akar, H. 2010; Çalışkan, 2008; Dinçer & Kolaşin, 2009; Engin-Demir, 2009; Tunç, 2007).
- The APA recommends the use of “&” instead of “and” in citations and references.
- If the number of authors are three or more, refer only to the first author’s surname as (e.g. (Aron et al., 2019).
- The use of footnotes and endnotes are not preferred in APA style. Footnotes can only be used if there is a very pressing need.
- FIGURES: The example provided in the template must be used for figures and their captions. Each figure must be cited in the text in the format “(Figure 1)”. Visual materials (photographs, images, graphs, maps, etc.) must be arranged so that they do not extend beyond the text area or violate the page margins. Figures must be prepared at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. The figure and its caption must be horizontally centered on the page. The caption must be in 10-point font and written below the figure, without leaving a blank line after the figure. When figures are consecutive, one blank line must be left between them. The word “Figure” and its number must be bold. In figure captions, only the first letter should be capitalized.
- In preparing figure references, the journal’s template must be followed. If a figure has been produced by the author(s) within the scope of this study or is a photograph taken by the author(s) and not previously published, no source citation is required. However, if the figure was prepared by the author but includes information or visuals obtained from other sources, this must be indicated. For example, it may be written as: “Prepared by the authors using Google Earth, 2025 base map.” If a figure consists of multiple visuals, they must not be inserted separately into the text; instead, they must be combined in another environment and transferred to Word as a single image.
- TABLES: The example provided in the template must be used for table captions. Each table must be cited in the text in the format “Table 1”. Tables must be clear, readable, and understandable. They must be written in at least 8-point font. The table caption must be in 10-point font and placed above the table, without a blank line before or after it. A blank line must be left after the table. The word “Table” and its number must be bold. In table captions, only the first letter should be capitalized. Tables must be prepared with all borders visible. For tables exceeding one page in length, the portion that does not fit on the page must be divided, and “Table 1. (continued)” must be written at the top of the following page.
- EQUATIONS: Every equation in the text must be cited (Equation 1). Each equation must be submitted as editable text, not as an image (the equation editor must be used). Variables in equations must be written in italics and defined in the text. If applicable, references to equations must be provided in the text in accordance with APA Style, 7th edition. The International System of Units (Système International d'Unités – SI) must be used in equations. Equations must be numbered sequentially. Depending on their length, simple equations must be written in 10-point italic font and centered on the page, as shown in the template example. The equation number must be indicated in bold, right-aligned in parentheses, after the variable explanations.
- DECLARATIONS: Please consider the following recommendations when writing the Declarations (Acknowledgements, Ethics Committee Approval, Author Contributions, Conflict of Interest Statement, Funding Statement, AI Use Statement, and Data Availability).
- Acknowledgments: The acknowledgements section is optional and should be included only in appropriate circumstances. Authors may use this section to express their gratitude to individuals who contributed to the manuscript but do not meet the criteria for authorship (for example, assistance with language editing, technical support, workshop participation, etc.). Please ensure that the individuals named here have given explicit consent for their names to be used. In addition, if the study was prepared as part of a thesis, project, etc., the relevant information should be included here. Please do not thank anonymous reviewers.
- Ethics committee approval: Ethics committee approval is required particularly for research involving humans, animals, or field studies, to prevent potential rights violations.
- For studies requiring ethics committee approval, the name of the relevant ethics committee, along with the approval date and reference number, must be stated in the Methods section of the manuscript and clearly indicated in this declaration section as well.
- For studies that do not require ethics committee approval, the following statement may be used: “As this study does not involve direct human participation or data that requires ethics committee approval, approval from the ethics committee was not obtained.”
- Contributions of authors: Author contributions should be specified in accordance with international standards. Example format:
Author Name Surname: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Investigation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Data analysis, Data curation, Validation, Mapping/Visualization, Resources, Software, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
Other Author Name Surname: Writing – original draft, …
- Not all roles will apply to every manuscript. Author contributions should be stated individually, in accordance with the nature of the study. An author may contribute to more than one role.
- Declaration of competing interest: All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work.
- If there is no conflict of interest, the following statement may be used: “The author(s) declares that there is no conflict of interest with any person, institution, or organization during the preparation, conduct, or publication of this study.”
- Funding statement: Authors must disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article.
- If no funding has been provided for the research, the following statement may be used: “The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.”
- Declaration of AI use: If the authors have used artificial intelligence tools in their manuscript (within the permitted scope), they must clearly and explicitly disclose this. For example: “During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL / SERVICE] to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.”
- If the authors’ use of artificial intelligence tools is at the level of basic tools such as grammar, spelling, and reference checking, it does not need to be declared.
- Data Availability: For transparency and reproducibility, authors should provide information on where the datasets used in their manuscripts can be accessed. For example: statements such as “The data used in the study are openly available at [URL], associated with the reference number [reference number]”, “The authors declare that the data used in the study are explicitly provided in the manuscript”, “The dataset cannot be shared due to ethical/legal/commercial restrictions”, or “The data can be provided by the author(s) upon reasonable request” may be included.
- ENGLISH EXTENDED ABSTRACT: At the end of the text, manuscripts whose primary language is Turkish must include an English “Extended Abstract”; manuscripts whose primary language is English are not required to include an extended abstract.
- Extended abstract must be divided into subheadings as suggested in the template and be between 700–1000 words. It should be independently readable in English; it must not be a literal translation from Turkish. Please do not include figures, tables, or equations. Ensure that all citations included in the Extended Abstract are already listed in the main references section of the article; do not add new references in this section. Do not introduce new content that does not appear in the Turkish text. Pay attention to English readability and writing conventions, and seek professional assistance if necessary.