Osmanli Bilimi Arastirmalari (Studies in Ottoman Science)

The journal Studies in Ottoman Science-Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları publishes peer-reviewed original research articles (in Turkish, English, French and German), review articles and articles in translation on the history of science technology and medicine. Research notes, addenda, book reviews and reports of scientific meetings in the field are also accepted. The journal is published in January and July.

The journal covers research on the history of science, technology and medicine especially dealing with the historical aspects of scientific institutions; the development of scientific disciplines and techniques; the transmission of scientific and technical knowledge among various societies; the translation of scientific and technical books; the science education; biographies of scientists and many other themes of the history of science. History of pharmacy is also included in the scope. Focus is given on the history of scientific activities in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire (14-20th c.) and occasionally during the Turkish Republic (beginning as from 1923). The historical studies dealing with science in former Ottoman territories such as the Middle East and the Balkans, are also welcomed.

All correspondence will be sent to the first-named author unless otherwise specified. Manuscpript is to be submitted online via https://dergipark.org.tr/login that can be accessed at http://oba.istanbul.edu.tr  It must be accompanied by a title page specifying the article category (i.e. research article, review etc.) and including information about the manuscript (see the Submission Checklist), and cover letter. Manuscripts should be prepared in Microsoft Word 2003 and upper versions. In addition, Copyright Agreement Form that has to be signed by all authors must be submitted.

1. The journal publishes manuscrits in Turkish, English, German or French. Preferably, the manuscript should not exceed 10,000 words (not including notes) and 120 notes.
2. Manuscript should be written in MS Word format, double-spaced and in 11 point Times New Roman font. We kindly ask you not to send a pdf file. The title should be written with capital letters (12 point, bold), sub-headings in lower case letters (11 point, bold).
3. Research and review articles, as well as articles in translation should each include on its title page two abstracts (in the language of article and in English) of 100-150 words each. Key words (max. 10 words each) will also be provided underneath both of the abstracts. No abstract and bibliography are needed for research notes, addendum, book & scientific meeting reviews, and letters to the editor. While uploading addendum, book review and letter to the editor files on the DergiPark system, please enter the first paragraph of the article in the abstract section.
4. Appendixes, with related bibliographical references,are placed after the main text, and before the bibliography. Their references should be included in the bibliography.
5. Centuries and dates should be written in full: fifteenth century, 29 October 1923. For dates please use BCE and CE in English texts, AEC and EC in French texts, and MÖ and MS in Turkish texts.
6. Short quotations should be given between double quotes within the paragraph. Long quotations (10 points) should have double indentation on the left (only), without quotes.
7. Figures and images should include captions with related bibliographical references. 
   Bibliographical references mentioned in the captions should be included in the bibliography
   Their captions should be incorporated within the text, and not be collected at the end of the manuscript. Also, they should be separately uploaded to DergiPark system. Captions  of images and figures should be numbered separately. Captions should be in 9 points.
8. Notes and bibliography must be in line with journal’s reference style based on Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition).
9. Notes (8 point) should be given at the bottom of every page, signalled by superscript numbers in the main text. Reference numbers should follow the punctuation marks (.35 ,23).
10. Submitted manuscripts and abstracts should be conformed with the grammar and orthography of the language (Turkish, English, German and French) in which they were written. English and French language editing will not be provided by the editor. Non-English and non-French speaking authors are kindly invited to consult language editing services before sending their manuscript and abstract.
11. A title page including author information must be submitted together with the manuscript. The title page is to include fully descriptive title of the manuscript and, affiliation, title, e-mail address, postal address, phone, fax number of the author(s) and ORCIDs of all authors (see The Submission Checklist).

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Studies in Ottoman Science-Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and pays regard to Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) on https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing

All submissions must be original, unpublished (including full text in conference proceedings), and not under the review of any other publication synchronously. Authors must ensure that submitted work is original. They must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere or is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere, in any language. Applicable copyright laws and conventions must be followed. Copyright material (e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations) must be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement. Any work or words of other authors, contributors, or sources must be appropriately credited and referenced.

Each manuscript is reviewed by one of the editors and at least two referees under double-blind peer review process. Plagiarism, duplication, fraud authorship/denied authorship, research/data fabrication, salami slicing/salami publication, breaching of copyrights, prevailing conflict of interest are unnethical behaviors.

All manuscripts not in accordance with the accepted ethical standards will be removed from the publication. This also contains any possible malpractice discovered after the publication. In accordance with the code of conduct the editor will report any cases of suspected plagiarism or duplicate publishing.

Research Ethics

Studies in Ottoman Science-Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları adheres to the highest standards in research ethics and follows the principles of international research ethics as defined below. The authors are responsible for the compliance of the manuscripts with the ethical rules.

- Principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be sustained in designing the research, reviewing the design and conducting the research.

- The research team and participants should be fully informed about the aim, methods, possible uses and requirements of the research and risks of participation in research.

- The confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants and the confidentiality of the respondents should be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.

- Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily, not under any coercion.

- Any possible harm to participants must be avoided. The research should be planned in such a way that the participants are not at risk.

- The independence of research must be clear; and any conflict of interest or must be disclosed.

- In experimental studies with human subjects, written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, legal custodian’s assent must be obtained.

- If the study is to be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization.

- In studies with human subject, it must be noted in the method’s section of the manuscript that the informed consent of the participants and ethics committee approval from the institution where the study has been conducted have been obtained.

Author's Responsibilities

It is authors’ responsibility to ensure that the article is in accordance with scientific and ethical standards and rules. Authors must ensure that submitted work is original. They must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere or is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere, in any language. Applicable copyright laws and conventions must be followed. Copyright material (e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations) must be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement. Any work or words of other authors, contributors, or sources must be appropriately credited and referenced.

All the authors of a submitted manuscript must have direct scientific and academic contribution to the manuscript. The author(s) of the original research articles is defined as a person who is significantly involved in “conceptualization and design of the study”, “collecting the data”, “analyzing the data”, “writing the manuscript”, “reviewing the manuscript with a critical perspective” and “planning/conducting the study of the manuscript and/or revising it”. Fund raising, data collection or supervision of the research are not sufficient for being accepted as an author. The author(s) must meet all these criteria described above. The order of names in the author list of an article must be a co-decision and it must be indicated in the Copyright Transfer Form. The individuals who do not meet the authorship criteria but contributed to the study must take place in the acknowledgement section. Individuals providing technical support, assisting writing, providing a general support, providing material or financial support are examples to be indicated in acknowledgement section.

All authors must disclose all issues concerning financial relationship, conflict of interest, and competing interest that may potentially influence the results of the research or scientific judgment.

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published paper, it is the author’s obligation to promptly cooperate with the Editor-in-Chief to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.

Responsibility for the Editor and Reviewers

Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors. He/She provides a fair double-blind peer review of the submitted articles for publication and ensures that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential before publishing.

Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication. He/She must publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.

Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers. Only he has the full authority to assign a reviewer and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.

Reviewers must have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the research funders. Their judgments must be objective.

Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.

A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees must be ensured. In particular situations, the editor may share the review of one reviewer with other reviewers to clarify a particular point.

All expenses of the journal are covered by the Istanbul University. Processing and publication are free of charge with the journal. There is no article processing charges or submission fees for any submitted or accepted articles.