Marine and Life Sciences

Marine and Life Sciences (MLS), published twice a year (June and December), is a refereed international English and Turkish journal. MLS is a double peer-reviewed (blind) Open Access Journal. The Journal publishes original research, review articles, short communications, technical notes, reports and letters to the Editor in the fields of marine and life sciences. The main purpose of the journal is to share the results of scientific researches in the fields of science, engineering and social sciences such as marine sciences, maritime, aquatic life, aquaculture, fisheries management, environmental sciences. MLS does not charge for any article.

Research areas include (but not limited):

• Marine Technologies
• Marine Biology
• Fisheries
• Aquaculture
• Maritime
• Biotechnology
• Ecology
• Pollution
• Fisheries management
• GIS, Telemetry and remote sensing
• Fish Diagnose and Disease
• Fish Nutrition
• Food Processing
• Hydrology
• Limnology
• Oceanography
• Sustainable ecosystem
• Global warming
• Statistic and modelling
• Water basin management

MLS is an international refereed Turkish and English journal which will be published in 2019. Original papers, reviews, short communications and letters to the editor in the fields of marine sciences, maritime, aquatic life, aquaculture, fisheries management and environmental sciences can be published after peer review. The work prepared in accordance with the writing rules will be sent to the referees for evaluation by the Journal editor. Marlife has the application of Blind Referee. The Journal editor and editorial board decides on the publication, in accordance with the opinion of the referees.

Submitted articles are not returned if they are published or published. All responsibilities (scientific, professional, legal, ethical, etc.) of the articles published in the Journal belong to the authors. The copyright of the published articles cannot be transferred without the journal's ownership and reference.

Types of Paper

Original research papers; review articles; short communications; letters to the editor. Original research papers; original full-length research papers which have not been published previously and should not exceed 7500 words or 25 manuscript pages (including tables and illustrations). Review articles; on topical subjects and up to 10,000 words or 25 manuscript pages (including tables and figures). Short communications; describing work that may be of a preliminary nature (preferably no more than 3000 or 10 manuscript pages including tables and figures). Letters to the Editor; should be included on matters of topical interest and not exceeding 2000 words or 10 manuscript pages including tables and figures)

Preparation of Manuscripts

Papers must be written in English or Turkish. Prepare your text using a word-processing software and save in “.doc” or “.docx” formats. Use a 12-point font (Times New Roman), including the references, table headings and figure captions, double-spaced and with 25 mm margins on one side of A4 size paper throughout the manuscript. Use 25 mm margins on all sides. The text should be in single-column format and the as simple as possible and double-spaced with wide margins on one side of white paper. In particular, do not use to hyphenate words. The names of genera and species should be given in italics and, when first mentioned in the text, should be followed by the authority. Manuscripts must be structured in the following order;

Title page

·       Title

·       Author names, ORCID ID and affiliations

·       Corresponding author’s e-mail

Main text

·       Title without Author’s information (***both English and Turkish titles are required for Turkish articles)

·       Abstract (***both English and Turkish abstracts are required for Turkish articles)

·       Keywords

·       Introduction

·       Material and Methods

·         Results and Discussion (*** This section may be divided by subheadings or may be combined depending upon the nature of manuscript and the type of study.

·         Conclusion

·         Acknowledgement (if required)

·         References

Tables and Figures with captions (on appropriate location in the text)

And appendices (if any).

Title Page

The title page should be included;

·         The first names and surnames of the authors (The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk. All other Authors affiliation addresses should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers

·      ORCID ID

·         Authors affiliation addresses of the each authors

·         The e-mail address of the corresponding author

Main Text

·           Abstract (max. 500 words. References and abbreviations should be avoided)

·           Keywords (between 3 and 6 keywords)

·           Articles must be structured in the conventional format such as Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion (or Results and Discussion), Conclusion, Acknowledgments and References.

·           The first line of each paragraph must be indent. Do not put a blank line between paragraphs.

·           Use italics for emphasis.

·           Use only SI (international system) units.

Acknowledgement

Keep these to the absolute minimum and placed before the reference section.

References

Citation in text; Please ensure that each reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list. Cite literature in the text in chronological, followed by alphabetical order like these examples (Şimşek, 2018; Şimşek and Demirci, 2018; Şimşek et al., 2018. For Turkish articles; Şimşek, 2018; Şimşek ve Demirci, 2018; Şimşek ve ark., 2018). If the cited reference is the subject of a sentence, only the date should be given in parentheses. Formatted like this examples: Kale (2012); Can and Yılmaz (2014); Kılıç et al. (2019)

·            Single author: the author’s name and the year of publication;

·            Two authors: both author’s names and the year of publication;

·            Three or more authors: first author’s name followed by et al. and the year of publication

Citation in the reference list; References should be listed first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically at the end of the article. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters a, b, c, etc. placed after the year of publication.

The citation of articles, books, multi-author books and articles published online should conform to the following examples:

Article:

Demirci, A. (2007). The evaluation of a red shrimp Plesionika martia (Decapoda: Pandalidae) in North-East Mediterranean Trawl Fishery. Ege Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 24(1): 93-96.

Şimşek, E. & Demirci, A. (2018). Barotrauma treatment effects on survival rates for some discarded fish by trawl fishery. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 27(7): 4867-4873.

Demirci, S., Özyılmaz, A., Öksüz, A., Nadir, R. S. & Şimşek, E. (2018). Otolith chemistry of Champsodon nudivittis (Ogilby, 1895) and Nemipterus randalli (Russell, 1986) in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 34(5): 1131-1135.

Book:

Brown, C., Laland, K. & Krause, J. (Eds.) (2011). Fish cognition and behavior. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. 472 p.

Chapter:

Langston, W. J. (1990). Toxic effects of metals and the incidence of marine ecosystems. In: Furness, R.W. (eds.), Rainbow heavy metals in the marine environment. CRC Pres., New York. p. 102-122.

Vassallo, A.I. & Mora, M.S. (2007). Interspecific scaling and ontogenetic growth patterns of the skull in living and fossil ctenomyid and octodontid rodents (Caviomorpha: Octodontoidea). In: Kelt, D.A., Lessa, E., Salazar-Bravo, J.A., Patton, J.L. (eds.), The Quintessential Naturalist: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Oliver P. Pearson. 1st ed. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press, 945-968.

Thesis and Dissertation:

Şimşek, E. (2018). Trol balıkçılığında ıskartanın yaşama ihtimalini etkileyen faktörlerin analizi. Doktora tezi, İskenderun Teknik Üniversitesi, Hatay, Türkiye, 101 s.

Şimşek, E. (2018). Analysis of the factors affecting the discard fate for trawl fishery. Ph. D. Thesis, Iskenderun Technical University, Hatay, Turkey, 101 pp. (In Turkish).

Conference Proceedings:

Demirci, A., Şimşek E., Demirci, S., Akar, Ö. & Bayraktar, O. (2018). Recreational fishing competitions in Turkey. International Ecology 2018 Symposium, Kastamonu, Turkey Proceedings Book, 505-506.

Institution Publication:

FAO, (2016). The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture: Contributing to food security and nutrition for all. Rome. 200 pp.

Report:

FAO, (2018). Report of the ninth session of the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report No. 1188. Rome, Italy.

Internet Source:

Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (Eds.) (2018). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. Retrieved on January 11, 2018 from http://www.fishbase.org.

Tables

Tables, numbered in Arabic, should be on the appropriate location in the text with a short descriptive title at the top. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data). Avoid vertical rules. The data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Figures

All illustrations should be labeled ‘Figure’ and numbered in consecutive Arabic numbers, Figure 1, Figure 2 etc. in the text. If panels of a figure are labeled (a , b, etc.) use the same case when referring to these panels in the text. Drawings reproduced with a high quality laser printer are preferred. Photographs, 1f used, should be of good contrast and printed on glossy paper. Figures, which are recommended for electronic formats such as PNG, JPEG. TIFF (min. 300 dpi) should be also arranged in available dimensions. All figures or tables should be presented in the body of the text. Use the Times New Roman font for all figures and tables. Font sizes should be from 9 to 12 points.

Marine and Life Sciences follows certain ethical standards for publication, existing to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and due credit for original ideas. Marine and Life Sciences is connected to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), abides by its Code of Conduct, and aims to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2011, March 7). Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Retrieved from https://publicationethics.org/about/guide/journal-editors

Authors who submit papers to Marine and Life Sciences certify that his/her work is original and is not published or under publication consideration elsewhere. Also, the authors confirm that submitted papers have not been copied or plagiarized, in whole or in part, from other papers or studies. The authors certify that he/she does not have potential conflicts of interest or partial benefits associated with his or her papers.

Marine and Life Sciences will check for plagiarism in all submitted articles prior to publication. If plagiarism is detected at any stage of the publication process, the author will be instructed to rewrite the manuscript. Every submission will be scanned by Turnitin® to prevent plagiarism. If any manuscript is 30% plagiarized, the article will be rejected and the author will be notified. We strongly recommend that authors check paper content before submitting for publication. Plagiarism can be checked by using free online software.

Marine and Life Sciences is committed to objective and fair blind peer reviews of submitted papers and the prevention of any actual or potential conflicts of interest between writers and reviewers.


RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS AND THE EDITORIAL BOARD


Editorial Responsibilities and Independence

All editors of Marine and Life Sciences are independent in their evaluations and decisions in the journal. No external and/or internal factor can affect their decisions. If the editors are exposed to any kind of positive and/or negative constraints, they keep the right to take legal action against those involved in the constraint. On the other hand, editors are responsible for their decisions in the journal. The editor-in-chief is the only person responsible for journal content and on-time publishing.


Privacy and Conflict of Interest

Editors and members of the Editorial Board of the journal are forbidden to share submitted materials with third parties other than section editors, statistical editors, Language editors, copy editors, design editors and ombudsman when needed, and to use the submitted materials themselves. If there is a conflict of interest among an editor and an author or institution of the author in terms of cooperation or competition, then another member of the Editorial board is assigned to manage the evaluation process.


Publishing Decisions

Editors provide peer review of submitted manuscripts by assigning at least two reviewers expert in the field. The editor-in-chief is responsible for the decision of publishing a manuscript considering the importance of the manuscripts for researchers and readers, reviewer reports, plagiarism and copyright infringement as legal issues. Editor-in-chief can discuss with other editors and reviewers for his/her decision.


RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS


Contribution to the Editor's Decision

Peer-reviewing of a submitted manuscript is the control of its scientific content, scientific layout and suitability according to the principles of the journal, and delivery of the reviewer's opinion for unsuitable manuscript content to ensure suitability. The reviewing process, not only enables reviewers to forward their evaluations about the manuscripts to the editors but also gives them the opportunity to improve the contents of the manuscripts.


Quickness

If a reviewer assigned for evaluation of a manuscript is of an expert in a field of science other than the manuscript content, is far to the subject of the manuscript, is short of time for evaluation or possess a conflict of interest, then he/she should inform the assigning editor and ask his/her withdrawal. If the content of the manuscript fits the expertise field of the reviewer, then he/she should complete the evaluation and send the report to the editor as soon as possible.


Privacy

Reviewers assigned for evaluation of manuscripts approve in advance that the manuscripts are secret documents and do not share any information about these documents with third parties except the editors involved in the evaluation. Reviewers continue to not to share information even after the manuscripts are accepted or rejected for publication.

If it is suspected of using an idea in the manuscript that is sent for evaluation to the reviewer without permission, the flowchart of COPE “What to do if you suspect a reviewer has appropriated an author’s ideas or data?” is followed.


Standards of Objectivity

Reviewers should construct their criticisms on scientific background and include scientific evidence in their statements. All comments raised by the reviewers to improve the manuscripts should be clear and direct and written in a manner far away from disturbing the author’s feelings. Insulting and derogatory statements should be avoided.


Suitability of the Cited References

Reviewers should determine quotations in the manuscripts used without citing a reference. Statements, observations, conclusions or evidence in published articles should be quoted with the citation of the related reference. Reviewers should also be sure about the reality of the presence of quotations in the cited reference(s).


Conflict of Interests

If a reviewer is in a situation by being involved in one or more interests with the author(s), he/she should inform the editor of the assigning editor and ask his/her withdrawal.


RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AUTHORS


Reporting Standards

Authors of original research articles should present the results and discuss them with them in a proper way. Since the methodological contents of the articles should be reproducible, the authors should be clear in their statements and should not purposely report wrong or missing data. Authors of review type articles are not recommended to write such articles if they are not an expert in the field of their review topics or when they do not have enough background information or related former studies.


Data Accessing and Retainment

Authors may be asked to present their raw data when needed (ethical cases etc.). Therefore, raw data of the manuscripts should be kept in safety to present if needed. The storage period of raw data following publications should be at least 10 years.


Originality and Plagiarism

The authors of submitted manuscripts should be sure that their manuscripts are original or include cited references for quotations.


Multiple, Repeated, Unnecessary or Simultaneous Submissions

It is not an approved way to produce more than one publication reporting on the same research. The authors should pay attention to such cases and they should not submit the same manuscript to different journals simultaneously.


Authorship of Manuscripts

Only the following persons should be included in the manuscripts as responsible authors:

• Researchers providing a major contribution to concept, design, performing, data collection and/or analysis in a study,

• Researchers involved in the preparation or critical revision of manuscripts,

• Researchers approved the latest version of the manuscripts and accepted its submission.

Contributors other than the above list (technical assistance, helpers in writing and editing, general contributions, etc.) should not be involved in the authors’ list but can be listed in the acknowledgements section. The corresponding authors of manuscripts should provide the separate listing of contributors as authors and those to be involved in the acknowledgements section.



Conflict of Interests


Authors should clearly declare any kind of conflict of interests in their manuscripts. Absence of conflict of interests about the topic of the manuscripts should also be declared. The most common types of conflict of interests are financial supports, education or other types of funds, personal or institutional relations and affiliations. All sources of financial supports (with their grant or other reference numbers) of the studies should be declared.


Acknowledgement of References

Authors should not use personally obtained information (conversations, correspondences or discussions with bystanders) unless they have the permission of their sources. Information about private documents or refereeing of grant applications should not be used without the permission of the authorities providing the related service.


Peer-Review

Authors are obliged to be involved in the peer-review process and should cooperate by responding to raw data, evidence for ethical approvals, patient approvals and copyright release form requests of editors and their explanations. Authors should respond in either a positive or a negative way to revision suggestions generated by the peer-review process. They should be sure to include their counter views in their negative responses.


Submitting authors must confirm the following:

1. Manuscripts must be the original work of the submitting author.

2. Submitted manuscripts must be unpublished.

3. There should be no conflict of interest. If it exists, it must be clearly stated.

4. The authors should cite all data sources used in the preparation of the manuscript.

Note: It is unethical to submit a manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.


Reviewers must confirm the following:

1. Manuscripts are reviewed fairly based on the intellectual content of the paper regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship or political view of the author(s).

2. Any observed conflict of interest during the review process must be sent to the editor.

3. Information pertaining to the manuscript is kept confidential.

4. Information that may be a cause for rejection of publication must be sent to the editor.


Editors must confirm the following:

1. Manuscripts are reviewed fairly based on the intellectual content of the paper regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship or political view of the author(s).

2. Information pertaining to manuscripts is kept confidential.

3. Any observed conflict of interest pertaining to manuscripts must be disclosed.



Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research


Marine and Life Sciences endorses the ARRIVE guidelines (www.nc3rs.org.uk/ARRIVE) for reporting experiments using live animals. Authors and reviewers can use the ARRIVE guidelines as a checklist, which can be found at www.nc3rs.org.uk/ARRIVEchecklist.

Manuscripts containing original research on animal subjects must have been approved by an ethical review committee. The project identification code, date of approval and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board must be cited in the Methods Section.

For research involving animals, any potentially derived benefits must be significant in relation to harm suffered by participating animals. Authors should particularly ensure that their research complies with the commonly accepted “3Rs”:

• Replacement of animals by alternatives wherever possible,

• Reduction in the number of animals used, and

• Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals.


DISCLAIMER

Editor or members of the editorial board are not responsible for the author's opinions and manuscript contents. Authors are responsible for the ethical originality of and possible errors in their manuscripts. They are also responsible for all errors based on page editing before their proofreading. On the other hand, errors taking place after proofreading are in the responsibility of the journal directors.

Note: The corresponding author should make corrections in 2 months, otherwise the paper will be rejected.

Note: The Editorial Board takes responsibility for making publication decisions on submitted manuscripts based on the reviewer’s evaluation of the manuscript, policies of the journal editorial board, and legal efforts to prevent plagiarism, libel, and copyright infringement.

MLS does not charge for any article.