Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research

Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (MedFAR) is an international peer-review open access journal aiming to establish a platform for dissemination of high quality original research papers, short communications, technical notes, comments and in-depth reviews related to all aspects of aquatic sciences, capture fisheries and aquaculture including interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary studies.

The main focus of the journal is  Mediterranean and Black Sea region. However; this does not mean any geographic restriction, and manuscripts from other regions are also welcomed. Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research intends to contribute to development of environmentally (both marine and freshwater), economically and socially sustainable  capture fisheries and aquaculture in the region by bridging science and the industry. The journal welcomes case studies providing viable solutions to administrative and operational problems. Applied research and innovative solutions and product development are much appreciated. Similarly, conceptual frameworks and meta-analysis critical reviews from the early stages PhD researchers are strongly supported through this publication.

Along with prevailing issues related to aquatic sciences, fisheries and aquaculture, Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research welcomes manuscripts in following domains;   

• Environment and fisheries and/or aquaculture interactions, ecological footprints of fisheries and aquaculture operations,
• LCA (Life Cycle Assessments)
• Risk analysis (environmental, economic, social) in Fisheries & Aquaculture
• Marine science education
• Climate change and its potential impact on fisheries and aquaculture,   
• Social and economic issues related to fisheries and aquaculture,
• Fisheries and aquaculture policies and management, including coastal zone management and marine protected areas,
• Genetics and broodstock management,
• Bio-security and aquatic animal health management,
• Sustainable fish feed production and technology,
• Innovative materials and technology, including off-shore technology related to fisheries and aquaculture operations,
• Water quality, water resources monitoring/management and technology,
• Algal technology, blue biotechnology,
• Fisheries management, conservation and restoration engineering,
• Responsible fisheries and aquaculture practices, product quality,  safety and certification,
• Software, information/communication and mobile technologies in fisheries and aquaculture,
• Energy efficiency in fisheries and aquaculture,
• Fish behavior in fisheries and aquaculture, aquatic animal welfare and ethics.

1. AUTHOR GUIDELINES

1.1 General Rules

• Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (MedFAR) is published twice a year.

• Publication language of the journal is English and Turkish.

• All manuscripts are subject to peer-reviewed process by at least 2 qualified reviewers.

• Manuscripts are published after the final approval by the editor in chief.

• Publication categories are as follow:

• a) Research article: Articles presenting original research results.

• b) Review articles: An up-to-date comprehensive review of related scientific works on a particular subject.

• c) Short communication: This category consists of the fast and brief announcement of the results of continuing research.

• d) Technical note: A technical note is a short article giving a brief description of a specific development, technique, or procedure, or it may describe a modification of an existing technique or procedure to research techniques.

• e) Comments/reply Comments: Fair and scientifically based critics or assessment of an article published in MedFAR and reply of the author (s) of the article.  
• f) Spotlight corner: Short personal views, assessment, or highlights regarding a critical/hot topic as well as introduction of a new development, initiative, or project of interest to fisheries and aquaculture.  

1.2 Title Page

The title page should include:

• The name(s) of the author(s)

•  A concise and informative title

• The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)

• The e-mail address of the corresponding author

1.3 Abstract:

• Please provide an abstract of 150 to 250 words. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.

1.4 Keywords:

•  Please provide 3 to 5 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.

1.5 Acknowledgments:

• Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section on the title page. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

1.6 Style of Manuscripts:

• The manuscripts should be typed on A4 size papers and the font of the articles must be Times New Roman with 12 pt.

• Manuscripts should be written with 1,5 space throughout.

• Each paragraph must be indented using tabs.

• Number of pages should be placed on the bottom of the right-hand side of each pages.

• Title page of the manuscript should include title, authors' names, affiliation and full mailing addresses. Corresponding author should be indicated his/her working address, telephone numbers and e-mail address.

• All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end (Details about preparing the illustrations and tables are listed below).

• Line numbers should be inserted throughout manuscript.

• Manuscripts should be organized as follows: Title page, abstract, keywords, introduction, material-method, results, discussion, conclusion and references. The section titles must be written with bold capital letters at 12 pt font. 

• Units of measurements should all be SI units. 

1.7 References:  

References should be cited according to following example in the text: (Lawrence, 1990; Samuel and Richardson, 2013; Rickshaw et al., 2017). We recommend for authors to use of tools such as EndNote (http://www.endnote.com) and Reference Manager (http://www.refman.com) for management and formatting of the references.

References to be given in the references section should be listed in "6th Edition of APA Citation" according to following rules;

• Article published in journals:

Moncada, S., Palmer, R.M.J., Higgs, E.A. (1989) Biosynthesis of nitric oxide from L-arginine: A pathway for the regulation of cell function and communication. Biochemistry and Pharmacology 38: 1709 -1715.

• Books:

Strunk, W., White, E.B. (2000) The Elements of Style, fourth ed. Longman, New York.

• Chapter in an edited book:

Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B. (2009) How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith, R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281–304.

• Conference proceedings:

Glare, T.R., Barlow, N.D., Walsh, P.J. (1998) Potential agents for eradication or control of gypsy moth in New Zealand. In: Proceeddings of the 51 st New Zealand Plant Protection Conference. New Zealand Plant Protection Society, pp. 224-229.

• Illustrations and Tables:

These should be referred to in the text as figures using Arabic numbers, e.g. Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc., in order of appearance. All tables and figures should not exceed 16x20 cm in size. Figures should be saved in data formats in JPEG or TIFF or PNG and have high resolution with maximum 300 dpi. MSOffice files are also acceptable.

Line drawings should be on separate sheets of white paper in black indelible ink (dot matrix illustrations are not permitted); lettering should be on an overlay or photocopy and should be no less than 4 mm high for a 50% reduction. Please note, each figure should have a separate legend; these should be grouped on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. All symbols and abbreviations should be clearly explained.

Tables should be self-explanatory and include only essential data. Each table must be type written on a separate sheet and should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, e.g. Table 1, and given a short caption. No vertical rules should be used. Units should appear in parentheses in the column headings and not in the body of the table. All abbreviations should be defined in a footnote.

All tables and figures that are reproduced from a previously published source must be accompanied by a letter of permission from the Publisher or copyright owner if necessary.

2. SUBMISSION PREPARATION CHECKLIST

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check if their manuscript compliance with all of the items of the guideline. Submitted manuscripts will be returned to author(s) if it does comply with the guideline.

*Please note that  MedFAR team including editors and Editorial Advisory Board members are fully committed to ensure high ethical and professional standards in scholarly publication for both editors and authors.  Though a new journal and not a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), MedFAR is  inspired by COPE  guidelines and standards for best practices and responsible research publications for both editors and authors including;  “GUIDELINES ON GOOD PUBLICATION PRACTICE” (https://publicationethics.org/files/u7141/1999pdf13.pdf), INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR EDITORS (https://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standard_editors_for%20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf) and INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR AUTHORS (https://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standards_authors_for%20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf). Authors are kindly encouraged to go through these document before submitting their manuscripts to be aware of the editorial aspects and to fully comply with these standards.   

All manuscripts submitted to MedFAR for publication should be screened for plagiarism using İThenticate software, prior to online submission by author(s). The "Similarity Index" should not exceed 24%. The similarity report should be submitted along with the manuscript and manuscript submission and copyright form.

All manuscripts based on research works involving animals as well as questionnaire surveys, focus-group discussions and observations must have a permission/approval letter from a from relevant "Ethics Committee".

Scales, questionnaires and photographs used in manuscripts from secondary sources must have a permission letter from initial copy right owners. 

**Authors are highly recommended to read MedFAR policies regarding copyrights/Licensing and ethics (see the section on about MedFAR) before submitting their manuscripts. 

PUBLICATION POLICY


Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research-MedFAR is an international peer-review open access journal aiming to contribute to development of sustainable capture fisheries and aquaculture industries by establishing a freely accessible platform for dissemination of scientific findings, facilitating knowledge sharing and promoting science-industry interactions at regional level.

MedFAR is fully committed to principles of open access and free dissemination of scholarly research works and generated knowledge (http://www.oaacademy.org/why-open-access.html).


In this regard; globally acknowledged principles for open access policies i.e. “Budapest Open Access Initiative” (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read) and guidelines towards best practices in publishing scientific journals (Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (https://doaj.org/bestpractice) are fully respected.

To facilitate dissemination of scholarly research and best available scientific knowledge for sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture sectors at regional level MedFAR does not charge any kind of publication or processing fees. The principal criterion for publication in MedFAR journal is the scientific quality of the submitted papers.

Publication Fees
Author fees / Access: The Journal database is fully open access and full text of published articles are available for everyone who can get access to the Journal website free of cost. Besides, the authors never pay any charges for submission, article processing and publication.

Peer Review Process
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Co-Editors, and, if found suitable for further consideration, enter peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double-blind.

COPYRIGHT, LICENCING and PUBLISHING RIGHTS


In line with “Budapest Open Access Initiative” recommendations (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/)

MedFAR is using “Creative Commons” (http://www.oaacademy.org/licensing.html) Licensing scheme for publication of scholarly works. Articles in MedFAR are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). For more information on this license please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode.

Authors are encouraged to visit; "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode" for detailed information on terms and conditions of CC BY-NC 4.0 License.



ETHICS

MedFAR team including editors and Editorial Advisory Board members are fully committed to ensure high ethical and professional standards in scholarly publication for both editors and authors. Though a new journal and not a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), MedFAR is inspired by COPE guidelines and standards for best practices and responsible research publications for both editors and authors including;

“GUIDELINES ON GOOD PUBLICATION PRACTICE” (https://publicationethics.org/files/u7141/1999pdf13.pdf),

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR EDITORS (https://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standard_editors_for%20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf) and

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR AUTHORS (https://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standards_authors_for%20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf).

Authors are kindly encouraged to go through these document before submitting their manuscripts to be aware of the editorial aspects and to fully comply with these standards.



All manuscripts submitted to MedFAR for publication should be screened for plagiarism using İThenticate software, prior to online submission by author(s). The "Similarity Index" should not exceed 24%. The similarity report should be submitted along with the manuscript and manuscript submission and copyright form.




For experimental works involving animals, approvals from relevant ethics committee should have been obtained beforehand assuring that the experiment was conducted according to relevant national or international guidelines on care and use of laboratory animals. Authors may be requested to provide evidence to this end

No fee is charged, including article submission, process management, publication, printing, subscription.