General Rules

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.

Writing Rules

Manuscript Structure

• 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-center of each pages.
• Title page of the manuscript should include title, authors' names, ORCID number(s), 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.

Title Page

The title page should include:

• A concise and informative title
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s),address(es) and ORCID number(s) of the author(s)
• The e-mail address of the corresponding author

Abstract:

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

Keywords:

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

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.

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. Figure 1, Figure 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.

Files expected to be sent with the article

• Plagiarism Report: All manuscripts submitted to MedFAR for publication should be screened for plagiarism. The "Similarity Index" should not exceed 24%. The similarity report should be submitted along with the manuscript, manuscript submission and copyright form.

• Copyright Transfer Form: The Copyright Transfer Form of the articles should be downloaded from here and uploaded to the system as PDF file after signing. The publications of the authors who do not submit this form cannot be published in the journal.

• Ethics Committee: 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".(If necessary)

• Letter of Permission: For the manuscripts obtained from secondary sources, a letter of permission should be obtained from the original copyright holders for the scales, questionnaires and photographs used by the authors. (If necessary)

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

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

Publication Ethics

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

General duties and responsibilities

Editors are responsible for each study published in the Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (MedFAR). In this respect, the editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
• Making efforts to meet the demand for knowledge from readers and authors,
• Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
• Managing the procedures aimed to improve the quality of the studies published in the journal,
• Supporting freedom of expression,
• Ensuring academic integrity,
• Following the procedures without making concessions on intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• Being transparent and clear in issues that require correction or explanation.

Relationships with Readers

Relationships with Authors

Editors have the following duties and responsibilities in their relations with authors:
• Editors must make positive or negative decisions about the studies' importance, originality, validity, clarity in wording and suitability with the journal's aims and objectives.
• Editors must accept the studies that are within the scope of the publication in the pre-review process unless there are serious problems with the study.
• Editors must not ignore positive suggestions made by reviewers unless there are serious problems with the study.
• New editors, unless there are serious issues, must not change the previous editor's decisions about the studies.
• "Blind Review and Review Process" must be published and editors must prevent possible diversions in the defined processes.
• Authors should be provided with explanatory and informative feedback.

Relationships with Reviewers

Editors must

• Choose reviewers according to the subject of the study.
• Provide the information and guidance reviewers may need during the review process.
• Observe whether there are conflicting interests between reviewers and authors.
• Keep the identities of reviewers confidential in a blind review.
• Encourage the reviewers to review the manuscript in an unbiased, scientific and objective tone.
• Develop practices and policies that increase the performance of reviewers.
• Take necessary steps to update the reviewer pool dynamically.
• Prevent unkind and unscientific reviews.
• Make an effort to ensure the reviewer pool has a wide range.

Relationships with the Editorial Board

• Ensure that the members of the editorial board review the manuscripts in an unbiased and independent manner.
• Select the new members of the editorial board from those who can contribute to the journal and are qualified enough.
• Send manuscripts for review based on the subject of expertise of the editorial board members.
• Regularly communicate with the editorial board. Arrange regular meetings with the editorial board for the development of publication policies and the journal.

Relationships with the Journal's Owner and Publisher

The relationship between the editors and the publisher is based on the principle of the independence of editors. All the decisions made by the editors are independent of the publisher and the owner of the journal as required by the agreement made between editors and publisher.

Editorial and Blind Review Processes

Quality Assurance

Protection of Personal Information

Encouraging Ethical Rules and Protection of Human and Animal Rights

Editors are supposed to protect human and animal rights in the studies being reviewed and must reject the experimental studies which do not have ethical and related committee’s approval about the population given in such studies.

Precautions against possible Abuse and Malpractice

Editors are supposed to take precautions against possible abuse and malpractice. They must conduct investigations meticulously and objectively in determining and evaluating complaints about such situations. They must also share the results of the investigation.

Ensuring Academic Integrity

Editors must make sure that the mistakes, inconsistencies, or misdirections in studies are corrected quickly.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all the articles published in the journal and the rights of the journal and author(s) in cases where these rights are violated. Also, editors must take the necessary precautions in order to prevent the content of all published articles from violating the intellectual property rights of other publications.

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion

Editors must
• Pay attention to the convincing criticism about studies published in the journal and must have a constructive attitude towards such criticism.
• Grant the right of reply to the author(s) of the criticized study.
• Not ignore or exclude the study that includes negative results.

Complaints

Conflicting Interests

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Ethical Responsibilities of Publisher

• The Editors and the Editorial Board of Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (MedFAR) are conscious of the fact that they must observe the ethical responsibilities below and act accordingly:
• Editors are responsible for all the processes that the manuscripts submitted to Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (MedFAR) will go through. Within this framework, ignoring the economic or political interests, the decision-makers are the editors.
• The publisher undertakes to have an independent editorial decision made.
• The publisher protects the intellectual property rights of all the articles published Mediterranean Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (MedFAR) and holds the responsibility to keep a record of each unpublished article.
• The publisher bears all the responsibility to take the precautions against scientific abuse, fraud and plagiarism.

Unethical Behaviour

PUBLICATION POLICY and COPYRIGHT

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

Peer Review Process

COPYRIGHT, LICENCING and PUBLISHING RIGHTS

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 for the relevant ethical issues.