Marine Science and Environmental Research publishes two issues annually, in April and October, and accepts English-language manuscripts. Submissions must fall within the journal's scope and comply with the editorial, ethical, and manuscript preparation requirements outlined in these guidelines.

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial assessment undergo a double-blind peer-review process and are evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers in the relevant field. Editorial decisions are based on the scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with ethical and editorial standards.

Manuscripts must represent original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Submitted manuscripts may be screened using similarity detection software as part of the editorial evaluation process. The overall similarity rate should not exceed 20%, excluding the reference list and properly quoted material. Similarity reports are also evaluated qualitatively by the editors, and compliance with the specified threshold does not by itself guarantee that a manuscript is free from inappropriate text overlap or plagiarism. Manuscripts containing unattributed material, excessive text recycling, or other concerns regarding originality may be returned for revision or rejected in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics policy.

Before submission, all listed authors must have approved the content of the manuscript, agreed to its submission to the journal, and approved the order of authorship.

The journal accepts the following manuscript types:

• Research Articles
  Full-length manuscripts presenting original research, new data, and scientifically significant findings relevant to the scope of the journal.
• Review Articles
  Critical and comprehensive syntheses of existing knowledge, recent advances, and emerging developments within a defined area of marine or environmental science.
• Short Communications
  Concise manuscripts reporting novel, focused, or time-sensitive findings that merit rapid communication to the scientific community.

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

Title Page

The title page should contain the following information:

Title

The title should be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the content of the manuscript.

Author Information

Please provide:

• Full name(s) of all author(s)
• Affiliation(s) of all author(s), including institution, department (if applicable), city, and country
• Full postal address of the corresponding author
• A valid and active e-mail address of the corresponding author
• The 16-digit ORCID iD of each author

Blinded Manuscript

To ensure the integrity of the double-blind peer-review process, authors must submit a blinded version of the manuscript as a separate file.

The blinded manuscript must not contain information that could directly reveal the identity of the authors. Author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, correspondence details, acknowledgments, funding information, author contribution statements, and other identifying information must therefore be excluded from the blinded manuscript and provided separately through the appropriate submission fields or files, as applicable.

Authors should cite their own previously published work in the same manner as other references and should avoid wording that directly reveals authorship.

Where institutional or other identifying information would directly reveal the authors’ identities, it may be temporarily replaced with [blinded for review] and restored after the peer-review process.

Authors must also ensure that file names, document properties, tracked changes, comments, and other metadata do not contain identifying information.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

The use of Large Language Models (LLMs) or other AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) during the preparation of the manuscript should be disclosed in the Methods section (or another appropriate section if a Methods section is not available) when such tools contribute to content generation, analysis, interpretation, or other substantive aspects of the manuscript.

Disclosure is not required when AI tools are used solely for copy-editing purposes, including:

• Improving readability and writing style
• Correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and tone
• Minor wording and formatting revisions

These activities are considered AI-assisted copy editing and do not constitute content generation or autonomous authorship. In all cases, authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and final content of the manuscript.

Abstract

Please provide an abstract of 150–250 words.

The abstract should:

• For Research Articles, clearly summarize the objectives, methods, principal findings, and conclusions of the study. For Review Articles and Short Communications, the content may be adapted to the nature of the manuscript while clearly presenting its purpose, main findings or key points, and conclusions where applicable
• Avoid undefined abbreviations
• Avoid citations and references to the literature

Keywords

Provide 4–6 keywords suitable for indexing and literature searches.

Main Text Structure

Manuscripts should be organized according to the type of submission.

Research Articles should generally include the following sections:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Declarations
• References

The Results and Discussion sections may be combined when appropriate to the nature of the study.

Review Articles may follow a flexible structure appropriate to the subject area and type of review. However, the manuscript should present a clearly defined objective, a logically organized synthesis of the relevant literature, critical evaluation of current knowledge, and well-supported conclusions.

Short Communications should follow a concise structure appropriate to the study. Separate section headings may be used where necessary, but the manuscript should clearly present the background and objective, methodology, principal findings, and conclusions.

Section headings and subheadings should be used consistently and should reflect the logical organization of the manuscript.

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).

Please ensure that:

• A standard font (e.g., Times New Roman, 12-point) is used throughout the manuscript
• Italics are used only where appropriate
• Pages are numbered using the automatic page-numbering function
• Indentation is created using tab stops or paragraph formatting rather than spaces
• Tables are prepared using the Word table function rather than spreadsheet software
• Equations are created using Equation Editor or MathType

Headings

A maximum of three levels of headings should be used throughout the manuscript.

Abbreviations

All abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Footnotes

Footnotes may be used to provide supplementary information.

Please note that:

• Footnotes should not consist solely of reference citations
• Full bibliographic information should not be included in footnotes
• Figures and tables should not appear within footnotes
• Text footnotes should be numbered consecutively
• Table footnotes should be indicated using superscript lowercase letters
• Asterisks may be used to indicate significance levels and other statistical annotations
• Endnotes should not be used

Scientific Style

Authors should adhere to internationally accepted scientific conventions.

Units

Use the International System of Units (SI) throughout the manuscript.

Nomenclature

Scientific names of organisms should follow the rules and recommendations of the relevant international nomenclatural codes. Genus and species names must be italicized, with the genus name capitalized and the species epithet written in lowercase (e.g., Chelidonichthys lucerna, Sardinella aurita, Trachurus mediterraneus). The full scientific name should be given at first mention; the genus name may subsequently be abbreviated where this does not cause ambiguity. Taxonomic authorities and years should be provided where relevant and used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Chemical names and nomenclature should follow the recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Drugs and pesticides

Generic names are preferred. If trade names are used, the corresponding generic name should be provided at first mention.

Mathematical notation

Use standard mathematical conventions:

• Italic: variables, unknown quantities, and mathematical constants
• Roman (upright): numbers, operators, punctuation, and standard functions (e.g., sin, cos, log, exp, max, min)
• Bold: vectors, matrices, and tensors

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be prepared clearly, numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text, and referred to using Arabic numerals (e.g., Figure 1, Table 1).

Figures

Figures should be of sufficient quality and resolution to ensure clear reproduction. Photographs, maps, graphs, diagrams, and other graphical materials should be submitted in a clear and legible format.

• Figures should be numbered consecutively as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
• Each figure must have a concise and informative caption.
• Figure captions should be placed below the corresponding figure.
• All symbols, abbreviations, scale bars, and other elements used in a figure should be clearly explained in the caption where necessary.
• Text, labels, and symbols within figures should remain legible at the final publication size.
• Color and grayscale images should preferably have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, while line drawings should preferably have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
• Figures should not contain unnecessary decorative elements or backgrounds.
• Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce or adapt previously published figures where required. The original source must be appropriately acknowledged.

Tables

Tables should present information concisely and should not duplicate data already described in detail in the text or figures.

• Tables should be numbered consecutively as Table 1, Table 2, etc.
• Each table must have a concise and informative title placed above the table.
• Tables should be created using the table function of the word-processing software and must remain editable. Tables submitted as images should not be used.
• Column headings should be clear and sufficiently descriptive.
• Abbreviations and symbols used in tables should be explained in table footnotes where necessary.
• Statistical significance, units of measurement, and other relevant information should be clearly indicated.
• Vertical lines should be avoided, and unnecessary formatting should be minimized.

All figures and tables must be cited in the main text and should appear as close as possible to their first citation, unless otherwise required during the submission process.

Acknowledgments

Authors may acknowledge individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship, as well as relevant non-financial or institutional assistance.

The Acknowledgments section must be omitted from the blinded manuscript if it contains information that could reveal the authors’ identities and restored in the final accepted manuscript.

Author Contributions

Author Contributions should be provided for manuscripts with more than one author.  The individual contributions of each author should be stated clearly. Authors are encouraged to describe contributions using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework where appropriate.

Example:

• A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft. C.D.: Formal Analysis, Data Curation, Writing – Review & Editing. E.F.: Supervision, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Declarations

All manuscripts must include the declarations specified below before the References section. An Ethics Statement should be provided where applicable, while Funding, Declaration of Competing Interests, and Data Availability Statement must be included in all manuscripts. 

For double-blind review, any declaration containing information that could reveal the authors’ identities should be omitted or anonymized in the blinded manuscript and provided separately during submission. Full declarations must be restored in the final accepted manuscript.

Ethics Statement

For studies requiring ethical approval, authors must provide the name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board, together with the approval number and date. Where research permits or other official authorizations are required, the relevant permit information should also be provided. If ethical approval was not required, this should be stated where relevant.

Examples:

• This study was approved by the Mersin University Animal Experiments Local Ethics Committee (Approval No. XXXX, DD Month YYYY).
• Field sampling was conducted under the authorization of [name of authority] (Permit No. XXXX, DD Month YYYY).
• Ethical approval was not required for this study.

Funding

All sources of financial support must be disclosed. The full official name of the funding organization and grant number should be provided where applicable.

Examples:

• This study was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) under Grant No. XXXX.
• This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Declaration of Competing Interests

Authors must disclose any financial, personal, institutional, professional, or other interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the work.

Example:

• The authors declare that they have no competing interests that could have influenced the work reported in this manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

Authors must provide a statement describing the availability of the data supporting the findings of the study. Repository names, accession numbers, DOIs, or other persistent identifiers should be provided where applicable.

Examples:

• The data generated in this study have been deposited in [repository name] under accession number(s) XXXXXXXX.
• The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [DOI/URL].
• The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
• No new data were generated or analyzed in this study.
• The data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available due to [ethical/legal/confidentiality/conservation] restrictions but may be available from the corresponding author subject to the relevant conditions.

References

Marine Science and Environmental Research follows the American Psychological Association (APA) Style, 7th Edition, for both in-text citations and the reference list. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of all references. Whenever available, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) should be included in the reference list and presented as active URLs (e.g., https://doi.org/xxxxx).

In-text Citations

References should be cited in the text using the author–date system.

• Single author

(Ayas, 2013)

Ayas (2013) reported that...

• Two authors

(Ergüden & Ayas, 2023)

Ergüden and Ayas (2023) demonstrated that...

• Three or more authors

(Korkmaz et al., 2025)

Korkmaz et al. (2025) found that…

• Multiple references

(Eker-Develi, 2015; Yalçın & Gurbet, 2016; Kuru et al., 2019; Bengil, 2020; Köşker & Ayas, 2022; Uyan et al., 2025)

The reference list should appear at the end of the manuscript under the heading “References.” References must be arranged alphabetically by the surname of the first author and formatted according to APA 7th Edition guidelines.

Journal Article

Examples:

Erdoğan, A., Demircan, A., Gökşen, G., & Ayas, D. (2026). Development of probiotic-coated emulgel based on Diadema setosum gonad oil: Characterization and antifungal activity against Candida species. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, 73, 103947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2026.103947

Çiftçi, N., & Ayas, D. (2025). Metal (loid) accumulation and ecotoxicological assessment in cartilaginous fishes from the Northeastern Mediterranean. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 89, 104373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2025.104373

Sönmez, S. (2019). Description of Pseudoameiropsis suphankaraytugi sp. nov.(Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Ameiridae) with the first report of the genus Pseudoameiropsis Pallares, 1982 outside of the South Atlantic Ocean. Turkish Journal of Zoology, 43(3), 255-264. https://doi.org/10.3906/zoo-1803-41

Book

Example:

Karaytuğ, S. (1999). Copepoda: Cyclopoida-genera Paracyclops, Ochridacyclops and key to the Eucyclopinae: Guide to the identification of the microinvertebrates of the continental waters of the world. Backhuys Publishers.

Book Chapter

Examples:

Gündoğdu, S., Köşker, A. R., Akça, H., Akça, M. O., Harada, N., & Turgay, O. C. (2025). Microplastics in food production and agricultural environments. In P. Avino, C. Di Fiore, & S. Farris (Eds.), Microplastics in agriculture and food science (pp. 285-307). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-22210-8.00022-5

Özoğul, F., Rathod, N., Alak, G., Çolakoğlu, F., Ayas, D., Baygar, T., Çaklı, Ş., Duyar, H., Yerlikaya, P., Özoğul, Y., & Kulawik, P. (2025). Physical and chemical food safety hazards and associated health risks in seafood: A Mediterranean perspective (Part 1). In F. Toldrá (Ed.), Advances in food and nutrition research (pp. 149-208). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.afnr.2024.09.005

Conference Proceedings

Examples:

Erdoğan, A., Tollu, G., & Nazlı, D. (2019). Efficacy of gelatin film solutions incorporated with Thymus vulgaris and Cuminum cyminum against Staphylococcus aureus. In D. A. Arslan, B. Akhan, & G. Sayılov (Eds.), 3. International Mersin Symposium: The book of full texts (pp. 240–247). Mer-Ak Mersin Akademi Yayınları.

Sönmez, S. (2018). New record of the genus Intercanuella Becker & Schriver, 1979 (Copepoda: Canuelloida: Canuellidae) from the Mediterranean Sea with description of a new species. In International Eurasian Conference on Biological and Chemical Sciences (EurasianBioChem 2018): Abstract book (p. 168).

Thesis or Dissertation

Examples:

Şahbaz, Ö. (2025). Seasonal determination of depth-dependent changes of macrozoobenthic species distributed in the mouth of Mezitli Creek [Master’s thesis, Mersin University]. Mersin University Academic and Open Access Information System. https://acikerisim.mersin.edu.tr/yayin/172963

Korkmaz, C. (2023). Effects of lead on reproductive physiology in Cyprinus carpio [Doctoral dissertation, Mersin University]. Mersin University Academic and Open Access Information System. https://acikerisim.mersin.edu.tr/yayin/174016

Website

Examples:

IUCN. (2026). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved June 18, 2026, from https://www.iucnredlist.org

Froese, R., & Pauly, D. (Eds.). (2026). FishBase. Retrieved May 25, 2026, from https://www.fishbase.org

Organizations

Example:

FAO. (2026). The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2026 – Blue transformation: Turning vision into impact. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd8357en

Additional Notes

• Ensure that every in-text citation has a corresponding entry in the reference list and vice versa.
• Reference list entries should use a 0.5-inch (1.27 cm) hanging indent.
• Journal titles should be written in italics and title case, whereas book titles should be written in italics and sentence case.
• Reference entries should include all bibliographic information required by APA 7th Edition for the relevant source type.
• Authors are encouraged to use reference management software (e.g., EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero) configured for APA 7th Edition formatting.
• Manuscripts with incomplete, inconsistent, or incorrectly formatted references may be returned to authors for revision before entering the review process.