OMUJEST applies a format-free initial submission policy to facilitate the submission process for authors. Accordingly, manuscripts submitted to the journal for the first time are not required to be prepared using the OMUJEST manuscript template.

At the initial submission stage, authors may use their preferred font, page layout, and heading system. However, a clear, readable, and consistent format must be maintained throughout the manuscript, and in-text citations and references must be prepared in accordance with the rules specified in Section 4 of these guidelines.

Format-free submission does not remove the requirements concerning the scientific content of the manuscript. Manuscripts must contain all information necessary for the editorial assessment and peer-review processes to be conducted effectively. The manuscript file must be prepared and uploaded exclusively in Microsoft Word (.docx) format at both the initial submission and revision stages.

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Manuscripts submitted to OMUJEST must:

• fall within the aims and scope of the journal,
• be original and scientifically sound,
• not have been previously published,
• not be under consideration by another journal, and
• be written in clear and academic language.

Authors must carefully check their manuscripts in terms of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and scientific terminology before submission. The use of headings, abbreviations, units, symbols, figures, tables, and references must be consistent throughout the manuscript.

2. REQUIRED SECTIONS OF THE MANUSCRIPT

A strict section order is not required at the initial submission stage. However, the elements marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory for research articles, while the remaining sections may be organized as appropriate to the nature of the study:

• Turkish and English article titles*,
• Turkish and English abstracts*,
• Turkish and English keywords*,
• highlights*,
• introduction*,
• materials and methods,
• results,
• discussion or results and discussion,
• conclusions*,
• acknowledgements and funding information*,
• author contribution statement*,
• conflict of interest statement*,
• ethics committee approval or research ethics statement, where applicable,
• data availability statement*, and
• references*.

* Indicates mandatory elements.

The titles and order of the sections may be modified depending on the nature of the manuscript. Reviews, technical notes, case studies, and similar types of manuscripts may be organized under headings appropriate to their scientific structure.

The abstract must clearly present the aim of the study, the principal methodology, the main findings, and the significant conclusions. References should not be cited in the abstract, and undefined abbreviations should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. The abstract must not exceed 200 words.

Highlights should consist of 3–5 concise bullet points emphasizing the most important findings, original contributions, or key outcomes of the study. Each bullet point should clearly highlight a specific result, novelty, or scientific contribution of the manuscript. General statements should be avoided, and the highlights should focus on the most significant findings obtained from the study. Highlights must be prepared in the language of the manuscript.

3. AUTHOR AND AFFILIATION INFORMATION

The names, institutional affiliations, e-mail addresses, and ORCID identifiers of all authors must be entered completely and accurately into the DergiPark submission system. The corresponding author must be clearly identified.

The order of authors must reflect their scientific contributions to the study, and the manuscript must be submitted with the knowledge and approval of all authors. After the manuscript has entered the evaluation process, the addition or removal of an author or a change in the order of authors may only be considered upon submission of a reasoned explanation and the written approval of all authors.

4. IN-TEXT CITATIONS AND REFERENCES

References in manuscripts submitted to OMUJEST must be cited in the text using numbers enclosed in square brackets. References must be numbered according to the order in which they first appear in the manuscript, and the same number must be used for all subsequent citations to the same source.

A single reference must be cited as [1], multiple non-consecutive references as [2,4], and consecutive references as [3–6]. The reference number must be placed at the end of the relevant statement or sentence and before the punctuation mark.

Example: The rheological properties of bituminous binders vary considerably depending on temperature and loading time [1].

When the name of an author is included in the sentence, the reference number must be placed immediately after the author’s name.

Example: Mutuk and Gürbüz [2] investigated the effects of processing parameters on the hardness and microstructure of composite materials.

The reference list must be provided at the end of the manuscript under the heading “References.” References must be numbered according to their first appearance in the text rather than arranged alphabetically. All sources cited in the text must be included in the reference list, and every source listed in the reference list must be cited in the text.

The terms and abbreviations used in the reference list must correspond to the language of the manuscript. The examples provided in this section are intended for manuscripts written in English. Authors preparing manuscripts in Turkish must follow the reference guidelines provided on the Turkish version of the journal website.

Depending on the type of source, reference details such as author names, title of the work, journal or book title, year of publication, volume, issue, page range, publisher, conference information, DOI, and access address must be provided completely. Where available, the DOI should be included. The same formatting and punctuation style must be applied consistently throughout the reference list.

The EndNote output styles prepared in accordance with the OMUJEST citation and reference format can be downloaded from the links below:

OMUJEST-TR EndNote Style for manuscripts written in Turkish
OMUJEST-EN EndNote Style for manuscripts written in English

After installing the styles in EndNote, authors should select the output style corresponding to the language of their manuscript. The use of these EndNote styles does not remove the authors’ responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the reference information. The generated reference list must be checked in accordance with the guidelines provided in this section.

The basic formats and examples for different types of references are provided below.

4.1. Journal Article

Format: [No] Author(s), Year. “Article title,” Journal Name, Volume(Issue), FirstPage–LastPage, https://doi.org/DOInumber.

Example: [1] T. Mutuk and M. Gürbüz, 2017. “Effect of process parameters on hardness and microstructure of graphene-reinforced titanium composites,” Journal of Composite Materials, 52(4), 543–551, https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998317745143

4.2. Book

Format: [No] Author(s), Year. Book Title, edition number. City, Country: Publisher.

Example: [2] W. D. Callister, 2020. Materials Science and Engineering, 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: Wiley.

4.3. Book Chapter

Format: [No] Author(s), “Chapter title,” in Book Title, Editor(s), Ed./Eds. City, Country: Publisher, year, FirstPage–LastPage. DOI, if available.

Example: [3] M. Southern, “A perspective of bituminous binder specifications,” in Advances in Asphalt Materials: Road and Pavement Construction, S. C. Huang and H. D. Benedetto, Eds. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Publishing, 2015, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100269-8.00001-5.

4.4. Thesis or Dissertation

Format: [No] Author, Thesis Title. MSc Thesis/PhD Dissertation, University, City, Country, year.

Example: [4] M. Gürbüz, Production and Characterization of 94NBT-6BT Piezoelectric Single Crystal Materials. MSc Thesis, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Türkiye, 2013.

4.5. Conference or Symposium Paper

Format: [No] Author(s), “Paper title,” Name of the Conference/Symposium/Congress, City, Country, year, FirstPage–LastPage.

Example: [5] A. Kumandaş, E. Çavdar, E. B. Pancar, and Ş. Oruç, “Investigation of the rheological properties of waste vegetable oil, RET, and PPA composite-modified bitumen using DSR and BBR,” International IDU Engineering Symposium (IES’20), İzmir, Türkiye, 2020, 147–153.

4.6. Website or Online Source

Format: [No] Institution or author, “Title of the webpage or document,” Name of the Website. Available: URL (accessed: Month day, year).

Example: [6] European Bioplastics, “What are bioplastics?” Available: https://www.european-bioplastics.org/bioplastics (accessed: August 4, 2026).

For online sources, the individual author or responsible institution, title of the webpage, publication or update date, and direct access link should be provided whenever available. The access date must be included for online content that may be updated or modified.

4.7. Standard

Format: [No] Standard number, Title of the Standard. Standards organization, City, Country, year.

Example: [7] ASTM D7175, Standard Test Method for Determining the Rheological Properties of Asphalt Binder Using a Dynamic Shear Rheometer. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA, 2023.

4.8. Technical Report

Format: [No] Author or institution, Report Title, report number. City, Country: Institution or publisher, year.

Example: [8] Federal Highway Administration, Distress Identification Manual for the Long-Term Pavement Performance Program, Report No. FHWA-HRT-13-092. McLean, VA, USA: Federal Highway Administration, 2014.

5. FIGURES, TABLES, AND EQUATIONS

At the initial submission stage, figures and tables should be placed as close as possible to the relevant sections of the manuscript. All figures, tables, and equations must be numbered separately in the order in which they appear in the manuscript, and each must be cited in the text.

Figure captions and table titles must be sufficiently clear and descriptive to allow their contents to be understood without referring to the main text. Abbreviations, symbols, statistical indicators, and special signs used in figures and tables must be explained below the relevant figure or table.

5.1. Figure Size and Readability

In the OMUJEST page layout, a figure can be placed at a maximum width of 11.5 cm. Authors must therefore consider the final publication size when preparing their figures.

When figures are reduced to a width of 11.5 cm, the following elements must remain clearly readable and distinguishable:

• text within the figure,
• axis titles and axis values,
• legends,
• symbols,
• data points,
• lines, and
• markers.

In figures consisting of multiple panels, the panels must be appropriately labelled as (a), (b), (c), and these labels must remain clearly readable at the final publication size. The use of excessively small fonts, very thin lines, and symbols that are difficult to distinguish must be avoided.

Authors are advised to reduce their figures to a width of 11.5 cm and check their readability before uploading them to the system.

5.2. Submission of Figure Files

Figures may be inserted directly into the relevant sections of the manuscript file at the initial submission stage. However, to achieve higher image quality in the published article, authors are encouraged to upload the source files of the figures separately.

Graphs, diagrams, drawings, and similar line-based illustrations should preferably be prepared in vector format and uploaded in one of the following file formats:

• SVG
• WMF

Vector files prevent loss of quality in lines, text, and symbols when figures are resized during page layout. Saving graphs as screenshots or low-resolution image files is not recommended.

Photographs, microscope images, and other pixel-based images may be uploaded separately in one of the following formats, with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi at the final publication size:

• PNG
• JPG
• JPEG

When determining the image resolution, the final size at which the figure will be used in the page layout, particularly the maximum width of 11.5 cm, must be taken into consideration. Simply resaving a low-resolution image as a 600 dpi file using software does not improve its actual image quality. Images must therefore be created or exported at an adequate resolution from the beginning.

When figures are uploaded as supplementary files, the file names must correspond to the figure numbers in the manuscript and must be easily identifiable.

Examples:

• Figure_1.svg
• Figure_2.wmf
• Figure_3.png
• Figure_4.jpg

The figure included in the manuscript file and the high-quality version uploaded separately must contain the same information. If different versions are uploaded, the authors must clearly indicate which file should be used for publication.

5.3. Scientific and Technical Requirements for Figures

Axis titles, measured quantities, and units must be clearly indicated in figures. The International System of Units (SI) should be used whenever possible, and units must be presented consistently throughout the manuscript.

Where the use of colour is not essential, figures should also remain understandable when printed in grayscale. Different data series should be distinguished not only by colour but also by line type, symbol, or marker style.

For microscope images, surface images, and images obtained using similar techniques, a scale bar and magnification ratio must be provided where necessary. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or colour must not alter the scientific meaning of the data or create a misleading visual impression.

Figures reproduced or adapted from other sources must be accompanied by an appropriate citation. Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions to use and republish copyrighted figures.

5.4. Tables

Tables must be prepared in an editable text or table format and should not be submitted as image files whenever possible. Each table must have a concise and descriptive title. Abbreviations, symbols, and statistical explanations used in the table must be defined below the table.

Unnecessary vertical and horizontal lines should be avoided. Numerical data of the same type must be presented using a consistent number of decimal places. Units used in the table must be clearly specified in the relevant row or column headings.

Authors must check whether wide tables are compatible with the page layout width of 11.5 cm. Where necessary, a table should be simplified, divided into separate tables, or submitted as a supplementary file.

5.5. Equations

Equations must be prepared in an editable format and must not be inserted into the manuscript as images. Equations cited in the text must be numbered consecutively, and equation numbers must be presented in parentheses.

All symbols, variables, and coefficients used in equations must be defined at their first occurrence. The use of italic, bold, and upright characters must remain consistent throughout the manuscript.

Following acceptance, the Editorial Office may request editable or high-resolution source files for figures, tables, and equations to ensure publication quality.

6. UNITS, SYMBOLS, AND ABBREVIATIONS

The International System of Units (SI) should be used whenever possible. Units, symbols, equations, and technical terms must be presented consistently throughout the manuscript.

Abbreviations that are not widely recognized must be defined in full at their first occurrence. Abbreviations should be avoided in titles and abstracts unless their use is essential.

7. ETHICAL STATEMENTS AND RESEARCH TRANSPARENCY

For studies involving humans, animals, personal data, surveys, interviews, or other research methods requiring ethics committee approval, the name of the relevant ethics committee, the date of the decision, and the approval number must be stated in the manuscript. Where applicable, the ethics committee approval document must be uploaded to the system during submission.

Authors must mandatorily include the following statements in their manuscripts. Even when a particular condition does not apply, this must be explicitly stated using an appropriate declaration. To assist authors in preparing these statements, sample applications are provided through the links below:

• Acknowledgements and Funding Information
  Financial support provided for the study, as well as individuals or institutions that should be acknowledged, must be clearly stated. If no financial support was received or there are no individuals or institutions to acknowledge, this must also be explicitly declared.
  Acknowledgements and Funding Examples (PDF)
• Author Contribution Statement – CRediT
  The contributions of all authors must be specified in accordance with CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). The appropriate contribution roles for each author must be clearly identified, and an author may be associated with more than one contribution role.
  CRediT Author Contribution Examples (PDF)
  For detailed information on CRediT contribution roles and their definitions, please visit the official CRediT website.
• Conflict of Interest Statement
  Authors must clearly declare whether any financial, commercial, professional, or personal conflicts of interest related to the study exist. If there are no conflicts of interest, this must also be explicitly stated.
  Conflict of Interest Statement Examples (PDF)
• Data Availability Statement
  The availability of the data used or generated in the study must be clearly stated. Situations such as data being available in an open repository, being available upon reasonable request, or being restricted due to confidentiality, ethical, or legal reasons must be appropriately described. If no new dataset was generated or data sharing is not applicable to the study, this must also be explicitly stated.
  Data Availability Statement Examples (PDF)

8. FILES REQUIRED AT INITIAL SUBMISSION

The following files must be uploaded to the DergiPark system at the initial submission stage:

1. Manuscript file: The manuscript file, including the main text, references, figures, tables, and their corresponding captions, must be uploaded exclusively in Microsoft Word (.docx) format. PDF or other file formats are not accepted as the main manuscript file.
2. Similarity report: The overall similarity rate of the manuscript must not exceed 20%, and the similarity rate obtained from any single source must not exceed 5%.
3. Copyright Transfer Form: The form must be completed and signed as required by all authors. The Copyright Transfer Form is available here.
4. Ethics committee approval document: This document must be uploaded where required by the nature of the study.
5. Supplementary files: Data sets, high-quality figure files, supplementary tables, supplementary figures, videos, software codes, or any other documents required for the evaluation of the study must be uploaded separately, where applicable.

If information or documentation required for evaluation is missing, the Editorial Office may return the submission to the authors for technical correction.

9. REVISION STAGE

If a revision is requested following peer review, the authors must upload the following files to the system:

• the revised manuscript file (.docx),
• a version of the manuscript in which the changes can be tracked (.docx), and
• a “Response to Reviewers” file containing the authors’ responses to the comments of the reviewers and editors. The Response to Reviewers template is available here.

In the Response to Reviewers file, each comment must be presented separately, and the changes made in response must be explained clearly and in detail. If a recommendation has not been implemented, the scientific justification must be provided.

Where considered necessary, the Editorial Office may request that the manuscript be formatted according to the OMUJEST template or specific journal formatting requirements during the revision stage.

OMUJEST reserves the right to request additional information, documentation, or formatting revisions from the authors at any stage of the evaluation and publication process to ensure scientific clarity, publication quality, and technical compliance.

Publication Ethics and Publication Abuse Disclosure is based on the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011).

DUTIES OF THE EDITORS AND THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Fair Conduct and Editorial Independence
The editors evaluate the submitted articles on the basis of not only to their academic value (importance, originality, validity, clarity of the study), but also to the scope of the journal regardless of the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality, religious belief, political opinion or institution. Editing and publishing decisions are not determined by government policies or by any institution outside of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over all editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of this content.

Privacy
Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the respective author, referees, potential referees, other editorial consultants, and the publisher.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Editors and editorial board members will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted text for their own research purposes without written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained as a result of editors' use of the manuscript will be kept confidential and will not be used for personal gain. Editors should withdraw from manuscripts in which there are conflicts of interest arising from competition, partnership, or other relationships or links with any of the authors, companies, or any of the institutions that may be associated with the article. Editors should ask all participants to disclose conflicting interests on the topic and publish corrections if conflicting interests have arisen after publication. If necessary, other appropriate action should be taken, such as issuing a statement of concern or withdrawal.

Publication Decisions
Editors ensure that all submitted articles are evaluated for publication and are refereed by at least two referees who are experts in this field. Based on some legal requirements, the editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal will be published, approving them, evaluating its importance for researchers and readers, and considering the comments of the referees. It is still in effect for defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Editor-in-Chief may meet with other editors or referees while making this decision.

DUTIES OF THE REFEREES

Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and can help authors improve their writing through editorial communication with authors. Peer review is an essential component of formal scientific communication and is at the center of scientific effort.

Promptness
A referee who is not qualified to evaluate the research reported in an article, or who believes that it will be impossible to evaluate in a short time, should immediately notify the editor of this situation and seek exemption from the review process in order to appoint a new referee.

Privacy
Manuscripts submitted for review are confidential documents and should be treated as such. It should not be shown or discussed with others, unless authorized by the editors (who will only do so under exceptional and special circumstances). This privacy policy also applies to invited referees who decline their invitation to review.

Objectivity Standards
Referees should make their reviews objectively and their evaluation should be clearly expressed with supporting arguments that the authors can use to improve the article. Personal criticism of the authors is not appropriate.

Recognition of Resources
Reviewers should be familiar with published studies that is not cited by the authors. Any statement that is an observation, derivation, or discussion reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant quote. A referee should also inform editors of any significant similarity or overlap between the manuscript in question and any other manuscript (published or unpublished) with personal information. For this, s/he can also deepen his/her analysis by using software that offers similarity reports.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Invited referees should immediately notify the editors of the conflict of interest in the event of a conflict of interest related to the articles they have reviewed (competitive, collaborative or other relationships with article authors, companies or organizations), so that alternative referees can be contacted.
Unpublished material in a submitted article should not be used in its own research by a referee without the written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for the personal advantage of the reviewer. This also applies to referees who decline their invitation to review.

AUTHOR DUTIES

Standards of Reporting
Authors of the original article should present the procedures and results of the study accurately and then objectively discuss the significance of the article. The manuscript should contain sufficient details and references so that other researchers can benefit from the study. Review articles should be accurate, objective and comprehensive, with editorial 'opinion' or perspective parts clearly stated. Fraudulent or using false statements on purpose constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Authenticity and plagiarism
Authors should ensure that they only write and submit entirely original works, and if they have used the works and/or statements of others, this is indicated by appropriate attribution. The publications that were influential in determining the quality of the work reported in the article should also be mentioned. Plagiarism takes many forms, from writing someone else's publication as the author's to copying (without attribution) significant parts of someone else's paper, or in other words, getting the result of research conducted by others. Any form of plagiarism constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Multiple, duplicate, redundant, or simultaneous references/posts
The same study should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Therefore, authors should not submit an article published in another journal for consideration. Submitting an article to more than one journal at the same time is unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Author of the Article
Only people who meet the criteria for authorship who can take public responsibility for the content/article should be listed as authors in the text:
(i) Make significant contributions to the design, implementation, data collection or analysis/interpretation of the study;
(ii) have prepared the article or critically revised it for important intellectual content
(iii) has seen and approved the final version of the article and has accepted its submission for publication. All authors who have made significant contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical assistance, writing and editing assistance, general support) but do not meet the authorship criteria should not be listed as authors. The corresponding author must ensure that not all eligible co-authors (according to the definition above) are listed and that ineligible authors are not included in the list of authors. All co-authors must confirm that they have seen and approved the final version of the article and agree to be published.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Authors should disclose any conflict of interest, if any, at the earliest possible stage (usually by submitting a disclosure form at the time of application and adding a statement in the text).

Recognition of References
Authors should ensure that they have properly reviewed the work of others and should also cite work that has inspired their own work. Privately obtained information (interview, correspondence or conversations with third parties) should not be used or reported without express and written permission from the person/sources concerned. Authors should not use information obtained during the provision of open/confidential services unless they obtain the express written consent of the persons involved in these services.

Peer Review
Authors are obliged to participate in the peer-review process. In case of initial decision for necessary revisions, authors should review and resubmit their manuscripts by the given deadline, responding to reviewers' comments in a systematic and timely manner.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works
When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they must immediately notify the journal's editors or publisher. In addition, the authors have to cooperate to correct or retract any typos/typing errors in the article. If the editors or the publisher learns that third party publications have been misrepresented/reviewed/cited incorrectly, the corresponding author is responsible for promptly correcting, retracting the article or providing proof of the article's accuracy to the journal's editors.

Disclaimer
The editor and the editorial board are not responsible for the opinions expressed by the authors and the content of the articles published in the journal. Authenticity, reading and errors are the responsibility of the individual authors. The decisions of the referees for all manuscripts submitted for review and publication to the OMU Journal of Engineering Sciences and Technology (OMUJEST) are the only tool and are final.

REFERENCE

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2011, March 7). Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Retrieved from link.