Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Science and Engineering is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal covering the fields of Science and Engineering. The journal aims to deliver innovative and original studies that follow the latest scientific and technological developments in a wide range of topics in the fields of Science and Engineering, both experimental and theoretical, to the relevant audiences.

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Journal of Science and Engineering covers original and innovative studies from all disciplines, along with all the subfields of Science and Engineering.

Writing Rules

Font and Text Formatting
The ‘Times New Roman’ typeface with 12-point font size should be used throughout the whole manuscript. The text should be written in single-column format, and in full justified paragraphs with 1.5 line spacing. 2.5 cm margins must be present on all sides, the rest being allocated for writing. The text should not exceed the limits set by the margins. Continuous line numbering is required for each line of the whole manuscript.

Page Numbering
Page numbers should be formatted in the centre at the bottom, starting from the first page.

The Title of the Manuscript
The title should be formatted in 14-point font size in bold, the initial letters of each word being capitalized, except for conjunctions. The title should follow the normal sentence structure and should be concise and clear, highlighting the importance of the research. Contractions should be avoided in the title.

Author(s) and Affiliation(s)
Name(s) of the author(s) should be written clearly. The initial letters of each author’s first names, as well as all letters of their last names should be capitalized. The corresponding author should be marked with an asterisk (*).The affiliations of all authors, including names of institutions with which they are professionally affiliated, their departments and countries should be provided. It is also important for the corresponding author to provide an up-to-date telephone number and e-mail address clearly.

Abstract in Turkish and English
The abstract should provide concise and clear information, without details, about the purpose and scope of the study, as well as its methodology and results. The abstract of the manuscript should not contain any unspecified abbreviations, references, or equations. The word count for the abstract of the manuscript is limited to 150-250 words.

Keywords
A minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 keywords should be provided.

1. Introduction
Section headings should be numbered and boldfaced, the initials being capitalized. It is required to leave one line space after the introduction heading. Spacing between paragraphs should be avoided. This section should include an adequate consideration of relevant literature, followed by an emphasis on the significance of the problem as well as the purpose of the study. Irrelevant and overmuch review of literature should be avoided.

2. Materials and Methods
The initial letters of all words in the heading, except for conjunctions, should be capitalized. The information provided in this section should be explained in detail, and the relevant sources should be specified. This section may include subheadings. Subheadings should be numbered as 2.1., 2.2., 2.3… Each new heading as well as subheading should begin on a new line.

2.1. Figures and Tables
Tables and figures should appear flush with the left margin. All the figures and tables are required to be cited in the text. Depending on the order they appear in the article, the tables and figures should be numbered sequentially in the following format: "Table 1., Table 2., etc." and "Figure 1., Figure 2., etc.". In the case that a figure/table represents more than one figure/table, then the labeling should be provided as follows: "Table 1. (a) …, (b) ..., (c) …, etc." and "Figure 1. (a) ..., (b) …, (c) …., etc.". Captions explaining Figures / Tables should be provided along with the labels. Figure numbers and captions must be placed below the figures, while table numbers and captions must be placed above the tables. No blank lines are inserted between the tables/figures and the captions provided for them. 1 (one) blank line is required between the tables/figures and the text that precedes and follows them. Rational numbers in the tables should be separated by commas (e.g. 0,1; 1,3 etc.). Horizontal lines of 1½ pt. should be inserted on the top of the table as well as at the bottom; no vertical lines are inserted.

2.2. Abbreviations and Equations
Abbreviations or symbols should be spelled out the first time they are used (except for the abstract section) with the abbreviation in parentheses and should be explained only once. 1 (one) blank line is required between the equations and the text that precedes and follows them. The parameters in the equations should be explained below the equation, if necessary. The equations should be numbered consecutively beginning with number 1 (1, 2, 3,...., 10, etc.). The equation number should be enclosed in parentheses and set flush right to the end of the same line as the equation. The equations should be left-justified and they should not appear in a picture format.

3. Results and Discussion
This section should present the findings of the research. It is important for the findings to be analyzed in the light of scientific norms, by comparison to data of relevant literature.

4. Conclusions
The conclusion section should include the reiteration of the original results obtained within the study.

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgment section is allocated to thank people and/or institutions for their contributions to the study.

Citations*
In-text citations are provided by using the author-date system in the following order: ‘‘(Surname, year)’’. In-text citations for works with two authors are provided by adding the word ‘‘and’’ between the authors’ surnames (Lupan and Brown, 2007), whereas works with three or more authors are cited by using the first author’s surname followed by ‘‘et al.’’ (Midilli et al., 2016). If two or more works are to be cited in the same parentheses, citations are separated from one another with a ‘‘semicolon (;)’’ as follows: (Midilli et al., 2016; Bilgin et al., 2016).
When the parenthetical citation includes works of the same author from different years, the years of publication are listed in sequence, with the earliest first and the years are separated with a ‘‘comma (,)’’ as follows: (Küçük, 2013, 2014, ….). If two sources by the same author in the same year are cited in the same parentheses, lowercase letters (a, b, c) are used with the year as follows: (Küçük, 2013a, 2013b, …).
When naming the sources in the signal phrase, provide the year of the work in parentheses after the author’s surname as follows: ‘‘According to Turan (2012)…’’, or ‘‘As argued by Turan et al. (2014) …’’.

References
Each source cited in the paper must appear in the ‘References’ section in alphabetical order. The references must be single-spaced in 11-pt font size. The references must be formatted according to American Psychological Association (APA 6.0) Style Guidelines (For more information, please consult http://www.apastyle.org). But, ‘‘ampersand (&)’’ in the APA style sholud not be used. Names of all the authors must be provided in the References list. Below are examples of reference list citations for different kinds of sources:
When the source is an article:
Surname, A., Surname, B.B., Surname, C. (Year). Title of Article, Title of Periodical, Volume number (Issue number) 7(1), Pages 1-12. DOI:

When the source is a book:
Surname, A. (Year). Title of Work, Publisher, ISBN: number, Place of Publication.

When the source is a dissertation or a master’s thesis:
Surname, A. (Year). Title of dissertation/thesis, Level of the thesis, Name of University, Institute, Country.

When the source is a conference, congress, or a symposium proceeding:
Surname, A., Surname, B.B., Surname, C. (Year). Title of paper, Title of Congress/Symposium/Workshop/Conference Proceedings, Date of Conference, City, Country.

When the source is a report by an organization:
Name of Organization (Abbreviation of organization’s full name (if there is one)), (Year). Title of report. City of publication, Country of publication, Report number (if applicable), Page Number (25p.)

When the source is a webpage:
URL-row number, (Year). Web address, Viewed date.
For example; URL–1, (2018). http://www.btu.com/products-solar.htm, 22 August 2018.

* Regarding manuscripts to be submitted in English, in-text citations for sources with more than two authors are cited by using the first author’s surname followed by ‘‘et al.,’’ as follows: (Midilli et al., 2016).

Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

PUBLICATION POLICY

Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering is a peer-reviewed academic journal, which publishes articles in the fields of science and engineering, as well as science and mathematics education. Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering is an international journal that accepts publications in both Turkish and English. The journal publishes two issues per year, in June and December, both of which are published electronically and in print. No submission/publication fees are required for the articles to be published in the journal. In case of ethical violation and/or unauthorized data use in the articles published in, or submitted to the journal, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering Sciences does not take any responsibility; all responsibility in such matters belongs to the author (s) of the study.

In the evaluation phase of an article submitted to Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering; a double-blind refereeing system is applied, in which the authors cannot see the referees and vice versa. Regarding correction/editing/revision requests, the manuscript is sent by the editors to the authors through the journal management system, together with evaluation forms, notes and reviews by the referees on the manuscript. Referees cannot get into contact directly with the authors. Manuscripts submitted to the journal are sent by the editor to field editors. The article is then sent to three referees by field editors. The referees have 7 days to accept or decline the request to review the manuscript. If the referee does not respond within this time frame or refuses to review the manuscript, a new referee is determined. The anonymous text of the manuscript and the assessment form are delivered if the referee accepts the request. The referees are given 15 days to review the manuscript. If the referees do not respond within this time frame, they are granted a second 15-day timeframe. The refereeing procedure continues until the manuscript has gotten at least two favourable or two unfavourable reports. The referees may approve or disapprove the manuscript for publication, request corrections and revisions, and request to view it again as a consequence of the review. This process is carried out transparently through Dergipark. The field editor chooses whether or not the manuscript may be published after it has gone through all of the relevant evaluation phases. The editor-in-chief makes the final judgment on the article after considering legal regulations such as referee reports, copyright, and plagiarism. The authors are not ensured a specific duration of publication by the journal.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering is responsible for the objective and unbiased implementation of publication processes, as well as the development and distribution of information. Accordingly, all stakeholders involved in the process (journal editors, field editors, referees, authors, and the publisher) are expected to follow the ethical standards and publication policy.

The guidelines and policies published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the YÖK Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive are adopted in Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering with regard to the ethical principles and responsibilities of journal editors, field editors, referees, authors, and the publisher. Within the context of publication ethics, all stakeholders are expected to carry the following ethical responsibilities.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Editor

• By analyzing the research submitted to the journal in terms of relevance, original value, validity and comprehensibility, and suitability for the journal's aim and scope, the editor should make a positive or negative decision. If the editor decides to reject the manuscript as a result of the review, s/he must clearly explain the reason of her/his decision to the authors.

• Without the authors' agreement, the editor may not utilize the unpublished methods and information contained in the studies submitted to the journal in any other way.

• Other than the field editors, referees, and the publisher, the editor should keep the manuscripts submitted to the journal confidential.

• The editor should ensure that the journal's referees are scientists who will objectively and constructively assess the articles, complete the refereeing process within the specified deadline, and act ethically.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Referee

• If the referees believe they do not have enough knowledge on the subject and content of the work provided to them for evaluation, or if they are unable to make a judgment, they should notify the editor and decline the responsibility.

• Referees shall not examine submissions for which they have a competition, interest, collaboration, or any other type of relationship or connection with the author(s).

• Referees are not permitted to engage with writers directly.

• The information and ideas gained throughout the manuscript evaluation process should be kept confidential by the referees and should not be used for personal gain.

• Referees should agree to exclusively examine studies that are relevant to their area of expertise.

• Referees should be objective in their criticism. They should never criticize the author on a personal level. Instead, referees should convey their thoughts and judgments by presenting arguments to support them.

• Referees should promptly notify the editor if they see a similarity or overlap between the study they are evaluating and another previously published study.

• Referees should complete the manuscript they accept to review within the time limit and in compliance with the ethical standards and rules indicated above.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Author

• For publishing in the journal, authors should submit original works that are appropriate for their field of study. The authors should not submit the manuscript to another journal simultaneously.

• Authors should obtain the data they need for their work by adhering to ethical norms and principles. Furthermore, if raw data from the study is required, they must provide the appropriate data to the publisher, editor, and referees.

• Manuscripts submitted for publication in the journal should be written in accordance with scientific publication ethics (plagiarism, republishing, unfair authorship, forgery, distortion, slicing, not specifying the supporting organization, not complying with ethical rules in animal studies).

• The amount of source information in manuscripts submitted to the journal should be adequate, and the work should be detailed enough.

• Authors of papers submitted to the journal must state their financial resources, supporting organizations, and potential conflicts of interest, if any.

• The person or people who contributed to the implementation, design, or interpretation of the study submitted to the journal should be named in the study. Apart from these, persons who contributed to the study should be mentioned in the "Acknowledgement" section.

• The person who submits the manuscript to the journal is considered as the "Responsible Author". The corresponding author must share all correspondence related to the study with other authors and do so quickly and accurately.

• If the authors detect a major error or inaccuracy in the study published in the journal, they should immediately notify the journal editor. They must also make all reasonable efforts to address any existing inaccuracies or flaws in the study.

• Manuscripts submitted to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering should have never been published elsewhere and should not be in the process of being published elsewhere.

• Symposium papers that have not been published in full text in the proceedings book or have only had their abstracts published are eligible for publishing.

• In terms of ethical principles, all of the authors in the article share the same level of responsibility.

About Ethics Committee Approval

Ethics committee approval is required for studies that require ethics committee approval in any subject area and are submitted for publication in Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering. Furthermore, the approval of the ethics committee should be indicated and documented in the publication. Information regarding the approval (name of the committee, date, and number) should be given in the method section of the article, as well as on one of the first or last pages of the article, in studies that require the approval of the Ethics Committee. In addition, the article should include information about the signature of the informed consent/consent form (Informed Consent Form) in case reports. Again, permission from the owners of scales, questionnaires, and images must be secured and stated in the article before using them. It should also be noted that all copyright laws for the intellectual and artistic works used in the study have been fulfilled. Despite the fact that ethics committee approval is required, papers lacking it will not be accepted and will be withdrawn from the process at any stage.