General Information
Submission of an article implies that the presented work and results have not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere, and that its publication is approved by all authors. All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) warrant(s) that:
 The manuscript submitted is his/her/their own original work,
 All authors participated in the work in a substantial way and are prepared to take public responsibility for the work,
 All authors have seen and approved the manuscript as submitted,
 The manuscript has not been published and is not being submitted or considered for publication elsewhere,
 The text, illustrations, and any other materials included in the manuscript do not infringe upon any existing copyright or other rights of anyone.
 By submission author(s) grant(s) to the journal unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free right to publish, use, distribute, license, transmit, display, exhibit, record, store, translate, digitize, broadcast, reproduce and archive, in any format or medium, whether now known or hereafter developed.
Peer Review
Double-blind review system with at least two reviewers is used to evaluate manuscripts for publication. Suggestions of 3 reviewers may be provided in the cover letter section in the Online Submission system by stating their names and institutional e-mail addresses. Authors that have submitted manuscripts to Soil Studies may be asked to be reviewers in the future. Editors have the right to reject the manuscripts without peer-review when the manuscript:
 is on a topic outside the scope of the Journal,
 lacks technical merit,
 exhibits narrow regional scope and significance,
 presents conflicting results,
 is poorly written,
 represents a case of scientific misconduct,
 when the journal is overburdened with too many submissions, editors have right to reject manuscripts without peer-review based on their perceived merit. Editors are responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.
Changes to Authorship
Authors are expected to carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if
approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author:
(a) the reason for the change in author list
(b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal, or
rearrangement.
In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Style and Format
File Format:
Manuscript files must be in one of the following formats: DOC or DOCX. Microsoft Word documents should not be locked or protected.
Paper Categories and Their Length:
Research Papers, which report novel information, beyond simply representing a confirmation of previously published work. Research Papers must not exceed 20 manuscript pages, including tables and figures.

Technical Notes should report new methods and/or procedures for research methodology. Short Papers and Technical Notes which present results of brief but significant work should not exceed 10 manuscript pages, including tables and figures. Review Articles written by invitation will be published primarily. Authors wishing to publish a review article should
seek prior approval from Editor-in-Chief, by sending the abstract and a cover letter indicating the importance of the review to info@soilstudies.org. Review Articles, solicited by the editorial board, should not exceed 30 manuscript pages, including tables and figures.
Font:
Use font “Times New Roman” size “12 points”. To add symbols to the manuscript, use the Insert → Symbol function in your word processor or paste in the appropriate Unicode character.
Headings:
Manuscript sections and sub-sections are not numbered.
Layout & Spacing:
Manuscript text should be 1.5 lines spaced with 25 mm margins including Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results & Discussion, Conclusion and References.
In the papers that report experimental work, „Results‟ and „Discussion‟ sections are best combined; however, sections may be subdivided by further headings if the authors think that it is better in this way for the continuity in the discussion section. In case of separation, simply state what are found in the results section, but do not interpret them. Do not format text in multiple columns.
Page & Line Numbers:
Include page numbers and line numbers in the manuscript file. Use continuous line numbers (do not restart the numbering on each page).
Footnotes:
Footnotes are not permitted. If your manuscript contains footnotes, move the information into the main text or the reference list, depending on the content.
Language:
Manuscripts must be submitted in English.
Abbreviations:
Define abbreviations upon first appearance in the text. Do not use non-standard abbreviations unless they appear at least three times in the text. Keep abbreviations to a minimum.
Reference Style The 7th Edition of APA Citation guidelines should be used. See reference guideline by clicking this link.
Equations and Symbols:
We recommend using MathType for display and inline equations, as it will provide the most reliable outcome. If this is not possible, Equation Editor or Microsoft's Insert→Equation function is acceptable. Avoid using MathType, Equation Editor, or the Insert→Equation function to insert single variables (e.g., “a² + b² = c²”), Greek or other symbols (e.g., β, Δ, or ′ [prime]), or mathematical operators (e.g., x, ≥, or ±) in running text. Wherever possible, insert single symbols as normal text with the correct Unicode (hex) values. Do not use MathType, Equation Editor, or the Insert→Equation function for only a portion of an equation. Rather, ensure that the entire equation is included. Equations should not contain a mix of different equation tools. Avoid
“hybrid” inline or display equations, in which part is text and part is MathType, or part is MathType and part is Equation Editor. The percent sign appears without a space after the number (e.g., 53%) and not before (e.g., NOT %53) Decimals are indicated by decimal points and not by commas (e.g., 10.24 NOT 10,24) Degree symbols are inserted from the Symbols menu, and are not superscript letter 'o' or number '0'  Multiplication symbol is used (×) and not small "x" letters Spaces are inserted between numbers and units (e.g. 3 kg) and between numbers and mathematical symbols (+, ?, ×, =, <, >) but not between numbers and percent symbols (e.g. 45%) Significant level symbol; „P< or P>‟ is in italics and upper case
Nomenclature:
Use correct and established nomenclature wherever possible.
Units of measurement:
Use SI units. If you do not use these exclusively, provide the SI value in parentheses after each value.
Species names:
Write in italics. Write out in full the genus and species, both in the title of the manuscript and at the first mention of an organism in a paper. After first mention, the first letter of the genus name followed by the full species name may be used.
Genes, mutations, genotypes, and alleles:
Write in italics. Use the recommended name by consulting the appropriate genetic nomenclature database. It is sometimes advisable to indicate the synonyms for the gene the first time it appears in the text.

Submission Files
Submission of all types of manuscripts to Soil Studies is completely managed online, via the Online Submission & Review System. During the submission process, authors will be guided step-by-step while uploading all required documents and information. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.
Submission files should be as follows. Instructions for each file and element appear below the list.

1.MAIN DOCUMENT
The following elements are required, in order:
 Title of Manuscript
 Number of Pages
 Abstract with Keywords
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Conclusion
 References
 Tables
 Figures
Title of Manuscript
Include a full title for the manuscript. The full title must be specific, descriptive, concise, and comprehensible to readers outside the field.
Titles should be written in “Capitalize Each Word” case (conjunctions are not capitalized, and only the species names are italicized). Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible.
Do not include author names in the main document file or anywhere else in the manuscript file. Author names should only be entered in the author names section of the title page file and to the online submission system.
Abstract with Keywords
The Abstract should:
 Describe the main objective(s) of the study.
 Explain how the study was done, including any model organisms used, without methodological detail.
 Summarize the most important results and their significance.
 Not exceed 200 words in research papers, 300 words in reviews, and 100 words in short reports and technical notes.
 Provide three to five key words (not existing in the title) below the abstract.
Abstracts should not include:
 Citations
 Abbreviations, if possible
Provide sufficient information using the journal style and formatting for the following sections in order.
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results and Discussion
 Conclusion
References
All available works can be cited in the reference list. Acceptable sources include:
 Published or accepted manuscripts.
 Manuscripts on preprint servers, providing the manuscript has a citable DOI.
Do not cite the following sources in the reference list:
 Unavailable and unpublished work, including manuscripts that have been submitted but not yet accepted (e.g., “unpublished work,” “data not shown”). Instead, include those data as supplementary material or deposit the data in a publicly available database.
 Personal communications.
References are listed at the end of the manuscript before tables and figures, in alphabetical order. References are cited in the text according to 7th Edition of APA.
DOI links of references are indicated (if available) Full names of journal titles are provided in the reference list (NOT abbreviated).
Tables
Cite tables in ascending numeric order upon first appearance in the manuscript file. Place each table in your manuscript file directly after the references section. Also submit your tables in separate files to the submission system. A brief descriptive title of the table should be placed on top of the table with a label (e.g., “Table 1.”). Descriptions about table items (e.g., legend) should be placed below the table and marked with an asterisk. Tables should be prepared in regular MS Word format (i.e., tables submitted as a figure or manually written will
not be accepted). If necessary, create tables in Excel and insert them into the manuscript. Do not insert text boxes or graphics within your tables.
Figures
Cite figures in ascending numeric order upon first appearance in the manuscript file. Place each figure in your manuscript file directly after the tables section. Also submit your figures in separate files to the submission system in JPEG format. Figures should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. A brief descriptive title of the figure and any other text should be placed below the figure with a label (e.g., “Figure 1.”).

Supporting information should be submitted as separate individual files via online submission system. But a list of supporting information captions (if applicable) must be inserted at the end of the manuscript file. Do not submit captions in a separate file.
2. TITLE PAGE
Title, authors, ethical statement, funding information, and acknowledgements should be uploaded to the submission system as a separate file named as „TITLE PAGE‟ at submission.
Include a full title for the manuscript. The full title must be specific, descriptive, concise, and comprehensible to readers outside the field. Titles should be written in “Capitalize Each Word” case (conjunctions are not capitalized, and only the species names are italicized). Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible.
Author List
First and/or corresponding author should not have any accepted manuscript in Soil Studies within the last 12 months. The authors are not allowed to submit two or more manuscripts at the same time and the author who has a progressing process of a manuscript also is not allowed to submit a new manuscript until the process is ended. Enter author names on the title page of the manuscript and in the online submission system. On the title page, write author names in the following order:
 First name with small letters
 Middle name with small letters
 Last name (surname, family name) with capital letters
Each author on the list must have an affiliation and postal address. The affiliation includes department, university, or organizational affiliation and its location, including city, state/province (if applicable), and country. If an author has multiple affiliations, enter all affiliations on the title page only. In the submission system, enter only the preferred or primary affiliation. Author affiliations will be listed in the typeset PDF article in the same order that authors are listed in the submission. ORCID links of the authors must be written.
The submitting author is automatically designated as the corresponding author in the submission system. The corresponding author is the primary contact for the journal office and the only author able to view or change the manuscript while it is under editorial consideration. Only one corresponding author can be designated in the submission system. Whoever is designated as a corresponding author on the title page of the manuscript file will be listed as such upon publication. Put an asterisk after the name of the corresponding author and include an email address and a phone number for the corresponding author listed on the title page of the manuscript.
Funding Information
This information should describe sources of funding that have supported the work. If your manuscript is published, your statement will appear in the Funding Information section of the article. Enter this statement in the Funding Information section of the Title Page. Do not include it in your manuscript file. The statement should include:

 Specific grant numbers.
 Initials of authors who received each award.
 Full names of commercial companies that funded the study or authors.
 Initials of authors who received salary or other funding from commercial companies.
 URLs to sponsors‟ websites. Also state whether any sponsors or funders (other than the named authors) played any role in:
 Study design.
 Data collection and analysis.
 Decision to publish.
 Preparation of the manuscript.

If they had no role in the research, include this sentence: “The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.”
If the study was unfunded, include this sentence as the Funding Information statement: “The author(s) received no specific funding for this work."
Author Contributions
The contributions of all authors must be described in the title page document. An author must satisfy four conditions:
 Contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, the acquisition of data, or the analysis and interpretation.
 Drafted or provided critical revision of the article.
 Provided final approval of the version to publish.
 Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility in the manuscript, including review-type articles, that specifies the contribution of every author using the CRediT Taxonomy (see below given table for details).
Contributor Role Role Definition
Conceptualization Ideas: formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims. Data Curation Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later reuse. Formal Analysis Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyse or synthesize study data. Funding Acquisition Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication. Investigation Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection. Methodology Development or design of methodology; creation of models. Project Administration Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution. Resources Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools. Software Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components. Supervision Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution, including mentorship external to the core team. Validation Verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the overall  eplication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs. Visualization Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically visualization/data presentation.
Writing – Original Draft Preparation Creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).
Writing – Review & Editing Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary, or revision – including pre- or post-publication stages. An author name can appear multiple times, and each author name must appear at least once. The submitting author is responsible for providing the contributions of all authors at submission.

We expect that all authors will have reviewed, discussed, and agreed to their individual contributions before submitting the work. Contributions will be published with the article, and they should accurately reflect contributions to the work. Example author contribution
Conceptualization: AFY, Data Curation: MDO, Formal Analysis: MDO, Funding Acquisition: IA, Investigation: MDO, Methodology: MDO, Project Administration: IA, Resources: IA, Supervision: EK, Visualization: MDO, Writing -original draft: MDO, Writing -review and editing: EL, AFY, IA, EK. Or the other way around. AFY: Conceptualization, Writing -review and editing; MDO: Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization and Writing -original draft; IA: Funding Acquisition, Project Administration, Resources, Writing -review and editing; and EK: Supervision, Writing -review and editing.
Do not include contributor roles that are not applicable to your work.
Acknowledgements
The names, degrees, and affiliations who have contributed substantially to a study but do not fulfil the criteria for authorship can be listed in the Acknowledgments section.
Author(s) are responsible for ensuring that anyone named in the Acknowledgments agrees to be named. Do not include funding sources in the Acknowledgments or anywhere else in the manuscript file. Funding information should only be entered in the funding information section of the title page file.
3.OTHER ELEMENTS
 Individual Files (tables and figures)
 Supporting information files are uploaded separately.
 Copyright Release Form
 Conflict of Interest Form
Individual Files
 Submit your tables and figures in separate individual files to the submission system, follow the guidelines in preparation of tables and figures.
Supporting Information Files
 Author(s) can submit essential supporting files along with their manuscripts. All supporting information will be subject to peer review.
 Supporting information files are published exactly as provided and are not copyedited.
 Author(s) may use almost any description as the item name for a supporting information file as long as it contains an “S” and number. For example, “S1 Appendix” and “S2 Appendix,” “S1 Table” and “S2 Table,” and so forth.
Copyright Release Form
 During the submission process, authors will be directed to download and complete a Copyright Release Form which will have to be signed by all authors.
 Completed, and signed Copyright Release Form must be submitted to the online submission system in pdf or jpeg format.
Conflict of Interest Form
 All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial, professional, or personal conflicts in relationship to an institution, organization, or another person that could inappropriately influence their work on a separate form called „Conflict of Interest‟ and submitted through our online system.
 All potential competing interests must be declared in full. If the submission is related to any patents, patent applications, or products in development or for market, these details, including patent numbers and titles, must be disclosed in full.
 If there is no conflict of interest, the authors should declare the following statement to the cover letter:

“The author(s) declare that they have no known competing financial or non-financial, professional, or personal conflicts that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.”
 Failure to declare competing interests can result in immediate rejection of a manuscript.
 This information should not be in your manuscript file; you will provide it via our online submission
system.
Revising your manuscript
If you are submitting a revised manuscript, upload your revised submission to the submission system and include the following items:
 Response to reviewers: Address the specific points made by each reviewer. Include your responses to all the reviewers‟ and editors‟ comments and list the changes you have made to the manuscript. Upload this document as a “Response to reviewers” file.
 Revised manuscript (marked-up copy): Include a marked-up copy of your manuscript file showing the changes you have made since the original submission. The best way to show these changes is the “Track Changes” option in Microsoft Word. Upload this as a "Revised Article with Changes Highlighted” file.
 Revised manuscript (clean copy): Upload a clean copy of your revised manuscript that does not show your changes. Upload this as your “Revised Manuscript” file. Tables, figures and supporting information files from your original submission will automatically transfer to your revised submission unless you choose to update and replace them.
Social Media Coverage
Authors of accepted articles are encouraged to provide up to 3 photographs and 1 video (≈60 sec.) that present the study, which then might be used to share information on our social media accounts to increase the paper‟s publicity. If applicable, Twitter usernames of author(s) can be used to mention. The preferable format for video clips is mp4 (max file size is up to 200 mb), and for images either JPEG, GIF or PNG (max file size per image is 5 mb, and 3 mb for animated gifs). Please send the images and video to journal by email.
Upon acceptance Once the manuscript is accepted for publishing, authors will receive an e-mail notification with all necessary information on further steps in publishing process. Accepted manuscript can be tracked via the link that will be sent by email. Early View proof will be provided for corrections, before the paper is published in its final form.
Authors should indicate all corrections on the paper published as Early View as comments and email the file highlighted with comments to the journal email. Please notice that the Journal reserves the right to reject a paper even after it has been accepted, if it becomes apparent that there are serious problems with its scientific content, or the publishing policies of journal have been violated. Author rights Authors of published articles (and/or their employers or institutions) have certain rights to reuse published work with prior permission. Please request a „Permission Request Letter‟ from „info@soilstudies.org‟. 

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Publication Ethics
Peer-reviewed studies are those that embody and comply with the scientific method, and thus ensure quality standards, improvement of performance, and credibility in science. Consequently, it is important that all stakeholders (authors, readers, researchers, publishers, referees and editors) comply with the ethical principles and standards. Within this framework, Soil Studies expects all stakeholders to have the following ethical responsibilities as a part of its publication ethics.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

1. The manuscript has not been published and is not being submitted or considered for publication elsewhere.
2. The authors are required to make a full and correct reference to other studies. APA 6 guidelines for citation and bibliography should be taken into account.
3. Submission of an article implies that the presented work and results have not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere, and that its publication is approved by all authors. All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest.
4. Authors have to be prepared to share raw data assessed in the manuscript and any related information if so requested by the editorial board within the framework of the evaluation process.
5. The text, illustrations, and any other material included in the manuscript do not infringe upon any existing copyright or other rights.
6. All authors participated in the work in a substantial way and are prepared to take public responsibility for the work and manuscript contents.
7. In case of plagiarism detected by the editorial board in a submitted or accepted manuscript, the full responsibility lies with the authors. The publisher has the right to reject and/or retract the manuscript in case of plagiarism, even it is was previously accepted. The authors are not able to object to the decision made by the journal.
8. Authors of published articles (and/or their employers or institutions) are not allowed to reuse published works without permisson.
9. Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in authors' list and (b) written confirmation from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
10. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence their work.
11. Authors are requested to fully declare all sources of funding received for the research submitted to the Journal.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors

1. All manuscripts are judged based on the intellectual contents, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship or political values of the authors.
2. Personal information related to the articles shall be kept confidential.
3. All identified conflicts of interest of Editorial Board members, and the observed conflicts of interest and plagiarism identified in manuscripts and published articles
must be disclosed.
4. The Editorial Board shall assume responsibility for making publication decisions for the manuscripts submitted, based on the evaluation of the candidate article, the policies of the editorial board and the copyright infringement rules.
5. Double-blind review system with at least two reviewers is used to evaluate manuscripts for publication.
6. Editors have the right to reject the manuscripts without peer-review when the manuscript:

a) is on a topic outside the scope of the Journal,
b) lacks technical merit,
c) exhibits narrow regional scope and significance,
d) presents conflicting results,
e) is poorly written,
f) represents a case of scientific misconduct.
g) When the journal is overburdened with too many submissions, editors have the
right to reject manuscripts without peer review based on their perceived merit.
Editors are responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of
articles.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
Before accepting to review the manuscript:

1. Reviewers should treat manuscripts as confidential documents. This means that they cannot be shared without prior authorization from the editor and authors.
2. Reviewers should keep the ideas obtained through peer review confidential, and not use them for personal advantage.
3. Reviewers should provide objective peer review, with clear and well-founded comments and submitted in a timely manner
4. Reviewers should decline the invitation for peer review if they feel unqualified to provide a relevant report, have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the reviewed manuscript.
5. Assessment of the manuscript should be made in an objective manner, and be based exclusively on the contents of the study. It should not allow nationality, gender,religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns to influence the assessment.

Once the invitation to review the manuscript is accepted, reviewers should first check if the manuscript is reporting original research, and if so, first step of the review should be to check the methodology:

1. If the methodology is unreliable or invalid;
2. If there is any relevant part of the methods missing;
3. If there are any contradictions between conclusions and statistical or qualitative evidence reported in the manuscript.

For a general review, please use our checklist for reviewers in Soil Studies:

1. Summarize the article in a short paragraph. This shows the editor that you have read and understood the research.
2. Provide your main impressions of the article, including whether it is novel and interesting,
3. Assess whether the article conforms to the journal-specific instructions (i.e., the guidelines for authors).
4. Give specific comments and suggestions about all the elements of the manuscript, e.g. title and the abstract: Does the title accurately reflect the content? Is the abstract complete and sufficiently informative?
5. Carefully review the methodology, statistical errors, results, discussion / conclusions, and references.
6. Inform the editor if you suspect plagiarism, fraud or have other ethical concerns, providing as much detail as possible.
7. Be aware of the possibility for bias in your review. Unconscious bias can lead reviewers to make questionable decisions which can negatively impact academic publishing process
8. Do not make ad hominem comments.
9. Do not suggest to the authors to include citations to your own or your associates’ publications, unless for genuine scientific reasons.

Rights granted to Soil Studies
Soil Studies reserves the right to reject a paper even after it has been accepted, if it becomes apparent that there are serious problems with its scientific content, or the publishing policies of journal have been violated.

The Journal reserves the right to provide the article in all forms and media, so the article can be used by the latest technology even after its publication.

Article transfer service
This journal is included in our Article Transfer Service. This means that if the Editor considers an article to be more suitable for one of the other participating journals, authors may be asked to consider transferring the article to another journal, in which case it willbe transferred automatically on behalf of the authors with no need for reformatting. Please note that the article will be reviewed again by the new journal.

Open Access Policy
All research articles published in Soil Studies are fully open access: immediately freely available to read, download and share. Articles are published under the terms of a Creative Commons license which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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