Editorial Policies
Ownership and Management
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is a scholarly research journal owned and administered by Turkish Science and Technology Publishing (TURSTEP).
Publication Frequency
TURJAF is a well-established academic journal issued on a monthly basis, with twelve issues published annually during the first week of each month.
Online Access
All content published in the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is available online with open access, allowing readers to freely access the journal via its official website.
Focus and Scope
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is dedicated to publishing original research and review articles that contribute novel perspectives across all areas of agricultural and food sciences. Submitted manuscripts are expected to exhibit a strong degree of novelty, originality, uniqueness, and broad scientific relevance. The journal accepts both research papers and review articles addressing diverse topics within agricultural and food sciences.
Consistent with its scope and objectives, TURJAF welcomes original research manuscripts that present new insights into any field of Agricultural and Food Sciences, provided that they have not been previously published or submitted elsewhere for consideration. Detailed information regarding manuscript preparation can be found under the sections “For Authors”
Studies that are preliminary, confirmatory, or inconclusive in nature, as well as case reports, local-scale investigations, and manuscripts focused solely on new records or identification/taxonomic descriptions, are not considered for evaluation.
Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to the Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) are peer-reviewed according to the following procedure:
Initial review: The Editor-in-Chief evaluates each manuscript to determine if its topic and content is suitable for consideration by the Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology (TURJAF). Manuscripts that do not meet minimum criteria are returned to the authors within one week of receipt. This is in the best interest of the authors who could then decide to either correct the problems or to submit the manuscript to a more appropriate venue, avoiding delays from a lengthy review process that would nonetheless lead to rejection.
Peer review: Manuscripts that pass the initial review are assigned to an Associate Editor, who selects several referees based on their expertise in that particular field. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees under a double-blind peer review process, where both the referees and the authors are kept anonymous. Referees are asked to evaluate the manuscript based on its originality, soundness of methodology, impact to design research, and relevance to design practices. To facilitate timely publication, referees are asked to complete their reviews within one month. After collecting the referees' reports, the Associate Editor makes a recommendation on the acceptability of the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief.
Recommendation: Based on the referees' comments and the Associate Editor's recommendation, the Editor-in-Chief makes a final decision on the acceptability of the manuscript and communicates to the authors the decision, along with referees' reports. The final decision can be "Accept Submission", "Revisions Required", "Resubmit for Review", "Resubmit Elsewhere", or "Decline Submission." A revised manuscript should be re-submitted within six months of the decision. It will usually be returned to the original referees for evaluation.
Open Access Policy
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) provides immediate and unrestricted open access to all published content, based on the principle that free availability of research supports the global exchange of knowledge and enhances scientific progress.
TURJAF is fully committed to the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and ensures free and permanent access to all articles immediately upon publication. The journal is a signatory to the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Further information is available at:
http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/list_signatures
All articles published in TURJAF are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license permits users to read, download, copy, print, distribute, and share the published material for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the journal as the original publisher.
Full details of the license are available at:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en
Authors retain full copyright ownership of their published work. By submitting a manuscript to TURJAF, authors agree to publish their article as open access under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license and grant the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) an exclusive, unlimited license to publish the work and to identify itself as the original publisher.
All published articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication at www.agrifoodscience.com, ensuring maximum visibility, accessibility, and impact for authors. TURJAF Open Access articles comply with the open access requirements of funding agencies and academic institutions.
All manuscripts published in TURJAF undergo a rigorous peer-review process and are held to high scientific and ethical publishing standards. Open Access articles are indexed in major abstracting and indexing databases, and the journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), ensuring discoverability and citability of published research.
Attribution and Reuse
When sharing or reusing an article, in whole or in part, proper attribution must be provided using the following statement:
The final, published version of this article is available at https://doi.org/[DOI]
(e.g., https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v9i3.460-469.3516)
Commercial use of published content requires prior written permission from the publisher and may be subject to a fee.
Translations or adaptations not formally approved by the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) must include the following disclaimer:
“This is an unofficial translation (or adaptation) of an article originally published in the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) and is not endorsed by the publisher.”
Plagiarism policy
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and originality in scholarly publishing. All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original works and must not contain plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or any form of unethical text reuse.
All submissions are screened for similarity using plagiarism detection software (Turnitin) prior to peer review. Manuscripts with a Similarity Index (SI) exceeding 19% are returned to the corresponding author for revision. Authors are required to reduce the similarity level below the acceptable threshold before resubmission. Manuscripts that fail to meet this requirement are rejected at the initial evaluation stage.
In cases where plagiarism is identified after publication, the article will be retracted immediately and removed from the journal’s website. Such cases are handled in accordance with the guidelines and procedures of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors found to have committed plagiarism may be subject to sanctions, including a submission ban to the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) for a period of five years.
TURJAF reserves the right to take all necessary actions to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement of TURJAF
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is committed to adhering to internationally recognized guidelines and core practices established by various organizations, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing jointly issued by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME. These guidelines and recommendations are designed to promote transparency, integrity, and responsible practices within scholarly publishing.
By complying with these standards, the journal seeks to ensure that the research it publishes meets high scientific quality criteria and aligns with the ethical expectations of the academic community.
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is an international, electronic, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics. The journal is cited as Turkish JAF Sci. Tech. To ensure the delivery of high-quality scholarly content to its readership, TURJAF has adopted a set of Publication Ethics and Malpractice Principles based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Any manuscript found to be in breach of these ethical standards may be withdrawn at any stage of the publication process, including after publication.
A primary objective of the editorial board is to disseminate scientifically rigorous and reliable research. Safeguarding the integrity of published content is fundamental and must be upheld throughout the peer-review, editorial, and publication stages. Accordingly, all parties involved in the publication process—authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial board—are required to comply fully with the journal’s policies on publication ethics and malpractice and to observe the principles outlined below.
Responsibilities of the Publisher
Quality Assurance and Ethical Standards
The Publisher holds primary responsibility for ensuring the academic integrity, scientific quality, and ethical standards of the journal and its published content. To this end, the Publisher allocates appropriate human resources and technical infrastructure and applies internationally accepted principles of research quality and publication ethics in the management of the journal. The Publisher undertakes initiatives to enhance the journal’s academic visibility, including submission to relevant indexing and abstracting databases.
The Publisher, in collaboration with the editorial team, implements all reasonable measures to identify, prevent, and address research misconduct, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data fabrication or falsification. Such practices are neither encouraged nor knowingly permitted under any circumstances. When allegations of research misconduct concerning published material are raised, they are handled in strict accordance with the guidelines and procedures of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Editorial Governance
The Publisher appoints the Editors-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Board based on their academic qualifications, professional expertise, and scholarly contributions, with the objective of maintaining high scientific standards. While providing administrative and organizational support, the Publisher fully respects the autonomy and independence of the Editors-in-Chief and the Editorial Board in all decisions related to the evaluation, acceptance, and publication of scholarly content.
Crossref and Scholarly Record Management
The journal actively participates in Crossref through the submission of complete and accurate metadata for all published articles. The Crossmark service is utilized to document updates, corrections, and other amendments to published content, thereby ensuring the reliability and transparency of the scholarly record.
Fairness and Transparency
The Publisher is committed to upholding principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability in all journal policies and practices. Accordingly, all relevant editorial, ethical, and publication policies are clearly defined and made publicly accessible on the journal’s official website to ensure awareness and compliance within the scholarly community.
Responsibilities of Editors
Editorial Responsibility and Decision-Making
Editors are responsible for ensuring the academic quality, originality, and integrity of all manuscripts submitted to the journal. Editorial decisions to accept, revise, or reject manuscripts are based solely on the scholarly merit of the work, its relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with ethical and scientific standards.
Fairness and Impartiality
Editors evaluate manuscripts without discrimination based on authors’ gender, race, ethnicity, religious belief, citizenship, or political philosophy. All submissions are assessed fairly, objectively, and confidentially.
Confidentiality
Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, or the publisher, as appropriate.
Conflicts of Interest
Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, institutions, or organizations involved.
Ethical Oversight
Editors take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of manuscripts involving research misconduct, including plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, and unethical research practices. Allegations of misconduct are handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer reviewers assist editors in making editorial decisions by providing objective, constructive, and timely evaluations of submitted manuscripts. Reviews should contribute to improving the quality and clarity of the research.
Confidentiality
All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, discuss, or use the content of the manuscript for personal or professional advantage.
Objectivity and Professionalism
Reviews should be conducted objectively, with clear and reasoned arguments. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate and unacceptable.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors and alert editors to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and other published works.
Conflicts of Interest
Reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest and decline to review manuscripts where such conflicts could compromise impartiality.
Responsibilities of Authors
Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must ensure that their submissions are original works and that any use of the work or words of others has been appropriately cited. Plagiarism in any form constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication
Authors should not submit the same manuscript, or substantially similar content, to more than one journal simultaneously. Redundant or duplicate publication is not permitted.
Authorship and Contribution
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All contributors who meet authorship criteria should be listed, and all listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript.
Data Accuracy and Availability
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the data presented in their manuscripts and should be prepared to provide access to raw data when requested for editorial or ethical review.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the interpretation of their findings.
Ethical Approval
Where applicable, authors must confirm that research involving humans or animals was conducted in accordance with relevant ethical standards and approved by appropriate institutional review boards or ethics committees.
Research and Publication Ethics
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics in accordance with internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing, including the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All manuscripts submitted to the journal must comply with ethical, legal, and professional standards relevant to the nature and scope of the research.
Ethical Approval and Compliance
Research involving human participants, animals, or biological materials must be conducted in compliance with internationally accepted ethical guidelines and applicable national regulations. Such studies must receive prior approval from an appropriate institutional ethics committee or review board. Authors are required to clearly state the name of the approving authority and the ethical approval reference number within the manuscript. Where ethical approval is not required, authors must explicitly declare the reason.
Ethical Approval Statement
Manuscripts reporting research that required ethical approval must include a dedicated Ethical Approval Statement. This statement should confirm that the study was reviewed and approved by a recognized ethics committee and conducted in accordance with relevant ethical standards. For studies involving human participants, authors must also confirm that informed consent was obtained and that participant confidentiality and data protection were ensured.
Human and Animal Research Ethics
Studies involving human subjects must adhere to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and related regulations. Research involving animals must comply with internationally accepted standards for animal welfare and be designed to minimize harm, distress, and suffering.
Plagiarism and Originality
All submissions must be original and not previously published or under consideration elsewhere. Proper citation of all sources is mandatory. The journal employs plagiarism detection software to screen all submissions. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other forms of unethical text reuse are not tolerated and may result in rejection or retraction in accordance with COPE procedures.
Data Integrity and Data Sharing
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, transparency, and reliability of the data presented in their manuscripts. Data fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, or manipulation is considered serious ethical misconduct. Authors are encouraged to make underlying research data available through recognized repositories or upon reasonable request, in accordance with journal policies and ethical or legal constraints.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
The use of artificial intelligence–based tools in the preparation of manuscripts must be transparent and responsible. AI tools may not be listed as authors and must not replace essential scholarly tasks such as data interpretation, critical analysis, or scientific judgment. Authors are required to disclose any use of AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation and remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of the submitted work.
Conflicts of Interest
All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the research process or interpretation of results. Transparency in potential conflicts is essential to maintaining trust in the scholarly record.
Handling of Ethical Concerns
Any allegations or concerns related to research or publication ethics, whether identified before or after publication, are addressed in accordance with COPE guidelines. The journal reserves the right to take appropriate corrective actions, including corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions, where necessary to preserve the integrity of the scientific record.
Open Access, Copyright, and Licensing Policy
All articles published in the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) are made available as open access and are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license permits users to read, download, copy, distribute, and reuse the published material for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original work.
Authors retain full copyright ownership of their published articles. By submitting a manuscript to TURJAF, authors agree to publish their work as open access under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license and grant the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) an exclusive, unlimited license to publish the article and to identify TURJAF as the original publisher.
Full details of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License are available at:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en
Attribution of Published Articles
When sharing, distributing, or reusing any article published in TURJAF, proper attribution to the original source is required. Attribution must include a reference to the final published version of the article and a direct link to its Digital Object Identifier (DOI), using the following statement:
The final, published version of this article is available at https://doi.org/[DOI]
(e.g., https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v9i3.460-469.3516)
Submission of a manuscript for publication implies the authors’ acceptance of the applicable Creative Commons license and agreement with the terms and conditions outlined in the Publisher’s Licensing Agreement.
Privacy Statement
Introduction
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all users, authors, reviewers, and editors. This Privacy Statement explains what personal information is collected by TURJAF and how such information is used, stored, and protected in the course of journal operations.
Collection of Personal Information
TURJAF collects and processes personal information that is necessary for the submission, evaluation, and publication of manuscripts. This information may include, but is not limited to, names, institutional affiliations, and contact details such as postal addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and fax numbers.
Names and email addresses provided through the journal’s website are used solely for the purposes of journal management and scholarly communication. Such information is not shared, sold, or disclosed to third parties for purposes unrelated to the journal.
Use of Personal Information
Personal information collected by TURJAF is used exclusively for legitimate journal-related activities, including:
- Managing and administering the journal website
- Enabling user registration and access to journal services
- Processing, reviewing, and publishing submitted manuscripts
- Communicating with authors, reviewers, and editors regarding manuscripts
- Issuing notifications, statements, or invoices where applicable
- Managing payments related to publication services
- Sending journal-related announcements or communications
Where personal data is shared with service providers or subcontractors for these purposes, such parties are required to handle the information in compliance with this Privacy Statement.
TURJAF may also disclose personal information when required by law, in connection with legal proceedings, or for the purpose of establishing, exercising, or defending legal rights.
Data Security
TURJAF implements appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.
Cross-Border Data Transfers
Personal information collected by TURJAF may be stored, processed, and transferred across countries in which the journal or its service providers operate, solely for purposes consistent with this Privacy Statement.
Information submitted for publication may be published online and thus become accessible worldwide. By submitting personal information to the journal, users consent to such cross-border data transfers.
Updates to This Privacy Statement
TURJAF reserves the right to update or revise this Privacy Statement at any time by publishing an updated version on the journal’s website. Users are encouraged to review this page periodically to remain informed about any changes.
External Websites
The TURJAF website may contain links to external websites. The journal is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites.
Contact Information
For questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Statement or the handling of personal data, please contact:
Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF)
Email: editor@agrifoodscience.com
Archiving
The Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology (TURJAF) participates in the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program to ensure long-term digital preservation of its published content. Through this distributed archiving system, participating libraries are authorized to maintain secure and permanent copies of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes, thereby safeguarding the accessibility and integrity of the scholarly record over time.
