Writing Rules
General Principles
ISPEC International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities publishes original research articles in the fields of humanities and social sciences, as well as review articles explaining significant scientific and technological innovations and methodologies. The publication languages of the journal are Turkish and English. For Turkish publications, the new spelling guide and Turkish dictionary published by the Turkish Language Association are taken as the basis. It is recommended that articles written in English be reviewed linguistically by a linguist before submission. Manuscripts submitted for publication must not have been previously published elsewhere or be under consideration for publication. Works must be prepared in accordance with scientific ethics. For research results requiring an Ethics Committee Report, a copy of the report must be attached when submitted as an article. All responsibilities for the articles published in the journal lie with the author(s).
Manuscripts are sent to referees according to their content and the expertise of the referees. The section editor reviewing the work recommends at least two referees from the ISPEC International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities referee pool based on their area of expertise, or may suggest new referees appropriate to the subject area. It is ensured that each referee of the article is from different institutions and not from the same institution as the authors. Referee suggestions from section editors are evaluated by the editors, and manuscripts are sent to the referees. Referees are required to guarantee that they will not share any process or document regarding the articles they evaluate.
Proofs of accepted articles are sent to the corresponding author, who must check and return them within a short period for print errors. After the article is accepted for publication, no changes can be made to the manuscript text, authors, or the order of authors.
All authors whose names appear in the article must sign the Copyright Transfer Form, declaring that they transfer all publication rights to the ISPEC International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Manuscript Preparation Format
The manuscript must be written on one side of A4-sized paper, using 12-point font size (including all headings), Times New Roman font, and single line spacing. Page margins should be 2.5 cm from top, bottom, left, and right. Paragraph indentations within the manuscript should be 1 cm.
The manuscript should consist of the following main sections: Turkish Title, Turkish Abstract, Keywords, English Title, English Abstract, Keywords, 1. Introduction, 2. Material and Methods, 3. Results and Discussion, 4. Conclusion, Author Contributions (if any), Conflict of Interest (if any), Funding (if any), Ethics Committee Approval (if any), Acknowledgements (if any), References, as well as Figures and Tables. Depending on the narrative style of the manuscript, the "Discussion" section may be separated from the "Results" section and presented under a separate main heading. In manuscripts written in Turkish, the Turkish abstract should be presented first, followed by the English abstract; for manuscripts written in English, only the English abstract should be provided.
All main and, if any, subheadings must be written without paragraph indentation and in bold; all words in subheadings should be in lowercase. Author-identifying information (name-surname, institution, contact) should not be included in the manuscript file uploaded to the system (see Templates and Forms). The manuscript, including the References section, should not exceed 24 pages. Authors can use the Manuscript Preparation Template available on the journal’s website for formatting. Accordingly, the manuscript should be prepared in the following order:
Article Title
The title should be short, concise, and appropriate to the manuscript, with the first letter of each word capitalized, bold, and centered. The English title must fully correspond to the Turkish title.
Abstract
The terms “Özet” and “Abstract” should be used, respectively, in Turkish and English abstracts. The abstract should be comprehensive, brief, and highlight all the essential aspects of the manuscript: why, what, how it was done, what was found, and what these findings mean. Each of the Turkish and English abstracts must not exceed 200 words. Literature references should not be included in this section. The Abstract and Özet sections should be given one line below the Turkish and English titles, respectively, without paragraph indentation.
Keywords
One line below the Turkish and English abstracts, the terms “Anahtar Kelimeler” and “Keywords” should be written, respectively; all words should be in lowercase (except proper nouns), with up to 6 keywords that best describe the study and preferably not used in the title.
- Introduction
This section should present the content and rationale of the manuscript supported by literature and clearly state the aim and the hypothesis to be tested.
- Material and Methods
Materials and methods should be given under the same heading. If subheadings are to be used, they should be numbered (e.g., 2.1., 2.2.). The materials used in the research and especially new or modified methods should be explained in detail to enable replication by other researchers. However, previously published methods may be cited without extensive description. Appropriate statistical methods that address the hypothesis should be used and explained. When necessary, measures of variation such as standard error or standard deviation should be provided.
- Results and Discussion
The results obtained should be explained in this section and supported by tables, figures, and graphics where necessary. Data presented in tables should not be repeated in the text or figures. However, significant findings shown in figures should also be presented in the text. If the correct statistical method is not used or the analysis is not conducted properly, the Statistical Editors may reject the manuscript. In the discussion, the importance of the results and their contribution to science and practice should be discussed and interpreted using relevant literature.
- Conclusion
The contribution of the results to science and practice and any recommendations should be presented concisely. Statements given in the Introduction and Results and Discussion sections should not be repeated in the same form in this part.
Author Contributions
Authors’ contributions should be stated. For example: The authors declare equal contribution to the manuscript and that they have reviewed and approved the final version.
Conflict of Interest Statement
All authors declare no conflict of interest related to this study.
Funding
This study was supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Sivas University of Science and Technology (Project No: 2016.10.07.1091) and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) (Project No: 120O576).
Ethics Committee Approval
In studies requiring ethics committee approval, information about the approval (committee name, date, and reference number) must be included both in the Methods section and on the first/last page of the manuscript. In case reports, information confirming that informed consent was obtained must be included in the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
This study was derived from the first author’s master’s/PhD thesis.
References
In-text citation rules:
In Turkish-language manuscripts, regardless of the source language, “and” or “et al.” should not be used. In English-language manuscripts, “ve” or “ve ark.” should not be used. Sources such as progress reports, project drafts, unpublished theses not accessible online, or non-scientific internet information should not be cited.
Citations should be made using the “(Author's last name-year)” format: e.g., (Çilesiz, 2022), (Çilesiz ve Seydoşoğlu, 2023), (Çilesiz ve ark., 2018); in English manuscripts: (Çilesiz, 2010), (Çilesiz and Seydoşoğlu, 2023), (Çilesiz et al., 2018).
If the author is referenced in the text, only the publication year should be in parentheses: e.g., According to Çığ (2010)...; Çilesiz and Seydoşoğlu (2013); Çilesiz et al. (2018). For three or more authors, use “ve ark.” in Turkish and “et al.” in English: e.g., (Çilesiz ve ark., 2019) or Çilesiz ve ark. (2023); (Çilesiz et al., 2023) or Çilesiz et al. (2023).
If multiple sources by the same author(s) in the same year are cited, use letters (a, b, c): e.g., (Çilesiz et al., 2011a, 2011b). If citing multiple works by the same author: e.g., (Çilesiz, 2010, 2012, 2013).
For citations from different authors, use a semicolon (;) and chronological order: e.g., (Çilesiz et al., 2016; Seydoşoğlu et al., 2018; Turan, 2019, 2020; Çığ and Seydoşoğlu, 2022). For sources from different authors with the same year, use alphabetical order: e.g., (Aydın, 2022; Çilesiz and Karaköy, 2022; Özyazıcı et al., 2022).
Reference List Format: References cited in the text must be listed alphabetically (by authors' surnames) and in their original language. Journal and congress/symposium names must be written in full and italicized. In the reference list, all lines except the first should be indented 0.5 cm. Article titles must be written in lowercase (except for proper nouns).
Authors are responsible for correct citations and references.
Examples:
Journal Articles
Seydoşoğlu, S., 2018. Bazı doğal mera alanlarının bitki örtüsü özellikleri, mera durumu ve sağlığının belirlenmesi. Türkiye Ormancılık Dergisi, 19(4): 368-373.
Books
Çilesiz, Y., Seydoşoğlu, S., 2021. Legumes Processing and Potential (1st Ed.). Iksad Publishing House, No: 278, Ankara.
Theses
Seydoşoğlu, S., 2012. Hasat dönemi ile yoğunluğunun çalımsı yonca (Medicago arborea L.)'nın verim ve verime ilişkin özelliklerine etkisi üzerinde araştırmalar. MSc Thesis, Ege University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, İzmir.
Figures and Tables
All visual materials such as figures, graphs, photographs, and maps must be labeled as “Figure,” and tables as “Table” in bold. All figures and tables must be placed at the end of the manuscript in numerical order.
Figures must be of printable size and images in 600 dpi resolution.
Each figure and table must be referenced in the text and numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2 or Table 1, Table 2). Titles must be concise and informative.
Figure and table titles: 11 pt; internal text: 9 pt; footnotes: 7 pt, no period at the end.
Abbreviations and Symbols
Abbreviations should be avoided. If used, full term must be written the first time with abbreviation in parentheses [e.g., phosphorus (P)]. Do not use abbreviations in the title. Use SI units for symbols.
Formulas
Formulas must be numbered and aligned to the right (e.g., Equation 1).
Use the Word equation editor; main characters in 10 pt, variables in italics, numbers and operators in regular font.
Supplementary Files
Along with the manuscript, the following documents must be uploaded via the journal website:
• Title Page including author name-surname, affiliation, and corresponding author's contact info
(Word format),
- Signed Copyright Transfer Form (PDF format),
- Ethics Committee Report (if necessary).
Upon acceptance, the original signed Copyright Form must be mailed to the editor.
Manuscript Submission
Prepared manuscripts and supplementary documents must be uploaded electronically by the corresponding author only via the “Submit Article” section on the ISPEC International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities website:
https://ispecjournal.org/index.php/ispecijssh/about/submissions
Authors may track the status of their manuscript via the journal website. Those who cannot complete the submission steps may email the editorial team at: submission@ispecjournal.com.
NOTE: THE JOURNAL’S WRITING RULES HAVE BEEN UPDATED AS OF 01.01.2025.
