Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Veterinary and Zootechnical Sciences is committed to implementing scientific publication ethics at the highest standards and to comply with the recommendations and guidelines developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for journal editors.

All submissions will be checked by plagiarism software in 2 stages: New Submission and Post-Acceptance from Editorial boards.

Veterinary and Zootechnical Sciences adopts the standards set by COPE in implementing publication ethics. In this context, in cases of misuse or violation of publication ethics, it refers to the publication ethics flowcharts developed by COPE (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).

Veterinary and Zootechnical Sciences has the authority to request the Ethics Committee Permission, Copyright and License Agreement and the documents that need to be submitted regarding the article from the submitting author.

Veterinary and Zootechnical Sciences does not charge a subscription fee for access to articles. In addition, all personal information will be used only for the scientific purposes of this journal. This information will not be used for any other purpose or section and will not be shared with third parties. Publications sent to VZS must not have been published in full text before and must be original work that has not been sent for publication anywhere else. When you send a publication to our journal, the Editorial Board is authorized to publish the article. Therefore, authors are required to fill out the "Copyright and License Agreement" and upload it with a wet signature.

In cases where an editor or editorial board member is listed as an author, the submission is handled by an independent editor and evaluated through a double-blind peer review process.
All editorial and peer review activities are conducted via the OJS system to ensure transparency and accountability.
This policy ensures editorial independence and safeguards the integrity of the peer review process.

Editorial Independence and Editorial Structure

 In order to ensure editorial independence and transparency, the editorial decision-making process is conducted through independent Section Editors and external peer reviewers.

The journal clearly defines its scope on the journal homepage, listing specific subject areas within Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics.

For each subject area listed in the journal’s scope, a qualified Section Editor with expertise in that field is appointed in the editorial board. All submitted manuscripts are assigned to the relevant Section Editor based on the subject area. The Section Editor manages the peer-review process and makes the editorial recommendation based on reviewers’ reports.

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the overall publication policy and management of the journal but does not intervene in the independent editorial processes conducted by the Section Editors. The fact that the journal owner and the Editor-in-Chief are the same person does not influence editorial decision-making. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible only for the journal's publication policy, development, and oversight of compliance with ethical and academic standards. Editorial decisions are made independently by the relevant Section Editors.

Editorial decisions are made independently by Section Editors based solely on scientific merit, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

This structure ensures transparency, subject expertise, impartiality, and academic integrity in the editorial and peer-review processes of the journal.

Peer Review Process

All submissions to Veterinary and Zootechnical Sciences (VZS) undergo a double-blind peer review process as follows:

Initial Editorial Assessment (Approximately 1–2 Weeks)

The Editor-in-Chief or Section Editors evaluate whether the manuscript falls within the scope of the journal, complies with the author guidelines, and meets the journal's similarity (plagiarism) requirements. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be rejected at this stage or returned to the authors for technical revisions.

Peer Review (Reviewer Deadline: 4 Weeks)

Manuscripts that successfully pass the initial editorial assessment are sent to at least two independent reviewers. The journal follows a double-blind peer review process in which the identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential. Reviewers are invited to recommend acceptance, minor revision, major revision, or rejection. Reviewers are expected to submit their evaluations within the allocated review period.

Author Revisions (Approximately 1–3 Weeks)

Authors are expected to submit their revised manuscript within the specified period, together with a point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments when required. Depending on the extent of the revisions, the manuscript may be returned to the reviewers for further evaluation.

Final Decision and Production (Approximately 1–2 Weeks)

Once all reviews and revisions have been completed, the Section Editor makes the final publication decision. Accepted manuscripts proceed to copyediting, layout editing, proofreading, and final technical preparation for publication.

Publication

Veterinary and Zootechnical Sciences (VZS) is published biannually, with issues released in June and December. Accepted manuscripts are published as open-access articles in the corresponding issue.

Note: The timeframes above represent average processing times. The review process may be shorter or longer depending on reviewer availability, the time required for revisions, and other editorial considerations.