After spending years on a paper and finally publishing it in a good journal, receiving a cash incentive in return is a real but rarely discussed perk of academic life in Türkiye. TÜBİTAK's UBYT — the Incentive Programme for Türkiye-Addressed International Scientific Publications — does exactly that: it pays authors for Türkiye-addressed, internationally indexed articles. This guide explains, in plain terms, who the 2026 programme covers, what the amount depends on, and how to plan your application. (Amounts and journal scores are updated every year; the only binding source is TÜBİTAK's current UBYT rules and journal list — always check it before applying.)
What is UBYT, and who does it cover?
UBYT is an incentive programme run by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM (Cahit Arf Information Center). Its purpose is to encourage Türkiye-addressed researchers to publish in high-quality international journals. To benefit, at least one author of the paper must give a Türkiye institution as their address, and the paper must appear in an in-scope journal.
In 2026 the scope was clarified — and narrowed:
- Web of Science Core Collection — SCI-E, SSCI and AHCI journals.
- Scopus — only journals in the Q1 and Q2 quartiles.
- Out of scope — ESCI journals and Scopus Q3–Q4 journals.
For 2026, more than 11,000 journals were placed on the UBYT incentive list. The critical point here: a journal can be "internationally indexed" and still not be on the UBYT list. So verifying that your target journal is both in the right index and on the current UBYT list before submitting is the easiest way to avoid disappointment later.
If you haven't yet nailed down the difference between indexes and quartiles, first read SCI/SSCI/ESCI/Scopus difference and what is a Q1 journal — UBYT strategy is built directly on top of these distinctions.
What determines the incentive amount?
The most common question is "how much will I get?" — and the honest answer is: there is no single fixed amount. Payment is calculated from the journal's MEP (Article Impact Score), the article type (research article, review, etc.) and the programme's annual budget. Put simply: the higher the journal's impact, the higher the incentive.
To give a rough idea, the 2026 MEP-to-amount relationship runs in this direction (the values below are illustrative, not binding):
| MEP range | Approx. incentive (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Very low (e.g. ~0.1) | a few thousand TL |
| Medium (e.g. ~1.5) | tens of thousands of TL |
| High (e.g. ~2.0) | higher tens of thousands of TL |
| Very high / Q1 (e.g. ~3.0) | top tier |
The floor for a single author's incentive is 1,400 TL, so even the lowest-MEP paper in scope won't fall below that base. Exact figures are computed per journal and updated year to year, so the healthiest move is to check the precise amount by journal name on the UBYT list.
Application rules and timing
Keep three things in mind when planning your application:
- Number of applications — an author may file at most 10 applications in a publication year. Within that, at most 5 may be for papers with MEP < 1.0. So rather than many low-impact papers, it's often more efficient to reserve your quota for high-MEP journals.
- Timing — applications can be filed from the paper's index year in the relevant database through the end of the following year. Note the deadline in your calendar as soon as the paper appears, so you don't miss the window.
- Eligibility — your paper must be Türkiye-addressed and the journal must be on the in-scope list; also note that a new rule was introduced in 2026 for retracted publications.
What changed in 2026?
If you've followed the programme in previous years, these changes matter:
- Narrower Scopus scope — only Q1 and Q2 journals are now in scope; Q3–Q4 are out.
- ESCI excluded — ESCI journals are not eligible for the UBYT incentive.
- ARDEB coefficient removed — the 1.25 publication-incentive coefficient tied to TÜBİTAK ARDEB projects was dropped.
- Retraction rule — a new rule took effect for retracted publications.
The shared message of these changes is clear: UBYT is becoming more selective — which raises the value of choosing the right journal from the start.
Turning strategy into practice
Getting the most out of UBYT is, at heart, a journal-selection decision: your paper must be acceptable, but the journal you submit to must also be in the right index, the right quartile, and on the UBYT list. Checking the index, quartile and scope fit of dozens of journals one by one is tedious by hand.
Peerfect's free journal recommendation engine puts journals matching your paper's scope in front of you together with index and quartile information — so you can tell, before submission, which journals meet the criteria UBYT looks for, such as Web of Science Core and Scopus Q1/Q2. If you want to plan your incentive score and your associate-professorship goal in the same journal decision, the associate professorship 2026 journal selection guide is part of that decision too.
In short: UBYT is the concrete reward for good work, but it isn't automatic — you need to factor in scope, MEP logic, application limits and timing from the start. Choose your journal not just by prestige but by its place on the UBYT list and its quartile; always verify exact amounts from the current TÜBİTAK source.
Sources: TÜBİTAK — UBYT Implementation Rules, CABİM ULAKBİM — 2026 UBYT Journal List Announced, CABİM ULAKBİM — UBYT Programme, UBYT Publication Incentive 2026 Guide — Büken Hukuk. Incentive amounts, MEP scores and the journal list are updated every year; the binding source is TÜBİTAK.