SG-365 steel is an important material and used for manufacturing a pressure vessel which the gas piping. In this investigation, the elastic plastic fracture toughness of this material is evaluated by the unloading compliance method according to the ASTM E813-97 and E1152-97 method on the smooth and side groove 1CT specimens. The effect of smooth and side groove is studied on the elastic plastic fracture toughness. The side grooved specimen is very useful in estimation of the $J_{IC}$. It is much easier than the smooth specimen to the onset of the ductile tearing by the R curve method. Besides, it improves the accuracy of toughness values, decreases a phenomenon of the tunneling and shear lip by the side groove.