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Author Guidelines

Manuscript preparation

Formatting requirements. Double spacing should be used throughout the manuscript. Manuscript should include the following sections, each starting on a separate page: Title Page, Abstract with Keywords, Text, Acknowledgements, Declaration of Interest, References. Margins should be not less than 3 cm. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the Title Page, and the page number should be placed in the bottom right hand corner of each page.

Abbreviations and symbols. Abbreviations should be defined on their first appearance in the text; those not accepted by international bodies should be avoided. Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.

Title Page. The Title Page should carry the full title of the paper and a short title to be used as a 'running head' (and which should be so identified). The first name, middle initial and last name of each author should appear marked with superscript numbers or/and symbols corresponding to their affiliation or/and note. Affiliations of the authors should be written below authors name list. Full name, address, phone and fax number and e-mail of the author responsible for correspondence should appear on the Title Page. Please include the word count of the abstract and word count of text on the title page.

Abstracts. For Original Articles the second page should carry a structured abstract of no more than 250 words. The abstract should state the Objective(s) of the study or investigation, basic Methods (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals; observational and analytical methods), main Results (giving specific data and their statistical significance, if possible), and the principal Conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations. Current Perspectives, Research Methods articles and Case Reports should be accompanied by a short abstract of no more than 150 words.

Keywords. The abstract should be followed by a list of 3–10 keywords or short phrases which will assist the cross-indexing of the article and which may be published. When possible, the terms used should be from the Medical Subject Headings list of the National Library of Medicine (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).

Text. Full papers of an experimental or observational nature may be divided into sections headed Introduction, Materials and Methods (including ethical and statistical information), Results, Discussion and Conclusion, although reviews may require a different format.

The introduction should be a short, concise part of the article which explains the purpose of the article in relation to the other published ones on the same topic. It is also necessary to state the main problem, research goal and/or main hypothesis that are being tested.

Material and methods should contain a description of the original or modifications of the known methods. If it is a case of a previously described method it is sufficient to give reference to the available literature. The method should be described in a manner which enables judgment related to its accuracy, reproducibility, relevancy and reliability. In clinical-epidemiology studies it is necessary to describe the causes, protocol and type of the clinical research. It is also necessary to describe the main features of the conducted research, describe the sample tested (for example: randomizing, double blind test, crossed examination, placebo controlled test etc.), standard values for the tests, and time period (prospective, retrospective study). This section should contain the description of the sample selection manner, study inclusion and exclusion criteria, number of cases included in the testing, and number of cases in the analysis. Descriptions should be made about the manner, methods, duration of medication use, when individual medications are compared (use the pharmacological name, never use the market name).

In results section the main results of the research should be stated. When listing results, clearly mark the interval of their deviation and statistical significance level. In comparison studies, the deviation interval must be applied to the differences among the groups.

Discussion should be written concisely and refer primarily to its own results, and afterwards continue with the comparison of its own results with the results of other authors. It ends with the confirmation of the goal or hypothesis, or their negation.

Conclusion should be brief and contain the most relevant facts reached in the article. Listed is the conclusion, or conclusions originating from the data obtained during the research; possible clinical application of the research should be stated. Also, additional studies that are needed in order that conclusions have clinical applications should be mentioned. All affirmative and negative conclusions should be listed.

Acknowledgements. One or more statements should specify (a) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a department chairman; (b) acknowledgements of technical help; (c) acknowledgements of financial and material support, specifying the nature of the support. Persons who have contributed intellectually to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be named and their function or contribution described – for example, 'scientific adviser', 'critical review of study proposal', 'data collection', 'participation in clinical trial'. Such persons must have given their permission to be named. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from persons acknowledged by name because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.

Declaration of Interest. A statement must be provided listing all financial support received for the work and, for all authors, any financial involvement (including employment, fees and shared ownership) or affiliation with any organization whose financial interests may be affected by material in the manuscript, or which might potentially bias it. This applies to all papers including editorials and letters to the editor. If you are sure that there is no conflict of interest, please state this. You might like to look at an editorial in the British Medical Journal on Beyond conflict of interest (http://bmj.com/cgi/content/short/317/7154/291).

References. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. They should be assigned Arabic numerals, which should be given in brackets, e.g. [17]. When quoting several articles of the same author, each reference should be assigned a separate number, bearing in mind that the older articles should be quoted first. References should include the names of all authors when six or fewer; when seven or more, list only the first six names and add et al. References should also include full title and source information (Vancouver style). Journal names should be abbreviated as in MEDLINE (http://www.medscape.com/Home/Search/IndexMedicus/IndexMedicus.html).

Articles in journals

Standard journal article

Tashiro H, Shimokawa H, Sadamatu K, Yamamoto K. Prognostic significance of plasma concentrations of transforming growth factor-ß. Coron Artery Dis 2002; 13(3):139-143.

More than six authors

Yetkin E, Senen K, Ileri M, Atak R, Tandogan I, Yetkin Ö, et al. Comparison of low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography and echocardiography during glucose-insulin-potassium infusion for detection of myocardial viability after anterior myocardial infarction. Coron Artery Dis 2002; 13(3):145-149.

Books

Heger JW, Niemann JT, Criley JM. Cardiology, 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; 2003.

Chapter in a book

Braunwald E, Perloff JK. Physical examination of the heart and circulation. In; Braunwald E, Zipes DP, Libby P (eds). Heart disease; a textbook of cardiovascular medicine, 6th edn. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 2001, pp. 45-81.

Personal communications and unpublished work should not feature in the reference list but should appear in parentheses in the text. Unpublished work accepted for publication but not yet released should be included in the reference list with the words 'in press' in parentheses beside the name of the journal concerned. References must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.

Tables

Provide each table within the text at the appropriate point of appearance.

Number the table according to their sequence in the text. The text should include references to all tables. Each table should be assigned an Arabic numeral, e.g. (Table 3).

Include a brief and self-explanatory title with explanations essential to the understanding of the table at the top of the table.

Identify abbreviations used in the Table by placing explanations below the table. Identify statistical measures of variations, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean or other where appropriate and this should also be placed below the Table.

If the data in the table are in percents, the title should state the basis for calculation of percents.

Figures

Provide each figure within the text at the appropriate point of appearance. Number the figures according to their sequence in the text. The text should include references to all figures. Include a brief and self-explanatory title with explanations essential to the understanding of the Figure at the bottom of the Figure.

Graphs and figures should be in black/white or grayscale format. Color illustrations are acceptable but authors will be accepted to cover the extra reproduction costs (for the current charges, contact the publisher).

All figures should be 100% of a suitable final size and have the printing resolution of 300dpi and be cropped to include the figure only (no blank space).

The following formats are acceptable: JPG, BMP, PCX, TlFF, EPS, CDR, GIF, WMF or Excel.

Units of measurement

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. All hematologic and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI).

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
A scanned copy of signed Submission Letter is going to be attached during step 4 of the submission (UPLOAD SUPPLEMENTARY FILES). If appropriate submission letter is not attached, the article will not be considered for publishing.
The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions.

Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the publisher and credit the source(s) in the article.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

User data will never be distributed without the explicit permission of the user and, upon request, a user's email address is removed from mailing lists. All data held about the user will be made available to the user upon request.

Submission Letter

All authors have to sign the submission letter which can be downloaded from here.

Authorship. We ask all authors to confirm that: they have met the criteria for authorship as established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors; they believe that the paper represents honest work, and are able to verify the validity of the results reported.

You might also be interested to read the debate on authorship in general in the British Medical Journal's Authorship collection (http://bmj.com/cgi/collection/authorship). Many of the points covered above are discussed in the New England Journal of Medicine's collection of papers entitled 'Editorials on Journal Policy' (http://authors.nejm.org/Misc/Policies.asp).

Redundant or duplicate publication. We ask the authors to confirm in the submission letter that the paper has not been published in its current form or a substantially similar form (in print or electronically, including on a web site), that it has not been accepted for publication elsewhere and that it is not under consideration by another journal. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has provided details of what is and what is not duplicate or redundant publication (http://www.icmje.org). In the submission letter to the editors, authors are asked to draw attention to any published work that concerns the same patients or subjects as the present paper.

Author Contributions. Authors are required to include a statement to specify the contributions of each co-author in the submission letter form. The statement can be made in one sentence, describing the tasks of individual authors referred to by their initials. (i.e. L.L. has written the paper and performed most of the experiments. M.A. has provided essential reagents. G.J. has evaluated the results and designed experiments. S.K. has contributed to experiment design and result evaluation, etc.)

Patient consent forms. The protection of a patient's right to privacy is essential. The authors are asked to send copies of patient consent forms on which patients or other subjects of the experiments clearly grant permission for the publication of photographs or other material that might identify them. If the consent form for the research did not specifically include this, authors should obtain it or remove the identifying material.

Ethics committee approval. The authors must state clearly in the submission letter and in the Methods section that the conducted studies on human participants are with the approval of an appropriate named ethics committee. Please also look at the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm). Similarly, the authors must confirm that experiments involving animals adhered to ethical standards and must state the care of animal and licensing guidelines under which the study was performed.

Declaration of Interest. We ask the authors to state all potential financial support received for the work. This applies to all papers including editorials and letters to the editor (see below). If you are sure that there is no conflict of interest, please state this.

Copyright. Submission letter contains author's statement that all the copyrights are transferred to the publisher if and when the manuscript is accepted for publishing.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the publisher and credit the source(s) in the article.