Letter to Editor
Research Articles
Case Report
Aim & Scope
Abant Medical Journal publishes clinical and experimental research articles, case reports, review articles, technical notes and letters to the editor prepared in accordance with all ethical guidelines in health sciences.
Abant Medical Journal is the official journal of Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University Faculty of Medicine. It is published electronically in 3 issues per year (April, August, December). The official publication languages of the journal are English.
Our journal is published in accordance with the 'Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing' (doaj.org/bestpractice).
The editorial and publication processes of the journal have been shaped in accordance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), European Association of Science Editors (CSE) Editors) (EASE) and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).
All publishing rights of the published articles belong to Abantmedj and cannot be partially or completely printed, reproduced or transferred to electronic media without the permission of the publisher. The editorial board is responsible for the publication of the articles.
Writing Rules
Author Guidelines
Abant Medical Journal only accepts manuscript submitted in English. The publication language of the journal is English.Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with ICME Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (Updated: May 2022, Accessed: 05/04/2023, Available from: http://www.ICMJE.org). Manuscripts which do not comply with the format of the Journal will be returned to the author(s) for correction without further review. Therefore, to avoid loss of time and work, authors must carefully review the author guidelines rules.
Everyone listed as an author must meet the authorship criteria recommended by the ICMJE.
1. General Format
It is recommended to write the manuscript preferably in Times New Romans font, 12 points and double-spaced. Articles should be written in clear, short and fluent English, and spelling rules should be followed.
2. Article Type
Research Article: Original contributions are manuscripts containing substantial novel research. These articles can include randomized controlled trials, observational (cohort, case-control or cross-sectional) studies, descriptive studies, diagnostic accuracy studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, nonrandomized behavioral and public health intervention trials, experimental animal trials, or any other clinical or experimental studies. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words and should be structured with the following subheadings: Objectives (Amaç), Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler), Results (Bulgular) and Conclusion (Sonuç). The main text should be structured with the following subheadings: Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, and Figure Legends. The main text should not exceed 4000 words, excluding the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. It is recommended not to exceed 30 references. All papers but cell studies require ethical approval.Review Article: The review articles are comprehensive analyses of specific topics in medicine, which can also be written by invitation, due to the extensive experience and publications of authors on the review subjects. All review articles will also undergo peer review before acceptance. Review articles must not exceed 5000 words for the main text (excluding references, tables, and figure legends) and 400 words for the abstract. A review article can be signed by no more than 5 authors and can have no more than 80 references. Abstracts should not be configured, and sub-headings should not contain (Objectives (Amaç), Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler), Results (Bulgular) and Conclusion (Sonuç)). Review articles do not require ethical approval.
Brief/Case Reports: Brief reports are short and peer-reviewed articles including small case series, case reports, negative trials, preliminary results, and others that are not to be published as a full-text papers. The main text should be less than 2000 words with a maximum of 20 references and have no more than 3 display items (Tables or figures). It is recommended not to exceed 200 words in the abstract. Abstracts should not be configured, and sub-headings should not contain sub-headings should not contain (Objectives (Amaç), Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler), Results (Bulgular) and Conclusion (Sonuç)). In case reports, it should be stated that an "informed consent form" is taken.
Letter to the Editor: Letters about a journal article must not exceed 750 words (excluding references). An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. A letter can be signed by no more than 4 authors and can have no more than 10 references and 1 figure or table. Authors might be asked for a reply to the letter. Replies must be submitted through the submission system as well.
Clinical Image: For educational purposes, the journal publishes original, interesting, and high-quality clinical images having a brief explanation (maximum 500 words excluding references but including figure legends) and of educational significance. The figure legend should contain no more than 100 words. It can be signed by no more than 5 authors and can have no more than 5 references and 1 figure or table. Any information that might identify the patient or hospital, including the date, should be removed from the image. An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. The main text of clinical images should be structured with the following subheadings: Case, and References. All papers require the patient's consent.
Editorial Comment: Editorial comments are brief remarks on an article published in the journal by the reviewer of the article or by a relevant authority. Most comments are invited by the Editor-in-Chief but spontaneous comments are welcome. It must not exceed 1000 words (excluding references). An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. It can have no more than 15 references and 1 figure or table.
Other: Editorials, editorial comments, book reviews, and reports on publication and research ethics are requested by the Editorial Board.
3. Clinical Trials and Reporting Guidelines
For further information on the reporting guidelines for health research, authors are suggested to refer to the EQUATOR network website (http://www.equator-network.org/). The EQUATOR Network collects more than 370 reporting guidelines for many study types, including for:
• Randomised trials: CONSORT
• Observational studies: STROBE
• Systematic reviews: PRISMA
• Case reports: CARE
• Qualitative research: SRQR
• Diagnostic / prognostic studies: STARD
• Quality improvement studies: SQUIRE
• Economic evaluations: CHEERS
• Animal pre-clinical studies: ARRIVE • Study protocols: SPIRIT
• Clinical practice guidelines: AGREE
4. Data Sharing
Please see the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
5. Reporting Sex/Gender:
Please see the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
6. Preprint:
Please see the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
7. Preparation and Submission of Manuscript
The entire submission process for a manuscript is completed online through the self-explanatory online submission system through the website: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/journal/3391/submission/step/manuscript/newThe submission should be divided into SEPARATE files in the following order:
7.1. Cover Letter
7.2. Title Page
7.3. Main Document (title (without authors information), abstract, main text, references, tables, and figure legends. Abstract of the manuscript should be also submitted through the submission system)
7.4. Tables
7.5. Figures
7.6. Ethics Committee Approval form
7.7. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form
7.8. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form
7.9. Data-sharing Statement form
7.1. Cover Letter (As a separate file)The cover letter should include the article title, the full name of the corresponding author, and type of article (research article, case report, review article, letter to editor etc.). The corresponding author should briefly summarize why his/her paper is a valuable addition to the scientific literature and specify the type of article he/she is submitting. The cover letter should also include a statement declaring the absence or presence of a conflict of interest (please refer to the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form page for details). Furthermore, there should be a statement that the manuscript has not already been published, accepted, or under simultaneous review for publication elsewhere. The Abant Medical Journal does not accept multiple submissions and duplicate submissions even though the previous one was published in a different language. Please refer to the ICMJE recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html) on this subject for more details. For manuscripts that have been presented orally or as a poster, this must be stated on the title page with the date and the place of the presentation. An example of a cover letter can be found on the journal’s webpage.
7.2. Title PageThis should include:
• The complete manuscript title (no more than 150 characters)) both in Turkish and English.
• All authors' full names with ORCIDs, affiliations and e-mail addresses (all authors should meet the ICMJE’s requirements for authorship – see details at “Copyright Transfer and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form”)
• The name, address, phone number and email address of the corresponding author.
• Information about where and when the study has previously been presented.
Information about Ethics Committee Approval statement.
• Data Sharing Statement
• Author Contributions
• Informed Consent Statement
• Conflict/competing of Interest Statement
• Financial Disclosure Statement
• Acknowledgments: At the end of the article, it is given before the sources. Please acknowledge anyone who contributed to the study but did not meet the authorship criteria. Informed consent of acknowledged person also required.
An example of a title page can be found on the journal’s webpage.
7.3. Main Document (As a separate file)The main document should include the title (both in Turkish and English), abstract (both in Turkish and English), main text, reference list, tables, and figure legends, respectively.
7.3.1. Abstracts
The Journal request abstract in Turkish and English. Research articles, review articles, and brief/case reports should include an abstract. Abstracts for original articles should be structured with the following subheadings: Objectives (Amaç), Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler), Results (Bulgular) and Conclusion (Sonuç), Keywords (Anahtar Kelimeler). Structured abstracts are not required for articles and brief/case reports. Abstracts should not include citations. Clinical images, Editorials, Letters to the Editor should not contain an abstract.
Objectives (Amaç): The aim of the study should be clearly stated.
Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler): The study should be described, including selection criteria, design (randomized, retrospective/prospective, etc.), and statistical methods applied, if applicable.
Results (Bulgular): The main results of the study should be stated and the statistical significance level should be indicated.
Conclusion (Sonuç): The results of the study should be summarized and the clinical applicability of the results should be defined.
Keywords (Anahtar Kelimeler): The abstract should be followed by 3 to 6 keywords provided in Index Medicus under “Medical Subject Heading (MeSH)”. Turkish keywords should be given in accordance with Turkish Science Terms (TBT; http://www.bilimterimleri.com).
Because abstracts are the most prominent part of an article in many electronic databases, authors should ensure that the abstract accurately reflects the content of the article. The abstract should include the purpose of the study, basic procedures (selection of subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and statistical significance where possible), and main conclusions. New and important aspects of the study or observations should be noted.
7.3.2. Main Text
7.3.2.1. Research Articles
The main text of the article should include the following headings:
Introduction: The introduction should consist of a brief background to the subject and the study objective(s), supported by information from the literature. The introduction should provide background that puts the manuscript into context and allows readers outside the field to understand the purpose and significance of the study, define the problem addressed and why it is important, include a brief review of the key literature, note any relevant controversies or disagreements in the field and conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the work.
Materials and Methods: This section may be divided by subheadings and should contain sufficient detail so that when read in conjunction with cited references, all procedures can be repeated. For manuscripts reporting results on animal or human subject research, an ethics approval statement should be included in this section (for further information, see the our Ethical Principles and Publication Policy). When reporting a study that involved human participants, their data or biological material, authors should include statements in this section that confirms that the study was approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) and certify that the study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards and shows that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo (For persons under 18 years of age, written informed consent of both volunteers (if applicable) and both parents' signatures or the person's legal guardian or supervisor was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo). In experimental animal studies, the authors should include statements in this section that indicate that the procedures followed were by animal rights.
The study plan should be clearly described, including whether the study was randomized and retrospective or prospective, the inclusion and exclusion criteria applied, the patient/sample number and characteristics, data sources, patients or study participants, scales, interviews/evaluations and basic measurements, procedures and the statistical methods used. The method section should contain only the information known at the time of writing the study plan or protocol, all information obtained during the study should be given in the results section.
Selection of participants (patients, animals, controls) in the observational or experimental study, population, inclusion, and exclusion criteria should be clearly defined. Since the relationship of variables such as age and gender to the purpose of the study is not always clear, authors should explain their use in the study report, for example, why authors should explain only a certain age group was included or women were excluded from the study. It should be clearly stated why and how the work was done. When authors use variables such as ethnicity or race, they should explain how they measure and validate these variables.
The method and tools used (manufacturer company and address in parentheses: city and country) should be specified in detail. For previously used known methods (including statistical methods), reference should be given, for a published but not well-known method, the source should be given, and the method should be explained. Likewise, new, or significantly modified methods should be defined and the reasons for their use should be stated, and their limitations should be evaluated. All drugs and chemicals used should be correctly identified and their generic names, concentrations, doses, and usage patterns should be stated.
Statistics: The statistical method should be specified in such detail that a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data can confirm the reported results. Statistical terms, abbreviations and symbols should be defined. The computer program used should be specified.
Results: The results of the study should be stated, with tables/figures given in numerical order; the results should be evaluated according to the statistical analysis methods applied. See the Tables and Figures Sections of the Author Guidelines for details about the preparation of visual material.
Discussion: The study results should be discussed in terms of their favorable and unfavorable aspects, and they should be compared with the literature. The conclusion of the study should be highlighted. A paragraph of this section should state which data and analyses could not be included in the study, discuss the limitations of the study, and give recommendations for future studies.
Conclusion: This section should clearly explain the main conclusions of the article conclusions that can be drawn from the study, highlighting its importance and relevance.
7.3.2.2. Brief/Case Reports
Brief/Case reports should present cases that are rarely seen, feature novelty in diagnosis and treatment, and contribute to our current knowledge. The main text should include the introduction, case report, discussion, and references.
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.
7.3.2.3. Review Articles
Review articles can address any aspect of clinical or basic topic and should be written in a format that describes, discusses, and analyzes the current state of knowledge or clinical use based on the latest evidence and offers directions for future research. Most review articles are invited, but uninvited review submissions are also welcome. Contacting the field editor is recommended before submitting a review. Reviews articles analyze topics in depth, independently, and without bias. All cited literature should be referenced. Authors submitting a review should specify their methods of finding, selecting, separating, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be included in the abstract.
7.3.2.3. Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should be short commentaries related to current developments in the topic and their scientific and social aspects or may ask questions or offer further contributions in response to articles published in the Journal. Any information that may indicate an individual or institution should be excluded from the main document to ensure a blinded review process.
7.3.3. References
Reference listings must be following ICMJE standards (NLM style) and be numbered consecutively at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Authors are encouraged to cite primary literature rather than review articles in order to give credit to those who have performed the original work. While citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up to date publications. If an ahead of print publication is being cited the DOI number should be provided. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. Journal titles should be abbreviated following the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/ Medline/PubMed (for journal abbreviations consult the List of Journals indexed for MEDLINE, published annually by NLM).
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Each reference should be cited in the text using superscript Arabic numerals (e.g.,1, 3, 5…). Multiple references may be cited in the same instance. If you are citing sequential references, these should be indicated with a hyphen (e.g. (1-4)). Nonsequential references should be separated with commas. There should not be a space between numbers. References are found at the end of a manuscript and are titled “References” and each item should be listed in numerical order as opposed to alphabetically (standards summarized in the NLM’s Sample References webpage and detailed in the NLM’s Citing Medicine, 2nd edition). The format for author names is "Surname1 AB, Surname2 CD, ...". Note that there is a comma between each full name, but there is no punctuation within each name. If a reference has up to six authors, include them all. If there are more than six authors, list the first three, followed by "et al." Then add the name of the article (only the first letter of the sentence and the first letter of the special names will be capitalized), short journal name, year, volume, number, page number (15-8, not 15-18). A point should be placed at the end of the name of the journal. then doi number should be added.
Examples of references are as follows:
7.3.3.1. Journal article
•Author AA, Author. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Date;volume(number):pages. doi: ######
• Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Date;volume(number):pages. doi: ######
•Karabekmez FE, Irgın C, Sağlam İ, Görgü M. Facial Distraction Osteogenesis Applications. Abant Med J. 2012;01(01):1-7. doi:10.5505/abantmedj.2012.32042
7.3.3.1. Whole Book
• Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
7.3.3.2. Chapter in a Book
• Wallace RJ Jr, Griffith DE. Antimycobacterial agents. In: Kasper DL, Fauci AS, Longo DL, Braunwald E, Hauser SL, Jameson JL, editors. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 16th ed. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill; 2005. p. 946-53.
7.3.3.3. Article in electronic format
• Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis (serial online) 1995 Jan-Mar (cited 1996 June 5): 1(1): (24 screens). Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626828/pdf/8903148.pdf.
7.3.3.4. Dissertation
• Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.
For other reference styles, please refer to “ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References
7.3.4. Figure Legends
Legends for illustrations should be written starting on a separate page after references in the main text and Arabic numerals should be used for corresponding illustrations.
7.4. Tables (As a separate file)Tables should be presented as a separate file and each table in a separate page. All tables should be referred to within the main text and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title should be provided for all tables and the titles should be placed above the tables. Abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below the tables (even if they are defined within the main text). Tables should be created using the “insert table” command of the word processing software and they should be arranged clearly to provide an easy reading. Tables should be explanatory and facilitate readers’ understanding of the manuscript and should not repeat data presented in the main text. The following symbols should be used for footnotes, respectively: (*,†,‡,§,||,¶,**,††,‡‡).
7.5. Figures (As a separate file)Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (in TIFF or JPEG format) through the submission system. Figures should be made as self-explanatory as possible. If a figure has been published previously, acknowledge the original source, and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce it. They should not be embedded in a Word document. When there are figure subunits, the subunits should not be merged to form a single image. Each subunit should be submitted separately through the submission system. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used on the images to support figure legends. Like the rest of the submission, the figures too should be blind. Any information within the images that may indicate an individual or institution should be blinded. The minimum resolution of each submitted figure should be 300 DPI. To prevent delays in the evaluation process all submitted figures should be clear in resolution and large in size (minimum dimensions 100x100 mm).
Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document. When there are figure subunits, the figure legends should be structured in the following format.
Example: Figure 1. Bland-Altman plots comparing three methods for measurement of glutathione levels. A. Method 1 vs method 2. B. Method 1 vs Method 3. C. Method 2 vs Method 3.
7.6. Ethics Committee Approval form (As a separate file)
As the Journal's policy, an approval of research protocols by an ethics committee following international agreements "WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil)", "Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (8th edition, 2011)" is required for all research studies. Every manuscript including retrospective studies submitted to the Abant Medical Journal as a Research Article should have the ethical approval by the ethical review board of the institution.
ULAKBIM TR Index made some new regulations to the criteria of 2020 regarding ethical rules. These regulations are summarized below. Please submit your manuscript according to these rules. Authors should obtain the relevant documents and upload them to the system together with their ethical committee approval.1. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for all kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group work, observation, experiment, and interview techniques.
2. The articles should state whether an ethical committee permit and/or legal/special permission is required. If these approvals are required, they should be presented from which institution, on what date, and with which decision or number.
3. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for research using humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes.
4. If the study involves the use of human or animal subjects, the international declaration of the study, guidance, etc. must be declared that it is performed properly.
5. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for clinical studies on humans and animals.
6. By the law on the protection of personal data, "Ethics Committee Approval" is needed for retrospective studies.
* Retrospective ethics committee approval is not required for articles that were produced from postgraduate/doctoral studies using research data before 2020 (must be specified in the article) and were accepted for publication in the previous year, but have not yet been published.
** In studies that require ethics committee approval, ethics committee approval will be shared with the journal editor. In addition, the name of the committee, the date, and the issue number will be stated in the method section of the article and the ethics committee approval section on the last page of the article.
*** Researchers who are not members of the university can also apply to the Ethics Committees in their region.
7.7. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship FormThis is a statement of the scientific contributions and responsibilities of all authors. The form is available for download on the journal’s webpage.
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
♦Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
♦Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
♦Final approval of the version to be published; AND
♦Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”
A contributor should meet all four criteria to be identified as an author. If a contributor does not meet all four criteria, he/she should be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript.
For more details please refer to the ICMJE’s definition of the role of authors and contributors at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
7.8. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form and Data-sharing Statement formDuring submission, the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form should be filled out, saved to your computer, and submitted to the Journal together with your manuscript. Please refer to “conflict of interest policy” for more information. Abant Medical Journal requires authors to submit a Data-sharing Statement form for clinical trials and register a data-sharing plan when registering a clinical trial on or after May 1, 2023. Please refer to the “data-sharing policy” for more information.
7.9. Creative Commons License Agreement FormAfter the acceptance of the articles, the corresponding author may be asked to sign the Creative Commons License Agreement form and send it to the publisher. Please refer to the “open access policy” for more information.
8. Other TopicsUnits of Measurement: Measurements should be reported using the metric system according to the International System of Units (SI). Units of length, weight, and volume should be reported in the metric (meter, kilogram, liter) system and their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius, blood pressure in millimeters of mercury. Drug concentrations are given in either SI or mass units, alternatively in parentheses. Authors should report laboratory information in both local and International System of Units (SI).
Abbreviations and Symbols: Use only standard abbreviations, non-standard abbreviations can be very confusing for the reader. Abbreviations should be avoided in the title. Authors should limit their use in the avoid abstract and main text. Unless there is a standard unit of measurement, the long version of the abbreviations should be given in parentheses when first used.
9. Revised manuscriptWhen submitting a revised version of a paper, the author must submit a detailed “Response to reviewers” that states point by point how each issue raised by the reviewers has been covered and where it can be found (each reviewer's comment followed by the author’s reply and line numbers where the changes have been made) as well as an annotated copy of the main document.
Revised manuscripts must be submitted within 30 days from the date of the decision letter. If the revised version of the manuscript is not submitted within the allocated time, the revision option will be automatically cancelled by the submission system. If the submitting author(s) believe that additional time is required, they should request this extension before the initial 30-day period is over.
10. DOI (Digital Object Identifier) NumberEach published article is assigned a digital object identifier number (DOI).
11. Appeals And ComplaintsPlease see the Ethical Principles and Publication Policy.
12. Checklist
• Cover LetterTo finalize submission, the corresponding author should ensure that all files mentioned below have been uploaded (to access forms see the "Final Checklist"):
• Title Page
• Main Document (Turkish and English title (without authors information), Turkish and English abstract (300 words ), main text, references, tables, and figure legends. Abstract of the manuscript should be also submitted through the submission system)
• Tables
• Figures
• Ethics Committee Approval form
• Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form
• The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form
• Data-sharing Statement form
Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
Abant Medical Journal is an open-access and peer-reviewed academic medical journal published electronically and once in 3 months. The journal publishes scientific researches, reviews, letters to the editor and interesting case reports in all clinical fields. It is published electronically in 3 issues per year (April, August, December). Abant Medical Journal is available online for free at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/abantmedj.
Manuscripts should be submitted and followed online only by registering on http://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/abantmedj . Manuscripts sent through different channels will not be evaluated.
The first condition sought in the articles sent to the Abant Medical Journal with a request for publication is compliance with the preparing manuscript rules described in the journal “Author Guidelines”. The evaluation process cannot be started for the articles that do not comply with the rules.
1. Open Access Policy
Open Access Policy is based on rules of Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/. ) Abant Medical Journal applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license to articles we publish. If you submit your paper for publication, you agree to have the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license applied to your work. Under this Open Access license, you as the author agree that anyone can copy, distribute, or reuse the content of your article for non-commercial purposes for free if the author and original source are properly cited.
2. Scientific Responsibility and Authorship
All responsibility for the scientific content and statements in an article and compliance of the articles with scientific and ethical rules published in the Abant Medical Journal belongs to the authors. All authors should have direct academic and/or scientific contributions to the submitted manuscript. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. All authors should meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) 4 authorship criteria outlined at the “Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors” section. According to the ICMJE guidelines, all of the following 4 criteria must be met to be considered an author:
• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
We require all those designated as authors to meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Abant Medical Journal does not accept gift, guest, or ghost authorship, and will act according to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and flowcharts when faced with cases of suspected misconduct. Those who contributed to some parts (such as the acquisition of funding, collection of data, language editing, or general supervision of the research group alone) but do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged. The corresponding author should obtain written permission to be acknowledged from all individuals to whom acknowledgment is applicable.
Artificial Intelligent Policy
Abant Medical Journal adopts the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) recommendations on ChatGPT, GPT4, and Chatbots or all other AI softwares related to scientific publications:
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) softwares cannot be authors
• Authors should be transparent when Artificial Intelligence (AI) softwares are used and provide information about how they were used
• Authors are responsible for the work performed by a Artificial Intelligence (AI) software in their paper (including the accuracy of what is presented, and the absence of plagiarism) and for appropriate attribution of all sources (including for material produced by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) software)
3. Editorial Process and Peer Review Policy
All manuscripts submitted for publication are strictly reviewed for their originality, methodology, scientific importance and quality, ethical nature and suitability for the journal. The Abant Medical Journal uses a well-constructed scheme for the evaluation process. The editor-in-chief has full authority over the editorial and scientific content of the Abant Medical Journal and the timing of publication of the content.
Evaluation processes:
1. 1st Review by the Editorial Secretary to check that the article complies with the rules described in the journal's “Author Guidelines” and that all required documents have been uploaded and to screen the originality of content with” iThenticate” software.
2. 1st review by the Editor-in-Chief and/or the Associate Editors to decide immediate reject, immediate revision, or further evaluation.
3. 1st review by the Field Editor to decide immediate reject, immediate revision or further evaluation.
4. 1st review by two or more external reviewers.
5. Review by the Field Editor to decide revisions (if needed).
6. 2st or more review by external reviewers and Field Editor (if needed).
7. Final evaluations with the Field Editor and the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editors to decide reject or accept.
8. Linguistic editing by Language Editor(s).
9. Assignment of DOI number.
10. Copy editing.
11. Galley proof preparation.
12. Final review by the Editorial Secretary, Associate and Biostatics Editors and the Editor-in-Chief.
13. Similarity check before publication.
14. Publication.
4. Clinical Trials and Reporting Guidelines
The Abant Medical Journal encourages the registration of all clinical trials via ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) or one of the registries of the WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP: https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform). Especially the phase 3 clinical trials must be registered at or before the time of first patient enrollment. The name of the registry and the registration number together with the information of funding source should be provided at the end of the abstract.
For further information on the reporting guidelines for health research, authors are suggested to refer to the EQUATOR network website (http://www.equator-network.org/). The EQUATOR Network collects more than 370 reporting guidelines for many study types, including for:
• Randomised trials: CONSORT
• Observational studies: STROBE
• Systematic reviews: PRISMA
• Case reports: CARE
• Qualitative research: SRQR
• Diagnostic / prognostic studies: STARD
• Quality improvement studies: SQUIRE
• Economic evaluations: CHEERS
• Animal pre-clinical studies: ARRIVE • Study protocols: SPIRIT
• Clinical practice guidelines: AGREE
5. Ethical Rules and Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious problem and the most common ethical issue afflicting medical writing and the Abant Medical Journal does not allow any form of plagiarism including self-plagiarism. In accordance with our journal policy, submitted manuscripts are screened with "iThenticate" plagiarism software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text at least two times (before the evaluation process and before the publication). High similarity scores may lead rejection of a manuscript before and even after acceptance. Depending on the type of article and the percentage of similarity score taken from each article, the overall similarity score is expected to be less than 20 or 25%. It is essential that authors avoid all forms of plagiarism and ethical misconduct. If plagiarism is detected in the articles submitted to the Journal for publication, the responsibility belongs to the authors.
Plagiarism: To republish the whole or part of the content in another author's publication without attribution.
Fabrication: To publish data and findings/results that do not exist.
Duplication: Using data from another publication; this includes republishing an article in different languages.
Salamisation: Creating multiple publications by abnormally splitting the results of a study.
Data Manipulation/Falsification: Manipulating or deliberately distorting research data to give a false impression.
Submitted manuscripts are subjected to automatic software evaluation for plagiarism and duplicate publication. Authors are obliged to acknowledge if they published study results in whole or in part in the form of abstracts.
In case of any suspicion or claim regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the Journal reserves the right to submit the manuscript to the supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Journal accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.
In accordance with COPE flowcharts, we disapprove of unethical practices and efforts to influence the review process, such as authorship gifts, inappropriate acknowledgments, and citing references.
All articles containing original information and data must not have been published or simultaneously submitted for publication in another scientific journal. This restriction does not apply to an abstract presented in scientific meetings and congresses and to thesis. All submitted articles must has been approved by all co-authors and responsible authorities at the institute or organization where the work has been carried out.
6. Ethics and Human and Animal Rights
The Editorial Board of the Abant Medical Journal adhere to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), the World Medical Association (WMA), and National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The Journal conforms to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing.
As the Journal's policy, an approval of research protocols by an ethics committee following international agreements "WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil)", "Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (8th edition, 2011)" is required for all research studies. Every manuscript including retrospective studies submitted to the Abant Medical Journal as a Research Article should have the ethical approval by the ethical review board of the institution. The Ethics Committee approval document should be submitted to the Abant Medical Journal together with the manuscript. If the submitted manuscript does not include ethics committee approval, it will not be processed for evaluation. If the submitted manuscript does not include ethics committee approval, it will be reviewed according to COPE's guideline (Guidance for Editors: Research, Audit and Service Evaluations).
When reporting a study that involved human participants, their data or biological material, authors should include statements in the “Materials and Methods” section that confirms that the study was approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) and certify that the study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards and shows that informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. Informed consent must also be obtained for case reports and clinical images. For persons under 18 years of age, please provide a consent form that includes both parents' signatures or the person's legal guardian or supervisor. Patient anonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects being recognized (or an eye bar should be used). Images and information from individual participants will only be published where the authors have obtained the individual's free prior informed consent. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the Abant Medical Journal; however, in signing the “COPYRIGHT AGREEMENT AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP FORM” authors are required to confirm that consent has been obtained.
In experimental animal studies, the authors should should include statements in the “Materials and Methods” section that confirms that the study was approved the appropriate animal ethics committee approval and indicate that the procedures followed were by animal rights (Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals).
7. Roles of Authors, Reviwers and Editors
When submitting your paper, you will be asked to assign a Corresponding Author. The Corresponding Author is the person who handles the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process, including approving the article proofs. We ask that the authors confirm that they give the authority to corresponding author to act on behalf of all co-authors in all matters. The Corresponding Author is responsible for obtaining such agreements and for informing the co-authors of the manuscript’s status throughout the submission, review, and publication process. In addition, the Corresponding Author also acts as the point of contact for any enquiries (including those relating to the integrity of the work) after the paper is published.
Abant Medical Journal authors are required to confirm the following items:
• Submitted articles must be the original study of the author(s).
• Only unpublished articles should be submitted.
• Submitting an article to more than one journal at the same time is unethical.
• Any funding/conflict of interest/ competing interests should be clearly stated.
• Data sources used in the article should be explained.
• Any errors detected after the article is submitted should be reported to Abant Medical Journal editors immediately.
Abant Medical Journal corresponding authors are required to confirm the following items:
• Manuscript correction and proofreading. Handling the revisions and re-submission of revised manuscripts up to the acceptance of the manuscripts;
• Agreeing to signing the any required forms on behalf of relevant coauthors and/or to arranging for any third-party copyright owners’ signature;
• Acting on behalf of all co-authors in responding to queries from all sources post-publication, including questions relating to publishing ethics, reuse of content, or the availability of data, materials, resources etc.
Abant Medical Journal reviewers are required to confirm the following items:
• All articles should be reviewed legally based on the intellectual content of the article
• Reviews should be objective and constructive, avoiding being hostile or provocative and making libelous or offensive comments.
• To make a comprehensive review, the authors should have the required field expertise and should only review articles that can be evaluated on time.
• Any conflict of interest detected during the review process must be reported to Abant Medical Journal editors.
• All information about the article should be kept confidential.
• Information obtained during the review process should not be used for the benefit of the reviewers themselves or any other person, the organization, or to put others at a disadvantage position or to discredit them.
• Any information that may be the reason for the rejection of the publication of an article should be reported to Abant Medical Journal editors.
Abant Medical Journal editors are required to confirm the following items:
• All articles should be evaluated reasonably based on the intellectual content of the article, regardless of the gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political values of the author(s).
• All information about the article should be kept confidential.
• Any observed conflict of interest with the articles should be disclosed.
• The editorial board takes on the responsibility to make the publication decisions of the submitted articles based on the peer reviews, the policies of the journal's editorial board, and legal restrictions against plagiarism, defamation, and copyright.
8. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
The Abant Medical Journal’s editorial review process is in accordance with the Good Editorial Practice set by international editorial organizations (ICMJE, EASE, WAME, COPE, CSE,…). WAME indicates that “conflict of interest exists when an author, reviewer, or editor in the publication process (submission of manuscripts, peer review, editorial decisions, and communication between authors, reviewers and editors) has a competing interest that could unduly influence his or her responsibilities (academic honesty, unbiased conduct and reporting of research, and integrity of decisions or judgments) in the publication process”.
The Abant Medical Journal requires that each author, reviewer, and editor must disclose to the editor-in-chief any conflict of interest related to family, personal, financial, political or religious issues as well as any competing interest outlined above at the WAME’s definition. Whether or not a conflict of interest and financial support exist, they must be declared at the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form as well as at the end of the manuscripts. Conditions that provide financial or personal benefit bring about a conflict of interest. The reliability of the scientific process and the published articles is directly related to the objective consideration of conflicts of interest during the planning, implementation, writing, evaluation, editing, and publication of scientific studies. Financial relations are the most easily identified conflicts of interest, and they will inevitably undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and the science. These conflicts can be caused by individual relations, academic competition, or intellectual approaches. The authors should refrain as much as possible from making agreements with sponsors in the opinion of gaining profit or any other advantage that restrict their ability to access all data of the study or analyze, interpret, prepare, and publish their articles.
Editors should refrain from bringing together those who may have any relationship between them during the evaluation of the studies. To prevent any conflict of interest, the article evaluation process is carried out double-blinded. Because of the double-blinded evaluation process, except for the Editor-in-Chief, assigned Deputy Editor In Chief and section editor, none of the editorial board members or reviewers is informed about the authors of the manuscript or institutions of the authors. If a reviewer, an Deputy Editor In Chief, or a section editor has a conflict of interest and/or believes that it is not appropriate to be a reviewer, or an editor for a given manuscript, the reviewer or the editor should resign from the assignment.
The Journal's Editorial Board determines cases of a potential conflict of interest between the editors, authors, or reviewers within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.
The Editorial Board members of the Abant Medical Journal may also submit their own manuscripts to the journal as all of them are active researchers and scientists. However, they cannot take place at any stage on the editorial decision of their manuscripts to minimize any possible bias. They will be treated like any other author, and if any, final acceptance of such manuscripts can only be made by the positive recommendation of at least two external reviewers, who are not the members of decision-making editors of journal.
Authors should not contact any of the field editors during the review process. All necessary information regarding the process of a manuscript can be obtained from the editorial office. However, the names of the reviewers are not given to the author(s). Due to the Abant Medical Journal’s double-blinded review principles, the names of authors and reviewers are not known to the other.
Our publication team works devotedly to ensure that the evaluation process is conducted impartially, considering all these situations.
Funding
Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/ •
9. Ethic Responsibility
The scientific and ethical liability of the manuscripts belongs to the authors and the copyright of the manuscripts belongs to the Abant Medical Journal. The authors are responsible for the contents of the manuscript and the accuracy of the references. All manuscripts submitted for publication must be accompanied by the “Copyright Agreement And Acknowledgement Of Authorship Form”. Once this form, signed by all the authors, has been submitted, it is understood that neither the manuscript nor the data it contains have been submitted elsewhere or previously published and the authors declare the statement of scientific contributions, order of authors and responsibilities of all authors.
If the article includes any direct or indirect commercial links or if any institution provided material support to the study, authors must state in the cover letter that they have no relationship with the commercial product, drug, pharmaceutical company, etc. concerned; or specify the type of relationship (consultant, other agreements), if any. The authors must provide a statement on the absence of conflicts of interest among the authors and provide authorship contributions. In case of any suspicion or claim regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the Journal reserves the right to submit the manuscript to the supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Journal accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.
10. Data-sharing policy
The journal encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Abant Medical Journal follows ICMJE recommendations. The ICMJE require authors to submit a data-sharing statement for randomized clinical trials. Authors must provide a data-sharing notification to indicate whether data will be shared. According to ICMJE “Data sharing statements must indicate the following: whether individual deidentified participant data (including data dictionaries) will be shared; what data in particular will be shared; whether additional, related documents will be available (e.g., study protocol, statistical analysis plan, etc.); when the data will become available and for how long; by what access criteria data will be shared (including with whom, for what types of analyses, and by what mechanism)” (for details: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html.
Abant Medical Journal require authors to submit a data-sharing statement form and register a data-sharing plan when registering a clinical trial on or after May 1, 2023.
11. Preprint
Abant Medical Journal does not consider preprint publications as prior publications. In other words, authors are allowed to present and discuss their findings on a non-commercial preprint server (e.g., arXiv, bioRxiv, chemRxiv, medRxiv ) before submission to a journal.
Authors must provide the journal with the preprint server deposition of their article accompanying its DOI during initial submission. Preprints cannot be used as a reference in any publication in the Abant Medical Journal unless cited in a personal communication format, i.e., as an in-text reference (using preprint link, DOI, or both).
If the article is published in the Abant Medical Journal, it is the responsibility of the authors to update the archived preprint and link it to the published version of the article. The preprint must be removed in the case of acceptance to leave only the final version online.
12. Sex and Gender Policy
The Abant Medical Journal has recently established a policy that requires all authors to ensure proper representation of gender and/or sex as a variable for all study types.
Authors are strongly recommended to use the terms sex (for reporting biological factors) and gender (for reporting identity, psychosocial, or cultural factors) correctly. Wherever possible, the sex and/or gender of the study participants should be reported, and the methods used to determine sex and/or gender should be explained. Regardless of whether the result is favorable or not, routine sex- and gender -separated data should be presented at the appropriate instances. In addition to data limitations, the potential implications of sex and gender on study results/analyses should be discussed. Please refer to the SAGER guideline for further information.
13. Change of Authorship and Withdrawal Request
Change of Authorship
Any request to change the author list after submission, such as a change in the order of the authors or the deletion or addition of author names, is subject to the Editorial Board’s approval. To obtain this approval, please request the change of authorship form on the Journal’s Editorial Secretary and send it to the Journal’s Editorial Secretary. This form should include the following information:
• The reason for the change of authorship
• Signatures of all authors (including the new and/or removed author)
• Please note, if you are adding or removing author/authors, a new copyright transfer form signed by all authors should also be sent to the Journal’s Editorial Secretary after the Editorial Board approves the change of authorship.
Withdrawal Policy
Abant Medical Journal is committed to providing high quality articles and uphold the publication ethics to advance the intellectual agenda of science. We expect our authors to comply with, best practice in publication ethics as well as in quality of their articles.
Withdrawal of a manuscript will be permitted only for the most compelling and unavoidable reasons. For withdrawal of a manuscript authors need to submit an "Article Withdrawal Form", signed by all authors mentioning the reason for withdrawal to the Journal’s Editorial Secretary. Please request the change of authorship form on the Journal’s Editorial Secretary. Authors must not assume that their manuscript has been withdrawn until they have received appropriate notification to this effect from the editorial office.
In a case where a manuscript has taken more than six months’ time for review process, that allows the author to withdraw manuscript.
Manuscript withdrawal penalty: After receiving the Article Withdrawal Form, Abant Medical Journal Editorial Board will investigate the reason of withdrawal. If the reason finds to be acceptable, the author is allowed to withdraw the manuscript without paying any withdrawal penalty. If not Abant Medical Journal will not accept any manuscripts from the same author for one year.
Manuscripts may be withdrawn at any stage of review and publication process by submitting a request to the Journal’s Editorial Secretary. Manuscript withdrawal will be permitted after submission only for the most compelling and unavoidable reasons.
14. Correction, Retraction, Clarification Policy, and Editorial Responses
Abant Medical Journal recognizes its obligation to correct errors in the work that it has published and to consider readers’ criticisms of that work.
Corrections and Retraction
Errors of this type will be corrected online as soon as possible and will be printed in an erratum sheet that will appear in the next issue and be included in the digital version of the article. The corrected article will include a footnote stating the date of correction and the volume and issue in which the erratum will appear. In a situation where the corrections are significant in scope or quantity, they would not be corrected online, but the digital version would include a footnote signaling the publication of the erratum.
Erratum or publisher correction: Correction of a significant error made by the journal that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the article, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.
Corrigendum or author correction: Correction of a significant error made by the author that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the article, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.
Editorial Responses
Responses of this type will be peer-reviewed and, where possible, sent to the referees who reviewed the original submission; to the extent possible, all parties will remain anonymous. Responses are subject to oversight by the editors of the journal and will be published after full consultation with all interested parties.
Editorial expression of concern: Notifies of the addition of information to an article, for example in response to a reader’s request for clarification or correction of a significant omission. Such addenda are published when the editors decide they are crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of the published contribution.
Retraction: Notifies the readership of unsound results or misconduct, following an investigation of the issue by the editorial board. The original article will remain available but will be marked as retracted through a published note from the editor.
Article removal: In rare instances, this Journal may be obliged to remove an article as a consequence of legal action. Such removal will be marked on the issue table of contents, and a notice indicating removal will replace the article contents.
For further information on professional standards in publishing, see the website of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
15. Appeals and complaints
Appeal and complaint cases are handled within the scope of COPE guidelines by the Editorial Board of the journal. Appeals should be based on the scientific content of the manuscript. The final decision on the appeal and complaint is made by Editor in Chief. An Ombudsperson or the Ethical Editor is assigned to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. Authors should get in contact with the Editor in Chief regarding their appeals and complaints via e-mail at abantmedj@ibu.edu.tr.
Price Policy
Article submission/process management is free of charge in the Abant Medical Journal.
