WRITING RULES / AUTHOR GUIDELINES – AJODS
1. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES & WORD LIMITS
Word counts refer to the main body text only, excluding the title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends.
- Original Research Article: structured abstract (200–300 words); max 6,000 words; max 35 references; max 8 figures; max 8 tables. Required sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements (if applicable), References, Tables, Figure Legends.
- Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis: structured abstract (200–300 words); max 8,000 words; no reference limit; max 8 figures; max 8 tables. Required sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure Legends.
- Review Article: unstructured abstract (200–300 words); max 8,000 words; no reference limit; max 8 figures; max 8 tables. May use subject-appropriate headings instead of the standard research structure.
- Case Report: unstructured abstract (150–250 words); max 3,000 words; max 30 references; max 10 figures; max 5 tables. Required sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure Legends.
- Letter to the Editor: no abstract required; max 600 words; max 5 references; max 1 table. Must relate to an article published in AJODS within the past 12 months; must conclude with author name, institution, and contact information.
2. GENERAL FORMATTING
- Prepare in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).
- 12-point Times New Roman; 1.5 line spacing throughout; 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins on all sides; A4 page size; justified text.
- Page numbers in the bottom-right corner, from the first page onward.
- Headings in three levels: H1 bold capitals (e.g. INTRODUCTION); H2 bold italic title case (e.g. Study Design); H3 italic title case (e.g. Statistical Analysis).
- Latin and species names italicised (e.g. in vitro, Streptococcus mutans).
- Abbreviations defined at first use and applied consistently thereafter.
- SI units: a space between the number and the unit symbol (e.g. 45 mm, 5.6%).
- Statistical values reported to 3 decimal places; use <0.001 for smaller values. A decimal point (.) is used for all numerical/statistical values in both English and Turkish manuscripts.
3. MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE
Submit the following as separate components, in order:
- Title Page — separate file, not shared with reviewers
- Anonymised Manuscript File — Abstract & Keywords, Main Text, References, Tables, Figure Legends
- Figures — separate high-resolution files
- Ethics Approval — copy of the ethics committee decision, if applicable
- Cover Letter — brief statement of significance, confirming the work is not under review elsewhere
4. TITLE PAGE
Uploaded as a separate file; must NOT appear in the main manuscript file (double-blind review).
- Full title — English/Turkish, sentence case, no abbreviations or symbols, max 20 words
- Running head — max 50 characters including spaces
- Article type
- Manuscript metrics — total word count (main text only), number of tables, number of figures
- Keywords — 3–5 terms
- All authors, in publication order: full name (no titles), department/faculty/institution/city/country, e-mail, ORCID iD (mandatory), CRediT roles. Corresponding author additionally provides full postal address and telephone number.
5. ABSTRACT & KEYWORDS
- Both a Turkish and an English abstract are required for all manuscripts, regardless of submission language.
- Structured abstracts (Original Research; Systematic Review/Meta-Analysis) use the corresponding subheadings in both languages: Background/Objectives (Amaç), Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler), Results (Bulgular), Conclusions (Sonuçlar) — or Purpose/Methods/Results/Conclusions for reviews.
- Unstructured abstracts (Review Articles, Case Reports): a single continuous paragraph.
- Keywords: 3–5 in English (alphabetical, selected from MeSH) and 3–5 in Turkish (same order, from the Turkish Science Terms database). Do not repeat words already in the title.
6. MAIN TEXT SECTIONS
Anonymisation requirement: remove all author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, funding details, and acknowledgements; anonymise ethics committee names (e.g. "XXX Ethics Committee — No. XXXX, Date: DD/MM/YYYY"); clear file properties/metadata.
- Introduction (Giriş): brief contextualisation with current literature; identify the knowledge gap; conclude with a clearly stated aim and hypothesis.
- Materials and Methods (Gereç ve Yöntemler): sufficient detail for replication — study design, materials (brand, manufacturer, city, country in parentheses), methodology, ethical approval, informed consent, statistical software and significance threshold.
- Results (Bulgular): objective presentation; reference all tables/figures; report actual p-values (3 decimal places; <0.001 for smaller), confidence intervals, and effect sizes where applicable.
- Discussion (Tartışma): interpret in context of current literature; compare with similar/contrasting studies; explicitly state limitations and recommendations for future research.
- Conclusions (Sonuçlar): concise, data-supported; avoid restating results or generalising beyond study design.
7. REFERENCES
- Vancouver style (National Library of Medicine), numbered consecutively in order of first appearance; in-text citations in parentheses, e.g. (1), (1,3), (5–7).
- Reference list at the end of the manuscript, separate page, double-spaced, numbered consecutively.
- Only cited sources appear in the list; references cited in the abstract must also appear in the reference section.
- Include DOIs as active hyperlinks where available.
- Abbreviate journal titles per MEDLINE/Index Medicus (LTWA).
- ≤6 authors: list all; ≥7 authors: list first 6 followed by "et al."
8. TABLES
- Must be cited and discussed in the main text.
- Prepared in Microsoft Word — not as image files or embedded Excel objects.
- One table per page; descriptive title above the table (e.g. "Table 1. Distribution of patients by age and gender").
- Numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of first citation.
- Placed at the end of the main manuscript file, after the References section.
- Footnotes below the table using symbols (*, #, **, ##, †, ‡).
- Simple formatting only — no colour fills, merged cells, or decorative borders; not submitted as image files.
9. FIGURES & LEGENDS
- Save as separate JPEG or TIFF files — not embedded in the manuscript.
- Minimum resolution: 300 dpi (photographs), 600 dpi (combination images), 1200 dpi (line art).
- Minimum dimensions: 3 × 5 inches. BMP, GIF, RGB, and PNG formats are not accepted.
- Numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text.
- Grouped panels labelled with uppercase letters (Figure 3A, 3B…), submitted as a single combined file.
- File naming: fig1.jpg, fig3A.tiff, fig3B.tiff, etc.
- Figure legends listed together on a separate page at the end of the manuscript, after the Tables section; must be self-explanatory without reference to the main text.