Submitting Manuscripts

Anatolian Journal of Emergency Medicine accepts manuscripts via Dergipark online submission system. Users should visit the journal's web site on Dergipark and create an account before submitting their manuscripts.

The manuscript format must be in accordance with the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Papers that do not comply with the journal format will be returned to the author for correction without further review. Therefore, to avoid loss of time and work, authors must carefully review the submission rules.

The resources for the Authors page include manuscript writing guidelines, ICMJE documents, and ethical standards that you should follow. You may want to check the sections on Reporting Statistics and Preparing Figures in the Resources for Authors page before sending your manuscript for peer review.

The Forms Templates and Examples page under the Resources menu includes blank forms and filled examples that you need to submit your manuscript. Also, you can find examples of different file types and designs.

We recommend to use Google Chrome as your web browser while submitting articles.

Language

Manuscripts can be written in Turkish or English. Manuscripts written in Turkish or English should include both Turkish and English abstracts. Repetitive use of long sentences and passive voice should be avoided. It is strongly recommended that the text be run through computer spelling and grammar programs. Turkish, British, or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent throughout.

General manuscript style

All files should be typed:

· in a Microsoft Word™ file,

· in Times New Roman, with a font size of 12 pt,

· Single-column format,

· Double-spaced (Home > Line and paragraph spacing > 2.0)

· with 2.5 cm margins on each side (Layout > Margins > Normal),

· text should be justified on both the right and left margins of the page

· should include page numbers at the right bottom and consecutive line numbers.

Required Files

You should prepare the following files and texts before submitting your manuscript:

• Title Page (MANDATORY) (see below)
• Cover Letter (MANDATORY) (see below)
• Blinded Manuscript File (Abstract, Main Text, References, Tables, Figure Legends, without Author details) (MANDATORY) (see below)
• Copyright transfer form (MANDATORY)
• Ethics Committee Approval Form (MANDATORY, This should be stated both in the methodology section of the main manuscript and uploaded as a separate file)
• Patient consent form (MANDATORY for case reports)
• ORCID (Turkish Medical Index obliges authors to add ORCID information in articles from 2019)
• Financial support (MANDATORY)
• Authors' contributions (MANDATORY)
• Conflict of interest disclosure (MANDATORY)
• Ethic Statement (MANDATORY)
• Revision Note (MANDATORY for revised manuscripts) (see below)
• Figures (optional) (see below)
• Supplemental Files (optional)

Information that you will be asked to fill in during submission

Abstract (except correspondence): You will copy and paste your abstract to a specific box online. The abstract can be uploaded at the beginning of the manuscript.

Cover Letter and References: You will copy and paste your cover letter to a specific box online. References should be added to the manuscript file.

Author Contributions Statement (except invited reviews and correspondence): You will copy and paste your author contributions statement to a specific box for Original Research Articles online. It should be clearly described. Some fundamental contribution types were specified, including; conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, validation, visualization, writing- original draft, writing- revies &editing. You are NOT allowed to include it in the manuscript files.

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. 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.

It should be ensured that each author individually meets the authorship criteria.

How to prepare the Title Page?

A Title Page should be included for all article types as a separate electronic file with the following order and all content:

Title of the manuscript: Generally, non-declarative, not a question, begins withthe  main concept if possible, and without causal language, eg, "effect of," unless the study is an RCT. The title page should contain the full title in sentence case. It should be written in both Turkish and English.

Running title: The abbreviated version of the title should be written in both Turkish and English. It must be shorter than 40 characters, including spaces.

Author(s) and Affiliation(s): Full names (Only the first letters of surnames should be capitalized), Academic degrees (up to 2 per author: MD, DO, PhD, etc), Affiliation (in Turkish or English, in the order of Institution or University, Department or Division, City, State, Country) in order in separate lines. If the affiliation belongs to Türkiye, it should be written as "Türkiye" instead of "Turkey".

Example:

Mehmet Ali Karaca, MD, Associate Professor.

Hacettepe University Medical School, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye.

State the corresponding author by writing (Corresponding Author) in the same line and add his/her e-mail address. Do NOT include honorary affiliations such as fellow status in an organization (FEMAT, FACEP, etc), titles, or positions (Professorship or Consulting positions, etc).

Corresponding Author: Full Name, contact information including address, phone, and e-mail address.

Acknowledgments: If your manuscript is accepted for publication, this information will be moved to the main document after the peer review process is completed.

Conflict of Interest: Please disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) your work. This should not be added to the manuscript files. If there is no conflict of interest please kindly write "The Authors declared that there is no conflict of interest." 

Financial Disclosure: Names of funding organizations should be written in full. If there is no financial disclosure please kindly add "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public commercial, or not-for-profit sectors." 

Authors' Contributions: (Check above)

Ethic Statement: Ethics Committee Approval Date and No, and statement of compliance with research and publication ethics.

Article Types, their required files and allowances

We accept and publish 4 article types and their maximum allowable limits for each component of manuscripts are as follows:

Article type	Word count1	Abstract word count	References	Authors	Figures and Tables
Original Research	4000	450	30	8	8
Invited Review	4000	450	30	6	6
Case report/series	2000	300	15	6	4
Correspondence	1000	N/A	5	2	N/A

¹ Including abstract, references, tables, and figure legends 

Tables

Tables may be included in the manuscript file as separate pages after the References section or may be uploaded separately as you prefer.
If you prefer a separate file, Tables should be uploaded in MS Word (.doc) format. Tables should not be uploaded as pdf, jpeg, or else.

Requirements for Tables

Data presented in the tables should not be included in its entirety in the text

Tables must be numbered consecutively

Each table should be placed in a new page

Each table must be referred to in the text

Number and Title of each Table should be written at the top of each page before the Table

Arrange tables so that the primary comparisons of interest are horizontal, left-to-right (the standard reading order)

Provide the N for each column or row and marginal totals where appropriate When indicating numbers in tables, a dot should be used for decimals in English, and a comma should be used in Turkish Example: p<0.05 (English), p=0,34 (Turkish)

Figures

All illustrations (photographs, drawings, graphs, charts, etc.), not including tables, must be labeled “Figure”. The information contained in the figure/image should not be repeated in its entirety, however, reference to the figure/image must be referred in the text.

No legends or titles should be included in the Figures.

During submission, all figures must be placed at the end of the text file on a separate page and should be named accordingly (Figure 1; Figure 2, etc) or maybe uploaded separately as you prefer.

Pictures should be saved in JPEG, EPS, or TIFF format. Figures are easiest for us to process if submitted in TIFF or EPS format.

Please submit photographs and figures with a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch.

Scanned or photocopied graphs and diagrams are not accepted.

Figures that are charts, diagrams, or drawings must be submitted in a modifiable format, i.e. our graphics personnel should be able to modify them. Therefore, if the program with which the figure is drawn has a “save as” option, it must be saved as *.ai or *.pdf. If the “save as” option does not include these extensions, the figure must be copied and pasted into a blank Microsoft Word document as an editable object. It must not be pasted as an image file (tiff, jpeg, or eps)

Content requirements

We prefer graphics that show the distribution of data (eg, scatterplots, 1-way plots, box plots) to those showing summaries of data (eg, pie charts, bar graphs of means). Pie charts generally should not be used for research results.

If the data collected are paired (eg, pre and post, or 2 different measures on the same subject), then choose a graphical format that conveys the inherent pairing of the data. If data are paired, they should be displayed as such

Avoid background gridlines and other formatting that do not convey information (eg, superfluous use of 3-D formatting, background shadings). Graphs should not be 3-D unless the data are.

Graphs and diagrams must be drawn with a line weight between 0.5 and 1 point.

Omit internal horizontal and vertical rules.

If measurements are discrete, display them as discrete points rather than a continuous line.

95% CIs should be provided whenever appropriate (rather than SE)

For graphs, axes should begin at zero; if they do not, a break should be shown in the axis

Odds ratios should be displayed on a logarithmic scale

Survival curves should include the number at risk below x axis

Figure Captions and Legends

Figure Legends should appear on a separate page after the References and Tables.

All tables and figures must have a caption and/or legend and be numbered (e.g., Table 1, Figure 2), unless there is only one table or figure, in which case it should be labeled “Table” or “Figure” with no numbering.

No legends or titles should be included in the Figures. Figure captions and legends should appear on a separate page after the References section. Figure Captions must be written in sentence case at this part of the manuscript (e.g., Macroscopic appearance of the samples.)

References

• Each reference should be cited in the document with an Arabic number in brackets (12).
• References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.
• References should be formatted in AMA style (3 authors then "et al").
• Avoid referencing abstracts, or citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source.
• Use sentence case for all titles (capitalize only the first word of the title). Abbreviate names of journals according to the listing in the National Library of Medicine database.

Examples of Referencing are as follows:

Article

• Raftry KA, Smith-Coggins R, Chen AHM. Gender-associated differences in emergency department pain management. Ann Emerg Med. 1995;26:414-21.
• Karaca MA. Taktiksel Tıp. Anatolian J Emerg Med. Eylül 2018;1(1):24-28.
• Taşyürek T, Karacabey S, Sanrı E, et al. Koroner Anjiyografi Hastalarındaki Damar Patolojlerinin Başvuru Anındaki Vital Bulgularının, Hikayesinin, Ek Hastalıklarının, Kullandığı İlaçların ve EKG Bulgularının Oluşturduğu Risk Oranlarının Tespiti. Anatolian J Emerg Med. Aralık 2018;1(2):6-12.

Book: Callaham ML. Current Practice of Emergency Medicine. 2nd ed. St. Luis, MO:Mosby;1991.

Book Chapter: Mengert TJ, Eisenberg MS. Prehospital and emergency medicine thrombolytic therapy. In: Tintinalli JE, Ruiz E, Krome RL, eds. Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 4th ed. New York, NY:McGraw-Hill;1996:337-343.

Courses and Lectures (unpublished): Sokolove PE, Needlesticks and high-risk exposure. Course lecture presented at: American College of Emergency Physicians, Scientific Assembly, October 12, 1998, San Diego, CA.

Internet: Fingland MJ. ACEP opposes the House GOP managed care bill. American College of Emergency Physicians. Web site. Available at: http://www.acep.org/press/pi980724.htm. Accessed 26 August 1999.

Our authors who use Endnote can download our journal's Endnote style by clicking here.

Symbols, Units of Measure, Abbreviations

Symbols: If symbols such as ×, μ, η, or ν are used, they should be added using the Symbols menu of Word. Degree symbols (°) must be used from the Symbol menu, not superscripted letter o or number 0. Multiplication symbols must be used (×), not the letter x. Spaces must be inserted between numbers and units (e.g., 3 kg) and between numbers and mathematical symbols (+, –, ×, =, <, >), but not between numbers and percent symbols (e.g., 45%).
Units: Measurements should be reported using the metric system according to the International System of Units (SI). Laboratory values should be presented with normal limits.
Abbreviations: We discourage the use of any but the most necessary abbreviations. They may be a convenience for an author but are generally an impediment to easy comprehension for the reader. All abbreviations in the text must be defined the first time they are used (both in the abstract and the main text), and the abbreviations should be displayed in parentheses after the definition. Authors should avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract and limit their use in the main text.

Drugs, Products, Hardware and Software

Generic names for drugs should be used. Doses and routes for the drugs should be stated. When a drug, product, hardware, or software is mentioned within the main text product information, including the name of the product, producer of the product, city of the company, and the country of the company should be provided in parenthesis in the following format: "Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)*

Original Research Paper

Studies of basic or clinical investigations in emergency medicine. 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, non-randomized behavioral and public health intervention trials, experimental animal trials, or any other clinical or experimental studies.

How to prepare the manuscript of an original research paper?

Manuscript File should be blinded (without Author, institution or country details)
The order of headings in the manuscript file of an original research article is as follows:

• Full Title
• Abstract
  • Aim(s)
  • Material and Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusion
• Introduction
• Material and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Limitations
• Conclusion
• References
• Tables
• Figure Captions or Legends
  

Introduction: A three-paragraph structure should be used. Background information on the study subject (1st paragraph), context and the implications of the study (2nd paragraph), and the hypotheses and the goals of the study (3rd paragraph). Background: Describe the circumstances or historical context that set the stage and led you to investigate the issue. Context: Describe why your investigation is consequential. What are its potential implications? How does it relate to the issues raised in the first paragraph? Why is this specific investigation the next logical step? Hypothesis and Goals of the Study: Clearly state the specific research objective or hypothesis and your primary outcome measure.

Method(s): The methods section, is one of the most important sections in original research articles, and should contain sufficient detail:

· The investigation method, or the design of the study,
· Study population, sample, selection of the sample, and sample size estimation,
· Details of measurements and evaluations (e.g.: make and model of biochemical test devices and kits) should all be clearly stated.
· Statistical analyses performed,
· Commercial statistical programs used,
· The approval of local ethics committee or other approving bodies should be clearly specified in Methods section for both prospective and retrospective studies. You are asked to verify approval or exemption by an institutional review or ethics board.
Compliance with manuscript writing guidelines: You will be asked to verify compliance with guidelines for each corresponding study design. Please check Resources for Authors page for checklists and relevant documents. You should add a statement clarifying which guideline you used while drafting the document. 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/)

Type of Study	Guideline
Randomized controlled studies	CONSORT (http://www.consort-statement.org/home/) CONSORT translations  (www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/translations/) Standard protocol items for randomized trials, SPRIT (http://www.spirit-statement.org/)
Observational research: cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies	STROBE (www.strobe-statement.org/)
Diagnostic accuracy studies	STARD (www.stard-statement.org/)
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses	PRISMA (www.prisma-statement.org/)
Non-randomized behavioral and public health intervention studies	TREND (www.cdc.gov/trendstatement/)
Experimental animal studies	ARRIVE (www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive/)

The Methods section should be organized with logical and sequential subheadings. The optimal subheading choices will vary with the analysis, but the following examples applicable to most clinical research:
Study design and setting: Describe the study design using standard terms, and describe the study setting in a fashion that conveys characteristics that could affect the external validity (generalizability) of the findings.
Selection of Participants: Describe how participants were identified, screened, and enrolled. Remember to consider all participants including patients, providers, and outcome assessors, as appropriate. There should be a list of the inclusion and exclusion criterion with descriptions. In survey studies, information concerning who implemented the survey and how it was performed should be specified.
Sample size estimation: Describe how you performed the sample size estimation, which tests, and assumptions were used, and which sample size estimation software was used (if relevant).
· Interventions: Describe any interventions in sufficient detail to permit replication. Describe any blinding of subjects, providers, outcome assessors, or data analysts. Describe methods for determining whether the intervention was actually received.
Methods and Measurements: Discuss how and when measurements were made. Discuss the precision and reliability of the measurements. How were spurious or missing measurements handled? Discuss who collected the data and how they collected it. Discuss how data were entered, checked, and processed.
Outcomes: Describe the study's primary and secondary outcome measures, and if needed explain why they were chosen to address the study objective. When possible, use outcomes that have been previously validated, or provide evidence of your own efforts to validate the measure. Emphasize patient-centered outcomes (eg, pain, days off from work, death) over intermediate outcomes (eg, change in forced expiratory volume, change in asthma score).
Data Analysis: Detail the primary analysis and specify any software that was used, including the name of the software and the company that produces it. Provide references for any non-routine analytic methods. If appropriate, detail sensitivity analyses that explore how results change when assumptions about the investigation are modified.

Result(s)

The demographic properties of the study population should be given. A table summarizing demographics will be preferred.
The main and secondary results of the hypothesis testing must be provided.
Commenting on the results and discussing the literature findings should be avoided.
Present as much data as possible at the level of the unit of analysis, graphically if possible.
Emphasize the magnitude of findings over test statistics, ideally using size of effect and associated confidence intervals for each outcome.

Policy for the Reporting of Methodology and Statistics

Reporting Size of Effect and Its Confidence Intervals

Anatolian Journal of Emergency Medicine strongly prefers that each comparative study outcome be reported with an estimated size of effect and its confidence intervals. Such reporting is advocated by the CONSORT statement, and lets readers to understand the approximate power and clinical importance of the observed magnitude of effect.

An example for the un-preferred type of reporting without size of effect:
A successful outcome was noticed in 98% of patients given Drug X versus 88% of patient given Drug Y.
In categorization of EF, the agreement (Weighted Kappa) between EPs and the cardiologist was 0.861 and 0.876, respectively.
For men, the average CWT on the right 5th intercostal space at the mid-axillary line was 32.7 mm and for women it was 39.3 mm (p=0.04)…
Examples for the preferred type of reporting with size of effect and confidence intervals:
A successful outcome was noticed in 98% of patients given Drug X versus 88% of patients given Drug Y (difference 10%, 95%CI -2%, 17%).
In categorization of EF, the agreement (Weighted Kappa) between EPs and the cardiologist was 0.861 (SE: 0.045, 95% CI: 0.773, 0.948) and 0.876 (SE:0.042, 95% CI: 0.793, 0.959), respectively.
For men, the average CWT on the right 5th intercostal space at the mid-axillary line was 32.7 mm (SD 13.9; 95% CI: 30.3, 35.1) and for women it was 39.3 mm (SD 15.9; 95% CI: 32.4, 46.1). The average CWT on the right 5th intercostal space at the mid-axillary line was significantly higher in women than in men (p=0.04)…
If the distribution of the data is not normal, medians should always be presented with their 25-75 percentiles or interquartile ranges.
Discussion: The main and secondary results of the study should briefly presented and compared with similar findings in the literature. Providing intensive background information should be avoided. Consider only those published articles directly relevant to interpreting your results and placing them in context. Do not stress statistical significance over clinical importance. Avoid extrapolation to populations or conditions that you have not explicitly studied in your investigation. Avoid claims about cost or economic benefit unless a formal cost-effectiveness analysis was presented in the Methods and Results sections. Do not suggest "more research is needed" without stating what the specific next step is. Optionally, you may include a paragraph "In retrospect, . . ." to candidly discuss what you would do differently if given the opportunity to repeat the study, so others can learn from your experience.

Limitation(s): The limitations of the study should be mentioned in a separate paragraph subtitled as the "Limitations" in the end of the discussion. Explicitly discuss the limitations of your study, including threats to the internal and external validity of your results. When possible, examine the magnitude and direction of each bias and how it might affect the interpretation of results.

Conclusion(s): A clear conclusion should be made in the light of the results of the study. The potential effects of the results of the study on the current clinical applications should be stated in a single sentence. Inferences that are not supported by the study results should be avoided.

Invited Review Article

Comprehensive articles reviewing national and international literature related to current emergency medicine practice. Anatolian Journal of Emergency Medicine publishes only invited review articles. Other authors should contact the editor prior to submission of review articles.
The manuscript file should be prepared similar to an original research article except above allowances.

Case Reports / Case Series

Brief descriptions of clinical cases or the complications that are seldom encountered in emergency medicine practice and have an educational value. Consideration will be given to articles presenting clinical conditions, clinical manifestations or complications previously undocumented in the existing literature and unreported side of adverse effects of the known treatment regimens or scientific findings that may trigger further research on the topic.
Case reports should be compatible with The CARE Guidelines: Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting Guideline which can be found on the Resources for Authors Page.

Correspondence

Opinions, comments and suggestions made concerning articles published in Anatolian Journal of Emergency Medicine or other journals.

The manuscript file should be prepared similar to an original research article except above allowances.

Revision Note

In the top of the Revision Note, indicate the manuscript number followed by the number of revision (R1, R2, etc.).
Respond all the topics addressed by a reviewer. Written responses to the reviewers' comments need to be specific and address each point separately and one by one.
If suggested changes were not implemented, give reasons for each of them and identify additional changes made.
Indicate precisely the changes made and provide Section, Paragraph and Line Number of each change.
A global response, such as "We have addressed all of the concerns of the reviewers", will not be sufficient and will be sent back to the authors.

Guidelines for Specific Research Study Designs

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
RCTs must be reported in accordance with the CONSORT statement, summarized as follows:
1. Title includes the phrase "randomized controlled trial"
2. Clear depiction of the three elements of randomization: sequence generation, allocation, and concealment
3. Clear description of which outcome assessments were and were not blinded
4. A figure summarizing participant flow through the trial
5. Protocol deviations described, and whether analysis is intention to treat
6. Outcomes each reported with size of effect and associated confidence intervals.

Chart reviews
Least methodological elements that Anatolian Journal of Emergency Medicine seek in retrospective research are as follows:
1. Trained and monitored abstractors use explicit protocols, precisely defined variables, and standardized abstraction instruments.
2. Authors clearly describe how missing, conflicting, and/or ambiguous chart elements were coded.
3. Interrater agreement assessed by having a sample of charts reviewed independently by two or more abstractors.
4. When possible, abstractors are blinded to the study hypothesis and/or study group assignment, particularly for chart elements that are not wholly objective.

Observational studies
We prefer observational studies to be compliant with the latest STROBE guidelines.

Diagnostic accuracy studies
We prefer studies on diagnostic tests to be compliant with the latest STARD guidelines.

Studies on Clinical Decision Rules
We prefer clinical decision rules performed and reported in compliance with Green: Methodologic standards for interpreting clinical decision rules in emergency medicine: 2014 update.

Meta-analyses

Meta-analyses of therapeutic trials should be compliant with the PRISM-P 2015 guidelines, while meta-analyses of observational studies should be compliant with the MOOSE guidelines.