Current Issue

Issue: 9, 8/30/24

Year: 2024

Research Article

Reviews

Aim
Artuklu Health is the publication organ of Mardin Artuklu University and aims to disseminate effective applications, studies, and research in different fields of health sciences at national and international levels by transforming them into scientific publications and contributing to the field of science.

Our journal is peer-reviewed and international journal with double-blind peer-reviewed and open access, published every four months as 3 issues per year (April, August, December).

Scope
Artuklu Health provides a qualified field where academicians and researchers in the fields of Medicine and Health Sciences can publish and share their scientific studies and benefit as a resource.

The scope of our journal includes the following fields of Medicine and Health Sciences: Nursing, Nutrition & Dietetics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Rehabilitation, Oncology, Surgery, General & Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Health Care Sciences & Services, Infectious Diseases, Immunology, Hematology, Endocrinology & Metabolism, Urology & Nephrology, Cardiovascular System & Cardiology, Geriatrics & Gerontology, Allergy, Physical therapy and rehabilitation. 

Types of Manuscripts
Artuklu Health accepts academic, scientific and research-based articles (research article, review, case/case reports, letter to the editor) in the above-mentioned areas of health sciences. 

Manuscript Submission
Submitted manuscripts should be in accordance with the aim and scope of the journal. Manuscripts that are original, unpublished and not in the evaluation process in another journal, whose content and submission have been approved by each author are accepted for evaluation.
Manuscript submissions are received through DergiPark only.

Peer-Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to our journal are first evaluated by the editorial board in terms of compliance with the publication policies of the journal. Appropriate manuscripts are sent to the reviewers. The reviewers that the editors will consider as the main element in the selection of the manuscript are external independent researchers who are experts in their fields. The final decision for all submitted manuscripts is made by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editorial Board undertakes to comply with the criteria of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Publication Language:
The publication language of our journal is Turkish and English.

Audience
The target audience is professionals, experts, researchers, specialists and doctoral students in every field of health, and students related to this field. It aims to contribute to the spread of continuous professional development and research culture.

Fee Policy
The publication of manuscript in the journal and the execution of the manuscript processes are not subject to a fee. There is no processing fee or submission fee under any name for manuscripts submitted to the journal or accepted for publication. Artuklu Health does not accept sponsorship and advertising in accordance with its publication policies. All expenses of Artuklu Health are covered by Mardin Artuklu University.

Copyright
The authors own the copyrights of the studies published in the Artuklu Health. The authors allow the intellectual property they submit to be published by the Artuklu Health under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

Required Documents for Submission
1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Main Manuscript File
4. Conflict of Interest Form
5. Copyright Form
6. Ethics Committee Approval (except for studies not requiring ethics committee approval)

Cover Page
The cover page should include:
• Article Title
• Authors of the Article
• Assurance that all authors agree on the content and authorship order of the article
• Assurance that the corresponding author will inform co-authors about editorial decisions, reviews, and changes/revisions (upon acceptance, all authors must approve authorship)
• Information on whether there is any closely related work submitted to another journal for simultaneous consideration
• Information on any conflicts of interest or activities that could affect the research
• Confirmation that the treatment of human participants or non-human animal subjects complies with established ethical standards
• A copy of permissions to reproduce copyrighted material or a notice that permissions are pending
• Contact information for the corresponding author, including phone number, email address, and postal address. Click here for Cover Page

Title Page
The title page should include:
Title
• The main title of the study
Authors
• Full name of each author (first name and last name)
• Author note for each author (ORCID number)
• Add "and" before the last author
Author Affiliations
• Department name and institution for each author
• Use superscript numbers for different authors
Author Note
• ORCID link for each author
Conflict of Interest
• Any conflict of interest statement
Financial Support
• Information on any organization or program funding the research
Ethics Committee
• Ethics committee approval information for the research
Acknowledgments
• Acknowledgements to individuals or organizations that assisted
Corresponding Author
• Contact information for the corresponding author, including phone number, email address, and postal address. Click here for Title Page

Main Manuscript
Abstract
The main manuscript file must include an informative abstract in both Turkish and English, consisting of a minimum of 200 and a maximum of 300 words. The abstract should be structured to include the introduction, methods, results, and conclusion sections. The abstract should fully reflect the entire manuscript and be consistent in content and language. The review article abstract should briefly reflect the main points of the article. The Turkish title should be placed before the abstract, and the English title should be placed before the abstract. Each abstract should start on a new page. Abbreviations should not be used in the abstract.
Keywords
Keywords should be written in both Turkish and English at the bottom of the abstract page, consisting of at least 3 and at most 5 words, separated by commas. English keywords should be in accordance with "Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)" (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).
Introduction
This section should provide current information on the topic of the article. Claims forming the subject of the study should be created considering previous studies, bringing a clear explanation to the targeted question.
Methods
This section should detail the type, place, and time of the research, the population and sample, data collection tools and methods, ethical aspects of the research, statistical analyses, and data evaluation.
Results
This section should present the research findings. Data presented in a table or figure should not be repeated in another table, figure, or within the text. Tables, figures, graphs, and photos should be placed in appropriate places within the text. 
Discussion
The narratives in the introduction and results sections should not be repeated in this section. The obtained results should be discussed with relevant current literature. If there are any limitations of the study, they should be indicated under the subheading "Limitations."
Conclusion
The results obtained from the study and relevant recommendations based on these results should be indicated.
References
The references section title should be in 12-point font, bold, and left-aligned. Under the references heading, references should be written in 11-point font, with a 1.25 cm indent, 6 pt space between paragraphs, and single line spacing. For other rules, refer to the "Citation Style" section on the following page.


Formatting

Page Layout
• The page should have a 2.5 cm margin on the right, left, top, and bottom.
• Use Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 1.5 line spacing.
• Page numbers should be placed in the middle bottom of each page.

Headings
Level 1 Heading
Left-aligned, bold font, and the first letters capitalized. Starts on a new paragraph.
Level 2 Heading
Left-aligned, bold font, and the first letters capitalized. Starts on a new paragraph.
Level 3 Heading
Left-aligned, bold font, only the first letter capitalized. Starts on a new paragraph.


Table, Figure, and Graphic Formatting

• Tables, figures, graphs, and images should be placed in appropriate places within the text.
• All tables and figures should be numbered sequentially in the order they appear in the text.
• There should be no more than 5 tables and 5 figures.
• Use a comma "," for decimal separation in numbers and a period "." for decimal points.

Table Formatting

• The table number should be in plain text and bold font, with the table title in normal font style.
• The table number should be above the table title.
• A period should be placed at the end of the table number.
• There should be no vertical lines in the table.
• Horizontal lines should be used sparingly.
• Information in the leftmost column of the table body should be left-aligned, but the title should be centered.
• Numbers in the table should be aligned by their decimal points.
• Notes for the table should be added only if necessary.

Figure Formatting
• The figure number should be in plain text and bold font, with the figure title in normal font style.
• The figure number should be below the figure.
• The figure title should be in plain text with the first letters capitalized.
• Colors, graphs, and other visual elements used in the figure should complement and explain the text.
• Additional explanations, if necessary, should be added as notes below the figure.


Citation Style

Our journal accepts citation in the APA 7th edition format. Below are examples and general rules for different types of sources according to APA 7. For more information, visit the APA website

In-Text Citation
Single Author Work:
• Parenthetical Citation: (Smith, 2009)
• Narrative Citation: Smith (2009) found in his study that... Smith (2009) argues that...

Two Author Work:
• Parenthetical Citation: (Johnson & Lee, 2002)
• Narrative Citation: Johnson and Lee (2002) suggest that... According to Johnson and Lee's (2002) findings, ...

Three or More Author Work:
• Parenthetical Citation: (Brown et al., 2020)
• Narrative Citation: Brown et al. (2020) state that...

Group with Abbreviation:
• Parenthetical Citation:
o First Citation: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020)
o Subsequent Citations: (WHO, 2020)
• Narrative Citation: According to the data from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020), ... According to a study conducted by WHO (2020), ...

Group without Abbreviation:
• Parenthetical Citation: (Harvard University, 2020)
• Narrative Citation: According to a study conducted by Harvard University (2020), ...


References Style

Journal Article with Single Author:
Surname, N. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL
Potts, G. F. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL

Journal Article with Two Authors:
Surname1, A., and Surname2, B. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range.
Martin, L. E., and Potts, G. F. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL

Journal Article with Three or More Authors:
Surname1, A., Surname2, B., & Surname3, C. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range.
Maner, J. K., Gailliot, M. T., Rouby, D. A., and Miller, S. L. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL

Journal Article with 21 or More Authors:
Surname1, A., Surname2, B., Surname3, C., ..., Surname21, U. (Year). Article Title. Journal
Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., ..., Joseph, D. (Year). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL

Newspaper or Magazine Article:
Surname, A. (Year, Month Date). Article Title. Newspaper/Magazine Name, Page range. URL
Mooney, C. (Year, Month Date). Article Title. Newspaper/Magazine Name, Page range. URL

Book with Single Author:
Surname, A. (Year). Book Title (Edition if not the first). Publisher.
Ward, A. (Year). Book Title. Publisher.

Book with Two Authors:
Surname1, A., and Surname2, B. (Year). Book Title (Edition if not the first). Publisher.
Stuss, D. T., and Benson, F. (Year). Book Title. Publisher.

Chapter in a Book:
Surname, A. (Year). Chapter Title. In Editor(s) (Ed.), Book Title (Edition if not the first, pp. Page range). Publisher.
Luck, S. J. (Year). A Broad Overview of the Event-Related Potential Technique. In Editor(s) (Ed.), Book Title (Edition if not the first, pp. Page range). Publisher.

Edited Book:
EditorSurname, A. (Ed.). (Year). Book Title (Edition if not the first). Publisher.
EditorSurname, A., and EditorSurname, B. (Eds.). (Year). Book Title. Publisher.

Chapter in an Edited Book:
Surname, A., and Surname, B. (Year). Chapter Title. In EditorSurname, A. (Ed.), Book Title (Edition if not the first, pp. Page range). Publisher.
Posner, M. I. (Year). Attention in cognitive neuroscience: An overview. In EditorSurname, A. (Ed.), Book Title (Edition if not the first, pp. Page range). Publisher.

Translated Book:
Surname, A. (Year). Book Title (Edition if not the first). (TranslatorName, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published Year)
Freud, S. (Year). The interpretation of dreams: The complete and definitive text. (J. Strachey, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published Year)

Chapter in a Translated Edited Book:
Surname, A. (Year). Chapter Title. In EditorSurname, A. (Ed.), Book Title (Edition if not the first, pp. Page range). (TranslatorName, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published Year)
Ciccarelli, S.K., and White, J. N. (Year). Perception and Sensation. In EditorSurname, A. (Ed.), Book Title (Edition if not the first, pp. Page range). (TranslatorSurname, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published Year)

Internet Source:
Organization Name. (Year, Month Day). Page Title. Website Name. URL
World Health Organization. (Year). Coronavirus. Website Name. URL

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
Author(s) submitting a study to Artuklu Health are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:
• The study submitted by the author(s) is expected to be original and up-to-date. Author(s) are required to fully and accurately cite and/or quote all works they have used.
• Individuals who do not contribute to the content of the study should not be listed as authors. Situations and relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest (if any) should be disclosed.
• The author(s) may be requested to provide raw data on their manuscripts as part of the evaluation process. The author(s) should submit the requested data and information to the editorial and/or scientific board.
• The author(s) has the obligation to inform the editor or publisher of the journal if he/she notices a mistake or error in his/her published work under review, and to cooperate with the editor in correcting or withdrawing his/her work.
• Authors cannot have their work in the application process of more than one journal at the same time.
• A study published in another journal cannot be submitted to Artuklu Health.
• A study that has been submitted to another journal and whose evaluation has not yet been completed cannot be submitted to Artuklu Health.
• For a study whose evaluation process has started, no action such as adding or removing authors or changing the order of authors can be requested.
Authors are strongly encouraged to avoid all forms of plagiarism and ethical violations as exemplified below.
Citation manipulation: The practice of manipulating the number of citations an author, journal, or other publication receives through various means, such as self-citation, over-citing or adding honorific citations to articles in the same journal, or citation hoarding.
Self-plagiarism (text recycling): The practice of using overlapping sections or sentences from the author's previous publications without proper attribution. This is considered a form of plagiarism as it involves using someone else's work (in this case the author's own work) without proper attribution.
Slicing: The use of the same data from a research study in several different articles. It is considered unethical as it involves reporting the same hypotheses, population and methods of a study in more than one paper.
Data fabrication: The addition of data that never occurred during the collection of data or experiments. This is considered a form of research misconduct as it involves presenting false or misleading information as if it were real data.
Data Manipulation/Falsification: The practice of manipulating research data to give a false impression. This may include manipulating images, extracting outliers or "inappropriate" results, changing data points, and other forms of manipulation. This is also considered a form of research misconduct as it involves presenting false or misleading information as factual data.

Publication Ethics Principles
Publication Ethics can be defined as a self-regulatory mechanism that insists on integrity on behalf of authors, reviewers and publishers to establish higher standards of editorial processing. Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and respect for people's opinions.
• Honest researchers do not plagiarize.
• They do not misattribute sources.
• They do not hide objections they cannot refute.
• They do not distort opposing views.
• They do not destroy or hide data.

Peer-reviewed studies are studies that support and actualize the scientific method. At this point, it is of great importance that all parties involved in the publication process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, referees and editors) comply with ethical principles. Artuklu Health adheres to national and international standards on research and publication ethics. It complies with the Press Law, the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works and the Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics of Higher Education Institutions. Artuklu Health has adopted the International Ethical Publishing Principles published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). It is also committed to abide by the decisions of the Turkiye Editors' Workshop.

• Press Law (National Legislation)
• Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (National Legislation)
• Higher Education Institutions Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Directive (National Legislation)
• Transparency and Best Practice Principles in Academic Publishing (International Criteria)
• Turkiye Editors' Workshop Decisions (National Criteria)

Replay
Republishing is the publication of the same article or substantially similar articles in more than one journal. The editor sends such an article back without review. The editor may then embargo the attempted republication for a certain period of time, publicize it in the journal in which the author has previously published (perhaps by simultaneous announcement with the editor of the journal that published the previous article), or all of these measures together.

Simultaneous submission of the same study to more than one journal
Authors may not submit the same article to more than one journal at the same time. If the editor learns of possible simultaneous submission, he/she reserves the right to consult with the other editor(s) receiving the manuscript. In addition, the editor may return the manuscript without review or reject the manuscript without considering the reviews, or take this decision in discussion with the other editor(s) involved, and may decide not to accept submissions from authors for a certain period of time. It may also write to the authors' employers or take all of these measures together.

Control to Prevent Plagiarism
It is to present the ideas, methods, data, applications, writings, figures or works of others as one's own work in whole or in part without citing the owners in accordance with scientific rules.
Artuklu Health scans all articles submitted to the Journal to prevent plagiarism. The studies submitted for review are checked for plagiarism using Turnitin & Ithenticate software. The similarity rate is expected to be less than 20%. The main measure of similarity is the author's compliance with the citation and citation rules. If the similarity rate appears to be 1%, but the citation and citation are not done properly, plagiarism may still be in question. In this respect, citation and quotation rules should be known and carefully applied by the author.
Plagiarism, duplication, false authorship/ denied authorship, research/data fabrication, article slicing, slicing and dicing, copyright infringement and concealment of conflict of interest are considered unethical behaviors. All articles that do not comply with accepted ethical standards are removed from publication. This includes articles that contain possible irregularities or non-compliances detected after publication.

Forgery
Producing data that is not based on research, editing or modifying the work presented or published on the basis of untrue data, reporting or publishing them, and presenting a research that has not been conducted as if it has been conducted.
Falsifying research records and data obtained, showing methods, devices and materials that were not used in the research as if they were used, not evaluating data that do not comply with the research hypothesis, manipulating data and/or results to fit the relevant theory or assumptions, falsifying or shaping research results in line with the interests of the persons and organizations supported.

Protection of Participants' Personal Data
The Artuklu Health requires that all research involving personal or sensitive data or materials about human participants that are not legally publicly available be subject to formal ethical review.

Addressing Allegations of Research Misconduct
Artuklu Health adheres to COPE's Ethical Toolkit for a Successful Editorial. Artuklu Health editors will take measures to prevent the publication of manuscripts in which plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification, data fabrication, and other research misconduct has occurred. In no case will the editors of Artuklu Health knowingly allow such misconduct to occur. If the editors of Artuklu Health become aware of any allegations of research misconduct related to an article published in their journal, they will follow COPE's guidelines regarding allegations.

Ethical Violation Notifications
Readers can send an e-mail to aijhs@artuklu.edu.tr if they notice a significant error or inaccuracy in an article published in Artuklu Health or if they have any complaints about the editorial content (plagiarism, duplicate articles, etc.). We welcome submissions and will respond quickly and constructively, as they will provide an opportunity for improvement.

Correction, Retraction, Expression of Concern
Editors may consider publishing a correction if minor errors are identified in the published article that do not affect the findings, interpretations and conclusions. Editors should consider retracting the manuscript if there are major errors/violations that invalidate the findings and conclusions. Editors should consider issuing a statement of concern if there is a possibility of research or publication misconduct by the authors; there is evidence that the findings are unreliable and that the authors' institutions have not investigated the incident; or the potential investigation seems unfair or inconclusive. COPE and ICJME guidelines are followed regarding correction, retraction or expression of concern.

Publication of Studies Based on Surveys and Interviews
Artuklu Health adopts the "Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers" principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in order to provide ethical assurance in scientific periodical publishing. In this context, the following points should be followed in the studies submitted to the journal:
1) For research in all disciplines that require ethics committee approval (ethics committee approval must be obtained, this approval must be stated and documented in the article.
2) In studies requiring ethics committee approval, information about the permission (name of the committee, date and number) should be included in the method section and on one of the first/last pages of the article; in case reports, information on the signature of the informed consent form should be included in the article.

Special Issue Publication Policy
A special issue may be published once a year upon the request of the Editorial Board. Articles submitted for inclusion in the special issue are first subjected to a preliminary editorial review. Then they are examined for compliance with the journal's spelling rules and similarity screening is performed to prevent plagiarism. After these stages, the manuscripts are subjected to a peer review process using a double blinded model.

Editorial Confidentiality Obligation
The editors of Artuklu Health treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents, which means that they will not disclose information about a manuscript to anyone without the authors' permission. During the manuscript review process, the following people have access to the manuscripts: Editors, Reviewers, Editorial Board Members. The only time details about a manuscript may be passed to a third party without the authors' permission is if the editor suspects serious research misconduct.

Scientific Misconduct Allegations-Suspicions
There are different definitions of scientific misconduct. We address these issues on a case-by-case basis as the Artuklu Health follows guidance established by major publication ethics bodies. If the editor suspects or alleges an ethical violation, they have a duty to take action. This duty extends to both published and unpublished articles. The editor should not simply reject articles raising concerns about possible misconduct. They are ethically obliged to follow up on alleged cases. The editor should follow COPE flowcharts where appropriate. Editors should first seek a response from those suspected of misconduct. If they are not satisfied with the response, they should ask the relevant employer or organization to investigate. The editor should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that an appropriate investigation into the alleged misconduct is conducted; if this fails, the editor should make all reasonable attempts to insist on a resolution to the problem. This is a laborious but important task.
Artuklu Health adheres to COPE's Ethical Toolkit for a Successful Editorial. The editors of Artuklu Health will take measures to prevent the publication of manuscripts in which plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification, data fabrication, and other research misconduct has occurred. Under no circumstances will Artuklu Health or its editors knowingly allow such misconduct to occur. If the editors of the Artuklu Health are aware of any allegations of research misconduct related to an article published in their journal, they will follow COPE's guidelines regarding allegations.

Reviewers should inform the Editor if they suspect misconduct in the research or publication. The Editor is responsible for taking necessary actions in accordance with COPE recommendations.
Artuklu Health is committed to following the COPE flowcharts when faced with allegations of misconduct on the following or similar issues.
What to do when re-publication is suspected
• What to do when plagiarism is suspected
• What to do when falsified data is suspected
• What to do for change of authorship requests
• What to do when an undisclosed conflict of interest is suspected
• What to do when unfair or gift authorship is suspected
• What to do when an ethical problem is suspected in an article
• What to do when directly notified of a suspected ethical violation by e-mail, etc.
• What to do when a suspected ethical violation is announced via social media

Complaint Procedure
This procedure applies to complaints about content, procedures or policies that are the responsibility of Artuklu Health or our editorial staff. Complaints can provide an opportunity and incentive for improvement and we aim to respond quickly, courteously and constructively.
The complaint must relate to content, procedures or policies that are the responsibility of Artuklu Health or our editorial team. Complaints should be emailed directly to aijhs@artuklu.edu.tr and will be treated confidentially. The editor will respond to complaints promptly. The editor follows the procedure outlined in the COPE flowchart for complaints.
Complaints are reviewed by the relevant member of the editorial team and, if not resolved, the following processes are followed:
• If this initial response is considered inadequate, the complainant may request that the complaint be referred to a more senior member of the journal.
• If the complainant is not satisfied, the complaint may be forwarded to the editor-in-chief.
• A full response will be provided within two weeks, if possible.
COPE publishes a code of practice for editors of scientific journals. This will facilitate the resolution of disputes with editors, journals and publishers, but only after the journal's own complaints procedures have been exhausted.

Appeal Process
We welcome serious objections to the evaluations made by editors and reviewers. If you feel that we have rejected your paper because we misunderstood its scientific content, please send an appeal message to our editorial team at aijhs@artuklu.edu.tr. Do not attempt to submit a revised version of your article at this stage. If, after reading your appeal letter, we realize that your appeal is justified, we may invite you to submit a revised version of your manuscript. Your paper will then be resubmitted to the external reviewer process. Please include as much detail as possible in the appeal letter. Finally, we can only consider one appeal per article, so please take the time and effort to write a detailed letter to make your appeal clear - you have one chance, so use it well. We have found that prolonged deliberation over rejected papers is often unsatisfying for both authors and editors, so we do not process multiple appeals for the same paper.

Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest occurs when professional judgment about a primary interest may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal competition). We believe that we need to know the competing interests of the authors in order to make the best decision about how to handle an article, and that if we publish the article, readers need to know them too.
Any interest, financial or otherwise, that could cause one to be conflicted in one's work, significantly impair one's objectivity, or give an unfair advantage to any person or organization. All sources of financial support received during the conduct of the research and preparation of the manuscript and the role of sponsors in the study should be disclosed. If there is no source of funding, this should also be indicated. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include consultancies, salaries, grants. Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.
Artuklu Health has a set process for handling submissions from editors, staff or editorial board members to ensure impartial review. Such submissions are first referred to other journals. If this is not possible, the author of the submission will be suspended from the journal. These submissions are reviewed in a double blind process.
The editor should not be involved in decisions on manuscripts written by him/herself or by family members. Furthermore, such a paper should be subject to all the usual procedures of the journal. The editor should follow the ICMJE guidelines on disclosure of potential conflicts of interest by authors and reviewers.

Principles of Research Ethics
Artuklu Health Sciences observes the highest standards in research ethics and adopts the international research ethics principles defined below. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that the articles comply with the ethical rules.
• The principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be ensured in the design, review of the design and conduct of the research.
• The research team and participants should be fully informed about the purpose, methods and anticipated potential uses of the research; the requirements and risks, if any, of participation in the research.
• Confidentiality of information provided by research participants and confidentiality of respondents must be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of participants.
• Research participants should take part in the research voluntarily and should not be under any coercion.
• Harm to participants should be avoided. The research should be planned in a way that does not put participants at risk.
• Research independence must be clear and explicit; any conflict of interest must be stated.
• In experimental studies with human subjects, the written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. The consent of the legal guardian of children and those under guardianship or with a certified mental illness must be obtained.
• If the study will be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization that the study will be conducted.
• In studies with a human element, it must be stated in the "method" section that "informed consent" has been obtained from the participants and ethics committee approval has been obtained from the institution where the study is conducted.

Authorship
All individuals listed as authors must meet the authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). ICMJE recommends that authorship should be based on the following four criteria:
1. Significant contribution to the design or conception of the study or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the study.
2. Drafting or critically reviewing the manuscript for important intellectual content.
3. Final approval of the version to be published.
4. agreeing to be responsible for all aspects of the work to ensure that questions about the accuracy or completeness of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Authors should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for their part of the work, as well as which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work to ensure that the contributions of all authors are correctly and appropriately acknowledged. Authors can use CRediT (Taxonomy of Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to provide information about individual contributions during submission. All authors are expected to agree on their individual contributions, which are shared by the corresponding author. The authors' contribution statement will be published in the final version of the manuscript and should accurately reflect the contributions made to the study.

Furthermore, the authors must have confidence in the integrity of their co-authors' contributions. This means that they must trust that the co-authors conducted the research in an ethical and responsible manner and that the data and results presented in the paper are accurate and honest.
Individuals who do not meet all four criteria for authorship should not be included as authors. However, they can still be acknowledged for their contribution to the research on the title page of the manuscript to recognize their contribution and provide transparency about who is involved in the research.
If the editorial board suspects ghost, honorary or gift authorship, the submission will be suspended and the relevant COPE flowchart and COPE Policy on authorship and contribution will be followed.

All expenses of the journal are covered by Mardin Artuklu University. Article publication and article processing in the journal are not subject to a fee. There is no processing fee or submission fee for articles sent to the journal or accepted for publication.