Ebelik ve Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi

Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences is a scientific, open access periodical published in accordance with independent, unbiased, and double-blinded peer-review principles. The journal is the official online-only publication of Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences, and it is published triannually in April, August and December. The publication language of the journal is Turkish and English.
The aim of the journal is to publish original research papers of the highest scientific and clinical value in the field of midwifery and health sciences. Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences also publishes reviews, rare case report and letters to the editors.

The target audience of the journal includes midwives, nurses, academicians, clinical researchers, medical/health professionals, students, nursing professionals and related professional and academic bodies and institutions.

Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences currently indexed in Index Copernicus, DOAJ and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).

The editorial and publication processes of the journal are 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 (EASE), and National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The journal is in conformity with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (doaj.org/bestpractice).

All expenses of the journal are covered by the Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences. Processing and publication are free of charge with the journal. No fees are requested from the authors at any point throughout the evaluation and publication process. All manuscripts must be submitted via the online submission system, which is available at https://midwifery-ataunipress.org/EN. The journal guidelines, technical information, and the required forms are available on the journal’s web page.

Disclaimer
Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in the journal reflect the views of the author(s) and not the opinions of the Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences, editors, editorial board, and/or publisher; the editors, editorial board, and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials.

Open Access Statement
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences is an open access publication, and the journal’s publication model is based on Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) declaration. Journal’s archive is available online, free of charge at https://midwifery-ataunipress.org/EN. Authors retain the copyright of their published work in the Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences. The journal’s content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 International License which permits third parties to share and adapt the content for non-commerical purposes by giving the apropriate credit to the original work.

Editor: Serap EJDER APAY
Address: Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences, Erzurum, Turkey
E-mail: sejder@atauni.edu.tr

Publisher: Atatürk University
Address: Atatürk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey

Publishing Service: AVES
Address: Büyükdere Cad., 105/9 34394 Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
Phone: +90 212 217 17 00
E-mail: info@avesyayincilik.com
Webpage: www.avesyayincilik.com

How to Submit a Manuscript?

ICJME Form

Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences is a scientific, open access periodical published in accordance with independent, unbiased, and double-blinded peer-review principles. The journal is the official online-only publication of Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences, and it is published triannually in April, August and December. The publication language of the journal is Turkish and English.

The aim of the journal is to publish original research papers of the highest scientific and clinical value in nursing research, practice, education, and management issues. Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences also publishes reviews, rare case report and letters to the editors.

The target audience of the journal includes nurses, academicians, clinical researchers, medical/health professionals, students, nursing professionals and related professional and academic bodies and institutions.

EDITORIAL AND PUBLICATION PROCESS
The editorial and publication processes of the journal are shaped in accordance with the guidelines of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the European Association of Science Editors (EASE), and National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The journal conforms to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (doaj.org/bestpractice).

Originality, high scientific quality, and citation potential are the most important criteria for a manuscript to be accepted for publication. Manuscripts submitted for evaluation should not have been previously presented or already published in an electronic or printed medium. The journal should be informed of manuscripts that have been submitted to another journal for evaluation and rejected for publication. The submission of previous reviewer reports will expedite the evaluation process. Manuscripts that have been presented in a meeting should be submitted with detailed information on the organization, including the name, date, and location of the organization.

PEER REVIEW PROCESS
Manuscripts submitted to Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences will go through a double-blind peer-review process. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two external, independent peer reviewers who are experts in their fields in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation process. The editorial board will invite an external and independent editor to manage the evaluation processes of manuscripts submitted by editors or by the editorial board members of the journal. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all submissions. The identity information of the person mentioned in the case report should be hidden in the text. But the permission document obtained from the person or his legal guardian must be scanned and sent with the letter.

ETHICAL PROCEDURES
An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects,” amended in October 2013, www.wma.net) is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies and for some case reports. If required, ethics committee reports or an equivalent official document will be requested from the authors. For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken to prevent pain and suffering of the animals should be stated clearly. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to protect the patients’ anonymity carefully.

For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patients, signed releases of the patient or their legal representative should be enclosed, and the publication approval must be provided in the Materials and Methods section.

ERRATUM
The correction requests submitted by the authors are reviewed by the Editorial Board and the corrections are applied based on the decision of the Editorial Board. In case of corrections in the published text, the readers are informed by publishing the Erratum text in the number following the correction. The edited article is updated on the journal web page and in the indexes when the journal is scanned.

PLAGIARISM
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences is extremely sensitive about plagiarism. All submissions are screened by a similarity detection software (iThenticate by CrossCheck) at any point during the peer-review and/or production process. The plagiarism rate of the studies to be sent to the journal should not exceed 20%. Even if you are the author of the phrases or sentences, the text should not have unacceptable similarity with the previously published data.

When you are discussing others' (or your own) previous work, please make sure that you cite the material correctly in every instance.

In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the Editorial Board will follow and act following COPE guidelines.

AUTHORSHIP
Each person listed as an author should fulfill the authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE - www.icmje.org). The ICMJE recommends that authorship is based on the following four 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 revising 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.
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. Also, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the title page of the manuscript.

Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences requires corresponding authors to submit a signed and scanned version of the Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship form (available for download www.midwifery-ataunipress.org) during the initial submission process to act appropriately on authorship rights and to prevent ghost or honorary authorship. If the editorial board suspects a case of “gift authorship,” the submission will be rejected without further review. As part of the submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author should also send a short statement declaring that he/she accepts to undertake all the responsibility for authorship during the submission and review stages of the manuscript.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interests, including financial, consultant, and institutional, that might lead to potential bias or a conflict of interest. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board. To disclose a potential conflict of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors. The journal’s Editorial Board resolves cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeal and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should get in direct contact with the editorial office regarding their appeals and complaints. When needed, an ombudsperson may be assigned to resolve claims that cannot be resolved internally. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences requires each submission to be accompanied by a Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship form (available for download www.midwifery-ataunipress.org). By signing this form, authors retain the copyright of their work and grant the publisher the non-exclusive right to publish the work. The authors agree that the article, if accepted for publication by the Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0) International License. Furthermore, the author retains all the rights to publish the work elsewhere, including commercially.

When using previously published content, including figures, tables, or any other material in both print and electronic formats, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Legal, financial and criminal liabilities in this regard belong to the author(s).

CORRECTION AND WITHDRAWAL REQUESTS
Articles published by the Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences are the final versions. Therefore, correction requests after publication are evaluated by the Editorial Board following the COPE guidelines.

Typographical errors in author names, affiliations, article titles, abstracts, keywords, and DOIs can be corrected accompanied by an erratum.

On the other hand, changes in authorship and authors’ information after submission can only be implemented upon the Editorial Board's approval. In such cases, authors must provide the journal with a formal letter explaining why the change is needed. If the Editorial Board approves the request, the journal will seek approval of all contributing authors and new Copyright Agreements will be collected from the authors.

Withdrawal requests are also subject to editorial approval. The authors must provide the journal with a letter explaining their reasons for the withdrawal. If approved, manuscripts can be withdrawn without penalty.

DISCLAIMER
Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences reflect the views of the author(s) and not the opinions of the editors, the editorial board, or the publisher; the editors, the editorial board, and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. The final responsibility regarding the published content rests with the authors.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
The manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with ICMJE-Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (updated in May 22 - http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). Authors are required to prepare manuscripts in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines for randomized research studies, STROBE guidelines for observational original research studies, STARD guidelines for studies on diagnostic accuracy, PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, ARRIVE guidelines for experimental animal studies, and TREND guidelines for non-randomized public behavior.

Manuscripts can only be submitted through the journal’s online manuscript submission and evaluation system, available at www.midwifery-ataunipress.org. Manuscripts submitted via any other medium and submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be evaluated.
Manuscripts submitted to the journal will first go through a technical evaluation process where the editorial office staff will ensure that the manuscript has been prepared and submitted in accordance with the journal’s guidelines. Submissions that do not conform to the journal’s guidelines will be returned to the submitting author with technical correction requests.

Authors are required to submit the following:
· Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form, and
· ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (should be filled in by all contributing authors) during the initial submission. These forms are available for download at www.midwifery-ataunipress.org.

Preparation of the Manuscript
Title page: A separate title page should be submitted with all submissions and this page should include:
· The full title of the manuscript as well as a short title (running head) of no more than 50 characters,
· Name(s), affiliations, highest academic degree(s), and ORCID iDs of the author(s),
· Grant information and detailed information on the other sources of support,
· Name, address, telephone (including the mobile phone number), and email address of the corresponding author,
· Acknowledgment of the individuals who contributed to the preparation of the manuscript but who do not fulfill the authorship criteria.

Abstract: An abstract should be submitted with all submissions except for Letters to the Editor. The abstract of Research Articles should be structured with subheadings (Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion). Please check Table 1 below for word count specifications.

Keywords: Each submission must be accompanied by a minimum of three to a maximum of five keywords for subject indexing at the end of the abstract. The keywords should be listed in full without abbreviations. The keywords should be selected from the National Library of Medicine, Medical Subject Headings database (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).

Manuscript Types
Original Articles: This is the most important type of article since it provides new information based on original research. Acceptance of original papers will be based upon the originality and importance of the investigation. The main text of original articles should be structured with Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion and Recommendations subheadings. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Original Articles.

Statistical analysis to support conclusions is usually necessary. Statistical analyses must be conducted in accordance with international statistical reporting standards (Altman DG, Gore SM, Gardner MJ, Pocock SJ. Statistical guidelines for contributors to medical journals. Br Med J 1983: 7; 1489-93). Information on statistical analyses should be provided with a separate subheading under the Materials and Methods section and the statistical software that was used during the process must be specified.
Units should be prepared in accordance with the International System of Units (SI).

Review Articles: Reviews prepared by authors who have extensive knowledge on a particular field and whose scientific background has been translated into a high volume of publications with a high citation potential are welcomed. These authors may even be invited by the journal. Reviews should describe, discuss, and evaluate the current level of knowledge of a topic in clinical practice and should guide future studies. The subheadings of the review articles should be planned by the authors. However, each review article should include an “Introduction” and a “Conclusion” section. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Review Articles.

Case Reports: There is limited space for case reports in the journal and reports on rare cases or conditions that constitute challenges in diagnosis and treatment, those offering new therapies or revealing knowledge not included in the literature, and interesting and educative case reports are accepted for publication. The text should include Introduction, Case Presenttaion, and Discussion with an unstructured abstract. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Case Reports.

Letters to the Editor: This type of manuscript discusses important parts, overlooked aspects, or lacking parts of a previously published article. Articles on subjects within the scope of the journal that might attract the readers’ attention, particularly educative cases, may also be submitted in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Readers can also present their comments on the published manuscripts in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and other media should not be included. The text should be unstructured. The manuscript that is being commented on must be properly cited within this manuscript.

Table 1. Limitations for each manuscript type

Tables
Tables should be included in the main document, presented after the reference list, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title must be placed above the tables. Abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below the tables by footnotes (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 easy reading. Data presented in the tables should not be a repetition of the data presented within the main text but should be supporting the main text.

Table Examples in APA Format

Source: Sample Tables, APA accessed https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/sample-tables

Figures and Figure Legends
Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (in TIFF or JPEG format) through the submission system. The files should not be embedded in a Word document or the main 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. Images should not be labeled (a, b, c, etc.) to indicate figure subunits. 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: 100 × 100 mm). Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document.

All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined at first use, both in the abstract and in the main text. The abbreviation should be provided in parentheses following the definition.
When a drug, product, hardware, or software program is mentioned within the main text, product information, including the name of the product, the producer of the product, and city and the country of the company (including the state if in USA), should be provided in parentheses in the following format: “Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)”
All references, tables, and figures 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.
Limitations, drawbacks, and the shortcomings of original articles should be mentioned in the Discussion section before the conclusion paragraph.

Title Levels
First
Centered, bold, capital initial letters
The text starts with a new paragraph.

Second
Flush left, bold, initial letters uppercase
The text starts with a new paragraph.

Third
Flush left, bold, italic, initial letters uppercase
The text starts with a new paragraph.

Fourth
Indented, bold, capital initial letters, end with a point
The text begins on the same line with the title and continues as a standard paragraph.

Fifth
Indented, bold, capital initial letters, end with a point
The text begins on the same line with the title and continues as a standard paragraph.

References
While citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up-to-date publications. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references If an ahead-of-print publication is cited, the DOI number should be provided.

Both in-text citations and the references must be prepared according to the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition. Please see citation examples for different types below.

Reference List
Journal Article: Klimonske, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10-36.
Journal Article with more than one author: Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972
Turkish Article: Mutlu, B., & Savaşer, S. (2007). Çocuğu ameliyat sonrası yoğun bakımda olan ebeveynlerde stres nedenleri ve azaltma girişimleri [Source and intervention reduction of stress for parents whose children are in intensive care unit after surgery]. Istanbul University Journal of Nursology, 15(60), 179–182.

Books
By a Single Author: Kimmel, M. S. (2007). The gendered society. Oxford University Press.
By Two or More Authors: DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, P. (2007). Rumor psychology: Social and organizational approaches. American Psychological Association.
By a Corporate (Group) Author: American Sociological Association. (1975). Approaches to the study of social structure. Free Press.
Edited Book: Rhodewalt, F. (Ed.). (2008). Personality and social behavior. Psychology Press.
Book Chapter with Editor(s): McCormack, B., McCance, T., & Maben, J. (2013). Outcome evaluation in the development of person-centred practice. In B. McCormack, K. Manley, & A. Titchen (Eds.), Practice development in nursing and healthcare (pp. 190-211). John Wiley & Sons.
Dissertation or Thesis: Valentin, E. R. (2019, Summer). Narcissism predicted by Snapchat selfie sharing, filter usage, and editing [Master's thesis, California State University Dominguez Hills]. CSU ScholarWorks. https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/3197xm925?locale=en
No Author: The universal declaration of human rights. (1974). U.S. Catholic Conference, Division of Latin America.
Web sites: Sparks, Dana. (2018, September 12). Mayo mindfulness: Practicing mindfulness exercises. Mayo Clinic.

In the seventh edition, up to 20 authors should now be included in a reference list entry. For sources with more than 20 authors, after the 19th listed author, any additional authors' names are replaced with an ellipsis (…) followed by the final listed author's name:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.

REVISIONS
When submitting a revised version of a paper, the author must submit a detailed “Response to the 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 may be canceled. If the submitting author(s) believe that additional time is required, they should request this extension before the initial 30-day period is over.

Accepted manuscripts are copy-edited for grammar, punctuation, and format by professional language editors. Once the publication process of a manuscript is completed, it is published online on the journal’s webpage as an ahead-of-print publication before it is included in its scheduled issue. A PDF proof of the accepted manuscript is sent to the corresponding author and their publication approval is requested within 2 days of their receipt of the proof.

Editor: Serap EJDER APAY
Address: Atatürk University Faculty of Health Sciences, Erzurum, Turkey
E-mail: sejder@atauni.edu.tr

Publisher: Atatürk University
Address: Atatürk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey

Publishing Service: AVES
Address: Büyükdere Cad., 105/9 34394 Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
Phone: +90 212 217 17 00
E-mail: info@avesyayincilik.com
Webpage: www.avesyayincilik.com

ETHICAL PROCEDURES
An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects,” amended in October 2013, www.wma.net) is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies and for some case reports. If required, ethics committee reports or an equivalent official document will be requested from the authors. For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken to prevent pain and suffering of the animals should be stated clearly. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to protect the patients’ anonymity carefully.

For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patients, signed releases of the patient or their legal representative should be enclosed, and the publication approval must be provided in the Materials and Methods section.

PLAGIARISM
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences is extremely sensitive about plagiarism. All submissions are screened by a similarity detection software (iThenticate by CrossCheck) at any point during the peer-review and/or production process. The plagiarism rate of the studies to be sent to the journal should not exceed 20%. Even if you are the author of the phrases or sentences, the text should not have unacceptable similarity with the previously published data.

When you are discussing others' (or your own) previous work, please make sure that you cite the material correctly in every instance.

In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the Editorial Board will follow and act following COPE guidelines.

AUTHORSHIP
Each person listed as an author should fulfill the authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE - www.icmje.org). The ICMJE recommends that authorship is based on the following four 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 revising 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.
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. Also, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the title page of the manuscript.

Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences requires corresponding authors to submit a signed and scanned version of the Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship form (available for download www.midwifery-ataunipress.org) during the initial submission process to act appropriately on authorship rights and to prevent ghost or honorary authorship. If the editorial board suspects a case of “gift authorship,” the submission will be rejected without further review. As part of the submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author should also send a short statement declaring that he/she accepts to undertake all the responsibility for authorship during the submission and review stages of the manuscript.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interests, including financial, consultant, and institutional, that might lead to potential bias or a conflict of interest. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board. To disclose a potential conflict of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors. The journal’s Editorial Board resolves cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeal and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should get in direct contact with the editorial office regarding their appeals and complaints. When needed, an ombudsperson may be assigned to resolve claims that cannot be resolved internally. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.

Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences is an open access publication, and the journal’s publication model is based on Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) declaration. Journal’s archive is available online, free of charge at https://midwifery-ataunipress.org/EN. Authors retain the copyright of their published work in the Journal of Midwifery and Health Sciences. The journal’s content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 International License which permits third parties to share and adapt the content for non-commerical purposes by giving the apropriate credit to the original work.