General Writing Guidelines

Turkish and English Abstracts

In research and review articles, Turkish and English abstracts should be a maximum of 200 words. Abstracts of short reports should be a maximum of 150 words.

Abstract sections should be prepared in the following format:

Font: Times New Roman

Font size: 9 points

Line spacing: 1.15

Paragraph indentation: None

Alignment: Justified

The headings “ÖZ” and “ABSTRACT” should be written in bold and left-aligned.

The Turkish abstract of research articles should include the following subheadings:

• Aim
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Keywords

The English abstract of research articles should include the following subheadings:

• Aim
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Keywords

Unstructured abstracts may be used in review articles. The abstract should not include references and abbreviations should be avoided as much as possible.

Keywords

3–5 keywords should be provided in Turkish and English. Keywords should be separated by commas, and a period should follow the last keyword.

The article text should be prepared according to the following formatting specifications:

• Font: Times New Roman
• Article title: 12 point
• Main section headings: 10 point
• Body text: 9 point
• Line spacing: 1.15 (ABSTRACT and ABSTRACT sections should have 1.0 line spacing)
• Text alignment: Justified
• Paragraph spacing: 0 nk before, 0 nk after
• Paragraph indentation: Should not be used
• Page layout: Should conform to the journal template
• No extra space should be left between paragraphs. A full line space should be left before a new main heading or subheading, and the text should begin directly after the heading.
• The entire article, including the bibliography, should use 1.15 line spacing.

No space should be left before a period, and one space after a period; no space should be left before a comma, and a single space should be used between words. A comma should be used as a separator for decimal numbers, and decimals should be given to two places (e.g., %38.53; 13.25±1.34). No space should be left between the percentage sign and the number; in Turkish texts, the percentage sign should be placed before the number, and in English texts, it should be placed after the number (e.g., %38.5 / 38.5%). Parentheses, quotation marks, and slashes should have accurate spacing inside and outside the symbols. The “•” symbol should be used instead of numbers in bullet points. Statistical symbols should not be written in italics (p, X±SS, F, t, z, R/r, etc.).

Abstracts

Research Articles

Research articles should consist of the following sections:

• INTRODUCTION
• MATERIALS AND METHODS
• RESULTS
• DISCUSSION
• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES

Review Articles

Review articles should consist of the following sections:

• INTRODUCTION
• MAIN TEXT
• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES

The main text section can be divided into subheadings appropriate to the subject and scope of the study.

A separate "Recommendations" heading should not be used in articles. Recommendations to be presented as a result of the study should be included in the Conclusion section.

Statements to be Included at the End of the Article

Acknowledgements, conflicts of interest, author contributions, funding, and statements regarding the use of artificial intelligence should be placed after the Conclusion section and before the References section.

In studies with multiple authors, author contributions should be clearly indicated, showing the contribution of each author. If artificial intelligence-supported tools were not used, this should be stated separately.

Conflict of Interest

Example statement for studies without a conflict of interest:

The author(s) declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Author Contributions

Example statement for a single-authored review article:

The author was responsible for the conceptual framework and design of the review, the literature review, the evaluation and interpretation of the literature, as well as the preparation and revision of the article.

Example statement for a research article:

The authors contributed to the conceptual framework and design of the study, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, as well as the preparation and revision of the article. All authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the article.

Funding

Example statement for studies without funding:

No funding was received for this study.

If funding was received, the name of the funding institution or organization and, if applicable, the project number should be stated.

Statement of Use of Artificial Intelligence

Example statement for studies using AI-powered tools: AI-powered tools were used to support language editing and improve the comprehensibility of selected passages. The author(s) independently identified and reviewed the sources, developed and verified the arguments, reviewed the manuscript, and assume full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and final version of the work.

Example statement for studies not using AI-powered tools: No AI-powered tools were used in the preparation of this article.

AI tools cannot be credited as authors. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of the sources, the scientific integrity and originality of the text, and the final version of the article.

Ethical Approval

In studies involving human or animal participants, the name of the ethics committee, the date of decision, and the decision number must be stated in the methods section of the article.

Example statement:

Ethical approval was obtained from [Ethics Committee Name] on [date] with decision number [number].

In studies that do not require ethics committee approval, this should be stated in the uploaded files along with the reason.

Introduction

The purpose of the study and/or the research question/hypothesis should be clearly stated.

Materials and Methods

This section should include appropriate subheadings covering: “Type of study, location and time of study, population/sample, variables, data collection tools, procedure/intervention (if any), data collection, statistical analysis, and ethical aspects of the study.” Ethics committee/institutional approval (committee name, date, and number) and informed consent (written/oral) from individuals should be indicated, and appropriate reporting guidelines (e.g., CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA) should be followed.

Results

Descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, standard deviation, number, percentage), test values ​​(t, F, r, etc.), and p-values ​​should be clearly reported; if possible, the exact value should be given instead of p<0.05 (e.g., p=0.031). Cronbach's Alpha (α), correlation coefficients (r), and p-values ​​should be written with a “0” before the decimal point; p should be given with three digits, and alpha and r with two digits (e.g., r=0.34, (p=0.001). A space should be left before and after the symbols “=, >, <, ±”.

Tables

Tables should be placed in appropriate locations within the text and cited within the text. The table title should be above the table, left-aligned, 9-point font, bold, with the first letter of the first word capitalized; single line spacing should be used. “Table 1.” A period should be used in the format "Percentage", not a colon. There should be one line space between the table and the title; the second line of the title should start from the left. In writing percentages, repetitions such as "percentage (%)" should not be used in the same place; either "%" or "Percentage" should be used. Tables should be written in at least 8-point font, footnotes in 9-point font; table numbers should be included; bold text can be used in cells intended for emphasis. All cell borders should be distinct; vertical and horizontal lines and full borders should be used; explanations should be given below the table with one line spacing, in 8-point font; if there is more than one footnote, symbols such as "*" and "**" should be used.

Graph/Figure/Image

Each image should have a sequence number and a title below it. Titles should be left-aligned, 9-point font, with the first letter of the first word capitalized and in bold. Images should be placed in appropriate sections within the text; if taken from another source, the source should be indicated. There should be one line space between the image and its title; the second line of the title should start from the left. The number of tables/figures/graphs/images should be limited to a maximum of six; abbreviations and explanations should be given in 9-point font with symbols such as “*”, “**” or “a, b” below the image. All necessary copyright permissions must be obtained for all images.

Discussion

Findings should be interpreted in light of the literature, using a descriptive and analytical discussion approach, comparing them to previous studies; following the discussion, “Limitations and Strengths of the Research” should be stated under a separate heading.

Conclusion and Statements

The conclusion section should summarize the main findings without repeating the findings and present evidence-based recommendations. This should then clearly state acknowledgments, a statement of conflict of interest, author contributions (plan-design; materials-methods; data analysis-interpretation; writing-editing), a statement of institutional/financial support, and ethical committee approval (committee name, date, and number).

References – In-Text

All studies cited in the text should be included in the bibliography, and all those included in the bibliography should be mentioned in the text. Citations should conform to APA standards; they should be listed alphabetically by author's last name, in parentheses, and separated by semicolons (e.g., Bradley, 2000; Davis and Fitch, 2004; Wolchik, 2001). Multiple works by the same author from the same year should be cited as (Bahar, 2009a, 2009b); works from different years should be cited as (Bahar, 2008, 2009). Single-authored sources should be cited as (Bradley, 2003), two-authored sources as (Bradley and Calhoun, 2004), and three-to-five-authored sources should be cited as (all sources included in the first use) as (Bradley, Calhoun, Davis and Fitch, 2004), and repeated sources as “et al.” The abbreviation should be used (Bradley et al., 2004), and for six or more authors, it should be written directly (Bradley et al., 2004). When an institution/group is the author, the full name and abbreviation should be given together in the first citation; in subsequent uses, only the abbreviation and the year should be given (e.g., first use: Turkish Psychologists Association [TPD], 1997; repetition: TPD, 1997). For different authors with the same surname, the initials of their first names should also be included (e.g., R. D. Luce, 1959; P. A. Luce, 1986). In Turkish texts, "ve" should be used instead of "and"; in sentence-based expressions, "ve arkadaş" should be preferred instead of "ve ark."; in English articles, "et al." should be used for multiple-authored or repeated entries. should be used (e.g., Davis et al., 2001).

References – List

The references should be placed at the end of the article and prepared in accordance with APA 7 style.

References:

• Should be listed alphabetically by author's last name.
• Should not be numbered.
• Should be 9-point font.
• Should have 1.15 line spacing.
• No extra paragraph spacing should be left between references.
• Hanging indent should be applied.
• The hanging indent should be 1.27 cm. The first line should start from the left margin, and subsequent lines should continue 1.27 cm from the left margin.

In Microsoft Word, this can be done by following these steps:

Paragraph → Indent → Special → Hanging → 1.27 cm

The title of the bibliography and the first lines of the references should be aligned to the left.

Every source cited in the text must be in the bibliography, and every source in the bibliography must be used in the text.

For sources with a DOI number, the DOI should be given in full link format:

https://doi.org/xxxxx

Citing

Single-Authored Sources

Single-authored sources should be cited in the following format:

• Parenthetical citation: (Bradley, 2003)
• In-narrative citation: Bradley (2003)
• Two-Authored Sources
• For two-authored sources, both authors' last names should be listed:
• Parenthetical citation: (Bradley & Calhoun, 2004)
• In-text citation: Bradley and Calhoun (2004)

In English-language articles, "and" should be used for in-text citations:

• Bradley and Calhoun (2004)
• Three or More Authored Sources
• For sources with three or more authors, "et al." should be used after the first author's last name. The following expression should be used:
• Parenthetical citation: (Bradley et al., 2004)
• In-narrative citation: Bradley et al. (2004)

Citing Multiple Sources

If multiple sources are to be cited within the same parentheses, the sources should be listed alphabetically by author's last name and separated by semicolons:

(Bradley, 2003; Davis & Fitch, 2004; Wolchik, 2001)

Institutional Authorship

In institutional authorship, if an abbreviation is used, the full name of the institution should be given with its abbreviation the first time:

• (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016)
• In subsequent uses, only the institution's abbreviation and the year of publication should be written:
• (WHO, 2016)
• If the institution's name is used in the text, the first use should be as follows:
• World Health Organization (WHO, 2016)

Studies by the Same Author Published in the Same Year

If more than one study by the same author published in the same year is cited, lowercase letters should be added next to the year of publication. The letters should be consistent with the order in the bibliography. Example: (Spring, 2009a, 2009b)

Title Page

The title page should be prepared according to the journal's title page template and uploaded to the system as a separate file from the main text of the article.

Full titles in Turkish and English should not exceed 12 words each, and short titles in Turkish and English should not exceed 4 words each.

Turkish and English titles should be:

• 12 point font,
• Bold,
• Left-aligned,
• And should not contain abbreviations.
• The title page should include the following information:
• Full title of the article in Turkish and English,
• Short title in Turkish and English,
• Authors' full names,
• Academic titles of the authors,
• Authors' institution, department, city, and country information,
• Authors' ORCID numbers,
• First and last name of the corroborating author,
• Email address of the corroborating author,
• Phone number of the corroborating author,
• Mailing address of the corroborating author,
• Similarity rate,
• Acknowledgements,
• Conflict of interest statement,
• Author contributions,
• Ethics committee information,
• Institutional or financial support information,
• Statement on the use of artificial intelligence.

ORCID numbers should be provided in full link format, as in the following example:

https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000

If the study has been previously presented as an oral or poster presentation at a scientific meeting, the name of the meeting, the location, and the date should be specified.

If the study is derived from a thesis, the type of thesis, university, and institute information should be included.

If the research received financial or institutional support, the individuals, institutions, or organizations providing the support should be clearly stated.

You can access the article writing template and writing guidelines on our journal's website.