Instructions to authors
“International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences”, formerly known as “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”, publishes research, case reports, reviews and letters to the editor in the field of health. The journal is published three issues a year.
The written language of the journal is Turkish and English (Full text is accepted in both languages). Turkish articles must comply with the Turkish dictionary and spelling guide of the Turkish Language Association. English articles are carefully examined by the journal editorial board for grammatical rules and spelling errors.
Our journal receives and follows articles through the Dergipark System. With this system, which allows authors to be followed quickly and easily, the follow-up and evaluation of articles by our journal can also be fast and easy. For submitted articles; No fee is charged at any stage for submission, evaluation or publication.

The evaluation of manuscripts submitted to our journal is based on independent, impartial, double-blind referee reports. Submitted manuscripts are rigorously evaluated by members of the Editorial Board for their originality, methodology and the importance of the topic under discussion. This is followed by impartial double-blind peer review by two or more independent experts in the field. Submitted manuscripts are first evaluated by at least two advisory board members whose names are kept confidential. Then, the reviews of the articles completed by the advisory board are discussed in the editorial board. The reviewers are not aware of the identity of the authors and the authors are not aware of the identity of the reviewers. For all submissions, the Editorial Board is the final authority in the decision-making process.

More detailed information about the refereeing process, the responsibilities of referees, and the responsibilities of editors towards referees can be found under Ethical Principles and Publication Policy.

Ethical Rules

It is under the heading of ethical principles and publication policy.
Similarity Rules
“International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) evaluates all submissions through the journal's similarity system (https://intihal.net/). In this review, the article should not have any unacceptable similarity to data previously published elsewhere, even if the previous sentences and statements are the authors themselves.

Authorship Criteria
All names included as authors in articles submitted to the “International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) must meet the authorship rules recommended by ICMJE (www.icmje.org).
Authorship conditions recommended by ICMJE (www.icmje.org) are listed as follows:
1. Have made a significant contribution to the concept/design of the study, or to the collection, analysis and interpretation of data for the study;
2. Having drafted the article or made critical reviews of important intellectual content;
3. Having reviewed and approved the final version of the article before publication;
4. Agree to be responsible for all aspects of the work to ensure that questions regarding the validity and accuracy of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
An author must meet these four (4) criteria, take responsibility for the parts he/she contributed to the work, and be able to identify which parts of the work other authors contributed to. Responsibility for all articles sent to our journal belongs to the authors.
In all articles submitted to the “International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”), authors must comply with the above-mentioned authorship rights. The corresponding author and all other authors included in the article must sign the Copyright Transfer Form stating that they approve the article sent through the Dergipark system.


Fee Policy
“International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) does not charge a fee for any article submitted.
Preparation of Manuscripts
All articles submitted to the “International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) must be prepared in accordance with ICMJE (https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf) criteria. Articles can only be submitted via the journal's online article upload and evaluation system in the Dergipark system. Articles sent from other places are not taken into consideration.
Articles should be written on a computer file on a page of standard A4 size, with approximately 2.5 cm of space on the right and left edges, "Times New Roman" character, 12 point font and 1.15 line spacing.
Authors are required to upload the article's Main Text (without the author's name, institution/organization name, in completely blind main text), Title Page and Copyright Form (signed by the author(s)) to the online article system during the first submission.
In the main text of the article
(i) Turkish and English titles,
(ii) Turkish and English abstracts (The abstract should not exceed 250 words. In the Turkish abstract, the titles should be listed as: Aim, Material and Method, Results, Conclusion, Keywords.
In the English summary, the titles should be listed as: Objective, Material and Methods, Results, Conclusion, Keywords) ;
(iii) Introduction;

(iv) Materials and Methods;

(v) Findings;

(vi) Discussion;

(vii) There are bibliography sections.
It is preferred to indicate the materials and methods, findings and discussion sections with subheadings when necessary (the title should be italicized and bold in subheadings). In accepted articles, conflict of interest, financial support, persons or institutions to be thanked, if any, author contributions and ethics committee statement are added before the references. Heading numbering should not be used in sections and subheadings. The title page will be uploaded to the system as an additional file in table form. (Author names (title, first name, surname), institutions where the author(s) work, contact addresses, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address and ORCID numbers). The institution where the corresponding author works, contact information and ORCID information should be included in this file. The authors' contributions to the study will also be stated in this file. "Copyright Transfer Form": This form must be signed by all authors and uploaded to the system.
Research article: These are original scientific articles based on scientific research, studies, observations and experiments.
These articles should include
(i) Abstract (Turkish and English)
(ii) Introduction,
(iii) Materials and methods,
(iv) Results,
(v) Discussion and
(vi) References subheadings.
Case Reports: Our journal contains a limited number of case reports and only rare cases are included.
Case reports should include
(i) Abstract (Turkish and English)
(ii) Introduction,
(iii) Case presentation,
(iv) Discussion and
(vii) References subheadings.




Letters to the Editor: This is the definition given to texts written for informational purposes that do not comply with the standard article rules of the journal. It is a communication tool both between the author of the article and the reader, and between the editor. Opinions or comments about another article published in our journal can be expressed through a Letter to the Editor. Letters in this form are sent to the author of the article they are about and asked if they would like to provide additional comments or answers.
Tables and Figures
Tables should be added to the main article file after the references. Each table should be on a separate page. There should be an explanatory/descriptive title above each table. Abbreviations used in the table should be defined below the table. These explanations under the table should be given in alphabetical order. Figures, graphs and photographs should be added to the main article file after the tables. Thick and thin arrows, stars, asterisks and similar signs can be used in the images. Descriptive information in figures, graphics and photographs should be given under the relevant figure, graphic or photograph.
As in the rest of the article, figures, graphics, pictures and tables should be blinded. For this reason, institutional information in figures, graphics, pictures and tables should be deleted and any persons in the picture should not be recognized.

References
"National Library of Health (NLM) Citation Writing Style" is used to display the references of "International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences" (formerly known as "Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal"). They should be arranged in parentheses according to the order in which they are mentioned in the article. (example: ...as previously defined (1)”). If several sources are to be shown at the same time, the sources are listed in parentheses from smallest to largest number and separated by commas (1, 3, 7, 10). In consecutive references, it should be shown as (1-5) rather than (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In consecutive references, the date order is from oldest to newest, that is, the lower number should be given to the oldest one. If it refers to any author, it should come immediately after the reference author's name. “Beck (1), Öztürk (2)”. Unpublished results, personal opinions, and unreachable web pages should not be cited as sources here. Reviewers must cite only studies from which they directly draw; References whose existence cannot be verified will be requested from the authors during publication preparation.

Writing the references
All sources are listed in the order they are cited in the text. The list under the bibliography heading should include all references in the text. Since our journal uses the "National Library of Health (NLM) Reference Writing Style", all abbreviations in the references must comply with the NLM Catalogue. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog?Db=journals&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=currentlyindexed%5BAll%5D).

When there are six or fewer authors (articles with 1-6 authors), all authors must be written individually.
1. Gevrek F, Akyörük A, Kara M, Katar M, Erdemir F. Investigation of the sperm aquaporin molecules expression in fertile and infertile men. Ann Med Res. 2023;30(8):893-898.
2. Dumanlı A, Görgülü A, Seyrimez Ö, Aydın S, Gencer A. Diş Kliniğinde Tedavi Sırasında Tehlikeli Diş Aspirasyonu. Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi. 2023; 15(3): 89-94.
When there are more than six (6) authors, the sixth author is followed by "et al." in Turkish sources. For English sources, “et al.” abbreviation should be added.
1. Kölükçü V, Balta MG, Tapar H, Karaman T, Karaman S, Ünsal V, ve ark. Etomidate alleviates ovarian ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg. 2024;30(6):375-381.
Book:
1. Öztürk MO, Uluşahin A. Mental health and disorders. 10th Edition. Nobel Medical Bookstores: Ankara, 2024; p:291-342.

Thesis:
Unpublished Thesis
Aydın S. Metacognitive beliefs and processes in patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder type-1 with psychotic features. Unpublished Specialization Thesis. Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine, 2022.
Çağlar ÖF. The effect of reflective functions and emotional expression on treatment response and side effects of antidepressant type drugs. Unpublished Specialization Thesis. Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine, 2022.

Published Thesis
Özsoy F, Kuloğlu MM. Evaluation of metacognitive functions in patients with major depressive disorder and panic disorder. JCM. 2017; 7(1): 42-49.
Article in electronic format:
World Health Organisation. Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention (EPP) [Internet]. 2024. [31.07.2024]. Link: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/378271/9789240097124-eng.pdf?sequence=1.

Publication Ethics
The ethical duties and responsibilities specified for the “International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) have been prepared by taking into consideration the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The journal's publication processes are executed in accordance with the guides, International Medical Journals Editors Board (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE) ,National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and DOAJ-Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

In drug studies, it should be stated that the study is carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Health and ethics committee permission has been obtained. For studies requiring board approval, if this approval is not submitted, the article will not be published. In addition, in all studies, the principles specified in the "Declaration of Helsinki", "Good Clinical Practices Guide" and "Good Laboratory Practices Guide" must be followed, and written or verbal consent must be obtained from the patients after they are informed.
The journal's editorial and publication processes are carried out in accordance with the Transparency and Best Practice Principles in Academic Publishing (https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/file/22). The Editorial Board of the journal handles all objection and complaint cases (https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/eeder/page/11853) within the scope of COPE guidelines.

Referee Evaluation Process

The evaluation of articles submitted to our journal is based on independent, impartial, double-blind reviewer reports. Submitted articles are meticulously evaluated by the members of the Editorial Board in terms of their originality, methodology and the importance of the topic discussed. This is followed by impartial double-blind peer review by two or more independent experts in the relevant scientific field. Submitted articles are first reviewed by at least two advisory board members, whose names remain confidential. Then, the reviews of the articles completed by the advisory board are discussed in the editorial board. Reviewers are unaware of the identity of the authors and authors are unaware of the identity of the reviewer. For all submissions, the Editorial Board is the final authority in the decision-making process.

Author's Ethical Responsibilities

Author(s) who submit manuscripts to our journal should consider the following ethical principles:
1. The stages, including publication evaluation and publication, followed after the manuscript is submitted to the journal, are based on the development and transmission of information in an impartial and respectful manner. Peer-reviewed studies are articles that embody and support the scientific method. Within the scope of journal publication ethics, all authors are expected to bear the following ethical responsibilities.
2. The manuscripts submitted by the author(s) are expected to be original. If the author(s) use other studies, they must cite and/or cite them completely and accurately.
3. Ones who do not contribute scientifically to the content in the creation of a scientific article should not be listed as authors.
4. Situations and relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest, if any, must be disclosed in all scientific articles submitted for publication.
5. Raw data regarding their research may be requested from the author(s) during the evaluation processes. In this case, the author(s) must present the relevant data and information to the editorial board and scientific committee.
6. The author(s) must have a document showing that they have the usage rights of the data used, the necessary permissions regarding the research/analysis, or that the consent of the experimental subjects has been obtained.
7. If the author(s) notice an mistake regarding their published or under-evaluation work, they have the obligation to cooperate with the editor in informing, correcting or retracting the journal editor or publisher.
8. Authors cannot submit their studies to multiple journals simultaneously. Each submission can be made only after the previous one is completed. Each application can be started following completion of the previous application.
9. Author responsibilities given in a study (e.g.: adding an author, reordering of author names) whose review process has begun cannot be changed.



Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
The editor and field editors of International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences should hold the following ethical responsibilities that are based on the guides "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published as open Access by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
General duties and responsibilities Editors are responsible for each study published in International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences. In this respect, the editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
1. In order for the studies to contribute to the scientific literature and be original, they should always act dynamically for the continuous development of the journal.
2. Managing the procedures aimed to improve the quality of the studies published in the journal.
3. Supporting freedom of expression.
4. Ensuring academic integrity.
5. Intellectual property rights and ethical standards should be taken into account throughout the publication process.
6. Being transparent and clear in issues that require correction or explanation.
7. Editors are obliged to take into account the feedback they receive and provide descriptive and informative feedback.

Relationships with Authors
Editors have the following duties and responsibilities in their relations with authors:
1. Editors must make positive or negative decisions about the studies' importance, originality, validity, clarity in wording and suitability with the journal's aims and objectives.
2. Editors must accept the studies that are within the scope of publication into pre review process unless there are serious problems with the study.
3. Editors must not ignore positive suggestions made by reviewers unless there are serious problems with the study.
4. "Blind Review and Review Process" must be published and editors must prevent possible diversions in the defined processes.
5. Authors should be provided with explanatory and informative feedback.


Relationships with Reviewers
Editors have the following duties and responsibilities in their relations with reviewers:
1. Reviewers should be determined in accordance with the topic of the study.
2. Provide the information and guidance reviewers may need during the review process.
3. Observe whether there are conflicting interests between reviewers and authors.
4. Keep the identities of reviewers confidential in blind review.
5. Encourage the reviewers to review the manuscript in an unbiased, scientific and objective tone.
6. Develop practices and policies that increase the performance of reviewers.
7. The reviewer pool should be updated based on scientific performance.
8. Prevent unkind and unscientific reviews.



Relationships with the Editorial Board
Editors must make sure that the members of the editorial board follow the procedures in accordance with the publication policies and guidelines. Editorial board must inform the members about the publication policies and developments. In addition, editors must;
1. Ensure that the members of the editorial board review the manuscripts in an unbiased and independent manner.
2. Select the new members of the editorial board from those who can contribute to the journal and are qualified enough.
3. Editorial board members should submit studies that are in line with their area of expertise for evaluation.
4. Regularly communicate with the editorial board.
5. Arrange regular meetings with the editorial board for the development of publication policies and the journal.



Relationships with the Journal's Owner and Publisher

The relationship between editors and publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. In accordance with the written agreement between the editors and the publisher, all decisions taken by the editors are independent of the publisher and the journal owner.


Editorial and Blind Review Processes
Editors; is responsible for implementing the "Blind Review and Evaluation Process" policies included in the journal's publication policies. In this context, editors ensure that the evaluation process of each manuscript completed in a fair, impartial and timely manner.
Quality Assurance
Editors; is responsible for the publication of every article published in the journal in accordance with the journal publication policies and international standards.





Protection of Personal Information
Editors; is responsible for ensuring the protection of personal data regarding the subjects or images included in the reviewed studies. Unless the explicit consent of the individuals used in the studies is documented, it is the duty to refuse the study. Furthermore, editors are supposed to protect the personal information of the authors, reviewers and readers.

Ethics committee, human and animal rights
Editors are obliged to ensure that human and animal rights are protected in the studies reviewed. Ethics committee approval regarding the subjects used in the studies is responsible for rejecting the study in cases where there is no permission for experimental research.

Precautions against possible Abuse and Malpractice
Editors are supposed to take precautions against possible abuse and malpractice. In addition to conducting a meticulous and objective investigation to identify and evaluate complaints regarding this situation, sharing the relevant findings is among the editor's responsibilities.


Ensuring Academic Integrity

Editors must make sure that the mistakes, inconsistencies or misdirections in studies are corrected quickly.


Protection of intellectual property rights
Editors are obliged to protect the intellectual property rights of all published articles and to defend the rights of the journal and the author(s) in case of possible violations. In addition, editors are obliged to take the necessary precautions to ensure that the contents of all published articles do not violate the intellectual property rights of other publications.





Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion
Editors must
1. Pay attention to the convincing criticism about studies published in the journal and must have a constructive attitude towards such criticism.
2. Grant the right of reply to the author(s) of the criticized study.
3. Not ignore or exclude the study that include negative results.

Complaints
Editors must evaluate the complaints from authors, reviewers or readers and respond to them in an explanatory and enlightening manner.


Political and Economic Apprehensions
Neither the owner of the journal, publisher or any other political or economical factor can influence the independent decision taking of the editors.


Conflicts of interest
Editors ensure that the publication process of studies is completed independently and impartially, taking into account conflicts of interest between the author(s), referees and other editors.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers
Evaluation of all manuscripts by "Blind Reviewer" directly affects the quality of publication. This process ensures confidentiality by objective and independent review. The evaluation process of the “International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) is carried out on the principle of double-blind review. Reviewers can not contact the authors directly, and the reviews and comments are conveyed through the journal management system. In this process, evaluation forms and reviewers comments on manuscripts are conveyed to the author(s) through the editor. Accordingly, reviewers who evaluate studies for the journal are expected to have the following ethical responsibilities:
1. Agree to review only in their subject of expertise.
2. Review in an unbiased and confidential manner.
3. If authors think that they are faced with a conflict of interest during the evaluation process, tehy should decline to review the study and inform the journal editor.
4. The review should be made objectively only in relation to the content of the study. Nationality, gender, religious beliefs, political beliefs and commercial concerns should not be allowed to influence the evaluation.
5. The evaluation should be made in a constructive and scientific manner. Reviewers must not make derogatory personal comments that include hostility, slander or insults.
6. They must carry out the manuscript they have agreed to review in a timely manner and with the above ethical responsibilities.


Ethical Responsibilities of Publisher
Editors and Editorial Board of “International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences” (formerly “Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal”) act with the awareness of the following ethical responsibilities:
Editors are responsible for all processes of the studies submitted to the "International Journal of Tokat Medical Sciences" (formerly "Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine Journal"). In this context, editors are the decision-makers, regardless of economic or political gains.
It undertakes to have an independent editorial decision made.
The publisher protects the intellectual property rights of all the articles published in journal and holds the responsibility to keep a record of each published article. The publisher has the responsibility to take precautions against all kinds of scientific misconduct, citation fraud and plagiarism regarding editors.