Marmara Medical Journal

The Marmara Medical Journal (MarmaraMedJ), first published in 1988, is an open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, academic publication of the  Marmara University, School of Medicine. The journal covers advances in medicine and novel treatments for an audience of general practitioners, medical students, and senior practitioners and specialists.

We especially welcome papers on Public Health and Medical Education. Marmara Med J also aims to publish all types of research conducted by medical students. It includes original research papers, case reports, articles about clinical and practical applications and editorials, short reports, letters to the editor, and occasionally a photo quiz.

The journal establishes a scientific bridge between the medical professionals in Turkey and their counterparts abroad to present their research to readers.

The Marmara Medical Journal welcomes articles focusing on clinical and basic medical sciences, health policy and medical education, ethics, and related issues: Each issue contains approximately eleven articles, including original research, compilation, clinical content, a letter from the editor to editor, short article, special articles, case reports, and, in some numbers, a medical imaging contest. Special review numbers with invited editors have been published since 2015 to focus on specific areas of medicine to draw attention to the latest data covering various aspects of the selected topic. Marmara Medical Journal invites and encourages physicians from all over the world to publish a special review number on their preferred subject as "Invited editor" in order to cooperate with authors in the same focus field in order to increase scientific cooperation through publication.

The Marmara Medical Journal publishes original scientific research papers, case reports, manuscripts about clinical and practical applications and editorials, short reports, letters, and occasionally a photo quiz.

Manuscripts submitted under multiple authorship are reviewed on the assumption that all listed authors concur with the submission and that a copy of the final manuscript has been approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities in the laboratories where the work was carried out.

Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
The Marmara Medical Journal is in compliance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals created by the International Committee for Medical Editors ( ICMEJ link), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the European Association of Science Editors (EASE).

Preparation of the manuscript

Manuscript files must be prepared in Word, WordPerfect, EPS, LaTeX, text, Postscript, or RTF format. Figures/Images should be embedded in the manuscript file or sent as external files in TIFF, GIF, JPG, BMP, Postscript, or EPS format. Manuscripts should be approximately 20-25 pages double-spaced, including references, with margins of 2.5 cm.

  Pages should be numbered consecutively and organized as follows:

        1. Title Page
        2. Abstract
        3. Keywords
        4. Introduction
        5. Materials and Methods
        6. Results
        7. Conclusion
        8. References

1. Title page
The title page should contain the article title, authors' names and academic or professional affiliations, and the address for manuscript correspondence (including e-mail address, Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) identifier, telephone and fax numbers).

Submit the Title Page containing the Author's details and Blinded Manuscript with no author details as 2 separate files.

2. Abstract
Abstract of not more than 200 words must be included. The abstract should be divided into the following sections: Objective, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion.

3. Keywords
Three –to six keywords should be taken from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) from Index Medicus.

4. Introduction
State why the investigation was carried out, note any relevant published work and delineate the objective of the investigation.
5. Materials and Methods
New methods or significant improvements of methods or changes in old methods must be described. Methods for which an adequate reference can be cited are not to be described, except for providing information about the aims of the method. Details regarding animal housing conditions should be given.

All clinical studies must contain :

    A statement that all experimental protocols have been approved by the Ethical Committee of the Institution prior to the commencement of the studies.

    A statement that all participants gave informed consent.

6. Results
Duplication between the text of this section and material presented in tables and figures should be avoided. Tabular presentation of masses of negative data must be avoided and replaced with a statement in the text whenever possible. The results must be presented clearly, concisely, and without comment.

7. Discussion
The discussion should begin with a brief summary of the findings, followed by the following: how this study is similar or different from prior studies with regards to methods and results and limitations of this study. This section must also relate the significance of the work to existing knowledge in the field and indicate the importance of the contribution of this study.

8. References
The style of references is that of the Index Medicus. List all authors when there are six or fewer, when there are seven or more list the first three, then add "et al.". Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text. Where a doi number is available it must be included at the end of the citation.

Please note the following examples:

1. Yazici D, Taş S, Emir H, Sunar H. Comparison of premeal mixed insulin three times daily and basal-bolus insulin therapy started post-operatively on patients having coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Marmara Med J 2011; 25:16-9.doi: 10.5472/
2. Walker M, Hull A. Preterm labor and birth. In: Taeusch HW, Ballard RA, eds. Avery's Diseases of the Newborn. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1998: 144,153.
   
3. Hagström H, Nasr P, Ekstedt M, et al. Fibrosis stage but not NASH predicts mortality and time to development of severe liver disease in biopsy-proven NAFLD. J Hepatol 2017; 67: 1265-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2017.07.027.
   
4. WONCA Ad Hoc Task Force on Tobacco Cessation. http://globalfamilydoctor.com/publications/new/november/09.htm. (Accessed on …….)

In the text, reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [1], [1-3], or [1,3].

Figures, Tables, Units

Diagrams and illustrations should be given Arabic numerals. All figure legends should be grouped and written on a separate page. Each Figure should be in one of the following preferred formats: Tiff, JPEG, PDF, and EPS.

Tables should be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate page with a short descriptive title directly above and with essential footnotes below.

Units will be in general accordance with the International System (SI) as adopted by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures.

Ethical Issues

Compliance with the principles of the last version of the Declaration of Helsinki for humans and the European Community guidelines for the use of animals in experiments is accepted as a policy by the Marmara Medical Journal. Studies involving human or animal subjects should conform to national, local, and institutional laws and requirements. Manuscripts that do not properly consider ethical issues for humans or animals will not be accepted for publication.

Double-blind Review

This journal uses a double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors need to ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in a way that does not give away their identity.

Plagiarism
Manuscripts are investigated for possible plagiarism once they are accepted for possible publication. If an author receives a plagiarism notice regarding his/her manuscript, the corrections should be made within one month. If the Editorial Board detects any plagiarism on the second check after correction of the manuscript by the authors, the chief editor can reject the manuscript. your article will be checked by the plagiarism detection software iThenticate.

Funding Source

All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgment at the end of the text.

Following documents are required prior to publication

Approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee

a) Marmara Medical Journal requires that investigations performed on human subjects have the prior approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee on Human Experimentation. Authors are required to submit a signed statement as to the date and details of the appropriate review.
b) When studies involve the use of experimental animals, manuscripts should briefly describe the procedures employed for animal care and handling. Where drugs are used at particular concentrations in intact animal systems, the author should indicate some rationale for the selection of the particular concentration.

Copyright Release Form

Copyright Release Form must be read and signed by all authors.

Copyright Relaese Form pdf

Authorship

It is the responsibility of every researcher listed as an author of a manuscript in Marmara Medical Journal to have contributed in a meaningful and identifiable way to the design, performance, analysis, and reporting of the work and to agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Before publication, each author must sign a statement attesting that he or she fulfills the authorship criteria of the ICMJE Recommendations.

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

Financial Associations/Conflicts of Interest

All participants - not only the corresponding author- must consider their conflicts of interest when fulfilling their roles in the process of article preparation and must disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest according to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines and/ or Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE) Recommendations. Disclosure forms filed by all authors alongside the full text of each article are mandatory.

https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines
http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

We encourage the authors on using the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest to standardize authors’ disclosures.

Conflict of Interest Form.pdf

Statement of Human Rights and Statement of Animal Rights

Statement of human rights and statement of animal rights, when necessary, must be signed by all authors prior to publication.

Statement of human and animal rights form.pdf


Patient Consent for Publication

Patients have a right to privacy. Identifying information, including patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs or in any kind of patient-related materials. In circumstances where this information is essential for scientific purposes, authors should obtain the patient’s (or the legal guardian’s) written informed consent prior to the publication.

Patient Consent for Publication pdf

Marmara Medical Journal
Copyright Release Form

"The enclosed manuscript (Title) has been approved by me as well as by the responsible authorities at the institute where the work has been carried out. I certify that none of the material in this manuscript has been published previously in any form and that none of this material is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. This includes symposia and proceedings of meetings and preliminary publications of any kind, except an abstract of 400 words or less."

Author Name                Signature                Date

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Statement for Conflict of Interest:

Please clearly state below whether or not there are any conflicts of interest regarding the submission and publication of the manuscript and its potential implications.

Title of the Manuscript:

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Statement:
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Name                   Signature                    Date

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(http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html

Publication Ethics

The publication process at Marmara Medical Journal aims improvement and dissemination scientific information objectively and respectfully. Therefore, the policy in this process helps in improving the quality of the articles. Peer-reviewed articles support and materialize the scientific method and hence it is of utmost importance that all parties included in the publication process (authors, readers, researchers, publisher, reviewers, and editors) comply with the standards of ethical considerations. Marmara Medical Journal expects all parties to hold to the following ethical responsibilities.

The following ethical duties and responsibilities are concordant with the policies made by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

The authors who submit their manuscripts to Marmara Medical Journal are expected to comply with the following ethical responsibilities:

Author(s) must submit their own original studies to the journal. If they utilize or present the results of the other studies in the manuscript, they must make the in-text and end-text references accurately and completely.

People who have no intellectual contribution to the study should not be indicated as authors.

If there are conflicting interests or relations in the manuscripts submitted, these must be stated and explained.

Author(s) may be asked to supply their raw data during the review process of their manuscripts. In that circumstance, the author(s) should be ready to submit their data and information to the corresponding editorial and scientific boards.

Authors should document that they have obtained ethics committee approval and informed consent in all research studies that involve patients, patient records, research participants, or databases.

For patient images that allow the identity of the patient to be identified, authors should document that they have obtained written permission from the patient(s) on whom the report is based.

Author(s) have the responsibility to inform the editor of the journal or publisher if they happen to notice a mistake or conflicting result in their study which is in the early release or publication process and to cooperate with the editors during the correction or withdrawal process.

Authors cannot submit their studies to multiple journals simultaneously. Each submission can be made only after the previous one is completed. A study published in another journal cannot be submitted to Marmara Medical Journal.

Author responsibilities are given in a study (e.g.: adding an author, reordering of author names) after the review process has started.

Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
The editor and section editors should hold with the following ethical responsibilities that are based on the guides of "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published as open access by COPE.

General duties and responsibilities

Editors are responsible for each study published in Marmara Medical Journal. In this respect, the editors have the following duties and responsibilities:
• Making efforts to meet the scientific information demands from readers and authors,
• Ensuring the continuous advancement of the journal,
• Managing the procedures in order to improve the scientific quality of the manuscripts published in the journal,
• Supporting freedom of expression,
• Ensuring academic integrity,
• Following the procedures without making concessions on intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• Being transparent and clear in issues that require correction or commentary.

Relationships with Readers

Editors must make decisions taking into consideration of the knowledge, skills, and expectations of all readers, researchers, and practitioners need. They must also ensure that the published studies have an original contribution to the literature. Furthermore, they must take notice of the feedback received from researchers and practitioners and provide explanatory and informative feedback.

Relationships with Authors

Editors have the following roles and responsibilities in their relations with authors:

Editors must make positive or negative decisions about the studies' scientific importance, originality, validity, clarity in wording, and suitability with the journal's aims and scope.

Editors must accept the studies that are within the scope of the publication into the peer-review process unless there are serious problems with the structure of the study.

Editors must not ignore positive suggestions made by reviewers unless there are serious problems with the structure of the study.

New editors, unless they have serious concerns, should not change the previous editor's decisions about the studies.

Editors must take every effort to prevent possible deviations from the defined "Blind Review and Evaluation Processes".

Editors must present a comprehensive "Author's Guide" in answering queries by authors. This guide must be updated regularly.

Authors should be provided with explanatory and informative feedback.

Relationships with Reviewers

Editors have the following duties and responsibilities in their relations with reviewers:

Editors should:

• Choose reviewers adequate for evaluating the manuscript.
• provide the needed information and guidance to reviewers
• Monitoring whether there are conflicting interests between reviewers and authors.
• Keep the identities of the reviewers confidential in a blind review.
• Encourage the reviewers to review the manuscript in an unbiased, scientific, and objective manner.
• Evaluate reviewers regularly based on criteria like performance and timing.
• Develop and use policies that increase the performance of reviewers.
• make effort to update the reviewer pool dynamically to ensure its wide range
• Prevent unkind and unscientific reviews.

Relationships with the Editorial Board

Editors should monitor that the members of the editorial board follow the procedures in accordance with the publication policies and guidelines, and should inform the members about the publication policies and developments. The editors should also train new members of the editorial board and provide the information they need.

Furthermore, editors should also:
• Ensure that the members of the editorial board review the manuscripts in an unbiased and independent manner.
• Select the new members of the editorial board from those who can contribute to the journal and are qualified enough.
• Send manuscripts for review based on the subject of expertise of the editorial board members.
• Regularly communicate with the editorial board.
• 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 the editors and the publisher is based on the principle of the independence of editors. All the decisions made by the editors are independent of the publisher and the owner of the journal as required by the agreement made between editors and publisher.

Editorial and Blind Review Processes

Editors are obliged to comply with the policies of the "Blind Review and Evaluation Process" stated in the journal's publication policies. Therefore, the editors should ensure that each manuscript is reviewed in an unbiased, fair, and timely manner.

Quality Assurance

Editors should ensure that articles in the journal are published in accordance with the publication policies of the journal and international standards.

Protection of Personal Information

Editors are supposed to protect the personal information related with the subjects or visuals in the studies being reviewed, and to reject the study if there is no documentation of the subjects' consent. Furthermore, editors are supposed to protect the personal information of the authors, reviewers and readers.

Encouraging Ethical Rules and Protection of Human and Animal Rights

Editors are supposed to protect human and animal rights in the studies being reviewed and should reject the experimental studies that do not have ethical and related committee’s approval.

Precautions against possible Abuse and Malpractice

Editors are supposed to take precautions against possible abuse and malpractice. They should conduct investigations meticulously and objectively in determining and evaluating complaints about such situations. They should also share the results of the investigation.

Ensuring Academic Integrity

Editors should ensure that the mistakes, inconsistencies or misdirection in studies are corrected quickly.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all the articles published in the journal and the rights of the journal and author(s) in cases where these rights are violated. Also, editors should take the necessary precautions in order to prevent the content of all published articles from violating the intellectual property rights of other publications. See Plagiarism Check

Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion

Editors must:
• Pay attention to the convincing criticism about studies published in the journal and must have a constructive attitude towards such criticism.
• Grant the right of reply to the author(s) of the criticized study.
• Not ignore or exclude the study that includes negative results.

Complaints:

Editors must examine the complaints from authors, reviewers or readers and respond to them in an explanatory and enlightening manner.
Political and Economic Apprehensions
The independent decision of the editors is not influenced by the owner of the journal, publisher or any other political or economical factor

Conflicting Interests

Editors, acknowledging that there may be conflicting interests between reviewers and other editors, guarantee that the publication process of the manuscripts will be completed in an independent and unbiased manner

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

The fact that all manuscripts are reviewed through "Blind Review" has a direct influence on the publication quality. This process ensures confidentiality by an objective and independent review. The review process at Marmara Medical Journal is carried out on the principle of double-blind review. Reviewers do not contact the authors directly, and their reviews and comments are processed through the journal management system. In this process, the reviewer's views on the evaluation forms and full texts are assigned to the author(s) by the editor. Therefore, the reviewers doing a review for Marmara Medical Journal are supposed to bear the following ethical responsibilities:

Reviewers should:
• Agree to review only in their subject of expertise.
• Review in an unbiased and confidential manner.
• Inform the editor of the journal if they think that they encounter a conflict of interests and decline to review the manuscript during the review process.
• Dispose of the manuscripts they have reviewed in accordance with the principle of confidentiality after the review process. Reviewers can use the final versions of the manuscripts they have reviewed only after publication.
• Review the manuscript objectively and only in terms of its content and ensure that nationality, gender, religious and political beliefs, and economic apprehension do not influence the review.
• Review the manuscript in a constructive and kind tone; avoid making personal comments including hostility, slander, and insult.
• Review the manuscript they have agreed to review on time and in accordance with the ethical rules stated above.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher of Marmara Medical Journal is conscious of the fact that they should follow the ethical responsibilities below and act accordingly:

Editors are responsible for all the processes of the manuscripts submitted to Marmara Medical Journal. Within this framework, ignoring the economic or political interests, the decision-makers are the editors.

The publisher undertakes the independent editorial decision.

The publisher protects the intellectual property rights of all the articles published in Marmara Medical Journal and holds the responsibility to keep a record of each unpublished article.

The publisher bears all the responsibility to take precautions against scientific abuse, fraud, and plagiarism.

Human and nonhuman experimentation

Authors must follow the ethical standards for human experimentation established in the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. JAMA 1997; 277:925-6). The editors should ensure that a manuscript originating from an institution has provided the approval of the requisite authority. This approval must be presented in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. For studies of human experimentation that require local institutional approval, authors must provide that they had obtained this approval before the experiment was started. If the authors declare that their study is exempt from Institutional Review Board approval, they should explain it in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. For reports originating from experiments on nonhuman animals or other species, authors must declare that the guidelines for the care and use of the animals approved by the local institution were followed.

Unethical Behavior

Should you encounter any unethical act or content in Marmara Medical Journal apart from the ethical responsibilities listed above, please notify the journal by e-mail at pamiratagunduz@marmara.edu.tr and seza.arbay@marmara.edu.tr

The article/process operation of our open-access journal is free of charge.