GENERAL WRITING GUIDELINES

Detailed Writing Rules:

• Page Margins: The top, bottom, left, and right margins must each be set to 1 cm.

• Title: The Turkish main title (article title) must be centered, bold, with the first letter of each word capitalized, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. The English main title (article title) must be centered, italicized, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. Main section headings (Introduction and other major headings) must have the first letter of each word capitalized, be bold, left-aligned, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 12 pt spacing before and 6 pt after, and single line spacing. The Introduction and Conclusion sections should not be numbered, whereas other main headings should be numbered as 1., 2., 3., etc. Subheadings must have the first letter of each word capitalized, be bold, left-aligned, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. These subheadings should be numbered as 1.1., 1.2., 1.3., etc. The Introduction and Conclusion sections must not contain subheadings. Second-level subheadings must have the first letter of each word capitalized, be bold and italicized, left-aligned, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. These headings should be numbered as 1.1.1., 1.1.2., 1.1.3., etc.

• Footnotes: Footnotes must be in Times New Roman, 8-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, single line spacing, and justified alignment. They should be numbered consecutively as 1, 2, 3, etc.

• Main Text: The main text must be written in Times New Roman, 11-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, single line spacing, and justified alignment.

• Alignment: The document must have 1 cm margins on all sides. Page numbers should appear at the bottom right of each page. The first page of the manuscript should not be numbered; numbering should begin on the second page with page number 2. Except for the abstract, each paragraph should begin with a 1 cm tab indentation. Paragraphs should have 6 pt spacing before and after.

• Abstract and Keywords: The headings ABSTRACT and ÖZET must be written in uppercase, bold, italicized, medium-aligned, Times New Roman, 10-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. The Turkish and English abstract texts must be justified, in Times New Roman, 10-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. Each abstract must contain a minimum of 150 and a maximum of 200 words. Below each abstract, include at least 3 and no more than 5 keywords, as well as 3 to 5 JEL classification codes. English equivalents of the abstract and keywords must also be provided. For manuscripts written in Turkish, the Turkish title and abstract must appear first, followed by the English title and abstract.

• Figures, Tables, Maps, etc.: Figures, tables, maps, and similar visual materials must not extend beyond the text area. The text within tables must be in Times New Roman, 8–10-point font. Only the first word of the table title should begin with a capital letter; the remaining words should begin with lowercase letters. Table titles must appear above the table, left-aligned, in Times New Roman, 10-point font, with 6 pt spacing before and 0 pt after, using single line spacing. Table borders and shading should have a thickness of 1 pt. If a source is cited, it should appear below the table in Times New Roman, 10-point font, with 0 pt spacing before and 6 pt after, using single line spacing.

• Figures/Graphs: Figures and graphs should generally be centered on the page (except in exceptional cases). Figure or graph captions must appear below the figure, centered, in Times New Roman, 10-point font, with 0 pt spacing before and after, and single line spacing. If a source is cited, it should appear below the figure, centered, in Times New Roman, 10-point font, with 0 pt spacing before and 6 pt after.

• Equations: Mathematical expressions and equations must be prepared in Times New Roman, 10-point font, justified, with single line spacing, 6 pt spacing before and after, and without paragraph indentation. Every equation must be numbered consecutively (1, 2, 3, …).

• Author Names: The name(s) and surname(s) of the author(s) must appear directly below the article title, centered, bold, in Times New Roman, 10-point font, with single line spacing. A footnote should provide the author's academic title, institutional affiliation, e-mail address, and ORCID ID. Author information must not appear in the full-text manuscript; it should be included only on the cover page. Following successful peer review and acceptance for publication, author information will be added by the layout editor.

• Studies Derived from Theses or Other Academic Works: If the manuscript is derived from a graduate thesis, conference paper, or another scientific study, this should be indicated in a footnote attached to the title. However, this information must appear only on the cover page and not in the full-text manuscript.

• Explanatory Notes: If necessary, explanatory notes should be provided as footnotes at the bottom of the page in 8-point font.

• Direct Quotations: Direct quotations should be incorporated into the text using parenthetical citation style.

The language used throughout the manuscript must be clear, concise, and consistent with academic writing standards. Spelling and punctuation should conform to the guidelines of the Turkish Language Association (TDK).

The manuscript should consist of the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. When applicable, an Acknowledgments section should be included after the main text and before the References.

The References section must begin on a new page at the end of the manuscript and be prepared in accordance with the APA 7th edition guidelines.

The following files must be submitted in full when uploading the manuscript:

1. Cover Page: The cover page must include the Turkish and English abstracts as well as the author(s)' information.
2. Full Text: The manuscript must be prepared in accordance with the journal's author guidelines.

The official manuscript template must be used when preparing the full text.

The full-text manuscript must not contain any author information.

If the study is derived from a thesis, conference paper, or similar academic work, this information must also be omitted from the full-text manuscript.

      3.Copyright Transfer Statement: The Copyright Transfer Statement must be signed with a handwritten signature and uploaded as a PDF file.

      4.Declaration of No Requirement for Ethics Committee Approval: If the study requires ethics committee approval, the ethics committee approval document must be uploaded. If ethics committee approval is not required, a signed Declaration of No Requirement for Ethics Committee Approval must be uploaded as a PDF file.

In addition, this statement must be included in the relevant section of the full-text manuscript.

       5.Artificial Intelligence Usage Ethics Declaration Form: This form must bear a handwritten signature.

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened using plagiarism detection software. The overall plagiarism/similarity index must not exceed 20%. In addition, the similarity index from any single source must not exceed 3%. Manuscripts exceeding these thresholds will be rejected. Plagiarism/similarity reports are generated using Turnitin and iThenticate software.

Author Changes: Requests for changes in authorship are considered only before the manuscript has been accepted for publication. Authors are strongly advised to carefully review both the list and the order of authors prior to submission and to provide the final and definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission.

Note: If any of the required documents are missing, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision and completion.

PUBLICATION POLICY

Şırnak University Journal of Health Sciences is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal that publishes original studies with high scientific value and in compliance with the principles of academic ethics in the field of health sciences.

Publication Principles

1. Şırnak University Journal of Health Sciences publishes original research articles, review articles, case reports, and letters to the editor in the field of health sciences.
2. The journal is published electronically with two issues per year.
3. All manuscripts submitted to the journal must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
4. Manuscripts submitted to the journal must comply with the rules of scientific publication ethics. Plagiarism, fabrication, data manipulation, and ethical violations are not accepted.
5. All manuscripts submitted to the journal are evaluated through a double-blind peer-review system. The identities of reviewers and authors are kept mutually confidential.
6. All submitted manuscripts are first subject to a preliminary evaluation by the Editor. Manuscripts found suitable are assigned to the Section Editor and evaluated by at least two independent reviewers.
7. The final decision regarding the acceptance of manuscripts for publication rests with the Editor-in-Chief.
8. The journal may request revisions to manuscripts whenever deemed necessary in order to improve their scientific quality.

Open Access Policy

Şırnak University Journal of Health Sciences is an open-access journal. All articles published in the journal are freely accessible, downloadable, readable, and shareable.

The journal supports the free dissemination of knowledge and encourages scientific information to reach a wide audience.

Article Processing Charges

Submission, peer review, and publication in Şırnak University Journal of Health Sciences are completely free of charge. No submission, evaluation, or publication fees are requested from authors.

Publication Ethics

Our journal requires that all studies in any scientific discipline requiring ethics committee approval must have obtained approval from the relevant ethics committee prior to submission. Accordingly, information regarding the ethics committee approval (name of the ethics committee, date of approval, and approval/reference number) must be explicitly stated in the manuscript. For case reports, the manuscript must also include a statement confirming that written informed consent was obtained from the participant.

In accordance with the regulations implemented by ULAKBİM TR Dizin (TR Index) since 2020, studies that do not have the required ethics committee approval will not be considered for evaluation by our journal.

Research Requiring Ethics Committee Approval

Within the scope of our journal, research requiring ethics committee approval includes the following:

• All qualitative and quantitative studies involving the collection of data from participants through methods such as questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, observations, experiments, or other interview-based techniques;
• Studies involving the experimental or other scientific use of humans or animals, including biological materials and data;
• Clinical studies conducted on human participants;
• Scientific research conducted on animals;
• Retrospective studies involving personal data within the scope of the Personal Data Protection Law.

To be eligible for evaluation, such studies must have obtained the appropriate ethics committee approval, and details of the approval must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Note: Scientific research involving humans or animals must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the ARRIVE Guidelines and must receive approval from the relevant ethics committee. Manuscripts lacking the required ethics committee approval will not be considered for evaluation by our journal.

Copyright Policy

Authors retain the copyright of their published works and grant permission for their work to be published in the journal.

Published articles may be used provided that proper citation is given.

Archiving Policy

All articles published in the journal are archived electronically to ensure long-term access.

Permanent access to the articles is provided through the DergiPark infrastructure.