Turkish Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care

The aim of the journal is to provide new knowledge in medical decision-making, healthcare delivery, medical education and research methodology to improve primary care.

The focus of the journal is on articles produced in the primary care setting that support, provide new evidence for, or discuss the daily work of family physicians and the primary care team, but articles from other disciplines that contribute to the delivery of primary care are also welcomed.

TJFMPC accepts original research articles, invited review articles, case reports and letters to the editor in Turkish and English.

TJFMPC applies a double-blind peer review policy.

Manuscript preparation rules:

Manuscript style: Manuscripts should be prepared with the Microsoft Word program, and the text should be written in “Times New Roman” in 10 font size and single-spaced. Line numbers should be given.
Word limit: It is recommended that manuscripts should not exceed 3000 words for research articles, 4000 words for qualitative studies, 4000 words for review articles, 750 words for letters to the editor, and 2500 words for case reports.
Abbreviations, symbols and units: Abbreviations should be written in parentheses at the first occurrence and then used as abbreviations in the text. Genus and species names should be in Latin and italicized. All measurements should be indicated according to the International System of Units. (https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units)
Tables and figures: No more than seven for all fonts and no more than two for letters to the editor. All views (photographs, drawings, diagrams, charts, graphs, maps, etc.) that do not contain tables should be called figures. Each table and figure should be placed in its proper place in the text and should be cited in the text. References in the text should be given in parentheses and with the number of the relevant image. If more than one image is to be referred to, the relevant numbers should be separated by hyphens (e.g. Table 1-2). All tables and figures should be numbered consecutively in the text. Abbreviations used should be explained under figures and tables. Illustrations/photographs should be in color, with enough contrast and clarity to see the details. In order to ensure clear printing, figures, images/photographs should be submitted to the journal as separate tif, .png, .jpg or .gif files (scanned at a resolution of at least 300 dpi).

A manuscript should consist of the following sections:

1. Title (in Turkish and English): The title should summarize the main finding. It should preferably specify the study population or setting and the study design. The study design (sub) should be clearly stated in the title. For other types of articles, the title should be a concise description of the main message of the article.
2. Abstract (Turkish and English): It should be structured as introduction, method, findings, and conclusion for research articles, and without sections for other types of articles, and should not exceed 250 words.
3.Keywords (Turkish and English): There should be between 2-5 keywords. Turkish keywords should be given in accordance with Turkish Scientific Terms (https://www.bilimterimleri.com/) and English keywords should be given in accordance with Medical Subject Headings (https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/search).
4. Subheadings according to font:
5. a. Research papers: Introduction, method, findings, discussion, conclusion,
6. b. Case presentations: Introduction, case, discussion, conclusion,
7. c. Review, letter to the editor: May include titles and sub-titles determined by the author(s).
8. Financial Support: Financial support for the conduct of the research should be indicated. If there is no funding source, this should be reported as “This research has not received a grant from any funding organization/sector.”
9. Ethical Statement: “This study ....... Ethics Committee (Date, number no) approved this study."
10. Conflict of Interest: If the authors have no conflict of interest, it should be written as “The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.”
11. Acknowledgments: Those who did not meet the criteria for authorship but contributed to the study should be included in the acknowledgments section of the study. Acknowledgements to individuals, grants, funds, projects, etc. should be kept short, and names should be written clearly and completely.
12. Additional Information: If the study was produced from a medical specialty, master's or doctoral thesis or presented at scientific meetings, information about its previous use should be given according to the following conditions.
13. - If the study was published as an abstract; the title of the abstract, the name of the event, date and place should be written.
14. - If the study is derived from a thesis, the name of the thesis, the name of the advisor, the university and institute where it was done, the date and place of completion should be written.
15. - For articles produced from studies presented outside the specified conditions and some of which have been published, the event information should be written in a distinctive way.
16. References: It is recommended not to exceed 30 for research articles, 50 for review articles, 20 for case reports, and 10 for letters to the editor. References should be written in the order in which they appear in the article and should be cited in the text or at the end of a sentence as a superscript immediately after the punctuation mark. The author(s) is responsible for the accuracy of the references.
17. The reference style uses an ANSI standard style adapted by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Journal names should be abbreviated as they appear in the NLM Catalog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals)
18. Examples of commonly used references are provided below (special attention to punctuation is important). For other citation examples, the author(s) may refer to https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.

Authors are encouraged to follow the CONSORT guidelines for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, STARD for diagnostic/prognostic studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, ARRIVE for preclinical studies with experimental animals, TREND for non-randomized behavioral and community health interventional studies, and CARE for case reports. These reporting guidelines are available from the EQUATOR network (www.equator-network.org/home/) and the National Library of Medicine-NLM “Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives” website (www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html).

Excerpt from the articles

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7.
Meneton P, Jeunemaitre X, de Wardener HE, et al. Links between dietary salt intake, renal salt handling, blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases. Physiol Rev. 2005; 85:679-715.
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.
Ellingsen AE, Wilhelmsen I. [Disease anxiety among medical students and law students]. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2002 Mar 20;122(8):785-7. Norwegian.
Journal article (author name not specified): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Licensure of a meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Menveo) and guidance for use--Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2010;59(9):273.

Book excerpt:
Curren W. Youth and health. In: Neinstein LS, editor. Adolescent Health Care a Practical Guide. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincoatt Williams & Wilkins; 2002. p.1417-31.
Helmann GC. Cultural aspect of stress and suffering. In: Culture, Health and Illness. 5th ed. Florida: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group; 2007. p.288-99.
Online/eBook: Bowden F. Gone Viral: The Germs that Share Our Lives. Sydney, Australia: NewSouth; 2011. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stkate-ebooks/reader.action?docID=731512&ppg=1. Accessed May 23, 2017.
Online/eBook chapter: Dwyer J. Nutrient requirements and dietary assessment. In: Kasper DL, Fauci AS, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL Loscalzo, eds. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 19th ed. New York, NY: McGrawHill; 2015. http://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/bookid=1130. Accessed August 23, 2017

Excerpt from the thesis
Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002. p. 5-12.

Excerpt from the congress proceedings
Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

Excerpt from their website
StatePublicHealth.org [Internet]. Washington (DC): ASTHO; [cited 2007 Feb 23]. Available from: http://statepublichealth.org/
American Medical Association [Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2016 [cited 2016 Dec 27]. Office of International Medicine; [about 2 screens]. Available from: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/office-international-medicine

Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Ethical Principles

As Turkish Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (TJFMPC), the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge in a fair, objective and reliable manner is one of our primary values. In our publication processes, ethical principles and responsibilities established by taking into account the guidelines and policies determined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) should be meticulously implemented by all stakeholders. These stakeholders include authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members and readers.

TJFMPC follows the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity in its scientific research and publication processes. These guidelines are recognized as an international reference to ensure integrity and transparency in research. For detailed information
(https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/other/hi/h2020-ethics_code-of-conduct_en.pdf).

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

- Originality and Citation: The manuscripts submitted to TJFMPC must be original and the references used must be cited correctly and completely. In the absence of citation, the article cannot be published.
- Authorship Criteria: Individuals who do not make an intellectual contribution to the work should not be listed as authors. Authors should be listed in accordance with internationally recognized authorship criteria.
- Conflicts of Interest: Authors should clearly declare any potential conflicts of interest in their manuscript.
- Raw Data Presentation: Authors are required to share raw data with editors and reviewers when necessary during the review process.
- Copyright Transfer Form: All authors must sign a copyright transfer form at the time of manuscript submission. This form confirms the transfer of all copyrights to the journal.
- Plagiarism Check: All submitted manuscripts are checked with anti-plagiarism software (e.g. iThenticate etc.) and manuscripts with a similarity rate below 15% are included in the evaluation process. This practice is mandatory to ensure the originality of the study.
- Ethics Committee Approval and Informed Consent: Ethics committee approval must be obtained for research on humans and an informed consent form must be obtained from the participants. These documents should be specified in the Methods section of the article and sent to the journal. For studies conducted on animals, the approval of the relevant experimental animal ethics committee must be obtained and this document must be submitted to the journal.
- Errors and Corrections: Authors should immediately notify the editors and make the necessary corrections when they notice errors in published or under review manuscripts.
- Republishing: The same manuscript cannot be submitted to more than one journal, and a manuscript already published in another journal cannot be submitted to TJFMPC.
- Changing Author Order and Responsibilities: Once the review process has started, the author order cannot be changed, authors cannot be added or removed.
- Use of Commercial Products and Names: Any commercial product or brand name used in the studies should not be included. Studies should be presented in an unbiased manner without making comparisons based on products or brands.

Authors should contribute in accordance with the transparency and accountability criteria developed by McNutt et al. These criteria aim to ensure that the contributions of the authors to the manuscript are clearly stated and that the integrity of the scientific publication is ensured.

Ethical Duties and Responsibilities of Editors

- Independence and Transparency: Editors are responsible for every published work and should make decisions with independence. Publication processes should be independent of economic or political pressures.
- Review Processes: All manuscripts are evaluated by a double-blind peer review system. Editors should make fair decisions by taking into account the scientific value, originality and contributions of the articles.
- Feedback: An open and informative feedback process should be conducted with authors and reviewers.
- Conflicts of Interest: Editors should carefully manage conflicts of interest that may arise between authors, reviewers and other editors.
While ensuring the journal's compliance with ethical rules, the editors act in accordance with the scientific research and publication ethics rules** determined by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). In this context, the standards of accuracy and integrity of scientific research are carried out according to the guidance of YÖK.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Expertise and Impartiality: Reviewers should only evaluate manuscripts within their area of expertise and should act impartially.
The evaluation process of manuscripts submitted to TJFMPC is carried out by **double blind reviewing system**. The double-blind review process is a system in which the reviewers and authors are not aware of each other's identities, and impartiality and confidentiality are essential. The aim of this method is to evaluate the scientific quality and originality of the study without bias and to ensure that the process operates in an objective and fair environment.

**Functioning of the Double Blind Review System:**

1. Confidentiality of Identity: In the double-blind system, the identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential throughout the article evaluation process. Author information is not added to the article or anonymized. Reviewers also remain anonymous and cannot contact the author directly. All communication and feedback is provided through the editor via the journal management system.
2. Evaluation and Impartiality: Reviewers participate in the evaluation process by accepting only papers that fall within their area of expertise. Since the identity of the author is not known, the evaluation is based solely on the content, methodology and scientific contribution of the work. This system ensures a fair evaluation process based on the scientific quality of the work.
3. Confidentiality Obligation: Reviewers are obliged to keep all information obtained during the evaluation process confidential. Any information or ideas obtained about the manuscripts are destroyed at the end of the process and are not shared with third parties. Failure to observe the principle of confidentiality is considered a serious ethical violation.
4. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Reviewers should immediately notify the editor if they recognize a conflict of interest during the review process. In case of conflict of interest, the reviewer should withdraw from the review process. This is important to ensure that the reviewer performs the review with complete impartiality.
5. Feedback and Constructive Criticism: During the double-blind review process, the reviewers' feedback should be instructive and constructive for the authors. Reviewers are obliged to address only the scientific rigor and methods of the manuscript. It is important for scientific ethics that the language used in the feedback process is respectful and constructive. Referee feedback is taken into account by the author for corrections to be made on the manuscript and helps to improve the manuscript.

The double-blind review system ensures unbiased evaluation of the work by concealing the identities of the authors. This method prioritizes scientific objectivity by reducing bias in the manuscript evaluation process and supports the creation of high quality scientific publications in accordance with the ethical principles of TJFMPC.
Reviewers should check whether the study complies with ethical guidelines for the protection of human and animal rights. If an ethical violation is detected, the referees are obliged to report it to the editor.

Ethical Responsibilities of the Publisher

- Publication Time Limit and Delay: It is aimed to complete the publication process of articles submitted to TJFMPC within a maximum of 6 months. Corrections requested by the referee or author are not included in this timeframe.
- Withdrawal and Correction Procedure: Articles cannot be retracted once the refereeing process has begun; however, if a serious error is detected in a published article, editors may publish corrections or expressions of concern. However, retraction is only by editorial decision.
Articles published in TJFMPC are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This license permits the sharing of published content for non-commercial purposes and requires attribution to the authors.

Informed Consent Policy

TJFMPC strictly adheres to the requirement of informed consent in all human and animal research. Our informed consent policy is carried out in accordance with the principles set by the **Helsinki Declaration 2024** and **International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)**. Consent and ethics committee approval must be obtained for clinical studies on human or animal specimens and must be clearly stated in the methodology section.

In studies conducted with human volunteers, participants must be informed about the research procedures and a written consent form must be signed. In all studies using human data, relevant permissions should be obtained and authors should keep these documents for legal cases.

For studies based on animal experiments, approval from the relevant ethical institutions should be obtained and this information should be stated in the materials and methods section of the article.

Transparent Reporting of Artificial Intelligence Use

Authors must clearly indicate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in content submitted to TJFMPC if:

(a) In any content made available to us,
(b) Content related to other works of the authors,
(c) In the references cited.

The use of AI should be transparently disclosed with the following information:

- Statement of Contribution: The use of AI technologies should be clearly stated in the “Statement of Contribution” section of the article.
- Methods Section: If AI is included in the research process, a detailed explanation should be provided in the methodology section.

Information on the Use of AI

Authors should provide the following information on the use of AI technologies:

- AI Technology Used: The name of the AI technology used should be clearly stated.
- Reason for Use: The purpose for which AI is used should be explained.

Evaluation of the Use of AI

TJFMPC assesses whether the use of AI technologies and transparent reporting of this use is in accordance with journal policies. If there is insufficient disclosure or inappropriate use of AI, the manuscript may be rejected.

This text clearly presents the ethical principles of the Turkish Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (TJFMPC) and its transparency policy regarding the use of AI.

No fee is charged to the author or his/her organisation under any name

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