Instructions for Authors

1. General Principles

Troia Medical Journal is a peer-reviewed, open-access medical journal published electronically three times a year. The journal publishes Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Case Reports, and Letters to the Editor across the medical sciences.

All submissions must present scientifically relevant content appropriate to the scope of the journal. Research manuscripts should be based on a clearly defined research question and appropriate methodology. Titles should accurately reflect the content of the manuscript, and references should be relevant, current, and sufficient to support the scientific context of the work.

Troia Medical Journal operates under a Diamond Open Access model. No submission fee, evaluation fee, article processing charge (APC), publication fee, page charge, color figure charge, or other publication-related fee is charged to authors.

Published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0). Detailed information is provided in the journal’s Open Access, Fees, Copyright, and Licensing Policy.

2. Language and Style

Manuscripts may be submitted in Turkish or English.

All manuscripts must include the title, abstract, and keywords in both Turkish and English, as specified for each article type.

Turkish manuscripts should comply with the current spelling and punctuation rules of the Turkish Language Association (Türk Dil Kurumu). English manuscripts should be written in clear and professional academic English.

The Editorial Office may request language revision when necessary and may make minor editorial corrections related to grammar, spelling, punctuation, terminology, and journal style, provided that such changes do not alter the scientific meaning of the manuscript.

3. Scientific, Ethical, and Statistical Integrity

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts comply with accepted scientific and ethical standards and with the journal’s Ethical Principles and Publication Policy.

Submissions that do not comply with the journal’s scientific, ethical, technical, or publication requirements may be returned to the authors for correction or rejected during editorial screening.

Authors are responsible for the appropriateness and accuracy of all statistical analyses. Exact p values should be reported whenever appropriate (for example, p = 0.025), while very small values may be reported using threshold notation (for example, p < 0.001).

When considered necessary by the editors, a manuscript may be referred to a statistical editor or an independent statistical reviewer at any stage of the evaluation process. Serious or unresolved methodological or statistical concerns may constitute grounds for rejection.

For research involving human participants, human data or biological materials, or animals, appropriate ethics committee/institutional review board approval or exemption must be obtained when applicable. Relevant approval or exemption information, including the committee name, decision or reference number, and date where available, should be stated in the manuscript.

4. Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain the copyright of their published work.

Each submission must be accompanied by the journal’s Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form. By submitting the signed form, the authors agree that, if the manuscript is accepted, the published article will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0).

Under this license, users may copy and redistribute the published material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the original publication and a link to the license is provided. If the material is remixed, transformed, or built upon, the modified material may not be distributed.

Detailed copyright, licensing, reuse, and self-archiving conditions are provided in the journal’s Open Access, Fees, Copyright, and Licensing Policy.

5. Self-Archiving and Repository Policy

Authors may deposit the accepted manuscript and/or the final published version of their article in institutional, subject-based, or other appropriate repositories without an embargo period.

Deposited versions should include the full bibliographic citation and, when available, the DOI link to the version published in Troia Medical Journal.

Repository copies must comply with the CC BY-ND 4.0 license. If a published article is subsequently corrected, retracted, or otherwise updated, authors are encouraged to ensure that repository records clearly reflect the current status of the article.

6. Required Submission Files and Documentation

Authors should provide the following files and information at initial submission, as applicable:

1. Title Page and Cover Letter, submitted separately from the anonymized manuscript.
2. An anonymized Main Manuscript File.
3. Tables and figures in accordance with the file requirements specified below.
4. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form.
5. ICMJE Disclosure Form completed individually by each author.
6. Ethics committee/institutional review board approval or exemption documentation, when applicable.
7. Patient informed consent documentation or declaration, when applicable.
8. Reporting guideline checklist and/or flow diagram, when required for the relevant study design.

Authors must disclose any use of artificial intelligence-assisted technologies, including large language models, chatbots, or image-generation tools, in the preparation of the submitted work. Such use should be described in the Cover Letter and, where appropriate, in the manuscript. Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and appropriate attribution of all submitted content.

7. Article Types

Troia Medical Journal considers the following article types:

• Original Research Articles
• Review Articles
• Case Reports
• Letters to the Editor

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are considered within the Review Article category and should comply with the relevant reporting standards, including PRISMA where applicable.

Manuscripts must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal. Submissions that substantially overlap with previously published or submitted work must be disclosed to the Editorial Office and appropriately referenced.

Duplicate or redundant publication, undisclosed substantial overlap, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate authorship, and other forms of research or publication misconduct are handled in accordance with the journal’s Ethical Principles and Publication Policy and relevant COPE guidance.

8. Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to Troia Medical Journal undergo an initial technical and editorial assessment before peer review.

During technical evaluation, submissions are checked for completeness, compliance with the journal’s submission requirements, required documentation, anonymization, and general formatting. Manuscripts are also routinely screened using similarity-detection software. Similarity reports are evaluated by the editors in context; the similarity percentage alone does not determine whether a manuscript will proceed to further evaluation.

Following technical screening, the Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor evaluates the manuscript for scientific relevance, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and suitability for the journal’s scope. Manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s editorial or scientific standards may be rejected without external peer review.

Manuscripts considered suitable for further evaluation undergo double-anonymized (double-blind) peer review. The identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other during the review process.

Each manuscript undergoing external peer review is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise. Additional reviewer opinions may be obtained when necessary, particularly when reviewer recommendations differ substantially or when specialized methodological expertise is required.

Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, confidential, and evidence-based assessments and to disclose any potential competing interests that could affect their evaluation.

The Editor-in-Chief has final authority over all editorial decisions, including acceptance, revision, and rejection.

Troia Medical Journal does not guarantee acceptance or a specific duration for the peer-review process. Scientific quality and integrity take precedence over the speed of editorial evaluation.

9. Reporting Guidelines and Clinical Trial Registration

Authors should prepare manuscripts in accordance with internationally recognized reporting guidelines appropriate to the study design.

Relevant guidelines include, but are not limited to:

• CONSORT for randomized controlled trials
• STROBE for observational studies
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies
• TRIPOD for prediction model studies
• CARE for case reports
• ARRIVE for animal studies
• SQUIRE for quality-improvement studies
• CHEERS for health economic evaluations
• COREQ or SRQR for qualitative research

Where applicable, authors may be required to submit the relevant checklist and/or flow diagram together with the manuscript.

Clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible trial registry that meets internationally recognized standards. When prospective registration is required, registration should occur before enrollment of the first participant. The registry name and registration number must be reported in the manuscript.

10. Technical Formatting and Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word-compatible format (.doc or .docx).

The manuscript should be prepared on A4-sized pages, using a standard 12-point font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica, with double-line spacing and margins of at least 2.5 cm on all sides.

Authors should avoid unnecessary or complex automatic formatting. Automatic heading numbering, page or section breaks, headers and footers, automated bullets or numbering, and other formatting features that may interfere with editorial processing should be avoided unless specifically required.

Section headings should be clear and consistent. Headings should not be numbered unless otherwise specified by the journal.

International System of Units (SI) should be used throughout the manuscript.

A period should be used as the decimal separator in both Turkish and English manuscripts (for example, 2.5, 0.025).

Abbreviations should be defined at first use and used consistently thereafter. Non-standard abbreviations should be avoided whenever possible.

11. Tables and Figures

General Principles

Tables and figures should be limited to those necessary to present and support the main findings of the manuscript. Data should not be unnecessarily duplicated in the text, tables, and figures.

All tables and figures must be cited in the text in numerical order using Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2; Figure 1, Figure 2).

A maximum of six tables and six figures is permitted in the main article. Additional tables or figures that provide relevant supporting information may be submitted as supplementary material. In exceptional circumstances, the editors may allow additional tables or figures when scientifically justified.

Previously published tables or figures may only be reproduced or adapted when permitted by the applicable copyright and licensing terms. Authors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions and appropriately acknowledging the original source.

Tables

Tables should be prepared as editable tables rather than images.

Each table must have a concise, self-explanatory title and should be understandable without extensive reference to the main text.

Explanatory information, definitions of non-standard abbreviations, and statistical information should be provided in table footnotes where appropriate.

Tables should be submitted as separate editable Word files unless otherwise specified by the submission system.

Tables should not duplicate information already fully presented in the text or figures.

Figures

Graphs, charts, diagrams, illustrations, photographs, radiological images, histopathological images, flow diagrams, and other non-tabular visual material should be designated as figures.

Figures must be submitted as separate high-quality digital files. Photographic and other raster images should generally have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at the intended publication size. Higher resolution may be required for line drawings or graphics containing fine detail.

Appropriate high-quality file formats, including JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PDF, or other formats accepted by the journal’s production process, may be used according to the type of figure.

Text, symbols, labels, arrows, and other markers within figures must remain clearly legible at publication size. Figure panels should be identified consistently (for example, A, B, C, D).

Figure legends should explain the content sufficiently for the figure to be understood independently of the main text and should define all symbols, abbreviations, and markings used.

For photomicrographs, magnification or scale information and the staining method should be provided where applicable.

For clinical photographs or other images in which a patient may be identifiable, appropriate written informed consent for publication must be obtained.

Manipulation of digital images that could alter, obscure, enhance, remove, or misrepresent scientifically relevant information is not permitted. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance may only be applied to the entire image and must not alter the interpretation of the original data.

12. Title Page and Cover Letter

Title Page

The Title Page must be submitted separately from the anonymized main manuscript and should include:

• Full title of the manuscript in Turkish and English
• Running title in Turkish and English, with a maximum of 40 characters each
• Full names of all authors
• Institutional affiliations of all authors
• Email addresses of all authors
• ORCID iDs of all authors
• Identification of the corresponding author
• Corresponding author’s institutional/postal address, email address, and telephone number
• Word count for the main manuscript and abstract
• Number of tables and figures
• Funding information, where applicable
• Competing interest declaration
• Previous presentation of the study at a scientific meeting, if applicable

Information identifying the authors or their institutions must not appear in the anonymized main manuscript.

Cover Letter

The Cover Letter should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and should briefly explain the scientific relevance and significance of the submitted work.

The Cover Letter should also confirm that:

• the manuscript has not previously been published, except where explicitly disclosed;
• the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal;
• all authors have approved the submitted version and agree with its submission to Troia Medical Journal;
• all relevant funding and competing interests have been disclosed;
• ethical approval and informed consent requirements have been fulfilled where applicable;
• any previous presentation of the work at a scientific meeting has been disclosed; and
• the use of artificial intelligence-assisted technologies has been disclosed when applicable.

13. Article-Specific Requirements

The main requirements for each article type are summarized below.

For Original Research Articles, Case Reports, and Review Articles, the stated word limit includes the Turkish and English abstracts but excludes the reference list.

For Letters to the Editor, the word limit applies to the main text and excludes the Turkish and English abstracts and references.

Original Research Articles

Original Research Articles should include the following sections:

Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments where applicable, References, Table Titles, and Figure Legends.

The Turkish and English abstracts should correspond in content and should be structured using the following headings:

Turkish: Amaç, Yöntem, Bulgular, Sonuç

English: Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion

Original Research Articles must not exceed 5,000 words, including both abstracts but excluding references, and may include no more than 40 references.

Authors should follow the reporting guideline appropriate to the study design, as specified in Section 9.

Case Reports

Case Reports should include the following sections:

Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, Acknowledgments where applicable, References, Table Titles, and Figure Legends.

The Turkish and English abstracts should be unstructured and correspond in content. Each abstract should contain 100–250 words.

Case Reports must not exceed 3,000 words, including both abstracts but excluding references, and may include no more than 20 references.

Case Reports should be prepared in accordance with the CARE reporting guideline where applicable. Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from the patient or the patient’s legally authorized representative when required.

Review Articles

Review Articles should include the following sections:

Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, appropriate subject-specific headings, Discussion and/or Conclusion, Acknowledgments where applicable, References, Table Titles, and Figure Legends.

The Turkish and English abstracts should be unstructured and correspond in content. Each abstract should contain 100–250 words.

Review Articles must not exceed 7,000 words, including both abstracts but excluding references. There is no fixed limit on the number of references; however, references should be relevant, current, and appropriate to the scope of the review.

Narrative reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses are considered within the Review Article category. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should comply with PRISMA or other applicable reporting guidelines.

Letters to the Editor

Troia Medical Journal considers the following types of Letters to the Editor:

1. Letters invited by the Editor.
2. Letters providing criticism, commentary, contribution, or scholarly discussion regarding an article published in Troia Medical Journal.
3. Letters presenting an evidence-based scholarly perspective or expert opinion on a current topic within the scope of the journal. This category may also include scholarly discussion of articles published in other scientific journals.

All Letters to the Editor undergo initial editorial assessment. Letters considered suitable for further evaluation undergo double-anonymized (double-blind) peer review by at least two independent reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief has final authority over publication decisions.

When a letter discusses an article published in Troia Medical Journal, the authors of the original article may be invited to submit a response.

Letters to the Editor may have no more than three authors.

Letters must not contain previously unpublished original research data. Manuscripts presenting original data or primary research findings should be submitted under the appropriate article type.

Letters must include Turkish and English titles, unstructured abstracts, and keywords. Each abstract must not exceed 100 words, and 3–6 keywords must be provided in each language.

The main text, excluding the abstracts and references, must not exceed 1,000 words. The reference list is limited to 10 references.

When a letter comments on or responds to a previously published article, the relevant article must be cited in the text and included in the reference list.

14. Keywords and Acknowledgments

Three to six keywords must be provided in both Turkish and English for all article types.

English keywords should be selected from the National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

Turkish keywords should preferably be selected from Türkiye Bilim Terimleri (TBT), which provides standardized Turkish terminology based on MeSH.

The Turkish and English keywords should correspond conceptually to each other and accurately reflect the main content of the article.

An Acknowledgments section may be included when appropriate to recognize individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria, as well as technical, editorial, or other non-author assistance.

Individuals named in the Acknowledgments section should be informed and, where appropriate, permission to name them should be obtained.

Use of artificial intelligence-assisted technologies for writing or editorial assistance must be disclosed as specified in Section 6.

15. References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all references.

References should be prepared according to Vancouver style and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text.

References should be cited in the text using Arabic numbers in square brackets, for example [1], [2,3], or [4-6].

If a reference has three or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. If a reference has more than three authors, the first three authors should be listed followed by “et al.”

Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the National Library of Medicine Catalog/Index Medicus. Journal titles without a recognized NLM abbreviation should be written in full.

Whenever available, the DOI should be included at the end of the reference.

Authors should preferentially cite original, relevant, and current sources. References that do not directly support statements made in the manuscript should be avoided.

The following formats should be used:

Journal Article

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;Volume(Issue):FirstPage-LastPage. doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx

Book

Author AA, Author BB. Title of Book. Edition. City: Publisher; Year.

Book Chapter

Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, eds. Title of Book. Edition. City: Publisher; Year:FirstPage-LastPage.

Conference Presentation

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of presentation. Paper presented at: Name of Scientific Meeting; Date; City, Country.

Online Source

Author or Organization. Title of webpage or document. URL. Published or updated date, if available. Accessed Month Day, Year.

Thesis or Dissertation

Author AA. Title of thesis [master’s thesis/doctoral dissertation]. City: University; Year.