Ege Journal of Medicine is the official publication of Ege University Faculty of Medicine and is published quarterly, in March, June, September and December. The journal aims to publish current, high-quality and original work in all fields of medicine.

Submissions uploaded to the journal website are first assessed by the editorial office for technical compliance, including whether all required files (main text, title page containing author information, ethics committee approval where applicable, informed consent form where necessary, similarity report, author contribution form, copyright transfer form, etc.) have been uploaded completely and appropriately, whether the manuscript adheres to the journal’s author guidelines, and whether tables and figures have been prepared in a format suitable for the journal. Manuscripts that do not meet these technical requirements are returned to the corresponding author for correction. Manuscripts that pass the technical check undergo a preliminary scientific evaluation by the Editor-in-Chief or a section editor designated by the Editor-in-Chief. Manuscripts deemed suitable at this stage proceed to peer review, whereas those that do not comply with the publication requirements are returned to the corresponding author for revision. Manuscripts proceeding to peer review are sent by the editor or section editor to reviewers with expertise in the relevant subject or field. The peer-review process is conducted in a double-blind manner. Where necessary, the corresponding author is asked to make corrections or revisions in line with the reviewers’ and editors’ comments. A request for revision does not imply that the manuscript will be accepted for publication. Revisions must be completed and resubmitted to the journal within 21 days at the latest. At the end of the process, the corresponding author is notified of the decision: minor revision, major revision, acceptance or rejection.

Submission files are retained in accordance with the journal’s data retention and confidentiality policy, irrespective of the publication status of the manuscript.

Special Issues: Ege Journal of Medicine may publish special issues upon request. The scientific evaluation of manuscripts to be included in a special issue is the responsibility of the guest editor(s) of that issue. Manuscripts for special issues must be prepared in accordance with the journal’s author guidelines, and compliance with these guidelines is checked by the journal editor and the editorial board. Special issues are published exclusively in electronic format, at least twice a year. The languages of publication are Turkish and English.

Open Access and Article Processing

Ege Journal of Medicine provides open access to scientific publications. Once DOI numbers have been assigned, the electronically published issue and the full texts of all articles therein are freely accessible.

No fees are charged to authors for the publication of their manuscripts.

Readers may download the journal’s content free of charge for academic or educational purposes. The journal is freely available to everyone at all times. Open-access, free-of-charge publication is sustained through the financial support of Ege University and the voluntary contributions of editors and reviewers. 

Copyright

Ege Journal of Medicine permits articles to be shared under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Accordingly, authors and readers may copy, redistribute and adapt the work, provided that appropriate credit is given, the material is not used for commercial purposes, and any adaptations are distributed under the same license. No royalties are paid for articles published in the journal.

Self-Archiving in Institutional and Subject Repositories

Authors may deposit both the peer-reviewed, accepted version of their article and the final published version in institutional or subject repositories without any embargo period. The version being shared must be clearly indicated. After publication, the repository record must include the full bibliographic citation of the article, the DOI link, the copyright holder and the applicable license information. Sharing of the published version is subject to the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Language of Publication

The journal publishes articles in Turkish and English. Articles written in Turkish must include an English abstract that accurately and fully reflects the content of the Turkish abstract. A Turkish abstract is not required for articles written in English. During manuscript preparation, authors are advised to consult the Turkish Language Association (www.tdk.gov.tr) for Turkish vocabulary and the Turkish Medical Terminology resource (www.tipterimleri.com) for technical terms. Manuscripts written in English must be checked for spelling and grammar prior to submission. Manuscripts with inadequate language quality will not be considered for evaluation.

Authorship Criteria

At the time of submission, authors must upload a completed and signed “Copyright Transfer Form” bearing the names, surnames, ORCID numbers, dates and wet signatures of all authors, together with a completed and signed “Author Contribution Form” that sets out the authorship criteria and specifies each author’s contributions. These forms are available on the journal website.

Ege Journal of Medicine adopts the current authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authors must meet the authorship criteria set out in the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication”.

 Conditions of Authorship

 Each person listed as an author must meet all four of the following conditions:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data;

2. Drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

3. Final approval of the version to be published;

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All individuals who meet these conditions should be listed as authors, and those who meet the first condition should be given the opportunity to participate in drafting, critical revision and final approval of the manuscript. Acquisition of funding, general supervision of a research group or language editing alone does not justify authorship.

Contribution Statement and Acknowledgements

The contribution of each author is described in the Author Contribution Form and in the Author Contributions section of the manuscript. Contributions of individuals who do not meet the authorship criteria are listed in the Acknowledgements section, with their written permission. The specification of contributor roles does not in itself confer authorship.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and ensures that all submission documents are complete and that all authors have approved the manuscript. After publication, the corresponding author is responsible for responding to queries and for cooperating with any requests for additional information.

Changes in Authorship and Authorship Disputes

Any addition, removal or rearrangement of authors must be submitted to the editorial office together with a justification and the written consent of all authors, including those affected by the change. In the event of a dispute, the editorial process may be suspended and an investigation may be requested from the relevant institutions. Post-publication changes are communicated through an appropriate correction notice.

Undeserved Authorship and Artificial Intelligence

Listing individuals who have not contributed to the work as authors, or omitting individuals who meet the authorship criteria, is not acceptable. Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors; their use must be disclosed in accordance with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Use Policy. Authorship violations are handled within the scope of the journal’s policies on the investigation and correction of ethical misconduct.

 Rights of Authors

Authors have the right to an impartial evaluation, to the confidentiality of their submission information and to a reasoned notification of the editorial decision. Appeals and complaints regarding editorial decisions are addressed under the Complaints and Appeals Policy, while the right to respond to allegations of ethical misconduct is described in the section on the Investigation of Ethical Misconduct.

Ethical Responsibility

Ege Journal of Medicine publishes manuscripts that comply with ethical and scientific standards. The ethical, scientific and legal responsibility for articles published in the journal rests with the author(s), and the content does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or members of the editorial board.

For research requiring ethics committee approval, the corresponding approval document must be provided at the time of submission.

For case reports, and for the publication of any images, it must be stated that written informed consent has been obtained from the patient or their legal representative using the “Informed Consent Form”; this document must be submitted to the editorial office upon request.

In addition, authors must:

-              obtain and state permission from the copyright holders for the use of scales, questionnaires and photographs belonging to others; and

-              state that copyright regulations have been complied with for any intellectual and artistic works used.

Ethics committee approval must be obtained for all prospective and retrospective studies, including those involving experimental animals, and the name of the approving ethics committee, the date of approval (day-month-year) and the decision number must be stated in the “Materials and Methods” section. In all manuscripts in which patient privacy must be protected, identifying information and photographs of patients cannot be published without the written informed consent of the patient (or their legal guardian), in accordance with ethical and legal requirements. Therefore, the statement “Written informed consent was obtained from the patient (or their legal guardian) for the publication of their medical data” must be included in the “Materials and Methods” section (or at the end of the Introduction in manuscripts without a Materials and Methods section).

Manuscripts submitted for publication in the journal must not have been previously published elsewhere and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Studies previously presented at congresses must be declared in the Cover Letter addressed to the Editor. If the manuscript contains part of the subject matter of a previously published article by the same author(s), this must also be stated in the Cover Letter, and a copy of the previous article must be uploaded to the journal website together with the new submission files.

Conflict of interest: Authors are responsible for disclosing all personal and financial relationships that could be considered relevant to their work. In the presence of a commercial affiliation or of institution(s) providing financial support for the study, the nature of any relationship with the commercial products, drugs, companies, etc. used—or the absence of any conflict of interest—must be declared by completing the Conflict of Interest Form, which must be uploaded to the system, and must also be stated in the “Conflict of Interest” section of the manuscript. The Conflict of Interest Form is available at https://icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/translations/turkish-2023.pdf.

Data Availability Statement

Research articles must include a “Data Availability Statement” following the “Conflict of Interest” section. The statement must specify the repository and link where the data and, where applicable, the analysis code are deposited, the conditions for access upon request, or any restrictions that preclude data sharing. For detailed requirements, authors should refer to the journal’s “Data Sharing and Reproducibility” policy.

One of the following examples may be adapted as appropriate for the study:

- Open access: “The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [DOI or link].”

- Available upon request: “The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to [access conditions and required permissions].”

- Restricted sharing: “The data cannot be shared due to [reason for the privacy, consent or other restriction].”

- Not applicable: “Data sharing is not applicable to this article, as no new data were generated or analysed.”

Plagiarism screening: Ege Journal of Medicine does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Accordingly, all manuscripts submitted to the journal must be screened by the authors using licensed software (e.g., iThenticate), and the resulting similarity report must be uploaded to the system together with the manuscript files. The acceptable similarity index must be below 20%. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold are returned to the authors without evaluation.

ARTICLE TYPES

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically by logging in to the system at either egetipdergisi.com.tr or dergipark.org.tr/etd. Information on the sections required for each article type is provided under the heading “Manuscript Preparation”.

Research Articles present original studies on current topics that contribute new knowledge. These may include randomised controlled, observational, descriptive, diagnostic or therapeutic validation, clinical, experimental or animal studies. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are also accepted in this category. The main text should not exceed 3000 words, excluding references, the Turkish and English abstracts, and table and figure legends.

Case Reports should present a novel finding, a rare and noteworthy case or condition, or a diagnostic or therapeutic approach that may be of significant interest to readers. Case reports are limited to a maximum of five authors, 1000 words (excluding references) and 20 references. All individuals listed as authors must meet the ICMJE authorship criteria. Case reports may be supported by a maximum of two tables or two figures.

Clinical Images should present an original, interesting and high-quality image considered to be of educational value. They may include a maximum of five authors, five references, and either three figures or a single figure comprising no more than six panels (photographs, images, drawings, etc.). The text should not exceed 500 words, excluding references and the Turkish and English abstracts, and the figure legend should not exceed 100 words.

Technical Notes should describe a new and original application, technique, instrument or device developed for educational, research, diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. They may include a maximum of five authors, five references and one figure (photograph, image, drawing, graph, etc.) or table. The text should not exceed 500 words, excluding references, and the figure legend or table caption (if any) should not exceed 50 words.

Letters to the Editor concerning previously published articles should not exceed 500 words and may include up to five references and one table or figure. A right of reply is granted for letters relating to articles previously published in the journal. Scientific critiques of published articles and the authors’ responses are evaluated in accordance with the journal’s ‘Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections’ policy.

Invited Reviews are comprehensive evaluations of specialised topics in medicine, written at the invitation of the Editorial Board by experienced authors with recognised expertise in the field. Invited reviews are also subject to the journal’s peer-review process. They should not exceed 5000 words, excluding references and table and figure legends, and are limited to a maximum of five authors and 80 references. Review articles are not accepted unless invited.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

All manuscripts submitted to Ege Journal of Medicine must be prepared in accordance with the following guidelines.

General Format

a- The text must be double-spaced and typed in 10-point Arial font.

b- Page margins must be 2.5 cm.

c- Pages must be numbered in the upper right-hand corner, starting from the title page, and line numbers must be added (Microsoft Office Word™ – Layout – Line Numbers – Continuous).

d- Abbreviations must be defined at first mention in the text, with the full term followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, and used consistently throughout the manuscript. Abbreviations should be avoided in the title and abstract, and unnecessary abbreviations should be avoided in the text. Sentences must not begin with an abbreviation.

e- Products mentioned in the main text (drugs, devices, equipment, software, etc.) must be followed by the name of the manufacturer, city and country in parentheses. Example: Discovery ST PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA).

f- All units of measurement must conform to the metric system (International System of Units, SI). Examples: mg/kg, µg/kg, mL/min, µL/h, mmHg, etc. Measurements and statistical data must be expressed in numerals unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence.

g- For studies involving statistical analysis, the methods used, the assessment of assumptions, the level of significance and the name and version of the software used must be described in the ‘Materials and Methods’ section.

h- Numbers less than 10 that do not denote a unit of measurement, as well as numbers at the beginning of a sentence, must be written out in words. A comma must be used as the decimal separator in Turkish texts and a full stop (period) in English texts.

i- Manuscripts must be structured according to the sections specified for each article type.

* Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR Network) (https://www.equator-network.org/)

**Ege Journal of Medicine encourages the registration of all clinical trials in ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) or in one of the registries of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP: http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html). The name of the trial registry and the registration number must be provided at the end of the abstract.

Cover Letter

The cover letter, addressed to the Editor, must include the title of the manuscript, the article type, a brief explanation of why the manuscript merits publication in Ege Journal of Medicine, and the full names, ORCID numbers, institutional affiliations and contact details (telephone number, e-mail and postal address) of all authors, with the corresponding author clearly indicated. It must also contain a written statement that the manuscript has not been previously published elsewhere and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Ege Journal of Medicine does not accept any manuscript that has been previously published, accepted for publication or is under consideration elsewhere, even in another language. If the manuscript contains part of the subject matter of a previously published article by the same author(s), this must also be stated in the cover letter.

Manuscripts previously presented as an oral or poster presentation at a scientific meeting must be declared in the Cover Letter, together with details of the meeting (date, venue and name of the meeting), and this information must also be included as a note at the end of the abstract.

Main Text

The main text file, uploaded to the system in Microsoft Office Word™ format, must not contain the names or institutional affiliations of the authors. Depending on the article type, the main text must consist of the following sections:

- Research Article: Turkish title, Öz and Anahtar Sözcükler / English title, Abstract and Keywords / Introduction / Materials and Methods / Results / Discussion / Conclusion / Conflict of Interest / Acknowledgements (if any) / References / Tables (with titles and footnotes) / Figure Legends

- Case Report: Turkish title, Öz and Anahtar Sözcükler / English title, Abstract and Keywords / Introduction / Case Presentation / Discussion / Conclusion / Conflict of Interest / Acknowledgements (if any) / References / Table (with title and footnotes) / Figure Legend

- Clinical Image: Turkish title, Öz and Anahtar Sözcükler / English title, Abstract and Keywords / Case / Conflict of Interest / Acknowledgements (if any) / References / Figure Legends

- Technical Note: Turkish title, Öz and Anahtar Sözcükler / English title, Abstract and Keywords / Technical Note / Conflict of Interest / Acknowledgements (if any) / References / Table (with title and footnotes) (if any) / Figure Legend (if any)

Title

The title must be concise, clear and descriptive of the content of the manuscript, must not contain abbreviations, and must be provided in both Turkish and English.

Abstracts

Abstracts must be provided in Turkish (under the heading “Öz”) and in English (under the heading “Abstract”). For research articles, the abstract must be structured into four sections: Aim, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion (Amaç, Gereç ve Yöntem, Bulgular, Sonuç). Each of the Turkish and English abstracts must not exceed 250 words. The abstract should state the objective of the study, the procedures performed, the observational and analytical methods, the principal findings and the main conclusions. References should not be cited in the abstract, and abbreviations should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Abstracts of case reports, clinical images and technical notes must be unstructured and must not exceed 200 words. An abstract is not required for letters to the editor.

Keywords

At the end of the abstract, under the heading Keywords (Anahtar Sözcükler), a minimum of three and a maximum of five keywords representing the main topics of the article must be provided in accordance with the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of Index Medicus. Turkish keywords should preferably be selected from the Turkish Science Terms database (Türkiye Bilim Terimleri; www.bilimterimleri.com).

Text

The text of the manuscript must consist of the sections defined above for the relevant article type.

References

Ege Journal of Medicine attaches particular importance to the citation of national sources and expects authors to give due consideration to this matter.

References must be cited in the text and listed in the reference list in the “VANCOUVER” style. References must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, in the order in which they are first cited in the text, tables and figure legends, and placed in parentheses “()” either after the name cited within the sentence or at the end of the sentence, before the full stop. When more than one reference number is cited, the numbers must be separated by a comma and a space; for more than two consecutive numbers, the first and last numbers must be joined by a hyphen. Examples: (2, 5, 7); (3-7).

In the reference list, the volume and issue numbers of the cited journal must always be provided. When writing page ranges, only the digits of the final page number that differ from the first page number should be given. Examples: 45-8 instead of 45-48; 219-22 instead of 219-222.

References must be written in the language of the original source and formatted as shown in the following examples:

Journal articles:

Tkacova R, Toth S, Sin DD. Inhaled corticosteroids and survival in COPD patients receiving long-term home oxygen therapy. Respir Med 2006;100(3):385-92.

Supplements:

Solca M. Acute pain management: Unmet needs and new advances in pain management. Eur J Anaesthesiol 2002;19(Suppl 25):3-10.

Articles published ahead of print (E-pub):

Butterly SJ, Pillans P, Horn B, Miles R, Sturtevant J. Off-label use of rituximab in a tertiary Queensland hospital. Intern Med J doi: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2009.01988.x

Books:

Bilgehan H. Klinik Mikrobiyoloji. 2. Baskı. İzmir: Bilgehan Basımevi; 1986:137-40.

Book chapters:

McEwen WK, Goodner IK. Secretion of tears and blinking. In: Davson H (ed). The Eye. Vol. 3, 2nd ed. New York: Academic Press; 1969:34-78.

Online articles:

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: The ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet] 2002 [cited 12 Aug 2002]. Available from: www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/wawatch.htm

Websites:

Cancer-pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources [updated 16 May 2002; cited 9 July 2002]. Available from: www.cancer-pain.org

Tables

Tables should complement the text and must not duplicate information presented in the text. They must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text and labelled accordingly (e.g., Table 1). A short, descriptive title must be placed above each table, following the table number. Abbreviations used in a table must be defined immediately below the table. The following symbols may be used, in this order, for footnotes: *, †, ‡, §, ¶.

Figures

All drawings, illustrations, graphs and photographs must be referred to as “Figures” and uploaded to the system as separate files (.jpg, .png, .tif, etc., with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi). Figure files must be of high resolution and good quality. Figures must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, in parentheses, in the order in which they are cited in the text (e.g., Figure 1).

Figure Legends

Figure legends must be double-spaced and numbered with Arabic numerals corresponding to the respective figures. When symbols, arrows or letters are used to indicate specific parts of a figure, these must be explained in the legend. When figures previously published elsewhere are used, the authors must obtain permission, provide documentation thereof and acknowledge the source in the legend.

Measurements and Abbreviations

These are described under the heading “General Format” in the Manuscript Preparation section.

Documents to Be Uploaded at Submission

-       Cover Letter

-       Main Text

-       Title Page

-       Copyright Transfer Form

-       Author Contribution Form

-       Conflict of Interest Form

-       Figure(s)

-       Table(s)

-       Similarity report (e.g., iThenticate report)

-       Ethics committee approval document

REVISIONS

When submitting revised manuscripts, authors must highlight all changes made to the main text and, in addition, provide a point-by-point response to each reviewer comment in a separate “Response to Reviewers” file. In this file, each reviewer comment must be followed by the author’s response, together with an indication of where the corresponding change has been made in the manuscript. Revised manuscripts must be submitted to the journal within 21 days of the decision letter.

Editorial Correspondence

Ege University Rectorate, Directorate of Health Practice and Research Centre, Quality Directorate, Publication Unit

Bornova, 35100, İzmir, Türkiye

Tel: +90 232 390 31 03

E-mail: egetipdergisi@gmail.com

Website: egetipdergisi.com.tr