Instructions to Authors

The “Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology” is the official publication of the Turkish Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The journal is published quarterly (March, June, September and December) in English and publishes original peer-reviewed articles, reviews, case reports and commentaries in the fields of gynecology, gynecologic oncology, endocrinology and reproductive medicine and obstetrics. The journal gives publication priority to original research articles over case reports. Reviews are considered for publication only if they are prepared by authors who have at least three published manuscripts in international peer-reviewed journals on the topic of the review and these studies should be cited in the review. Otherwise only invited reviews will be considered for peer-review from qualified experts in the area.

The “Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology” is a peer-reviewed journal and adheres to the highest ethical and editorial standards. The editors also adhere to the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE).

The journal should be abbreviated as Turk J Obstet Gynecol when referenced.

Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology does not charge any article submission or processing charges.

Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology is indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), Web of Science-Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), EBSCO, Embase, ProQuest, DOAJ, Gale, CINAHL, CABI, Tübitak/Ulakbim Turkish Medical Database, Turk Medline, J-Gate, IdealOnline, Hinari, GOALI, ARDI, OARE, AGORA, CNKI and Turkiye Citation Index.

Submission of Manuscripts

Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology has specific instructions and guidelines for submitting articles. Those instructions and guidelines are readily available on the submission service site. Submit all manuscripts through the journal’s web page at www.tjoddergisi.org. New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site, submissions should be made via the Author Centre. Download the Instructions to Authors for detailed notes on how to prepare your manuscript.

The ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) number of the correspondence author should be provided while sending the manuscript. A free registration can be done at http://orcid.org.

Manuscripts submitted via any other medium will not be evaluated. During the submission please make sure to provide all requested information to prevent any possible delays in the evaluation process. Only those submitted articles are not currently being considered by another journal, or have not been previously published, will be considered for publication in Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The submitted articles are firstly evaluated over by the non-baised editors. The articles that meet the originality and other requirements of the journal are peer-reviewed by the national or international referees. Acceptance for publication is based on significance, novelty, and quality of the article.

Authors who have any queries regarding the submission process can contact the journal’s editorial office:
Çetin Emeç Bulvarı Harbiye Mahallesi Hürriyet Caddesi 1/3 Öveçler/Ankara.    Phone number: +90 (312) 481 06 06   E-mail: [email protected]

Editorial Policies

All manuscripts will be evaluated for their scientific contribution, originality and content by the editorial board. Only those submitted articles are not currently being considered by another journal, or have not been previously published, will be considered for publication in Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the data presented in their manuscript. The journal retains the right to make appropriate changes on the grammar and language of the manuscript when needed. When suitable the manuscript will be send to the corresponding author for revision.

All manuscripts submitted to the journal for publication are checked by Crossref Smilarity Check powered by iThenticate software for plagiarism. If plagiarism is detected, relevant institutions may be notified. In this case, the authors might be asked to disclose their raw data to relevant institutions.

Peer-review

Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology is an independent international journal based on double-blind peer-review principles. The manuscript is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief, who reviews the manuscript and makes an initial decision based on manuscript quality and editorial priorities. These manuscripts then sent for external peer-review, the Editor in Chief assigns Associate Editor. The Associate Editor sends the manuscript to the 3 internal and external reviewers. The reviewers must review the manuscript in 21 days. Associate Editor recommends decision based on the reviewers’ recommendations and sends the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief makes a final decision based on editorial priorities, manuscript quality and reviewer recommendations. If there are any conflicting recommendation of reviewers, Editor-in-Chief can assign a new reviewer. The scientific board guiding the selection of the papers to be published in the journal consists of elected experts of the journal and if necessary, selected from national and international experts in the relevant field of research. All manuscripts are reviewed by the editor, section associate editors and at least three internal and external expert referees. All research articles undergo review by statistics editor as well.

Full text of all articles can be downloaded at the web site of the journal: www.tjoddergisi.org

Authorship

The role of authorship in Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology is reserved for those individuals who meet the criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; http://www.icmje.org). Describe each authors’ contribution by using ICMJE’s criteria: substantial contributions to the conception or design; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the study in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The statement about the authors’ contributions should be placed in the cover letter. All persons who contributed to the work, but not sufficiently to be authors, must be acknowledged.

Cover Letter

Cover letter to the editors addressing the following points:

· The authors’ intent to submit solely to Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

· Verification that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere, and indication from the authors that it will not be submitted elsewhere until a final decision is made by the editors of Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

· The declaration of transparency from the corresponding author

· Clinical trial registration, if applicable.

· Institutional review board (IRB) approval or exemption.

· Informed consent.

· Any explanations related to reporting guidelines.

· The statement about the authors' contributions.

Preparation of Manuscripts

The “Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology’’ follows the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - http://www.icmje.org /). Upon submission of the manuscript, authors are to indicate the type of trial/research and provide the checklist of the following guidelines when appropriate:

CONSORT statement for randomized controlled trials (Moher D, Schultz KF, Altman D, for the CONSORT Group. The CONSORT statement revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomized trials. JAMA 2001; 285: 1987-91) ( http://www.consort-statement.org /),

PRISMA for preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, The PRISMA Group. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 2009; 6(7): e1000097.) ( http://www.prisma-statement.org /),

STARD checklist for the reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy (Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, Bruns DE, Gatsonis CA, Glasziou PP, Irwig LM, et al, for the STARD Group. Towards complete and accurate reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy: the STARD initiative. Ann Intern Med 2003;138:40-4.) ( http://www.stard-statement.org /),

STROBE statement-checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies  (   http://www.strobe-statement.org /),

MOOSE guidelines for meta-analysis and systemic reviews of observational studies (Stroup DF, Berlin JA, Morton SC, et al. Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology: a proposal for reporting Meta-analysis of observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) group. JAMA 2000; 283: 2008-12).

CARE guidelines are designed to increase the accuracy, transparency, and usefulness of case reports. (Gagnier JJ, Kienle G, Altman DG, Moher D, Sox H, Riley D; the CARE Group. The CARE Guidelines: Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting Guideline Development.) ( http://www.care-statement.org /)

Human and Animal Studies

Manuscripts submitted for publication must contain a statement to the effect that all human studies have been reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards described in an appropriate version of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki, as revised in 2013 ( http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/ ). It should also be stated clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study should be omitted. In case of usage of any image media that potentially can expose patients’ identity requires obtaining permission for publication from the patients or their parents/guardians. Experimental animal studies should be presented with the disclosure of the appropriateness to the institutional/national/international ethical guides on care and use of laboratory animals.

Reports of animal experiments must state that the “Principles of laboratory animal care” (NIH publication No. 86-23, revised 1985) were followed, as well as specific national laws where applicable.

The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfill the above mentioned requirements.

Authors must provide statement on the absence of conflict of interests between authors and provide authorship contributions and declare if any financial/material support.

Copyright

Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology  is protected by copyright laws. The Copyright Agreement Form should be signed and attached to the submissions. As of 2023, the journal is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). By signing this form authors agree that the article, if accepted for publication by Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, will be licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits third parties to copy, distribute, or reuse the content for non-commercial purposes by giving the appropriate credit to the author and original work.

The authors agree to transfer the commercial rights to the Turkish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology if the article is accepted for publication.

CC BY-NC license includes the following elements:

BY – Credit must be given to the creator

NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted

Manuscript Structure

All manuscripts must be submitted as Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) files. All manuscript pages (including references, tables, and figure legends) must be double-spaced. Use a standard, 12-point typeface such as Times New Roman. Top, bottom, and side margins should be set at 1 inch. Authors must include the following in the manuscript file:

Title Page

A separate title page should list;

-The manuscript title, which should contain no more than a total of 100 characters (counting letters and spaces) and should not be declarative; do not use abbreviations or commercial names in the title.

-A short title of no more than 50 characters, including spaces, for use as a running foot.

-All author name(s), institutional, corporate, or commercial affiliations, and up to two major degree(s).

-Corresponding author’s name, address, telephone (including the mobile phone number), fax numbers and e-mail address (the corresponding author will be responsible for all correspondence and other matters relating to the manuscript).

Precis

The precis is a one-sentence synopsis of no more than 30 words that describes the basic findings of the article. Precis sample can be seen below:

‘Using a 45 point questionnaire, we have evaluated the trend of Robotic surgery training in the gynecologic surgery fellowship programs across the nation’.

Abstract

All manuscripts should be accompanied by an abstract. All information in the abstract should be consistent with the information in the text, tables, or figures. Avoid use of commercial names in the abstract. Original research reports should have a structured abstract of no more than 250 words, using the following headings:

· Objective:Main question, objective, or hypothesis (single phrase starting with, for example, “To evaluate...” or “To estimate.” [never start with “To determine.”]). 


· Materials and Methods:Study design, participants, outcome measures, and in the case of a negative study, statistical power.

· Results:Measurements expressed in absolute numbers and percentages, and when appropriate indicate relative risks or odds ratios with confidence intervals and level of statistical significance; any results contained in the abstract should also be presented in the body of the manuscript, tables, or figures.

· Conclusion:Directly supported by data, along with clinical implications.

Authors from Turkey or Turkish speaking countries are expected to submit a Turkish abstract including subheadings such as “Amaç, Gereç ve Yöntemler, Bulgular, Sonuç”. The abstract of Authors whose native language is not Turkish will be provided free of charge translation services into Turkish language.

A structured abstract is not required with review articles and case reports.

Keywords

Below the abstract provide 3 to 5 keywords. Abbreviations should not be used as keywords. Keywords should be picked from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).

Turkish abstracts should have keywords “Anahtar Kelimeler” picked from www.atifdizini.com under “Türkiye Bilim Terimleri” link.

Several types of articles can be submitted for publication in Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Original research, case reports, systematic reviews, current commentaries, procedures and instruments, and letters. Stated word counts and page limits were shown in Table 1. Copyright agreement forms, the cover letter, and figures do not contribute to the page limits.


Table 1. Manuscript length at a glance
Article Type Abstract Length Manuscript Word Count* Maximum Number of Authors Maximum Number of ReferancesΦ
Original Research 250 words 5,500 words
(~22 pages)Ψ
NA 30
Case report 150 words 2,000 words (~8 pages) 4 8
Systematic review 300 words 6,250 words (~25 pages) 4 60
Current commentary 250 words 3,000 words (~12 pages) 4 12
Procedure and Instruments 200 words 2,000 words (~8 pages) 4 10
Letters NA 350 words 4 5
*Manuscript length includes all pages in a manuscript (ie, title page, abstract, text, references, tables, boxes, figure legends, and appendixes). ΦSuggested limit. ΨThe Introduction should not exceed 250 words. ~approximately; NA, not applicable.

Original researches should have the following sections;

Introduction

State concisely the purpose and rationale for the study and cite only the most pertinent references as background. Avoid a detailed literature review in this section.

Materials and Methods

Describe the research methodology (the patients, experimental animals, material and controls, the methods and procedures utilized, and the statistical method(s) employed) in sufficient detail so that others could duplicate the work. Identify methods of statistical analysis and when appropriate, state the basis (including alpha and beta error estimates) for their selection. Cite any statistical software programs used in the text. Express p values to no more than two decimal places. Indicate your study’s power to detect statistical difference.

Address “IRB” issues and participants informed consent as stated above, the complete name of the IRB should be provided in the manuscript. State the generic names of the drugs with the name and country of the manufactures.

Results

Present the detailed findings supported with statistical methods. Figures and tables should supplement, not duplicate the text; presentation of data in either one or the other will suffice. Authors should report outcome data as both absolute and relative effects since information presented this way is much more useful for clinicians. Actual numbers and percentages should be given in addition to odds ratios or relative risk. When appropriate, number needed to treat for benefits (NNTb) or harm (NNTh) should be supplied. Emphasize only your important observations; do not compare your observations with those of others. Such comparisons and comments are reserved for the discussion section.

Discussion

Begin with a description of what your study found in relation to the purpose or objectives as stated in the Introduction. State the importance and significance of your findings to clinicians and actual patient care but do not repeat the details given in the Results section. Limit your opinions to those strictly indicated by the facts in your report. Compare your finding with previous studies with explanations in cases where they differ, although a complete review of the literature is not necessary.

Study Limitations

Provide information on the limitations of the study. No new data are to be presented in this section. A final summary is not necessary, as this information should be provided in the abstract and the first paragraph of the Discussion. Although topics that require future research can be mentioned, it is unnecessary to state, “Further research is needed.”

Conclusion

The conclusion of the study should be highlighted. The study’s new and important findings should be highlighted and interpreted.

Conflict of Interest

Authors must indicate whether or not they have a financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research.

The main text of case reports should be structured with the following subheadings:

Introduction, Case Report, Discussion and References.

References

References are numbered (Arabic numerals) consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text (note that references should not appear in the abstract) and listed double-spaced at the end of the manuscript. The preferred method for identifying citations in the text is using within parentheses. Use the form of the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts” (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-recommendations/). If number of authors exceeds seven, list first 6 authors followed by et al.

Use references found published in peer-reviewed publications that are generally accessible. Unpublished data, personal communications, statistical programs, papers presented at meetings and symposia, abstracts, letters, and manuscripts submitted for publication cannot be listed in the references. Papers accepted by peer-reviewed publications but not yet published (“in press”) are not acceptable as references.

Journal titles should conform to the abbreviations used in “Cumulated Index Medicus”.

Examples

Journals; Zeyneloglu HB, Onalan G. Remedies for recurrent implantation failure. Semin Reprod Med 2014;32:297-305.

Book chapter; Ayhan A, Yenen MC, Dede M, Dursun P, Gultekin M. How to Manage Pre-Invasive Cervical Diseases? An Overview. In: Ayhan A, Gultekin M, Dursun P, editors. Textbook of Gyneaecological Oncology. Ankara, Turkey: Gunes Publishing; 2010. p. 28-32.

Book; Arici A, Seli E. Non-invasive Management of Gynecologic Disorders. In: Arici A, Seli E (eds). London: Informa Healthcare; 2008.

Tables and Figures

Tables should be included in the main document after the reference list. Color figures or gray-scale images must be at minimum 300 DPI resolutions. Figures should be submitted in “*.tiff”, “*.jpg” or “*.pdf” format and should not be embedded in the main document. Tables and figures consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. Each table must have a title indicating the purpose or content of the table. Do not use internal horizontal and vertical rules. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain all abbreviations used in each table in footnotes. Each figure must have an accompanying descriptive legend defining abbreviations or symbols found in the figure. If photographs of people are used, the subjects must be unidentifiable and the subjects must have provided written permission to use the photograph. There is no charge for color illustrations.

Units of Measurement and Abbreviations

Units of measurement should be in Systéme International (SI) units. Abbreviations should be avoided in the title. Use only standard abbreviations. If abbreviations are used in the text, they should be defined in the text when first used.

Revisions

Revisions will be sent to the corresponding author. Revisions must be returned as quickly as possible in order not to delay publication. Deadline for the return of revisions is 30 days. The editorial board retains the right to decline manuscripts from review if authors’ response delays beyond 30 days. All reviewers’ comments should be addressed a revision note containing the author’s responses to the reviewers’ comments should be submitted with the revised manuscript. An annotated copy of the main document should be submitted with revisions. The Editors have the right to withdraw or retract the paper from the scientific literature in case of proven allegations of misconduct.

Accepted Articles

Accepted articles are provided with a DOI number and published as ahead of print articles before they are included in their scheduled issue.

Journal and Society Web sites:

www.tjod.org (Turkish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology)
www.tjoddergisi.org (Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology)