Anatolian Current Medical Journal (ACMJ) is an unbiased, peer-reviewed, and open access international medical journal. The Journal publishes interesting clinical and experimental research conducted in all fields of medicine, interesting case reports, and clinical images, invited reviews, editorials, letters, comments, and related knowledge.
Author Guidelines
The Anatolian Current Medical Journal accepts submission in English. The only language of publication in this journal was English.
1.1 General Format
Manuscripts were prepared using Microsoft Word, size A4 with 2.5 cm margins on all sides, 12 pt Times New Roman font, and double line spacing. “System International” (SI) units should be used. Abbreviations should first be defined and used consistently thereafter. Manuscripts written in English should follow the writing guidelines and grammar. This system enables the online submission and evaluation of the manuscript.
Text(s) and table(s) should be prepared in MS Word format, and graphics (s) and pictures (s) should preferably be prepared in JPEG format (minimum 300 DPI). Figures, tables, pictures, and graphics are referenced in the text. Abbreviations are given in parentheses, where the word appears first. Articles should be 50% contiguous and a comma should be used in a period (55.78) in English manuscripts.
1.2 Article Type
Identification of article type is the first step in manuscript submission because article type dictates the guidelines that should be used (see below), including formatting and word limits of the manuscript. The main categories of article types are outlined below.
Original Article: Original contributions are manuscripts containing substantial novel research. These included randomized controlled trials, observational (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional) studies, descriptive studies, diagnostic accuracy studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, nonrandomized behavioral and public health intervention trials, experimental animal trials, and any other clinical or experimental studies. Abstracts should not exceed 400 words and should be structured with the following subheadings: Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. The main text should be structured with the following subheadings: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, and Figure Legends. The main text should not exceed 4000 words, excluding the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. Thus, 30 references should not be exceeded. All studies, except for cell studies, require ethical approval.
Brief/Case Reports: Brief reports are short and peer-reviewed articles, including small case series, case reports, negative trials, preliminary results, and others that are not published as full-text papers. The main text should be less than 2000 words with a maximum of 10 references and no more than three display items (tables or figures). It is recommended not to exceed 200 words in the abstract. Abstracts should not be configured and sub-headings should not be contained (Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions). In case reports, it should be stated that an "informed consent form" was obtained.
Review Article: Review articles are comprehensive analyses of specific topics in medicine, which can also be written by invitation due to the extensive experience and publications of authors on the review subjects. All review articles underwent peer review before acceptance. Review articles must not exceed 4000 words for the main text (excluding references, tables, and figure legends) and 400 words for the abstract. A review article can be signed by no more than four authors, and can have no more than 80 references. It is recommended not to exceed 200 words in the abstract. Abstracts should not be configured and sub-headings should not be contained (Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions). The review articles did not require ethical approval.
Letter to the Editor: Letters about a journal article must not exceed 1000 words (excluding references). An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. A letter can be signed by no more than three authors, and can have no more than five references and one figure or table. The authors are asked to respond to this letter. The replies must also be submitted to the submission system.
Clinical Image: For educational purposes, the journal publishes original, interesting, and high-quality clinical images with a brief explanation (maximum 500 words excluding references but including figure legends) and of educational significance. The figure legend does not contain more than 100 words. It can be signed by no more than five authors, and can have no more than five references or one figure or table. Any information that might have identified the patient or hospital, including the date, was removed from the image. An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. The main text of the clinical images should be structured with the following subheadings: case and reference. All studies required patient consent.
Editorial Comment: Editorial comments are brief remarks by the reviewer or a relevant authority on an article published in the journal. Most comments were invited by the Editor-in-Chief, but spontaneous comments were welcomed. It must not exceed 1000 words (excluding references). An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. It can have no more than 15 references and 1 figure or table.
Other: Editorials, editorial comments, book reviews, and reports on publication and research ethics were requested from the Editorial Board.
1.3. Clinical Trials and Reporting Guidelines
This Journal encourages the registration of all clinical trials via ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) or one of the registries of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP: http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html). In particular, phase 3 clinical trials must be registered at or before the time of first patient enrollment. The name of the registry, registration number, and information regarding the funding source are provided at the end of the abstract.
Authors should also refer to the guidelines below when preparing their manuscript
For further information on the reporting guidelines for health research, authors are suggested to refer to the EQUATOR network website (http://www.equator-network.org/)
2. Preparation and Submission of Manuscript
The entire submission process for a manuscript is completed online through a self-explanatory submission system on the website.
Please be informed that we would ask you to suggest two potential reviewers during the manuscript submission.
The submissions should be divided into SEPARATE files in the following order:
2.1.Cover Letter
2.2. Title Page
2.3. Main Document (Abstract, Main text, references, tables, and figure legends) Abstract of the manuscript should be also submitted through the submission system)
2.4. Tables
2.5. Figures
2.6. Ethics Committee Approval form
2.7. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form
2.8. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form and Data-sharing Statement form
2.9. Creative Commons License Agreement Form
2.1. Cover Letter (As a separate file)
The cover letter should include the article title, full name of the corresponding author, and type of article (original article, case report, review article, and letter to the editor). The cover letter should also include a statement declaring the absence or presence of a conflict of interest (please refer to the
ICMJE Conflict of Interest forms a page for details.) Furthermore, this manuscript has not been published, accepted, or under simultaneous review for publication elsewhere. This Journal does not accept multiple or duplicate submissions, even though the previous submission was published in a different language. Please refer to the editorials (ICMJE recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html] ). Manuscripts that have been presented orally or as posters must be stated on the title page along with the date and place of the presentation. An example of a cover letter can be found on a journal webpage.
2.2. Title Page (As a separate file)
This should include:
The complete manuscript title (no more than 150 characters)
The running head (no more than 50 characters)
All authors' full names with ORCIDs, affiliations, and e-mail addresses (all authors should meet the ICMJE’s requirements for authorship – see details at “Copyright Transfer and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form”
The name, address, telephone, and fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author
Information about where and when the study was previously presented.
An example of a title page can be found on a journal webpage.
2.3. Main Document (As a separate file)
The main document should include an abstract, main text, a reference list, tables, and figure legends.
2.3.a. Abstracts
Original articles, review articles, and brief case reports should include the abstracts. Abstracts for original articles should be structured with the following subheadings: Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Abstracts of review articles and brief case reports should not be structured. Clinical images, Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and Commentaries did not contain abstracts. Please find the guidelines for the abstracts of specific types of manuscripts in the Main Text section below.
Aims: The aim of this study is clearly stated.
Methods: The study should be described, including selection criteria, design (randomized, retrospective/prospective, etc.), and statistical methods applied, if applicable.
Results: The main results of the study should be stated and the statistical significance level should be indicated.
Conclusion: The results of this study should be summarized and their clinical applicability should be defined.
Keywords: The abstract should be followed by three to six keywords provided in Index Medicus under “Medical Subject Heading (MeSH).”
2.3.b. Main Text
a) Original Articles
The main text of the article should include the following.
Introduction: This should consist of a brief background of the subject and study objective(s), supported by information from the literature.
Methods: The study plan should be clearly described, including whether the study was randomized and retrospective or prospective, the inclusion and exclusion criteria applied, the patient/sample number and characteristics, and the statistical methods used.
Results: The results of the study should be stated with tables/figures in numerical order, and the results should be evaluated according to the statistical analysis methods applied. See the Tables, Graphics, Figures, And Images section of the General Guidelines for details regarding the preparation of the visual material.
Discussion: The study results should be discussed in terms of their favorable and unfavorable aspects and should be compared with the literature. The conclusions of this study are as follows:
Study Limitations: This section should state which data and analyses could not be included in the study, discuss the limitations of the study, and provide recommendations for future studies.
Conclusion: The results and conclusions of this study are highlighted.
Acknowledgments: Any technical or financial support or editorial contributions (statistical analysis and English language evaluation) towards the study should appear at the end of the article.
References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. See the General Guidelines for details regarding the required usage and formatting.
b) Brief/Case Reports
Brief/case reports should present cases that are rarely seen, feature novelty in diagnosis and treatment, and contribute to the current knowledge. The main text should include an introduction, a case presentation, a discussion, and references.
c) Review Articles
Review articles can address any aspect of the clinical or basic topic and should be written in a format that describes, discusses, and analyzes the current state of knowledge or clinical use based on the latest evidence and offers directions for future research. Most review articles are invited, but uninvited review submissions are welcomed. Contacting the section editor is recommended before the submission of the review. Review articles analyzed topics in depth, independently, and without bias. All cited studies were referenced.
d) Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should be short commentaries related to current developments in the topic and their scientific and social aspects or may ask questions or offer further contributions in response to articles published in the journal. Any information indicating an individual or institution should be excluded from the main document to ensure a blinded review process.
2.3.c. References
The reference listings must follow the ICMJE standards and be numbered consecutively at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Journal titles should be abbreviated following the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/Medline/PubMed (for journal abbreviations, consult the List of Journals indexed in MEDLINE, published annually by NLM).
The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. References should be numbered consecutively in order in which they are first mentioned in the text. This journal uses the American Medical Association (AMA) citation style as a reference. Each reference should be cited in the text using superscript Arabic numerals (e.g.,1, 2, and 3). Similarly, multiple references can be cited. If sequential references are cited, they should be indicated by a hyphen. Nonsequential references should be separated by commas. There should be no space between numbers. References are found at the end of the manuscript and are titled “References.” Each item should be listed in numerical order, as opposed to alphabetically. The format for author names is "Surname1 AB, Surname2 CD, ...". Note that there is a comma between each full name, but no punctuation within each name. If a reference had up to six authors, it was included. If there are more than six authors, list the first three, followed by "et al." Then, add the name of the article (only the first letter of the sentence and the first letter of the special names will be capitalized), short journal name, year, volume, number, page number (15-8, not 15-18) and space between punctuation marks. The journal name should be written in italics and a point should be placed at the end. The format used for manuscript submission should be specified in Index Medicus (www.icmje.org).
Examples of these references are as follows:
1) Journal article
Author(s), article title, journal name (abbreviated and italicized), year of publication (followed by semi-colon), volume number, issue number, part or supplement number (when applicable), and inclusive page number(s).
Examples:
-Freund KB, Staurenghi G, Jung JJ, et al. Macular neovascularization lesion type and vision outcomes in neovascular age-related macular degeneration: Post hoc analysis of HARBOR. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2022;260(8):2437-2447.
-Freund KB, Fine HF. Pachychoroid Disease. Ophthalmic Surg Laser Imaging of Retina. 2020;51(4):206-209.
2) Whole Book
Author(s). Book Title. Number of editions ( second edition or above). Publisher's name: Copyright Year
Example: Riegelman RK, Kirkwood B. Public Health 101: Healthy People--Healthy Populations. 2nd ed. Jones and Bartlett’s Learning (2015).
3) Chapter in a Book
Author(s). Chapter title. In: Editor, eds. Book Title. Number of editions (second edition or above). Publisher's name: Copyright Year: pages.
Example: Bliss CM, Wolfe M. Chapter 34. Common clinical manifestations of gastrointestinal disease. In: Andreoli TE, Cecil RL, eds. Andreoli’s and Carpenter's Cecil Essentials of Medicine. 8th ed. Saunders/Elsevier; 2010:382-400.
4) Article in electronic format
Morse SS. Factors affecting the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis (serial online) 1995 Jan-Mar (cited 1996 June 5): 1(1): (24 screens). Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626828/pdf/8903148.pdf.
For other reference styles, please refer to “ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References”
2.3.d) Figure Legends: Legends for illustrations should be written starting on a separate page after references in the main text, and Arabic numerals should be used for the corresponding illustrations.
2.4. Tables (As a separate file)
The tables are presented in the main document, following the reference list. All tables should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title should be provided for all tables and the titles should be placed above the tables. The abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below (even if they are defined within the main text). Tables should be created using the “insert table” command of the word-processing software, and they should be arranged clearly to provide easy reading. Tables, in particular, should be explanatory and facilitate readers’ understanding of the manuscript, and should not repeat the data presented in the main text.
2.5. Figures (As a separate file)
Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (in the JPEG format) through the submission system. It should not be embedded in word documents. When figure subunits are present, they should not be merged to form a single image. Each subunit was submitted separately using the submission system. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used to support figure legends. Similar to the rest of the submission, the figures should be blinded. Any information within the images that may indicate an individual or an institution should be blinded. The minimum resolution of each submitted figure is 300DPI. To prevent delays in the evaluation process all submitted figures should be clear in resolution and large in size (minimum dimensions 100x100 mm)
2.6. Ethics Committee Approval form (As a separate file)
The ULAKBIM TR Index has created new regulations regarding ethical rules by 2020. These regulations are summarized below. Please submit the manuscript according to these guidelines. The authors obtained relevant documents and uploaded them to the system together with their ethical committee approval.
1. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for all kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group work, observation, experiment, and interview techniques.
2. Articles should state whether an ethical committee permit and/or legal or special permission are required. If such approval is required, they should be presented from which institution, on what date, and with which decision or number.
3. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for research using humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes.
4. If a study involves the use of human or animal subjects, the international declaration of the study, guidance, etc., must be declared that it is performed properly.
5. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for clinical studies on humans and animals.
6. According to the law on the protection of personal data, "Ethics Committee Approval was required for retrospective studies.
* Retrospective ethics committee approval is not required for articles that were produced from postgraduate/doctoral studies using research data before 2020 (must be specified in the article) and were accepted for publication in the previous year, but have not yet been published.
** In studies that require ethics committee approval, ethics committee approval will be shared with the journal editor. In addition, the name of the committee, date, and issue number are stated in the Methods section of the article and the ethics committee approval section on the last page of the article.
*** Researchers who are not members of the university can also apply to the Ethics Committees in their region.
2.7. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form
This is a statement of the scientific contributions and responsibilities of all authors. This form is available for downloading the journal’s webpage.
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria.
♦Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
♦Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
♦Final approval of the version to be published; AND
♦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.”
A contributor must meet all the four criteria to be identified as an author. If a contributor does not meet all four criteria, they should be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section of the manuscript.
For more details please refer to the ICMJE’s definition of the role of authors and contributors at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
2.8. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form and Data-sharing Statement form
During submission, the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form should be filled out, saved on your computer, and submitted to the journal together with your manuscript. Please refer to “conflict of interest policy” for more information. This journal requires authors to submit a Data-sharing Statement form for clinical trials and register a data-sharing plan when registering a clinical trial on or after January 1, 2019. Please refer to the “data-sharing policy” for more information.
2.9. Creative Commons License Agreement Form
After accepting the articles, the corresponding author may be asked to sign the Creative Commons License Agreement form and send it to the publisher. Please refer to the “open-access policy” for more information.
Note: ORCID information is used in both national and international journals. ORCID provides an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), allowing researchers to register for a unique identifier. ORCID provides an identifier for individuals to use their names as they engage in research, scholarships, and innovation activities. These identifiers are primarily used to disambiguate authors in the publishing world. This journal also includes this information for the indexing requirements. You can obtain your ORCID from the following link: