Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form

ICMJE Form

The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology (Turk J Gastroenterol) is the double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access, publication organ of the Turkish Society of Gastroenterology. The journal is a monthly publication and its publication language is English.

The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology aims to publish international at the highest clinical and scientific level on original issues of gastroenterology and hepatology. The journal publishes original articles, review articles, and letters to the editor on clinical and experimental gastroenterology and hepatology.

The editorial and publication processes of the journal are shaped in accordance with the guidelines of the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the European Association of Science Editors (EASE), and National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The journal conforms to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (doaj.org/bestpractice).

Originality, high scientific quality, and citation potential are the most important criteria for a manuscript to be accepted for publication. Manuscripts submitted for evaluation should not have been previously presented or already published in an electronic or printed medium. The journal should be informed of manuscripts that have been submitted to another journal for evaluation and rejected for publication. The submission of previous reviewer reports will expedite the evaluation process. Manuscripts that have been presented in a meeting should be submitted with detailed information on the organization, including the name, date, and location of the organization.

Manuscripts submitted to the Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology will go through a double-blind peer-review process. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two external, independent peer reviewers who are experts in their fields in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation process. The editorial board will invite an external and independent editor to manage the evaluation processes of manuscripts submitted by editors or by the editorial board members of the journal. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all submissions.

An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects,” amended in October 2013, www.wma.net) is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies and for some case reports. If required, ethics committee reports or an equivalent official document will be requested from the authors. For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement showing that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo should be included. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken to prevent the pain and suffering of the animals should be stated clearly. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to carefully protect the patients’ anonymity. For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patients, releases signed by the patient or their legal representative should be enclosed.

All submissions are screened by a similarity detection software (iThenticate by CrossCheck).

In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the Editorial Board will follow and act in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Each individual listed as an author should fulfill the authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

(ICMJE - www.icmje.org). The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
1   Substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2   Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3   Final approval of the version to be published; AND
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.

In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged on the title page of the manuscript.

The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology requires corresponding authors to submit a signed and scanned version of the authorship contribution form (available for download through www.turkjgastroenterol.org) during the initial submission process in order to act appropriately on authorship rights and to prevent ghost or honorary authorship. If the editorial board suspects a case of “gift authorship,” the submission will be rejected without further review. As part of the submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author should also send a short statement declaring that he/she accepts to undertake all the responsibility for authorship during the submission and review stages of the manuscript.

The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest, including financial, consultant, and institutional, that might lead to potential bias or a conflict of interest. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board. To disclose a potential conflict of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors. Cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers are resolved by the journal’s Editorial Board within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeal and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should get in direct contact with the editorial office regarding their appeals and complaints. When needed, an ombudsperson may be assigned to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.

Each submission to the Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology should be accompanied by a Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship form (available for download www.turkjgastroenterol.org). By signing this form, authors retain the copyright of their work and agree that the article, if accepted for publication by the Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International License which permits third parties to share and adapt the content for any purpose by giving the appropriate credit to the original work. 

From August 2022 onwards, content is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. The journal’s back content was published under a traditional copyright license however the archive is available for free access.

When using previously published content, including figures, tables, or any other material in both print and electronic formats, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Legal, financial and criminal liabilities in this regard belong to the author(s).

Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology reflect the views of the author(s) and not the opinions of the editors, the editorial board, or the publisher; the editors, the editorial board, and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. The final responsibility in regard to the published content rests with the authors.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES
Starting on February 1, 2023, the Turkish Journal of Gastroentereology will collect an article processing charge (APC) for all articles. 
 
Upon acceptance of the manuscript, authors should transfer the payment to the account stated in the acceptance letter. Following the transfer, please send your receipt of payment to [email protected]. Below is a list of APC amounts based on the type of manuscript.

•    Original Article/Review – 1180 USD (VAT included)
•    Letter to the Editor – 708 USD (VAT included)
•    Video Article – 470 USD (VAT included)

For articles whose first author and corresponding author are members of Turkish Society of Gastroenterology, the article processing fee (APC) will be waived. Authors must ensure membership eligibility for the societies mentioned above.

Please note that all submissions are evaluated by the Editorial Board and the external reviewers in terms of scientific quality and ethical standards. APC payments do not affect the outcome of the article's evaluation or its publication priority.

To continue with the submission https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/turkjgastroenterol.

There are no surcharges based on the length of an article, figures, or supplementary data. 
 
Any financial contribution or support received from third parties for a manuscript should be disclosed at the time of initial submission. Should APC be paid by a third party other than the author or the author's institution, authors must provide this information on the title page and ICMJE Disclosure Form.

APCs cover the expenses for publishing services the journal provides, including costs of peer review administration and management, professional production of articles in PDF and other formats, and dissemination of published papers in various venues and other publishing functions. 
 
FAST TRACK PUBLICATION 
Articles are typically published in the forthcoming 3-4 issues without incurring any additional charges. However, authors who wish to expedite the publication process may opt to use the fast track publication service for a fee of 590 USD (including VAT). This service aims to prioritize the review and publication of the article in the subsequent issue upon payment. Please note that the fast track publication service is optional and not mandatory for publication in the journal. No waivers are available for the fast track publication fee. Regardless of whether authors use the fast track service, they will still be required to pay the APC.
 
Please contact [email protected] if you would like to use this service.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
The manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with ICMJE-Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (updated in May 2022 - https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/). Authors are required to prepare manuscripts in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines for randomized research studies, STROBE guidelines for observational original research studies, STARD guidelines for studies on diagnostic accuracy, PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, ARRIVE guidelines for experimental animal studies, and TREND guidelines for non-randomized public behavior.

Manuscripts can only be submitted through the journal’s online manuscript submission and evaluation system, available at www.turkjgastroenterol.org. Manuscripts submitted via any other medium will not be evaluated.

Manuscripts submitted to the journal will first go through a technical evaluation process where the editorial office staff will ensure that the manuscript has been prepared and submitted in accordance with the journal’s guidelines. Submissions that do not conform to the journal’s guidelines will be returned to the submitting author with technical correction requests.

Authors are required to submit the following forms in the revision stage of the submission process:
•    Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form, and
•    ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (should be filled in by all contributing authors). These forms are available for download  at www.turkjgastroenterol.org.

Preparation of the Manuscript
Title page: A separate title page should be submitted with all submissions and this page should include:
•    The full title of the manuscript as well as a short title (running head) of no more than 50 characters,
•    Name(s), affiliations, highest academic degree(s), and ORCID IDs of the author(s),
•    Grant information and detailed information on the other sources of support,
•    Name, address, telephone (including the mobile phone number) and fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author,
•    Acknowledgment of the individuals who contributed to the preparation of the manuscript but who do not fulfill the authorship criteria.

Abstract: The abstract should be submitted with all submissions except for Letters to the Editor. The abstract of Original Articles should be structured with subheadings (Background/Aims, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion). Please check Table 1 below for word count specifications.

The Background section should provide brief background information about the topic, identify gaps in the existing literature, and clearly state the study's objectives. The Methods section should outline the study design, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sampling techniques, subject categorization, and outcome measures. The Results section should present the dropout rate and results of the primary and, more important secondary outcome measures, including numerical data and statistical significance. Finally, the Conclusion section should convey the study's take-home message, address the hypothesis stated in the Background section, and discuss the study's implications.

Keywords: Each submission must be accompanied by a minimum of three to a maximum of six keywords for subject indexing at the end of the abstract. The keywords should be listed in full without abbreviations. The keywords should be selected from the National Library of Medicine, Medical Subject Headings database (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).

Main Points: All submissions except letters to the editor should be accompanied by 3 to 5 “main points” which should emphasize the most noteworthy results of the study and underline the principle message that is addressed to the reader. This section should be structured as itemized to give a general overview of the article. Since “Main Points” target the experts and specialists of the field, each item should be written asplainly and straightforwardly as possible.

Manuscript Types
Original Articles: This is the most important type of article since it provides new information based on original research. The main text of original articles should be structured with Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion subheadings. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Original Articles.

Statistical analysis to support conclusions is usually necessary. Statistical analyses must be conducted in accordance with international statistical reporting standards (Altman DG, Gore SM, Gardner MJ, Pocock SJ. Statistical guidelines for contributors to medical journals. Br Med J 1983: 7; 1489-93). Information on statistical analyses should be provided with a separate subheading under the Materials and Methods section and the statistical software that was used during the process must be specified.

Units should be prepared in accordance with the International System of Units (SI).

Editorial Comments: Editorial comments aim to provide a brief critical commentary by reviewers with expertise or with high reputation in the topic of the research article published in the journal. Authors are selected and invited by the journal to provide such comments. Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and other media are not included.

Review Articles: Reviews prepared by authors who have extensive knowledge on a particular field and whose scientific background has been translated into a high volume of publications with a high citation potential are welcomed. These authors may even be invited by the journal. Reviews should describe, discuss, and evaluate the current level of knowledge of a topic in clinical practice and should guide future studies. The main text should contain Introduction, Clinical and Research Consequences, and Conclusion sections. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Review Articles.

Video Articles: The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology invites submissions for its Video Article Section, showcasing thought-provoking and rare clinical cases or novel endoscopic techniques. A submission should include a video file and a typed description with a maximum of 7 authors. The description should be maximum of 600 words, and include figures (maximum of 4), tables (maximum of 2), references (maximum of 5), typed narration of the video and a video legend. The Journal also requires a figure, such as a frame from the video, visual abstract, or clinical image, to be used in promoting the submission on social media. Videos should be no longer than 6 minutes, use the journal's presentation template and be submitted in MP4 MPEG-1/2 (.mpg) or Quicktime (.mov) format, with a file size limit of 300 MB. 

Authors are responsible for obtaining written patient consent website use of information in the video. The Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology has a strong commitment to safeguarding patient information and privacy. Therefore, the journal will not accept any videos that contain patient information. Submissions that breach this policy will be promptly rejected. Accepted multimedia components will be permanently archived on the Journal’s ebsite and will not be returned. The editorial team reserves the right to edit, and reviewers may provide feedback and suggest modifications.

Video Presentation Template

Letters to the Editor: Readers can present their comments on the published manuscripts in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” This type of manuscript should discuss important parts, overlooked aspects, or lacking parts of a previously published article. Abstract, Keywords, Tables, Figures, Images, or other media should not be included. The text should be unstructured. The manuscript that is being commented on must be properly cited within this manuscript.

Quick look to guidelines: These manuscripts are summaries of published guidelines. Abstract, Keywords, Tables, Figures, Images, or other media should not be included. The text should be unstructured. The guideline that is being summarized must be properly cited within the manuscript.

Table 1. Limitations for each manuscript type

Tables
Tables should be included in the main document, presented after the reference list, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title must be placed above the tables. Abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below the tables by footnotes (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. Data presented in the tables should not be a repetition of the data presented within the main text but should be supporting the main text.

Figures and Figure Legends
Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (in TIFF or JPEG format) through the submission system. The files should not be embedded in a Word document or the main document. When there are figure subunits, the subunits should not be merged to form a single image. Each subunit should be submitted separately through the submission system. Images should not be labeled (a, b, c, etc.) to indicate figure subunits. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used on the images to support figure legends. Like the rest of the submission, the figures too should be blind. Any information within the images that may indicate an individual or institution should be blinded. The minimum resolution of each submitted figure should be 300 DPI. To prevent delays in the evaluation process, all submitted figures should be clear in resolution and large in size (minimum dimensions: 100 × 100 mm). Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document.

All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined at first use, both in the abstract and in the main text. The abbreviation should be provided in parentheses following the definition.

When a drug, product, hardware, or software program is mentioned within the main text, product information, including the name of the product, the producer of the product, and city and the country of the company (including the state if in the USA), should be provided in parentheses in the following format: “Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)”

All references, tables, and figures should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text.

Limitations, drawbacks, and the shortcomings of original articles should be mentioned in the Discussion section before the conclusion paragraph.

References
Both in-text citations and the references must be prepared according to the AMA Manual of style.

While citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up-to-date publications. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references If an ahead-of-print publication is cited, the DOI number should be provided. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed. When there are six or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. If there are seven or more authors, the first three authors should be listed followed by “et al.” In the main text of the manuscript, references should be cited in superscript after punctuation. The reference styles for different types of publications are presented in the following examples.

Journal Article: Economopoulos KJ, Brockmeier SF. Rotator cuff tears in overhead athletes. Clin Sports Med. 2012;31(4):675-692.
Book Section: Fikremariam D, Serafini M. Multidisciplinary approach to pain management. In: Vadivelu N, Urman RD, Hines RL, eds. Essentials of Pain Management. New York, NY: Springer New York; 2011:17-28.
Books with a Single Author: Patterson JW. Weedon’s Skin Pahology. 4th ed. Churchill Livingstone; 2016.
Editor(s) as Author: Etzel RA, Balk SJ, eds. Pediatric Environmental Health. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2011.
Conference Proceedings: Morales M, Zhou X. Health practices of immigrant women: indigenous knowledge in an urban environment. Paper presented at: 78th Association for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting; November  6-10; 2015; St Louis, MO. Accessed March 15, 2016. https://www.asist.org/files/meetings/am15/proceedings/openpage15.html
Thesis: Maiti N. Association Between Behaviours, Health Characteristics and Injuries Among Adolescents in the United States. Dissertation. Palo Alto University; 2010.
Online Journal Articles: Tamburini S, Shen N, Chih Wu H, Clemente KC. The microbiome in early life: implications for health outcomes. Nat Med. Published online July 7, 2016. doi:10.1038/nm4142
Epub Ahead of Print Articles: Websites:  International Society for Infectious Diseases. ProMed-mail. Accessed February 10, 2016. http://www.promedmail.org

REVISIONS
When submitting a revised version of a paper, the author must submit a detailed “Response to the reviewers” that states point by point how each issue raised by the reviewers has been covered and where it can be found (each reviewer’s comment, followed by the author’s reply and line numbers where the changes have been made) as well as an annotated copy of the main document. Revised manuscripts must be submitted within 30 days from the date of the decision letter. If the revised version of the manuscript is not submitted within the allocated time, the revision option may be canceled. If the submitting author(s) believe that additional time is required, they should request this extension before the initial 30-day period is over.

Accepted manuscripts are copy-edited for grammar, punctuation, and format by professional language editors. Once the publication process of a manuscript is completed, it is published online on the journal’s webpage as an ahead-of-print publication before it is included in its scheduled issue. A PDF proof of the accepted manuscript is sent to the corresponding author and their publication approval is requested within 2 days of their receipt of the proof.

Editor in Chief: Aydın Şeref Köksal
Address: Mustafa Kemal Mahallesi, 2126 Sokak, Kolbay İş Merkezi, C blok, No.: 6-9, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey
Phone: +90 312 284 15 11
Fax: +90 312 284 80 75
E-mail: [email protected]

Publisher: AVES
Address:  Büyükdere Cad. 105/9 34394 Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
Phone: +90 212 217 17 00
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://avespublishing.com