Files should be prepared as a Word document using font size 12 Times New Roman characters, double-spaced and with 2.5 cm margins on each side, top and bottom.

Only standard abbreviations should be used; other shortened phrases should be indicated in parentheses as used in the text. Using foreign words in Tukish texts should be avoided if the Turkish equivalent is utilizable. Generic or chemical names of drugs should be used instead of trade names.

All manuscripts presenting data obtained from studies involving human subjects must include a statement that the written informed consent of the participants was obtained and that the study was approved by an institutional ethics board or an equivalent body. This institutional approval should be submitted with the manuscript. Authors of case reports must submit the written informed consent of the subject(s) of the report or of the patient’s legal representatives for the publication of the manuscript. All studies should be carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, covering the latest revision date. Patient confidentiality must be protected according to the universally accepted guidelines and rules. Manuscripts reporting the results of experimental studies on animals must include a statement that the study protocol was approved by the animal ethics committee of the institution and that the study was conducted in accordance with the internationally accepted guidelines, including the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights, European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes, Principles of Laboratory Animal Science, and the Handbook for the Care and Utilization of Laboratory Animals. The authors are strongly requested to send the approval of the ethics committee together with the manuscript. In addition, manuscripts on human and animal studies should describe procedures indicating the steps taken to eliminate pain and suffering.

The authors should also disclose all issues concerning financial relationship, conflict of interest, and competing interest that may potentially influence the results of the research or scientific judgment. All financial contributions or sponsorship, financial relations, and areas of conflict of interest should be clearly explained in the cover letter to the Editor-in-Chief at the time of submission, with full assurance that any related document will be submitted to the journal when requested. For the details of journal’s “Conflict of Interest Policy” please read the PDF document which includes “Conflicts of Interest Disclosure Statement“.

The Turkish Journal of Family Practice follows the ethics flowcharts developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for dealing with cases of possible scientific misconduct and breach of publication ethics. For detailed information please visit www.publicationethics.org.

Original Articles

Original articles should consist of sections titled as “Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion”. For information about the abstract, refer to ‘Manuscript Formatting’ section.

The Introduction section of the manuscript should clearly state the purpose of the manuscript and include a brief summary of the most relevant national and international literature stating the main purposes and research question of the study. Contradictory aspects of the research, if present, should be mentioned. The expected contribution of this study to family medicine and practice should be highlighted.

The Materials and Methods section should describe the study population and the study design, with adequate information on the techniques, materials and methods used. The section should include information of the study type, population, sample, sample size and selection of the sample. Validity and reliability of scales and questionnaires used also should be referred to. A clear description of the statistical methods should also be given.

The Results section should include a detailed report on the findings of the study. All figures, tables and illustrations should be used in this section. Results should be presented either as text or figures and/or tables and not be replicated.

The Discussion section of the study should emphasize the importance of the results and compare them with the results of other authors with relevant citations from the most recent literature. Study limitations and strengths should be specified. Suggestions for further studies in this area should be added.

The Conclusion should include the main conclusions based on the results of the research, emphasize the contributions of the study to family practice and propose original suggestions. A brief revision of all the results and the discussion should be avoided.

Original articles excluding case reports and systematic reviews should not exceed 3000 words excluding the abstract, references and tables. Case reports should not exceed 1000 words excluding the abstract, references and tables. There are no restrictions for systematic reviews.

Short Reports

Short Reports are accepted when the research topic, aim and results of the study are in limited in scope and in cases that do not require writing a full original article. Short Reports can be described as a summarized version that have been prepared according to the structure of research articles. Publishing an article as a short report does not reflect a lower quality. The same rules as relevant to original articles apply to preparing a short report, but structured abstracts are not mandatory references and tables should not exceed 6 and 2 in number, respectively. Abstracts should not exceed 100 words and the text should be restricted to a maximum of 1000 words.

Reviews

Reviews are evidence-based articles about a specific topic using relevant citations from the most recent literature with the authors’ conclusions on this subject. The author is expected to have conducted research on the subject and to have experience in order to discuss and analyze the subject. There is no obligation to follow a particular format and may contain subtitles depending on the subject. The text should not exceed 4000 words excluding the title, abstracts, references and tables. The Turkish Journal of Family Practice only publishes review articles solicited by the editors.

Letters to Editor and Comments

Letters to the editor or comments can be sent to provide commentary and analysis concerning an article published in the journal, to give information about ongoing research, to provide information for primary care physicians about recent advances in medicine or the development of family medicine in Turkey or to draw attention to a particular subject. Letters to the editor or comments may include an optional title, tables and references. These articles should not exceed 1000 words.

What Would You Do?

These are brief articles discussing cases and situations encountered in family practice with a biopsychosocial approach. If necessary, photographs (with permission from the patient/owner) may be added. Sections should consist of a title, case report, discussion, questions and answers. Brief comments can be sent to provide commentary on previous articles and case reports written by other authors. Comments should include the number of the journal the article was published in. The text should not exceed 1000 words.

National and International Reprots

Translations of important documents, declarations and guidelines prepared by international organizations in the field of family medicine, may be published in the journal. Presubmission Inquiry to the Editorial Board of the Journal before submitting the article is recommended. It is the translator’s responsibility to obtain permission from the owner of the original manuscript for publication and translation.

Selections from Journals

Abstracts of articles published in national and international journals in the field of family medicine may be published in the Turkish Journal of Family Practice. These articles should not exceed 500 words.

News

These articles focus on advances and innovations in clinical topics relevant to practicing family physicians and family medicine, aiming to develop and disseminate family practice. There is no obligation to follow a particular format. The text should be limited to 1000 words.

White Papers

White papers are articles focusing on important national or international projects and board reports in family medicine. They may also introduce TAHUD workshop activities. These articles should usually not exceed 1000 words, with some exceptions.

Editorials

Editorials usually provide information about the editorial policy of the Turkish Journal of Family Practice, give commentary and feedback on articles published in the journal, draw attention to topics of current interest and give information related to and discuss the development of family medicine in Turkey. They are mainly written by the members of the Editorial Board. Editorials are limited to 2000 words with some exceptions and may include a title and references when necessary.

Manuscripts should be designed in the following order:

• Title page
• Abstract
• Main text
• References
• Tables, figures and illustrations

Title Page

The title page of the manuscript should include: The title, first and last names of each author. Complete affiliation and title for each author, with the name of department (s) and institution (s) to which the work should be attributed. The corresponding author should be clearly identified with name, address, telephone- facsimile number and email address for correspondence about the manuscript. Authors should clearly indicate if the article has previously been presented at a congress or scientific meeting. The title should be concise and informative without abbreviations and not exceed 10 words.

Abstract

Abstracts hould be exact translations in Turkish and English with Turkish and English titles, with a minimum of 150 and maximum of 350 words. Abstracts of original research articles should be structured under subheadings as follows: objectives, methods, results and conclusion. A maximum of 3 key words should be added to Turkish and English abstracts.

Text

The text contains the rest of the manuscript. It is structured differently according to the type of manuscript (original research article, review, etc.). For example, original research articles should consist of aim and objectives, methods, results, discussion and conclusion.

References

References should be cited in consecutive numerical order as first mentioned in the text and designated by the reference number in parentheses. If the number of authors for the reference is more than 6 authors, list the first three authors and add “et al”.

Journal names should be abbreviated as used in Index Medicus. The abbreviation of the Turkish Journal of Family Practice should be used as Turk Aile Hek Derg.

References should be cited in the Vancouver style. For detailed information please visit the relevant link

Examples:

For research articles follow the example below:
– Akşit S, Yılmaz C, Arkan CA. Aile hekimliğinde araştırma alanlarının tanımlanması: kalitatif çalışma Turk Aile Hek Derg 2002;19:17-8.
– Joyce SD, Wilkins PA, Luyten AL, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2003;347:284-7.

For book chapters follow the example below:
– Rakel RE. The family physician. In: Rakel RE, editor. Textbook of family practice. 5th ed. Philaldelphia: W.B. Saunders; 1995. p. 3-19.

For web pages follow the example below:
– WONCA Ad Hoc Task Force on Tobacco Cessation. An International Benchmarking Study of Family Medicine Organisations. http://www.globalfamilydoctor.com/tobacco/ accessed: 29/09/2002.

Tables and Figures

Legends should take place on the top of the page for tables, and bottom of the page for figures and placed on separate pages. Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes.