Author Guidelines

Authorship

Authorship gives credit, assigns responsibility, and implies academic, social, and financial accountability for the published work. Those who substantially contributed to a paper are credited as authors, understand, and take on their roles and responsibilities, and are held accountable for published research. 

The journal’s definition of authorship is based on the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors's (ICMJE) recommendation. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 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.

Those who met all four criteria are identified as authors. In addition, responsibilities of co-authors for specific aspects of the work must be indicated. Please see the "Authorship information" section for details on how to indicate these responsibilities in the manuscript.

If the manuscript is authored by a large group or a consortium, all the members should meet all four authorship criteria. The corresponding author(s) must specify the group name and group members in line with the disclosure agreements.

For more information on how to acknowledge non-author contributors, equal contributors and corresponding author and other acknowledgements please see “Author Information”.

Non-Author Contributions

Those who do not meet all the above-mentioned criteria are not qualified as authors, however, those who met at least one of the criteria should be acknowledged as non-author contributor and their contribution should be specified in the “Authors and Affiliations” section of the article. Non-author contributions include but not limited to clinical investigator, participating data collector, visualisation, data curation, those who review proposals, or technical editor (For more details see https://credit.niso.org). Non-author contributions do not include but are not limited to the administrative support, general supervision, acquisition of funding, technical editing, language editing and proofreading. Non-author contributions should be specified and indicated on submission and in the manuscript.

Equal Contributions

Authorship status and authors who contributed to the work equally should be indicated when submitting and publishing multi-author articles. Journal adopts the definitions of CreDIT and ICMJE for equal contribution. Accordingly, authorship status and equal contributions are defined as follows:

• Equal contribution: The authors contributed equally to the research.
• First authorship: The authors share first authorship.
• Equal contribution and first authorship: The authors contributed equally to the research and share first authorship.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is the designated author handles all correspondence with the journal from submission to publication processes on behalf of the authors. The corresponding authors are responsible for meeting the journal’s administrative requirements, providing necessary information including the details of authorship, contact details and ethics committee approval, registration documentation and signing publishing agreements. Corresponding authors also have to obtain written permission from the non-author contributors for the acknowledgement.

Article Types

Journal of Trends in Medical Investigation publishes original research articles, reviews, case reports, reader’s letter, technical notes and video article. Authors must select the article type for their manuscripts and they must comply with the descriptions defined below.

Research Article

Research articles present the results of original research and recommendations based on those results. Research articles include the design of the research, methods, analyses of the research results, and hypothesis tests. A research article consists of abstracts (must contain fewer than 300 words and should be structured as aim, method, results, conclusion, keywords), introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgements, authorship contributions, Conflict of Interest, Ethical Approval, Funding, references, tables and figures.

Review

Reviews deeply analyse published literature on a particular topic and provide a perspective on the subject. It should include Abstract, Keywords (indexing terms, up to 6 items), Subject Headings, References, Figures and Tables sections.

Case Report

Case report is a detailed report of the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient or animals. Case Reports should be structured as abstract, introduction, case report, discussion, references, acknowledgements, tables and figures sections.

Technical Notes

Technical Notes include a description of a new surgical technique and its application in a small number of cases. In case of a technique representing a major breakthrough, one case will suffice. Follow-up and outcome need to be clearly stated. Technical Notes should be organized , Abstract, Indications, Method, Comparison with other methods, References, Acknowledgments, Tables and figures.

Letter to the Editor

We welcome correspondence and comments on articles published in the Journal of Trends in Medical Investigation.  It includes a range of perspectives, personal experiences, and reader inquiries about the article. No abstract is required, but please include a brief title. Letters to editors should include the number and date of the article to which it is dedicated. The author's name, institution, and address must be provided at the end of the document. Only the editors or authors of the article published in the journal will respond to letter.

Video Article

Briefly summarize the case describing diagnosis, applied surgery technique and outcome. Represent all important aspects, i.e. novel surgery technique, with properly labelled and referred video materials. A video vignette describing a surgical technique or interesting case encountered by the authors.

Requirements: The data must be uploaded during submission with other files. The video should be no longer than 10 minutes in duration with a maximum file size of 350Mb, and 'MOV, MPEG4, AVI, WMV, MPEG-PS, FLV, 3GPP, WebM' format should be used. Documents that do not exceed 100 MB can be uploaded within the system. For larger video documents, please contact [email protected]. All videos must include narration in English. Reference must be used as it would be for a Figure or a Table. Example: ".....To accomplish this, we developed a novel surgical technique (Video 1)." All names and institutions should be removed from all video materials. Video materials of accepted manuscripts will be published online.

Manuscript Formatting Guidelines

Manuscript Templates and Formatting Guide are prepared to help authors complete the structural requirements. The manuscripts should comply with the following manuscript templates and format requirements. Manuscripts should be submitted to the Journal's online submission system by the corresponding author. Articles must comply with the Standards That Articles Submitted to Biomedical Journals Must Comply with (https://www.icmje.org), determined by the "International Board of Medical Journal Editors". Maximum word counts for articles are shown in Table 1. Word limits are based on the main text. The Summary and References section are excluded.

Table 1. Maximum words

The manuscripts should comply with the following format requirements.

All submissions should include following documents:

• Title Page: Title, author name(s) and affiliations, contact information, conflict of interest statement, ethics committee approval (if applicable), author contributions, acknowledgements (if applicable), funding.
• Blind Manuscript (in Word format version 2003 or above). All author names and affiliations should be EXCLUDED.
• Ethics Committee Approval (if applicable)
• Supplementary and ancillary material (if applicable)

Page Format

• A4 Portrait, Margins (Normal) (top, bottom, left, right 2,5cm)
• Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.
• Use a standard, plain font (e.g., 12-point Times New Roman) for text.
• Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
• Do not use field functions.
• Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar.
• Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
• Save your file in Docx format (Word 2007 or higher) or doc format (older Word versions).

Author Information

Authors must be declared at the time of submission and in the publication. Authors are responsible for the correct declaration of their names. Exact and correct names of the authors should be given under the main title of the manuscript, listed together and separated by comas.

The following information should be keyed to the authors’ names and placed on the footer of the first page of the manuscript:

• Full author names
• Affiliation. In case of your affiliation changes, please list where your research is conducted and include your current status or affiliation.
• Institute, Department, Organization, City, Country
• Email addresses
• ORCID iD

İrem Yılmaz. Department of General Surgery, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Türkiye. Email: [email protected], https://orcid.org/0000-0783-5691-2091

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author should be marked with an asterisk (*) in the author list.

e.g. (under the title): İrem Yılmaz (*)

e.g. (on the footer): *Corresponding Author

Equal Contribution

• The authors who have contributed equally should be marked with a symbol (ؙƐ)
• The authors who share first authorship should be marked with a symbol (Ω)
• The authors who contributed equally to the research and share first authorship (±)
• Please use the appropriate standard statement(s) to indicate equal contributions:
• For (ؙƐ): The authors contributed equally to the research.
• For (Ω): The authors share first authorship.
• For (±): The authors contributed equally to the research and share first authorship.

e.g (under the title): İrem Yılmaz(±), Ayşe Doğan(±), Sevim Kaya(ؙƐ), Güler Erdoğan (*)(ؙƐ)

e.g. (on the footer):

{Author information}

*Corresponding Author

Ɛ The authors contributed equally to the research.

± The authors contributed equally to the research and share first authorship.

Authorship Changes

If authorship information is accepted or before the article is published, corresponding authors must submit “authorship change request” form to the editorial office via e-mail. The form must be signed by the former and new authors and non-author contributors. All changes must be agreed by all authors and corresponding authors are responsible for obtaining confirmation.

If authors need to change any of the authorship information after the publication of the article, the Journal will follow the COPE guidelines.

Sections of the Manuscripts

It is recommended to divide your manuscripts into the sections detailed below. However, heading and subheading can differ according to the subject area, the type of manuscript and research itself.

Title page should include the following information and sections:

Title Page Template

1. Title
2. Short running title (max 70 characters, including spaces)
3. Author information (Please refer to the “Author Information” section for the format requirements.)
4. Contact information of corresponding author
5. Word count, number of figures and tables
6. Conflict of interest
7. Ethics committee approval (if applicable)
8. Funding
9. Author contribution
10. Acknowledgements (if applicable)
11. Statement of previous presentation or publication (if any)

Anonymized blind manuscript of an original article should include the following sections: (The structures of the other article types should be modified as explained above.)

1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Keywords
4. Introduction
5. Materials and Methods
6. Results
7. Discussion
8. References
9. Figures and Tables
10. Appendices (if applicable)

Title

The title of the study should reflect the content clearly and be precise. Titles do not exceed two lines and should be in sentence case capitalization except proper nouns. Titles do not include abbreviations, numbers, acronyms, and punctuations.

Abstract

Abstracts include the aim of the study, its scope, method, main findings, and results, briefly and clearly. Abstracts should not include abbreviations, numbers, acronyms, and punctuations. Abstracts should reflect what is in the manuscript and be accurate. IMRAD format is recommended for this section.

Keywords

Keywords increase the discoverability of articles. They should reflect the scope of the article. The selection of key words should be from MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and should not exceed six words.

e.g. Keywords: conflict resolution, ingroup favouritism, social identity.

Introduction

Introduction should contain: the general and specific background of the research topic, knowledge gap, how and to what extent your research fills this gap, the aim of your research and your research question, importance of your study. Summarize your methods, findings, and prominent implications for the discussion. 

Materials and Methods

Method section should address the type, research group, data collection tools, data collection techniques, data analysis, validity and reliability, limitations and ethical committee approval (if necessary) of your research.

Studies requiring ethics committee approval should include a statement of ethics committee approval in the methods section and at the end of the article. This notification should include the name of the university, date and number of the ethics committee approval.

Results

The results of the study should be explained detailly with tables, diagrams, graphics or pictures in a way that supports the aim and problem of the study.

Discussion

In accordance with the significance of the study, the results should be discussed referring to literature and knowledge gap while providing your opinions and unique perspectives.

Conclusion

The main ideas and takeaways of the discussion should be explained in the conclusion.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments should be extended to those individuals or institutions whose contributions to the study were limited or minimal. Acknowledgements should be a brief statement at the end of the text.

Author Contribution

Author’s contribution should be explained in the manuscript as in the example. Initials of the authors should be used.

i.e study conception and design: MB, HK; data collection: HK; analysis and interpretation of results: HK, FA; draft manuscript preparation: MB, HK, FA, OB. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

When submitting the manuscript to the Journal, information about author contribution should be included in the title page.

Ethics Committee Approval

Studies that require ethics committee approval should include Ethics Committee Approval in the Methods section and at the end of the article. It is imperative to ensure de-identification of any relevant identifying information within the ethics committee approval prior to submission. The title page must also include information on the university, date and number of the ethics committee approval. Ethics Committee Approval must be submitted.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors should declare any potential conflict of interest in the title page. There may be a conflict of interest when authors (or their employer, sponsor, or family/friends) have a financial, commercial, legal, or professional connection with other organizations or those working with them that could impact the research or the way the results are interpreted. Therefore, authors have to declare financial, commercial, legal or professional competing interests in their title page. If there is no conflict of interest, authors also must declare it in their manuscript using the standard wording below:

“The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest to disclose.”

For more information on publishing ethics policies and conflicts of interest, please see "Research and Publication Ethics" section.

Funding

Authors are required to disclose all funding and financial support received during the development of the study. Authors should indicate this in the title page using the standard wording below:

• The authors declare that the study received no funding.
• The authors declare that the study is supported/funded by XXX.

References

Everything cited in your manuscript must be in the reference list, and all references in your reference list must be referred to in your article. References in the main text should be enclosed in parentheses at the end of the sentence. The author(s) are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the sources. When there are six or fewer authors, all authors should be listed; when there are seven or more authors, after the first six authors should be written as “et al”. If multiple sources is used, a comma should be placed between the source numbers. If more than two consecutive sources are used together, an apostrophe should be placed between the smallest and largest reference number (for example (12-17)).

Example: Zani A, Eaton S, Rees CM, Pierro A. Incidentally detected Meckel diverticulum: to resect or not to resect? Ann Surg. 2008;247:276-81.

References should be formatted according to the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" guidelines developed by the "International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)". Below are examples of resources prepared within this framework. For unspecified resource formats, the website National Library of Medicine should be consulted as a guide. Each reference should be numbered according to the order of use in the text and enclosed in parentheses at the end of the sentence in which it is cited. Journal names should be abbreviated according to Index Medicus. For journal name abbreviations, you can refer to the list of journals indexed in NLM Catalog. Abbreviations are not used for journals that are not included in the Index. References can include articles published or "in press", accepted thesis studies, books, book chapters, and presentation at national or international meetings.

Authors are directly responsible for ensuring accurate citation and adherence to the specified reference and citation style. Reference management tools such as Zotero, Endnote and Mendeley are highly recommended.

References should be formetted as follows:

Appendices

Additional lists, tables, graphics and etc. should be given separately at the end of the manuscript. Each appendix should be numbered and titled.

e.g., Appendix 1 – List of Data Collection Tool.

Tables and Figures

Visual elements such as tables, figures and diagrams must be referred in the body text. Tables and figures should be small and simple, and placed in order of appearance in the body text. Each should be numbered and have a clear descriptive title. If visual elements are not created by the authors, they should be cited and added to the references. Visual elements are published under the Creative Commons CC_BY license, acquisition of which is the responsibility of the authors. Copyright information of the visual elements are under the authors responsibilities and must be taken into consideration when reproduced or reused.

Figures should be in vector format (Illustrator, EPS, WMF, FreeHand, CorelDraw, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) or bitmap format (Photoshop, TIFF, PNG, JPG, etc.). Figures presented in bitmap formats should be at least 300 DPI resolution. Figures, tables and graphs must contain self-explanatory labels and unit tags for each parameter or axis.

Tables should be generated using drawing tools of programs such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice. Each data should be given in separate table cells, and no insertions such as enter or spaces should be made. Tables should be editable and should not contain images.

If the diagrams include a picture or a visual that cannot be edited it should be transferred into Word with 300 DPI resolution and the original diagram should be uploaded via Upload Supplementary Files in the 2th step of Submitting a Manuscript.

• 12 nk space before and after Tables and Diagrams
• Tables and their titles, Font size: 10
• Figure and its number, Font Size 10, Bold. (e.g) Figure 1. Title
• Table and its number, Font Size 10, Bold. (e.g) Table 1. Title
• Internal text of the diagram should have a font size of 10.

Units

• Ensure that all units of measurement are in SI units.
• Use a period in decimal fractions (e.g., 1.24 instead of 1,24).
• Maintain a single space between the number and the unit (e.g., 4 kg/ha, 20 N m, 100 kPa, 22 °C).
• Exceptions for angular definitions, minutes, seconds, and percentage; do not include a space (e.g., 10°, 45’, 60’’, 29%).
• The abbreviation of liter is "L".

Formulas and Equations

For clarity and consistency in formulas and equations, please follow these guidelines:

• Number each formula with the reference number placed in parentheses at the end, e.g., (1).
• Utilize a Word mathematical processor for formulas, ensuring a font size of 12pt.
• Present variables in italics, while numbers and mathematical definitions should be in plain text.
• When referencing a formula in the text, use a format similar to the example provided.

e.g. "...the model, as depicted in Equation 1."

Language Editing

Manuscript should comply with the grammar and spelling rules, and the related scientific literature and meet language standards for publication.

Translation, language editing and proofreading services can be received from the following service providers:

• Elsevier Language Services, https://webshop.elsevier.com/language-editing/
• Editage, https://www.editage.com/
• Enago, https://www.enago.com/

Editors may ask authors for language editing and proofreading. The author(s) are responsible for submitting the language editing certificate. Accepted articles can be published only after the language editing and proofreading request are met.

Receiving language editing and proofreading services are independent of editorial decisions of the Journal.