Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form

ICMJE Form

Turkish Journal of Nephrology (Turk J Nephrol) is the double-blind peer reviewed, open access, online-only publication of Turkish Society of Nephrology. The journal is a quarterly publication, published on January, April, July and October. The publication language of the journal is English.

Turkish Journal of Nephrology aims to contribute to the literature by publishing manuscripts at the highest scientific level on the fields of nephrology, dialysis and transplantation. The journal publishes original articles, reviews, and letters to the editor that are prepared in accordance with the ethical guidelines.

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 Turkish Journal of Nephrology 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 should be included that shows that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken to prevent 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, signed releases of the patient or of their legal representative should be enclosed and the publication approval must be provided in the Materials and Methods section.

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 contributions 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 in the title page of the manuscript.

Turkish Journal of Nephrology requires corresponding authors to submit a signed and scanned version of the Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form (available for download through turkjnephrol.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.

Turkish Journal of Nephrology requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interests, 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.

Turkish Journal of Nephrology requires each submission to be accompanied by the Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form (available for download turkjnephrol.org). 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). By signing the Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form, authors agree that the article, if accepted for publication by the Turkish Journal of Nephrology, will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) which permits third parties to share and adapt the content for any purpose by giving the apropriate credit to the original work.

Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in Turkish Journal of Nephrology 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.

Preprint
Authors are welcomed to submit their publications that were presented in a non-commercial preprint server before submission to Turkish Journal of Nephrology. The journal does not consider articles published in preprint servers as prior publication.

Authors must provide the journal with the pre-print server deposition of their article accompanying its DOI during initial submission. 
 
If the article is published in the Turkish Journal of Nephrology, it is the responsibility of the authors to update the archived preprint and link it to the published version of the article.

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 - 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, TREND guidelines for non-randomized public behavior, and KDIGO guidelines for the terminology on the fields of nephrology, dialysis and transplantation (https://kdigo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Nomenclature-Conference-Report.pdf).

Manuscripts can only be submitted through the journal’s online manuscript submission and evaluation system, available at turkjnephrol.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:

• Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form,
• ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form (should be filled in by all contributing authors) during the initial submission. These forms are available for download at turkjnephrol.org).

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

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” targeting the experts and specialists of the field, each item should be written as plain and straightforward 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, Discussion, and Conclusion subheadings. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Original Articles.

Statistical analyses are essential features of medical studies, in order to answer the research questions with hypothesis testing. 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, as ‘Statistical Analysis’, under the Materials and Methods section. This section should detail the following: 
(i) how the statistical assumptions are tested (e.g. Histogram and q-q plots were examined, Shapiro-Wilk’s test was used to assess the data normality.);
(ii) which statistical methods are used for which purposes (e.g. To compare the miRNA levels of patients with and without CKD, a two-sided independent samples t test was applied.);
(ii) how the data values are expressed (e.g. Values are expressed as mean±SD or median(1st-3rd quartiles.);
(iv) which statistical software was used to analyze the data (e.g. Analyses were conducted using TURCOSA (Turcosa Analytics, Türkiye) statistical software.).

Additionally, the study design (e.g. retrospective case-control, cross-sectional, cohort, etc.) and the sample size calculation procedure (power analysis) should also be detailed in the Materials and Methods section.

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

Clinical Trials 
Turkish Journal of Nephrology adopts the ICMJE's clinical trial registration policy, which requires that clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible registry that is a primary register of the WHO International Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) or in ClinicalTrials.gov. The name of the registry and the registration number should be provided in the Title Page during the initial submission.

Data Sharing
As of 1 January 2019, a data sharing plan is required for the registration of clinical trials. Authors are required to provide a data sharing statement for the articles that reports the results of a clinical trial. The data sharing statement should indicate the items below according to the ICMJE data sharing policy:

-Whether individual deidentified participant data will be shared
-What data in particular will be shared
-Whether additional, related documents will be available
-When the data will be available and for how long
-By what access criteria will be shared

Authors are recommended to check the ICMJE data sharing examples at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html. 
Clinical trial and data sharing policy of the journal will be valid for the articles submitted from 1 January 2020.

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.

Opinion articles
Opinion articles present the author’s viewpoint on the strengths and weaknesses of a hypothesis or scientific theory. Opinion articles are generally based on constructive criticism and should be backed by evidence. However, opinion articles do not contain unpublished or original data. These articles promote scientific discourse that challenges the current state of knowledge in a particular field.
 
Opinion pieces are also relatively short articles, of around 2000-2500 words, typically with a short abstract of about 150 words, at least five references, and one or two figures or tables.

Letters to the Editor: This type of manuscript discusses important parts, overlooked aspects, or lacking parts of a previously published article. Articles on subjects within the scope of the journal that might attract the readers’ attention, particularly educative cases, may also be submitted in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Readers can also present their comments on the published manuscripts in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and 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.

Images in Nephrology: This type of submissions should present a striking image that may challenge and inform readers, and contribute to their education. The articles should include illustrative images that are unique or highly illustrative of specific occurrences in nephrology and a short descriptive text of relevant clinical information. Figures should be submitted as standalone images in .JPG or .TIFF format through the submission system. The minimum resolution of each submitted image should be 300DPI and each submitted image is large in size (minimum 100x100mm). Submitting low quality images may cause serious delays in the evaluation and publication processes of your manuscript. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Images in Nephrology.

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 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. If an ahead-of-print publication is cited, the DOI number should be provided. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. 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. 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.

Reference management softwares (EndNote, Reference Manager, etc.) can be used to facilitate referencing citations. EndNote style for the Turkish Journal of Nephrology can be downloaded from here.

Journal Article: Altun B, Soylemezoglu O, Tokgoz B, Yilmaz MI, Odabas AR, Koc M. Hemodialysis complications. Turk Neph Dial Transpl. 2010;70:1-4. 

Book Section: Sagawa K. Analysis of the CNS ischemic feedback regulation of the circulation. In: Reeve EB, Guyton AC, eds. Physical Basis of Circulation Transport. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1967:129-139. 

Books with a Single Author: West JB. Respiratory Physiology. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins; 1974..

Editor(s) as Author: Huizing EH, de Groot JAM, eds. Functional Reconstructive Nasal Surgery. Stuttgart-New York: Thieme; 2003.

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

Scientific or Technical Report: Cusick M, Chew EY, Hoogwerf B, et al. Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study Research Group. Risk factors for renal replacement therapy in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS), Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study  Kidney Int: 2004. Report No: 26.

Thesis: Maiti N. Association Between Bullying Behaviors, Health Characteristics, and Injuries Among Adolescents in the United States. Dissertation. Palo Alto University; 2010.

Material Accepted for Publication but Not Yet Published: Lewis M. The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds. WW Norton & Co. Forthcoming 2016.

Epub Ahead of Print Articles: Cai L, Yeh BM, Westphalen AC, Roberts JP, Wang ZJ. Adult living donor liver imaging. Diagn Interv Radiol. February 24, 2016. doi: 10.5152/dir.2016.15323. [Epub ahead of print].

Manuscripts Published in Electronic Format: Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs (serial online). 2002 Jun (cited 2002 Aug 12): 02(6). Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm 

Non–English-Language Titles: If non–English- language titles are translated into English, indication of the original language should follow the title:
Shimura M. Looking to the future: treatment for retinal vascular disease. Article in Japanese. Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi. 2014;118(11):905-906.

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: Rümeyza Kazancıoğlu
Address: Division of Nephrology, Bezmialem Vakif University School of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye
E-mail: [email protected]

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