Preparation of manuscripts

1. The Language

STArt's official language is English. STArt accepts manuscripts written in clear and understandable English, either American or British style. It is strongly recommended that authors who feel that their English language may need correction seek editing and proofreading services.

2. Manuscript Submission

Please submit your manuscript documents using the "Manuscript Submission" link on the home page. Before submitting, please make sure that all required documents are ready to be uploaded. The submission checklist available from the home page menu ‘Author Form’ can be used as a guide.

3. Document Formatting

The main text and tables must be submitted in Microsoft Word document format (.doc or .docx), using 11 pt Times New Roman font, with the main text double-spaced and 2.5 cm margins. Please do not use headers, footers, or endnotes in your paper. Use automatic page numbering to number the pages.

4. Title Page

This journal follows a blinded peer-review process. Reviewers are blinded to the authors of the paper. Therefore, authors are expected to submit a separate title page. The title page should contain the following information; 

Title of the manuscript

All authors’ names in order of sequence (Name and Surname)

Academic degree of authors (MD, PhD, Prof…. etc.)

ORCID number (Please see below or refer to https://orcid.org/)

Affiliations of the authors

Contact information of the corresponding author

The name of the department and institution in which the work was done

Declarations

Acknowledgments:

Ethics approval and consent to participate: The name of the ethical committee or institutional review board, Date of approval, and the number of approvals.

Informed Consent:

Conflict of interest statement:

Funding:

Availability of data and material:

Authors' contributions

The title page template can be downloaded from the Author Forms at the journal’s website.

Attention!

Authors are expected to consider the list of authors carefully before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list is not accepted after the submission or during the revisions.  

ORCID

ORCID IDs of all authors must be stated during the submission of the manuscript. All IDs will be linked to the authors' pages at https://orcid.org in an online PDF, and the ID of the corresponding author will be added to the details. ORCID IDs will prevent the confusion caused by name similarities and affiliations. All authors can create free accounts on https://orcid.org and get a personal 16-digits number. ORCID also increases the visibility of author and their works by keeping profiles up-to-date.

5. Abstract

For original articles, a structured abstract of a maximum of 350 words must be submitted on a separate page. The abstract should contain sections describing the purpose, materials and methods, results, and conclusions. For case reports, an unstructured abstract of a maximum of 300 words must be submitted.

6. Keywords

4-6 keywords should be provided for each type of manuscript. Keywords should be chosen from Medical subject headings (MeSH) terms ( Please refer to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ )

7. Level of Evidence

The journal requires authors to categorize all manuscripts with a clinical focus according to the level of evidence. You can find the level of evidence table in the Author Forms Section on the journal page.

8. Manuscript Text

The main text and tables must be sent in Microsoft Word document format (.doc or .docx), with 11 pt Times New Roman font. The main text should be double-spaced with 2.5cm margins. Please do not use headers, footers, or endnotes in your paper. Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages. The text of an original article should be divided into the following paragraphs: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions.

Every research paper should adhere to appropriate standards for research reporting. This ensures that editors, peer reviewers, and readers have sufficient information to understand the research methodology and assess the reliability of the results. We recommend the use of standard reporting templates for various studies, which you can find at https://www.equator-network.org/.

9. Preparation of Declarations in the Abstract Page

Acknowledgements.

List all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as technical assistants, assistants in data collection and entry, illustrators, writing assistants, or heads of departments who provided only general support. Financial and other material support should be disclosed and acknowledged.

Author contribution statement

All authors' contributions to the manuscript should be listed under the authors' contribution categories using their initials (e.g., ML). It should also be noted that all authors have read the final version of the submitted manuscript and agree with its accuracy.

Ethical Approval and Consent to participate

The institution from which the ethics committee approval was obtained and the date and number of the approval should be reported. For studies where ethics committee approval is not required, the reason why it is not required should be reported. It should also be stated that informed consent was obtained from the participants.

Funding Statement

All authors are required to declare what support they received to carry out their research. Declaring funding sources acknowledges funders’ contributions, fulfills funding requirements, and promotes greater transparency in the research process. Each author must individually declare all sources of funding received for the research submitted to the journal. This information includes the name of granting agencies, grant numbers, and a description of each funder’s role. If the funder has played no role in the research, this must be stated as well.  If no financial support was received, it should be written as 'No financial support was received for this study’.

Conflicts of interest

Authors are asked to declare any interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work they are submitting for publication. They should report any interests for the past three years from the time the research was conducted and the manuscript was prepared for submission. Any interests beyond this three-year period must also be disclosed if they could potentially be seen as influencing the submitted work. This practice of disclosing interests ensures a transparent and comprehensive process that helps readers make informed judgments about potential bias. It's important to note that disclosure of financial relationships with a sponsoring organization or compensation for consulting does not imply that such relationships are improper.

Data availability statement

A data availability statement in an article informs readers about the location and method of accessing data underpinning the findings and analyses. This might encompass links to datasets that are open to the public and were examined or created as part of the research, details about the available data, and/or instructions for obtaining data that isn't openly accessible. We strongly recommend uploading the raw data as a Supplementary file.

10. References

General guidelines

Authors should always try to read and cite the original work (the primary source) in the manuscript. In cases where this is not possible, secondary sources citing the primary original source may be cited. However, this situation is undesirable and should be used unexceptionally. Self-citations may be used if the content of the article is related to the submitted manuscript. However, authors, editors, and peer-reviewers should not abuse this option to promote their own papers.

Unpublished studies, unpublished observations, personal communications, and retracted papers cannot be cited. Citations from the predatory or pseudo-journals should be avoided. Please refer to the following list of possible such journals using this link. https://beallslist.net/.

There is no limit to the number of references. However, authors should cite only the necessary articles.

Style and format

Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in square brackets, such as [5], [7,8], and [4-9, 11]. The reference list should be numbered consecutively.

Journal article

Grimberg J, Duranthon LD, Bellaïche L, Petrover D, Kalra K. The time for functional recovery after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: Correlation with tendon healing controlled by computed tomography arthrography. Arthroscopy. 2008;24:25-33. 

If there are more than 6 authors, provide first six authors and use ‘et al.’ at the end of author list. Digital Object Identifier (doi) number should be added to the end of the reference (if available).  

Cvetanovich GL, Gowd AK, Liu JN, Nwachukwu BU, Cabarcas BC, Cole BJ, et al. Establishing clinically significant outcome after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2019;28:939-48. 

Book

Newton ML. Current practice of pain. 1st ed. St. Luis, MO: Mosby; 1990.

Book chapter

Jurkovich GJ. Duodenum and pancreas. In: Mattox KL, Feliciano DV, Moore EE, editors. Trauma. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2000. pp. 735-62.

Online document

Cartwright J. Big stars have weather too. IOP Publishing PhysicsWeb. http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/11/6/16/1. Accessed 26 June 2007.

Dissertation

Trent JW. Experimental acute renal failure. Dissertation, University of California; 1975.

11. Case reports

New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 1500 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order. The manuscript could be of up to 1500 words (excluding references and abstract) and could be supported with up to 20 references. Case Reports could be authored by up to 4 authors.

12. Letter to the editor

We welcome letters offering commentary on articles we have recently published. This may include constructive criticism, additional insights, related experiences, or discussions that further the conversation initiated by the original article. Letters to the Editor should be concise, focused, and articulate clear points of discussion. While these submissions undergo a peer-review process, they are streamlined compared to full research articles, emphasizing relevance, accuracy, and the potential to contribute constructively to our readers' understanding and engagement.

13. Tables

All tables should be prepared in Microsoft Word document format (.doc or .docx) and numbered using Arabic numerals. They should be cited consecutively in the text. Each table should have a title or caption that explains its content. Any footnote that contributes to ease the understanding of the table may be added beneath the table body.

14. Figures

All figures should be properly numbered and uploaded as separate files. Name the figure files accordingly. Cite all figures in the order they appear in the text within parenthesis, such as (Figure.1). Figures with multiple parts should be marked a, b, c, etc., with a description of each panel included in the legend rather than on the figure. Figures must be submitted in TIFF format. Color or grayscale photographs should be saved at a minimum of 300 dpi or higher. Electronic artworks or illustrations should be saved at a minimum of 1200 dpi or higher. The size of the figure should fit either in one, one and half, or two columns in width (1 column: 8.9 cm, 1.5 columns: 12 cm, two columns: 18 cm in width).

Authors wishing to include figures, photographs, illustrations, diagrams, charts, etc., that have already been published in another journal or book are required to obtain written permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any document received without permission will be assumed to originate from the authors.

15. Figure Legends

Figure legends for all images must be included at the end of the manuscript text file, after the References section. Explain what each figure shows. Identify machine settings for magnetic resonance and computed tomography images and give the magnification of all photomicrographs. Define all arrows and other such indicators appearing on the figure.

16. Abbreviations and Symbols

Use only standard abbreviations; using nonstandard abbreviations can be confusing to readers. Avoid abbreviations in the manuscript's title. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on the first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. A list of abbreviations should be included in the manuscript text.

17. Units of Measurements

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius, and blood pressure should be in millimeters of mercury unless the journal specifically requires other units. Journals vary in the units they use for reporting hematologic, clinical chemistry, and other measurements. Authors must consult the Information for Authors of the particular journal and should report laboratory information in both local and International Systems of Units (SI). Editors may request that authors add alternative or non-SI units since SI units are not universally used. Drug concentrations may be reported in either SI or mass units, but the alternative should be provided in parentheses where appropriate.

18. Permissions

Authors wishing to include previously published figures, tables, or excerpts in their manuscripts must obtain permission from the copyright holders for both print and digital publication. They must also provide proof of such permission at the time of submission. Failure to provide such proof will result in the material being assumed to be the author's original work.