Aims and Scope
The Turkish Journal of Rheumatology is an official journal of the Turkish League Against Rheumatism (TLAR) and is published quarterly in March, June, September and November. The target audience of the Turkish Journal of Rheumatology includes physiatrists, internists, rheumatologists and primary care physicians interested in rheumatology practice. It publishes original work on all aspects of rheumatology and disorders of connective tissue. The aim of the Turkish Journal of Rheumatology is to publish high quality original research articles. In addition to research articles, brief reports, reviews, editorials, letters to the editor and case presentations are also published. It is an independent peer-reviewed international Journal printed in English. Manuscripts are refereed in accordance with a “double-blind peer reviewed” process for both referees and authors.
The Editorial Board of the Turkish Journal of Rheumatology works  under the principles of The World Association of Medical Editors  (WAME), the International Council of Medical Journal Editors  (ICMJE), and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Instructions for Authors
Manuscripts in the form of clinical, experimental and drug investigations involving human subjects should be approved by  the appropriate local ethics committee and should be performed  in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, revised 2008 (http://www.healthscience.net/resources/declaration-of-helsinki/). Additionally relevant informed consent should be obtained from all subjects prior to study and it should be stated clearly in the “Materials and Methods” section. Any research about animal experiments must follow the “The guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id =5140&page=R1) andshould include a clear statement of it. Authors are required to declare the statement on conflict of interests and terms of financial support.
The editor reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. They can make corrections without changing the main text.
The author assures that the manuscript is an original work that has not been previously published and is not currently submitted to any other publication. Only those that presented at scientific meetings in the form of abstracts that do not exceed 300 words can be accepted for consideration, if notification of the scientific conference is made. The author should attach the documents showing all relevant permissions to publish quotations, text, tables, or illustrations from copyrighted sources. The author and the co-authors should sign the statement which accepts full responsibility for the accuracy of all content.
All manuscripts are reviewed by the editor and/or associate editors  and by at least two independent reviewers. For rejected manuscripts, return of the original illustrations or photographs is not applicable unless notified by the author.
The manuscript format should be in accordance with Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication (http:/www.icmje.org)

1. General Guidelines
Manuscripts can only be submitted online at www.tjr.org.tr. The manuscript text should be written with Arial font, 11 font size in the “Word for Windows” program and should be double-spaced. Margins should be ample, with at least 3 cm of space on both sides. Pages should be numbered consecutively, starting with title page as “1” at right bottom corner. The main text should not contain any information about the author’s name and affiliation.
The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede the abbreviation’s first use in the text in brackets and the use of standard abbreviations listed in the “Scientific Style and Format” is advocated.

Research Article
Scientific research articles should include the following sections: title page, abstract, key words, main text (introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion), acknowledgements and references. Articles should not exceed 5000 words and 50 references.

Review Article
Review articles should include a title, abstract, keywords, main topics and references. It should not exceed 5000 words and more than 150 references. Review articles prepared by an authorized person who has previous publications in the relevant field are preferred.

Case Report
Case reports should include title, abstract, key words, introduction, case, discussion and references. It should be limited to 1000 words and 20 references. It should be supported by illustrations and photographs.
Editorial
Editorials are primarily solicited by the Editor, but brief commentaries (500-750 words) can be submitted for consideration.

Letters to the Editor

Brief letters or notes to the Editor regarding published material or information of timely interest are accepted for publication. A letter must not exceed 500 words in length and must be limited to 3 authors and 5 references. They should not have abstracts, tables or figures. Letters that do not meet these specifications will be returned unreviewed. Letters will be published on a space-available basis.

A Comment Letter is a letter that comments on a recently published article and should include the cited paper as a reference in the reference list. It should be submitted within 6 weeks of the article’s printed publication. Letters received after the deadline will not be considered for publication; those considered will be sent to the article’s corresponding author for a reply.

A Response Letter is an invited letter from the cited author that replies to the comment letter and must include the comment letter as reference in the reference list.

Brief Report
A brief report can be formatted as a clinical observation/research report or as a case report/case study. Brief Reports must include a structured abstract (objective, materials and methods, results, conclusion) and may contain either one table or one figure, but not both. A structured abstract should not exceed 150 words. The word limit for the main text is 1,000 words excluding tables, figures, legends, the title page, acknowledgments or references. Brief Reports should include no more than 15 references.

2. Title Page / Cover Letter
The title page and cover letter are generated automatically during the online submission process. There is no need to prepare and upload them seperately. In additon to the title, a running title of the manuscript (not more than 40 characters including spaces) should be entered. In the section for the cover letter, authors should state that there is no conflict of interest associated with the manuscript. In the event of a conflict of interest for any of the authors, please provide a disclosure of interest by giving a detailed explanation.

3. Abstract
Original articles should have a structured abstract including the following subheads: Objective, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusions. For case reports, the structured abstract is not used. Limit the abstract to 300 words. Abbreviations should be avoided. References, tables and citations should not be used in an abstract.

4. Key Words
Authors must include relevant keywords (2-5) on the line after the end of the abstract. Use appropriate subject headings as listed in www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html

5. Tables/ Graphs / Illustrations/ Photograph
Tables, graphs, figures and illustrations should not be placed in the main text. Separate files should be prepared for tables (each table on separate page), graphs, figures and illustrations. Please supply the electronic files for all figures and illustrations including photographs as gif or jpg images with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
Each table and figure should have a self-explanatory title and be numbered in order of their citation in the text. Arabic numbers should be prefered for tables, graphs, figures and photographs. Also, each legend should describe clearly what the illustration shows and what each abbreviation means. Tables should not repeat the data of the text. In the case of the use of a previously published table, figure or illustration, written permission from the publisher should be submitted with the manuscript. Identifying information including names, initials, hospital numbers and pedigrees should not be written. Information or illustrations must not permit identification of patients, and written informed consent for publication must be sought for any photograph.

6. References
Unpublished observations and submitted manuscripts should not be given in the references section. They must be cited in the text as “name(s), unpublished data, 19..”
Number references in the order in which they are mentioned in the text; do not alphabetize! In the text, author's citations must be followed by reference number. Identify references with Arabic numbers in the text and abbreviate the names of journals in accordance with the Index Medicus (www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html). In the reference, the names of all authors should be stated if less than six. Otherwise, after six names, it should be followed by “et al.” Examples related to correct use of references are given below.

Standard Journal Article
Russell IJ, Orr MD, Littman B, Vipraio GA, Alboukrek D, Michalek JE, et al. Elevated cerebrospinal fluid levels of substance P in patients with the fibromyalgia syndrome. Arthritis Rheum 1994;37:1593-601.

Book
Guttman L. Spinal cord injuries: comprehensive management and research. 2nd ed. London: Blackwell Scientific Publications; 1976. p. 353-4.

Chapter in Book
Zvaifler NJ. Antimalarials. In: McCarty DJ, editor. Arthritis and allied conditions. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger; 1985. p. 497-501.

Proceedings
Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Reinhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; September 6-10, 1992; Geneva, Switzerland. North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.

Electronic Journal
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious disease. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 1(1):[24 screens]. Available from: http://www/cdc/gov/ncidoc/EID/eid.htm.

Randomized Studies
“The CONSORT Statement is an evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting RCTs. It offers a standard way for authors to prepare reports of trial findings, facilitating their complete and transparent reporting, and aiding their critical appraisal and interpretation. The CONSORT Statement comprises a 22-item checklist and a flow diagram, along with some brief descriptive text. The checklist items focus on reporting how the trial was designed, analyzed, and interpreted; the flow diagram displays the progress of all participants through the trial.” (www.consort-statement.org).
More information on the CONSORT statement:
The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel-group randomized trials. Moher et al. Lancet 2001; 357: 1191-94.

©Copyright Transfer
Authors accept full responsibility for the accuracy of all content, including findings, citations, quotations and references contained within the manuscript. Copyright assignment is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless copyright has been assigned. All authors will be required to assign the copyright transfer form after acceptance of the manuscript.

©Copyright
Turkish League Against Rheumatism. All rights reserved. Turkish Journal of Rheumatology is published using the open access model. All content is available free of charge without restrictions from the journal’s website at: www.tjr.org.tr

Material Disclaimer
Scientific and legal responsibilities pertaining to the papers belong to the authors. The Contents of the manuscripts and accuracy of references along with the copyright authority of the figures and tables are also the author’s responsibility. Neither The Turkish League Against Rheumatism, the Editor, the Editorial Board nor the publisher accept any responsibility for the articles.

Subscription
The Turkish Journal of Rheumatology is freely delivered to all physicians in the Rheumatology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation fields. For subscription please contact the Turkish League Against Rheumatism. It is online at www.tjr.org.tr. Tables of  contents, abstracts and full texts of all articles published since 2000  are free to all readers. Visit the journal’s home for the instructions to authors.

Address: Dumlupınar Cad. 40/3, 06100 Dörtyol-Cebeci, Ankara, Turkey.
Phone: +90 312 204 43 51
Fax: +90 312 562 13 22
Web address: http://www.tjr.org.tr

Permission Requests
Permission requests to reproduce copies of articles for non-commercial use may be obtained from the Editorial Office.
Editorial Contact:
F. Deniz Evcik, M.D. (Editor)
Address: Ufuk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Mevlana Bulvarı, No: 86-88, 06520 Balgat, Ankara, Turkey
Tel: +90 312 204 43 51
Fax: +90 312 562 13 22
E-mail: editor@tjr.org.tr