1. Turkish Journal of Pathology (http://www.turkjpath.org) (ISSN: 1018-5615) is the official journal of the Federation of Turkish Pathology Societies. The journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published every four months, three times a year (January, May, September), and aims to reach all relevant national and international medical institutions and persons in printed and electronic versions free of charge. Articles in Turkish and English are welcomed.

2. Turkish Journal of Pathology is devoted to the continuing education of national and international practicing pathologists, and to provide a forum for social and scientific communication in the field. Studies that emphasize these aims provide the basis of publication, including original articles, case reports, reviews, abstracts from annual meetings, letters to editor, book reviews, biographies, and articles on social issues. Turkish Journal of Pathology accepts only invited review articles.

3. A submitted article must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract or a preliminary report), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and, if accepted, must not be published elsewhere in similar form in any languages. Articles presented at a meeting or symposium are accepted if this is stated.

4. SCIENTIFIC RESPONSIBILITY
Authors are responsible for their articles' conformity to scientific rules. Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent. The order of the authors' names must be a joint decision. Authors must sign the author name order in the copyright transfer form. All authors' names must be included under the article's title. Any individual who does not meet the criteria for authorship but has contributed to the article can be listed in "Acknowledgement(s)" section.

5. ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY
Authors are responsible for their articles' conformity to ethical rules. The study protocol for human experimentation must conform the ethical guidelines established in the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm). Therefore, all articles submitted for publication must specify that the ethic standards of the above committee were adhered. Any necessary permission documents from local and international ethic committees must also be sent with the article. Authors must specify in the method(s) section that they performed the study according to these principles and that they obtained "informed consent" from their institution's ethic committees and the participants.

Articles reporting the results of experimental studies on animals must include a statement that study protocol was approved by the animal ethics committee of relevant institution and that the study was conducted in accordance with "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/5140.html). Authors are strongly requested to send an approval of the relevant ethics committee.

If any previously published quoted passages, tables, figures, etc. are used in the article, authors should obtain written permission from publication rights holders, and should specify this in the article.

Authors must specify in the references page that they have no commercial relations or, if present, the nature of the relation (consultancy, other agreements) with commercial products or drugs used in their study or with any pharmaceutical companies or with companies providing financial sponsorship for the article.

The editors and publisher assume no responsibility regarding features and explanations of any commercial products advertised in the journal.

The confidentiality and privacy of patients and study participants:

Authors should avoid descriptive information such as patient names, initials, reference numbers or photographs to appear in their article. Th is information can be published if absolutely necessary for scientific reasons and only after obtaining written "informed consent" from the patient (or parents, or guardian). The article must also state that "informed consent" was obtained.

6. RELATIONS WITH EDITOR(S), AUTHOR(S) AND REFEREE(S)
Editors do not share information regarding articles (article receipt, review process, referee opinions or final results) with anyone except authors and referees. Referees and editorial board members cannot discuss articles in a public manner. Editors must send copies of the article to the editor once their review is complete. Referee reviews cannot be printed or disclosed without permission of the author and editor. Care is taken to keep the identities of the referees. In some cases, the editor may decide to send referee opinions on the article to other referees reviewing the same article to inform them during the process. All articles submitted will be subjected to peer-review by the editorial board, and the authors will be informed within 6 weeks. Editorial board reserves the right to make some revisions in the article. Revised articles should also be accompanied by a unique letter with responses to reviewers' comments. Articles that do not comply with the journal requirements listed below may be returned without review at the discretion of the editors.

7. PREPARATION OF ARTICLE
Articles should be typed in 12 pt (Times New Roman), doublespaced throughout with margins of 2.5 cm, and pages must be numbered on the right upper corner. Manuscripts must be in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/). Original articles should not exceed 15 double spaced typewritten pages, and case reports should not exceed 10 pages. Articles should be typewritten in either "doc" or "txt" format and organized as follows:

1. Title page:
   The title page should contain the article title, authors' names and complete affiliations, a running title not exceeding 40 characters and the address for manuscript correspondence including e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers. If the article was presented at a scientific meeting, authors should provide a complete statement including date and place of the meeting.
   
   
2. Abstract and key words:
   Original articles should contain Turkish and English abstracts. Abstracts must be no longer than 250 words. The structured abstract should include objective, materials and methods, results and conclusions in original articles. Case reports should also include a structured abstract [objective, case report(s), and conclusion]. Abbreviations should not be used in the abstract.
   The authors should list three to five key words or phrases taken from Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).

3. Text:
   Original articles should be organized in four main headings: introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion. Define abbreviations at first mention in the text and in each table and figure. If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country). Case reports should include the following identifiable sections: introduction, case report(s), and discussion. An "acknowledgement(s)" section may be added following these sections to thank those who helped the study or preparation of the article, if any. The acknowledgements are placed at the end of the article, before the references. This section contains statements of gratitude for personal, technical or material help, etc.
   
   
4. References:
   References should be provided at the end of the article, under the title "References" and should be numbered and listed according to their order in the text. They should be referred to in parentheses within the text. Complete author citation is required ("et al" is not acceptable). The author(s) are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to Index Medicus. Refer to the "List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus" for abbreviations of journal names, or access the list at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html. Abbreviations are not used for journals not in the Index Medicus. Only published articles or articles "in press" can be used in references. Example of references are given below:
   
   Journals:
   Hull ML, Escareno CR, Godsland JM, Doig JR, Johnson CM, Phillips SC, Smith SK, Tavaré S, Print CG, Charnock- Jones DS: Endometrial-peritoneal interactions during endometriotic lesion establishment. Am J Pathol 2008, 173:700-715
   
   Books:
   Scheffler IE: Mitochondria. 2nd ed., New Jersey, Wiley-Liss, 2008, 417-436
   
   Book chapters:
   Ebstein JI: The Lower Urinary Tract and the Male Genital Tract. In Kumar V, Abbas A, Fausto N. (Eds): Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 7th ed., Philadelphia, Elsevier Saunders, 2005, 1023-1058
   
   On-line articles:
   Abood S: Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6). Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm
   
   
5. Tables:
   Each table must be typed double-spaced on a separate page following the references. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals in order of appearance in the text and should include a short descriptive title typed directly above and essential footnotes including definitions of abbreviations below. They should be self-explanatory and should supplement rather than duplicate the material in the text.
   
   
6. Figures:
   All figures should be numbered sequentially in the text with Arabic numbers and should be referred to in parentheses within the text. Art should be created/scanned and saved and submitted as either a TIFF or a JPEG file. Electronic photographs, radiographs, CT scans, and scanned images must have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. If not obligatory any text typewritten on the figures should be avoided.
   
   
7. Figure legends:
   Include legends for all figures. Legends should appear on a separate page after the tables, should be brief and specific, and should include magnification and the stain used. Abbreviations and symbols used in the figures must be denoted in the legend.

8. SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES
All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the web site (http://www.turkjpath.org/submit). A cover letter signed by all authors should be faxed to "Buluş Tasarım ve Matbaacılık".

9. REPRINTS
Authors will receive a complimentary electronic (PDF) reprint of the article and a printed version of the journal. No hardcopy complimentary reprints are provided by the publisher.

10. COPYRIGHT
Copyright of an accepted article should be transferred to the Federation of Turkish Pathology Societies. This transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article.
Authors may make this published article available free on-line provided that the source of the published article is cited and the Federation of Turkish Pathology Societies is mentioned as copyright holder in such a case, a link to the original article in Turkish Journal of Pathology accompanied by the following statement should also be created: "The original article is available at http://www.turkjpath.org". All articles published in this journal are protected by copyright. No material published in this journal may be reproduced in any forms without obtaining written permission from the Federation of Turkish Pathology Societies. The Federation of Turkish Pathology Societies does not accept any legal responsibility for errors, omissions or claims with respect to information published in the journal. Upon acceptance of an article, "Copyright Transfer Form" signed by all authors should be faxed to "Buluş Tasarım ve Matbaacılık".

11. EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE
Prof. Dr. Şükrü Oğuz Özdamar (Editor-in-Chief)
Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Medical Faculty,
Department of Pathology,
Esenköy-Kozlu, 67600, Zonguldak, Turkey
Tel : +90 (533) 381 55 32; +90 (372) 261 20 01 / 2442
Fax : +90 (372) 261 02 64
E-mail: sukruoguzozdamar@yahoo.com

12. PUBLISHER CORRESPONDENCE
Can Kangal (Manager)
Buluş Design and Printing
Bahriye Üçok Caddesi No: 9/1 Beşevler,
06500, Ankara, Turkey
Tel : +90 (312) 223 55 44 ; +90 (312) 222 44 06
Fax : +90 (312) 222 44 07
E-mail: bulus@bulustasarim.com.tr