1.GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Online editorial office: All manuscripts and editorial correspondence must be submitted online to the editorial office at http://tgkdc.dergisi.org. Detailed submission information is provided at the online editorial office website. Each submission is assigned a unique number and acknowledged by e-mail.

Language: The official language of the journal is English.

Exclusive publication statement: Each author must certify that none of the material in the manuscript has been published previously in either print or electronic form and that none of the submitted material is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. This includes symposia, transactions, books, invited articles, posting in electronic format and preliminary publications of any kind except an abstract of 400 words or fewer.

Authors are responsible for all (ethical, scientific, legal, etc.) content of their published material.

Review: The peer-review process is double-blind, i.e., both authors and referees are kept anonymous. The pre-evaluation process of each submission is carried out by the Editorial Board. Manuscripts may be rejected without peer review by the editor-in-chief if they do not comply with the instructions to authors or if they are beyond the scope of the journal. Any manuscript that does not conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, as reported at http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf, will also be rejected. Manuscripts are scanned for plagiarism or duplication. In case of an ethical issue on plagiarism or duplication, the Editorial Board will act in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The manuscripts are assigned to at least two double-blind peer-reviewers. Reviewers are selected among independent experts with publications in the international literature on the submission subject and a considerable amount of citations. Research articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses may also be reviewed by a biostatistician at the discretion of the editor. By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors accept that editors may implement changes on their manuscripts including misleading statements and mistyping, as long as the main points of the manuscript are not altered. The Editor-in-Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all submissions.

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. 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 two days of their receipt of the proof. The latest status of the submitted manuscripts and other information about the journal can be accessed at http://tgkdc.dergisi.org/.

Acceptance: The submitted papers will be published upon the editorial board's approval. 

Copyright transfer: Authors submitting to the Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery approve a copyright transfer to the Turkish Society of Cardiovascular Surgery. This transfer is finalized with the acceptance of the manuscript. The published manuscript cannot be used elsewhere, in whole or in part.

Conflict of interest statement: Any financial grants or other support received for the study from individuals or institutions must be disclosed to the Editorial Board and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form must be filled and submitted to disclose potential conflicts of interest. The manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (updated in December 2014 - http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). 

Clinical Trials and Reporting Guidelines: Authors are required to prepare manuscripts in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines for randomized research studies, the STROBE guidelines for the observational original research studies, the STARD guidelines for the diagnostic accuracy studies, the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and metaanalyses, the ARRIVE guidelines for the experimental animal studies, and the TREND guidelines for non-randomized public behaviors.

For further information on the reporting guidelines for health research, authors are suggested to refer to the EQUATOR network website (http://www.equator-network.org/)

Ethical considerations: An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (Helsinki Declaration, revised 2013, Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals - https://www.nap.edu/catalog/5140.html/) is required for experimental, clinical, and investigational drug studies, and some case reports. The ethics committee reports or a corresponding official document is requested from the authors. In manuscripts reporting the results of an experimental study, it must be stated within the main text that all patients were informed in detail on the treatments and that informed consent was obtained from each patient. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken to prevent pain and suffering of the animals must be explicitly stated. Information on the patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number must also be stated in the Patients and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the author’s responsibility to carefully protect the patients’ anonymity. For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patient, signed releases of the patient or his/her legal representative must be enclosed.

Plagiarism: Whether intentional or not, plagiarism is a serious violation. We define plagiarism as a case in which a paper reproduces another work with similarity and without citation. If evidence of plagiarism is found before/after acceptance or after the publication of the paper, the author will be offered a chance for rebuttal. If the arguments are not found to be satisfactory, the manuscript will be retracted and the author sanctioned from publishing papers for a period to be determined by the responsible Editor(s). The journal checks all submissions for plagiarism and verifies the originality of content before publication.

2. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION 

All submissions, including the text, tables, graphics, and figures should be made online. 

The following checklist is provided for the author's convenience. Please use this list to ensure that the manuscript is complete before submission. Incomplete manuscripts will not be accepted for editorial review.

2.1 General

• Submit manuscripts, preferably prepared in Microsoft Word. Manuscripts written in 11 point Arial or Times New Roman fonts are preferred. Type manuscript double-spaced (including title page, abstract, text, references, tables, and legends) of an A4 (21x29.7 cm) type of page with 3 cm margins all around (page setup of the word processor).
• Arrange the manuscript as follows: (1) title page, (2) abstract, (3) text, (4) acknowledgments (if available), (5) disclosures (if required), (6) references, (7) tables, and figures (if required) (8) legends. Number all the pages consecutively, beginning with the title page and including the legends page.
• The main text uploaded to the system should not contain the name of the author and center. The title page containing the author and center names must be uploaded to the system as a separate file.
• Set the length of an original article at a maximum of 20 double-spaced pages including one title page, one Turkish abstract page, (not required for international submissions)  one English abstract page, about 10 pages of text (2250 words), maximum three pages of references and one legends page (if available) . Tables should be placed on separate pages. Units should be prepared in accordance with the International System of Units (SI).
• The text for case reports and "How to Do It" articles should be no more than four double-spaced typewritten pages (1,000 words), excluding the title page, abstract, tables, references and legends page . If illustrations are included, the text must be reduced by 1/2 page or 125 words per illustration. A "How to Do It" article should be a description of a useful surgical technique and contain detailed illustrative material. Case report papers should include maximum 6 figure parts/panels in one or two original and high quality digital images (a total of 6 figure parts/panels are permitted). 
• Correspondence (Letters to the Editor) and "Interesting Image" papers should not exceed two double-spaced pages (500 words) and should not include more than four references. Tables and illustrations accompanying the "Letters to the Editor" papers will be considered for publication only in exceptional circumstances. "Interesting Image" papers should include one or two original and high quality digital images (a total of 6 figure parts/panels are permitted) accompanied by a brief presentation of the relevant case without an abstract.
• Reviews should not exceed 4000 words and editorials should be limited to 2500 words.
• Video articles should include a narrated video component and a written manuscript of 750 words. The manuscript should be organized as Introduction, Technique, and Comments. 
  • Material must not contain any specific patient information. For example, patient names or hospital identification numbers should not appear on radiographs, slides, or films contained in the video. If you are not the copyright holder of a portion of the video (artist illustrations, images from books, photos, cartoons, music, etc.), you must obtain permission to publish the item(s) from the copyright holder.
  • Inclusion of music in your video is not recommended.
  • You may start your video presentation by describing the case history using a couple of introductory slides before proceeding to your operative techniques. This will correlate nicely with the text of the manuscript. Case Presentation: no more than 2 minutes, focusing on the clinical scenario, such as age, gender, history of presenting illness, past medical history, clinical status and surgical plan. Surgical Techniques: please try to depict the following aspects of the operation: Preparation, Exposition, Surgical Pearls, and Completion. Postoperative process; briefly describe the postoperative course of the patient and, if possible and necessary, a radiological image showing the outcome of the technique should be added.
  • Each video clip submitted to TJTCVS should not be longer than 30 minutes

(preferably, 10-20 minutes), and must be accompanied by voice narration, in English. Our Journal will accept digital files in mp4 (preferred), MPEG (MPEG video file), DVD video format, mov, avi, and wmv formats. We recommend using H.264/mp4 for the video codec and AAC for the audio codec. Please contact our Journal if your file does not conform to the above standards. Both 4:3 and 16:9 (widescreen, preferred) aspect ratios are acceptable. The video should be of high quality (at least 480p), and demonstrate the descriptions in the text of the manuscript. The video must be stable, with minimal shaking. The Editors-in-Chief reserves the right to request videos of shorter duration or request further editing if the video does not fulfill minimal publishing standards.

• Video, narration and presentaion file can be submitted by an upload button in the submission system. Should you have any questions, please contact the editorial office (dergi@tkdcd.org).

• New Ideas articles include an original patented project, new device design, a novel surgical approach, or other original concepts related to Cardiac, Thoracic, Arterial, Venous, Lymphatic Disorders.  
  • Please complete all the sections and aim for 2000 words without figures or tables. The Editors-in-Chief reserve the right to edit the manuscript in order to fit the Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery print pages.
  • The text should be organized in the following sections: 1) Introduction: Provide the groundwork of the new idea in light of the current developments and literature in the subject matter. 2) Method: Explain the method or proposed method of the new idea. If the idea was implemented, provide information on the study design. Statistical methods and an ethics approval statement where appropriate should be included here. 3) Results: Present findings or clinical results associated with the new idea. 4) Discussion: Elaborate on what the idea provides with its possible advantages and disadvantages. Supply the authors’ arguments for backing their idea. 5) Conclusion: Provide a brief summary and recommendations.
  • Subtitles can be included accordingly to better convey the idea and its implementation
  • Type footnotes at the bottom of the page on which they are cited. Credit suppliers of drugs, equipment and other brand-name material mentioned in the article in parentheses in the text, giving company name and location.
  • Type acknowledgments, including grant and subsidy information or technical assistance at the end of the text before the references.

2.2 Title page

• Give the paper as short a title as possible (fewer than 95 letters for original articles and review, 80 letters for the other types). Avoid abbreviations in the title. Submit a short title of 40 characters to be used as the running head.
• Include only full names of the authors directly affiliated with the work. The maximum number of authors is eight for original articles, review and new ideas categories, five for case reports, video articles and "How to Do It" articles, three for interesting images and correspondence. Exceeding numbers will have to be justified to the Editor. Include the name and location of no more than two institutional affiliations where the work was done. If more than one department or institution is given, indicate the affiliation of each author.
• If the paper was or is to be presented at a congress or a scientific meeting, provide a footnote giving the name, date, and location of the meeting. 
• Authors should declare if a copy of manuscript is shared on a publicly accessible repository (Preprint Platforms) with a DOI. The permission may have been given unintentionnally during previous sbumissions (in any other journals colloborating with preprint services).  
• At the bottom of the page, type the name, postal address (with zip code), telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the corresponding author, to whom communications, proofs, and requests for reprints should be sent.
• The title page must be uploaded to the system as a separate file.
• An ORCID ID is required for all authors during the submission of the manuscript. The ID is available free of charge at http://orcid.org.

2.3 Abstracts

• Provide a structured abstract of no longer than 250 words for an original article. The abstract should be divided into four sections in the following order: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Abstracts for case reports, "How to Do It" articles, video article, new ideas category and reviews should be unstructured and shorter (100 words). Three to five keywords from the MeSH index can be added below the abstract. No abstract is required for correspondence, commentaries "Interesting Images" and editorials. Abbreviations should be avoided in the abstracts.
• Avoid abbreviations when possible. Define abbreviations at first appearance, if it is necessary to use them.
• The Visual Abstract is a short, pictorial summary that presents the main results of the article within a single view. It is displayed in the online search results of our journal and together with the online full-text article. Articles with visual abstracts benefit from increased visibility and citations. A visual abstract can be prepared for all articles which have an abstract section, but it is not mandatory. While preparing visual abstract, the suggested samples can be used or similar content can be created by the authors. It is recommended to use pictures, figures, or graphics rather than text to present the information in the article. Visual abstract must be prepared in English. It must be uploaded in .JPEG or .TIFF format as a separate file and the editor may request a revision. Visual abstracts that are prepared by using Microsoft PowerPoint should be converted to an image by taking a screenshot in presentation mode and then uploaded in .JPEG or .TIFF format. For further information or questions about the process, you can contact our editorial board member, Dr Cemal Kocaaslan (cemalkocaaslan@yahoo.com). Please click on the link to see the visual abstract samples of our journal; link

2.4 Text

• Generally, the text should be organized as follows: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Introduction should include the topic and objectives of the study. The Materials and Methods section should include the place, time period, and the design of the study. If subheadings are necessary for the Materials and Methods section, these can be arranged as patient characteristics, surgical technique or experimental design, data collection, follow-up, and the details of statistical analysis. The statistical comparison should be provided next to the findings in the Results section. In the Discussion, authors should evaluate their results in the view of current literature.
• Study limitations should be discussed in the discussion section before the conclusion paragraph.
• References, illustrations, and tables should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text.
• Avoid abbreviations when possible. Define abbreviations at first appearance, and avoid their use in the title and abstract.
• Give all measurements and weights in standard metric units.
• For statistical nomenclature and data analysis, follow the "Guidelines for Data Reporting and Nomenclature" published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (1988;46:260-1).
• Type footnotes at the bottom of the page on which they are cited. Credit must be given for suppliers of drugs, equipment, and other brand-name material mentioned in the article, giving company name and location.
• Type acknowledgments, including grant and subsidy information or technical assistance at the end of the text before the references.

2.5 References

• Referencing should be selective and pertain directly to the work being reported. Except in collective and current reviews, comprehensive listings serve no useful purpose but use valuable space. As a general guide, limit the number of references to 25 for original articles and new ideas category, to 6 for case reports, video articles and "How to Do It" articles, 85 for reviews, and to 4 for interesting images and letters to the editor.
• Do not cite personal communications, manuscripts in preparation, and other unpublished data.
• Type references double-spaced on a separate sheet. Number consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text.
• Journal references should provide inclusive page numbers; book references should cite specific page numbers.
• References should be given throughout the text as follows:
• If the surname of the first author of the referenced article is given, "et al." should be added after it, followed by its reference number within square brackets "[ ]" (superscript preferred), and then the sentence should be completed.
• Give references in the text using Arabic numerals in brackets "[ ]" (superscript preferred).
• If different references are given for different statements, each reference should be given within square brackets "[ ]" after the punctuation mark at the end of the relevant statement.
• If there are more than two consecutive references, the first and the last ones should be given with "-" mark between them: e.g. [1-3]; [14-18]; [8-14].
• Double-check all references. All authors if six or fewer should be listed, otherwise, the first six should be written accompanied by "et al".
• Abbreviations of journals should conform to those used in Index Medicus. Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of references.

The style and punctuation of the references should follow the formats outlined below:

• Journal article

İnan MB, Hasde Aİ, Özçınar E, Yazıcıoğlu L, Şırlak M, Akar R, et al. Surgical treatment of postinfarction ventricular septal rupture. Turk Gogus Kalp Dama 2011;19:151-6.

• Presentations

Galloway AC, Ribakove GH, Miller JS, Anderson RV, Buttenheim PM, Baumann FG, et al. Minimally invasive port-access valvular surgery: Initial clinical experience. Presented at the 70th Scientific Session of the American Heart Association; 1997 Nov 10-13; Orlando, FL. Circulation 1997;96:2845.

• Book

Beard JD, Gaines PA, editors. Vascular and endovascular surgery. London: W. B. Saunders; 1998.

• Chapter in a book

Berkowitz DH, Gaynor JW. Management of pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass. In: Mayroudis C, Backer C, editors. Pediatric Cardiac Surgery. 4th ed. West Sussex: Whiley- Blackwell; 2013. p. 169-213.

• Internet Address

1996 NRC Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Available at: http:// www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/labrats/ contents.html. Accessed October 20, 2003.

2.6 Tables

• Tables should be typewritten double-spaced on separate word sheets, each with a table number (Arabic) and title above the table and explanatory notes and legends below. Provide a key symbol and place all abbreviations in alphabetic order below the table, together with their explanations.
• Include written permission from both the author and the publisher to reproduce any previously published table(s) in both print and electronic media.
• Tables should be self-explanatory and the data should not be duplicated in the text or illustrations. If a table provides redundant information, it will be omitted.

2.7 Legends

• Type legends double-spaced sequentially on a separate sheet. Numbers should be Arabic and correspond to the order in which the illustrations appear in the text. Explanations of all abbreviations should appear in alphabetic order at the end of each legend.Give the type of stain and magnification power for all photomicrographs.
• Include written permission from both the author and the publisher to reproduce any previously published illustration(s) in both print and electronic media.
• Enclose signed releases for recognizable (unmasked) photographs of human beings.

2.8 Illustrations

• Images or figures are submitted online as one or more separate files that may contain one or more images. Within each file containing images, use the figure number (eg, Figure 1A) as the image filename. All images should be submitted in .JPG and .TIFF formats in 300 Dpi resolutions. Powerpoint (.ppt) files are accepted for line drawings only and you must use a separate Powerpoint image file for each Powerpoint figure. Please obtain technical help if you are unfamiliar with image files.

3. POLICIES 

The Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery requests all authors to comply with the research and publication ethics. For animal and human studies, national and international guidelines must be followed and ethical approval is a must. The authors are required to upload the ethics committee approval for prospective studies conducted on human subjects along with the full list of authors and affiliations during submission (http:// tgkdc.dergisi.org/makale/login.php).

Ethics committee approval or a corresponding official document is also required for articles other than animal or human studies; like retrospective studies and database analysis, however, for these studies, it is acceptable for the ethics committee approval just to be stated in the Methods section of the manuscript, and the editor may ask for the original ethics committee approval report form the corresponding author if needed. All authors are individually responsible for the ethical conduct of the study.

3.1 Human investigation: Include the date of approval by the local institutional human research committee and the ethical guidelines that were followed by the investigators in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. Also include an affirmation that informed consent was obtained from each participant.

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 the USA), should be provided in parentheses in the following format: Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA).

3.2 Humane animal care: The Materials and Methods section must contain a statement assuring that all animals received humane care in compliance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

3.3 Conflict of interest Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery requires authors to disclose in the cover letter any commercial association (eg, employment, direct payments, stock holdings, retainers, consultantship, patent licensing arrangements, or honoraria) that might pose a conflict of interest issue concerning the manuscript. All funding sources supporting the work should be acknowledged in a footnote.

3.4 Scientific responsibility statement: Before the publication of an accepted manuscript, each author will be required to certify that he or she has participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for a meaningful share of the content of the manuscript and that this participation included:

1. Conception or design of the experiment(s), or collection and analysis or interpretation of data;
2. Drafting the manuscript or revising its intellectual content; and
3. Approval of the final version of the manuscript to be published.  

3.5 Exclusive publication statement: "I certify that none of the material in this manuscript has been published previously and that none of this material is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. This includes symposia, transactions, books, articles published by invitation, and preliminary publications of any kind except an abstract of 400 words or fewer."

3.6 Declaration OF SPONSORSHIP: The authors should describe the role of the study's sponsors in the following areas:

1. Designing the study
2. Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting the data
3. Writing the report