The Turkish Journal of Family Practice (e-ISSN 1308-531X) which is the official journal of the Turkish Family Physicians Association (TAHUD), constitutes an important contribution to the academic development of Family Medicine in Turkey, as well as improving quality of primary health care by reaching many family physicians, who work as clinicians in hospitals and community based settings. The journal is published quarterly as an online only format. It is mainly published in Turkish but articles from foreign authors are published in English.

Published regularly since 1997, the journal welcomes research articles, case reports, reviews, articles that will contribute to continuing medical education, short reports, editorials, letters to the editor, translations of important international documents and abstracts concerning family medicine and primary health care services.

The journal, which is the first and main scientific journal aiming to reach all family physicians in the primary health care system, is prepared with constant effort to further develop and strengthen family medicine as a clinical and academic discipline. The Turkish Journal of Family Practice aims to provide a chance for continuous medical development with rich, comprehensive reviews of the basic principles of family medicine as well as supporting academicians by publishing original studies. Turkey is a bridge between Europe and Asia, with many intense historical and cultural connections with countries in the environment. Therefore, the journal aims to provide collaboration with other countries in order to share knowledge and experiences.

The Turkish Journal of Family Practice is currently indexing and abstracting in Turkish Medical Index of TUBITAK, Turkish Citation Index, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus and EBSCOHost.

Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have not been published previously in print or electronic format and are not under consideration by another printed or electronic publication. A manuscript following a presentation at a scientific meeting will be considered if indicated (including date and place of meeting). Articles submitted will be reviewed by the editorial board. Manuscripts may be rejected or authors may be asked to revise their manuscript for re-evaluation. Letters to the editor, editorials, translations of important international documents and abstracts, may be published without being evaluated by the scientific advisory board. Research articles, short reports, case reports, articles and reviews are peer-reviewed by the scientific advisory board after initial evaluation by the editors.

Following the initial review, manuscripts which have been accepted for consideration are reviewed by at least two reviewers. Manuscripts are sent anonymously to the two independent reviewers, one of which is a family medicine specialist, to be peer reviewed without cover sheets (blind peer review process). Revisions are sent to the author after evaluation. If one of the reviewers rejects the manuscript, it can be sent to a third reviewer. Manuscripts are published if two reviewers accept the document.

Publishing a manuscript in the journal does not necessarily indicate agreement with the conclusions of the original writer and the interpretations of the author do not necessarily reflect the views of the society and publisher. Once published, the manuscript and illustrations are the property of the journal and excerpts cannot be published elsewhere without citing the journal as the source (see. Copyright).

An article(s) exceeding a total of 20 printed pages can be accepted for publication as a supplement (supplementum). In this case all expenses are covered by the author(s).

No publication cost is charged for the manuscripts but reprints are at authors’ cost.

Editor-in-Chief

Esra Saatçı, MD, Professor, Adana, Turkey,

Editors

Ersin Akpınar, MD, Professor, Adana, Turkey
Ümit Aydoğan, MD, Assoc. Professor, Ankara, Turkey
Serdar Öztora, MD, Assoc. Professor, Edirne, Turkey
Dilek Toprak, MD, Assoc. Professor, İstanbul, Turkey
Zeynep Tuzcular Vural, MD, Assoc. Professor, İstanbul, Turkey

Technical Board

Uğur Bilge, MD, Assoc. Professor, Eskişehir, Turkey
Birgül Coşkun, MD, Specialist, İstanbul, Turkey
Işık Gönenç, MD, Specialist, İstanbul, Turkey
Erdinç Yavuz, MD, Specialist, Samsun, Turkey

National Scientific Advisory Board

Nafiz Bozdemir, MD, Professor
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Çukurova University / Adana, Turkey

Süleyman Görpelioğlu, MD, Professor
Dışkapı Training and Research Hospital, Clinics of Family Medicine / Ankara, Turkey

Cahit Özer, MD, Professor
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University / Hatay, Turkey

Mehmet Uğurlu, MD, Professor
Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Clinics of Family Medicine / Ankara, Turkey

Mehmet Uğurlu, MD, Assoc. Professor (Family Medicine)
Clinics of Family Medicine, Atatürk Training and Research Hospital / Ankara, Turkey

Mehmet Ungan, MD, Professor (Family Medicine)
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University / Ankara, Turkey

İlhami Ünlüoğlu, MD, Professor (Family Medicine)
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Eskişehir Osmangazi University / Eskişehir, Turkey

International Scientific Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Thomas Freeman (Family Medicine)
The Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Ontario / Ontario, Canada

Prof. Dr. Michael Kidd (Family Medicine)
Faculty of Health Sciences, Flinders University / Adelaide, Australia

Prof. Dr. Jan De Maeseneer (Family Medicine)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Ghent / Ghent, Belgium

Prof. Dr. Waris Qidwadi (Family Medicine)
Aga Khan University / Karachi, Pakistan

Prof. Dr. Richard G. Roberts (Family Medicine)
School of Medicine, and Public Health, University of Wisconsin / Madison, WI, USA

Prof. Dr. Moira Steward (Epidemiology & Biostatistics)
The Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Ontario / Ontario, Canada

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nabil D. Sulaiman (Family Medicine)
College of Medicine, University of Sharjah/ Sharjah, Unitd Arab Emirates

Prof. Dr. Chris van Weel (Family Medicine)
Nijmegen Medical Centre, Radboud University / Nijmegen, The Netherlands

All published materials (including illustrations, tables and images in the manuscripts) will become the sole property of, and will be copyrighted by the Turkish Journal of Family Practice. Therefore, “ Transfer of Copyright Agreement” are requested if a manuscripts is accepted for publishing. No payment is done for manuscripts under the name of copyright or others approved for publishing in the journal and no publication cost is charged; however, reprints are at authors’ cost.

To promote the development of global open access to scientific information and research, the Turkish Journal of Family Practice provides copyrights of all online published papers (except where otherwise noted) for free use of readers, scientists, and institutions (such as link to the content or permission for its download, distribution, printing, copying, and reproduction in any medium, without any changing and except the commercial purpose), under the terms of CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 License, provided the original work is cited. To get permission for commercial purpose please contact the publisher.

Owner

On behalf of the Turkish Family Physicians Association, President of the Executive Board, Esra Saatçı

Editorial Manager

Serdar Öztora

Administrative Office

Ziaur Rahman Cad. No: 7/10
Çankaya 06650 Ankara, Turkey
Phone: 0090 312 222 99 30, Fax: 0090 312 446 41 24

Publishing Classification

Due the Press Law of Turkish Republic dated as June 26, 2004 and numbered as 5187, this publication is classified as a national periodical in Turkish or English

Publisher

Medikal Akademi Publishing, Istanbul
Phone: 0090 537 309 29 55, Fax: 0090 212 233 90 61
Mail: info@medikalakademi.com.tr –