Instructions to Authors

1- General Information

The Bulletin of Urooncology is the official scientific publication of Turkish Urooncology Association. It is published quarterly (March, June, September, and December). Supplements are also published during the year if necessary. Accepted articles will be published in English online without a hard copy.

The Bulletin publishes basic and clinical research original articles, reviews, editorials, case reports, surgery videos (Video-urooncology) and letters to the editor relevant to urooncology (prostate cancer, urothelial cancers, testis and kidney cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and any aspect of urologic oncology).

All submitted manuscripts are committed to rigorous peer review.

THE BULLETIN OF UROONCOLOGY DOES NOT CHARGE ANY ARTICLE SUBMISSION, PROCESSING OR PUBLICATION CHARGES, NOR DO AUTHORS RECEIVE ANY REMUNERATION OR COMPENSATION FOR THEIR MANUSCRIPTS.

Manuscripts must be written in English and must meet the requirements of the Bulletin. Articles are accepted for publication on the condition that they are original, are not under consideration by another journal, and have not been previously published. This requirement does not apply to papers presented in scientific meetings and whose summaries not exceeding 400 words have been published. In this case, however, the name, date, and place of the meeting in which the paper was presented should be stated. Direct quotations, tables, or illustrations taken from copyrighted material must be accompanied by written permission for their use from the copyright owner and authors.

The name of the journal is registered as “Bulletin of Urooncology” in international indices and databases and should be abbreviated as “Bull Urooncol” when referenced.

All manuscripts should comply with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” produced and updated by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (www.icmje.org).

It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure their manuscript meets scientific criteria and complies with ethical requirements.

The Bulletin adheres to the principles set forth in the Declaration of Helsinki 2016 version (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html) and holds that all reported research involving human beings is conducted in accordance with such principles. Reports describing data obtained from research conducted in human participants must contain a statement in the “Materials and Methods” section indicating approval by an ethics review committee and affirmation that informed consent was obtained from each participant.

All manuscripts dealing with animal subjects must contain a statement indicating that the study was performed in accordance with “The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” (http://oacu.od.nih.gov/regs/guide/guide.pdf) with the approval (including approval number) of the Institutional Ethic Review Board, in the “Materials and Methods” section.

Prospective clinical trials, surgery videos and case reports should be accompanied by informed consent and the identity of the patient should not be disclosed.

During the evaluation of the manuscript or even after publication, the research data and/or ethics committee approval form and/or patients’ informed consent document can be requested from the authors if it is required by the editorial board.

We disapprove of unethical practices such as plagiarism, fabrication, duplication, and salami slicing, as well as inappropriate acknowledgements. In such cases, sanctions will be applied in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) rules. We use Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate to screen all submissions for plagiarism prior to publication.

It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure their manuscript meets full ethical criteria detailed at www.uroonkolojibulteni.com/Peer-Review-and-Ethic.

2- Manuscript Submission

Manuscripts are submitted online at www.uroonkolojibulteni.com. If you are unable to successfully upload the files, please contact the editorial office by e-mail or through the online submission system. Rejected manuscripts are not sent back to the authors except for art work.

All submissions must include “Copyright AgreementForm”. All authors should sign this form declaring acceptance of full responsibility for the accuracy of all contents in accordance with the order of authors. They should also indicate whether there is a conflict of interest regarding manuscript. The names of the institutions, organizations, or pharmaceutical companies that funded or provided material support for the research work, even in the form of partial support, should be declared and acknowledged in the footnote of the article. Copyright Agreement Form must also indicate that “Patient Consent Statement” is obtained for human studies particularly prospective clinical trials, surgery videos (Video-urooncology) and case reports. All manuscripts submitted must also be accompanied by an “Acknowledgements Form” which is available at www.uroonkolojibulteni.com.

The ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) number of the all authors should be provided while sending the manuscript. Free registration can be done at http://orcid.org.

3- Peer-Review Process

The Bulletin of Urooncology is an independent international journal based on double-blind peer-review principles. All articles are subject to review by the editors and peer reviewers. All manuscripts are reviewed by the editor, associate editors, and at least two expert referees. The scientific board guiding the selection of papers to be published in the Bulletin consists of elected experts of the Bulletin and if necessary, selected from national and international authorities. The editorial board has the right to not publish a manuscript that does not comply with the Instructions for Authors, and to request revisions or re-editing from the authors. The review process will be managed and decisions made by the Editor-in-chief, who will act independently.

The editor and editorial board is the sole authority regarding reviewer selection. The reviewers are mainly selected from a national and international advisory board. The editorial board may decide to send the manuscript to independent national or international reviewers according to the subject.

Authors of accepted manuscripts accept that the editor and associate editors can make corrections without changing the main text of the paper.

THE EDITORS WILL QUICKLY MAKE A SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION OF YOUR ARTICLE AND MOSTLY REACH A FINAL DECISION ABOUT YOUR ARTICLE WITHIN 20 TO 30 DAYS. THUS, WE OFFER A QUICK SYSTEMATIC REVIEW PROCESS TO ALL AUTHORS.

4- Editorial Policies

-Scientific Responsibility:

It is the authors’ responsibility to prepare a manuscript that meets scientific criteria. All persons designated as authors should have made substantial contributions to the following:

(1) conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data,
(2) drafting the article or revising it critically for intellectual content,
(3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

If the article includes any direct or indirect commercial links or if any institution provided material support to the study, authors must state in the “Copyright Agreement Form”. They must state that they have no relationship with the commercial product, drug, pharmaceutical company, etc. concerned; or specify the type of relationship (consultant, other agreements), if any. This information should also be included in the “Acknowledgements Form”.

In case of any suspicion or allegation regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the Bulletin reserves the right to submit the manuscript to the supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Bulletin accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.

-Abbreviations:
Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for an abbreviation should precede its first use in the text, unless it is a standard abbreviation. Abbreviations that are used should be defined in parenthesis where the full word is first mentioned.

-Units of Measurement:
Measurements should be reported using the metric system, according to the International System of Units (SI).

-Statistical Evaluation:
All retrospective, prospective, and experimental research articles must be evaluated in terms of biostatics and should be stated together with an appropriate plan, analysis, and report. P values must be given clearly in the manuscripts (e.g., p=0.033). It is the authors’ responsibility to prepare a manuscript that meets biostatistical rules.

-Language:
Accepted articles will be published in English online. It is the authors’ responsibility to prepare a manuscript that meets spelling and grammar rules. Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English are encouraged to consult an expert. All spelling and grammar mistakes in the submitted articles are corrected by our redaction committee without changing the data presented.

5- Article Types

The Bulletin of Urooncology publishes articles prepared in compliance with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals published by International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements will be returned to the author for necessary revision prior to review.

The Bulletin requires that all submissions be submitted according to these guidelines: Manuscripts should be prepared as a word document (*.doc) or rich text format (*.rtf). Text should be double-spaced with 2.5 cm margins on both sides using 12-point type double spaced in Times Roman.

All manuscripts submitted must be accompanied by the “Copyright Agreement Form” (www.uroonkolojibulteni.com). The corresponding author must also provide a separate “Title Page” including full correspondence address including telephone, fax number, and e-mail address, list of all authors with The ORCID number. Contact information for the corresponding author is published in the Bulletin.

All manuscripts submitted must also be accompanied by an “Acknowledgements Form” (www.uroonkolojibulteni.com). Acknowledgements are given for contributors who may not be listed as authors. Any grants or financial support received for the paper should be stated in the “Acknowledgements Form”. If presented as an abstract; the name, date, and place of the meeting should also be stated in this form. A statement of financial, commercial or any other relationships of a declarable nature relevant to the manuscript being submitted, (i.e. a potential conflict of interest) must also be included in “Acknowledgements Form”.

Each section of the” Main Text” mentioned below should be started on a new page and be organized according to the following sequence:

1) First page: Title, abstract and keywords (without authors’ credentials)
2) Manuscript text structured based on the article type (without authors’ credentials)
3) References
4) Figure legends
5) Short Quiz for review articles.

Tables and figures should be uploaded separately.

Also, “Acknowledgements Form” should be uploaded separately.

A- Original Research Articles

Original prospective or retrospective studies of basic or clinical investigations in areas relevant to urologic oncology.

Content (Main text): Each part should start on a new page.
- First page: Title  -  Abstract (structured abstract limited to 300 words, containing the following sections: Objective, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions)  - Keywords (List 3-5 keywords using Medical Subjects Headings [MeSH])
- Introduction
- Materials and Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Study Limitations
- Conclusions
- References
- Figure Legends: These should be included on separate page after the references.

-Tables and figures should be uploaded separately.
- Also, “Acknowledgements Form” should be uploaded separately.

Preparation of research articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses must comply with study design guidelines: CONSORT statement for randomized controlled trials (Moher D, Schultz KF, Altman D, for the CONSORT Group. The CONSORT statement revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomized trials. JAMA 2001; 285: 1987-91) (http://www.consortstatement.org/); PRISMA statement of preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, The PRISMA Group. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 2009; 6(7): e1000097.) (http://www.prisma-statement.org/); STARD checklist for the reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy (Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, Bruns DE, Gatsonis CA, Glasziou PP, Irwig LM, et al., for the STARD Group. Towards complete and accurate reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy: the STARD initiative. Ann Intern Med 2003;138:40-4.)(http://www.stard-statement.org/); STROBE statement, a checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies (http://www.strobe-statement.org/); MOOSE guidelines for meta-analysis and systemic reviews of observational studies (Stroup DF, Berlin JA, Morton SC, et al. Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology: a proposal for reporting Meta-analysis of observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) group. JAMA 2000; 283: 2008-12).

A word count for the original articles (excluding title page, acknowledgements, references , figure and table legends) should be provided not exceed 3000 words. Number of references should not exceed 30. Number of figure/tables is restricted to five for original articles.

B- Case Reports

Case reports should include cases which are rarely seen and distinctive in diagnosis and treatment. These can include brief descriptions of a previously undocumented disease process, a unique unreported manifestation or treatment of a known disease process, or unique unreported complications of treatment regimens, and should contribute to our present knowledge.

Content (Main text): Each part should start on a new page.
- First page: Title - Abstract (limited to 150 words, unstructured - Keywords (List 3-5 key words using Medical Subjects Headings [MeSH])
- Introduction
- Case Presentation
- Discussion
- References
- Figure Legends: These should be included on separate page after the references.

-Tables and figures should be uploaded separately.
-Also, “Acknowledgements Form” should be uploaded separately.

A word count for the case reports (excluding title page, acknowledgements, references, figure and table legends) should be provided not exceeding 1500 words. Number of references should not exceed 15. Number of figure/tables is restricted to three for case reports.

C- Review Article

These are manuscripts which are prepared on current subjects by experts who have extensive experience and knowledge of a certain subject and who have achieved a high number of publications and citations. Reviews are usually submitted directly or by invitation of the editorial board. Submitted reviews within the scope of the journal will be taken into consideration by the editors. The content of the manuscript should include the latest achievements in an area and information and comments that would lead to future studies in that area. Number of authors should be limited to three.

Content (Main text): Each part should start on a new page.
- First page: Title -Abstract (maximum 250 words; without structural divisions - Keywords (List 3-5 key words using Medical Subjects Headings [MeSH]).
- Introduction
- Text: This part should present detailed information based on current literature about the subject of the review. The author(s) should organize the manuscript into appropriate headings and subheadings to facilitate reading.
- Conclusions
- References
- Figure Legends: These should be included on separate page after the references.
- Short Quiz (a list of 3-5 questions about the context of article for CME credit). The editorial board and Urooncology Association of Turkey executive committee will evaluate the answers and members submitting correct answers may receive education grants).

- Tables and figures should be uploaded separately.
- Also, “Acknowledgements Form” should be uploaded separately.

Number of figure/tables is restricted to five for review articles. Number of references should not exceed 100.

D- Literature Review

These short reviews are solicited by the editor, will go through the peer review process, and will cover recently published selected articles in the field of urologic oncology. It is a mini-review article that highlights the importance of a particular topic and provides recently published supporting data. The guidelines stated above for review articles are applicable. Word count should not exceed 1500 and references are limited to 10.

E- Editorial Commentary

These short comments are solicited by the editor and should not be submitted without prior invitation. An original research article is evaluated by specialists in the area (not including the authors of the research article) and this is published at the end of the related article. Word count should not exceed 500 words and number of references is limited to 5.

F- Letters to the Editor

These are letters that include different views, experiments, and questions from readers about the manuscripts published in the Bulletin within the last year and should be no more that 500 words with maximum of 5 references. There should be no title or abstract. Submitted letters should indicate the article being referenced (with issue number and date) and the name, affiliation, and address of the author(s). If the authors of the original article or the editors respond to the letter, it will also be published in the Bulletin.

G- Surgery videos on urooncology (video-urooncology)

These videos are solicited by the editor. The videos are prepared on urooncological surgeries by experts who have extensive experience and knowledge of certain advanced surgical techniques. This section is also intended to enable urologists to learn, evaluate, and apply new or complex surgical principles in their surgical practice. The videos can describe current sophisticated or new surgical techniques or modification of current techniques. The surgery video must be high quality material.

Videos are only submitted by the invitation of the editorial board.  Submitted videos are also evaluated based on double-blind peer-review principles.  

The Bulletin of Urooncology publishes original videos containing material that has not been reported elsewhere as a video manuscript, except in the form of an abstract. The authors should describe prior abstract publications in the “Acknowledgements Form”. Published videos become the sole property of The Bulletin of Urooncology.

Video-urooncology submission should include:

1) Copyright Agreement Form:  This form must indicate that “Patients’ Informed Consent Statement” is obtained.
2) Title Page
3) Summary: Summary should point out critical steps in the surgery up to 500 worlds. This part was published as an abstract to summarize the significance of the video and surgical techniques. The author(s) may add references if it is required.
5) Video: Please upload your video to www.uroonkolojibulteni.com using online submission system. Accepted video formats are Windows Media Video (WMV), AVI, or MPEG (MPG, MPEG, MP4). High-Definition (HD) video is preferred.
6) “Acknowledgements From” should be uploaded separately.

Videos should be up to 30 minutes in duration.  The video must include audio narration explaining the procedure.  All text and audio in the video must be in English. Audio must include narration in clear, grammatically correct English. Videos must be clear, in focus, and without excessive camera movement. Radiographs and other material must not contain any patient-identifiable information. Limited number of slides incorporated into video may be included to provide details of patient history, clinical and laboratory findings.

6- Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared following sequence according to article type:

A- Copyright Agreement Form

All manuscripts submitted must be accompanied by this form which is available at www.uroonkolojibulteni.com. All of the authors must sign this form. This form must indicate that “Patient Consent Statement” is obtained for prospective trials, surgery videos (Video-oncology) and case reports. By signing this form the authors declare that they obtained the Ethic Committee approval document regarding all experimental, clinical and drug human studies. By signing this form authors also state that the work has not been published nor is under evaluation process for other journals, and they accept the scientific contributions and responsibilities. No author will be added or the order of authors will be changed after this stage. Any funding and/or potential conflict of interest must be declared in this form.

B- Title Page

The title page should include the following:
- Full title
- Running title
- Authors’ names and institutions
- The ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) number of all authors should be provided
- Corresponding author’s e-mail and postal address, telephone, and fax numbers

C- Main Text (without authors credentials)

Each section of the main text should be started on a new page and abide to the following sequence according to article type:
- First page: Title, Abstract and Keywords:Abstracts should be prepared in accordance with the specific instructions for the different article types. Only for original articles, a structured abstract should be provided using the following headings: Objective, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Provide 3-5 keywords. English keywords should be provided from Medical Subject Headings (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh).
- Introduction: Introduction should include brief explanation of the topic, the objective of the study, and supporting information from the literature.
- Materials and Methods: This section should describe the study plan, indicating whether the study was randomized or nonrandomized, retrospective or prospective, the number of trials, the characteristics, and statistical methods used. If applicable, it should be indicated that the results should be scrutinized.
- Results: This part should summarize the results of the study, with tables and figures presented in numerical order; results should be indicated in accordance with statistical analysis methods used.
- Discussion: The positive and negative aspects of the study data should be discussed and compared with literature.
- Study Limitations: Limitations of the study should be discussed for only original articles. In addition, an evaluation of the implications of the obtained findings/results for future research should be outlined.
- Conclusions: The conclusion of the manuscript should be highlighted.
- References: The author is responsible for the accuracy of references. Cite references in the text with numbers in parentheses. All authors should be listed if four or fewer, otherwise list the first three authors and add et al. Number references consecutively according to the order in which they first appear in the text. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus (consult List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus).

Examples for writing references: Format for journal articles: initials of author’s names and surnames. title of article. journal name date; volume: inclusive pages.
Example: Journal: Soukup V, Dušková J, Pešl M, et al. The prognostic value of t1 bladder cancer substaging: a single institution retrospective study. Urol Int 2014;92:150-156.
Format for books: initials of author’s names and surnames. chapter title. In: editor’s name, Eds. Book title. Edition, City: Publisher; Year. p. pages.
Example: Book Chapters: Lang TF, Duryea J. Peripheral Bone Mineral Assessment of the Axial Skeleton: Technical Aspects. In: Orwoll ES, Bliziotes M, eds. Osteoporosis: Pathophysiology and Clinical Management. New Jersey, Humana Pres Inc, 2003;83-104.Books: Greenspan A. Orthopaedic Radiology a Practical Approach. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams Wilkins; 2000. p. 295-330.
-Figure legends: These should be included in main text on a separate page after the references.
-Short Quiz: A list of 3-5 questions as the last page about the context of article for CME credit only for review articles.

D- Tables and Figures

If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and fully acknowledge that source. Number of figure/tables is restricted to five for original article and reviews and three for case reports. Authors should contact the editor prior to submission regarding any manuscript exceeding these figure/table limitations.

Direct quotations, tables, or illustrations taken from copyrighted material must be accompanied by written permission for their use from the copyright owner and authors.

Tables: Supply each table in a separate file. Number tables according to the order in which they appear in the text, and supply a brief caption for each. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Write explanatory statistical measures of variation, such as standard deviation or standard error of mean. Be sure that each table is cited in the text.

Figures: Supply each figure in a separate file. Authors should number figures according to the order in which they appear in the text. Figures include graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations.
Each figure should be accompanied by a legend. Figures should be submitted as separate files, not in the text file. Image files must be cropped as close to the actual image as possible.
Pictures/photographs must be in color, clear and with appropriate contrast to distinguish details. Figures, pictures/photographs must be uploaded as separate .jpg or .gif files (approximately 500x400 pixels, 8 cm in width and scanned at 300 resolution). Figure legends should be included in main text on a separate page after the references.

E- Acknowledgements Form

All manuscripts submitted must be accompanied by an “Acknowledgements Form“ which is available at www.uroonkolojibulteni.com.  The information in this document will be published as a footnote of the article.

If the manuscript presented as an abstract previously; the name, date, and place of the meeting should be mentioned.

Acknowledgements are given for contributors who may not be listed as authors, or for grant support of the research. Any technical or financial support or editorial contributions (statistical analysis, English evaluation) to the study should appear at the end of the article. IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE ANY FUNDING FOR THIS WORK, PLEASE STATE “THE AUTHOR(S) RECEIVED NO SPECIFIC FUNDING FOR THIS SUBMISSION.”

A statement of financial, commercial or any other relationships of a declarable nature relevant to the manuscript being submitted, (i.e., associations/relationships with the sponsors or any other associations which might lead to a potential conflict of interest), must be included in this section. OTHERWISE THIS SECTION SHOULD INCLUDE THIS STATEMENT: “THE AUTHOR(S) DECLARES(S) THAT THERE IS NO CONFLICT OF INTEREST”.

7- Manuscript Submission

As part of the submission process, authors are advised to complete a check-list designed to ensure their submission complies with the instructions for authors, and submissions may be returned to authors who do not adhere to these guidelines.

The Bulletin of Urooncology only accepts electronic manuscript submission at the web site www.uroonkolojibulteni.com.

Manuscripts should be prepared as a word document (*.doc) or rich text format (*.rtf). Text should be double-spaced with 2.5 cm margins on both sides using 12-point type double spaced in Times Roman.
Submissions must include according to the following sequence:

A-Original Article
1) Copyright Agreement Form
2) Title Page
3) Main text (without authors’ credentials): Each part should start on a new page.
First page (Title- structured abstract – keywords), Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results,
Discussion, Study Limitations, Conclusions, References, Figure legends
4) Table(s)
5) Figure(s)
6) Acknowledgements Form

B-Case Reports
1) Copyright AgreementForm
2) Title Page
3) Main text (without authors’ credentials): Each part should start on a new page.
First page (Title- abstract – keywords), Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, References, Figure
legends
4) Table(s)
5) Figure(s)
6) Acknowledgements Form

C-Review Article
1) Copyright Agreement Form
2) Title Page
3) Main text (without authors’ credentials): Each part should start on a new page.
First page (Title- abstract – keywords), Introduction, Text (appropriate headings and subheadings),
Conclusions, References, Figure legends, Short Quiz
4) Table(s)
5) Figure(s)
6) Acknowledgements Form

D-Literature Review
1) Copyright Agreement Form
2) Title Page
3) Main text (without authors’ credentials): Each part should start on a new page.
First page (Title- abstract – keywords), Introduction, Text (Appropriate headings and subheadings),
Conclusions, References, Figure legends
4) Table(s)
5) Figure(s)
6) Acknowledgements Form

E-Editorial Commentary
1) Copyright Agreement Form
2) Title Page
3) Main text (Text, References)
4) Acknowledgements Form

F-Letters to the Editor
1) Copyright Agreement Form
2) Title Page (The title is “Letter to Editor about……..”)
3) Main text (Text, References)
4) Acknowledgements Form

G-Surgery Videos (Video-urooncology)
1) Copyright Agreement Form
2) Title Page
3) Summary (without authors’ credentials)
4) Video
5) Acknowledgements Form

Correspondence

Bulletin of Urooncology

Editor in Chief
Prof. H.Kamil Çam, M.D.
Department of Urology, Marmara University School of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey

Editor
Associate  Prof. Nihat Karakoyunlu, M.D.
Department of Urology, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

Editor
Bahadır Sahin, M.D.
Department of Urology, Marmara University, School of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey

Editorial Office
Şerif Ali Mevkii, Pakdil Sokak, No: 5, 34775, Yukarı Dudullu, Ümraniye, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 216 594 52 85
+90 216 594 57 99
[email protected]

Publisher
Galenos Publishing House
Molla Gürani Mahallesi Kaçamak Sokak No: 21 34093 Fındıkzade, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 621 99 25
+90 212 621 99 27
[email protected]