Submission Guidelines

Paper Submission

Submissions for the 4th International Eastern Black Sea Family Medicine Congress, to be held on June 4–6, 2026, may be made as oral or e-oral presentations, in the form of abstracts or full-text papers.
The submission deadline is March 31, 2026. Submissions must be made in English; however, presentations may be delivered in either English or Turkish. Full texts must be written exclusively in English. All submissions must be presented during the congress and be open to discussion.
Following evaluation, submissions may be published in the Congress Book based on the outcome of a double-blind peer review process. Authors who register for the congress may submit a maximum of two (2) submissions; however, their names may appear as co-authors on more than two submissions.
The abstract must be a minimum of 200 words and must not exceed 400 words. The full-text paper, including references, should not exceed 6 pages.
Submissions must include the authors’ full names and institutional affiliations. Authors are required to provide their ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) information. ORCID numbers must be entered in the format: https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000.
The title should clearly reflect the content of the study. Except for terms with specific scientific meanings (e.g., pH, NaCl), all words in the title should begin with a capital letter. The title should not end with a period.
Due to the automated formatting system, font type and size adjustments are not required.
Except for chemical symbols and internationally recognized units, all abbreviations should be spelled out in parentheses at first mention within the text.
For submissions made as abstracts, the Abstract section must include the following headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion. For case reports, the Abstract section must include the following headings: Introduction, Case Presentation, and Conclusion.
For full-text submissions, the ethics committee approval number must be stated in the “Materials and Methods” section.
Only images that are free of copyright restrictions and have open usage rights should be uploaded during full-text submission. All legal responsibility regarding the uploaded images lies with the author(s).
The full name of the corresponding author should be clearly indicated in an appropriate section, and their phone number, email address, institution, and full mailing address must also be provided.
Standard abbreviations are acceptable. If any non-standard abbreviations are used, their full form must be provided in parentheses at first mention.
The References section must be formatted according to APA style.

APA (American Psychological Association) Style – Basic Rules
For Books:
Author’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of the Book. Publisher.
Example:
Brown, P. (2024). Title of the Book. Publisher.

For Journal Articles:
Author’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, Volume(Issue), page range. https://doi.org/0000-0000-0000-0000
Example:
Smith, J. (2021). Title of the article. Journal Name, 12(3), 45–60. https://doi.org/0000-0000-0000-0000

For Websites:
Author’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title. Website URL
Example:
Johnson, R. (2019). Title. https://www.kahsed.com

Oral Presentations: Oral presentations will be limited to a total of 8 minutes – 6 minutes for the presentation and 2 minutes for discussion. Presentations must be prepared in Microsoft Office PowerPoint format and submitted to the session staff via USB flash drive at least 2 hours before the session (Other presentation software will not be available on the session computers). Presentations will be projected onto the screen using the projector systems in the halls.
E-Oral Presentations: Submissions accepted as e-oral presentations will be delivered remotely via online video conferencing. Each participant will log in to the congress online platform using a unique username and password, and will present by sharing their screen from their own computer. No email submission of presentation files is required during the congress period. Participants who will present must connect via computer to enable screen sharing. While it is possible to join and follow sessions via tablet or mobile phone, screen sharing is not supported on these devices.
- E-oral presentations will be conducted via online video conferencing, and participants will present their prepared slides through screen sharing.
- Participants presenting via online video conferencing will be able to download their “certificates of participation” by logging into the online congress platform.
- E-oral presentations delivered through video conferencing will be included in the congress proceedings book. Each author may participate with a maximum of two (2) e-oral presentations. However, their names may appear on more than two e-oral presentations submitted by other co-authors

For the Review Process

Submitted papers will be evaluated based on topic-specific academic standards and scientific accuracy. Studies to be published within the scope of the congress are subject to detailed peer review to ensure relevance to the congress themes and original contribution to the literature. Submissions with insufficient scientific content or outside the congress scope will not be published. All papers selected for the Congress Proceedings are reviewed transparently and objectively.
Papers are evaluated through a double-blind peer review process. In this process:
• Reviewers, evaluate papers anonymously and do not have access to author identities.
• Authors, are not informed of the reviewers’ identities.
• Evaluation is based on the scientific contribution, methodological strength, ethical compliance, academic writing and language use.

The review process follows these steps:
1. Pre-Evaluation: The format and content are checked for compliance.
2. Reviewer Assignment: A reviewer with relevant subject expertise is appointed.
3. Peer Review: The paper is evaluated according to academic standarts.
4. Final Decision: The result (acceptance, revision request, or rejection) is sent to the corresponding author via automated email.

Editorial and Organizing Committee Policies

The editorial and organizing committee assumes the following responsibilities during the congress process:
• Ensuring the scientific and ethical compliance of submitted papers.
• Assigning peer reviewers to appropriate submissions.
• Reviewing the compliance of the papers with the Congress Proceedings format.

Author Guidelines

Authors must prepare their submissions in accordance with the following rules:
• Ethical Principles: Papers must comply with international ethical standards, be free of plagiarism, and be prepared within the framework of academic integrity.
• Copyrights: Submitted papers remain under the copyright of the authors; however, they are considered approved for publication in the Congress Proceedings once publication permission is granted.
• Reference Format: All submissions must include relevant and up-to-date literature, and citations must be formatted in accordance with APA style.
• Conflict of Interest Declaration: Authors without any conflicts of interest must include the following statement:
“There is no commercial, financial, or personal conflict of interest in this study.”

Ethical Policies

The 4th International Eastern Black Sea Family Medicine Congress is organized in accordance with academic standards and best practices recognized by relevant scientific communities. All submissions within the scope of the congress must fully comply with ethical publishing principles and academic integrity guidelines.

Responsibilities
1. Authors’ Responsibilities
• Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy of the opinions, claims, and results presented in their papers. The congress organization does not guarantee the scientific accuracy or ethical compliance of the submitted work.
• Authors must declare that their studies conform to international academic standarts and are free from plagiarism.
• Authors are required to submit a conflict of interest statement. This statement should read as follows:
“There is no commercial, financial, or personal conflict of interest in this study.”
2. Responsibilities of the Editorial and Organizing Committee
• To evaluate the academic and ethical compliance of submitted papers and initiate a review process when necessary.
• To reject content in the case of detected ethical violations and notify the author(s) accordingly.
• To initiate necessary procedures and inform the authors if any ethical breach is confirmed.

Ethical Review Process
In case any content submitted to the congress is suspected of violating ethical standards, the following process will be applied by the congress organization:
1. Initial review to check the paper’s compliance with academic and ethical standarts.
2. If necessary, an independent ethics review board is formed to evaluate the academic integrity of the paper.
3. If an ethical violation is confirmed, the paper is withdrawn or a revision is requested.
4. Open communication with the authors is maintained throughout the process.

Reference to Ethical Standarts
The ethical and publishing principles applied in this congress are based on the standarts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) or equivalent international ethical guidelines.

In Case of Ethical Violations
Content that is found to violate ethical rules will not be accepted or published by the organization. If necessary, publication may be suspended until the ethical review is completed. Confirmed violations may be reported to relevant academic bodies and institutions when deemed appropriate.

Transparency and Updates
To ensure that participants and authors fully understand their ethical responsibilities, the congress policies are regularly updated and published transparently on the congress website.