A. INTRODUCTION
The International Journal of Medical Dentistry publishes peer-reviewed research-oriented articles and original concepts in all fields of dentistry and oral surgery. The journal is published quarterly (issue 1 – Jan/Mar; issue 2 – Apr/Jun; issue 3 – Jul/Sept; issue 4- Oct/Dec) in English. We take great care in insuring that articles are processed as quickly as possibly (maximum 3-6 months from submission).
The following types of manuscripts will be considered for publication:
– Editorial / Letter to the editor
– Fundamental research
– Clinical research
– Clinical / technological innovations
– Epidemiological studies
– Meta-analysis
– Comorbidities related to dentistry
– Reviews for articles / books
– Clinical cases
– Relevant information for dentists, professional associations, etc.
For original papers, maximum 7000 words are accepted (including Abstract, Keywords, References, Figures and Tables), processed with MS editing facilities. For review papers, maximum of 15000 words are accepted (including Abstract, Keywords, References, Figures and Tables). Manuscripts should be written in US English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these) and submitted electronically, in .doc format.
Recently, the contents of the journal was divided into the following areas: Editorial, Dental Education. History of dentistry, Medical interferences, Biomaterials. Medical devices, Oral Biology, Prophylaxis. Community Dentistry, Cariology, Endodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Orthodontics, Periodontology, Gnathology. Oral Rehabilitation, Prosthetic dentistry, Implantology, Maxilo-facial surgery, Dental Technology, PhD Abstract, Books, Journals, Review, Medical events, The Tribune of the Practitioner. Case Report, Deontology. Malpractice.
The editorial team may reject manuscripts that are not relevant or that do not comply with the instructions for authors.
The publication fee needs to be taken care before publication of the manuscript in our journal.
B. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
B.1. ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Manuscripts should be concise and clear, using Times New Roman of size 12 points in 1.5 line spacing, and should have 2 cm all over margins.
Original research articles should be organized having the following structure: title, authors and institutional affiliation, abstract, keywords, body text (introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, references)
Titles and sub-titles should be written in capitals using Times New Roman font 12 in bold. The title must be in accordance with the research included in the manuscript.
The names of the authors needs to be written with full name, surnames should be followed by first name and the institutional affiliations and academic rank need to be included for all authors. The corresponding author needs to provide full name, contact telephone, postal and email address.
The abstract will follow the structure of the paper and should consist of no more than 150 words, followed by 3-5 representative Keywords.
Introduction. Should include the main objectives of the work and provide a state of the art of the research area approached in the manuscript.
Materials and methods. Must provide sufficient detail in order to allow the work to be reproduced. In this section should be mentioned the used materials, methods and techniques, or other relevant experimental details.
Results and Discussion. Results should be clear and concise. All figures and tables need to be entitled and numbered consecutively, in the order to which they are referred using the following quotations Fig. 1…, Table 1… and must be explained properly. Ensure that the data presented in Tables do not duplicate results described in figures or elsewhere in the paper. All figures must be submitted in either .jpg or .tiff format with a very good resolution. A maximum limit of 8 Figures are allowed per manuscript. Discussion should clear and logic, being consistent with the results and the aim of the work, emphasizing the significance and originality of the results.
Conclusion. The main conclusions should be drawn from obtained results.
Financial support. If the research is part of a grant or project, is recommended that the financial support to be clearly stated.
Acknowledgements. Acknowledgements should be included in a separate section at the end of the article before the references list. In this section is listed the contribution of the researchers who worked in this study.
References. The References must only contain sources used in text, in order of appearance and not in alphabetical order (Vancouver Style) and follow the guideline established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Self-referencing is not allowed. References should be cited in the body the manuscript using a number in brackets (Eg. [1]) and at the end of paper, with complete details, as follows:
Books
Author AA. Title of book. Place of publication:Publisher;Year of publication.
Example
Mitchell DA, Mitchell L. Oxford Handbook of Clinical Dentistry. Oxford:Oxford University Press; 2014.
Chapter in an edited book
Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Pages.
Example
Blaxter PS, Farnsworth TP. Social health and class inequalities. In: Carter C, Peel JR, editors. Equalities and inequalities in health. 2nd ed. London: Academic Press; 2017. p. 165-78.
Article
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, Author DD. Title of article. Abbreviated title of journal. Year; volume number(issue number):page numbers.
Example
Behr M, Zeman F, Baitinger T, Galler J, Koller M, Handel G, Rosentritt M. The clinical performance of porcelain-fused-to-metal precious alloy single crowns: chipping, recurrent caries, periodontitis, and loss of retention. Int J Prosthodont. 2014; 27(2):153–60.
Thesis
Author AA. Title of thesis [dissertation]. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Number of pages.
Example
O’Brien KA. The philosophical and empirical intersections of Chinese medicine and western medicine [dissertation]. Melbourne: Monash University; 2006. 439 p.
Conferences
Author AA. Title of paper. In: Editor AA, editor. Title of book. Proceedings of the Title of the Conference; Date of conference; Location of conference. Place of publication: Publisher’s name; Year of publication. p. page numbers.
Example
Grassby AJ. Health care in the multi-cultural society. In: Walpole R, editor. Rural health. Proceedings of the Rural Health Conference of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners; 2018; Melbourne. Melbourne: The Royal Australian College of Practitioners; 2018. p. 49-50.
B.2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review articles represents a special form of articles that concerns the research of the specialized literature on a specific field of meta-analysis. Being a bibliographic analysis, the editing of the material is carried out respecting the same structural issues mentioned above, in chapter B.1. If, with regard to the title, the authors and the affiliation, abstract and keywords, remain the same recommendations as in the mentioned field, we mention that the structure of the material continues to follow the same structure as in the case of B1, to which we add some additional recommendations.
Title
Authors and affiliation
Abstract and Keywords
Introduction. We keep the recommendations regarding an short summary of the specialized literature opinions, to which we add the need to explain to the reader why this necessity for a meta-analytical synthesis. Either there has been an accumulation of new knowledge that requires synthesizing conclusions, or the last-minute research needs the recommendation of the field as a result of new acquisitions.
Materials and methods. Data Sources. It shoud be specified the sources from which the literature review was conducted; the period in which the respective sources were investigated; keywords that were used when searching for citation sources. To make sure that no important references have been omitted, the list of references in the articles we want to use in the review should also be reviewed.
Eligibility criteria for the bibliography. a) Inclusion criteria – According to the study design algorithm for the medical intervention literature (DAMI 2.0), randomized and non-randomized controlled clinical studies, research with pre- and postexperiment studies and case-control studies should be included. Case reports, case series, review articles, opinion articles and dissertation protocols were excluded. Only articles published in English should be included. All measuring instruments used by researchers, including anthropometric measurements, must be included. b) Exclusion criterion – Articles and studies only with abstract, without original text available should be excluded.
Data collection and risk of bias. Articles that meet the inclusion criteria must be selected. Their titles, abstracts and texts were analyzed according to the aspects included in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). At least 2 researchers must perform data extraction and evaluation independently. In case of disagreement, the problem should be reassessed by the main author of the paper. The risk of bias in randomized controlled clinical trials should be evaluated using the instrument Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. The risk of bias in non-randomized trials was assessed using the Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Non-Randomized Studies (RoBANS).
Results. The total number of articles used in the literature study should be specified. All articles should be analyzed to exclude protocols, articles with topics that deviate from the topic of interest, unique case studies, systematic literature reviews, and literature reviews. It should be noted the impact factor of the journals in which articles were published, affiliation of authors who wrote those articles (universities or research institutes). Creating a systematic table that includes authors and year of publication / article title / journal name / journal impact factor.
Types of studies. The type of study that was used (randomized or non-randomized controlled clinical cases, etc.) should be specified for all articles included in the review.
Diagnostic criteria. It should be will be classified the symptoms (mild, moderate, severe), specifying the number of studies in which this information was found. The equipment used to make these diagnoses must be specified.
Methods of evaluation. The articles classified in the chapter Types of studies will be grouped according to the evaluation method. It should be created a table including the following – author and year, type of study, diagnostic criteria, participants in the clinical study (participants, number of men, number of women, age, etc.), parameters used in clinical examination, methods diagnostic evaluation. Also, it should be created a table for the studies in which photographic analyzes were performed and a table for the studies in which stabilometric evaluations were performed. In the case of photographic/photogrammetric analysis, will be specified the studies from which the images used in the review were taken. Images must be accurately analyzed and described.
Sample size/individual consent. Studies in which is specified the number of patients should be taken into consideration. It is mandatory to use studies that have been approved by their institutional review boards and where informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Intervention. The measurements carried out on the patients from the analyzed studies must be accurately described step by step, mentioning all the working parameters, as well as the equipment used.
Results of the evaluation. The images taken in the respective studies, preferably comparative, between the patients and the control group should be presented. For a better evaluation of the results, a table will be created with the authors of the article, the year of publication, the synthesis of the results of each study, correlations between different aspects. Only articles in which ethics committee approval is specified will be used.
Risk of bias assessment. The risk of bias must be assess using Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Non-Randomized Studies (RoBANS). It involves the covering each article by the following criteria – selection of participants, measurement of intervention, blind studies for evaluation of results, incomplete data of results, selective reporting of results.
a) Selection of participants. All studies that contain a selection of their participants using appropriate diagnostic tools are evaluated as having a low risk of bias.
b) Confounding variables. Regarding the possibility of confounding variables (drugs, surgery) being present, all of the studies were assessed to have a low risk of bias as they had tried to eliminate the effects of confounding variables through the use of exclusion criteria.
c) Measuring the intervention. In order to have a low risk of bias, articles should be used in which at least 3 blind studies are performed (They are used when the method used is too subjective or the dispersion of results is high).
d) Blind studies for evaluating the results. To have a low risk of bias, articles should be used in which blind studies are conducted by at least 2 case study researchers.
e) Incomplete results data. Articles that have an increased risk of bias due to withdrawal of patients from the study, and implicitly articles that have a low risk of bias due to the completion of the study by patients should be specified.
f) Selective reporting of results. All articles used in the study should be analyzed to verify the full reporting of the results, thus a low risk of bias. The use of both instruments for randomized and non-randomized controlled clinical trials should be verified. The quality of the working methodology must be verified by the detailed description in generating random sequences. It should be created a table created regarding the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, ie the following steps – Generating random sequences / Hiding allocation / Hiding data for study participants and staff / Hiding data in evaluating results / Incomplete data in presenting results / Selective reporting (risk should be mentioned at every step – low, medium or high).
Discussions. The main results should be presented, comparatively, in the articles mentioned at the beginning of the literature review.The limitations of this literature study and suggestions for the following studies should be presented.
Conclusions. Synthesizes the main ideas arising from the meta-analysis.
References. The references should be written according to the instructions presented at point B.1, in the case of an original manuscript.
C. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
Submission by post: The manuscript that is intended to be published in the IJMD can be sent by post. The sending address is – International Journal of Medical Dentistry (Editorial Office), Pacurari str., no. 11, Iasi, Romania.
Submission by email: The manuscript that is intended to be published in the IJMD can also be sent by to the following e-mail address: contact@ijmd.ro
When submitting the manuscript, it is mandatory to fill an ethics statement, copyright transfer form and conflict of interest statement, which can be downloaded from www.ijmd.ro.
D. THE PEER-REVIEW PROCESS
The assessment-review process relies on the peer-review system, according to which the papers sent for publication are assessed based on a set of criteria that are unanimously accepted by the scientific and academic community. It is mandatory that all articles to be included in peer-review process. The journal uses double blind peer review process.
The meetings of the editorial team are designed to categorize the papers that are received depending on the various sections of the journal. Considering the field concerned, the assessment of the papers is carried out by 2 peer-reviewers, members of the editorial board, specialists in the respective field, who are supposed to send their suggestions and remarks within 4 weeks from the reception of the manuscript. The peer review process is conducted in a objective and confidentially manner.
The peer-review form is based on the following considerations: article’s title is appropriate to the content; the abstract accurately reflects the content; the keywords are good descriptors of the content of the paper; the presentation is complete, clear and well organized; originality and significance of the problem, applicability to the field (relevance beyond case presented); description of the problem within a theoretical framework; literature review demonstrates a clear relationship between problem and other relevant literature; all figures, tables, and photos are necessary and appropriate; the conclusion is valid and properly supported; the references include relevant published work from the last 5 years, are complete, correctly written and in correspondence with the citations etc. Reviewers should point out relevant published work which is not yet cited.
The editor-in-chief leads the senior editorial panel in making the final decision regarding the publication based on the scientific merit and originality of the submitted work. Special attention is paid to the content and originality of articles, as well as the layout, grammar, structure and visual impact. Statistical analysis needs to be correct, relevant and adequately presented.
The authors have maximum two weeks to respond to the feedback given by the peer-review process. In the absence of an answer or an unsatisfactory response the article will be removed from the submission process. All communication from the authors should occur through the Editorial email address at: contact@ijmd.ro. Accepted, articles may be edited or reformatted by the Editorial Board under the transfer of copyright agreement.
The meetings of the editorial team also prioritize the manuscripts depending on whether they meet or not all the formatting and scientific requirements, depending on the reviewers’ opinions and on the available place available in the journal.
After the evaluators will asses the scientific quality of the article through the peer-review process (which is confidential), the article is included in the editing procedure, and if changes are needed, the article returns to the author. After rectification, the article submitted to the peer-review procedure and then to the editing and publication.
E. PUBLISHING ETHICS
E.1. INTRODUCTION
The editorial office opposes the publication of any material suspected or confirmed to be obtained by unethical methods, without complying with the national and international codes of ethics in research. Otherwise, the article will be rejected. The editorial office does nor support unethical practice in research and we promote the code of good practice in research. If the editorial office are aware of any illegal practices in research, they will make every effort to limit or abolish these practices, according to the law. The editorial office is always willing to combat unethical research practices and will correct, clarify or withdraw from publication (if possible and not yet published), any paper that has been obtained using unethical ways in research, and will eventually recognize where appropriate, if it has published suspicious material. When needed, the journal will publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies. IJMD follows the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.
E.2. AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITY
The authors are exclusively responsible for the contents of their submissions, the validity of the experimental results and must make sure that they have permission from all involved parties to make the data public. It is the responsibility of each author to ensure that papers submitted to the IJMD are written with ethical standards in mind, concerning plagiarism. Please note that all submissions are thoroughly checked for plagiarism. Information on what constitutes plagiarism is provided below.
E.3. PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is defined as ‘submitting as one’s own work, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement.
Examples of plagiarism include copying (using another person’s language and/or ideas as if they are one’s own), by:
- quoting verbatim another person’s work without due acknowledgement of the source;
- paraphrasing another person’s work by changing some of the words, or the order of the words, without due acknowledgement of the source;
- using ideas taken from someone else without reference to the originator;
- cutting and pasting from the Internet to make a pastiche of online sources;
- submitting someone else’s work as part of one’s own without identifying clearly who did the work.
Plagiarism might also arise from colluding with another person who has not been declared or acknowledged (i.e. where collaboration is concealed or has been forbidden). Work should include a general acknowledgement where it has received substantial help, for example with the language and style of a piece of written work.
Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including: • text, illustrations, musical quotations, mathematical derivations, computer code, etc.;
E.4. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
International Jurnal of Medical Dentistry (IJMD) requires all authors and reviewers to declare any conflicts of interest that may be inherent in their submissions.Conflict of interest for a given manuscript exists when a participant in the peer review and publication process – author, reviewer, or editor – has ties to activities that could inappropriately influence his or her judgment, whether or not judgment is in fact affected.Financial relationships with industry, for example, through employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, expert testimony, either directly or through immediate family, are usually considered to be the most important conflicts of interest.However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. Public trust in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how well conflict of interest is handled during writing, peer review, and editorial decision making. Bias can often be identified and eliminated by careful attention to the scientific methods and conclusions of the work. Financial relationships and their effects are less easily detected than other conflicts of interest. Participants in peer review and publication should disclose their conflicting interests, and the information should be made available so that others can judge their effects for themselves.All authors need to declare any conflicts of interest and financial disclosures during the submission process and prior to publication as a mandatory requirement of the publication agreement.
For Reviewers. Reviewed articles should be treated confidentially prior to their publication. The following situations are considered conflicts of interest and should be avoided:
- Co-authoring publications with at least one of the authors in the past 3 years
- Being colleagues within the same section/department or similar organisational unit in the past 3 years
- Supervising/having supervised the doctoral work of the author (s) or being supervised/having been supervised by the author(s)
- Receiving professional or personal benefit resulting from the review
- Having a personal relationship (e.g. family, close friend) with the author(s)
- Having a direct or indirect financial interest in the paper being reviewed
It is not considered a Conflict of Interest if the reviewers have worked together with the authors in a collaborative project or if they have co-organized an event. Every reviewer of Interantional Journal of Medical Dentistry must sign a declaration that include all the aspects above mentioned.
For authors. When submitting an manuscript, all authors must sign the Conflict of interest statement.
E.5. COPYRIGHT AND ACCESS
When submmiting a manuscript, copyright transfer form should be sign by all authors.Any rights to the published articles are automatically transferred to the journal, and the author assumes implicitly the obligation not to send for publication the same article or results to other journals, and any re-publishing, duplication or retrieval of the articles already published, will only be possible with express written consent.The access on the articles published in IJMD is free.
Disclaimers. International Journal of Medical Dentistry uses the ‘Uniform Requirement for Manuscript Submitted to Biomedical Journals’ established by the International Committee of Instructions for authors. Authors need to insure that patient confidentiality is protected at all times by removing all patient identifiable information from the articles and photographs submitted. Vulnerable individuals need to be protected at all times during the research, submission and publication process. All original works written in English may be submitted for peer-review. All manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement signed by all authors, in which they assume responsibility for the originality, intellectual property rights and ethical implications of all work accepted for publication in the Journal of Romanian Medical Dentistry. The authors are solely responsible for obtaining the permission / copy rights to publish tables, figures or images form other journals, books or publications.
Informed Consent. Informed consent from patients is required when publishing identifiable, sensitive or private information. It is the author’s responsibility to gain written consent from patients and make it available to the Editorial Board or any other authorised legal bodies.
Experiments involving human and animal subjects. All experiments on human subjects require proof of approval by an authorised Ethics Committee and be aligned to the Helsinki Declaration (1975 / revised 2000). All experiments on animals require proof of compliance with institutional and national guidelines on the prevention of animal cruelty and good standards of veterinary care and practice in medical research.
Sources:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/about/ethical-standards
http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines
http://www.elsevier.com/editors/publishing-ethics/perk
PUBLICATION FEE
The fee required for manuscript publishing is the following: 150 euro for the first author and 50 euro for each co-author*.
*This publication fee includes also the grammar and spelling checking of the English language by professional language experts.
The journal does not have article submission charges.
All the articles included in the journal are fully available to the readers without any charge.
Data required for the payment of the publication:
Beneficiary: ,,Oamenii Cetatii” Foundation
Address: Stefan cel Mare Street, No. 2, Iasi, Romania
SWIFT Code: BTRL RO22
RON IBAN Bank Account: RO10 BTRL 0240 1205 W587 30XX
EURO IBAN Bank Account: RO82 BTRL 0240 4205 W587 30XX
Bank: Transilvania, Iasi, Romania