Dicle Dental Journal

Dicle Dental Journal, formerly known as Dicle University Faculty of Dentistry Journal, which started its publication life in 1984 and has been archived since 1990, ( Dicle Dent J, DDJ) It is a scientific publication of Dicle University Faculty of Dentistry.
The aim of the journal is to improve dentistry and dentistry research in Turkey by publishing quality scientific articles on Dentistry and related medical issues. DDJ is an open access, independent, impartial, double-reviewed and free national journal 4 times a year (March, June, September, December).

Author Guidelines
The Dicle Dental Journal accepts submission in English. The only language of publication in this journal was English.

1.1 General Format
Manuscripts were prepared using Microsoft Word, size A4 with 2.5 cm margins on all sides, 12 pt Times New Roman font, and double line spacing. “System International” (SI) units should be used. Abbreviations should first be defined and used consistently thereafter. Manuscripts written in English should follow the writing guidelines and grammar. This system enables the online submission and evaluation of the manuscript.
Text(s) and table(s) should be prepared in MS Word format, and graphics (s) and pictures (s) should preferably be prepared in JPEG format (minimum 300 DPI). Figures, tables, pictures, and graphics are referenced in the text. Abbreviations are given in parentheses, where the word appears first. Articles should be 50% contiguous and a comma should be used in a period (55.78) in English manuscripts.

1.2 Article Type
Identification of article type is the first step in manuscript submission because article type dictates the guidelines that should be used (see below), including formatting and word limits of the manuscript. The main categories of article types are outlined below.
Original Article: Original contributions are manuscripts containing substantial novel research. These included randomized controlled trials, observational (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional) studies, descriptive studies, diagnostic accuracy studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, nonrandomized behavioral and public health intervention trials, experimental animal trials, and any other clinical or experimental studies. Abstracts should not exceed 400 words and should be structured with the following subheadings: Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. The main text should be structured with the following subheadings: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, and Figure Legends. The main text should not exceed 4000 words, excluding the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. Thus, 30 references should not be exceeded. All studies, except for cell studies, require ethical approval.
Brief/Case Reports: Brief reports are short and peer-reviewed articles, including small case series, case reports, negative trials, preliminary results, and others that are not published as full-text papers. The main text should be less than 2000 words with a maximum of 10 references and no more than three display items (tables or figures). It is recommended not to exceed 200 words in the abstract. Abstracts should not be configured and sub-headings should not be contained (Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions). In case reports, it should be stated that an "informed consent form" was obtained.
Review Article: Review articles are comprehensive analyses of specific topics in medicine, which can also be written by invitation due to the extensive experience and publications of authors on the review subjects. All review articles underwent peer review before acceptance. Review articles must not exceed 4000 words for the main text (excluding references, tables, and figure legends) and 400 words for the abstract. A review article can be signed by no more than four authors, and can have no more than 80 references. It is recommended not to exceed 200 words in the abstract. Abstracts should not be configured and sub-headings should not be contained (Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions). The review articles did not require ethical approval.
Letter to the Editor: Letters about a journal article must not exceed 1000 words (excluding references). An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. A letter can be signed by no more than three authors, and can have no more than five references and one figure or table. The authors are asked to respond to this letter. The replies must also be submitted to the submission system.
Clinical Image: For educational purposes, the journal publishes original, interesting, and high-quality clinical images with a brief explanation (maximum 500 words excluding references but including figure legends) and of educational significance. The figure legend does not contain more than 100 words. It can be signed by no more than five authors, and can have no more than five references or one figure or table. Any information that might have identified the patient or hospital, including the date, was removed from the image. An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. The main text of the clinical images should be structured with the following subheadings: case and reference. All studies required patient consent.
Editorial Comment: Editorial comments are brief remarks by the reviewer or a relevant authority on an article published in the journal. Most comments were invited by the Editor-in-Chief, but spontaneous comments were welcomed. It must not exceed 1000 words (excluding references). An abstract is not required for this type of manuscript. It can have no more than 15 references and 1 figure or table.
Other: Editorials, editorial comments, book reviews, and reports on publication and research ethics were requested from the Editorial Board.

1.3. Clinical Trials and Reporting Guidelines
This Journal encourages the registration of all clinical trials via ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) or one of the registries of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP: http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html). In particular, phase 3 clinical trials must be registered at or before the time of first patient enrollment. The name of the registry, registration number, and information regarding the funding source are provided at the end of the abstract.
Authors should also refer to the guidelines below when preparing their manuscript
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/)

2. Preparation and Submission of Manuscript
The entire submission process for a manuscript is completed online through a self-explanatory submission system on the website.
Please be informed that we would ask you to suggest two potential reviewers during the manuscript submission.
The submissions should be divided into SEPARATE files in the following order:
2.1.Cover Letter
2.2. Title Page
2.3. Main Document (Abstract, Main text, references, tables, and figure legends) Abstract of the manuscript should be also submitted through the submission system)
2.4. Tables
2.5. Figures
2.6. Ethics Committee Approval form
2.7. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form
2.8. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form and Data-sharing Statement form
2.9. Creative Commons License Agreement Form

2.1. Cover Letter (As a separate file)
The cover letter should include the article title, full name of the corresponding author, and type of article (original article, case report, review article, and letter to the editor). The cover letter should also include a statement declaring the absence or presence of a conflict of interest (please refer to the
ICMJE Conflict of Interest forms a page for details.) Furthermore, this manuscript has not been published, accepted, or under simultaneous review for publication elsewhere. This Journal does not accept multiple or duplicate submissions, even though the previous submission was published in a different language. Please refer to the editorials (ICMJE recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/overlapping-publications.html] ). Manuscripts that have been presented orally or as posters must be stated on the title page along with the date and place of the presentation. An example of a cover letter can be found on a journal webpage.

2.2. Title Page (As a separate file)
This should include:
The complete manuscript title (no more than 150 characters)
The running head (no more than 50 characters)
All authors' full names with ORCIDs, affiliations, and e-mail addresses (all authors should meet the ICMJE’s requirements for authorship – see details at “Copyright Transfer and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form”
The name, address, telephone, and fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author
Information about where and when the study was previously presented.
Acknowledgments: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship (ICMJE: authorship and contributorship) and the statement of conflicts of interest and funding should be declared under this heading.
An example of a title page can be found on a journal webpage.

2.3. Main Document (As a separate file)
The main document should include an abstract, main text, a reference list, tables, and figure legends.

2.3.a. Abstracts
Original articles, review articles, and brief case reports should include the abstracts. Abstracts for original articles should be structured with the following subheadings: Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Abstracts of review articles and brief case reports should not be structured. Clinical images, Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and Commentaries did not contain abstracts. Please find the guidelines for the abstracts of specific types of manuscripts in the Main Text section below.
Aims: The aim of this study is clearly stated.
Methods: The study should be described, including selection criteria, design (randomized, retrospective/prospective, etc.), and statistical methods applied, if applicable.
Results: The main results of the study should be stated and the statistical significance level should be indicated.
Conclusion: The results of this study should be summarized and their clinical applicability should be defined.
Keywords: The abstract should be followed by three to six keywords provided in Index Medicus under “Medical Subject Heading (MeSH).”

2.3.b. Main Text
a) Original Articles
The main text of the article should include the following.
Introduction: This should consist of a brief background of the subject and study objective(s), supported by information from the literature.
Methods: The study plan should be clearly described, including whether the study was randomized and retrospective or prospective, the inclusion and exclusion criteria applied, the patient/sample number and characteristics, and the statistical methods used.
Results: The results of the study should be stated with tables/figures in numerical order, and the results should be evaluated according to the statistical analysis methods applied. See the Tables, Graphics, Figures, And Images section of the General Guidelines for details regarding the preparation of the visual material.
Discussion: The study results should be discussed in terms of their favorable and unfavorable aspects and should be compared with the literature. The conclusions of this study are as follows:
Study Limitations: This section should state which data and analyses could not be included in the study, discuss the limitations of the study, and provide recommendations for future studies.
Conclusion: The results and conclusions of this study are highlighted.
Acknowledgments: Any technical or financial support or editorial contributions (statistical analysis and English language evaluation) towards the study should appear at the end of the article.
References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. See the General Guidelines for details regarding the required usage and formatting.
b) Brief/Case Reports
Brief/case reports should present cases that are rarely seen, feature novelty in diagnosis and treatment, and contribute to the current knowledge. The main text should include an introduction, a case presentation, a discussion, and references.
c) Review Articles
Review articles can address any aspect of the clinical or basic topic and should be written in a format that describes, discusses, and analyzes the current state of knowledge or clinical use based on the latest evidence and offers directions for future research. Most review articles are invited, but uninvited review submissions are welcomed. Contacting the section editor is recommended before the submission of the review. Review articles analyzed topics in depth, independently, and without bias. All cited studies were referenced.
d) Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should be short commentaries related to current developments in the topic and their scientific and social aspects or may ask questions or offer further contributions in response to articles published in the journal. Any information indicating an individual or institution should be excluded from the main document to ensure a blinded review process.
2.3.c. References
The reference listings must follow the ICMJE standards and be numbered consecutively at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Journal titles should be abbreviated following the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/Medline/PubMed (for journal abbreviations, consult the List of Journals indexed in MEDLINE, published annually by NLM).
The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. References should be numbered consecutively in order in which they are first mentioned in the text. This journal uses the American Medical Association (AMA) citation style as a reference. Each reference should be cited in the text using superscript Arabic numerals (e.g.,1, 2, and 3). Similarly, multiple references can be cited. If sequential references are cited, they should be indicated by a hyphen. Nonsequential references should be separated by commas. There should be no space between numbers. References are found at the end of the manuscript and are titled “References.” Each item should be listed in numerical order, as opposed to alphabetically. The format for author names is "Surname1 AB, Surname2 CD, ...". Note that there is a comma between each full name, but no punctuation within each name. If a reference had up to six authors, it was included. If there are more than six authors, list the first three, followed by "et al." Then, add the name of the article (only the first letter of the sentence and the first letter of the special names will be capitalized), short journal name, year, volume, number, page number (15-8, not 15-18) and space between punctuation marks. The journal name should be written in italics and a point should be placed at the end. The format used for manuscript submission should be specified in Index Medicus (www.icmje.org).
Examples of these references are as follows:
1) Journal article
Author(s), article title, journal name (abbreviated and italicized), year of publication (followed by semi-colon), volume number, issue number, part or supplement number (when applicable), and inclusive page number(s).
Examples:
-Freund KB, Staurenghi G, Jung JJ, et al. Macular neovascularization lesion type and vision outcomes in neovascular age-related macular degeneration: Post hoc analysis of HARBOR. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2022;260(8):2437-2447.
-Freund KB, Fine HF. Pachychoroid Disease. Ophthalmic Surg Laser Imaging of Retina. 2020;51(4):206-209.
2) Whole Book
Author(s). Book Title. Number of editions ( second edition or above). Publisher's name: Copyright Year
Example: Riegelman RK, Kirkwood B. Public Health 101: Healthy People--Healthy Populations. 2nd ed. Jones and Bartlett’s Learning (2015).
3) Chapter in a Book
Author(s). Chapter title. Editor, eds. In: Author, Book Title. edition. Publisher: Year, page.
Example: Bliss CM, Wolfe M. Chapter 34. Common clinical manifestations of gastrointestinal disease. In: Andreoli TE, Cecil RL, eds. Andreoli’s and Carpenter's Cecil Essentials of Medicine. 8th ed. Saunders/Elsevier; 2010:382-400.
4) Article in electronic format
Morse SS. Factors affecting the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis (serial online) 1995 Jan-Mar (cited 1996 June 5): 1(1): (24 screens). Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2626828/pdf/8903148.pdf.

For other reference styles, please refer to “ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References”
2.3.d) Figure Legends: Legends for illustrations should be written starting on a separate page after references in the main text, and Arabic numerals should be used for the corresponding illustrations.

2.4. Tables (As a separate file)
The tables are presented in the main document, following the reference list. All tables should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title should be provided for all tables and the titles should be placed above the tables. The abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below (even if they are defined within the main text). Tables should be created using the “insert table” command of the word-processing software, and they should be arranged clearly to provide easy reading. Tables, in particular, should be explanatory and facilitate readers’ understanding of the manuscript, and should not repeat the data presented in the main text.

2.5. Figures (As a separate file)
Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (in the JPEG format) through the submission system. It should not be embedded in word documents. When figure subunits are present, they should not be merged to form a single image. Each subunit was submitted separately using the submission system. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used to support figure legends. Similar to the rest of the submission, the figures should be blinded. Any information within the images that may indicate an individual or an institution should be blinded. The minimum resolution of each submitted figure is 300DPI. To prevent delays in the evaluation process all submitted figures should be clear in resolution and large in size (minimum dimensions 100x100 mm)

2.6. Ethics Committee Approval form (As a separate file)
The ULAKBIM TR Index has created new regulations regarding ethical rules by 2020. These regulations are summarized below. Please submit the manuscript according to these guidelines. The authors obtained relevant documents and uploaded them to the system together with their ethical committee approval.
1. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for all kinds of research conducted with qualitative or quantitative approaches that require data collection from participants using survey, interview, focus group work, observation, experiment, and interview techniques.
2. Articles should state whether an ethical committee permit and/or legal or special permission are required. If such approval is required, they should be presented from which institution, on what date, and with which decision or number.
3. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for research using humans and animals (including materials/data) for experimental or other scientific purposes.
4. If a study involves the use of human or animal subjects, the international declaration of the study, guidance, etc., must be declared that it is performed properly.
5. "Ethics Committee Approval" is required for clinical studies on humans and animals.
6. According to the law on the protection of personal data, "Ethics Committee Approval was required for retrospective studies.
* Retrospective ethics committee approval is not required for articles that were produced from postgraduate/doctoral studies using research data before 2020 (must be specified in the article) and were accepted for publication in the previous year, but have not yet been published.
** In studies that require ethics committee approval, ethics committee approval will be shared with the journal editor. In addition, the name of the committee, date, and issue number are stated in the Methods section of the article and the ethics committee approval section on the last page of the article.
*** Researchers who are not members of the university can also apply to the Ethics Committees in their region.

2.7. Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form
This is a statement of the scientific contributions and responsibilities of all authors. This form is available for downloading the journal’s webpage.
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria.
♦Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
♦Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
♦Final approval of the version to be published; AND
♦Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”
A contributor must meet all the four criteria to be identified as an author. If a contributor does not meet all four criteria, they should be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section of the manuscript.
For more details please refer to the ICMJE’s definition of the role of authors and contributors at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

2.8. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest form and Data-sharing Statement form
During submission, the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form should be filled out, saved on your computer, and submitted to the journal together with your manuscript. Please refer to “conflict of interest policy” for more information. This journal requires authors to submit a Data-sharing Statement form for clinical trials and register a data-sharing plan when registering a clinical trial on or after January 1, 2019. Please refer to the “data-sharing policy” for more information.

2.9. Creative Commons License Agreement Form
After accepting the articles, the corresponding author may be asked to sign the Creative Commons License Agreement form and send it to the publisher. Please refer to the “open-access policy” for more information.
Note: ORCID information is used in both national and international journals. ORCID provides an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), allowing researchers to register for a unique identifier. ORCID provides an identifier for individuals to use their names as they engage in research, scholarships, and innovation activities. These identifiers are primarily used to disambiguate authors in the publishing world. This journal also includes this information for the indexing requirements. You can obtain your ORCID from the following link:
https://orcid.org/register

Scientific Responsibility

All the authors have made direct academic and scientific contributions to the submitted manuscript. The authors should have all of the following specifications: Should plan or execute the study in the manuscript, should write or revise the manuscript, and accept the final draft

Ethical Rules and Plagiarism

This Journal is committed to the standards of research and publication ethics, and does not allow for any form of plagiarism. The journal uses a plagiarism screening service to verify the originality of the submitted content before publication. If plagiarism is detected in articles submitted to a journal for publication, the responsibility is assigned to the authors. In case of any suspicion or claim regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the journal reserves the right to submit the manuscript to supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Journal accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.
This Journal uses "iThenticate" to screen all submissions for plagiarism prior to publication. This journal does not accept articles that indicate a similarity rate of more than 20%, according to international reports. The authors must avoid all forms of plagiarism and ethical misconduct, as described below.
We disapprove of unethical practices and efforts to influence the review process with practices such as gifting authorship, inappropriate acknowledgments, and references, in line with the COPE flowcharts.
The authors are obliged to acknowledge if they have published study results in whole or in part in the form of abstracts.

Correction, Retraction, Clarification Policy, and Editorial Responses
This journal recognizes its obligation to correct errors in the work that it has published and to consider readers’ criticisms of that work.

Corrections and Retraction
Errors of this type will be corrected online as soon as possible, in coordination with the publisher, and printed on an erratum sheet that will appear in the next issue and be included in the digital version of the article. The corrected article will include a footnote stating the date of correction, and the volume and issue in which the erratum will appear. In a situation where the corrections are significant in scope or quantity, they would not be corrected online, but the digital version would include a footnote signaling the publication of the erratum.
Erratum or publisher correction: Correction of a significant error made by the journal that affects the scholarly record, scientific integrity of the article, or reputation of the authors or journal.
Corrigendum or author correction: Correction of a significant error made by the author that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the article, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.

Editorial Responses
Responses of this type will be peer-reviewed and, where possible, sent to referees who have reviewed the original submission. All parties remained anonymous to the extent possible. Responses are subject to oversight by the editors of the journal and will be published after full consultation with all the interested parties.
Editorial expression of concern: Notifies the addition of information to an article, for example, in response to a reader’s request for clarification or correction of a significant omission. Such addenda are published when editors decide that they are crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of a published contribution.
Retraction: Notifies the readership of unsound results or misconduct following an investigation of the issue by the editor and publisher. The original article will remain available, but will be marked as retracted through a published note from the editor.
Article removal: In rare instances, a journal may be obliged to remove an article as a consequence of legal action. Such removal will be marked on the issue table of contents, and a notice indicating removal will replace the article’s content.
See the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for further information on professional standards for publishing.

Clarification and Appeals
If something in the editor’s decision letter or review material is unclear or inconsistent, the authors may email questions to the editorial office to request clarification from the editor before revising the manuscript.
Editors cannot discuss submissions or the review process directly with the authors (by phone, video, in-person, etc.).
The corresponding author should email all correspondence regarding your submission to the editorial office (not to the editor).
The staff will upload your written clarification request to the peer review system, where it will only be visible to the editor and associate editor (reviewers will not see the authors’ clarification requests). The editor will decide whether to consult the associate editor and the editor will provide a response that will be archived in the system (reviewers will not see the editor’s response).
The requirement of written requests for clarification is not intended to act as a barrier. This process ensures good record-keeping, provides the editor with sufficient time to reflect on their answers, and allows the editor to consult before responding.
This Journal does not provide or approve formal revision plans. The editor considers your request and attempts to provide the best possible feedback. However, clarification from the editor does not guarantee a positive outcome, and should not be mistaken as a signal of the approval of a specific revision plan. If a revised manuscript is submitted, it will be evaluated by the entire review team.
Plagiarism: Republishes the whole or part of the content in another author's publication without attribution.
Fabrication: Publish data and findings/results that do not exist.
Duplication: Using data from another publication, this includes re-publishing an article in a different language.
Salamization: Creating multiple publications by abnormally splitting the results of a study.
Data Manipulation/Falsification: Manipulating or deliberately distorting research data to give a false impression.
We disapprove of such unethical practices and efforts to influence the review process with practices such as gifting authorship, inappropriate acknowledgments, and references, in line with the COPE flowcharts.
The submitted manuscripts were subjected to automatic software evaluation for plagiarism and duplicate publication. The authors are obliged to acknowledge if they have published study results in whole or in part in the form of abstracts.

Human and Animal Rights
For experimental, clinical, and human drug studies, approval by the ethical committee and a statement on the adherence of the study protocol to international agreements (World Medical Association of Helsinki "Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects," amended October 2013) are required. In experimental animal studies, the authors should indicate that the procedures followed are based on animal rights (Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals), and they should obtain approval from the animal ethics committee. The Ethics Committee approval document should be submitted to the journal along with the manuscript.
The approval of the ethics committee, a statement on the adherence to the international guidelines mentioned above, and proof that the patient's informed consent was obtained should be indicated in the “Method” section. These items are required for case reports whenever data or media can reveal the identity of the patient. For persons under 18 years of age, please provide a consent form that includes both the parents' signatures and the person's legal guardian or supervisor. 

Publication Policy
The Editorial Board of the Dicle Dental Journal and the responsible publisher adhere to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), US National Library of Medicine (NLM), World Medical Association (WMA), and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The Journal conforms to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing.
According to the journal’s policy, approval of research protocols by an ethics committee following the international agreements "WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil),” "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (8th edition, 2011), " or "International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (2012)" is required for all research studies. If the submitted manuscript does not have ethics committee approval, it will not be processed for further evaluation.
For articles concerning experimental research on humans, a statement that showed the informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. The Journal may request a copy of the ethics committee approval from the authors.

The DICLE DENTAL JOURNAL authors were required to confirm the following.
• The submitted articles must be original studies by authors (s).
• Only unpublished articles should be submitted.
• Submitting an article to more than one journal at the same time is unethical.
• Any conflict of interest should be clearly stated.
• The data sources used in this study are explained.
• Any errors detected after the article is submitted should be immediately reported to the DICLE DENTAL JOURNAL editors.

The DICLE DENTAL JOURNAL reviewers were required to confirm the following:
• All articles should be reviewed legally based on their intellectual content, regardless of the gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political value of the author(s).
• Reviews should be objective and constructive, avoiding hostile or provocative comments and making libelous or offensive comments.
• To conduct a comprehensive review, authors should have the required field expertise and review articles that can be evaluated on time.
• Any conflict of interest detected during the review process must be reported to the DICLE DENTAL JOURNAL editors.
• All information about the article should be kept confidential.
• Information obtained during the review process should not be used for the benefit of the reviewers themselves or any other person, the organization, or to put others in a disadvantageous position or discredit them.
• Information that may be the reason for the rejection of an article’s publication should be reported to DICLE DENTAL JOURNAL editors.

The DICLE DENTAL JOURNAL editors were required to confirm the following:
• All articles should be evaluated reasonably based on their intellectual content, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political values of the author(s).
• All information about the article should be kept confidential.
• Any observed conflicts of interest with the articles should be disclosed.
• The editorial board takes on the responsibility to make publication decisions for submitted articles based on peer reviews, the policies of the journal's editorial board, and legal restrictions against plagiarism, defamation, and copyright.
Ethic Responsibility
All the authors have made direct academic and scientific contributions to the submitted manuscript. The authors should have all the following specifications: plan or execute the study in the manuscript, write or revise the manuscript, and accept the final draft.
The journal searches for conformity with the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm) for all clinical studies. The scientific and ethical liabilities of the manuscript belong to the authors, and the copyright of the manuscript belongs to the journal. The authors are responsible for the content of the manuscript and accuracy of the references. All manuscripts submitted for publication must be accompanied by the Copyright Transfer Form [copyright transfer]. Once this form, signed by all authors, has been submitted, it is understood that neither the manuscript nor the data it contains have been submitted elsewhere or have been previously published, and the authors declare the statement of scientific contributions and responsibilities of all authors.
If the article includes any direct or indirect commercial links or if any institution provides material support to the study, the authors must state in the cover letter 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. The authors must provide a statement regarding the absence of conflicts of interest among the authors and authorship contributions. In case of any suspicion or claim regarding scientific shortcomings or ethical infringement, the journal reserves the right to submit the manuscript to supporting institutions or other authorities for investigation. The Journal accepts the responsibility of initiating action but does not undertake any responsibility for an actual investigation or any power of decision.
The preparation of systematic reviews and meta-analyses must comply with the following study design guidelines: PRISMA statement of preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, PRISMA Group. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 2009; 6(7): e1000097.) (http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All sources of financial support have been disclosed. All authors should disclose whether a meaningful conflict of interest exists in the process of their study. Any financial grants or other support received from individuals or institutions for the submitted study should be disclosed to the Editorial Board of the Journal. The ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all the contributing authors to disclose potential conflicts of interest. The Editorial Board of the journal determines cases of potential conflicts of interest between the editors, authors, or reviewers within the scope of the COPE and ICMJE guidelines.
Conditions that provide financial or personal benefits lead to conflicts of interest. The reliability of scientific processes and published articles is directly related to the objective consideration of conflicts of interest during planning, implementation, writing, evaluation, editing, and publication of scientific studies.
Financial relations are the most easily identified conflicts of interest, and inevitably undermine the credibility of journals, authors, and science. These conflicts can be caused by individual relationships, academic competition, or intellectual approaches. The authors should refrain as much as possible from making agreements with sponsors in the opinion of gaining profit or any other advantage that restricts their ability to access all data of the study or analyze, interpret, prepare, and publish their articles. Editors should refrain from bringing together those who may have any relationships during the evaluation of the studies. The editors who make the final decision about the articles should not have any personal, professional, or financial ties to any of the issues they are going to decide. The authors should inform the editorial board concerning potential conflicts of interest to ensure that their articles are evaluated within the framework of ethical principles through an independent assessment process.
If one of the editors was the author of any manuscript, the editor was excluded from the manuscript evaluation process. The article evaluation process was double-blinded to prevent conflicts of interest. Because of the double-blinded evaluation process, except for the Editor-in-Chief, none of the editorial board members, international advisory board members, or reviewers was informed about the authors of the manuscript or the authors’ institutions.
Our publication team works devotedly to ensure that the evaluation process is conducted impartially, considering all these situations.

Conflict of Interest
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