General information

European Oral Research (Eur Oral Res) is an open access, peer-reviewed international title and it is the official scientific publication of Istanbul University Faculty of Dentistry. Eur Oral Res does not charge authors or authors’ institutions for submitting, processing or publication of articles. There is no fee for extra pages or color images.

Basic and clinical research papers, case reports and review articles on the main topics of oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral diseases, oral and dental health, oral and maxillofacial radiology, biomaterials, restorative dentistry, periodontics, pedodontics, orthodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, oral biology, epidemiology, geriatric dentistry and dental education may be submitted for consideration. Letter to the Editor section is also available for authors who wish to comment on previously published articles in the journal. Authors should take collective responsibility for their work and for the content of their publications. Editor-in Chief or the Editorial Board reserves the right to change the format, grammar or sentence structure of any part of the manuscript to comply with the guidelines to fit the standard format and style of Eur Oral Res and scientific journals in general.

Who is an author ?

Eur Oral Res adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) standards to define the qualifications of authorship and recommends that it should be based on the following 4 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.

Before you begin

Disclaimer and copyright

Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else entirely or partially, nor will it be submitted for consideration of publication anywhere else until a final publication decision concerning this manuscript has been made by the Editor(s) of the Journal; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher cannot be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Eur Oral Res provides free access to and allows free download of its contents from the journal’s website (http://eor.istanbul.edu.tr/tr/_). Both anonymous or registered users can read and/or download articles for personal use. Unless otherwise indicated, the articles and journal content are licensed under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Users must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Users may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the journal endorses its use. The material cannot be used for commercial purposes. If the user remixes, transforms, or builds upon the material, he/she may not distribute the modified material. No warranties are given. The license may not give the user all of the permissions necessary for his/her intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how the material can be used.

Articles may not be published elsewhere, in whole or in part, electronically or in print, without written permission from the Editor-in-Chief. The responsibility of the content(s) and/or opinion(s) provided in the articles which are published in the print and/or online versions of the journal, belong exclusively to their respective author(s). The publisher/editor/editorial board/reviewers cannot be held responsible for errors, scientific or otherwise, in the contents or any consequences arising from the use of information contained therein. The opinions expressed in the articles published in this journal are purely those of their respective authors and in no way represent the opinions of the publisher/editor/editorial board/reviewers of the journal.

Publication ethics and avoiding allegations of plagiarism

Please refer to http://eor.istanbul.edu.tr/en/content/about/publication-ethics-and-publication-malpractice-statement to consult Eur Oral Res Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement. By submitting their manuscripts to Eur Oral Res, authors also accept that their manuscripts may be screened for signs of plagiarism using any means necessary and available; including, but not limited to, the use of plagiarism detection software.

Ethical approvals

Experimentation involving human subjects should be conducted in full accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of World Medical Association (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html) and legal requirements of the country where the research had been carried out. Manuscript must include a statement indicating that the informed consent was obtained from all participants. A statement confirming that the study has been reviewed and approved by an ethical or advisory board should also be included. The patient’s privacy should not be violated. Identifying information such as names, initials, hospital numbers, unnecessary details in photographs should be omitted from the submission. When detailed descriptions, photographs and/or videos of faces or identifiable body parts that might permit a patient to be identified must be included in the submission, authors must obtain written informed consent for its publication from the patient or his/her parent/guardian.

Experiments on laboratory animals must comply with the Guidelines of the European Communities Council Directive 2010/63/EU and with local laws and regulations. A statement confirming that the study has been reviewed and approved by an ethical or advisory board should also be included (http://www.eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32010L0063).

Clinical trials

Randomized controlled clinical trials should be reported in full accordance with the guidelines available at http://www.consort-statement.org. The CONSORT checklist must be provided in the submission documents. Following free public clinical registries can be used to register clinical trials: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/clinicaltrials/, http://isrctn.org/ . Registration number and project name will be published in the article.

DNA Sequences and Crystallographic Structure Determinations

Manuscripts reporting protein or DNA sequences and crystallographic structure should provide Genbank or Brookhaven Protein Data Bank accession numbers, respectively.

Submission forms

Authors who are willing to submit their manuscripts to Eur Oral Res are required to complete and sign Manuscript Submission Form, Copyright Transfer Agreement form, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and Disclosure of Potential Conflict of Interest Form. Please send these forms electronically when submitting your manuscript. Article evaluation process cannot be started until all documents are received.

Manuscript preparation

Language

Authors should write their manuscripts in US English. Spelling and phrasing should conform to standard usage and be consistent throughout the paper. Authors whose native language is not English are encouraged either to consult with a native speaker or to collaborate with a colleague whose English skills are more advanced. Authors may also use professional translation services at their own expense. Please note that using language editing services does not imply that the article will be selected for peer-review or be accepted by Eur Oral Res.

Style and format

Use A4 page format in Microsoft Word® software, custom margins (top & bottom 3 cm, left& right 2.5 cm), Times New Roman Font, Font size 12, double line spacing for main text and single line spacing for “References” section. US English grammar check option should be enabled. Words and abbreviations in Latin should be written in italics: “et al., in vivo, in vitro, in utero, in situ, ad libitum, clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus”.

Unit abbreviations

Abbreviations used for units, prefixes, and symbols should comply with the International System of Units (SI) (http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.pdf). If this is not possible, SI equivalents must be presented between parentheses. The complete names of individual teeth must be given in the main text (e.g. maxillary right central incisor). FDI 2-digit system should be used in table and figure legends (e.g. 11 for maxillary right central incisor).

Title page

Main title of the manuscript should not exceed 150 characters (including spaces) and it should be written in Times New Roman font, in bold capital letters of 12 font size. A running title not more than 50 characters (including spaces) written in lower case letters must also be provided below the main title. Names, surnames and affiliations of all authors should appear below the running title. Use superscript numbers “1,2,3” for authors from different institutions, do not use any numbers if all authors are from the same department. Name, surname, postal address, phone, fax and e-mail of the corresponding author should be mentioned separately. If the paper has been previously presented in a scientific meeting either orally or as a poster, the title of the manuscript should be followed by an asterisk (*), which refers to a footnote indicating the name of the organization, location and date of its presentation. Please do not use page numbers for this page.

Abstract & Keywords page

This page should start with main and running titles of your manuscript. It should not contain author names, affiliations or any citations. This section must describe the main objective(s) of the study, explain how the study was done without giving too much methodological detail and summarize the most important results and their significance. It should be as clear and concise as possible. Start numbering from this page on and place it at the lower right-hand corner of the page footer. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words for original research papers and should be structured to include Purpose, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion headings written in bold letters. Abstracts of case reports and review articles are limited to 150 words and should be unstructured.

If not absolutely necessary, do not include names of statistical tests or software in the Materials and Methods. In Results section, Provide p values between parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period. If p value is lower than 0.05 or 0.01 or higher than 0.05 (not significant), then provide its exact value using a maximum of three digits after the decimal point. If it is lower than 0.001, then use only less-than sign, e.g. p=0.078, p=0.048, p=0.009, p<0.001.

A maximum of five keywords should follow the abstract, preferably chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) terms (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh).

In-text citations

Eur Oral Res recommends the use of reference management software to ensure that the citations are correctly formatted. In-text citations should be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance with Arabic numerals between parentheses and be placed immediately after the author(s)’ name(s).

Articles with two authors are cited using their last names separated by ”and” :

“John and James (1) demonstrated...”.

For articles with three or more authors, use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.”: “James et al. (2) showed...”.

Multiple quotations used within the same sentence should be cited immediately after each author(s)’ name(s).

“John and James (1) and James et al. (2) have suggested…”

If author(s)’ name(s) are not to be used, the citation number(s) should be placed at the end of the sentence before the period. Use number ranges for consecutive citations.

“The validity and reliability of dental anxiety scales have been evaluated previously (7) or (4, 6, 8) or (12-19).”

Original research articles

Original research articles are limited to 15 pages including main text, references, tables and figures. They should be organized into the following sections:

• Title page

• Abstract & Keywords

• Introduction

• Materials and Methods (or Subjects and Methods)

• Results

• Discussion

• Conclusion

• Acknowledgements (optional)

• Source of funding

• Conflict of Interest

• References

Introduction should provide a concise account of the research problem and introduce the reader to the pertinent literature. The objective(s) and/or hypothesis of the study should be clearly stated in the last paragraph. Writing style of this section should allow the readers outside the field of your expertise to understand the purpose and significance of the study.

Materials and Methods section should describe the study population/sample or specimens, the variables and the procedures of the study with sufficient detail to ensure reproducibility. Standard methods already published in the literature could be briefly described and the original reference should be cited. If your research includes direct involvement with human subjects, use ‘Subjects and Methods’ heading instead of ‘Materials and Methods’.

Feel free to use sub-headings written in italic letters (but not bold) to improve readability of your manuscript such as Population characteristics, Immunohistochemical staining, Experimental protocols or Light microscopy evaluation.

Include ethical approvals for clinical trials and animal studies in the first paragraph of this section. Provide the name of the responsible organization, year of approval and project number:

This project has been reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of Istanbul University, Faculty of Medicine (2012/891-1085).

Include Brand name, Manufacturer, City, (state abbreviation for USA), Country details for each material used in the experimental protocol:

DNA was extracted using a MagNA PureCompact DNA Isolation Kit (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany)

Bone grafts were fixed with 2 mm bioresorbable screws (Inion CPS system, Inion OY, Tampere, Finland).

Statistical analysis sub-heading must be included as the last paragraph of this section. Authors should provide the name of the statistical software, report which types of descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, indicate how the distribution of the data was tested for normality assumptions (if applicable), which tests were employed to answer each hypotheses, the confidence interval and p values to determine the level of significance. Consult SAMPL guidelines for more detailed information on statistical reporting in biomedical journals: http://www.equator-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SAMPL-Guidelines-6-27-13.pdf

Provide Name, Version, Company, City, (state abbreviation for USA), Country for statistical software:

GraphPad Prism version 3.0 statistical analysis software (GraphPad Software Inc., San Diego, CA, USA)

The following paragraph is a sample for statistical analysis section; please alter the paragraph so that it fits your study:

The collected data from all groups were imported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows software, version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The standard descriptive methods such as the mean, standard deviation, median, frequency, minimum and maximum were applied to determine the characteristics of the sample. The chi-square test was used to compare the categorical demographic variables among the groups. Because the distribution of the data did not meet the requirements for normality and homogeneity of variances assumptions, the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis one way analysis of variance by ranks and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for the multiple and pairwise comparisons, respectively. The correlations between at least two continuous variables were examined using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Stepwise regression analysis was performed to understand the statistical dependence of the DFS and MDAS scores in the general population. Covariance analysis was used to determine whether the difference between the mean DFS and MDAS scores of the groups was statistically significant under a predefined effect. The confidence interval was set to 95% and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results should be written clearly without subjective interpretation and be supported with tables and figures when necessary. Text should complement any figures or tables but it should not repeat the same information. When reporting your findings, follow the same order you have used in “Materials and Methods” section.

Use a maximum of two digits after the decimal point for descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation: “45.66 ± 23.48”. If the last digit is 0 then use : “45.6 ± 23.4”.

Provide p values between parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period. if p value is lower than 0.05 or 0.01 or higher than 0.05 (not significant) then provide its exact value using a maximum of three digits after the decimal point. If it is lower than 0.001, then use only less-than sign, e.g. (p=0.078), (p=0.048), (p=0.009), (p<0.001).

In the Discussion section, authors should state major findings, their meanings and clinical relevance, present any contrasts with the results of similar studies, describe unavoidable limitations in the study design and make suggestions for further research within the limits of their data. When discussing your findings, use the same logical order as in the Results section.

Conclusion should be supported by results and must be consistent with the objectives of the research.

Case reports/Case series

Case reports/Case series should not exceed 7 pages and a maximum of 6 tables or figures. They should make a significant contribution by presenting unusual occurrences of rare entities and/or highlight the need for revision of current therapeutic options. This type of manuscript should be organized as follows:

• Title page

• Abstract & Keywords

• Introduction

• Case report (or case series)

• Discussion

• Conclusion

• Acknowledgements (optional)

• Source of funding

• Conflict of Interest

• References

Narrative or systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Narrative review articles are limited to 10 pages including the main text, references, tables and figures. The manuscripts should summarize the current state of understanding on a particularly important topic in dentistry based on previously published data, preferably written by authoritative figures of that field. A minimum of 50 references must be cited. Authors are encouraged to use headings of their own choosing between Introduction and Conclusion sections.

This type of manuscript should be organized as follows:

• Title page

• Abstract & Keywords

• Introduction

• Conclusion

• Acknowledgements (optional)

• Source of funding

• Conflict of Interest

• References

Authors who are willing to submit a systematic review or a meta-analysis may use the same manuscript design as for the original research articles.

Letter to the Editor

Letters to the Editor are short articles (limited to 500 words and 5 references) in which readers can share their opinions and comment on articles published in the past 12 months. Authors should clearly cite the article to which they are referring. Letters will be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and, if accepted for publication, the author(s) of the original paper will be invited to submit a reply.

Acknowledgements

This section is optional. Authors must acknowledge all individuals who do not fulfill the requirements for authorship but who had contributed to the preparation of the manuscript by providing assistance in writing, literature search, data analysis and/or supply of materials.

Source of funding

This section is mandatory to be filled out. Financial support from any institutional, private or corporate sources must be disclosed. Clearly state the name of the funding organization, year and the project number:

“This study has been supported by a research grant from XXX foundation, university, government etc.. (project number: 2012/828128)

If you have no source of funding declaration to make, please write “None declared”.

Conflict of Interest

This section is mandatory to be filled out. Any financial or personal activities (royalties, grants, consultancy fee, patent registration, ownership, employment) that could be perceived as potential conflicts of interests must also be disclosed.

Clearly state the names of the author(s) and organization(s) and the type of payment(s):

”Dr. Smith is a consultant for the company X / receives a consultancy fee from the company X.” or “Until recently, Dr. Smith was in an employment relationship with the company Z.” .

If you have no declaration to make, please write “None declared”.

References

Eur Oral Res recommends the use of reference management software to ensure that the references are correctly formatted. All authors must be included in this section, in contrast to the in-text citations. Journal abbreviations should be formatted according to the PubMed - NLM Journal Title Abbreviations (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals). Authors are advised to consult a recent issue of the journal. Use single line spacing for this section. Please do not cite unpublished articles, abstracts, personal communications, non-scientific websites or documents such as pamphlets.

AUTHORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING THE FULL TEXT VERSIONS OF ANY CITED PAPER OR TEXTBOOK AS PER THE REQUEST OF THE EUR ORAL RES EDITORIAL BOARD AND/OR THE REVIEWERS.

AUTHORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING THE PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ANY NON-ENGLISH PAPER OR TEXTBOOK AS PER THE REQUEST OF THE EUR ORAL RES EDITORIAL BOARD AND/OR THE REVIEWERS.

Journal Article in Print

1. Burrow MF, Tagami J, Negishi T. Early tensile bone strengths of several enamel and dentin bonding systems. J Dent Res 1994; 74: 522-8.

Journal Article Electronic Publication Ahead of Print

2. McKeage K. Tobramycin inhalation powder: a review of its use in the treatment of chronic pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. Drugs 2013; [Epub ahead of print] Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2 Fs40265-013-0141-0

Book

3. Mueller HJ, Freeman D. FT-IR spectrometry in materiolography. 2nd Ed., Ohio: American Society for Metal 1994, p.51-56.

Chapter in a book

4. Alexander RG. Considerations in creating a beautiful smile. In: Romano R, editor. The art of the smile. London: Quintessence Publishing, 2005, p.187-210.

5. Hudson FB, Hawcroft J. Duration of treatment in phenylketonuria. In: Seakins J, Saunders R, editors. Treatment of inborn errors of metabolism. London: Churchill Livingstone, 1973, p.51-56.

Thesis

6. Maden I. Effect Of Nd:YAG Laser Treatment In Addition To Scaling And Root Planning. Doctoral Dissertation, Istanbul University Institute of Health Sciences Periodontology Department, 2009.

Tables, Figures and Legends

Please set table format to custom borders, no vertical lines, no shades, no background colors, 3 pt line for top and bottom borders, 1 pt horizontal row lines, cell alignment center. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order mentioned in the text. All tables must be included in the main body of the article and be placed near their first mention in the text. All tables should be self-explanatory. Please provide full explanation for abbreviations even if they were presented in the main text. Legends should be written in Times New Roman Italic font and be positioned right above the table.

Figures (photographs, graphs, charts, drawings, pictures, etc.) should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order of mention in the text. High quality pictures with 300 dpi resolution in JPEG JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG or PSD file formats are generally acceptable for publication. Drawings and shapes should be in vector format. All figures must be included in the main body of the article and be placed near their first mention in the text. Legends should be written in Times New Roman Italic font and be positioned below the figure.

Figure 1. Panoramic radiograph of the patient taken 6 months after surgery, note irregular borders of the lesion.

Submission checklist

1. “Copyright Transfer Agreement Form” signed by all authors.

2. "Author Contribution Form" signed by the corresponding author.

3. “ICMJE Conflict of Interest” completed by all authors.

4. Title page

5. Abstract & Keywords page

6. Main text

7. Tables, figures and their legends should be embedded in the main text and are not to be sent separately.

How to submit ?

Eur Oral Res is only accepting electronic submissions. Manuscripts may be submitted by registering at http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/eores

Need assistance ?

Please contact editorial office by sending an e-mail to: eor@istanbul.edu.tr

Postal address: European Oral Research İstanbul Üniversitesi Diş Hekimliği Fakültesi Kütüphanesi Dergi Yayın Kurulu Odası 34093 Çapa-Fatih, İSTANBUL/TURKEY

Phone: +90 212 414 20 20 (extension 30348) Fax: +90 212 414 25 70

What’s next ?

If you have successfully submitted your forms and manuscript, please continue reading this document to know about the Eur Oral Res editorial process.

General information

Peer-review evaluation and publishing of articles submitted to Eur Oral Res are managed electronically through the online system via e-mail correspondence. Corresponding authors will be notified by e-mail upon receipt of a new manuscript and will have further information regarding the editorial process. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to communicate with the other participants of the study about the submission of the manuscript, its content and authorship requirements.

Who makes the decisions ?

Eur Oral Res Editorial Board oversees the manuscript evaluation process. The Editor-in-Chief is the only person who can officially accept a paper.

Initial examination

Editor-in-Chief and editorial assistants check the submission files to confirm the availability of the required documents. Please note that the Manuscript Submission Form, Copyright Transfer Agreement Form and Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form must be included in the original submission. Corresponding authors of incomplete submissions will be notified via e-mail. Editorial process cannot proceed until all relevant documents are signed and submitted electronically.

Careful manuscript preparation is the crucial part of peer-review process. Editorial assistants will evaluate the manuscript to ascertain conformity to the following standards: consistency to journal style, clear and concise writing, proper use of English grammar and spelling, technical quality, correct formatting of references and documentation of ethical conduct. All eligible manuscripts will also be scanned with anti-plagiarism software.

Manuscripts that fail to conform to journal expectations in any of the above mentioned issues will be returned to authors without review. This is a frequent cause of delay in the publication of articles and may even result in immediate rejection. All issues regarding the outline of the manuscript should be resolved before further evaluation. Manuscripts which pass the initial examination are presented to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

Peer-review

Eur Oral Res operates a double-blind peer review system. Identities of the Editorial Board members who perform the initial examination and those of the reviewers who evaluate the manuscript remain unknown to the authors. All manuscripts are treated as privileged information. Editorial Board members and reviewers are instructed to exclude themselves from reviewing any manuscripts that might involve a conflict of interest.

Editorial Board requests the opinion of, at least, two independent expert reviewers. Those who accept the invitation are expected to provide written critical reviews of the submission within 21 days of receipt. If one of the reviewers gives a negative feedback while the other’s response is positive, Editor-in Chief or Editorial Board invites a third reviewer. Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board reserve the right to obtain reports from biostatistics experts of their choosing at any time during the process, who might also suggest corrections in the manuscript.

21 day time limit will apply for the correction of the manuscript, at the end of which the corresponding author must return a revised version of the documents. Changes should be highlighted in red in the revised manuscript to facilitate reading. Authors should also provide itemized, point-by-point responses to reviewers’ comments in a separate file. The manuscript will be automatically rejected if no answer has been received from the authors. If authors submit the revised paper after the time limit is reached, it will be treated as a new submission. Revised manuscripts will be re-evaluated by Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board and will be sent back to reviewers.

Acceptance for publication requires at least, but not limited to, final positive responses from two reviewers. In light of their recommendations, the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board members choose between the following options: “accept submission”, “revisions required”, “resubmit for review” or “decline submission”.

“Accept submission” indicates that the manuscript can be published as is. If there are “revisions required”, all major changes in the manuscript must be confirmed by the reviewer who had originally suggested the revisions. In some cases, editorial team may think that your manuscript deserves re-evaluation after substantial changes which cannot be completed within reasonable time limits. Therefore, the editor may encourage authors to re-submit their manuscript by selecting “resubmit for review”. Such conditions include, but not limited to, increasing the sample size, performing more statistical tests or correcting multiple errors that impede understanding. Re-submitted manuscripts will be treated as new submissions. On the other hand, if the “decline submission” decision has been reached, your manuscript has been found unsuitable for publication and you cannot submit the same manuscript to this journal.

An e-mail notification that includes the formal letter of approval will be sent to the corresponding author. Rejection e-mail will include reviewers’ comments and suggestions. Accepted manuscripts will be forwarded to the publisher.

After acceptance

Production department transforms the manuscript files into an article and sends the galley proofs to the corresponding author via e-mail. All authors should carefully check the final PDF proof version of the article for minor punctuation or spelling errors, correct presentation and positioning of the tables, figures and their captions. Corrected page proofs should be returned via e-mail within 7 days of receipt. Major changes such as adding new paragraphs, changing the title or the name order of the authors and modifying visual elements will not be allowed at this stage.

Publication

Articles will normally appear in the order in which they were accepted as publication, however, Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board reserve the right to modify this schedule in the presence of critical scientific issues.

To speed up the process, articles will be first published online, followed by the print version of the journal. Both versions will have identical page numbers. Therefore, no change can be made in the article in between the online and in print publication steps.

DOI number

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number is a unique alphanumeric identifier assigned by a registration agency. Once it is assigned to an article, the DOI will never change, therefore, it is ideal for citing and linking electronic documents. Your article will be assigned a DOI number provided by the CrossRef registration agency, immediately after it is published online.

Changes to authorship

This statement concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts. Requests to add or remove an author or to rearrange the author names must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript. This document must include: the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree on the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, written confirmation from the author being added or removed must be included. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Editor-in-Chief to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Production of the accepted manuscript is suspended until authorship has been agreed. The name and the order of the authors cannot be changed once the article is published online or in print.

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their investigations during the editorial process or after publication of the article. Such materials include, but not limited to, original submission files, unedited versions of the printed and/or digital radiographs, unedited versions of the printed and/or digital photographs, histologic slides, original outputs from clinical and/or experimental diagnostic and/or interventional devices, original data sheets of statistical software and technical data sheets of any substance used in the research project. Authors should retain such materials for a reasonable period of time after the publication of their paper.

Correction, Retraction & Removal

A formal correction will be issued in the journal by the Editor-in-Chief, if only a small portion of otherwise reliable article is flawed in a way that does not severely affect the findings reported in it (such as mistakes in the spelling of a drug, miscalculation of a formula, mismatch between images and their captions or incorrect author list). Online articles will not be corrected directly. An erratum (for publishing error) or a corrigendum (for author error) will be published in the next issue of the journal.

Articles may be retracted by its authors or by the Editor-in-Chief under the advice of the scientific community. If authors are willing to retract an article before it is published (accepted or under review), requests must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief from the corresponding author of the manuscript. This document must include: the reason the article should be retracted and written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree on the retraction. Reasons for editorial retraction include, but not limited to, unreliable publications as a result of misconduct or honest error, redundant publication, major plagiarism, copyright infringement and unethical research. A formal retraction announcement written by the Editor-in-Chief will be published in the print edition of the journal. For online articles, the PDF pages remain with a watermark on each page to notify it is retracted.

In rare circumstances, an article can be completely removed from the online database. Such conditions include, but not limited to, defamation, infringement of legal rights, court orders and claims in the article that might pose serious health risks. Title and author names will remain in the web page while the text will be replaced by a notification indicating that the article has been removed for legal reasons.