Guidelines for Authors

The Editorial Process

The manuscripts will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that they are being submitted to one journal at a time and have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere.

The Editors review all submitted manuscripts initially. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific flaws, or absence of importance of message are rejected. The journal will not return the unaccepted manuscripts.

Other manuscripts are sent to two or more expert reviewers without revealing the identity of the authors to the reviewers. Within a period of eight to ten weeks, the contributors will be informed about the reviewers' comments and acceptance/rejection of manuscript. Articles accepted would be copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs will be sent to the first author, which has to be returned within five days. Correction received after that period may not be included. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged.

Types Of Manuscripts And Word Limits

Original Research Articles

Randomised controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. Up to 2500 words excluding references and abstract.

Short Communication

Up to 1000 words excluding references and abstract and up to 8 references. A short communication contains only a short report of the case (only pertinent details) and a short discussion and references upto a maximum of 8. OR a short research that does NOT require further confirmation. Number of figures should be restricted to a maximum of 6.

Case Reports

Only New / interesting / very rare cases can be reported. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority, whereas, mere reporting of a rare case may not be considered. Up to 2000 words excluding references and abstract and up to 10 references.

Review Articles

Systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Up to 3500 words excluding references and abstract. Research Gaps in Policies, Protocols and Practice: This section would cover insights on existing gaps in the policies, protocols and practice pertaining to oral health and diseases. The review formats have to highlight the need to bridge the gap in one or all aspects, so that the optimum oral health is achieved.

Letter To The Editor

Should be short, decisive observation. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. Up to 400 words and 4 references.

Reviews/ Systematic Reviews/ Meta-Analysis

Only those who have done substantial work in a particular field can write a review article. A short summary of the work done by the authors (s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript. The journal expects the authors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of article and should be sent as letter to editor, as and when major development occur in the field. Please Note: NARRATIVE REVIEWS are strongly discouraged. Systematic review and Meta-analysis, with specific hypothesis and universally accepted methodology (Like PRISMA statements) only would be considered.

Instructions

Cover letter

The cover letter must be submitted along with the manuscript. The cover letter must describe the significance of the study and the statement that “the manuscript has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by another journal and that all authors have approved of and have agreed to submit the manuscript to this journal”.

Manuscript preparation

Presentation and formatting

  • Line spacing: 1.5
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font size: 12-point
  • Page numbers included at bottom right corner.
  • Use doc/ docx file for article submission.
  • Title page must contain:
  • Manuscript title in capital letters, bold format and 14-points character size.
  • Complete names of all authors (First, middle and last name)
  • Author’s affiliation with the department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited.
  • Name, contact number, email address and postal address of the corresponding author must also be mentioned on the title page.
  • Source(s) of support in form of grants, funding and any other form should also be indicated on the title page.
  • Word count excluding references and abstract.
  • Editorial and brief communication: word count up to 2000 words with 10 references
  • Original article 2000-4000 words should be divided into subsections: Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables and Figures. Original article contains up to 25 references.
  • Reviews: The word counts up to 5000 with 75 references.

 Abstract: The total number words of abstract should not be more than 250 words for original article and reviews whereas 150 words for brief communication. Abstract should be unstructured and contain a brief background, objective of study, summarize methods, results and conclusions.

Keywords: 3 to 6 words

Introduction: describe brief literature with recent references and also state the purpose and rationale of the study.

Methods: Following aspects should be included:

Ethical approval: All reported studies on human beings and animals must be approved by the responsible committee of ethics (institutional or regional) and must be conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). A statement having ethical approval number provided by the ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Methods’ section.

Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses). Provide the sufficient detail of procedure.

Units and Abbreviations: All abbreviation must be provided in System International (SI). The abbreviations must be defined at their first occurrence.

Data analysis: A brief summary of all statistical measures must be provided in the method section.

Results: Present your results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations/figure.

Discussion: Include a summary of key findings with related research studies; Mechanism implicated to your work; Strengths and limitations of the study; Interpretation and conclusion; and Future research directions. The combined result and discussion section can be included in the manuscript.

References: Authors have the responsibility for the accurateness and completeness of references included in the manuscript and authors are also responsible for the correct reference citation within the text. References are not in the alphabetical order; it should be numbered sequentially in the order in which they are first cited in the text. All references must be formatted in “Vancouver” style. The title of journal in the reference must be abbreviated according to the “Index Medicus” however provide full title of non-indexed journals. Here are some examples below:

Paper references

  1. Welsh J. Cellular and molecular effects of vitamin D on carcinogenesis. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2012;523(1):107-14.
  2. Krishnan AV, Feldman D. Mechanisms of the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory actions of vitamin D. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 2011;51:311-36.
  3. Mavaddat N, Antoniou AC, Easton DF, Garcia-Closas M. Genetic susceptibility to breast cancer. Mol Oncol. 2010; 4(3):174-91.
  4. Dalessandri KM, Miike R, Wiencke JK, Farren G, Pugh TW, Manjeshwar S, et al. Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms and breast cancer risk in a high-incidence population: a pilot study. J Am Coll Surg. 2012;215(5):652-7.

Book references:

  1. Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr., Sodeman WA, eds. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1974: 457-472.
  2. Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson’s electronic atlas of hematology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams&Wilkins, 2002.

Information from those manuscripts which are submitted but unaccepted should be cited in the text as “unpublished observations” with written permission from the source. Note: List authors and/or editors up to 6; if more than 6, list the first 6 authors followed by et al.

 Tables

  •  All tables are numbered in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and provide a brief title for each table
  • Provide explanations about the table in footnotes
  • The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text.
  • Illustrations/ Figures: provide good quality color or grey scale images/ figures. Each image resolution should be 300dpi, Dimensions should be 828 x 473 (width x height). Figures/ illustration should be submitted at the end of the manuscript file.
  • Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order at which they cited first in the text.
  • All figures Labels, numbers and symbols should be clearly mentioned in the text. All figures should be of uniform size. The labeling of figures should be large enough to be readable.
  • The color of the symbols, arrows, or letters used in figures should contrast with the background.
  • Titles and description of the figure should be given in legends.
  • If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and add reference of that figure with permission.