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The following instructions to authors explain the format in which original material should be submitted to the Journal of the Irish Dental Association. This is recommended reading for anyone in the process of submitting material. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in rejection of manuscripts or delays in the review and publication process.
Aims and scope
The Journal of the Irish Dental Association exists to publish original research studies, clinical case reports, position papers, literature reviews, brief communications, clinical tips and other material that is of interest to the Irish dental profession.
All material will be evaluated for publication on the understanding that the work submitted has not been published elsewhere (except as an abstract), that it has not and will not be submitted to another journal until the editor has made a decision on its acceptability for this journal, and that, if accepted, its contents will not be published elsewhere without the editor’s permission. Accepted papers become the copyright of the Journal of the Irish Dental Association and permission must be sought from the publishers before they can be reprinted elsewhere.
The research must clearly state the problem and objective of the research, include a summary of relevant literature in the introduction, describe the research method, report the results briefly and accurately, discuss the results and list the conclusions that can be drawn from the research. Clinical case reports should briefly describe the particular clinical problem, the author’s method of managing the problem, and a rationale for such treatment, with appropriate references to the literature.
Literature reviews should thoroughly analyse the literature with respect to the chosen topic and reference all material used. Tips to the readers should report new, helpful or time-saving techniques or procedures. All accepted manuscripts are subject to editorial revision. The author, who will receive edited proofs for approval, will be responsible for all statements in the article, including changes made by the editor.
Construction
• Three typed copies of each manuscript must be submitted. Each manuscript must be typed on one side only of an A4 sheet
of paper.
• The text must be of 10pt size, doublespaced and with a 20mm margin on the left side of the text.
• The right-hand margin must be unjustified.
• Each page must be numbered in consecutive order from the title page, through the abstract, text, references, tables and photographs in that order.
• The first page, or title page must contain the title, all the authors’ names and affiliations. Dentists registered in the Republic of Ireland must not use any qualifications not registered by them with
the Dental Council.
• This page must also give the name, address, phone number, fax and email (if available) of the corresponding author,
who will undertake correspondence, proof reading, etc.
• The second page will contain a concise precis (not more than 25 words) for use in the table of contents. This should state the conclusions of the report.
• Each manuscript must contain a structured abstract of a maximum of 250 words, with the headings: statement of the problem, purpose of the study, materials and methods, results, and conclusions.
• For the body of the text, use standard headings: introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, etc.
References must be identified in the text by superscript and
numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text.
References appearing in tables only shall be numbered in relation
to the first mention of the table in the text. The reference number
must appear as a superscript. The list of references should be
placed at the end of the article and must be numbered as in the
text, and placed in numerical order. References shall be given
according to the Vancouver style: the author’s surname and initials
(if there are more than five authors, additional authors are
designated as et al.); full title; journal title (in standard abbreviated
form); year; volume number; and page numbers from start to
finish.
For example:
Coli, P., Blixt, M., and Brannstrom, M. The effect of cervical
grooves on the contraction gap in class two composites. Op
Dent 1993; 18: 33-36.
• Do not cite unpublished data, personal communications,
abstracts of meetings, letters to editors or papers appearing in
journals that are not both peer reviewed and indexed in either
the Index Medicus or the Index to Dental Literature. Such material
may be given in the text, if necessary, with the source in
parentheses.
• All tables must be on separate sheets and must have a consecutive
number and a clear concise title. Do not duplicate data in tables
and text. Include adequate information (using footnotes if
necessary) to make the table self-explanatory.
• Include two sets of photographs or high-quality artwork. Pictures
should be supplied as high quality prints or electronically as jpg,
pdf or esp format files. These electronic images must be at least
300 dpi and of publishable size. Pictures must not be embedded
in the word processing file.
• Radiographs must be of a high quality.
• Identify each figure with a number in order of its mention in the
text. This should be written lightly in pencil on the back upper
right-hand corner.
• Type the legends to the figures on separate sheets and number to
correspond with the figures.
• All acknowledgments should be concise and should include only
identification of grant sources and permission to reproduce from
previous publications.
Disk version
A version of the manuscript must be submitted either on disk or via
email. Any IBM PC or format of Microsoft Word® is acceptable on a
CD-ROM, zip disk or 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Write on the disk label the
name of the word processing package used. Where illustrations have
been computer-generated, they should be submitted on disk with
the final manuscripts and not embedded in the Word document
itself; a caption should be placed in the text where the image should
appear. Where possible, the disk-based illustrations will be used to
maintain quality throughout the publishing process.
Please provide
the name of the drafting package used and state which files on disk
correspond to which figure.
General instructions
• Spelling should be that of the Oxford Dictionary.
• Avoid excessive use of abbreviations. Authors may use
abbreviations that are in common use in scientific literature. They
may introduce less familiar acronyms whenever unwieldy terms are
repeated many times in the text. The abbreviation should be
introduced (in parentheses) where the term is mentioned first and
the abbreviation should be used thereafter. On occasion it may be
desirable to list abbreviations as a footnote.
• Numbers below 10 should be spelled out (one, two, etc.), but percentages and measurements should be given in figures and
abbreviations (e.g., 6%, 5g).
• Words are used rather than figures at the beginning of a sentence,
or where clarity or elegance requires it. Fractions must be written in
full but decimal numbers appear as numerals. A decimal point must
be preceded by a number. Where numbers including a decimal
point appear in a column, the decimal points should be aligned
vertically. Temperature must be expressed in Celsius (C) scale.
Measurements and quantities should normally be in Systeme
Internationale (SI) units. Those seeking details of the system are
referred to Quantities, Units and Symbols published by The Royal
Society (1975) or Units, Symbols and Abbreviations published by
The Royal Society of Medicine (1976). In general, quantities are
best expressed in terms that give the closest approximation to
unity, e.g. 4.5mmol/L rather than 0.0045mol/L, and 1.5g rather
than 1500mg.
• Specific names of bacteria are printed in italics.
• Names of commercially prepared bacteriological media should be
typed with a capital.
• Names and addresses of manufacturers should be given in
parentheses.
Review process
All manuscripts are reviewed by the editor, editorial staff and by two
reviewers.
Authors must disclose any financial interest that they have in
products mentioned in their articles or that they will receive
compensation from a commercial company upon publication of the
article.
Submitting
Three copies of each manuscript for consideration must be
submitted, along with an electronic copy (disk or email) with an
attachment in Microsoft Word or similar to:
The Editor
The Journal of the Irish Dental Association
Unit 2, Leopardstown Office Park,
Sandyford,
Dublin 18.
Email: info@irishdentalassoc.ie
NB: The manuscripts must be accompanied by a letter signed by
each author. |
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