Author Guidelines

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION- CASE REPORT, REVIEW ARTICLES

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION- ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF DENTAL SCIENCES (UJDS)

ABOUT THE JOURNAL:

UJDS is the peer-reviewed Official publication of theDr Ziauddin Ahmad Dental College & Hospital, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. The purpose of publishingjournals is  to  publish  research papers, articles on  dentistry  and allied branches including oral biology and to  disseminate the  knowledge, substantially  facilitate scholarly communication,  publish and maintain the record of scientific advance, in addition to encourage young researchers by publishing their high quality researches.

Number of issues per year: 4

Month(s) of publication:MARCH; JUNE;SEPTMBER; DECEMBER

SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL:

It publishes articles from all the 9 Specialties of Dentistryand allied branches across the country and globally.

Types of Manuscripts:

• Original Research Articles

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 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 has only a short report of the case (only pertinent details) and a cursory discussion and references up to a maximum of 8. OR short research that does NOT require further confirmation. Number of figures should be restricted to a maximum of 6.

• Case Report(s)

Only New / interesting / 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 1200 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 about oral health and diseases. The review formats must 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 a letter to the editor, as and when major development occurs 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. 

 THEREVIEW/EDITORIALPROCESS:

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journal" developed by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2001). The uniform requirements and specific requirements of University Journal of Dental Sciencesare summarized below. Before sending a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available.

1. Manuscripts sent   to   the   UJDS   should   be accompanied by a certificate signed by all the authors that the said manuscript is their original work and has not been sent to any other journal for publication and that it has not been presented as such in any scientific conferences.
2. Once the manuscript isreceived, the corresponding  author   will  be communicatedthereferencenumberofthemanuscriptafterdulyacknowledgingitsreceipt.
3. The manuscript(s) will be firstly reviewedby theEditorialteamtoseethatit
4. TheEditorsreservetherighttorejectthemanuscriptat thisstageifitisfoundtobedeficientinoriginality/hasserioustechnicalflaws/doesnotaddanythingtotheliteraturealreadyavailableonthesubject.
5. Manuscripts thatclearthisstagewillbesenttoexpert reviewer(s).Thiswillbea double-blindprocessinthesensethat the authors and the reviewers will be kept in the darkabouteachother'sidentity.AreviewerformpreparedforthispurposebytheEditorialteamwillbesenttothe reviewertohelpintheThecommentsbythe reviewers will be communicated to the authors and they will be asked to make the necessary changes in the manuscript and may even be asked to give a point by point reply to the comments of the reviewers. This process is repeated till the reviewers and the editors are satisfied with the manuscript.
6. The Author(s) cancontestthecommentsbythereviewers, justifyingtheirviewpointbyappropriatereferences.
7. Once the manuscript has been found to be OK in all respects,thecorrespondingauthorwillbeaskedtodeposit the "manuscript handling charges" of 3000 INR plus GST(540 INR),TOTAL 3540 INR.
8. Once accepted, themanuscriptswillbe edited for grammar,spelling,punctuation,etc.A proofcopywillbesent to the corresponding author for proof reading whois expected to return the same within 3 working days.Allthisprocess

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. The name and order of the authors cannot be changed once the article is provisionally accepted.

 Authorship credit should be based only on:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. 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.

Conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4 must all be met. Acquisition of funding, the collection of data, downloading references or general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship. Please read ICMJE guidelines in details at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

The order of authorship on the byline should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Authors should be prepared to explain the order in which authors are listed. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the authors.

For an Original research/Meta-analysis, the number of authors should not exceed six.

For a Case-report and for a Review article, the number of authors should not exceed four. For Short communication, the number of authors should not be more than three. A justification should be included if the number of authors exceeds these limits, even if from a Multicentric unit.

If Data is published from Dissertations/ thesis, then it shall be declared in the covering letter - with details of the university; year; title; Guide and Co-guide ONLY with consent of the Institution.The text of Original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding abstract, references and tables)

SUBMITTING THE MANUSCRIPT TO THE JOURNAL

Articles should be submitted online from https://ujds.in/index.php/ujds/about/submissionsNew authors will have to register as author before submission.

1. First Page File:Prepare the title page, covering letter, acknowledgement, etc., using a word processor program. All information which can reveal your identity should be here. Do not zip the files.
2. Article file: The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Do not include any information such as acknowledgement, your names in page headers, etc., in this file. Do not zip the files. Do not incorporate images in the file. If the file size is large, graphs can be sent as images separately without incorporating them in the article file to reduce the size of the file.
3. Images: Submit superior quality colour images. Each image should be less than 400 kb in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep MINIMUM OF 1024x760 pixels). All image formats (jpeg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, eps, etc.) are acceptable; JPG is most suitable.Do not zip the files.
4. Legends: Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.
5. Please keep all the following mandatory forms in PDF/ JPG format only ready before commencing the submission process

• Authorship role Declaration form (in prescribed format)
• Copyright transfer form (in prescribed format)
• Patient image/ photo release consent form (in prescribed format)
• NOTE: ONLY PDF/ JPG format accepted

1. Title Page

The title page should carry -

1. Type of manuscript
2. The title of the article, which should be concise, but informative;
3. Running title or short title not more than 50 characters;
4. Name of the authors (the way it should appear in the journal), with his or her highest academic degree(s) and Institutional affiliation;
5. The name of the Department(s) and Institution(s) to which the work should be attributed;
6. The name, address, phone numbers, facsimile numbers, and e-mail address of the contributor responsible for correspondence about the manuscript;
7. The total number of pages, total number of photographs and words count separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references and abstract).
8. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these; and
9. If the manuscript was presented as part of a meeting, the organisation, place, and exact date on which it was read.
10. Conflict of Interest, if any in detail
11. Acknowledgements in detail
12. Abstract Page

The second page should carry the full title of the manuscript and an abstract (of no more than 150 words for Case reports, brief reports and 250 words for original articles). The Abstract should be structured and state the Context Introduction/Background; Aim; Materials and Methodology; Results; Conclusion. Below the Abstract should provide 3 to 10 key words. 

3. Introduction

State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.

4. Materials and Methods

 It should include and describe the following aspects:

1. Ethics:When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the Institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
2. Study Design: Selection and Description of Participants:Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.

Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

Sample size estimation: The formula used for calculation of sample size and derivation of sample size for the study should be added. Adequate provision should be made for the inclusion of dropoutsetc.

1. Statistics:Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used. Use upper italics (P048). For all P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

5. Results

 Present the results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Extra- or supplementary materials and technical details can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text; alternatively, it can be published only in the electronic version of the journal. When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.

6. Discussion

Include a summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis); Strengths and limitations of the study (study question, study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation); Interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, what this study adds to the available evidence, effects on patient care and health policy, possible mechanisms); Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research). Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. New hypotheses may be stated if needed, however they should be clearly labeled as such. About 30 references can be included. These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

7. References

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript with a square bracket after the punctuation marks. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use the complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). Authors should add at least 50% of total references from the last 05 year (s) published articles. (Recent References)

1. Articles in journals

1. Standard Journal article (for up to six authors):Koppula SK, Kumar A, Nandi D, Choudhary A. Large keratocystic odontogenic tumor of the mandible. J Indian Acad Oral Med Radiol 2015; 27:259-63.
2. Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by et al. Example: Sridevi K, Malathi S, Rani PJ, Tanwar R, Vinod VC, Shailaja S, etal. Odontoma: Report of four cases and review of literature. Nig J Med Sciences 2013;25:145-9.
3. Volume with supplement: Raval N, Raju DR, Athota A, Reddy TY. Diode laser and white lesions: A clinical study on postoperative recovery, depth control and wound healing. Indian J Dent Res 2011;23 Suppl 1:S308-11.

1. Books and other monographs

1. Personal author(s): Format: <Author of book>. <Title of Book> : <Subtitle of Book>. <Edition number (if not the first)> ed. Vol <Volume number (if a multivolume work)>. <Place of publication> : <Publisher>; <Year>. p. <page number(s) (if appropriate)>. Example: Karjodkar FR. Essentials of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology. New Delhi, India: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd. 2014. p. 315-6.
2. Chapter in a book: Format: <Author(s) of Part>. <Title of chapter or part>. In: <Editor A>, <Editor B>, editors. <Title of Book>: <Subtitle of Book>. <Edition number (if not the first)> ed. <Place of publication>: <Publisher>; <Year>. p. <page number(s)>. Example: Rai S. Geriatrics- Role of oral physician and interdisciplinary management. In: Ghom AG, Ghom SA, editors. Textbook of Oral Medicine. 3^rded. New Delhi, India: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd.; 2014. p. 1030-1.

1. Electronic sources as reference

Journal article on the Internet: Margaret A. Paving the Way for Personalized Medicine: FDA’s Role in a New Era of Medical Product Development. Available from: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/.../personalized medicine/ucm372421.pdf. [Last accessed on 2022 Feb 14].

Instruction for Table(s)

Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material. 

• Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable. 
• Type or print out each table with double spacing on a separate sheet of paper. If the table must be continued, repeat the title on a second sheet followed by "(contd.)". 
• Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. 
• Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. 
• Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. 
• Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and supply a credit line in the footnote. 
• For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ¦,  *,*, ††, ‡‡ 

Instruction for Figure(s)/ Illustration(s)

• Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
• Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not in the illustrations themselves.
• When graphs, scattergrams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
• The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.
• COMPOSITE IMAGES NEED TO BE CREATED BY AUTHORS ONLY
• ENSURE THAT THE IMAGE SUBMITTED HAS A MINIMUM SIZE OF 1024x760 PIXELS. 
• If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable, or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
• If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for figures for such figures.
• The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.
• Patient image release form essential.

 Legends for Illustrations

• Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations.
• When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend.
• Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

REVIEW ARTICLES

It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A succinct summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript. The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have about 90 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract. Review articles could be authored by up to four authors. The guidelines for references, tables, and illustrations (figures) are the same as mentioned above.

CASE REPORTS

New, interesting, and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge, and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 1000 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order. The manuscript could be of up to 1000 words (excluding references and abstract) and could be supported with up to 10 references. Case reports could be authored by up to four authors. The guidelines for references, tables, and illustrations (figures) are the same as mentioned above.

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Short communications should be no longer than two printed pages with illustrations (up to 500 words). They should contain important, new, definitive information of sufficient significance to warrant publication. Short communications should include a short abstract and will be subjected to peer review.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the Editor should normally not exceed one printed page, including references. These usually pertain to issues spurred by articles published in the Journal. In that case, the authors of the earlier article will be given the opportunity to respond in print.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy

Identification information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

1. Authors, not the journals or the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.
2. If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Sending a Revised Manuscript

The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point to point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or coloured text in the article.

Copyrights 

The entire contents of the University Journal of Dental sciences are protected under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

 Checklist

Covering letter

• Signed by the corresponding contributor.
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned.
• Source of funding mentioned.
• Conflicts of interest disclosed.

Authors

• All contributor(s) name(s) correctly entered. 
• Author for correspondence, with the e-mail address and mobile number provided.
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions.
• Identity not revealed in the paper except the title page (e.g. name of the institute in methods, citing the previous study as 'our study', names on figure labels, name of the institute in photographs, etc.)

Presentation and format

• 5 lines spacing provided.
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Page numbers included at the bottom.
• Title page contains all the desired information.
• Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript.
• Abstract provided (structured abstract of 250 words for original articles, unstructured abstracts of about 150 words for all other manuscripts excluding letters to the Editor)
• Keywords provided (three or more) 
• Keywords (MeSH headings)
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
• The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript with square bracket.
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked.
• Send the article file without ‘Track Changes’

Language and grammar

• Uniformly American English
• Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords, and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure. Numerals from 1 to 10 spelled out.
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelled out.
• Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
• If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country).
• Species names should be in italics.

Tables and figures

• No repetition of data in tables and graphs and in text
• Actual numbers from which graphs are drawn, provided.
• Graphs, if any, uploaded in Microsoft Excel format
• Figures necessary and of superior quality (colour)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Labels pasted on the back of the photographs (no names written)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
• Patients' privacy kept (if permission was not taken)
• Patient consent form for publication of his / her photographs taken.
• A credit note for borrowed figures/tables provided.
• Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote