Author Guidelines

• Aim and scope
• Submission process
• Types of manuscripts accepted
• Manuscript preparation for submission
• Ethical Considerations and policies
• Copyright Notice
• Editorial and publication processes

Aim and scope

The Journal of Baghdad College of Dentistry (JBCD) publishes academic and applied papers dealing with recent topics and scientific concepts. The JBCD is a multidisciplinary journal considered publications of papers in all dental fields, including periodontics, orthodontics, restorative and aesthetic dentistry, preventive and pediatric dentistry, prosthodontics, oral medicine and pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, dental biomaterials, as well as clinically relevant oral biology. Accepted papers will be freely open to be downloaded by professors, researchers, instructors, students, and interested workers (Open Access). Published Papers are registered and indexed in the universal libraries.

Submission process

• Submission Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors must check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• The submission has not been previously published nor considered for publication by another journal at the time of submission.
• The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references should be provided.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author's Guidelines.

New submissions to JBCD can be made only through our system https://jbcd.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/jbcd/about/submissions

• Manuscript Files Accepted

Manuscripts should be submitted in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx), or RTF document file format. The text file must contain the entire manuscript including the title page, abstract, text, references, tables and figures.

Types of manuscripts accepted

Research Articles: must describe significant and original clinical or experimental observations and provide sufficient detail so that the observations can be critically evaluated and, if necessary, repeated.

• Maximum word count: 5000 words without including Title, Abstract, Figure/Table legends, and references.
• Abstract: Structure of the abstract consist of 1) Background, Aims, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion and the word limit is 300 words
• Illustrations: Total number is no more than six figures and tables.
• The main text consists of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.
• Maximum of 40 references

Review/Systematic Review: are selected for their broad general interest. Reviews should take a broad view of the field rather than merely summarizing the author's own previous work; thus, extensive citation of the author's own publications is discouraged.

• Maximum word count is 8000 words without including Title, Abstract, and references.
• For narrative reviews, the abstract is unstructured and written within 300 words limit.
• The main text should be divided into Introduction, Review, and Conclusion.
• For systematic reviews, the same instructions for writing a research article should be followed.
• Illustrations: Total number is no more than eight figures and tables.
• Maximum of 100 references

Mini reviews: similar to reviews but on a smaller scale and can be written with free formatting.

Letters to the editor: letters should address any aspect of the profession, including education and training, new or advanced treatment approach, and concepts of dental pathologies and their management. Letters should be brief (<1,000 words), focused on one or a few specific points or concerns, and can be signed by no more than five individuals. Citations should be handled as standard references.

Point of view: based on invitation to national and international authors, covering a smaller area and may be written in a format not exceeding two pages or a maximum of 600 words limit.

Manuscript preparation for submission

• Author identification

When submitting a manuscript, ORCID ID is recommended to be provided by the author(s). New ORCID ID can be acquired by registration via  https://orcid.org/.

• Language

Papers should be exclusively written in English. When English is the second language for all coauthors, a manuscript must be professionally edited by a native English speaker before submission. Alternatively, a manuscript should be edited by professional editing services which can be found at http://www.kgsupport.com

The journal is not involved in any payments for language editing, which must be managed directly by the author. Use of these services will not guarantee the acceptance of the manuscript nor give any privilege for publication.

• Cover Letters

The corresponding author must provide a signed cover letter during submission to clarify that the work is original, not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that the manuscript was prepared according to the journal’s guidelines. The template of the JBCD cover letter can be found here.

• Structure

The house style of JBCD requires that articles should be arranged in the following order:

• The title should be informative, contain keywords, and be concise without using abbreviations.
• The Full name of each author with institutional affiliation(s). Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of submission, refereeing, publication, and post-publication. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• The abstract should be both in English and Arabic. The abstract should not exceed 300 words limit. Structured Abstract should consist of the following subheadings: Objectives, Materials and Methods; Results; Conclusions. Unstructured Abstract should include Objectives; Data; Sources; Study selection; Conclusions. Abstract in Arabic, at the end of the article, is required for the native Arabic language speakers. For authors for whom Arabic is not their first language, the Abstract will be translated by the editors.
• Keywords: up to 5 keywords should be supplied. Use of the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (nlm.nih.gov/mesh) for selecting keywords is highly recommended.
• The main text is arranged as follows: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References.
• Ethics and integrity policy-related statements including Author Contributions, Acknowledgements (including any financial support), Conflict of interest, and Ethical approval should be mentioned before References.
• Figures and Tables. Each Figure or Table should be inserted where it was first cited in the main text. Tables should be presented as editable text (word doc.) and not as images with appropriate footnotes. Figures are accepted as TIFF or JPEG files with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Number tables and figures consecutively following their appearance in the text.

Using the Microsoft Word journal paper template of JBCD which can be downloaded here is encouraged.

• References

Only papers closely related to the author's work should be referred to (maximum of 40 references), exhaustive reference lists should be avoided. The alphabetical arrangement of references should be as in the JBCD paper template, namely surnames(s) and initial(s) of the author(s), title, abbreviated journal name, year of publication, volume, number opening and closing pages. Unpublished observations and personal communications should not be included as references. Authors numbering six or fewer should all be quoted; when more authors are present, the first six names will be quoted, followed by et al.

Within the text: references should be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance, being quoted between parentheses (rounded brackets) as a superscript in the text before the punctuation mark. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.

Within the reference list: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

Ibrahim AI, Al-Hasani NR, Thompson VP, Deb S. In vitro bond strengths post thermal and fatigue load cycling of sapphire brackets bonded with self-etch primer and evaluation of enamel damage. J Clin Exp Dent. 2020; 12:22-30. doi: 10.4317/medoral.56444.

Reference to a book:

Strunk W, White EB, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Mettam GR, Adams LB, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones BS, Smith RZ (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 281-304.

Please also refer to the journal paper template as an example.

• Further considerations before submission
• The manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'.
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa.
• The tables and figures used in the manuscript should be self-explanatory.
• The metric of measurement should be used. (S.I. Units).

Ethical guidelines

• Authorship and Acknowledgements

Authorship

JBCD adheres to the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). According to the ICMJE authorship, all authors must fulfill the following criteria:

• All authors must contribute substantially to the designing of the study, collection, analysis and interpretation of data
• Drafting and revision of the article
• All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript.

 Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be mentioned under Acknowledgements.

Acknowledgments

In this section, mention contributors to the article other than the authors accredited. The authors also acknowledge financial and material support.

• Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest statement is provided at the end of the manuscript (before the references), even if the authors have no competing interests to declare. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with others or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining a separate signed consent form from each author. Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form can be downloaded here.

• Ethical Approvals

All studies using human or animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Material and Methods section identifying the review and ethics committee approval for each study, if applicable. Signed consent must be obtained from people before publishing their photographs. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt about whether appropriate procedures have been used. Ethical forms must be signed by all authors and provided during the submission process. Ethical approval template can be downloaded here.

• Animal welfare

The use of laboratory animals in any research must be according to the ethics relating to using these animals in scientific work. Therefore, the authors should state and be responsible for applying these ethics according to the guidelines of the National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT). https://www.etikkom.no/en/ethical-guidelines-for-research/ethical-guidelines-for-the-use-of-animals-in-research/

• Clinical Trial Registration

JBCD encourages prospective registration the before submission of manuscripts. Recommended clinical trial registration sites:

https://clinicaltrials.gov

https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu

Or any other similar publicly available registration sites.

• Guidelines for reporting research

Checklists help to report the research fully and clearly. Each study type has a specific guideline reporting checklist that must be recognized and submitted by the author. A wide range of report checklists can be found at the EQUATOR Network which is an international initiative aimed at promoting transparent and accurate reporting of health research studies.

• Randomized trials: CONSORT (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort/)
• Observational studies: STROBE (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/strobe/)
• Systematic reviews: PRISMA (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/prisma/)
• Experimental animal studies: ARRIVE (https://www.equator-network.org/?post_type=eq_guidelines&eq_guidelines_study_design=animal-pre-clinical-research&eq_guidelines_clinical_specialty=0&eq_guidelines_report_section=0&s=+)

• Permissions

If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder. It is the author's responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the Publishers.

Declaration of generative artificial intelligence in scientific writing

The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies must be limited for the writing process to improve readability and language. Using AI tools for analyses of data and drawing conclusion is not allowed. Citing or listing to AI and AI-assisted technologies as author or co-author is declined. Authors are responsible for the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process and should disclose in their manuscript by adding a statement before the References list.

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process

Author(s) used (AI tool/service) for (list the reasons) during the preparation of this manuscript. The outcomes after using this (AI tool/service) was reviewed and edited by the authors who declare their full responsibility for the content and integrity of this work.

No need to add this statement if the author(s) did not use any AI and AI-assisted technologies in any step during the preparation of the work.

Graphical abstract

Instructions

Editorial and publication processes

After submitting the manuscript, it will be checked for formatting the manuscript in accordance with JBCD guidelines and deciding whether the topic is within the scope of the journal. Then the Editor-in-Chief decides whether to reject or send the manuscript to reviewers based on the originality, quality and clinical relevance. The manuscript receives a unique tracking number and is blindly reviewed by at least two experts. The name of these reviewers will not be disclosed to the authors to ensure single-blindness of the peer-review process. The availability and responsiveness of the reviewers determine the time required for reviewing. The recommendations of the reviewers are transferred to the Editors-in-Chief who is responsible for taking the final decision and informing the authors. After acceptance, the authors are asked to sign a copyright transfer form (download here) before the manuscript is forwarded for production.

• The appeal of the decision

The decision on a paper is final and cannot be appealed.