Contents

General Instructions
  • Manuscripts must be submitted in the English language and in Microsoft Word document file format.
  • The text should be double-spaced and should employ a size 12 Calibri font.
  • All figures, tables, and supplementary material should be submitted on separate pages at the end of the manuscript; they should not be embedded in the text.
  • Where available, URLs for the references should be provided.
  • Manuscripts should have been spell checked and grammar checked prior to submission.
  • A maximum of six key words or short phrases are required for all articles to facilitate indexing, and should be provided below the abstract when applicable.
  • The title page should contain the following:
    • A concise and informative title
    • Given name(s) and surname of each author
    • The highest academic degree and the institutional affiliation, including department, of each author (should be provided below the names using superscript alphabetic letters for denotation)
    • The e-mail address of each author
    • The name, telephone number, postal address, and e-mail address of the corresponding author
Types of Articles and Format

Manuscripts should fall into one of the following categories: original articles, review articles, commentaries, case series, and letters to the editor.  The following are a set of specific guidelines for each category:

Original Articles
  • Manuscripts must not exceed 4,000 words (excluding the abstract, references, and figure legends).
  • The manuscript should employ an abstract, which does not exceed 250 words, and should contain the following: background, methods, results, and conclusion(s).
  • The manuscript should contain the following sections: introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion.
  • The introduction should contain a brief review of the subject matter and the rationale for the study.
  • The materials and methods section should deliver sufficient detail to allow the study to be reproduced.
  • The results should be clear and concise, and supplemented with tables and figures when possible.
  • The discussion should describe the significance of the results found in the study, as well as any conclusions that can be reached. The present data should be compared to previous findings, and any limitations of the study should be discussed.  Any new hypotheses should also be mentioned, and recommendations should be provided when appropriate.
  • Authors conducting randomised trials should refer to the CONSORT 2010 Checklist; a completed checklist must be submitted with the manuscript.
  • All clinical trials must be registered at the U.S. National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Registry prior to submission.
Review Articles
  • Manuscripts must not exceed 4,000 words (excluding the abstract, references, and figure legends).
  • The manuscript should follow a “systematic review” format as described by the “Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.”
  • The manuscript should employ a non structured abstract, which does not exceed 350 words, and that summarizes the conclusions of the review.
Commentaries
  • Manuscripts must not exceed 3,000 words (excluding references and figure legends).
  • Manuscripts should discuss controversies and issues related to the field of periodontology.
  • The manuscript should contain the following sections: introduction, body, summary, and acknowledgement(s).
  • The introduction should clearly state the issues at hand and justify their importance and timeliness.
  • The body should elaborate on the issues of concern by presenting the information encompassing all aspects of the issues.
  • The summary should briefly outline the ideas in the commentary in a way that is tangible to the reader, and mention ways to address the issues in the future.
  • Any acknowledgements must be mentioned, especially those that constitute a potential conflict of interest.
Case Series
  • Manuscripts must not exceed 3,000 words (excluding the abstract, references, and figure legends).
  • Manuscripts should discuss a number of cases, with the aim of creating an argument for or against a particular mode of treatment or concept, or in order to present a unique finding.
  • The manuscript should employ an abstract, which does not exceed 250 words, and should contain the following: background, methods, results, and conclusion(s).
  • The manuscript should contain the following sections: introduction, case description and results, and discussion.
  • The introduction should include a critical review of the concepts affiliated with the case series.
  • The case description and results should provide the information and data pertinent to the case series. It would be appropriate to include supplementary tables, photographs, and radiographs in this section.
  • The discussion should describe the significance of the results found in the study, and unique arguments and new information should be addressed.
Letters to the Editor
  • Manuscripts must not exceed 1,000 words (excluding references).
  • The manuscript should comment on an article published in the journal through constructive criticism, inquiries, corrections, or simply offering a different perspective on the topic.
  • The authors of the article being addressed will be given an opportunity to respond, and both the letter and the response will be published within the same issue if possible.
Human and Animal Rights

Research involving human subjects should comply with the “WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects.”  Protocols for research studies should have received approval from the ethics committee of the concerned institution prior to implementation, and this should be documented.  An informed written consent should have been obtained prior to research on human subjects, and the manuscript must contain a statement affirming this.  Authors should retain the written consents and make them available to the publisher upon request.  Most case series however, do not require ethics committee approval or informed written consents due to the fact that they are usually a retrospective description of cases that were not part of an outlined study. Privacy rights of human subjects must be respected; thus, no personal identifiers are permitted in the manuscript without the subject’s informed written consent, which must be submitted with the manuscript.

Research involving animal subjects should comply with the “Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in the Care and Use of Nonhuman Animals in Research,” outlined by the American Psychological Association.

Declaration of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with certain individuals or institutions that may result in work bias.  The following are examples of potential conflicts of interest: employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.  All authors are required to complete the “ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest” and submit it with the manuscript.

Submission Declaration

Submission of an article implies that it has not been previously published (except in the form of an abstract, or an academic thesis, or as part of a published lecture, or as an electronic preprint), nor is it before another publisher for consideration, and that all authors approve its publication in the journal.  Submission of an article also implies the approval of the responsible authorities where the work was conducted, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, whether in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

Authorship

In order to qualify for authorship, the concerned individual must meet all of the following criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors:

  1. The concerned individual should have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
  2. The concerned individual should have been involved in drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  3. The concerned individual should have given final approval of the version to be published.
  4. The concerned individual should have agreed 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.
Changes to Authorship

The list and order of authors should be considered carefully before submission of a manuscript.  Authors who wish to make changes to authorship are required to send a completed “Change of Authorship Request Form” to the Editor in Chief via e-mail.  Changes to authorship can only be made before acceptance of the article.  All authors are required to complete and submit a new “ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.”

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements are intended to credit those who contributed to the work at a level that did not qualify for authorship, and should be made at the end of the manuscript, preceding the references.  In order to make an acknowledgment, a written consent should be obtained from the individual or institution being acknowledged.  It should be noted that acknowledgements must also include any funding sources.

Artwork
Image Manipulation

Images may be manipulated for clarity purposes.  However, it is strictly forbidden to enhance, obscure, move, remove, or introduce a specific feature within an image for the purpose of deception or fraud.

Electronic Artwork

Illustrations should be numbered according to their sequence in the text, and should be submitted in the desired size for publishing.  They should be submitted in one of the following file formats with the following specifications:

  • EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings
  • TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), should be kept to a minimum of 300 dpi.
  • TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black and white pixels) line drawings, should be kept to a minimum of 1,000 dpi.
  • TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/halftone (color or grayscale), should be kept to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Tables

Tables should be numbered according to their sequence in the text.  Footnotes should be placed below the table body, and should be denoted with superscript lowercase letters.

Supplementary Material
Videos

Perio J accepts videos and animations to support and enhance articles when appropriate.  Most standard video formats are acceptable.  Videos should be provided in properly labeled files, and their desired location should be mentioned within the text.  Authors are responsible for editing the videos to remove extraneous material.

Other

Other supporting material such as applications, sound clips, and background datasets may be published if deemed appropriate.  The same guidelines as those mentioned in the videos section apply.

References

The authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of the bibliographic citations.

Citation Style

Please ensure that the citation style conforms to that of the American Medical Association.  The following is a detailed description of the American Medical Association citation style:

  • General Rules from the 10th Edition
    • Items are to be listed using consecutive Arabic numerals according to the sequence in which they are cited in the text.
    • Up to six authors may be included.
    • If there are more than six authors, provide the names of the first three authors followed by et al.
    • If the author is unidentified, begin with the title.
    • Abbreviated titles should be used for periodicals (journals, magazine, and newspapers); to ensure that the correct abbreviation has been used, it is recommended that authors use LocatorPlus, available on the United States National Library of Medicine website.

 

  • Journal Article – In Print – One Author

Example:

Spencer J. Physician, heal thyself – but not on your own please.  Med Educ. 2005; 89: 548-549.

  • Journal Article – In Print – 2-6 Authors

Example:

Salwachter AR, Freischlag JA, Sawyer RG, Sanfey HA.  The   training needs and priorities of male and female surgeons and     their trainees.  J AM Coll Surg.  2005; 201: 199-205.

  • Journal Article – In Print – More than 6 Authors

Example:

Fukushima H, Cureoglu S, Schachern P, et al.  Cochlear changes in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.  Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg.  2005; 133: 100-6.

  • Journal Article – Online (If there is no DOI, provide the URL for the specific article.)

 Example:

Coppinger T, Jeanes YM, Hardwick J, Reeves S. Body mass, frequency of eating and breakfast consumption in 9-13-year-olds.  J Hum Nutr Diet.  2012; 25(1): 43-49.  doi: 10.1111/j.1365-277X.2011.01184.x

  • Journal Article – Online from a Library Database (There is no specific way to cite articles found in library databases according to the AMA.)

Example:

Calhoun D, Trimarco T, Meek R, Locasto D.  Distinguishing diabetes: Differentiate beween type 1 & type 2 DM.  JEMS [serial online].  November 2011; 36 (11): 32-48.  Available from: CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Ipswich, MA.  Accessed February 2, 2012.

  • Newspaper Article – In Print (If the city name is not part of the name of the newspaper, it may be added to the official name for clarity. If the article jumps from on page to a later page, state the page numbers as in the following example: D1, D5.)

Example:

Wolf W. State’s mail-order drug plan launched.  Minneapolis Star Tribune.  May 14, 2004: 1B.

  • Newspaper Article – Online

Example:

Pollack A.  FDA approves new cystic fibrosis drug.  New York Times.  January 31, 2012.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/business/fda-approves-cystic-fibrosis-drug.html?ref=health.  Accessed February 1, 2012.

  • Websites

Example:

Outbreak notice: Cholera in Haiti.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Website.  http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/outbreak-notice/haiti-cholera.htm.  Published October 22, 2010.  Updated January 9, 2012.  Accessed February 1, 2012.

  • Entire Book – In Print

Example:

Modlin J, Jenkins P.  Decision Analysis in Planning for a Polio Outbreak in the United States.  San Francisco, CA: Pediatric Academic Societies; 2004.

  • Book Chapter – In Print

Example:

Solensky R.  Drug allergy: desensitization and treatment of reactions to antibiotics and aspirin.  In: Lockey P, ed. Allergens and Allergen Immunotherapy.  3rd ed.  New York, NY: Marcel Dekker; 2004: 585:606.

  • In-Text Citation

Authors should ensure that references cited in the text are present in the reference list, and vice versa.  Unpublished works and personal communications may be mentioned in the text, but are not to be included in the reference list.  Citations should be numbered, using superscript Arabic numerals, in consecutive order according to the sequence in which they appear in the text.  Commas should be used to separate multiple citation numbers in text.  Superscript numbers should be placed outside commas and periods, and inside colons and semicolons.  When the same source is cited more than once, the number of the original reference should be used, followed by the page number (in parentheses) where the information was found.

Reference Management Software

It is recommended that authors use Mendeley Desktop, a reference management software, which contains a readily available template for the American Medical Association’s citation style.  This software automatically formats citations and bibliographies to the desired citation style.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors will be required to sign a “Journal Licensing Agreement” upon acceptance of an article.  Authors will retain copyright but will be required to license exclusive rights in their article to the publisher.  Thus, authors will have the following rights:

  1. The right to share their article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License.
  2. The right to retain patent, trademark, and other intellectual property rights (including research data).
  3. The right to proper attribution and credit for the published work.

The rights granted to the publisher are as follows:

  1. The exclusive right to publish and distribute the article, and to grant rights to others.
  2. The publisher will employ the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License on all of its publications.
  3. The right to provide the article in all forms and media.
  4. The authority to enforce the rights in the article, on behalf of an author, against third parties, such as in the case of plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Authors are requested to review the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License Deed and Legal Code.

Plagiarism

Perio J does not condone plagiarism. Manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism by the Editor upon submission with the aid of a similarity check software. Similarity reports indicate the percentage of overlap that the text being assessed has with other published articles. Although a similarity score does not necessarily indicate plagiarism, the score will be interpreted based on the type of article being assessed, the sections of the manuscript in which the similarities appear, and the number of sources with which the matches coincide. Manuscripts that have been deemed to be plagiarized will be automatically rejected before proceeding to the peer-review process.

Review Process

Perio J employs a single blind review process.  Upon submission, the Editor makes a decision as to whether or not the manuscript is appropriate for the journal.  If the manuscript is deemed suitable, it is assessed by a minimum of two expert reviewers in the field of periodontology, and when applicable, a statistical reviewer.  Authors are then sent reviewer comments as well as the additional comments and observations of the Editor.  The Editor makes the final decision as to whether or not to accept the article once the final revisions of the authors are received.

After Acceptance

Perio J will send one set of page proofs, in PDF format, to the corresponding author following acceptance.  These may be annotated by the authors using the Adobe Reader software, version 9 (or higher).  As an alternative to using the Adobe Reader annotation function, authors may send an e-mail listing the corrections, which should indicate page and line numbers.

Last edited on 23 September 2017


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