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INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

New Instructions as of 1 October 2007

Operative Dentistry requires electronic submission of all manuscripts. This will greatly improve our efficiency and communication, reduce turn-around time on papers and eliminate many of the format problems that can delay publication. We have just upgraded our submission process to allow the submission of larger sized files. Starting in October 2007, all submissions must be sent to Operative Dentistry using the FTP upload site. Be prepared to submit the following in your upload:

• A complete manuscript with all tables, figures, illustrations and graphs in US letter size format.  This document will be used by the editor to determine acceptance for review. 
• All of the figures, illustrations and graphs must also be provided as individual files.  These should be high resolution images, which are used by the editor in the actual typesetting of your manuscript.

Complete the online form and select the files you would like to send to Operative Dentistry. Manuscripts that do not meet our formatting and data requirements listed below will no longer be accepted for review.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• All materials submitted for publication must be submitted exclusively to Operative Dentistry.
• The editor reserves the right to make literary corrections.
• Currently, color will be provided at no cost to the author if the editor deems it essential to the manuscript. However, we reserve the right to convert to gray scale if color does not contribute significantly to the quality and/or information content of the paper.
• The author(s) retain the right to formally withdraw the paper from consideration and/or publication if they disagree with editorial decisions.
• International authors whose native language is not English must have their work reviewed by a native English speaker prior to submission.
• Spelling must conform to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and SI units for scientific measurement are preferred.
• While we do not currently have limitations on the length of manuscripts, we expect papers to be concise; Authors are also encouraged to be selective in their use of figures and tables, using only those that contribute significantly to the understanding of the research.
• Please e-mail manuscripts only once. Acknowledgement of receipt is sent automatically. If you do not receive such an acknowledgement, please contact us at editor@jopdent.org rather than resending your paper.
• IMPORTANT: Please add our e-mail address to your address book on your server to prevent transmission problems from spam and other filters. Also make sure that your server will accept larger file sizes. This is particularly important since we send page-proofs for review and correction as .pdf files.

REQUIREMENTS

• FOR ALL MANUSCRIPTS

1. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR must provide a WORKING / VALID e-mail address which will be used for all communication with the journal.
   NOTE: Corresponding authors MUST notify the journal immediately if their e-mail address changes. If we cannot contact authors within seven days, their manuscript will be removed from our publication queue.

2. AUTHOR INFORMATION must include:
   • full name of all authors
   • complete mailing address for each author
   • degrees (DDS, DMD, PhD)
   • positions (professor, visiting professor, research scientist)
   • affiliation (Department of Dental Materials, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan)
3. MENTION OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS/EQUIPMENT must include:
   • full name of product
   • full name of manufacturer
   • city, state and/or country of manufacturer
4. MANUSCRIPTS AND TABLES must be provided as Microsoft Word files.
   Please limit size of tables to no more than one page.
5. GRAPHS must be provided as Microsoft Excel files. For numbering purposes, they are considered figures.
6. ILLUSTRATIONS AND FIGURES must be provided as TIFF (the use of LZW compression is recommended); JPEG files are not recommended unless saving as quality number 7 or higher.
   • gray scale/black & white figures must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
   • color figures must have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
   • DO NOT SEND POWER POINT FILES. They are not suitable for publication.

• FOR MANUSCRIPT TYPES

1. RESEARCH MANUSCRIPTS must include:
   • a running (short) title
   • a clinical relevance statement
   • a concise summary (abstract)
   • introduction, methods & materials, results, discussion and conclusion
   • references (see Below)
   • acknowledgement, disclaimer and/or recognition of support (if needed) on separate page
2. CLINICAL TECHNIQUE/CASE PRESENTATION MANUSCRIPTS must include:
   • a running (short) title
   • purpose
   • description of technique
   • list of materials used
   • potential problems
   • summary of advantages and disadvantages
   • references (see below)
3. LITERATURE REVIEW MANUSCRIPTS must include:
   • a running (short) title
   • a clinical relevance statement based on the conclusions of the review
   • conclusions based on the literature review…without this, the review is just an exercise
   • references (see below)

• FOR REFERENCES

REFERENCES must be numbered (superscripted numbers) consecutively as they appear in the text and, where applicable, they should appear after punctuation.

The reference list should be arranged in numeric sequence at the end of the manuscript and should include:

1.      Author(s) last name(s) and initial (ALL AUTHORS must be listed) followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

2.      Full article title.

3.      Full journal name in italics (no abbreviations), volume and issue numbers and first and last page numbers complete (i.e. 163-168 NOT attenuated 163-68).

4.      Abstracts should be avoided when possible but, if used, must include the above plus the abstract number and page number.

5.      Book chapters must include chapter title, book title in italics, editors names (if appropriate), name of publisher and publishing address.

6.      Websites may be used as references, but must include the date (day, month and year) accessed for the information.

7.      Papers in the course of publication should only be entered in the references if they have been accepted for publication by a journal and then given in the standard manner with “In press” following the journal name.

8.      DO NOT include unpublished data or personal communications in the reference list. Cite such references parenthetically in the text and include a date.

EXAMPLES OF REFERENCE STYLE

• Journal article: two authors
  Evans DB & Neme AM (1999) Shear bond strength of composite resin and amalgam adhesive systems to dentin American Journal of Dentistry 12(1) 19-25.
• Journal article: multiple authors
  Eick JD, Gwinnett AJ, Pashley DH & Robinson SJ (1997) Current concepts on adhesion to dentin Critical Review of Oral and Biological Medicine 8(3) 306-335.
• Journal article: special issue/supplement
  Van Meerbeek B, Vargas M, Inoue S, Yoshida Y, Peumans M, Lambrechts P & Vanherle G (2001) Adhesives and cements to promote preservation dentistry Operative Dentistry (Supplement 6) 119-144.
• Abstract:
  Yoshida Y, Van Meerbeek B, Okazaki M, Shintani H & Suzuki K (2003) Comparative study on adhesive performance of functional monomers Journal of Dental Research 82(Special Issue B) Abstract #0051 p B-19.
• Corporate publication:
  ISO-Standards (1997) ISO 4287 Geometrical Product Specifications Surface texture: Profile method – Terms, definitions and surface texture parameters Geneve: International Organization for Standardization 1st edition 1-25.
• Book: single author
  Mount GJ (1990) An Atlas of Glass-ionomer Cements Martin Duntz Ltd, London.
• Book: two authors
  Nakabayashi N & Pashley DH (1998) Hybridization of Dental Hard Tissues Quintessence Publishing, Tokyo.
• Book: chapter
  Hilton TJ (1996) Direct posterior composite restorations In: Schwarts RS, Summitt JB, Robbins JW (eds) Fundamentals of Operative Dentistry Quintessence, Chicago 207-228.
• Website: single author
  Carlson L (2003) Web site evolution; Retrieved online July 23, 2003 from: http://www.d.umn.edu/~lcarlson/cms/evolution.html
• Website: corporate publication
  National Association of Social Workers (2000) NASW Practice research survey 2000. NASW Practice Research Network, 1. 3. Retrieved online September 8, 2003 from: http://www.socialworkers.org/naswprn/default

FTP upload site