Information for Authors

Electronic manuscript submission and review

The American Journal of Orthodontics and DentofacialOrthopedics uses the Elsevier Editorial System (EES), anonline manuscript submission and review system.
To submit or review an article, please go to the AJO-DO EES website: ees.elsevier.com/ajodo .

Send other correspondence to:

Dr. Vincent G. Kokich, DDS, MSD, Editor-in-Chief
American Journal of Orthodontics and DentofacialOrthopedics
University of Washington
Department of Orthodontics, D-569
HSC Box 357446
Seattle, WA 98195-7446
Telephone (206) 221-5413
E-mail: vgkokich@u.washington.edu

General Information

The American Journal of Orthodontics and DentofacialOrthopedics publishes original research, reviews,case reports, clinical material, and other material relatedto orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics.

Submitted manuscripts must be original, written inEnglish, and not published or under considerationelsewhere. Manuscripts will be reviewed by the editorand consultants and are subject to editorial revision.Authors should follow the guidelines below.

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles andcommunications herein are those of the author(s) and notnecessarily those of the editor(s) or publisher, and the editor(s) and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liabilityfor such material. Neither the editor(s) nor the publisherguarantees, warrants, or endorses any product or serviceadvertised in this publication; neither do they guaranteeany claimmade by themanufacturer of any product or service.Each reader must determine whether to act on the informationinthis publication, and neither the Journal nor itssponsoring organizations shall be liable for any injury dueto the publication of erroneous information.

Guidelines for Original Articles

Submit Original Articles via EES: ees.elsevier.com/ajodo .

Before you begin, please review the guidelines below. To view a 7-minute video explaining how to prepare your article for submission, go to Video on Manuscript Preparation.

1. Title Page. Put all information pertaining to theauthors in a separate document. Include the title ofthe article, full name(s) of the author(s), academicdegrees, and institutional affiliations and positions;identify the corresponding author and include anaddress, telephone and fax numbers, and an e-mailaddress. This information will not be available to thereviewers.

2. Abstract. Structured abstracts of 200 words or lessare preferred. A structured abstract contains thefollowing sections: Introduction, describing theproblem; Methods, describing how the study wasperformed; Results, describing the primary results;and Conclusions, reporting what the authors concludefrom the findings and any clinical implications.

3. Manuscript. The manuscript proper should be organizedin the following sections: Introduction andliterature review, Material and Methods, Results,Discussion, Conclusions, References, and figurecaptions. Express measurements in metricunits, whenever practical. Refer to teeth by theirfull name or their FDI tooth number. For style questions, referto the AMA Manual of Style, 9th edition. Citereferences selectively, and number them in the ordercited. Make sure that all references have beenmentioned in the text. Follow the format for referencesin "Uniform Requirements for ManuscriptsSubmitted to Biomedical Journals" (Ann Intern Med1997;126:36-47); http://www.icmje.org . Include thelist of references with the manuscript proper. Submitfigures and tables separately (see below); do notembed figures in the word processing document.

4. Figures. Digital images should be in TIF or EPSformat, CMYK or grayscale, at least 5 inches wideand at least 300 pixels per inch (118 pixels per cm).Do not embed images in a word processing program.If published, images could be reduced to 1 columnwidth (about 3 inches), so authors should ensure thatfigures will remain legible at that scale. For bestresults, avoid screening, shading, and colored backgrounds;use the simplest patterns available to indicatedifferences in charts. If a figure has beenpreviously published, the legend (included in themanuscript proper) must give full credit to theoriginal source, and written permisson from theoriginal publisher must be included. Be sure youhave mentioned each figure, in order, in the text.

5. Tables. Tables should be self-explanatory andshould supplement, not duplicate, the text. Numberthem with Roman numerals, in the order they arementioned in the text. Provide a brief title for each.If a table has been previously published, include afootnote in the table giving full credit to the originalsource and include written permission for its use from the copyright holder. Submit tables as text-based files (Word or Excel, for example) and not as graphic elements.

6. Model release and permission forms. Photographs ofidentifiable persons must be accompanied by arelease signed by the person or both living parents orthe guardian of minors. Illustrations or tables thathave appeared in copyrighted material must beaccompanied by written permission for their usefrom the copyright owner and original author, andthe legend must properly credit the source. Permissionalso must be obtained to use modified tables orfigures.

7. Copyright release. In accordance with the CopyrightAct of 1976, which became effective February 1,1978, all manuscripts must be accompanied by thefollowing written statement, signed by all authors:
"The undersigned author(s) transfers all copyrightownership of the manuscript [insert title of articlehere] to the American Association of Orthodontistsin the event the work is published. The undersignedauthor(s) warrants that the article is original, doesnot infringe upon any copyright or other proprietaryright of any third party, is not under considerationby another journal, has not been previously published,and includes any product that may derivefrom the published journal, whether print or electronicmedia. I (we) sign for and accept responsibilityfor releasing this material." Scan the printed copyright release and submit it via EES.

8. Use the International College of Medical Journal Editors Form for the Disclosure of Conflict of Interest (ICMJE Conflict of Interest Form). If the manuscript is accepted, the disclosed information will be published with the article. The usual and customary listing of sources of support and institutional affiliations on the title page is proper and does not imply a conflict of interest. Guest editorials, Letters, and Review articles may be rejected if a conflict of interest exists.

9. Institutional Review Board approval. For those articlesthat report on the results of experiments oftreatments where patients or animals have beenused as the sample, Institutional Review Board(IRB) approval is mandatory. No experimental studieswill be sent out for review without an IRB approvalaccompanying the manuscript submission.

10. Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses must be accompanied by the current PRISMA checklist and flow diagram (go to Video on CONSORT and PRISMA). For complete instructions, see our Guidelines for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.

11. Randomized Clinical Trials must be accompanied by the current CONSORT statement, checklist, and flow diagram (go to Video on CONSORT and PRISMA). For complete instructions, see our Guidelines for Randomized Clinical Trials.

Follow the guidelines above, with the followingexceptions, and submit via EES.

Case Reports will be evaluated for completenessand quality of records, quality of treatment, uniquenessof the case, and quality of the manuscript. A high qualitymanuscript must include the following sections: introduction;diagnosis; etiology; treatment objectives, treatmentalternatives, treatment progress, and treatment results;and discussion. The submitted figures must include extraoraland intraoral photographs and dental casts, panoramicradiographs, cephalometric radiographs, andtracings from both pretreatment and posttreatment, andprogress or retention figures as appropriate. CompleteCase Report Guidelines can be downloaded from Case ReportGuidelines

Techno Bytes items report on emerging technologicaldevelopments and products for use by orthodontists.

Miscellaneous Submissions

Letters to the Editor and their responses appear in the Readers' Forum section and are encouraged to stimulate healthy discourse between authors and our readers. Letters to the Editor must refer to an article that was published within the previous six (6) months and must be less than 500 words including references. Send letters or questions directly to the editor, via e-mail: vgkokich@u.washington.edu. Submit a signed copyright release with the letter.

Brief, substantiated commentary on subjects of interest to the orthodontic profession is published occasionally as a Special Article. Submit Guest Editorials and Special Articles via the Web site.

Books and monographs (domestic and foreign) willbe reviewed, depending upon their interest and value to subscribers.Send books to the Editor in Chief, Dr. Vincent G.Kokich, Department of Orthodontics, University of WashingtonD-569, HSC Box 357446, Seattle,WA98195-7446.They will not be returned.

Checklist for authors

____Title page, including full name, academic degrees,and institutional affiliation and position of eachauthor, and author to whom correspondenceand reprint requests are to be sent, including address,business and home phone numbers, faxnumbers, and e-mail address
____Abstract
____Article proper, including references and figurelegends
____Figures, in TIF or EPS format
____Tables
____Copyright release statement, signed by all authors
____Photographic consent statement(s)
____ICMJE Conflict of interest statement
____Permissions to reproduce previously publishedmaterial

Updated January 2012