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Section Scope Statements

The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Section aims to publish an extensive range of original articles that advances patient care through enhanced understanding of diagnosis, surgical and adjunctive treatment of diseases, and injuries and defects involving both the functional and esthetic aspects of the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial regions. The section also seeks research regarding both the basic science of and management of persons with oral and maxillofacial conditions. Articles presenting ethical, original, well-documented, and reproducible research are given preference.

The Oral Medicine Section aims to publish a broad range of original articles that help clinicians understand more thoroughly the pathobiology, etiology, diagnosis, prevention, and management of oral conditions related to underlying medical conditions, including diseases of the head, neck, and oral mucosal structures, orofacial pain conditions, salivary gland disorders, and taste disorders. The section also seeks research regarding the dental management of persons with medical problems and/or complicated medical conditions. The published findings must contribute substantively to the body of oral medicine literature and should lead to improved clinical decision-making and enhanced care of medically-related disorders or conditions affecting the oral and maxillofacial region. Articles presenting original, well-documented, and reproducible research are preferred.

The Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Section encourages the submission of original articles of high scientific quality that investigate the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management of diseases affecting the oral and maxillofacial region. Submitted manuscripts may summarize findings from clinical, translational, or basic research in the broad field of oral and maxillofacial pathology but must contribute substantively to the body of knowledge in this field and should be of obvious clinical and/or diagnostic significance to the practicing oral and maxillofacial pathologist. Areas of focus may include the investigation of disease pathogenesis, the diagnosis of disease using microscopic, clinical, radiographic, biochemical, molecular, or other methods as well as the natural history and management of patients with various conditions of the head, neck, and oral mucosal structures. Diagnostic accuracy studies should conform to the principles of the STARD document http://www.stard-statement.org. Articles presenting novel and reproducible research that introduce new knowledge and observations are especially encouraged. This section also welcomes the submission of topical review papers on relevant subjects.


The Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Section publishes original contributions to the advancement of oral and maxillofacial radiology and related imaging sciences. The section considers original clinical and experimental research papers, reports of technological developments, extensive systematic reviews of the literature, and invited papers on subjects that will appeal to researchers and clinicians involved in diagnostic imaging of hard and soft tissues of the head and neck. Topics of interest include the efficacy of imaging systems using ionizing and non-ionizing radiation in the diagnosis of head and neck disease; molecular imaging; artificial intelligence and computer-assisted diagnosis; craniofacial analysis; image-guided surgical navigation; image processing; radiation physics and dosimetry; and radiation biology, safety, and protection. The section also seeks extensive case series representing various expressions of particular conditions, descriptions of innovative imaging technique applications to these series, and description of novel imaging features. Published manuscripts should assist clinicians in developing evidence-based practice and provide improved clinical decision-making regarding the performance of specific techniques and interpretation of resulting images. Diagnostic accuracy studies should conform to the principles of the STARD document http://www.stard-statement.org).

Types of Papers

1. Original Research Article. Reports of original research (preclinical, clinical, or translational) that are well-documented, novel, and significant. Original research manuscripts will be organized into six parts: (1) Abstract; (2) Introduction; (3) Materials and Methods; (4) Results; (5) Discussion; (6) References.

2. Review article. Manuscripts that review the current status of a given topic, diagnosis, or treatment. These manuscripts should not be an exhaustive review of the literature but rather should be a review of contemporary thought with respect to the topic. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses manuscripts should follow PRISMA (http://www.prisma-statement.org) and the Institute of Medicines' guidelines (http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Finding-What-Works-in-Health-Care-Standards-for-Systematic-Reviews/Standards.aspx).

3. Clinicopathologic Conference (CPC). Manuscripts that document interesting, challenging, or unusual cases that present unexpected or interesting diagnostic challenges. The presentation should simulate clinical work-up, including the formulation of a detailed and well thought out differential diagnosis. The complete diagnostic evaluation, management, and follow-up must be included. CPC articles must be organized into six parts: (1) Title: Provide a descriptive clinical title that does not reveal the final diagnosis. (2) Clinical presentation: Describe the clinical and imaging characteristics of the lesion. Use clinical photographs and radiographs as appropriate. (3) Differential diagnosis: List and discuss lesions to be considered as reasonable diagnostic possibilities. The authors are reminded that the most important part of the CPC manuscript is the clinical differential diagnosis, where the authors guide the readership through their own diagnostic thought process. This will require the formulation of a list of the most probable diagnostic possibilities (ideally at least 5-6 entities) based on the clinical presentation, medical history, and/or radiographic studies. (4) Diagnosis: Histopathologic findings illustrated with appropriate photomicrographs. (5) Management: Describe the treatment of the patient and response to treatment. (6) Discussion: Concentrate on the most interesting aspect(s) of the case. No abstract is needed for CPC manuscripts. Limit the number of references to no more than 25.


4. Case Reports. These types of publications often add little to the scientific knowledge base. However, excellent case reports may be published as online only papers if they meet certain criteria, such as: (1) rare or unusual lesions/conditions that need documentation, (2) well-documented cases showing unusual or "atypical" clinical or microscopic features or behavior, or (3) cases showing good long-term follow-up information, particularly in areas in which good statistics on results of treatment are needed. A case report should either present unique features of the condition or lesion, novel treatment regimens, or provide the basis for a new plausible medical theory about the pathogenesis of a particular disease or condition so clinicians can provide better care regarding patients with chronic and painful conditions relevant to medical disorders and/or medical therapy. Providing Virtual Microscope image/s is highly encouraged for Case Reports (see also below).

Enhancements such as Virtual Microscope images, DICOM files, and video clips are not mandatory for initial submission but are encouraged for all article types; if editors request a revision, they may specifically request submission of these types of files with the revised manuscript.


General inquiries and communications regarding editorial management should be addressed to Alice M. Landwehr, Managing Editor: [email protected].
General correspondence to the Editor-in-Chief, Mark W. Lingen, DDS, PhD: [email protected]
Issue Manager, Elizabeth Rajesh; e-mail: [email protected].

Before you begin

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Informed consent and patient details

Studies on patients or volunteers (including organ/tissue donors) require informed consent, which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author, but copies should not be provided to the journal.

Only if specifically requested by the journal in exceptional circumstances (for example if a legal issue arises) the author must provide copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals.

Unless the author has written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Declaration of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single anonymized). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.


If there is any overlap between the submission and any other material, published or submitted, detail the nature of and reason for the overlap for the editors' assessment. Although poster presentations and abstracts are not considered duplicate publication, they should be stated on the title page. Further information about Elsevier's standards for publication ethics is available at https://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.

Preprints
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Author contributions

For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review & editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. More details and an example.

Authorship
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following:
  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • 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.
All authors must have seen and approved the submission of the manuscript and be willing to take responsibility for the entire manuscript. All persons listed as authors must meet the criteria for authorship according to the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication" available at https://www.icmje.org. All four of these conditions must be met by each author. No additional authors can be added after submission unless editors receive agreement from all authors and detailed information is supplied as to why the author list should be amended. Persons who contribute to the effort in supporting roles should not be included as authors; they should be acknowledged at the end of the paper (see Acknowledgments below).

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Registration of clinical trials
Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. A clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, dietary interventions, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration.

Clinical trial results

In line with the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the journal will not consider results posted in the same clinical trials registry in which primary registration resides to be prior publication if the results posted are presented in the form of a brief structured (less than 500 words) abstract or table. However, divulging results in other circumstances (e.g., investors' meetings) is discouraged and may jeopardise consideration of the manuscript. Authors should fully disclose all posting in registries of results of the same or closely related work.

Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.

For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (more information). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

Language (usage and editing services)
Please write your text in standard, grammatical English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop ( https://webshop.elsevier.com/language-editing/) or visit our customer support site ( https://service.elsevier.com) for more information. Such assistance does not guarantee acceptance but may enhance the review, improve the chance of acceptance, and reduce the time until publication if the article is accepted.

Submission
Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.If the manuscript is accepted, the Editors reserve the right to determine whether it will be published in the print edition or solely in the Internet edition of the Journal.

Submit your article
Please submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/tripleO/default.aspx.

Preparation

Use of word processing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

LaTeX
You are recommended to use the Elsevier article class elsarticle.cls to prepare your manuscript and BibTeX to generate your bibliography.
Our LaTeX site has detailed submission instructions, templates and other information.

Article structure

Essential Title Page Information

The title page of the manuscript should include the title of the article, the full name of the author(s), academic degrees, positions, and institutional affiliations. The corresponding author's address, business and home telephone numbers, fax number, and e-mail address should be given. Disclosures must appear on the title page (see Disclosures).

Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names, academic degrees, positions, and institutional affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that phone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Disclosures must appear on the title page (see “Conflict of Interest” above).

Include on the title page a word count for the abstract (if relevant to article type), a complete manuscript word count (to include body text and figure legends), number of references, number of figures/tables, and number of supplementary elements, if any (eg, Virtual Microscope image/s, video clip files, DICOM files, extensive tables, figures, description of methodology).

Include on the title page any disclosures including funding, disclaimer statements, presentation/s of the research at conferences/symposia, posting of the work on a preprint server, website, or other location.

Statement of Clinical Relevance

For Original research and Review manuscripts, please provide a brief statement of no more than 40 words that succinctly summarizes the clinical relevance of the findings described in your manuscript.
For example:

"The risk of postoperative bleeding complications in patients in whom anticoagulation is continued for dental surgery is exceedingly small and is outweighed by the small risk of serious and sometimes fatal embolic events when anticoagulation is interrupted for dental surgery." (Wahl et al. 119(2) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oooo.2014.10.011)

Abstract

A structured abstract, limited to 200 words, must be used for data-based research articles. The structured abstract is to contain the following major headings: Objective(s); Study Design; Results; and Conclusion(s). The Objective(s) reflects the purpose of the study, that is, the hypothesis that is being tested. The Study Design should include the setting for the study, the subjects (number and type), the treatment or intervention, and the type of statistical analysis. The Results include the outcome of the study and statistical significance if appropriate. The Conclusion(s) states the significance of the results. For nondata-based submissions, the abstract should be an unstructured summary of less than 150 words. No abstract is needed for submissions to the CPC section.

Subdivision - unnumbered sections

Divide your article into the following clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'.

Introduction

State the problem being investigated, summarize the existing knowledge to place the problem in context, and describe the hypothesis and general experimental design. Avoid a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Materials and Methods

As relevant, the Materials and Methods section should describe in adequate detail the experimental subjects, their important characteristics, and the methods, apparatus, and procedures used so that other researchers can reproduce the experiment. When the manuscript submitted reports on research in which humans are involved as experimental subjects directly or indirectly, the Materials and Methods section must indicate that the protocol was reviewed by the appropriate institutional review board (IRB), is in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, and that each subject in the project signed a detailed informed consent form. Authors should verify compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) before submission. Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference; only relevant modifications should be described.

Animals. Please indicate that protocols were reviewed by the appropriate institutional committee with respect to the humane care and treatment of animals used in the study.

Results

Results should be clear and concise and presented in a logical sequence. Tables and illustrations may be helpful in clarifying the findings and can reduce the length of the manuscript.

Discussion

The Discussion states the significance of the results and limitations of the study. Authors should discuss their findings in the framework of previously published research. They should explain why their results support or contradict existing knowledge. If appropriate, the authors may suggest further research to follow up on their findings.

Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.

Dental Nomenclature. Because of competing dental nomenclature systems, confusion can be eliminated by identifying teeth by their name, rather than a number or letter. Be consistent throughout the manuscript.

In tables, use the Universal Numbering System to identify the teeth. For example, the maxillary right permanent lateral incisor is designated tooth 7. The mandibular right deciduous second molar is designated tooth T. Identify the numbers/letters in the footnote to the table like any other abbreviations.

Math formulae

Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Acknowledgments

The names of persons who have contributed substantially to a manuscript but who do not fulfill the criteria for authorship, along with their conflicts of interest, funding sources, and industry relations, if relevant, are to be listed in the Acknowledgment section. This section should include individuals who provided any writing, editorial, statistical assistance, etc. Collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. Do not include statements of the authors' funding, conflicts, or other disclosures in the Acknowledgments; these must appear on the title page.

References

Citation in text
References should be complete and reflect the current state of knowledge on the topic. Make sure all references have been verified and are cited consecutively in the text (not including tables) by superscript numbers. The reference list should be typed double-spaced on a separate page of the manuscript file and numbered in the same order as the reference citations appear in the text.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not to be cited in the reference list but are to be cited in parentheses at the appropriate place in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication, and publication information must be updated if the manuscript is accepted.

Reference links
Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, Crossref and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Reference style
If accepted, the reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Make sure the information in each reference is complete and correct. To see the format used by the journal, refer to a recent issue.

Journal abbreviation source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/services/online-services/access-to-the-ltwa/.

Artwork

Electronic artwork

Illustrations should be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order of appearance in the text and accompanied by suitable legends (see Figure Captions).

A reasonable number of halftone illustrations or line drawings will be reproduced at no cost to the author. At the editors' discretion, color illustrations may be published in grayscale with the color image available in the online edition of the Journal; elaborate tables and extra illustrations, if accepted, may also appear as supplementary material in the online edition only. Typewritten or freehand lettering on illustrations is not acceptable. All lettering must be done professionally, and letters should be in proportion to the drawings or photographs on which they appear.

Figures must be submitted in electronic figure file format. For best reproduction, images should be submitted in .tif format. Figures in .jpg format may be acceptable if they meet minimum resolution guidelines. Images embedded in programs such as PowerPoint or Word will not be accepted. Photographic images must be submitted at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) with the following dimensions: Full page 5" wide (1,500 pixels wide) or half page 3" wide (900 pixels wide). Screen capture resolutions (typically 72 ppi) will not provide adequate reproduction quality. Line-art images (charts, graphs) must be submitted at 1200 ppi with the following dimensions: Full page 5" wide (6000 pixels wide) or half page 3" wide (3600 pixels wide).

Avoid background gridlines and other formatting that do not convey information (e.g., superfluous use of 3-dimensional formatting, background shadings). All images should be cropped to show only the area of interest and the anatomy necessary to establish a regional frame of reference. Although multipart figures are not preferred, if they are used, label multipart figures with capital letters (e.g., A, B, C, etc); do not exceed nine parts to one figure. If images are to be combined in one figure, they should be the same height and magnification to facilitate reproduction.

For advice on image enhancement and annotation refer to Corl FM, et al. A five-step approach to digital image manipulation for the radiologist. RadioGraphics 2002;22:981-992.
For further information, please see https://www.elsevier.com/artwork.

See also Permissions.

Color artwork
If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) in addition to color reproduction in print. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise by converting color figures to 'gray scale' (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print), please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.

Figure captions

Each illustration must be accompanied by a legend. These should be typed double-spaced on a separate page. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used. If an illustration has been taken from published or copyrighted material, the legend must give full credit to the original source and accompanied by signed, written permission from the copyright holder (see Permissions below).

Artwork: General points

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations to appear as a separate page in the manuscript file.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the printed version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 ppi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1200 ppi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Tables

Number tables consecutively using Roman numerals in accordance with their appearance in the text.
Each table should be submitted as a separate file. Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate, the text. All table reference citations should be repeats of numbers assigned within the text, not initial citations. A concise title should be supplied for each table. All columns should carry concise headings describing the data therein. Type all footnotes immediately below the table and define abbreviations (see also Dental Nomenclature above). If a table or any data therein have been previously published, a footnote to the table must give full credit to the original source and accompanied by signed, written permission from the copyright holder (see Permissions below).

Supplementary Data

To save print pages and/or shorten an article to a readable length while allowing for detailed information to be available to interested readers, authors are encouraged to provide information that is essential for the discussion of the results of the submission in the submission itself and utilize supporting information to describe experimental details and nonessential but useful information as Supplementary Material. If the manuscript is accepted for print publication, a reference to the online material will appear in the print version.

Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Upload material, figures, and tables for online publication under the submission item "Supplementary Material" through the Editorial Manager system. Be sure to change the description of the Supplementary Material to reflect the content; for example, Supplementary Detailed Methodology, Supplementary Figure Sx, Supplementary Table Sx.

Please order material such as Figures and Supplemental Figures separately in order of the callouts/first mentions in the text. For example: Figure 1, Figure 2; Supplemental Figure S1, Supplemental Figure S2, etc.

In the text be sure that you add behind the reference to the supplemental material "(Supplemental Table Sx; available at [URL/link*])." *To be provided by the production department.

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Reference Style
Text: Indicate references by superscript number(s) in the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
Example: '..... as demonstrated.3,6 Barnaby and Jones8 obtained a different result ....'
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2010) 51–59.
Reference to a book:
2. W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
3. G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 281–304.
[dataset] 5. Oguro, M, Imahiro, S, Saito, S, Nakashizuka, T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

Data visualization

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Data visualization
Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Virtual Microscope images
The Virtual Microscope is an exciting feature that enables authors to add detailed slide images to their submissions and enables users to view the slides at their highest resolution. For more information about this feature, please see https://www.elsevier.com/authors/author-services/data-visualization/virtual-microscope

The slide images would be uploaded into a separate system; after the images are uploaded into the separate Virtual Microscope system, they will get a number, which you will then provide at the end of the related figure legends in the manuscript file: "A high resolution version of this slide is available as eSlide: VM00xxx." Replace the xxx with the assigned number.

In case you don't have a slide scanner available, we can arrange for the slides to be scanned and uploaded for you at no cost at the University of Chicago; when you contact [email protected], let them know if you are interested in that option.

Imaging Data DICOM Viewer

If your paper contains images generated from DICOM data, you may receive an invitation from the Section editor(s) after submission inviting you to complement your online article by providing volumetric radiological data of a case, a specific example, or multiple datasets in DICOM format. Readers will be able to interact, adjust, display, and view the DICOM data using an interactive viewer embedded within your article. Specifically, the viewer will enable users to explore the DICOM data as 2D orthogonal MPR series, 3D volume rendering and 3D MIP. Specific enhancements include zoom, rotate and pan 3D reconstructions, section through the volume, and change opacity and threshold level. Each DICOM dataset will have to be zipped in a folder and uploaded to the online submission system via the "DICOM dataset" submission category. The recommended size of a single uncompressed dataset is 200 MB or less. Please provide a short informative description for each dataset by filling in the 'Description' field when uploading each ZIP file. Note: All datasets will be available for download from the online article on ScienceDirect, so please ensure that all DICOM files are anonymized before submission. For more information see: https://www.elsevier.com/about/content-innovation/radiological-data

Video
OOOO encourages submission of content-rich video files that enhance clinical relevance/significance. For example, we prefer video clips with content in terms of demonstration of the technique or procedure discussed in the work and/or more details about the methodology.

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect.

Please supply a legend and a 'still' with each video file: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Permissions

Upload written permissions from the copyright holder to republish previously published material. Authors are responsible for obtaining and uploading any needed permissions and for clearly and completely identifying any overlapping material and/or quoted or paraphrased passages with proper attribution in the text to avoid plagiarism (including self-plagiarism). The Permissions FAQ for Authors is available at https://www.elsevier.com/authors/permission-seeking-guidelines-for-elsevier-authors. For assistance, please contact Elsevier's Permissions Helpdesk: +1-800-523-4069 x 3808; +1-215-239-3805; [email protected]
Written, signed permission(s) from the patient or legal guardian is/are required for publication of recognizable photographs. Clearly state in your cover letter that patient consent has been obtained and has been uploaded under "Permission/s." If it is impossible to obtain a consent form, the image(s) must be removed or sufficiently cropped to the area of interest only or otherwise changed so the patient cannot be recognized. However, blurring or placing bars over the eyes is no longer acceptable to eliminate the need for a signed consent form. The restrictions for photos have become very strict.
For more information, refer to https://www.elsevier.com/about/company-information/policies/patient-consent.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should be a succinct comment pertaining to a paper(s) published in the Journal within the past year or to related topics. Provide a unique title for the Letter on the title page with complete contact information for the author(s). Double-space the text of the Letter. References, including reference to the pertinent article(s) in the Journal, should conform to style for manuscripts (see References). If accepted, the author(s) of the pertinent article(s) may be contacted to prepare a response to the comment.

Announcements

Announcements must be received by the Editorial Office at least 10 weeks before the desired month of publication. Items published at no charge include those received from a sponsoring society of the Journal; courses and conferences sponsored by state, regional, or national dental organizations; and programs for the dental profession sponsored by government agencies. All other announcements selected for publication by the Editor carry a charge of $60 US, and the fee must accompany the request to publish.

Research data

This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings, which may also include software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Research Elements

This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal.

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles. Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.

During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.

More information can be found on the Research Elements page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Submission Checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
__ Letter of submission, to include disclosure of any previous publications or submissions with any overlapping information
__ Statement of clinical relevance (uploaded separately)
__ Title page
__ Title of article
__ Full names(s), academic degree(s), affiliation(s) and titles of author(s)
__ Author to whom correspondence, proof, and reprint requests are to be sent, including address and business and home telephone numbers, fax number, and e-mail address
__ Any conflict of interest statement(s), disclosure(s), and/or financial support information, including donations
__ Word count for the abstract (if relevant to article type), a complete manuscript word count (to include body text and figure legends), number of references, and number of figures/tables
__ Structured abstract (double-spaced as part of manuscript file), as relevant to article type
__ Article proper (double-spaced)
__ Statement of IRB review and compliance with Helsinki Declaration (stated in Methods section of manuscript, as relevant)
__ References (double-spaced on a separate page of the manuscript file)
__ Figure legends (double-spaced, on a separate page of the manuscript file)
__ Tables (double-spaced, uploaded separately as word processing [eg, .doc] files)
__ Illustrations, properly formatted (uploaded as separate files)
__ Video/computer graphics, properly formatted (uploaded as separate files)
__ Signed permission to reproduce any previously published material, in all forms and media (scanned in as a file and uploaded as Permission)
__ Signed permission to publish photographs of identifiable persons from the individual or legal guardian specifying permission in all forms and media (scanned in as a file and uploaded as Permission)
For any further information please visit our customer support site at https://service.elsevier.com.

After acceptance

Proofs
Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors. If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Author inquiries



Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.