Guide for Authors

Welcome to the website for International Journal of Oral Science. The instructions below are structured so you can quickly and easily answer the following questions:

1. Is my manuscript suitable for International Journal of Oral Science? (Scope + Editorial Policy)
2. How do I format my manuscript for International Journal of Oral Science? (Format of Papers)
3. How do I submit my manuscript to International Journal of Oral Science? (Submission of Papers)

Scope

International Journal of Oral Science seeks to publish the best research from all aspects of oral science and related interdisciplinary fields, including basic, applied and clinical research. The journal publishes fully peer-reviewed Original Articles, Reviews, Letters to the Editor, Clinical Studies and Case Reports. In addition, Research Summaries are provided for most articles.

Topics of particular interest within the journal's scope include, but are not limited to, those listed below:

• Oral microbiology
• Oral and maxillofacial oncology
• Cariology
• Oral inflammation and infection
• Dental stem cells and regenerative medicine
• Craniofacial surgery
• Dental material
• Oral biomechanics
• Dental implants
• Oral, dental and maxillofacial genetic and developmental diseases

Editorial policy

Submission to the International Journal of Oral Science implies that all authors have seen and approved the full manuscript. Corresponding authors of accepted papers will be required to sign a License to Publish form on behalf of all authors (see below).

The International Journal of Oral Science levies an article-processing charge for all submissions that are accepted for publication. Upon acceptance, it is mandatory that authors fill out and send back the payment form along with their license to publish form. Upon publication, the article is universally and freely accessible to all via the Internet, in an easily readable format. Further details are outlined below in the Open Access and Charges section.

To avoid unnecessary delays in the review process, please consider the following policies carefully before submitting your manuscript.

Authorship

Requirements for all categories of articles largely conform to the ¡°Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,¡± developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). A manuscript will be considered for publication with the understanding that:

1. all named authors have agreed to its submission
2. it is not currently being considered for publication by another journal
3. if the paper is accepted, it will not subsequently be published in the same or similar form in any language without the consent of publisher

Each author must have contributed sufficiently to the intellectual content of the submission. The corresponding author should list all authors and their contributions to the work. Any changes to the author list after submission, such as a change in the order of the authors, or the deletion or addition of authors, must be approved by a signed letter from every author. The corresponding author must confirm that he or she has had full access to the data in the study and final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. To qualify as a contributing author, one must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Conceived and/or designed the work that led to the submission, acquired data, and/or played an important role in interpreting the results
2. Drafted or revised the manuscript
3. Approved the final version

Contributions by individuals who made direct contributions to the work but do not meet all of the above criteria should be noted in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

Medical writers and industry employees can be contributors. Their roles, affiliations, and potential conflicts of interest should be included in the author list or noted in the Acknowledgments and/or Contributors section concurrent with their contribution to the work submitted. Signed statements from any medical writers or editors declaring that they have given permission to be named as an author, as a contributor, or in the Acknowledgments section is also required. Failure to acknowledge these contributors can be considered inappropriate, which conflicts with the editorial policy of the International Journal of Oral Science.

Plagiarism and fabrication

Plagiarism is when an author attempts to pass off someone else's work as his or her own. Duplicate publication, sometimes called self-plagiarism, occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. Plagiarism without dishonest intent is relatively frequent, for example, when an author reuses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper.

Because of some confusion as to the appropriate use of other authors' writing, we offer the following guideline in addition to the normal principles regarding plagiarism: if more than 5 consecutive words are taken verbatim from the text of another publication (including the authors¡¯ own work), this fact should be indicated by the use of inverted commas, as well as citation of the original source. It is not appropriate to make trivial changes to the wording instead. This rule can be relaxed slightly for descriptions of methodology from the authors¡¯ own papers, or for common phrases. If plagiarism is found, the journal will contact the author and, in some cases, the author's institute and funding agencies. The paper containing the plagiarism will be marked on each page of the PDF, and depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may be formally retracted.

CrossCheck is a multi-publisher initiative to screen published and submitted content for originality. International Journal of Oral Science uses CrossCheck to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. To find out more about CrossCheck visit www.crossref.org/crosscheck.html.

Duplicate publication

Material submitted to the journal must be original and not published or submitted for publication elsewhere in any language. This policy applies to material submitted elsewhere while the contribution to International Journal of Oral Science is under consideration.

Authors submitting a manuscript should notify the editor(s) if part of their contribution has appeared or will appear elsewhere, or if any related material is under consideration or in press elsewhere.

If a submission contains a figure that is published elsewhere or that is copyrighted, the author must provide documentation that the previous publisher or copyright holder has given permission for the figure to be re-published. The editors consider all material in good faith, and assume that the journal has full permission to publish every part of the submitted material, including illustrations.

Conflicts of interest

In the interests of transparency and to help readers form their own judgments of potential bias authors must declare any competing financial interests in relation to the work described. This information must be included in their cover letter and in the conflict of interest section of their manuscript. In cases where the authors declare a competing financial interest, a statement to that effect is published as part of the article. If no such conflict exists, the statement will simply read that the authors have nothing to disclose.

For the purposes of this statement, competing interests are defined as those of a financial nature that, through their potential influence on behaviour or content, or from perception of such potential influences, could undermine the objectivity, integrity or perceived value of a publication. They can include any of the following:

• Funding: Research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through this publication. The role of the funding body in the design of the study, collection and analysis of data and decision to publish should be stated.
• Employment: Recent (while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially through this publication.
• Personal financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies that may gain or lose financially through publication; consultation fees or other forms of remuneration from organizations that may gain or lose financially; patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication.

It is difficult to specify a threshold at which a financial interest becomes significant, but note that many US universities require faculty members to disclose interests exceeding $10,000 or 5% equity in a company. Any such figure is arbitrary, so we offer as one possible practical alternative guideline: "Declare all interests that could embarrass you were they to become publicly known after your work was published." We do not consider diversified mutual funds or investment trusts to constitute a competing financial interest.

The statement must contain an explicit and unambiguous statement describing any potential conflict of interest, or lack thereof, for any of the authors as it relates to the subject of the report. Examples include ¡°Dr. Smith receives compensation as a consultant for XYZ Company,¡± ¡°Dr. Jones and Dr. Smith have financial holdings in ABC Company,¡± or ¡°Dr. Jones owns a patent on the diagnostic device described in this report.¡± These statements acknowledging or denying conflicts of interest must be included in the manuscript under the heading Conflict of Interest. The Conflict of Interest disclosure appears in the cover letter, in the manuscript submission process and before the References section in the manuscript.

Following the Conflict of Interest heading, there must be a listing for each author, detailing the professional services relevant to the submission. Neither the precise amount received from each entity nor the aggregate income from these sources needs to be provided. Professional services include any activities for which the individual is, has been, or will be compensated with cash, royalties, fees, stock or stock options in exchange for work performed, advice or counsel provided, or for other services related to the author¡¯s professional knowledge and skills. This would include, but not necessarily be limited to, the identification of organizations from which the author received contracts or in which he or she holds an equity stake if professional services were provided in conjunction with the transaction.

Examples of declarations are:

Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Conflict of interest
Dr Caron's work has been funded by the NIH. He has received compensation as a member of the scientific advisory board of Acadia Pharmaceutical and owns stock in the company. He also has consulted for Lundbeck and received compensation. Dr Rothman and Dr Jensen declare no conflict of interest.

Electronic manipulation of images

Digital image enhancement is acceptable practice, although it can result in the presentation of unrepresentative data as well as in the loss of meaningful signals. During manipulation of images a positive relationship between the original data and the resulting electronic image must be maintained. If a figure has been subjected to significant electronic manipulation, the specific nature of the enhancements must be noted in the figure legend or in the 'Materials and methods' section. The editors reserve the right to request original versions of figures from the authors of a paper under consideration.

Human and other animal experiments

For primary research manuscripts reporting experiments on live vertebrates and/or higher invertebrates, the corresponding author must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The manuscript must include a statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details regarding animal welfare, patient anonymity, drug side effects and informed consent.

For experiments involving human subjects, authors must identify the committee approving the experiments and include with their submission a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

Biosecurity policy

The Editor may also seek advice about submitted papers that raise concerns. These may include, for example, ethical issues or issues of data or materials access. Very occasionally, concerns may also relate to the implications of publishing a paper to the society, including threats to security. In such circumstances, advice will usually be sought simultaneously with the technical peer-review process. As in all publishing decisions, the decision whether to publish is at the discretion of the Editor.

Supplementary information for editors and reviewers

Any manuscripts under review or accepted for publication elsewhere should accompany the submission if they are relevant to its scientific assessment.

Authors should also provide upon submission any kind of supplementary material that will aid the review process.

Peer review policy

All contributions that are selected for peer review are sent to three or more independent reviewers. The identity of reviewers is confidential and manuscripts are considered private information. Papers may be rejected without external review at the Editor¡¯s discretion. Authors are encouraged to suggest or recommend for exclusion reviewers at the time of submissions.

Anonymity

Reviewers' identities are not released to authors, except when reviewers specifically ask to be identified. If reviewers wish to reveal their identities while the manuscript is under consideration, this should be done through the Editor. Should a reviewer contact an author directly, we ask authors to inform the Editor as soon as possible. We prohibit any attempt by authors to confront reviewers or determine their identities. Our own policy is to neither confirm nor deny any speculation about reviewers' identities, and we encourage reviewers to adopt a similar policy.

Selection of peer reviewers

Reviewer selection is critical to the publication process, and we base our choices on many factors, including expertise, reputation, and specific recommendations.

Correction and retraction policy

We recognize our responsibility to correct errors. Content published online is final and cannot be amended. The online version is part of the published record; therefore the original version must be preserved and changes to the paper should be made as a formal correction. If an error is noticed after online publication an HTML (or full-text) version of the correction will be created and linked to the original article. Please note the following policy for making corrections to online peer-reviewed content:

• Erratum. Notification of an important error made by the journal that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper or the reputation of the authors, or of the journal.
• Corrigendum Notification of an important error made by the author that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper or the reputation of the authors or the journal.
• Retraction. Notification of invalid results. All coauthors must sign a retraction specifying the error and stating briefly how the conclusions are affected.

Decisions about corrections are made by the Editor (sometimes with advice of peer reviewers) and this sometimes involves author consultation. Requests to make corrections that do not affect the paper in a significant way or impair the reader's understanding of the contribution (a spelling mistake or grammatical error, for example) are not considered. In cases where coauthors disagree about a correction, the Editor will take advice from independent peer reviewers and impose the appropriate correction, noting the dissenting author(s) in the text of the published version.

Format of papers

Article Types

Original Articles
Original Articles describe original research, and should be 3000-6000 words (excluding the abstract, tables, figure legends and references) and contain no more than 8 display items (such as figures or tables).

Reviews
Reviews cover a focused area on the advancing edge of oral science and provide a balanced view of current research that can be understood by researchers outside that specialty. They should be succinctly written.

Reviews do not require 'Materials and methods' or 'Results' sections but can be structured using short topical headings.

Authors interested in publishing a Review may submit a proposal, including an outline of the proposed article, by email to the Editorial Office ijos@scu.edu.cn. Reviews will be subject to the established review process.

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor present preliminary reports of unusual urgency, significance and interest, whose subjects may be republished in expanded form. They should contain no more than 900 words of text, one display item (figure or table) and a maximum of 10 references. Letters to the Editor do not contain an abstract, and apart from keywords there is no obligation to divide the text into sections. In all other respects, the directions for full papers should be followed.

Clinical Studies
In Clinical Studies authors should pose a clear question in the introduction and then answer it using definitive data as proof. The Materials and Methods section should be kept succinct, citing primary work. A Clinical Study should not exceed 3000 words (excluding the abstract, tables, figure legends and references), 4-6 tables or figures, and 20 references.

Case Reports
Case Reports are short reports of 900-2000 words (excluding the abstract, tables, figure legends and references), 2-4 tables or figures, and 20 references. The format of the report should be as follows:

• Abstract (no more than 100 words)
• Case report (to include short relevant history of patient, examination and investigations)
• Treatment (to include clear instructions of procedure and to include materials used, dosage and approved names of drugs)
• Differential diagnosis (to mention points of interest and a few alternatives of importance)
• Comment (to include report of progress, lesson to be learnt from case).

Research Summaries
Research Summaries are provided by NPG and are professionally written, 100-150 word pieces that deliver an easily understood synopsis of the work and will accompany many of the articles published in the journal.

Article Requirements

Cover letter
Each manuscript must be accompanied by a cover letter including statements that:

1. All authors agree with the submission;
2. The work has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere, either completely or in part, or in another form or language;
3. If material has been reproduced from another source, the authors have authorization from the copyright holder (usually the Publisher) to use it, and have included this authorization with their submission;
4. Conflict of Interest Statement

Organization of manuscript

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order (omitting sections inappropriate for specific article types e.g. ¡®Materials and methods¡¯ for Reviews). Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

(i) Title page

The title page should include a succinct title (less than 25 words); a concise running title (which should normally not exceed 50 characters); the full names of all authors including their given names; the affiliations (including city, state and country) of all authors; and the full contact details of the corresponding author (including telephone and fax numbers, and email address).

(ii) Abstract

A brief abstract (maximum 200-300 words) should state the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references and should not be structured.

(iii) Keywords

Three to eight key words, for the purposes of indexing, should be supplied below the abstract, in order of relevance.

(iv) Introduction

The Introduction should summarize the rationale for the study and outline pertinent background material. The Introduction should not contain either results or conclusions.

(v) Materials and Methods

Materials and Methods should be described in sufficient detail to allow the experimental work to be reproduced in another laboratory, and to leave the reader in no doubt as to how the results were derived.

(vi) Results

The Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures; repetitive presentation of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The Results should not include material appropriate to the Discussion.

(vii) Discussion

The Discussion should not reiterate Results, but rather should consider them in relation to any hypotheses advanced in the Introduction. This may include an evaluation of methodology and the relationship of new information to the existing body of knowledge in that field.

(viii) Acknowledgments

Authors should acknowledge the source of financial grants and other funding, and declare any industrial links or affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Personal thanks and thanks to anonymous reviewers should not be included.

(ix) Conflict of interests

A conflict of interest statement must be included for each contributing author. Please see the Conflict of Interest guidelines in the Editorial Policies section for more information and for guidelines on what constitutes a conflict of interest.

(x) References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Only articles that have been published may be included in the references. References follow the Vancouver format (for using End-Note, please follow the Leukemia journal reference style). In the text, references should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear. If cited in tables or figure legends, references should be numbered according to the first identification of the table or figure in the text. References are listed sequentially at the end of the paper, according to the numbering and order of citations in the text. The first three authors are to be listed, after which, list only the first three authors and ¡®et al¡¯. Abbreviations of journal names should conform to the Index Medicus style. The first and last page numbers for each reference should be provided. The following are examples of the reference style:

Journal Article
1 Boyne PJ, James RA. Grafting of the maxillary sinus floor with autogenous marrow and bone. J Oral Surg 1980; 38(8): 613¨C 616.

2 Horch HH, Sader R, Pautke C et al. Synthetic, pure-phase beta-tricalcium phos- phate ceramic granules (Cerasorb) for bone regene- ration in the reconstructive surgery of the jaws. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2006; 35(8): 708¨C713.

Article not in English
3 Casals E, Cuenca E. [Is it possible to plan the workforce of dentists? An analysis of human resource trends and uptake of dental services in Catalonia 1991¨C2008.] Revista Clinica Odontologica España 2009; 14: 1¨C13. Spanish.

Book
4 Perez CA, Brady LW, Halperin EC et al. Principles and practice of radiation oncology . Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004.

Book Chapter
5 Harding SR, Fryer JI. Recurrent oral ulceration in Greenland natives. In: Casselli G (ed.) Coeliac diseases. 3rd ed. London: Stoma Press, 1982: 307¨C324.

Electronic Material
6 Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Guidance to changes to the Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EC with respect to custom-made devices statements. London: MHRA, 2009. Available at http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Devices/RevisionstothemedicaldevicesandAIMDDirectives/index.htm (accessed 22 July 2011).

Where a reference is to appear next to a number in the text, for example following an equation, chemical formula or biological acronym, citations should be written as (ref. X).

Example: ¡°expressed odontogenic genes such as Pax9, DMP1 and DSPP (ref. 3).¡±

References to unpublished data and personal communications should not appear in the list but should be cited in the text only (e.g. Smith A, 2007, unpubl. data).

(x) Tables and figures

Tables should be labeled sequentially as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Each table should be numbered, titled and cited in the text. Reference to table footnotes should be made by using Arabic numerals. Tables should not duplicate the content of the text. They should consist of at least two columns, and each column should have a heading. Authors should ensure that the data in the tables are consistent with those cited in the relevant places in the text, totals add up correctly, and percentages have been calculated correctly. Unlike figures or images, tables may be embedded into the main manuscript file if necessary, or supplied as separate electronic files.

Figures and images should be labeled sequentially, numbered and cited in the text. Each figure should be saved in a separate file. Figures including multiple parts (e.g. Fig.1a, 1b, 1c) should be saved in a single file (e.g. Figure1a-c). The figure number should be placed above each figure. Figure legends should be inserted in the article¡¯s text file. The use of three-dimensional histograms is strongly discouraged when the addition of the third dimension gives no extra information. If a table or figure has been published before, the authors must obtain written permission to reproduce the material in both print and electronic formats from the copyright owner and submit it with the manuscript. This also applies to quotes, illustrations and other materials taken from previously published works not in the public domain. The original source should be cited in the figure caption or table footnote.

Artwork Guidelines

Detailed guidelines for submitting artwork can be found by downloading the guidelines PDF . Using the guidelines, please submit production quality artwork with your initial online submission. If you have followed the guidelines, we will not require the artwork to be resubmitted following the peer-review process, if your paper is accepted for publication.

Color figures

Color figures must be supplied in the following format.

For Single Images:

Width	500 pixels (authors should select "constrain proportions", or equivalent instructions, to allow the application to set the correct height automatically.)
Resolution	125 dpi (dots per inch)
Format	JPEG for photographs GIF for line drawings or charts
Filenaming	Please save image with .jpg or .gif extension to ensure it can be read by all platforms and graphics packages.

For Multi-part Images :

Width	900 pixels (authors should select "constrain proportions", or equivalent instructions, to allow the application to set the correct height automatically.)
Resolution	125 dpi (dots per inch)
Format	JPEG for photographs GIF for line drawings or charts
Filenaming	Please save image with .jpg or .gif extension to ensure it can be read by all platforms and graphics packages.

Black and white images

• Image resolution of at least 300 dpi at publication size
• Images should be scanned at a minimum of 300 dpi
• During software manipulation of images, care should be taken that resolution is maintained
• Images may be rotated or scaled, but this must be the same in the x and y dimensions
• Contrast and brightness can be adjusted, but this must be uniform across the entire image, and must not result in the loss of any feature, band or spot. The background should still be visible
• If lanes are removed, and once separate parts of an image are joined together, a black, white or grey line should indicate clearly where the image was cut
• If black borders are drawn around the image, the lines should correspond to all edges where the image was cut
• Protein molecular weights or DNA fragment sizes should be indicated for all figure panels showing gel electrophoresis

Graphs, Histograms and Statistics

• Error bars must be described in the figure legend
• Axes on graphs should extend to zero, except for log axes
• Statistical analyses (including error bars and p values) should only be shown for independently repeated experiments, and must not be shown for replicates of a single experiment
• The number of times an experiment was repeated (N) must be stated in the legend

House Style

As the electronic submission will provide the basic material for typesetting, it is important that papers are prepared in the general editorial style of the journal.

1. See the artwork guidelines above for information on labeling of figures
2. Do not make rules thinner than 1 pt (0.36 mm)
3. Use a coarse hatching pattern rather than shading for tints in graphs
4. Color should be distinct when being used as an identifying tool
5. Use SI units throughout
6. Spaces, not commas should be used to separate thousands
7. Abbreviations should be preceded by the words for which they stand in the first instance of use and should not be used for terms used fewer than 4 times
8. Text should be double spacing with a wide margin
9. Use a common word-processing package (such as Microsoft Word) for the text. Embed tables converted into images at the end of the Word document, or as a separate file in whichever program you used to generate them
10. If you submit raw data, this can be done in Excel, or tab/comma delimited format
11. At first mention of a manufacturer the town, (state if USA) and country should be provided.

File Formats

File formats for manuscript files, figures and tables that are acceptable for our electronic manuscript submission process are given on the online forms. Further advice on file types is also available from the Tips webpage. Please follow the artwork guidelines above for submitting figures, and use a common word-processing package (such as Microsoft Word) for the text. Either embed tables converted into images at the end of your Word document, or as a separate files in whichever program you used to generate them. If you submit raw data, this can be done in Excel, or tab/comma delimited format.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information is peer-reviewed material directly relevant to the conclusions of an article that cannot be included in the printed version owing to space or format constraints. It is posted on the journal's website and linked to the article when the article is published and may consist of data files, graphics, movies or extensive tables.

The article must be complete and self-explanatory without the supplementary information. Supplementary information enhances a reader¡¯s understanding of the manuscript but is not essential to that understanding.

Supplementary information must be supplied to the Editorial Office in its final form for peer review. On acceptance the final version of the peer reviewed supplementary information should be submitted with the accepted manuscript.

To ensure that the contents of the supplementary information files can be viewed by the editor(s), referees and readers, please also submit a ¡®read-me¡¯ file containing brief instructions on how to use the file.

Supplying supplementary information files

Authors should ensure that supplementary information is supplied in its FINAL format because it is not subedited and will appear online exactly as originally submitted. It can neither be altered, nor added to, after the paper has been accepted for publication.

Please supply the supplementary information via eJP, the electronic manuscript submission and tracking system, in an acceptable file format (see below).

Authors should:

• Include a text summary (no more than 50 words) to describe the contents of each file.
• Identify the types of files (file formats) submitted.
• Include the text 'Supplementary information accompanies the manuscript on the International Journal of Oral Science¡¯s website (http://www.nature.com/ijos/)' at the end of the article and before the references.

Accepted file formats

• Quick Time files (.mov)
• Graphical image files (.gif)
• HTML files (.html)
• MPEG movie files (.mpg)
• JPEG image files (.jpg)
• Sound files (.wav)
• Plain ASCII text (.txt)
• Acrobat files (.pdf)
• MS Word documents (.doc)
• Postscript files (.ps)
• MS Excel spreadsheet documents (.xls)

We cannot accept TeX or LaTeX (.tex) files

File sizes must be as small as possible, so that they can be downloaded quickly. Images should not exceed 640 x 480 pixels (approximately 23 x 17 cm at 72dpi), and we would recommend 480 x 360 pixels as the maximum frame size for movies. We also recommend a frame rate of 15 frames per second. If applicable to the presentation of the supplementary information, use a 256-color palette. Please consider the use of lower specification for all of these points if the supplementary information can still be represented clearly. Our recommended maximum data rate is 150 KB/s.

The number of files should be limited to eight, and the total file size should not exceed 8 MB. Individual files should not exceed 1 MB. Please seek advice from the Editorial Office before sending files larger than our maximum size to avoid delays in publication.

Open Access and Charges

International Journal of Oral Science¡¯s levies an article-processing charge of £2,650/$3,975/€3,000 (plus VAT where applicable) and can be paid via credit card or by requesting an invoice be raised. Upon acceptance, it is mandatory that authors fill out and send back the payment form along with their license to publish form. The license form offers authors the choice of one of two creative commons licenses to use on their paper.

Upon publication, the article is universally and freely accessible to all via the Internet, in an easily readable format.

International Journal of Oral Science¡¯s articles are published either under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 Unported License or a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License , at the free choice of the authors.

Unde the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the contribution under the following conditions (read full legal code):

• Attribution. Users must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they or their use of the contribution is endorsed by the author or licensor).
• Noncommercial. Users may not use this work for commercial purposes.
• Share Alike. If users alter, transform, or build upon this work, they may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license, users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) the contribution under the following conditions (read full legal code) :

• Attribution. Users must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they or their use of the contribution is endorsed by the author or licensor).
• Non¨Ccommercial. Users may not use this contribution for commercial purposes.
• No derivative works. Users may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Neither Creative Commons License impairs or restricts the author's moral rights. Additionally, the following terms hold (read full legal code) :

• For any reuse or distribution, users must make clear to others the license terms of this work, preferably using a link to the Creative commons webpage
• Any of the above conditions can be waived if users get permission from the copyright holder.

Please note usual credit terms are 30 days from receipt of invoice, or as otherwise stated in your invoice. Failure to pay your invoice may result in penalties such as restrictions on your ability to publish with Nature Publishing Group or this journal in the future, involvement of a third party debt collection agency and legal proceedings.

Proofs

The corresponding author will be sent an e-mail with instructions on how to download the proofs. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Failure to do so may result in a delay to publication. Extensive corrections cannot be made at this stage.

Offprints

Offprints may be ordered using the order form available for download with the proofs. Orders submitted after the journal is printed are subject to increased reprint prices.

Business matters

For enquiries related to business correspondence, advertising, supplements, subscriptions or permissions, please contact:

Meg Fitzpatrick
Publishing Manager
15-19 Claremont Street
South Yarra VIC 3141
Australia
T: +61 (0)3 9825 1122
F: +61 (0)3 9825 1010
E: m.fitzpatrick@natureasia.com

For enquiries related to manuscripts in production and editorial processes, please contact:

International Journal of Oral Science editorial office
West China School of Stomatology
Sichuan University
No.14 Section 3 Renminnan Road
Chengdu
Sichuan 610041
China
T: + 86-28-85502415
F: +86-28-85582167
E: ijos@scu.edu.cn

Submission of papers

If you have not done so already, register for an account . Please consult the instructions below to enable you to submit your manuscript through our secure server.

Please ensure that your browser is set to accept cookies. Our tracking system requires cookies for proper operation. (If you have Windows XP, you will need to change the default settings. For more details, please refer to the 'Tips' function on this site.)

Navigating the System

When you first access the manuscript tracking system, you will be taken to your Home page, where different categories of tasks are listed. If you are required to perform a pending action item or task, there will be a red arrow next to a 'Manuscript' link. Throughout the system, red arrows reflect pending action items which you should address. If there are no red arrows visible on your Home page, then you are finished and have no outstanding tasks to complete.

At any time please press HOME to go to the submission home page.

Process for Manuscript Submission

Please make sure you have gathered all the required manuscript information BEFORE starting the submission process. The manuscript submission process begins when you click on the ¡®Submit Manuscript¡¯ link on your homepage.

The manuscript submission process is broken down into a series of 4 tasks which gather detailed information about your manuscript and allow you to upload text and figure/image files. The sequence of tasks is as follows:

1. ¡®Files¡¯ ¨C allows you to select and upload your files, then specify the order in which they should appear in the merged PDF (which is created to simplify the review process)
2. ¡®Manuscript Information¡¯ ¨C asks for author details, the manuscript title, abstract, other associated manuscript information and the types and number of files being submitted.
3. ¡®Validate¡¯ ¨C gives you the opportunity to check and verify the manuscript files and information before submitting.
4. ¡®Submit¡¯ ¨C is the last step in the manuscript submission process, when the system performs a final check to ensure that all mandatory fields have been completed. Once your manuscript has been finalised, click on the ¡®Approve Submission¡¯ button to submit your manuscript for consideration.

Before you begin, you will need to have the following details for all authors. (Items in parenthesis may not be compulsory for co-authors).

• First and Last Names
• Institution
• Email Address
• (Full Postal Address)
• (Telephone Number)
• (Fax Number)

In addition you will need:

• Cover letter
• Title and Running Title (you can copy and paste this from your manuscript)
• Abstract (you can copy and paste this from your manuscript)
• Manuscript files in Word, WordPerfect, text or any RTF format
• Figures/Images in separate TIFF or JPG files, in either grayscale or CMYK colour (not RGB)
• Tables in Excel (preferred) as separate files or embedded at the end of the manuscript file

Do not embed images or figures in the text from word processing software as embedded images are not acceptable for production. (Tables are an exception to this rule.)

Saving files with Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 saves files in an XML format by default (file extensions .docx, .pptx and xlsx). Files saved in this format cannot be accepted for publication. Please save Word documents with the .doc file extension; Excel documents with the .xls file extension, and PowerPoint documents with the .ppt file extension.

Equations in Word must be created using Equation Editor 3.0

Equations created using the new equation editor in Word 2007 and saved as a ¡®Word 97-2003 Document¡¯ (.doc) are converted to graphics and can no longer be edited. To insert or change an equation with the previous equation editor:

• Select ¡®Object¡¯ on the ¡®Text¡¯ section of the ¡®Insert¡¯ tab
• In the drop-down menu - select ¡®Equation Editor 3.0¡¯

Do not use the ¡®Equation¡¯ button in the ¡®Symbols¡¯ section of the ¡®Insert¡¯ tab.

Adobe Acrobat

Best results are achieved by using Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or above to read PDF files. To install this FREE program, download from the link here and follow the on-screen instructions.

Getting Help

If you need additional help, you can click on the help signs spread throughout the system. A help dialogue will pop up with context-sensitive help. Should further assistance be required, then please contact the Editorial Office at ijos@scu.edu.cn.

Manuscript Status

After you submit your manuscript, you will receive an acknowledgement email. You can check the status of your manuscript at any time in the review process by:

1. Accessing the system with your password or using the link sent to you in the acknowledgement email
2. Clicking on the link represented by your manuscript tracking number and abbreviated title
3. Clicking on the 'Check Status' link at the bottom of the displayed page.