Information for authors, how to contribute to VJO
The Virtual Journal of Orthodontics welcomes submissions of scientific articles, clinical articles, clinical aids, case reports, and guest editorials related to Orthodontics.
Publishing is conditional upon the Reading Committee’s acceptance. Please read the evaluation form.
Authors must disclose any financial or professional interests in any companies, products or services mentioned in each article and follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (1).
Submission of manuscripts
Manuscripts for publication and correspondence relating to them should be sent to:
Dr. Gabriele Floria
DDS Editor-in-Chief, Virtual Journal of Orthodontics
Viale G. Amendola 6
50121 Firenze (FI)
Italy
The Virtual Journal of Orthodontics publishes articles about original researches and clinical observations; review articles about Orthodontics and related subjects; editorials; news, comments, and service announcements.
Manuscripts are accepted for publication with the stipulation that they are original, written in English, Italian, or Spanish, and have not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
Manuscripts will be reviewed by the VJO Reading Committee and are subject to editorial revision.
Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the editor, and the editor disclaims any responsibility or liability for such material. The editor does not guarantee, warrant, or endorse any product or service advertised in this publication; neither does he ensure any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service. Each reader must determine whether to act on the information contained in the publication, and neither the Journal nor its sponsoring organizations shall be liable for any injury due to the release of erroneous data.
Authorship
A cover letter signed by all the authors should identify the person (with his/her street address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address) responsible for negotiations concerning the paper. The letter should clearly state that the final manuscript has been seen and approved by all the authors and that they have taken due care to ensure the integrity of the work.
Authors are required to grant Virtual Journal of Orthodontics a formal written Consent to Publish and an exclusive license in respect of their contributions to the Journal.
The written consent helps the Virtual Journal of Orthodontics to protect the published material against unauthorized copying and other misuse and to properly authorize dissemination of the work using the Internet, electronic files, translations, and secondary information sources, including converting the text into the machine-readable form and storing it in electronic databases. Furthermore, it ensures that requests from third parties to publish all or part of the material we publish can be efficiently dealt with.
Even though the Copyright Licence is exclusive, the Virtual Journal of Orthodontics will agree to any reasonable request for permission to republish contents if accompanied by a suitable acknowledgment of first publication by the Virtual Journal of Orthodontics. Authors will be consulted, when possible, regarding the republication of their material.
The Authors are hereby requested to complete and return the enclosed form via fax promptly so that the manuscript may be prepared for publication.
Conflict of interest
Authors will be asked to sign a conflict of interest declaration, in which they report any commercial association that might pose a conflict of interest, such as ownership, stock holdings, equity interests, and consultant activities, or patent-licensing situations.
Such information is confidential and will not be disclosed to editorial consultants (VJO staff) or the scientific committee. It does not play a part in the decision of the quality or timeliness of the manuscript.
If the manuscript is accepted, the disclosed information will be published with the article. The usual and customary listing of sources of support and institutional affiliations on the title page is proper and does not imply a conflict of interest.
Formats
Authors can:
- Send via e-mail text and images to
The manuscript should be in English, Italian, or Spanish and without formatting characters and saved as only text (.txt), when possible compressed in zip format.
Images should be in GIF format for drawings or charts and JPEG for photos. - Send all text and images via traditional mail on a computer-readable media (e.g., flash drives). Disks should be labeled with the computer type (IBM or Macintosh), a word-processing program, title of the paper, and first author’s name.
- Send the typed manuscript via traditional mail, submitting the original and two copies, typewritten with double spacing on one side of white or recycled paper (each page containing no more than 350 words).
In any case, the author should retain another copy for personal reference. (See paragraph on Illustrations for submission of these.)
The word processor’s default typeface and type size should be used. Text formatting should not be used.
Manuscript organization
Recommended style:
- The title page should include the title of the article, full name(s) of the author(s), academic degrees, and institutional affiliations and positions; in the interest of anonymity, the information about the author should appear only on the original manuscript. The corresponding author’s address, business, and home telephone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail address should be given.
- Provide an abstract of 225 words or less. Briefly state the problem or purpose, the significant observations, the methods, and the principal conclusions.
- Provide an introduction stating the study’s objective and omit an extensive review of the literature, which is typically found in a thesis.
- The materials or subjects and methods/case histories section describe the experimental design procedures and subjects used. Give the details only if the methods are original or essential for understanding; otherwise, give references. Never mix discussion with this section or with the Results section.
- Present the results with a minimum of discussion. Use tables, charts, and photographs to clarify the findings. Finally, check the statistics and quote statistical jargon only if you are personally familiar with it.
- Point out the significance of the data and the limitations in the discussion section. Speculation should be identified as such. Do not repeat the introduction in this section. Keep this section to approximately one-third of the entire manuscript. It should not exceed one half of the complete article’s length.
- All measurements should be expressed in metric units, or metric equivalents may appear in parentheses after the original unit. To avoid confusion caused by varying tooth-numbering systems, provide the full name of the tooth and its upper or lower quadrant position.
- Be sure to include a clearly labeled conclusion.
- References (1): References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables, or figure legends should be numbered following the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Consult the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus, published annually as a separate publication by the library, and as a list in the January issue of Index Medicus. The list can also be obtained through the library’s web site.
References: How to cite
Avoid using abstracts as references. References to papers accepted but not yet published should be designated as “in press” or “forthcoming”; authors should obtain written permission to cite such articles as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be mentioned in the text as “unpublished observations” with written permission from the source.
Avoid citing a “personal communication” unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles, authors should obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of personal contact.
The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.
The Uniform Requirements style (the Vancouver style) is based mainly on an ANSI standard style adapted by the NLM for its databases. Notes have been added where Vancouver style differs from the form now used by NLM.
Articles in journals
1. Standard journal article
List the first six authors, followed by et al.
(Note: NLM now lists up through 25 authors; if there are more than 25 authors, NLM lists the first 24, then the last author, then et al.)
Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996 Jun 1;124 (11):980-3.
As an option, if a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume (as many medical journals do) the month and issue number may be omitted.
(Note: For consistency, the option is used throughout the examples in Uniform Requirements. NLM does not use the option.)
Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124:980-3.
More than six authors:
Parkin DM, Clayton D, Black RJ, Masuyer E, Friedl HP, Ivanov E, et al. Childhood leukaemia in Europe after Chernobyl: 5 year follow-up. Br J Cancer 1996;73:1006- 12.
2. Organization as author
The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust 1996; 164: 282-4.
3. No author given
Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994;84:15.
4. Article not in English
(Note: NLM translates the title to English, encloses the translation in square brackets, and adds an abbreviated language designator.)
Ryder TE, Haukeland EA, Solhaug JH. Bilateral infrapatellar seneruptur hos tidligere frisk kvinne. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 1996;116:41-2.
5. Volume with supplement
Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102 Suppl 1:275-82.
6. Issue with supplement
Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women’s psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996;23(1 Suppl 2):89-97.
7. Volume with part
Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem 1995;32(Pt 3):303-6.
8. Issue with part
Poole GH, Mills SM. One hundred consecutive cases of flap lacerations of the leg in ageing patients. N Z Med J 1994;107(986 Pt 1):377-8.
9. Issue with no volume
Turan I, Wredmark T, Fellander-Tsai L. Arthroscopic ankle arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Orthop 1995;(320):110-4.
10. No issue or volume
Browell DA, Lennard TW. Immunologic status of the cancer patient and the effects of blood transfusion on antitumor responses. Curr Opin Gen Surg 1993:325-33.
11. Pagination in Roman numerals
Fisher GA, Sikic BI. Drug resistance in clinical oncology and hematology. Introduction. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 1995 Apr;9(2):xi-xii.
12. Type of article indicated as needed
Enzensberger W, Fischer PA. Metronome in Parkinson’s disease [letter]. Lancet 1996;347:1337. Clement J, De Bock R. Hematological complications of hantavirus nephropathy (HVN) [abstract]. Kidney Int 1992;42:1285.
13. Article containing retraction
Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. Ceruloplasmin gene defect associated with epilepsy in EL mice [retraction of Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. In: Nat Genet 1994;6:426-31]. Nat Genet 1995;11:104.
14. Article retracted
Liou GI, Wang M, Matragoon S. Precocious IRBP gene expression during mouse development [retracted in Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994;35:3127]. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994;35:1083-8.
15. Article with published erratum
Hamlin JA, Kahn AM. Herniography in symptomatic patients following inguinal hernia repair [published erratum appears in West J Med 1995;162:278]. West J Med 1995;162:28-31.
Books and other monographs
(Note: Previous Vancouver style incorrectly had a comma rather than a semicolon between the publisher and the date.)
16. Personal author(s)
Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
17. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author
Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
18. Organization as author and publisher
Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington: The Institute; 1992.
19. Chapter in a book
(Note: Previous Vancouver style had a colon rather than a p before pagination.)
Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.
20. Conference proceedings
Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996.
21. Conference paper
Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.
22. Scientific or technical report
Issued by funding/sponsoring agency: Smith P, Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment billed during skilled nursing facility stays. Final report. Dallas (TX): Dept. of Health and Human Services (US), Office of Evaluation and Inspections; 1994 Oct. Report No.: HHSIGOEI69200860.
Issued by performing agency: Field MJ, Tranquada RE, Feasley JC, editors. Health services research: work force and educational issues. Washington: National Academy Press; 1995. Contract No.: AHCPR282942008. Sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.
23. Dissertation
Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly’s access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ.; 1995.
24. Patent
Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR, inventors; Novoste Corporation, assignee. Methods for procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart. US patent 5,529,067. 1995 Jun 25.
Other published materials
25. Newspaper article
Lee G. Hospitalizations tied to ozone pollution: study estimates 50,000 admissions annually. The Washington Post 1996 Jun 21;Sect. A:3 (col. 5).
26. Audiovisual material
HIV+/AIDS: the facts and the future [videocassette]. St. Louis (MO): Mosby-Year Book; 1995.
27. Legal material
- Public law: Preventive Health Amendments of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-183, 107 Stat. 2226 (Dec. 14, 1993).
- Unenacted bill: Medical Records Confidentiality Act of 1995, S. 1360, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. (1995).
- Code of Federal Regulations: Informed Consent, 42 C.F.R. Sect. 441.257 (1995).
- Hearing: Increased Drug Abuse: the Impact on the Nation’s Emergency Rooms: Hearings Before the Subcomm. on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the House Comm. on Government Operations, 103rd Cong., 1st Sess. (May 26, 1993).
28. Map
North Carolina. Tuberculosis rates per 100,000 population, 1990 [demographic map]. Raleigh: North Carolina Dept. of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Div. of Epidemiology; 1991.
29. Book of the Bible
The Holy Bible. King James version. Grand Rapids (MI): Zondervan Publishing House; 1995. Ruth 3:1-18.
30. Dictionary and similar references
Stedman’s medical dictionary. 26th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1995. Apraxia; p. 119-20.
31. Classical material
The Winter’s Tale: act 5, scene 1, lines 13-16. The complete works of William Shakespeare. London: Rex; 1973.
32. In press (Note: NLM prefers “forthcoming” because not all items will be printed.)
Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med. In press 1996.
Electronic documents
33. Journal article in electronic format
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5];1(1):[24 screens]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm
34. Monograph in electronic format
CDI, clinical dermatology illustrated [monograph on CD-ROM]. Reeves JRT, Maibach H. CMEA Multimedia Group, producers. 2nd ed. Version 2.0. San Diego: CMEA; 1995.
35. Computer file
Hemodynamics III: the ups and downs of hemodynamics [computer program]. Version 2.2. Orlando (FL): Computerized Educational Systems; 1993.
After the reference list in the original manuscript only, type the name and complete mailing address of the author to contact for more information or suggestions.
Legends
All figures must be mentioned sequentially in the text. A legend must accompany each figure. Type all of these together double-spaced on one separate sheet of paper. Each legend should be as short as possible and should identify the figure without repeating information from the text or providing explanations that belong in the text. If a figure has been previously published, the legend must give full credit to the source.
Tables
Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate, the text. Number them in roman numerals according to their order of mention in the text. Provide a brief title for each. Type each table double-spaced on a separate sheet of paper. If a table or any data therein has been previously published, a footnote to the table must give full credit to the source.
Permission and patient consent forms
Direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyrighted material must be accompanied by written permission for their use from the copyright owner and original author, along with complete information regarding the source. Permission also must be obtained for modified tables and figures. Photographs of identifiable persons, i.e., the eyes are shown, must be accompanied by signed releases from patients or both living parents or guardians of minors.
Human and animal rights
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were following the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted following the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors are asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
Illustrations
The illustrations must be of good quality. Illustrations are scanned electronically. Please indicate the location of the illustrations within the text. Any special instructions regarding sizing should be noted.
Electronic illustration submission
Figures are preferred in electronic format. Images should be provided in any standard format. Graphics software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, not presentation software such as PowerPoint, CorelDraw, or Harvard Graphics, should be used in the creation of the art. Color images at least 300 DPI. Please include software information, in addition to the file names with the disk.
Guest editorials
Brief substantiated commentary on subjects of interest to the orthodontic profession is invited and appreciated.
Books for review
Books and monographs (domestic and foreign) will be reviewed, depending on their interest and value to subscribers. Books should be sent to the Editor of Reviews and Abstracts, Dr. Gabriele Floria Viale G. Amendola 6, 50121 Firenze, Italy. They will not be returned and will become the property of the Virtual Journal of Orthodontics.
Checklist for authors
- Signed copyright release statement
- Title page
- Title of article
- Full name(s), academic degrees, and institutional affiliations and positions of the author(s)
- Author to whom correspondence is to be sent, including address, business, and home phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail address
- Abstract
- Article proper references
- Legends to illustrations (on one separate page)
- Tables (each on a separate page)
- Illustrations
- Permissions to reproduce previously published material, if applicable
- Photographic consent statement(s)
- Conflict of interest statement
- Statement of Human and Animal Rights(if applicable)
References:
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals. Ann Intern Med. 1997;126:36-47. (Also available at: http://www.icmje.org/)
WARNING
VJO holds personal information on a computerized database for publication administration purposes. We may, from time to time, send you material relevant to your research interests, to provide information about VJO’s products, or possibly to seek your advice on new products. If you do not wish to receive this or remain on our mailing list, according to European privacy law, please contact the editor Dr. Gabriele Floria at VJO.