Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines
The Nigerian Dental Journal, the official publication of the Nigerian Dental Association publishes peer reviewed, scientific articles relevant to the needs of dental, medical and other health professionals in Nigeria and other parts of the world. The Nigerian Dental Journal is published triannually and the contributions that are accepted for publications include clinical papers, research papers, review papers, technical notes (surgical techniques, technical innovations), case reports and letters to the Editor. Author(s) sending an article for submission should do so on the premise that the document has been perused and endorsed by all the authors and that all authors consented to the submission of the manuscript to the Journal. All the named authors must have made an effective input to the idea and design and/or analysis and interpretation of the data and/or the writing of the paper. All the authors must have judiciously checked its contents and have certified the final version presented for publication. Contribution merely in the acquisition of financial support or the gathering of data does not substantiate authorship.

Ethical Considerations

We subscribe to the World Medical Association's declaration-of-helsinki WMA Declaration of Helsinki .

All  manuscripts must contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate Ethical Committee related to the institution(s) in which the work was performed, and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. The Nigerian Dental Journal requires institutional Ethics Committee approval for all human studies. For retrospective studies of records either a statement of approval or a statement of exemption from the Committee is appropriate. This statement should be provided upon submission of the manuscript. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines.

Patient confidentiality

Written consents of the use of patient’s images in form of photographs, videos or any other form of description must be obtained from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable ) before submission of the manuscript. This must be provided to the Editorial Office on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If consent for publication has not been taken, private information on the patient included in any part of the paper (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Format of Journal

The format of the Nigerian Dental Journal follows the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals. These should be accompanied by a covering letter signed by all the authors and stating that the manuscript is not being considered for publication elsewhere and should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Dental Journal. All manuscripts submitted to Nigerian Dental Journal should be typed, double-spaced, on one side of A4 paper leaving at least 2.5cm margins all round. Pages should be numbered on the upper right corner beginning with the title page. Each manuscript component should begin on a new page in the following sequence:

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Main Text
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Tables
• Figure Legends
• Figures (as appropriate)

Title Page: Should contain the following information in the following order:
1. The article title.
2. Authors' full names with degrees or titles.
3. Authors' institutional affiliations including city and country and email addresses.
4. Name, address, telephone, fax, and email addresses of the author responsible for correspondence.

Abstract: Abstract of original research should be structured with objectives, materials and methods, results and conclusions briefly stated and not more than 400 words. Abstracts of case reports should not be structured but should briefly describe the case[s] reported, highlighting the unique features, treatment method employed, and conclusions drawn. The abstract page should bear 4-5 key words and a short running title of no more than 40 characters.

Main Text: Should include Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References.

• Introduction: Should be brief and end with a statement of the objective of the study. A review article should be a major didactic article that clarifies and summarizes the exhaustive review of the literature.
• Methods: Methods should describe clearly and concisely the method, including selection of observational and experimental subjects, apparatus, and procedures in sufficient detail to allow the results to be duplicated.
• Results: Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text of the manuscript. Repetition of data in the text and in the tables should be avoided. Emphasis should only be on important observations.
• Discussion: Repetition of results should be avoided. Rather, there should be an analytical discussion of the implications of the results and other observations as related to the study.

Acknowledgements: Authors are responsible for obtaining permission and approval from anyone acknowledged by name, as readers may infer his/her endorsement of the data and conclusion. Only persons who have made contributions to the study and/or to the preparation of the manuscript should be acknowledged. Contributors to the article other than the authors credited should be specified. The source of funding for the study and any potential conflict of interests should be stated appropriately. Suppliers of materials/equipment should be mentioned and their address (town, state/county, country) included.

References: The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author. The Vancouver style should be used. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text, tables, or legends, using Arabic Numerals (superscript). References must be verified by the author(s) against the original quoted documents. At the end of the manuscript, the full list of references should give the names and initials of all authors unless there are more than six; in which case, only the first three should be given followed by “et al”. The authors’ names are followed by the title of the article: the title of the journal abbreviated according to the style of the Index Medicus and Index to Dental Literature: the year of publication: the volume number: and the first and last page numbers in full. Titles of books should be followed by the place of publication, the publisher, and the year.

• Reference to an article: 1. Akinosi JO. A new approach to the mandibular nerve block. Br J Oral Surg 1977; 15:83-89.
• Reference to a book: 2. Mason R A. A Guide to Dental Radiography. 3rd ed, pp 34–37. London: John Wright, 1988.
• Reference to a book chapter: 3. Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading micro-organisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA eds. Pathologic physiology: mechanism of disease. 457-472. Philadelphia, WB Saunders Co. 1974.
• Reference to a dissertation or thesis: 4. Cains RB. Infrared spectroscopic studies of solid oxygen. Beckley, California, University of California 1965.
• Reference to a report: 5. Guidelines for self-care in oral health. Copenhagen: World Health Organisation 1988, publication no. ICP/ORH 113.

EndNote or Reference Manager is recommended for reference management and formatting. EndNote reference styles can be searched for here: www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp. Reference Manager reference styles can be searched for here: www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp

Tables and Figures

Tables: Tables should be consecutively numbered in Arabic numerals as cited in the text with a brief explanatory title supplied for each. Tables should be used only to show important points. Dual documentation in the form of tables and figures is not appropriate. Tables should be double spaced on separate pages and contain only horizontal rules. Tables should not be submitted as photographs and a concise descriptive title should appear above each table, with any appropriate footnotes below. Care must be taken to ensure that all units are included and each table is cited in the text.

Figures: All illustrations (e.g., graphs, drawings, or photographs) are considered to be figures and should be numbered in sequence with Arabic numerals. They should be numbered and itemized after the Tables. All figures (abbreviated to Fig(s).) should spell out the text and their number be kept to a minimum. The features must be large enough to preserve their clarity after a decrease in size. Illustrations should preferably fill single column width (54 mm) after reduction, although in some cases 113 mm (double column) and 171 mm (full page) widths will be accepted.

Line illustrations: All line illustrations should present a crisp black image on an even white background (127 x 178 mm (5 x 7 in), or no larger than 203 x 254 mm (8 x 10 in)). The size of the lettering should be appropriate, taking into account the necessary size reduction. Line drawings should be professionally drawn; half-tones should exhibit high contrast.

Photographs and radiographs: The photomicrographs should show magnification and details of any staining techniques used. The radiographs should be clear and the area(s) of interest must be clearly indicated with arrows or other symbols.

Preparation of Electronic Figures for Publication: Although low-quality images are adequate for review purposes, print publication requires high-quality images to prevent the final product from being blurred or fuzzy. Submit EPS (line art) or TIFF (halftone/photographs) files only. MS PowerPoint and Word Graphics are unsuitable for printed pictures. For scanned images, the scanning resolution (at final image size) should be as follows to ensure good reproduction: line art: >600 dpi; half-tones (including gel photographs): >300 dpi; figures containing both halftone and line images: >600 dpi.

Permissions: Permission of author(s) and publisher(s) must be obtained for the use of previously published material (text, photographs, illustrations) and must accompany the manuscript when it is submitted for consideration for publication. The Journal bears no responsibility for authors violating such rules.

Submission of Manuscript

Nigerian Dental Journal accepts online submission of manuscripts and submission through the electronic mail of the journal. Manuscripts should be submitted at the Online Journal Management System. Manuscripts should be uploaded as Word (.doc). The text file must contain the entire manuscript separated from the title page. It must contain an abstract, text, references, tables, and figure legends, but no embedded figures. In the text file, please reference figures as for instance 'Figure 1', 'Figure 2', etc., to match the tag name you choose for the individual figure files uploaded. Manuscripts should be formatted as described in the Author Guidelines. Please save any .docx file as .doc before uploading. Upon successful submission, the journal administrator will verify that every part of the submission has been completed correctly. If any essential part is omitted or if the manuscript does not satisfy the conditions as stated in the instructions, the corresponding author will be requested either to modify the submission according to stated instructions or to submit their manuscript to another journal.

Correspondences

All correspondences including reprints orders, advertising, and submission of manuscripts should be addressed to: Solomon O. Nwhator (Associate Professor of Periodontology), Editor-in-Chief, Nigerian Dental Journal. editorinchief@nigeriandentaljournal.ng

Copyright Notice

© 1999 The authors. This work, Nigerian Dental Journal by Nigerian Dental Association, is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International License.

All articles should follow the IMRAD pattern. Our reference style is in Vancouver. Please, ensure that you load the page containing author/s info as "Title page" and the rest of the manuscript as "Manuscript".