Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics

The journal and its editorial board fully adhere and comply to the policies and principles of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

a. Authors duties and ethics:

Reporting standards

Authors of reports on original research should give a truthful account of the work done and an unbiased analysis of its significance. The manuscript should accurately depict the underlying data. In connection with a paper, authors should be willing to make raw data available to the public and keep that data on hand for at least two years after publication. Unacceptable and unethical behavior includes making false or intentionally inaccurate statements.

Reporting standards

Originality, plagiarism and concurrent publication

The words and/or works of others should have been appropriately acknowledged, and authors should make sure their writing is entirely original. Inappropriate publishing behavior is plagiarism in all of its forms, and it is not tolerated.

It is unacceptable to simultaneously submit the manuscript to another journal after submitting it in Al-Azhar Journal of Dentistry. In addition, the manuscript has not been published previously in other journals. This is considered unethical publishing practice.

A single study must not be divided up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time.

The author should clearly indicate all references that have supported the research.

The author should inform the journal editor of any error(s) in his or her published paper and cooperate with the editor in retraction or correction of the paper. If the editor is notified by any party other than the author that the published paper contains an obvious error, the author should write a retraction or make the correction based on the medium of publication.
No data should have been made-up or manipulated (including images) to support the material and methods and results. Moreover, no data, text, or principles stated by others are presented as if they were the authors own (“plagiarism”). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given.

Authorship of the paper

The author should give acknowledgment to all of those who have made contributions to the research. Those who have contributed significantly to the research should be listed as co-authors. The author should ensure that all co-authors have affirmed the final version of the paper and have agreed on its final publication.

Authors consent form is submitted to the journal where the work has been carried out before the work is submitted. Regarding papers extracted from thesis, the primary (submitting) author submits a consent form where s/he declares that all supervisors/co-authors with claims to the intellectual property of this submission have read the paper and signs. In addition to that, authors whose names are on the submission have contributed to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.

Requests to add or delete authors at the revision stage or after publication is a serious matter and may be considered only after receipt of written approval from all authors and a detailed explanation about the role/deletion of the new/deleted author. The decision on accepting the change depends on the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Changes of authors or in the order of authors are not accepted after the acceptance of a manuscript.

Authorship Criteria

Only significant contributions to each of the following three elements should be considered for authorship credit:

Concept and design of the study, data collection, analysis, and interpretation;
creating the draft or critically editing the article for key intellectual content; and.
The final version is approved for publication.

Participation in funding or data collection does not imply authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient as authors. Authorship requires more than simply general oversight of the research team. Each contributor should have given enough of their time to the project to publicly accept responsibility for the manuscript's appropriate portions of content. The order in which the contributors are listed should reflect their relative contributions to the study and writing of the manuscript. The order cannot be modified after it has been submitted without the participants' written consent.

Contribution Details

Authors should list the specific contributions that each of them made to the manuscript. Concept, design, intellectual content definition, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing, and manuscript review should all be included in the description, as appropriate. . Authors' contributions will be attached as the “authorship form” along with their signatures. From conception to publication, one or more authors should be designated as "guarantors," taking ownership of the integrity of the work as a whole.

b. Editors duties and ethics:

Publication decisions

The journal editor in chief is responsible for deciding which of the papers are accepted, accepted with major or minor changes or totally rejected. The editor evaluation would be regarding intellectual content without regard to race, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin or citizenship of the authors.

Confidentiality, disclosure, and conflicts of interest

The editor and any editorial staff must not reveal any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Readers should know who funded any research or other scholarly work, whether the funders had any involvement in the study's creation or dissemination, and, if so, what that involvement was.

Author relations

The journal's editors work hard to guarantee that peer review is impartial, timely, and fair. To guarantee unbiased review, the journal has established policies for how to handle submissions. Author instructions offer guidance on authorship standards.

Reviewer relations

The Journal invites reviewers to address any moral concerns and potential wrongdoing brought up by submissions (e. g. Be mindful of plagiarism and redundant publication, as well as unethical research design and improper data manipulation. Except for comments that are offensive or libelous, reviewers' comments should be sent to authors in their entirety. The journal regularly acknowledges the contributions of reviewers and no longer employs reviewers who consistently submit rude, subpar, or late reviews

Quality assurance

Editors should take all appropriate measures to ensure the caliber of the content that is published in the journal, keeping in mind that various sections have various standards and objectives. Editors should confirm that the research they disseminate has been approved by the proper authorities (e. g. where one exists, a research ethics committee or institutional review board. Editors should be aware of intellectual property concerns and cooperate with their publisher to address any potential legal and ethical lapses. Errors, inaccuracies, or statements that are misleading must be promptly and prominently rectified.

c. Reviewers duties and ethics:

Contribution to editorial decisions

Reviewers assist the editor-in-chief in making editorial decisions through the editorial communications with the author to improve the paper. Reviews should be objective, and observations should be formulated with supporting arguments so that authors can use them to improve their papers. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.

Qualification of reviewers

Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the paper reported in a manuscript should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process. Moreover, Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should point out pertinent published works that the authors haven't cited. References to other papers’ ideas must be accompanied by the appropriate citation. Any significant overlap or similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which the reviewer has firsthand knowledge should be brought to the editor's attention.

Studies in humans and animals

When using human subjects, the author must make sure that the research has been done in accordance with with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). The manuscript should follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and strive to include diverse human populations that are representative of gender, age, and ethnicity. The terms Gender and sex should be used appropriately.

For experiments involving human subjects, authors should state in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained. Human subjects' rights to privacy must be upheld at all times.

All animal experiments must adhere to the approved standards of the ethical committee of the institution and the code of the research must be stated clearly in the manuscript. The authors should explicitly state in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. Animal sex must be noted, as well as any influence (or association) of sex on the study's findings, as appropriate.

Plagiarism

The journal has a strict policy against plagiarism. Using expert plagiarism-checking software, all submitted manuscripts are reviewed for possible plagiarism. Manuscripts submitted with an unacceptable similarity index brought on by plagiarism are rejected immediately.

Complaints/appeals

The Editor-in-Chief should be contacted with any appeals, or complaints regarding authorship matters or the peer-review procedure, including concerns brought up after publication. The Editor-in-Chief will then investigate the claims by first gathering information from all parties involved and then suggesting a course of action in accordance with academic ethical standards as outlined by the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org/). Submissions may be suspended during the review or publication process until the problem is fixed.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

All article authors are required to disclose any and all potential conflicts of interest they may have with the publication of the manuscript, or with a company or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or has an impact on the study's findings. Conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in the manuscript should also be disclosed by authors.

Confidentiality

A submitted manuscript is confidential material. The only individuals involved in processing and preparing a submitted manuscript for publication (if it is accepted) will receive access to it. These individuals include editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential reviewers, actual reviewers, and editors. However, in cases of suspected misconduct, a manuscript may be disclosed to members of the academic journals' ethics committees and institutions/organizations that may need it for the misconduct's resolution.

Misconduct

Misconduct is a violation of this editorial policy, the policies of the journal, publication ethics, or any other applicable rules/policies outlined by COPE, WAME, ICMJE, and STM. Potential misconduct includes any additional actions that endanger or compromise the objectivity of the research/publication process. According to COPE guidelines, suspected misconduct cases will be looked into.

Acknowledgement

Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged. It is also important to thank Organizations that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources

Informed consent

Patients' right to privacy should not be violated without informed consent. In written descriptions, pictures, or pedigrees, identifying information like names, initials, or hospital numbers shouldn't be shared unless it's necessary for research and the patient (or parent or guardian) has given written informed consent. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potentially identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication. If any potentially identifiable information appears after publication both in print and online, authors must inform these patients. In accordance with any applicable local laws or regulations, patient consent should be recorded in writing and archived either with the journal, the authors, or both. . Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. For instance, masking the eye area in patient photos does not adequately protect anonymity. In cases where identifying details are changed to preserve anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors must guarantee—and editors must note—that the changes don't change the scientific meaning of the data. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article.

Correction and retraction of articles

Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the editor in chief of the journal. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected version will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published. When necessary, retraction of articles will be done according to COPE retraction guidelines.