Guide for Authors

Vision: Advancing dentistry with evidence-based knowledge

Mission: Improve health by advancing science and clinical dentistry

Goals and Objectives:
• To publish high quality, original, important, valid, peer-reviewed articles presenting information with the potential to transform dental, oral and craniofacial health.
• Provide a forum for discussion and debate of issues that will help elevate practitioner understanding of issues related to dentistry and health care.
• Inform practitioners of significant advances by presenting timely, important, and useful material through articles, commentaries, editorials, and continuing education.
• Implement new technologies and communication platforms to convey the science, presentation, readability, applicability, and value of The Journal.

The Journal of the American Dental Association

The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) is the nation’s premier dental journal-a reliable, peer-reviewed source of information on dentistry and dental science. Each monthly issue of JADA is available in print and online at jada.ada.org, which provides full-text articles as an added member benefit from the current issue as well as a searchable archive dating back to 1913.

The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) is the nation’s premier dental journal-a reliable, peer-reviewed source of information on dentistry and dental science. Each monthly issue of JADA is available in print and online at jada.ada.org, which provides full-text articles as an added member benefit from the current issue as well as a searchable archive dating back to 1913.

Annual independent readership studies consistently rank JADA as the nation’s best-read dental journal. American Dental Association (ADA) members rank it as one of the most important benefits of membership.

JADA’s History

• 1913: the ADA, then known as the National Dental Association, introduced the quarterly Official Bulletin of the National Dental Association;
• 1915: the Bulletin was renamed The Journal of the National Dental Association.
• 1917: The Journal became a monthly publication.
• 1939: The Journal adopted its current title, The Journal of the American Dental Association.

Through the decades, JADA has changed with the times and the shifting needs of its readers to continue to appeal to its primary audience: dentists in clinical practice. Each issue includes full-text articles on emerging research and in-depth reviews of cutting-edge clinical developments. JADA also provides editorials and features on ethical and practice issues that dentists encounter each day and covers updates on policies affecting dental practice.

Through the decades, JADA has changed with the times and the shifting needs of its readers to continue to appeal to its primary audience: dentists in clinical practice. Each issue includes full-text articles on emerging research and in-depth reviews of cutting-edge clinical developments. JADA also provides editorials and features on ethical and practice issues that dentists encounter each day and covers updates on policies affecting dental practice.

What JADA Offers

Today’s JADA offers a wide range of information for ADA member dentists and readers around the world:

Today’s JADA offers a wide range of information for ADA member dentists and readers around the world:

• peer-reviewed research on current and developing topics in dentistry;
• clinical information in such areas as diagnosis and disease management, biomaterials, pharmacology, cosmetic and esthetic dentistry, and general dental practice;
• reports on the evidence and practice guidelines help inform better patient care;
• future-focused analyses of emerging oral health trends in science, technology, and clinical care;
• views on the issues of the day;
• explorations of ethical, practice, oral health policy, and legal topics;
• a continuing education program.

JADA Continuing Education

Licensed U.S. dentists can earn up to three (3) continuing education credits each month through the JADA Online Continuing Education program.

The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) publishes original research articles and reviews on a broad range of topics in dental, oral, and craniofacial health. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, preventive, esthetic, and restorative care; diagnostics and treatments; oral-systemic health; pharmacology; specialty dental practice; informatics and technology; public health, behavioral health, and healthcare economics. JADA also publishes articles describing the results of clinical, laboratory, and population-based, evidence-based research and clinical guidelines pertinent to dentistry, providing foundational knowledge for future clinical application and policy issues. JADA employs a double-blind peer review process.

The journal adheres to the principles of transparency and best practices as outlined by COPE (https://publicationethics.org/) and ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/).

Journal Policies

Article Types

Manuscript Preparation and Formatting

Submission and Peer Review Process

Author Responsibilities

Post Acceptance

Journal Policies

Originality and Exclusivity
JADA will consider submissions in which some part of the data set has previously been published as an abstract, poster, meeting report, or graduate thesis. These prior publications must be cited in the article reference list and mentioned in the cover letter accompanying the submission.

Preprints
JADA will consider submissions that have been posted on a single preprint server (JADA will not consider submissions that are posted on 2 or more preprint servers) only as long as the preprint is referenced in accord with journal policy and mentioned in the cover letter accompanying the submission.

Open Access
Authors whose papers are accepted are offered the option to publish their JADA articles in an open access format. Please review the JADA Open Access page for more details.

Article Consideration
All submissions that fall within the editorial scope and mission of JADA will be considered for their novelty, originality, and potential to advance or transform oral health sciences. All submissions will be screened on submission to ensure the material has not previously appeared elsewhere (other than the acceptable prepublication formats listed above).

Peer Review
JADA employs a double-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of the authors and reviewers are unknown to the other. Authors are required to suggest 2 reviewers who are not associated with the authors’ institutions or related institutions. We ask that the article’s title page be submitted as a separate file from the manuscript to preserve authors’ anonymity for the double-blind peer review process. To learn more about specific requirements, see the section on preparing a manuscript for double-blind peer review.

Copyright Transfer
The American Dental Association (ADA) owns the copyright for all editorial content published in JADA except for material published solely by US government employees or material published open access under a Creative Commons license. Each author must submit a statement transferring copyright to the ADA. After a manuscript is submitted, authors will receive an email prompting them to log into Editorial Manager, complete the copyright transfer agreement form (as well as the conflict of interest form, discussed in the Disclosure section below), and submit it as directed. Manuscripts submitted without the requisite signed copyright transfer agreements will not be reviewed until JADA receives a valid, executed JADA Copyright Transfer Agreement from each author. If the manuscript is rejected by the ADA, all copyrights in the manuscript will be retained by the authors. All accepted manuscripts and their accompanying illustrations become the permanent property of the ADA and may not be published elsewhere in full or in part, in print or electronically, without written permission from the ADA.

Use of Inclusive Language
Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Articles should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, should contain nothing that might imply that a person is superior to another on the grounds of race, sex, culture or any other characteristic and should use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, for instance by using “he or she” “his or her” instead of “he” or “his,” and using job titles that are free of stereotyping (“chairperson” instead of “chairman”).

Funding Body Agreements and Policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies, please visit https://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy law mandates that all peer-reviewed articles that arise, in whole or in part, from direct costs funded by NIH, or from NIH staff, that are accepted for publication by a peer-reviewed journal-including JADA-must be deposited with the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central, in the form of a copy of the manuscript’s final version on its acceptance. NIH provides a website at http://publicaccess.nih.gov that contains answers to questions about this policy.

As a service to our authors, where the author has identified themselves as being NIH funded or an NIH employee, Elsevier will deposit the accepted manuscript to PMC on behalf of the author, to be made publicly available after 12 months. See more information at https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/agreements/elsevier-nih-policy-statement.

Responsible Sharing
JADA supports responsible sharing. Find out how authors can share research published in JADA.

Access to JADA Content
Full-text JADA articles from 1995 to the present may be found on JADA’s website at http://jada.ada.org.

1. ADA members and paid JADA subscribers have full access to all issues and all content in the JADA online archive.

2. The following content is freely available online to all users:

• Table of Contents and Abstracts
• Announcements
• CSA Corner
• Ethical Moment
• Health Policy Perspectives
• For the Dental Patient
• Supplements

3. All nonmembers and non-JADA subscribers must pay an access fee per article for all articles not listed in item 2 above. If you are interested in subscribing to JADA, please click here.

Article Types

The following articles will be peer reviewed through a double-blind process where neither the authors nor the reviewers know the identity of the other. See table below for word count, abstract, and illustration requirements for each article type.

Peer-reviewed articles

• Investigation
• Clinical Trial
• Systematic Review
• Review Articles (Narrative, Scoping, Umbrella, etc.)
• Practice Guideline
• Clinical Report
• Case Report
• Diagnostic Challenge
• Orofacial Pain Neuroscience
• Ethical Moment
• Commentary

Word counts in the table below are exclusive of title page, acknowledgments, references, and illustrations (tables, figures, text boxes). Guideline listings are available at the Equator Network website.

Article Type Description Guidelines Text (max) Abstract (max) Figures/Tables (max) Investigation Original investigations and reports including interventional and oral health related studies. Studies in epidemiology, diagnostics, genetics, genomics, infectious disease, microbiomics, and imaging Select appropriate guideline for study type: STROBE, STARD, or others 3,000 250 8 Clinical Trial Clinical evaluation of health interventions where participants are prospectively assigned the study groups CONSORT Trial registration required 3,000 250 8 Systematic Review Synthesizes literature and data sources with statistical methods allowing development of summary results that address oral health topics PRISMA or MOOSE (epidemiology) 3,500 250 8 Practice Guideline Health care guidelines based on systematic reviews or other high levels of evidence directed at informing treatment and therapy decisions AGREE reporting and checklist 3,000 250 8 Review Articles Broad overview of a topic-related research area providing intuitive, experiential, and explicit perspectives. Narrative, Scoping, and Umbrella reviews, for example, provide a novel synthesis, interpretation, or analysis of data already published in the literature. PRISMA or MOOSE (epidemiology 3,500 250 8 Clinical Report Studies related to virtually any aspect of oral health care including a variety of study designs and narrative reviews on topics of clinical importance to dentistry Follow published guidelines for specific article type 3,000 250 8 Case Report Reports based on clinical cases that present practical, important information, and novel observations CARE case report guidelines 3,000 250 3 photographs per 790 words Diagnostic Challenge Cases are presented, and the reader is challenged to diagnose the condition See instructions 3,000 None 6 Orofacial Pain Neuroscience Articles on the topic of pain and pain management published in collaboration with the Neuroscience Group of the International Association for Dental Research. Includes case reports and brief reviews Follow published guidelines for specific article type. 3,000 250 8 Ethical Moment Short vignettes on ethics-based problems that dentists encounter and the correct way to handle these situations in accordance with the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct 1,000 None 1 Health Policy Perspectives Column providing overviews of and information about health policies affecting dentists 1,500 None 4 Commentary Reports addressing opinions and explanations about issues, events, and policies relevant to dentistry 1,000 None 1

Article Structure
Investigation, Clinical Trial, and Systematic Reviews, and other Review articles should describe the results of original scientific research that provides new knowledge and/or should offer a new synthesis, interpretation, or analysis of published research data. These articles should follow the structure below. Abstract See Structured Abstract section below. Introduction Background information summarizing the purpose of the study including what is known in the field, why the study was performed, and the question that the research was designed to answer. Methods The research design, how the study was conducted, the preparation of samples or the selection and assignment of participants, statistical methods; control experiments. Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Previously published methods should be summarized and referenced. Results Described in a combination of narrative and graphic format, and including data on adverse events, if relevant. Results should be clear and concise. Discussion Briefly review what others have reported and how findings advance the field. The significance of the key findings, making comparisons with and extending findings from other studies; also includes study limitations. Conclusion A brief summary of the implications of study findings for practice and/or policy, supported by data. Figure Legends Detailed description of all of the figure content. If the figure is multipart, the parts should be labeled A, B, C, etc. The legend should indicate specifically what is shown in each section. References No limit Figures (up to 8 total figures/tables combined) Number consecutively. Ensure that figures are of at least 300 dpi. JPEG, TIFF, or Microsoft PowerPoint formats accepted. Tables (up to 8 total figures/tables combined) Number consecutively and provide a title for each table. Supplemental Materials Can be used to provide complete details of methods used in the experiments. These materials should be organized into separate sections for each specific supplementary item. i.e. different experiments. When additional data are presented, the methods used to obtain the data need to be presented before the data.

Diagnostic Challenge
Typically, 3-4 pages in length and up to 6 images may be used. Images should include representative histopathologic photomicrographs when appropriate. Critical to acceptance are high-quality, high-resolution, well cropped clinical and radiographic images. All images must be taken with an intraoral camera; cell phone images are not acceptable for publication. Authors should reference a recently published Diagnostic Challenge article as a template for presenting the case.

Title Page Should describe the lesion, but not give away the diagnosis. Include author names, academic titles and addresses. Clinical History Begin with a brief clinical history of the patient that contains the essential elements for describing the lesion, disease, or anomaly. The pertinent medical history, onset, location, signs and symptoms, and previous treatments should be included when appropriate to assist the reader in making a diagnosis. Excellent quality clinical photographs or radiographs are critical. These are short case challenges, so avoid using too many illustrations.Depending on the case, the second paragraph may require 1-2 photomicrographs. The purpose of these cases is to provide clinical case challenges for the general dentist. This is not the correct venue for introducing new diseases that have not been previously described. It is understood that most cases will require photomicrographs for a definitive diagnosis. However, the number of photomicrographs should be limited. This section should be around 100-300 words. Diagnosis Options Provide 4-5 possible answers to the question “What is the diagnosis”? in the following format.

1. Diagnosis 1
2. Diagnosis 2
3. Diagnosis 3
4. Diagnosis 4
5. Diagnosis 5

Correct Diagnosis Devoted to the answer and followed by a discussion of that pathologic entity. This should be a relatively short review on the subject, between 250-500 words. Differential Diagnosis After the actual diagnosis, a section discussing the differential diagnoses for the case must be presented. The length of this section should be between 200-500 words. Conclusion A brief summary of the implications of the findings for practice and/or policy, supported by data. References Approximately 10 references should be supplied. Legends Brief legends should be included for each illustration. For photomicrographs, the type of stain and magnification was used to capture the image must be included, along with a brief description.

Structured Abstracts for Each Article Type
Authors should develop the abstract according to the type of manuscript they are submitting, with the understanding that the Editor may assign the manuscript a different designation and ask authors to revise the abstract accordingly. The headings indicated below should be included in the abstract.

Abstracts exceeding 250 words will be flagged in Editorial Manager, and authors will be directed to shorten the abstract. The word counts given in parentheses are suggestions to help authors stay within the 250-word limit. Abstracts that are within the 250 word-limit are acceptable, regardless of the length of the individual sections.

Investigation or Clinical Trial

Heading Description Background (30 words) A summary of the general topic and the purpose or hypotheses of the study. Methods (50 words) A description of the materials (generic names of drugs and equipment should be used, unless the particular brands are crucial to the study), the methods (including the type of study design), and the participants (important eligibility criteria, number, and selection process). Results (50 words) A statement of the primary results of the study; the types of analyses used should be indicated, as should levels of statistical significance and confidence intervals. Conclusions (30 words) A statement of the conclusions (the answers to the hypotheses posed at the beginning of the study). Only the conclusions that are directly supported by the evidence provided by the study should be included. Any need for further study should be indicated. Practical Implications (30 words) A description of the practical implications of the findings; in other words, an answer to the question, “What does this mean for oral health care?” Where possible, authors should provide references and other resources regarding the clinical and practical implications. Key Words (3-8 words) A list of key words highlighting the article’s most important topics. Clinical Trial Registration (for clinical trials only) For blinding purposes, placeholder text for clinical trial registry name and clinical trial registration number should appear at the end of the abstract in the submitted manuscript and should follow this format: “Clinical Trial Registry Name: Clinical Trial Registration Number.” Authors will be asked to provide the clinical trial registry name and clinical trial registration number on the title page and in Editorial Manager at the time of submission. The actual clinical trial registry name and clinical trial registration number will be added to the manuscript after acceptance. See the section on clinical trials for more information.

Systematic or Review Article
Heading Description Background (30 words) A summary of the objective of the literature review, whether the purpose is cause (etiology), diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention. Types of Studies Reviewed (50 words) A description of the types of studies reviewed, including study-selection criteria and the method by which these criteria were applied Results (75 words) A statement of the main results of the review including the sources of variation between studies. Practical Implications (30 words) A description of the practical implications of the findings; in other words, an answer to the question, “What does this mean for oral health care?” Where possible, authors should provide references and other resources regarding the clinical and practical implications. Key Words (3-8 words) A list of key words highlighting the article’s most important topics.

Practice Guideline

Heading Description Background (30 words) A summary of the objective of the literature review, whether the purpose is cause (etiology), diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention. Types of Studies Reviewed (50 words) A description of the types of studies reviewed, including study-selection criteria and the method by which these criteria were applied. Results (75 words) A statement of the main results of the review including the sources of variation between studies. Practical Implications (30 words) A description of the practical implications of the findings; in other words, an answer to the question, “What does this mean for oral health care?” Where possible, authors should provide references and other resources regarding the clinical and practical implications. Key Words (3-8 words) A list of key words highlighting the article’s most important topics.

Clinical Report*/Case Report/Orofacial Pain Neuroscience

Heading Description Background (30 words) A summary of the general topic, the condition being discussed, and the purpose of the article. Case Description (75 words) A description of the condition being presented/studied, including the treatment and the expected versus actual outcomes. Practical Implications (30 words) A description of the practical implications of the findings; answering the question, “What does this mean for oral health care?” Where possible, authors should provide references and other resources regarding the clinical and practical implications. Key Words (3-8 words) A list of key words highlighting the article’s most important topics. * Clinical Report: Structured abstracts for Clinical Reports should be formatted (structure, word count) based on the type of report (for example, Investigation, Case Report, Review).

Commentary
Commentaries on a variety of topics related to oral health care may be submitted. These should highlight new and important topics and issues related to health and the delivery of health care. The commentary need not follow a structured format, should be limited to 1-2 typed pages (maximum of 1,000 words), and may include up to 10 citations, as well as a figure or table.

Letter to the Editor
JADA welcomes letters from readers on articles that have been published in an issue of JADA within the previous 2 months. The letter must address a specific aspect of a particular article rather than air a general disagreement. Accepted letters will be forwarded to the article’s authors for comment. By sending a letter to the editor, the letter writers acknowledge and agree that the letter and all rights of the letter writers in the letter become the property of JADA. Letter writers must disclose any personal or professional affiliations and positions or conflicts of interest so readers can take that into account when assessing the letter writers’ opinions. The views expressed are those of the letter writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or official policy of the ADA.

JADA reserves the right to edit all letters into a publishable format (up to 550 words and 5 citations and no illustrations) and requires all letters to be signed. Letters should be submitted via Editorial Manager (Click the “Register” link on the Editorial Manager home page and follow the step-by-step process to create an account if needed).

Manuscript Preparation and Formatting

Technical Specifications
Manuscripts submitted to JADA must be prepared in Microsoft Word. Illustrations can be submitted as PDF, JPEG, TIFF, or Microsoft PowerPoint files. If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply “as is” in the native document format. See Figures and Tables section below.

Length
Word limits are dependent on the article type, exclusive of title page, abstract, acknowledgments, references, and illustrations (tables, figures, text boxes). Please reference the Article Types table for specific word count limits.

NOTE: JADA does not typically accept submissions of serial articles (Part I, Part II, etc.).

Page Setup
Pages should have 1-inch margins and must be numbered consecutively throughout the document.

Title Page
Each manuscript should have a title page submitted as a separate file from the manuscript to preserve the anonymity of the authors in the double-blind peer review process. The title page should include the following:

• The complete title of the manuscript and complete information for all authors.
  Each author’s full name, degrees, professional title, and work affiliations including position. JADA generally does not publish US fellowships and honorary degrees and designations. Degrees below the master’s level generally are not listed, unless they are the highest degree attained.
• Designation of a corresponding author along with their complete mailing address for the purposes of directing reprint requests after publication.
• A conflict of interest statement for each author.
• A funding statement.
• A statement of institutional review board approval or waiver.
• Clinical Trial registration information (Clinical Trial Registry Name: Clinical Trial Registration Number), if applicable.
• Acknowledgments, if applicable.

Tables and Figures
Tables and figures should augment, not repeat, the text or broad trends illustrated in a figure. Figures and tables should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they are cited in the text. A maximum of 4 figures-charts, graphs, or photographs-and 4 tables or any combination thereof may be submitted.

The exceptions are case reports and articles on esthetic care, in which authors can provide a sufficient number of high-quality photographs to present the material comprehensively, provided that there is an appropriate ratio of text to photographs (3 photographs per 790 words).

Tables

• Variables should be clearly defined and include the unit of measurement and values for any categories. Tables should use units and phrasing consistent with the manuscript’s text.
• Abbreviations should be defined in table footnotes. Unit of measure abbreviations do not need to be defined.
• Row and column headings should contain any necessary units of measure that apply to data in the row or column. Measurement abbreviations should conform to the journal’s style.
• Indicate the analytic approach in the figure footnotes. As appropriate, present the hypothesis, test statistic, and associated P value. The actual P value should be reported, and statements such as “P < .05” or “*” should always be avoided. A very low P value should not be reported as “P = .00”, but rather as “P < .001.”
• For all P values, it should be clear what hypothesis is being tested and what statistical method is being used.
• If the first column of a table includes references, list them by year of publication then alphabetically by the first author’s surname and cite the reference number. If the table is a supplemental table of excluded studies in a review, order the references the same way, but do not include reference numbers.

Figures

• Each chart, graph, or photograph will be counted as a separate illustration.
• For clinical figures, JADA will accept only digital files at least 4 inches (roughly 100 millimeters) in width and at least 300 or more dots per inch (dpi) in JPEG, TIFF, or Microsoft PowerPoint format. These may be uploaded on Editorial Manager.
• JADA will accept digital files (see above for formats) of radiographs, magnetic resonance images, and magnetic resonance angiograms.
• The publisher reserves the right to reject any figure that does not meet the necessary quality standards for publication.

Patients who are clearly identified in the article (either in text or in photographs or videos) must sign the JADA photo release form (PDF), and the signed form must be submitted with the manuscript. Otherwise, photographs should obscure any feature that can identify the patient, including unique physical characteristics, files labeled with patient names, or other identifiers.

General points

• Use uniform lettering and sizing in the original artwork.
• Use a preferred font: Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Times, Symbol, Courier.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for the artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5, or 2-column fitting image.
• Submit individual figure files larger than 10 MB in separate source files.
• Include figure legends at the end of the manuscript file, not on the figure.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions where excerpts from the detailed information are provided.

Formats for Figures
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply “as is” in the native document format. Otherwise, regardless of the application used to create figures, the final artwork should be saved as or converted to 1 of the following formats:

• TIFF, JPEG, or PPT: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
• TIFF, JPEG, or PPT: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1,000 dpi.
• TIFF, JPEG, or PPT: Combinations bitmapped line/halftone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.

Please do not:

• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG).
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Video and audio files
JADA will also accept video files in the following formats: mp4, mpg, mov, avi, gif. The maximum size is 150 MB per file. The acceptable format for audio files is mp3. More information can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/authors/policies-and-guidelines/artwork-and-media-instructions/media-specifications

Supplemental Data
This material should be submitted with each submission of the manuscript (original and revisions) to permit full review.

Manuscript Style

Basic Style/Writing Requirements
JADA style is based on the 11th edition of the AMA Manual of Style. The purpose of any piece of writing is to deliver information. This requires authors to define their message and present it in a way that is readily understood by and engages the reader. Manuscripts should be written in active voice using declarative sentences for a clear, concise style. The overall tone of these reports should be factual and professional, and thus suitable for a scholarly journal. Authors are allowed to express a personal opinion as long as the basis for that opinion is stated plainly. For example, authors may express an opinion “based on long experience and intensive observation.” Other statements of opinion and all statements of fact require references from the appropriate published literature (dental, medical, epidemiologic, practice management, etc.).

Manuscript Title
The title should be brief while clearly conveying the main point or purpose of the article. Short subheads also should be used throughout the article to highlight key points. All submissions, including titles and subheads, are subject to change during the editing process.

Statistical Methods Reporting
Research manuscripts should include an a priori calculation of the sample size necessary to discern a minimally detectable and clinically meaningful effect and include a description of the methods used for primary and secondary analyses. A pre-specified analysis plan is preferred. Interpretation of observational studies should arise from the results of multivariable models or other methods controlling for potential confounding effect modification and dependencies in the data. Interpretation of data from a randomized clinical trial should arise from the primary outcome measure, as analyzed in the pre-specified statistical analysis plan.

JADA requires authors to report an estimate of precision (confidence interval) for all estimated effect sizes, measures of association, or other parameters of interest. Provide confidence intervals for all P values for measures of effect size and measures of association. Interpret confidence intervals in terms of their clinical or practical significance. P values less than .001 should be reported as < .001. Results should be reported with appropriate significant digits that are scientifically meaningful (for example, odds ratios are typically reported with 2 significant digits, and percentages are reported to no more than 1 decimal place).

Unique Characteristics of Oral Health Research
Although oral health research is similar to medical research, dental studies have many characteristics that can affect design and analysis. For example, there are often multiple teeth or tooth sites of interest within the oral cavity. In longitudinal studies, teeth can be lost without losing the study participant, and, perhaps uniquely in human research, observational units may be added through the primary and permanent dentition process. Another unusual feature of oral health research is the capability of doing split-mouth studies. Therefore, give careful consideration to how repeated observations within the same independent individual are to be best handled in the analysis.

Gene Names, Symbols, and Accession Numbers
Authors describing genes or related structures in a manuscript should include the names and official symbols provided by the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) or the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee. Before submission of a research manuscript reporting on large genomic data sets (for example, protein or DNA sequences), the data sets should be deposited in a publicly available database, such as NCBI’s GenBank, and a complete accession number (and version number if appropriate) must be provided in the Methods section or Acknowledgment of the manuscript. JADA observes genetic nomenclature as described in the AMA Manual of Style.

References
All published references should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are referenced in the text. No references should be cited in the abstract. Each reference should be numbered only once; on subsequent citations, the original number should be used. Personal communications and unpublished data should not be numbered, but should be cited in the text as follows:

(G Edmunds, DDS, oral communication, November 2004)

Text: Indicate references by (consecutive) superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. The numerals are to be used outside periods and commas and inside colons and semicolons. For further detail and examples, you are referred to the AMA Manual of Style, A Guide for Authors and Editors, Eleventh Edition, ISBN 978-0190246556.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun. 2010;163(1):51-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372

Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
2. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205

Reference to a book:
3. Strunk W Jr, White EB. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Longman; 2000.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
4. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, eds. Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing; 2009:281-304.

Reference to a website:
5. Zika travel information. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. January 26, 2016. Updated August 11, 2016. Accessed June 18, 2019. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information

Reference to software:
7. Coon E, Berndt M, Jan A, et al. Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88). Zenodo; 2020, March 25. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Data References
JADA encourages authors to cite underlying or relevant data sets in the text and include a data reference in the reference list. Data references should include author names, data set title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add “[data set]” immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [data set] identifier will not appear in the published article.

Example
[data set] 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

Reference management software
Please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

Submission and Review Process

How to Submit an Article
All new manuscripts must be submitted via Editorial Manager, JADA’s online submission website at https://www.editorialmanager.com/jada/default.aspx. Click the “Register” link on the Editorial Manager home page and follow the step-by-step process to create an account if needed.

After registration, on the dashboard, select the author role on the dashboard and click on “Submit New Manuscript”

Manuscript Type
When submitting a manuscript, authors will need to designate the article type in Editorial Manager. The Editor reserves the right to change the article designation.

Author Identification and Roles.
In addition to providing each author’s name, degrees, professional title, work affiliations including positions, complete address, phone number, and email address on the title page, authors will also need to answer a submission question regarding this information. The corresponding author must provide a statement of responsibility delineating the specific contribution of each author to the manuscript.

ORCID Identifiers
Open Researcher and Contributor IDs (ORCID) is a nonprofit organization that aims to solve the long-standing name ambiguity problem in research and scholarly communication through the creation and maintenance of a central registry of unique identifiers for individual researchers and an open, transparent linking mechanism between ORCID and other current author identifier systems. To learn more about ORCID, please visit http://www.orcid.org. JADA encourages authors to register for an ORCID and include it in the submission.

Manuscript Submission and Review Process
The Editor will review all submissions, and those deemed to meet journal criteria for scope, originality, and potential impact will undergo peer review. Those that do not meet these criteria will be returned to the authors.

Peer Review
JADA uses a double-blind review process in which neither authors nor the reviewers know the identity of the other. All contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor for suitability for JADA. Manuscripts deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of 2 independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the manuscript. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor’s decision is final. Authors are required to suggest 2 reviewers who are not associated with the authors’ institutions or related institutions and may request the exclusion of particular reviewers from critiquing their manuscript. NOTE: Authors cannot include as a preferred reviewer anyone who works at their own institution. Reviewers keep their critiques strictly confidential. Because the reviewers volunteer their time, reviews may take 3 to 4 weeks to complete.

Decision
Once the reviewers have completed their critiques, the Editor examines their comments and makes a decision about the manuscript’s disposition:

• accept
• minor revision
• major revision
• revise-language
• reject-out of scope
• reject without review
• reject

Revisions
Authors may be asked to revise their submission. When submitting a revision, please include:

• A clean revised manuscript file. This document should be in Microsoft Word doc format and remain blinded.
• A marked revised manuscript file showing the changes that have been made in the revision using highlighting or tracked changes. This document should be in Microsoft Word doc format and remain blinded.
• A document that includes each comment from the reviewers and editors with point-by-point responses about the changes that have been made in the manuscript to address the comment. This document should remain blinded.

Editing
JADA reserves the right to edit manuscripts for conciseness, clarity, and style and to fit articles to available space. After accepted articles are edited, authors will receive proofs for review and comment.

Submission Checklist
Please note that JADA employs a double-blind review process where neither the authors nor the reviewers know the identity of the other. Authors should ensure that they have done all of the following to comply with the journal’s double-blind peer review blinding policy:

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should complete all steps for submission and blinding outlined in the submission checklist below. This will ensure an efficient processing of the submission.

General submission checklist:

• Electronic files of the manuscript and each table and figure should be uploaded. Tables can be grouped and uploaded in 1 file. Figures should be uploaded separately and should not be embedded in the document.
• After the manuscript has been submitted, all authors will receive an email with instructions to electronically complete the conflict of interest and copyright transfer agreement information.
• All references are checked for accuracy, correct format, and completeness.
• If applicable, acknowledgments are included in the manuscript on the title page.
• Complete information-name, degrees, position or title, address, phone number, email address-is included for the corresponding author.
• Article type guidelines and limits for abstract structure, word count limits, and figure and table limits are followed
• The document, figures, tables, and supplemental files are blinded of all identifying information.
• An Institutional Review Board statement is included for all studies involving human subjects.

Double-blind peer review checklist:

• Author information must appear in the cover letter and title page file only.
• Clinical trial registration information (Clinical Trial Registry Name and Clinical Trial Registration Number) must appear on the title page and be entered into Editorial Manager at the time of submission.
• For blinding purposes, authors should insert placeholder text at the end of the abstract and throughout the text where the clinical trial registry name and number would normally appear, which reads: “Clinical Trial Registry Name: Clinical Trial Registration Number.” The actual clinical trial registry name and clinical trial registration number will be added to the abstract and anywhere else it appears in the manuscript after acceptance and will appear in the published paper.
• There must be no references to author names, initials, or institutions in the title, abstract, manuscript, figures, tables, and supplemental files.
• Any acknowledgments must be listed in the title page file and not the manuscript file.
• Direct references to the authors’ previous work must be blinded. Previous studies by the authors must be referenced in text in a way that does not attribute the work to the authors or institutions of the current submission. For example, use “A previous study shows,” not “In our previous study.”
• The file names must be blinded.
• Clinical trial registry name and the clinical trial registration number must be included in full on the title page, as well as be blinded in the manuscript by including placeholder text in the following format: “Clinical Trial Registry Name: Clinical Trial Registration Number.”
• Conflict of interest and funding statements must be included in full in the title page and blinded in the manuscript.
• Institutional review board approval or waiver statements must be included in full in the title page and blinded in the manuscript.

Author Responsibilities

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent/Assent
JADA requires that all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human participants, human specimens, animals, or animal specimens include a description (blinded in the Methods section and in full detail on the separate title page) of formal review and approval or, if appropriate, formal review and waiver by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee. Authors may be asked to request that the institutional review board or ethics committee responsible for oversight of the study provide, directly to the Editor, documentation of its formal review and recommendation. For investigations involving human participants, authors must state in the Methods section that study participants provided informed consent/assent.

Personal Communications and Unpublished Data
JADA requires authors to obtain permission from each person identified in the manuscript as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data. By submitting a manuscript, authors represent and warrant to JADA that such permission has been obtained, if applicable. JADA recommends that such permissions be in writing and that authors maintain the signed statements in their records for a reasonable period after publication of the article in JADA. Authors must specify in the manuscript the date of the communication or the data, as well as whether the communication was written or oral.

Consent Form
Any person who is clearly identified in the article (either in text or in photographs or in videos) must sign the JADA photo release form (PDF), and the form must be submitted with the manuscript.

Clinical Trials
CONSORT statement
If a manuscript concerns a clinical trial, JADA requires that it conform to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement (http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-2010). Use the appropriate CONSORT extension for specific trial design type (for example. crossover trial, cluster trial). Authors must also use intention-to-treat analysis in their clinical trial.

Registration of clinical trials
JADA requires that clinical trials be registered publicly before any participants are enrolled in the study. The specific trial registry name and the registry number (for example, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00000000) should be included in full on the title page of each manuscript reporting a clinical trial.

JADA follows ICMJE suggestions that clinical trials be registered in any publicly accessible registration registry listed on the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) that includes the minimum acceptable 24-item trial registration dataset or on ClinicalTrials.gov.

For blinding purposes, authors should insert placeholder text at the end of the abstract, which reads: Clinical Trial Registry Name: Clinical Trial Registration Number. References to the clinical trial registry name and clinical trial registration number should also be removed from the text of the manuscript. Authors will be asked to provide the clinical trial registry name and the clinical trial registration number on their title page and in Editorial Manager at the time of submission. The actual clinical trial registry name and clinical trial registration number will be added to the abstract and anywhere else it appears in the manuscript after acceptance and will appear in the published paper.

A statistical analysis plan for at least the primary outcome measure should be included with the registration. The registration identification should not appear in the manuscript document to preserve the double-blind review process. If the manuscript is accepted, the trial registry name and registration number will be published at the end of the article’s abstract.

Observational Studies
Studies in which the investigator does not assign the intervention do not require registration.

Typically, observational studies involve many variables, and a pre-specified analysis plan is preferred to avoid “data dredging” and other threats to validity. Interpretation of observational studies should arise from the results of multivariable models or other methods controlling for potential confounding, effect modification, and dependencies in the data. Conclusions should not be based on unadjusted analyses with a single predictor (independent variable) unless confounding can be otherwise excluded. If multiple statistical tests are performed, consider how adjustment for multiple comparisons may be best done.

It is increasingly common for databases with large numbers of observations to be available for analysis. These analyses often can identify very small differences as having “P < .001.” Accordingly, interpretation should be driven by practical or clinically meaningful considerations.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
If the manuscript involves a systematic review, JADA requires that it conforms to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, available at http://prisma-statement.org/.

Questionnaire or Survey Instrument
If the study involves a questionnaire or survey instrument created by the authors, please upload the file containing that instrument with your submission as a supplemental file.

Response to Letters to the Editor
Authors may be invited to prepare a response to any letter to the editor about the article that the Editor deems appropriate for publication. (For further information, see the Letters to the Editor section under Article Types.)

Reprint Permission
If authors are reproducing or adapting any published material, either text or illustrations that is copyrighted by others, written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material in JADA must be obtained. Authors may obtain permission via the Copyright Clearance Center. Authors may also use the official JADA template letter. Manuscripts will not be published until ADA Publishing receives a signed copy of the permission letter from each copyright holder of previously published material and provide JADA with complete citation information for the reproduced material. For any questions about permissions and reuse, please consult the Elsevier permissions page at https://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Role of Funding Source
Authors are requested to identify the source of financial support for the conduct of the research or preparation of the article. Authors are asked to briefly describe the role of the sponsors, 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 sources had no such involvement, then this should be stated.

Author Contributions
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following:

• The conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data
• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
• Final approval of the version to be submitted

Further information on the ICMJE guidelines for authorship can be found here: All authors should be listed with their affiliations including positions, their academic degrees, and their scientific or clinical contributions to the article. The Editor and publisher reserve the right to ask for justification for each author’s inclusion.

Practical Implications
Authors must ensure that the article describes the practical implications of the findings, answering the question, “What does this mean for oral health care?” This should be included in the abstract.

Disclosures
Authors and coauthors must disclose any financial, economic, or professional interests that may influence positions presented in the article. This disclosure will be published with the article. After a manuscript is submitted, authors and coauthors will receive an email prompting them to log into Editorial Manager, complete the conflict of interest form (as well as a copyright transfer agreement), and submit it as directed. Manuscripts submitted without the requisite signed conflict of interest forms will not be reviewed unless and until JADA receives a valid, executed JADA conflict of interest form from each author.

The use and declaration of AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing
Where authors use artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should:

• Only use these technologies to improve readability and language, not to replace key researcher tasks, such as interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions.
• Apply the technology with human oversight and control, and carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.
• Not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, or cite AI 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.
• 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 AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in a new section entitled `Declaration of 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.

NOTE: 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.

JADA Preprint Policy
JADA will accept papers that have been posted on preprint servers. We consider preprints to represent an early version of a paper that has not been peer reviewed. We therefore request that the following conventions be followed for the sake of full transparency. The goal is to ensure that all modifications to a preprint and subsequent versions be noted, so readers are clear on all changes to experimental protocols, changes to data sets, and changes to discussions or figures. JADA requests that the paper be placed on a single preprint server and not appear on multiple servers.

1. Preprint servers must clearly indicate that the content has not been peer reviewed
   • The preprint itself must also be clearly marked “preprint,” and that it has not undergone peer review.
2. Citations to preprints in published papers or in other preprints must indicate that the paper is a preprint and must follow this format
   • Author names, Title of Preprint, Preprint Server Name, Date of Posting, “Preprint,” Version, Withdrawal status: (withdrawn or active), DOI number
   • Preprints must have a DOI number
   • Citations for preprints in the published JADA article must include the DOI number of the preprint
3. Versions and updates
   • Modifications to the posted preprint must be noted with the date of the modification
   • Versions of the preprint must be referenced as unique publications, each of which follows the citation format for a preprint, and each must carry a number or identifier to indicate the specific version of the original preprint
   • Citation: Author names, Title of Preprint, Preprint Server Name, Date of Posting, “Preprint,” Version 3, Withdrawal status: (withdrawn or active), DOI number
4. Withdrawal status
   • If the preprint has been removed from the server, the citation should note its status as “withdrawn”: Author names, Title of Preprint, Preprint Server Name, Date of Posting, “Preprint,” Version 3, Withdrawal status: Withdrawn or Active, DOI number
   • Preprints that remain on the server should be referenced as “active” in the citation
5. Referencing the JADA publication in the preprint
   • Once an article has been published in JADA, the preprint must be updated to include a reference to the JADA paper
   • The note should read as follows: This paper has been published in The Journal of the American Dental Association. Author names, Title of JADA article, Volume, pages, date, DOI number, URL for posted article

Post Acceptance

Proofs
To ensure timely processing of the article, we kindly ask authors to return their proof corrections within 2 days. Corresponding authors will receive an email with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to Microsoft Word: in addition to editing text, authors can also comment on figures and tables and answer questions from the copy editor. web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing authors to directly type corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.

If preferred, authors can still choose to annotate and upload edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the email we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.

We will do everything possible to get the 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 be considered at this stage only with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections be sent back in 1 communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely the author’s responsibility.

Online Ahead of Print
To make the research available as quickly as possible, JADA publishes articles online ahead of print shortly after page proofs are approved by the author. These can be found at http://jada.ada.org/inpress. These articles will be clearly marked as Corrected Proofs, which are versions of articles that have been peer reviewed, accepted, and copyedited and include author corrections. No major changes are expected to be made to these articles before final publication.

The articles published online ahead of print can be cited as follows: Author(s). Article title (date article published online ahead of print). JADA. Digital object identifier (DOI). Once the article is assigned to a volume and issue of JADA, the Corrected Proof version will be removed and the Final version will appear online, accompanied by the year of publication and the volume, issue, and page numbers. The date an article was first made available online will be carried over.

Embargo
Details of a paper accepted for publication in JADA are embargoed until the date of publication. Authors should not publicly discuss the data presented in a paper accepted for publication in JADA until the date of publication. Authors are also asked to refrain from unauthorized prepublication release of accepted manuscripts. This policy applies to all categories of articles, including research, review, commentary, letters to the editor, etc. Information contained in or about accepted articles cannot appear in print, audio, video, or digital form or be released by the news media until the specified embargo release date.

Publicity
Any publicity (press releases, press coverage, etc.) about articles published in JADA must be coordinated through the ADA Communications Department (phone 312.440.2598, email [email protected]).

Complimentary Copies and Share Link
The corresponding author, at no cost, will receive 2 copies of the JADA issue including the article, as well as a customized Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form, which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding authors and coauthors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier’s Webshop. Corresponding authors who publish articles open access do not receive a Share Link, as the final published versions of their articles are available open access on ScienceDirect and can be shared through the articles’ DOI links.

Reprinting Material Published in JADA
All accepted manuscripts and their accompanying illustrations become the permanent property of the ADA, owner and publisher of JADA, and may not be published elsewhere in full or in part, in print or electronically, without written permission from the ADA. Any party seeking individual or multiple copies of material published in JADA must request permission from Elsevier’s Permissions Help Desk at https://service.elsevier.com/app/contact/supporthub/permissions-helpdesk/. The request must state exactly what material is being borrowed, the issue in which it was published, the intended use of the material being borrowed, the name of the publication in which the reprinted material will appear (if applicable), the print quantity of distribution, the audience, and whether the use is for financial gain.

State and local dental societies can request permission directly from the publisher to use JADA content by using this form. Societies should fill out the form and email it to Stefanie Jewell-Thomas at Elsevier ([email protected]) and cc Amy Lund at the ADA ([email protected]).

Further guidelines on reprinting are available from the publisher.

Errata, Corrections, Retractions
JADA is committed to correcting errors in published papers. In the interest of preserving scientific integrity, authors are encouraged to report postpublication corrections to the editor as soon as the errors are discovered.

Corrections that do not substantively affect scientific conclusions will be corrected in online versions of the paper, and an Erratum will appear in the next available print publication.

Authors are encouraged to bring to the attention of the Editor errors that affect the core conclusions of the paper. These errors must be addressed in an expanded Erratum, in which the errors must be explained along with the scientific implications of the corrections. Substantial errata may undergo peer review.

If JADA receives information alleging changes are the result of large-scale error or misconduct, JADA may launch an investigation or may accept the conclusions of an institutional investigation. If such investigations conclude that misconduct has taken place, JADA will respond according to COPE or ICMJE recommendations.

In extreme cases, JADA may issue a retraction in the event that errors or misconduct render the research findings irreproducible or if the core conclusions are invalidated.

Author Inquiries
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles please contact the JADA editorial office at [email protected]. For detailed instructions on the preparation of electronic artwork, please visit https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. Authors can track accepted articles at https://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. Authors can also check the Author FAQs at https://www.elsevier.com/authors or contact Customer Support via https://service.elsevier.com.