Author guidelines
The Journal is published quarterly for the New Zealand Dental Association on the first of March, June, September, and December. It is sent free to members. Subscription rates for non-members are $190 per annum in New Zealand (including GST), $270 for Australia, and $310 for the rest of the world. Inquiries about subscriptions should be emailed to Jill Watson.
Letters to the Editor, news items, and similar copy for publication should be emailed to the Editor so as to reach him not later than the first day of the month preceding that of publication.
Communications on business or advertising matters should be addressed to the NZDA, PO Box 28084, Remuera, Auckland 1541. Advertisements are subject to the approval of the Publishers, whose acceptance of any order does not affect their right to require the alteration of any copy considered unsuitable. The right is reserved to refuse or interrupt any advertisement or series of advertisements.
Information for Authors
The Editor welcomes original articles, clinical reports, correspondence, and news items on the understanding that they are contributed solely to the New Zealand Dental Journal. The Editor reserves the right to edit contributions to ensure conciseness, clarity, and consistency with the style of the Journal.
Manuscripts
Submitted manuscripts must be written clearly and concisely in English and represent work which is not being considered for publication elsewhere. The manuscript should be typed with 1.5 spacing and margins of 2.5cm. Submission of manuscripts for consideration for publication as journal articles should be submitted via our journal's manuscript management site, at https://nzdj.otago.ac.nz/nzdj/. Please email the Editor if you wish to submit a manuscript and require an account to be created for you.
The first page should contain only the title of the article, a short running title, the name(s) of the author(s), and the address of the author to whom correspondence should be addressed. The names, qualifications, and addresses of all authors should appear after the References. The second page should repeat the title of the article; the Abstract will follow the title.
Authors should note the style of articles in the Journal, particularly with respect to the style and positions of headings. Please note, however, that paragraphs should not be indented in the manuscript, that bold type should not be used in headings or in the text, and that italics should be used only for the titles of books or journals listed in the References.
If an author wishes to use any text, tables, or illustrations from previously published work, permission must be obtained from the holder of the copyright. A copy of the letter of approval should be submitted with the manuscript.
Authors are advised to seek review from a colleague before the article is submitted. Articles are subject to external review following submission. The letter of submission should be signed by each of the authors, should contain a statement assigning copyright to the Journal, and should indicate that the work is original and has not been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Tables
Tables should be simple in format, without vertical or horizontal lines. They should be typed on separate pages and numbered with Arabic numerals. The heading for each table should be self-explanatory. Further guidance on putting Tables together Is available from the Editor.
Figures
Figures should be numbered with Arabic numerals. Photographs, photomicrographs, and radiographs should be clear and in sharp focus. Prints are preferred over transparencies. A reasonable number of colour illustrations will be published without charge to the author. Care should be taken with labelling of illustrations – labels should not be handwritten, and they should be of sufficient size to ensure clarity is not lost during any reduction necessary for publication. Graphs and histograms should be clear and simple in structure, and their format should, in general, conform to the proportions of the printed page. Figures should be kept separate from the text. Legends should describe each figure clearly and be typed on a separate page. Figures (including photographs and line art) should be submitted in a high-resolutionformat as separate files, not embedded in the manuscript document.
Abstracts
Reports of research should include a structured abstract (of no more than 250 words), using the headings below.
Background and objectives: State the rationale for conducting for the study and what the objectives of the research were; this should be related to the stated conclusion.
Methods: Provide information on the study design, the setting, and the participants and how these were selected, and from what population. If an intervention was used, describe it.
Results: The main results should be given, with appropriate and Informative data to support the conclusions and demonstrate that the study’s objectives were met.
Conclusions: The conclusion should be brief and relate only to the implications of the study findings.
References
Referencing in the New Zealand Dental Journal is based on the APA reference style. Arrange the bibliography list in alphabetical order by last name of the first author, without numbering. List all authors for each paper included in the reference list.
For in-text citations, cite author and year of publications. Where there are two authors use both author names. Where there are three or more authors use the surname of the first author and et al. When citing multiple references by the same author(s) in the same year, use “a”, “b”, etc (e.g., Jones, 1980b). “Unpublished observations”, “personal communications” and Web sites are not to be used as references but may be used in footnotes. Abbreviate journal names according to the style used in Index Medicus. Avoid using abstracts as references.
Examples of correct forms of references are listed below. They are single-spaced here for illustration but should be 1.5-spaced in the manuscript.
The form of reference to a journal article is:
Waddell JN, Girvan L, Aarts JM, Wu W, Swain MV. (2010) Elemental composition of imported Porcelain-Fused-to-Metal crowns – a pilot study. NZ Dent J 106:50-54.
The form of reference to a report is:
Hunter PB, Kirk R, and de Liefde B (1992). The Study of Oral Health Outcomes. The 1988 New Zealand Section of the WHO Second International Collaborative Study. Wellington: Department of Health.
The form of reference to a book is:
Cameron A and Widmer R (1997). Handbook of Pediatric Dentistry. London: Mosby (pages 179-181).
The form of reference to a book chapter is:
Brown RH (1996). Dental Health. In Silva PA and Stanton WR (Editors). From Child to Adult. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Auckland: Oxford University Press (pages 130-149).
When authors are doubtful about how a work should be referenced, they should provide full details of the publication following the relevant guidelines above.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgment of the assistance of persons contributing significantly to the research or preparation of the article should be placed before the references. The Editor expects that the author will have obtained the approval of these persons for their names to be included. The source of support for research should be acknowledged; support by manufacturers or suppliers of materials or equipment mentioned in articles should always be disclosed.
Ethics statement
1. Authorship and contributorship
Contributions of each author should be stated at the end of each manuscript, consistent with the journal’s editorial policy on authorship. The nature of each author’s contribution to the manuscript should be stated, across the following categories: conception or design of the work, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, drafting the article, critical revision of the article, and final approval of the version to be published. Consider carefully the role of each author, that their contribution merits authorship of the work and that they are able to take responsibility for its content. Gifting of authorship is not permitted, and ‘final approval’ of the manuscript for submission is not sufficient grounds for authorship alone.
2. Ethical oversight
All research involving human participants should abide by the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (revised 2013). It is the responsibility of manuscript authors to ensure their research has received appropriate ethical oversight prior to conducting the research and that informed consent has been given by each participant. Manuscripts should report details of ethical review and consent. In cases where research is deemed to be exempt from formal ethical review, a statement to this effect should be included. It is expected that investigators have consulted with Māori for research involving or of interest to Māori.
3. Conflicts of interest/competing interest
Potentially relevant conflicts of interest may include commercial or financial interests or connections that could be perceived as relevant to the work, or any other issue or situation that might raise the question of bias in any part of the research. Conflicts may be direct/indirect or past/current. Authors must disclose interests potentially relevant to the content of any submitted manuscript. If conflicts of interest exist, a statement explaining these conflicts must be included in the manuscript. The editor may require further information about any potential conflicts of interest. Peer reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest to the handling editor. Journal editors must declare any potential conflicts to the Board of the New Zealand Dental Association.
4. Animal rights
Papers including research involving animals must include a statement that the research was approved and monitored by an appropriate animal ethics committee, and provide the name of the committee and reference number. Research must comply with the requirements of New Zealand’s animal welfare legislation (the Animal Welfare Act) and relevant codes. International submissions should additionally comply with relevant regulations for the jurisdiction where the research was conducted
5. Intellectual property
Authors submitting work to the New Zealand Dental Journal retain the rights to that work until publication. Manuscripts that appear in print in the New Zealand Dental Journal are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. It is free to publish with the NZDJ, and content from the NZDJ is free to share, but shared content must be attributed to the authors, acknowledge NZDA/NZDJ as the publisher, and may not be modified or used commercially.
6. Peer review
All submitted manuscripts are subject to peer review to assess their quality and originality and maintain the integrity of the journal. Following submission the Editorial Office checks the papers composition against the Journal’s Author Guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief checks whether the paper is appropriate for the journal and is original and interesting. If not, the paper may be rejected without review. The manuscript is then sent for blind peer review; normally at least 2 reviewers are used. If reviews differ widely or where reviewers lack relevant expertise, the handling editor may invite additional reviewers to consider the manuscript. The Clinical Editor manages case reports, the Scientific Editor manages all other manuscripts. Where an editor has an authorship interest in a submitted paper, that editor is excluded from the peer review process. Once reviewer reports have been received, the handling editor submits a peer-review report to the editor-in-chief, who makes the final decision on the manuscript. If accepted, the paper is sent to production. If rejected or recommended for revision the peer review report is sent back to the authors. Revised manuscripts must be received within 3 months or be considered a new submission.
7. Journal management
The editorial board of the New Zealand Dental Journal manages all aspects of the journal. The editorial board of the journal is selected by the Board of the New Zealand Dental Association and the Editor reports on the Journal at meetings of the Association Board.
8. Post-publication discussion and corrections
The New Zealand Dental Journal allows debate post-publication through letters to the editor. The New Zealand Dental Journal will issue corrections, retraction statements, Editor’s Notes and Editorial Expressions of Concern as necessary where issues are noted post-publication.
9. Allegations of misconduct
Any allegation brought to the attention of the Editorial Board or publisher (New Zealand Dental Association), will be considered by the Journal’s Editorial Board, including the editorial adviser. Allegations and their outcomes will be reported to the Board of the New Zealand Dental Association (the publisher). In the instance misconduct (including but not limited to plagiarism, falsification of research findings, an undeclared conflict of interest, or authorship gifting) is discovered in relation to a manuscript under consideration for publication, the peer review process will be put on hold and the manuscript may be withdrawn, depending upon the resolution of the issue. If misconduct is detected subsequent to publication, this will be addressed through publication of a clarification, correction, or (in severe cases) retraction of the published work. Software to detect similarities between text in a submitted document and pre-existing documents may be used: plagiarism and redundant publication are not permitted. Authors using images or information derived from other sources must obtain and report this permission.
10. Complaints and appeals
Complaints against the journal, its editorial board, or publisher may be addressed to the editor-in-chief and/or the CEO of the NZDA.
