Ethics - Global Research Publishing

Romanian Journal for Dental Research Policy on Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Romanian Journal for Dental Research (RJDR) and its editorial board fully adhere and comply to the policies and principles of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (the former Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers). (https://publicationethics.org/files/2008 Code of Conduct.pdf)

A selection of key points is included below, but you should always refer to the documents listed above for full details.

Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit (importance, originality, study’s validity, clarity) and its relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. Decisions to edit and publish are not determined by the policies of governments or any other agencies outside of the journal itself. The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content.

Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Editors and editorial board members will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors as a result of handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage. Editors will recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the papers; instead, they will ask another member of the editorial board to handle the manuscript.

The editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication undergo peer-review by at least two reviewers who are expert in the field. The Editor-in Chief is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Editor-in Chief may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations (ethical problems; redundant publication; plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship etc.)

Editors (in conjunction with the publisher and reviewers) will take responsive measures (according to COPE), when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior will be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication. RJDR editors follow the COPE Flowcharts when dealing with cases of suspected misconduct, such as redundant publications, plagiarism, ethical problems, fabricated data, changes in authorship etc. If, on investigation, the ethical concern is well-founded, a correction, retraction, expression of concern or another note as may be relevant, will be published in the journal.

Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of scientific endeavor. RJDR shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to the scientific process have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.

Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Any manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such; they must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the Editor-in-Chief (who would only do so under exceptional and specific circumstances). This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Reviews should be conducted objectively and observations formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that is an observation, derivation or argument that has been reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also notify the editors of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other manuscript (published or unpublished) of which they have personal knowledge.

Any invited referee who has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately notify the editors to declare their conflicts of interest and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted. Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Note that the reviewers of the Romanian Journal for Dental Research, first check out the articles with the Plagiarism Detector software (https://plagiarismdetector.com/c/en/index.php) and in cases of clear evidence of plagiarism or redundant (duplicate) publication, the editor-in-chief will be announced, following the process described above.

Authors wishing to publish their papers in Romanian Journal for Dental Research (RJDR) must abide to the following:

Any facts that might be perceived as a possible conflict of interest of the author(s) must be disclosed in the paper prior to submission.

Authors should accurately present their research findings and include an objective discussion of the significance of their findings.

Data and methods used in the research need to be presented in sufficient detail in the paper, so that other researchers can replicate the work.

Raw data should preferably be publicly deposited by the authors before submission of their manuscript. Authors need to at least have the raw data readily available for presentation to the referees and the editors of the journal, if requested. Authors need to ensure appropriate measures are taken so that raw data is retained in full for a reasonable time after publication.

Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal is not tolerated.

Republishing content that is not novel is not tolerated (for example, an English translation of a paper that is already published in another language will not be accepted).

If errors and inaccuracies are found by the authors after publication of their paper, they need to be promptly communicated to the editors of this journal so that appropriate actions can be taken. Please refer to our policy regarding publication of publishing addenda and corrections.

The manuscript should not contain any information that has already been published. If authors include already published figures or images, they have to obtain the necessary permission from the copyright holder to publish under the CC-BY license. For further information, see the Rights and Permissions page.

Plagiarism, data fabrication and image manipulation are not tolerated. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source.

Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be between quotes and the original source must be cited. If a study’s design or the manuscript’s structure or language has been inspired by previous works, these works must be explicitly cited.

If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is the author’s responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners.

If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may publish a correction or retract the paper.

Image files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image.

Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium. Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at rjdr@srcmd.ro.

All manuscripts must be originally and exclusively. The Romanian Journal for Dental Research Editor will consider only articles that are original, have not been published elsewhere and have been submitted exclusively to Romanian Journal for Dental Research.

A signed copy of the Author Declaration Form must be uploaded in the submission process.

(1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or statistical analysis and interpretation of data,

(2) manuscript preparation or literature overview, or revising the article critically for important intellectual content,

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement.

By sending the article for publication the author(s):
– take full responsibility for the scientific content of the text and for the accuracy of the send data;
– become (co)author(s) of the manuscript (all further plagiarism accusation are addressed solely to the author(s) who signed the manuscript);
– declare they are the rightful owners of the images, figures and/or information sent for publishing and that they have the permission to publish all the materials for which they do not own the intellectual property rights;
– declare that the message/content of the manuscript is not influenced in anyway by commercial interests/previous engagements/ any sort of relations with other people or companies;

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

Authors are required to disclose all sources of institutional, private and corporate financial support for their study. Donors of materials (for free or at a discount from current rates) should be named in the source of funding and their location (town, state/county, country) included.

Other donors will be identified in the text. If no funding has been available other than that of the author’s institution, this should be specified upon submission. Authors are also required to disclose any potential conflict of interest. These include financial interests (for example patent, ownership, stock ownership, consultancies, speaker’s fee,) or provision of study materials by their manufacturer for free or at a discount from current rates.

The Romanian Journal for Dental Research (RJDR) follows the recommendations by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (see recommendations) which require that all financial, commercial or other relationships that might be perceived by the academic community as representing a potential conflict of interest must be disclosed. If no such relationship exists, authors will be asked to declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Please complete and add the Conflict of Interest Statement with your manuscript during the submission process. Inclusion of this form is mandatory.

For all manuscripts that include details, or images relating to individual participants, written informed consent for the publication of these must be obtained from the participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. If the participant has died, then consent for publication must be sought from the next of kin of the participant. Documentation showing consent for publication must be made available to the Editor on request and will be treated confidentially. In cases where images are unidentifiable and there are no details on individuals reported within the manuscript, consent for publication of images may not be required. The final decision on whether consent to publish is required lies with the Editor.

Studies involving human participants must be performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines, with the appropriate institutional ethics committee’s approval and informed written consent from all human subjects involved in the study, including the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (version, 2013) and the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (see here).

Patient anonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects being recognized (or an eye bar should be used). Images and information from individual participants will only be published where the authors have obtained the individual’s free prior informed consent. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the publisher; however, in signing the author license to publish, authors are required to confirm that consent has been obtained. Consent for publication is required for studies involving human subjects ‒ ALL case reports, letters that describe cases and some original articles. Cohort studies are exempt; instead evidence of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval (name of IRB, date of approval and approval code/reference number) must be provided.
Manuscripts reporting clinical trial data need to include the name of the public registry under which the clinical trial has been registered, and the number of the trial. For most article types, the information should appear in the Materials and Methods section. For example: This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of ‘name of guidelines, name of committee’ with written informed consent from all subjects. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
For incompetent patients (e.g., young children, unconscious patients) some form of consent, such as from family members, is needed.

A statement indicating that the protocol and procedures employed were ethically reviewed and approved, as well as the name of the body giving approval, must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to adhere to animal research reporting standards, for example the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting study design and statistical analysis; experimental procedures; experimental animals and housing and husbandry. Authors should also state whether experiments were performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals:

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