Publication Ethics and Policies
The Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Pathology and Surgery (3DJ), a member of the Negah Journals family, owned by Guilan University of Medical Sciences and co-published by the Negah Institute for Social Research & Scientific Communication, is fully committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics. The journal adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the Declaration of Helsinki for ethical research. These policies provide guidance on the proper conduct of editors, authors, and reviewers and are designed to ensure integrity, transparency, and fairness in all aspects of publication.

1. Authors and Authorship
All listed authors must meet the ICMJE authorship criteria:

• Substantial contributions to conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
• Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content.
• Final approval of the version to be published.
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring accuracy and integrity.

• Ensure accuracy and validity of all results before submission.
• Follow Creative Commons licensing policies.
• Submit copyright transfer forms upon acceptance.
• Avoid promoting their work for publication outside legitimate academic channels.
• Acknowledge AI-assisted tools used in manuscript preparation, citing the tools and describing their usage.

• Making decisions based solely on scientific merit, originality, clarity, and relevance.
• Ensuring rapid, unbiased, and confidential peer review.
• Handling submissions from board members or themselves transparently and independently.
• Maintaining academic integrity and publishing corrections, clarifications, or retractions when necessary.
• Protecting the confidentiality of all submitted material until publication.
• Following COPE flowcharts for suspected misconduct or ethical issues.
• Encouraging debate and publishing negative or contradictory results to ensure scientific balance.

• Manuscripts are initially assessed by an editorial committee to decide if they merit peer review.
• Qualified international experts conduct reviews under the supervision of the Section Editor and Editor-in-Chief.
• Reviewers must keep all information confidential, disclose conflicts of interest, and provide objective, constructive, and unbiased evaluations.
• Reviews inform editorial decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection.

• Structure, relevance, and adherence to author guidelines
• Purpose, objectives, introduction, and conclusions
• References, originality, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and plagiarism
• Overall suitability and contribution to the field

• Fabrication: Making up data or results
• Falsification: Manipulating data or methods
• Plagiarism: Using others’ work without proper credit
• Duplicate publication: Republishing previously reported data without acknowledgment

• Retractions
• Corrections
• Expressions of concern

• All submissions are confidential and belong to the authors.
• Reviewers and editors must not publicly discuss or appropriate ideas prior to publication.
• Confidential information may only be disclosed if fraud or dishonesty is suspected.
• Copies of manuscripts must be returned or destroyed after review or editorial use.

• Editors, authors, and reviewers must disclose potential conflicts.
• Reviewers should decline if conflicts might bias evaluation.
• Commercial considerations, including advertising and sponsored supplements, must not influence editorial decisions.

• Plagiarism is strictly prohibited and checked via iThenticate and Farsi-specific detection tools.
• Editors detect full, partial, and self-plagiarism and follow COPE guidelines for corrective action.
• Authors must properly cite previous work and obtain permissions for reused content.

10. AI-Assisted Content and Citation Guidelines

• AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors are fully responsible for all content, including text, figures, and data produced or assisted by AI.
• Authors must verify, edit, and critically evaluate all AI-generated content to ensure correctness and scientific validity.
• AI cannot provide consent or assume responsibility for errors; human authors remain accountable.

1. Name of the AI tool(s) used (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly).
2. Link to the AI tool or a publicly accessible transcript if available.
3. Purpose and method of AI use, specifying which parts of the work were assisted (e.g., grammar, structure, literature search, or drafting).
4. Prompts submitted to the AI tool, if applicable.
5. Description of how AI outputs were integrated into the final manuscript.

• As generated by the generative AI program (ChatGPT, 2023)
• According to ChatGPT (2023), there is a strong correlation between X and Y

• AI-generated content must not introduce plagiarism. Authors must ensure that AI outputs are original or properly cited.
• Authors should not rely solely on AI-generated references. All sources must be verified for accuracy and existence.
• AI tools can assist with grammar, structure, summarization, and literature searches, but cannot replace scientific reasoning, interpretation, or ethical decision-making.
• AI-assisted images or figures must comply with copyright and licensing rules. Any AI-generated images must be acknowledged, and their source described.

1. Use AI tools responsibly, primarily for language refinement, structural suggestions, or literature organization.
2. Critically review all AI-generated text, data, and references before submission.
3. Include a full disclosure of AI usage in a dedicated section of the manuscript (e.g., Methods or Acknowledgements).
4. Ensure that AI assistance does not obscure human intellectual contribution.
5. Follow journal guidelines for authorship, originality, and transparency, even when AI has been used.

• COPE Core Practices and Flowcharts
• ICMJE Recommendations
• Declaration of Helsinki
• Best practices for editors, reviewers, and authors

The aim is to safeguard the integrity, transparency, and quality of scientific publication while fostering ethical research, constructive peer review, and responsible authorship.