Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Pathology and Surgery (3DJ) 
Faculty of Dentistry, Guilan University of Medical Sciences

Scope of the Journal
 3DJ is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing original and impactful contributions in the fields of oral and maxillofacial radiology, pathology, and surgery. While these specialties represent the core focus of the journal, we welcome high-quality submissions from all areas of dentistry and related medical sciences, particularly those contributing to the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of dentomaxillofacial conditions.
 

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Indexing & Archiving Policy
 3DJ is indexed in Scientific Information Database (SID) Google Scholar, and Magiran. All published articles are assigned a DOI. The journal is archived and preserved in both institutional and open-access repositories to ensure long-term accessibility.
 

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Article Types
 3DJ accepts a variety of article types to support the dissemination of diverse academic content. Authors are encouraged to submit work that fits one of the following categories. Each submission must adhere to the structural and formatting standards outlined below:

• Original Research Articles
• Systematic Reviews
• Narrative Reviews
• Case Reports
• Letters to the Editor

• Be written in English
• Be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx)
• Use Times New Roman 12 pt font, double-spaced with 30 mm margins
• Include numbered pages at the bottom center
• Be original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere
• Undergo double-blind peer review  

• Complete manuscript including title page with author information (Full version)
• Anonymous version of the manuscript (Blinded version for peer review)
• Cover letter

• Title of manuscript (title case, max 20 words)
• Running title (max 50 characters including spaces)
• Full names and affiliations of all authors
• Corresponding author’s full contact information including email, postal address, and phone number
• Ethical Considerations (including committee name and code, if applicable)
• Funding
• Authors’ Contributions (based on CRediT taxonomy)
• Conflict of Interests
• Availability of Data and Material
• Acknowledgments

Main Text Structure

• Title
• Abstract and Keywords
• Main body of text
• References
• Tables and Figures

Cover Letter
 Each submission must include a cover letter stating the manuscript title, confirmation of originality, and a brief summary of its significance. It should disclose any conflicts of interest. Contact information for the corresponding author must be provided. If using previously published content (figures, tables), permissions must be included.

Special Submission Notice
Authors who wish their manuscript to be considered for the Professor Zahra Dalili Honorary Issue (Annual Issue 3) must clearly indicate this intention in their cover letter at the time of submission.
Manuscripts not selected for the honorary issue will be automatically considered for regular issues, provided they successfully pass peer review.

Human Research
Authors reporting experimental studies on human subjects must include a statement of assurance in the Patients and Methods section of the manuscript reading that, the project was done with consideration of ethical issues and obtaining license from the ethics of their local committee and obtaining the written consent of participants. Also, it was done according to ethical standards of human experimentation in accordance to the Helsinki Declaration (www.cirp.org/library/ethics/helsinki).
 

Animal Research

Informed Consent

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)

Plagiarism

• Any form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, verbatim copying, improper paraphrasing, or duplicate publication, is strictly prohibited.
• If plagiarism is detected before publication, the manuscript will be returned to the authors for correction or rejected in severe cases.
• If discovered after publication, the article will be retracted, removed from the journal archive, and the authors may be blacklisted. A formal notice of plagiarism will be issued on the journal’s website.
• Authors must ensure that all contributors have been properly credited and cited, and that appropriate permissions have been obtained where necessary.

Authorship
All authors must meet ICMJE criteria. Author order should be agreed upon at submission. Any post-submission changes must be approved in writing by all authors.
 

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Funding
 Authors must disclose all sources of financial support received for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the manuscript. This includes grants, institutional support, equipment, or other resources. The name of the funding agency, grant number, and the role of the funder (if any) in study design, data collection, analysis, or publication should be clearly stated.

If no funding was received, please include the following statement: “None.”
Failure to provide accurate funding information may result in delays during publication or post-publication corrections.
 

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Author Contributions
 Authors are required to detail each contributor’s role using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). All contributions must be disclosed on the title page using the following categories:

• Conceptualization: formulation of research goals and aims
• Methodology: development or design of methodology
• Software: programming and software development
• Validation: verification and reproducibility of results
• Formal analysis: data analysis and interpretation
• Investigation: performing the experiments or data collection
• Resources: provision of study materials or patients
• Data curation: data management, cleaning, and annotation
• Writing – Original Draft: drafting the manuscript
• Writing – Review & Editing: critical revision and editing
• Visualization: data presentation
• Supervision: oversight and leadership
• Project administration: management of the research process
• Funding acquisition: acquisition of financial support

Conflict of Interests
 Authors must disclose any financial, commercial, institutional, personal, or academic relationships that could be perceived as potential conflicts of interest in relation to the submitted work. These may include (but are not limited to) employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, or patent applications.

Availability of Data and Material
 Authors are encouraged to make all data, materials, protocols, and software used in the study publicly available whenever possible. If the data supporting the findings are deposited in a public repository (e.g., Zenodo, OSF, institutional repository), a direct link or DOI should be provided within the manuscript.

Manuscript Structure by Article Type
 

1. Original Research Articles

• Structured Abstract (max 250 words): Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion, Keywords (3–5 MeSH terms)
• Main Text: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion
• Word Count: No strict limit, but clarity and conciseness are expected
• References: Unlimited, as required

2. Systematic Reviews

• Structured Abstract (max 250 words): Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Keywords (3–5 MeSH terms)
• Main Text: Introduction, Methods (with detailed search strategy), Results, Discussion, Conclusion
• Word Count: No strict limit, but clarity and conciseness are expected
• References: Unlimited, as required

3. Narrative Reviews

• Unstructured Abstract (max 250 words) + Keywords (3–5 MeSH terms)
• Main Text: Flexible structure, but must include Introduction and Conclusion
• Word Count: Max 4500 words (excluding Abstract and References)
• References: Up to 80

4. Case Reports

• Unstructured Abstract (max 150 words) + Keywords
• Main Text: Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, Conclusion
• Word Count: Max 2000 words
• References: Max 20

5. Letters to the Editor

• No abstract required
• Begin with "Dear Editor"
• Word Count: Max 500 words
• References: Max 5
• Figures/Tables: Max 1

Original research articles should be arranged as follows (other types of articles should contain subtitles relevant to the specific category and subject of research):
Introduction: State the problem being investigated, summarize the existing knowledge to place the problem in context, and describe the hypothesis and general experimental design. Avoid a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
The introduction should close with the explicit statement of the specific aims of the investigation or hypothesis tested.
Materials and Methods

As relevant, the Materials and Methods section should describe in adequate detail the experimental subjects, their important characteristics, and the methods, apparatus, and procedures used so that other researchers can reproduce the experiment.
In the last part of this section authors should describe the statistical methods used for the study data analysis.
Results: This part should be clear and concise and presented in a logical sequence. Tables and illustrations may be helpful in clarifying the findings and can reduce the length of the manuscript.
Discussion: The Discussion may usually start with a brief summary of the major findings, but repetition of parts of the Introduction or of the Results sections should be avoided. Statements and interpretation of the data should be appropriately supported by original references.
Conclusion: The manuscript should end with a brief conclusion and a comment on the potential clinical relevance of the findings. Link the conclusions to the aim of the study.

Tables
Tables must be submitted at the end of the manuscript in editable format (Word or Excel), not as images. They should be numbered consecutively and cited appropriately in the text. Vertical lines and 3D formatting must be avoided. Explanatory footnotes should appear beneath each table.

Figures
Figures must appear at the end of the manuscript following the tables and must be accompanied by their respective legends. In addition, all figure files must be uploaded separately in high resolution (JPG, PNG, TIFF, or EPS format). Photographic images should be at least 300 dpi and line drawings at least 600 dpi. Figures must be cited in sequential order within the text. For labeling multi-part figures, use bold capital letters placed at the upper left corner of each panel, arranged left to right, then top to bottom.

1. Figures from Published Articles:

• Must include a full caption indicating the source, e.g.:

• The original source must be listed in the references.
• Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from the copyright holder unless the source is open access and explicitly states reuse rights under a Creative Commons license.

1. Figures from Websites:

• Captions should include the website name and access date, e.g.:

• The full URL must be cited in the reference list.

Failure to provide proper attribution or permission may lead to rejection of the manuscript or removal of the figures prior to publication.

References
References must follow Vancouver style as outlined by ICMJE. Citations should be numbered in the order they appear in the text and placed in parentheses before punctuation—for example: “...as shown previously (3).” For more than six authors, use “et al.” after the sixth name.
Examples:

• Journal article: Omami G, Lurie A. MRI evaluation of lateral pterygoid muscle. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2012;114(5):650–7.
• Book: Strunk W, White EB. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.
• Website: National Health and Medical Research Council. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of early breast can¬cer. 2nd ed. [PDF on Internet]. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, [updated 6 September 2003; cited 3 March 2004]. Available from: www.nhmrc.gov.au/publiactions/pdfcp74.pdf.

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Data Sharing Policy
 Authors are encouraged to deposit relevant datasets in a public repository and provide access links within the manuscript when applicable. Where appropriate, datasets should be available to reviewers and readers upon request.
 

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Copyright and Licensing
Articles published in 3DJ are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Authors retain the copyright of their work.
 

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Withdrawal and Retraction Policy
Manuscripts may be withdrawn by the authors before peer review. After acceptance, withdrawal requests must be justified and approved by the editor. Articles may be retracted if ethical misconduct, major errors, or data falsification is identified post-publication. Retractions are handled according to COPE guidelines.
 

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Peer Review Process
All manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers. The editorial office aims to provide an initial decision within 4–6 weeks. Authors are expected to revise their manuscripts promptly and provide a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments.
 

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After Acceptance

• The corresponding author will receive page proofs for final review.
• No major revisions are allowed at this stage unless approved by the editor.
• Authors are responsible for checking all content and returning corrections within 48 hours.