Aim and Scope

The Iranian Endodontic Journal (IEJ) is an international peer-reviewed biomedical publication, which aims to provide a scientific medium/ground of communication for researchers, thinkers, readers and clinicians throughout the globe. IEJ publishes the highest quality articles/papers, basic science and clinical, on all aspects of Endodontics and related fields. The “Iranian Endodontic Journal”, published by ICER, is the official journal of the Iranian Center for Endodontic Research (ICER) and Iranian Association of Endodontists (IAE), and welcomes different types of papers; e.g. original research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of literature, clinical studies (i.e., randomized clinical trials, case series/reports, etc), hypotheses, letters to the editor and so forth.

Periodicity

Articles are published in English, 4 issues are published per year.

Standards of ICER and IAE to select the Editors of IEJ

Iranian Center for Endodontic Research (ICER) and the Iranian Association of Endodontists (IAE) are responsible to select the Editors from the well-known researchers who are the members of IAE, based on related experiences (i.e. reputable, clear vision to the field), academic degree and H-index. The editorial board member is also selected based on the said criteria from the academic members throughout the world. Whilst the ICER and IAE have no role in editorial decisions, the Editor-in-Chief of IEJ is the final authority to assign a decision on accepting or rejecting a manuscript.

Editors are required to declare any interests (financial or otherwise) that might influence, or be perceived to influence, their editorial practices. She/he cannot occupy the job in the case of existence conflict of interests.

The editors should be independent thinkers and evaluate a manuscript for its content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s).

The editors (/any editorial staff) must ensure the confidentiality of the submitted works until they are published. Privileged information/ideas obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage.

They are required to establish a high quality system of editorial review and choose the best available team.

The Editors have many general duties, such as constantly improving the quality and integrity of the IEJ, striving to needs of authors and readers, encouraging academic debate, etc., however, their main responsibility is accepting manuscripts suitable for publication while rejecting unsuitable manuscripts.

The procedure to let the editor(s) play this role effectively is described below.

The role of journal editors in reviewing and approving material that is published

The staff of IEJ would check the structure and content of manuscripts to ensure compliance with standard structures (based on the type of study), the aim and scope of the IEJ, standard guidelines and adherence to ethical issues. In this step, articles would be screened in the shortest possible time.

Submitted manuscripts which do not adhere to the “Instructions for Authors” will be returned for appropriate revision to be in line with the instructions for authors. They may then be resubmitted.

If all technical rules are met by the manuscript, the Editorial Process begins. Submitted manuscripts are primarily allocated with a submission code and all the future contacts should be based on the code.

As a result, such triage would help the Editor-in-chief in making fair decisions on manuscripts and eventually improve the ultimate quality of published articles.

The Editor-in-chief checks that the manuscript is appropriate and is sufficiently original/innovational and interesting. If not, he can reject the manuscript without being reviewed any further. Then the Editor-in-chief may assigns an Associate Editor or Section Editor (where available) who is also an editorial board member to take further action.

In the next step, reviewers’ selection by the Editor-in-chief or any designated editor is a critical issue for peer review process. The selection is based on many factors, including expertise, reputation, specific recommendations and previous experience of a reviewer’s characteristics. The reviewers will be either selected from an existing database or it will be searched via related databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, etc. For instance, IEJ editors avoid using referees who are chronically slow, careless, too harsh or too lenient.

Editorial office of IEJ normally contact potential reviewers before sending them manuscripts to review. Once the reviewer agreed to review, the article without author information will be available in reviewers’ login. Reviewers should bear in mind that these messages contain confidential information, which should be treated as such.

Reviewers are asked to classify the manuscript as acceptable, publishable with revisions required, not publishable or resubmittable. Reviewers’ evaluations typically include an explicit recommendation of what to do with the manuscript.

Once the reviewer completes the review process, it will be notified to Editor-in-chief or any designated editor. The comments are then evaluated by the editor(s) and forwarded to corresponding author for further revision. Upon submission of the revised manuscript, it will then be evaluated by a final reviewer who can be a member of the Editorial Board. The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision for each manuscript. The Editorial Office sends a decision email to the author. The entire process will be done via online submission portal of IEJ.

Policies

Our editorial policies are consistent with the principles of editorial independence presented by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME: http://www.wame.org/).

Full descriptions of the policies along with all requirements that authors must fulfill prior to publication can be found here and by following the journal Guidelines at our website.

Advertising policy

Based on editorial board decision, Iranian Endodontic Journal does not accept advertising for products/services or any direct marketing activities. All publications which have the capacity of an advertising and/or commercially sponsored articles are independent from editorial decisions. IEJ does not endorse any product or service marked as an advertisement or promoted by a sponsor in its publications. Editorial content is not compromised by commercial or financial interests, or by any specific arrangements with advertising clients or sponsors.

Peer Review Policy

The IEJ are committed to maintaining high standards through full and inflexible double-blind peer review. All research submitted to IEJ must be reported according to internationally accepted standards for the study type with ethics oversight obtained where appropriate.

Conflict of Interest Policy

A Declaration of Conflicting Interests policy refers to a formal policy which a journal may have to require. A conflict of interest statement or conflict of interest disclosure from a submitting or publishing author must be declared.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) states in its Guidelines on Good Publication Practice (2003) that: Conflicts of interest arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that are not fully apparent and that may influence their judgments on what is published. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived.

Many scholars, researchers and professionals may have potential conflicts of interest, that could have an effect on _or could be seen to_ have an effect on their research. As a result, some journals require a formal declaration of conflicting interests enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated published article.

A potential conflicting interest might arise from relationships, allegiances or hostilities to particular groups, organizations or interests, which may influence excessively one’s judgments or actions. The issue is particularly sensitive when such interests are private and/or may result in personal gain.

Articles will be evaluated fairly and will not necessarily be rejected when any competing interests are declared.

Examples of conflicts of interest might include the following, although it is not an exhaustive list:

• Having received fees for consulting
• Having received research funding
• Having been employed by a related company
• Holding stocks or shares in a company which might be affected by the publication of your paper
• Having received funds reimbursing you for attending a related symposia, or talk

It should be noted that it is not expected that details of financial arrangements be disclosed when a competing interest is declared.

Policy on Human and Animal Rights

Studies that involve human beings must adhere to the principles of the “Declaration of Helsinki” (The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association). The trials must registered in ethical committee of the research centers or Universities where the study was carried out; the “Methods and Materials” section should include a statement that the study approved by an appropriate ethics committee too.

Randomized clinical trials should be registered in appropriate trial registries (i.e. Clinical Trials.gov or Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials) approved by the WHO and their registration number should be mentioned in the title page.

Where human subjects are used, the informed consent explaining the nature of the procedure and possible discomforts and risks should be obtained from all patients who participated in the experimental investigation and subjects should be able to freely reject participation.

If animals are used, a statement protocol approval by the institutional animal care and use committee must be included. All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines.

Policy on Informed consent for Publications

All patients and volunteers in a research project should be carefully informed about the aims of the trial and any possible side effects of the drugs/materials and interventions. Written informed consent from the participants or their legal guardians is compulsory for any such studies. The IEJ reserves the right to request the related documents. Articles that require informed consent should acknowledge related statements in the “Methods and Materials” section.

Open access policy

Articles appearing in IEJ are “open access”. The published articles are universally and freely accessible via the Internet, from the IEJ website.

Policy on archiving

IEJ deposits the articles that it publishes in a prestigious digital archive (PubMed Central) to guarantee long-term digital preservation.

Policy on article corrections, retractions and editorial expressions of concern

IEJ is committed to correct the errors in published papers according to guidelines set by various international organizations i.e. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, i.e. flowchart for retraction of a published article), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

Corrections to or retractions/editorial expressions of concern of published articles will be made by publishing an erratum/corrigendum or editorial expressions of concern/retraction note without altering the original article. Thus the original article remains in the public domain and the erratum/corrigendum or note will be widely indexed.

Standards and affiliations

Iranian Endodontic Journal is committed to maintain high standards through the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

ICMJE

The Editor of IEJ endorse the policies of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, including those that cover overlapping publications.

COPE

IEJ is a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) since 2017. It is concerned with the integrity of peer-reviewed publications in science, particularly biomedicine.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether they are owned or public-domain. Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) allows articles, which are made freely available, to be shared and re-used without restriction, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source.