Policies

Governance

The Editor is appointed for a three-year period which is renewable.

Editorial board members handle peer review of individual manuscripts and advise on editorial policies and practices. They are not appointed competitively following advertisement and a selection process. They are from within South Africa and appointed for an indefinite period.

Editorial Policy

The South African Dental Journal is published by the South African Dental Association (SADA), with ten issues per year. The journal primarily carries research articles which reflect oral and general health issues in Africa but also publishes papers covering the widest consideration of all health sciences. In addition, items of specific relevance to members of the Association find dissemination through the Journal.

The content includes original research papers, reviews, case reports, clinical communications, summaries, editorials, letters, and Association news and reports.

The editorial policy is guided by the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals and by adherence to the Core Practices published by the Commission of Publication Ethics (COPE).

Peer-review Policy

All articles published as Research Articles, Systematic Reviews, Literature Reviews, or Clinical Reviews are double-blind peer refereed by at least two reviewers following desktop-screening by the Managing Editor. Articles published under Case Reports, Oral Medicine Corner and Ethics are submitted for single-reviewer double-blind peer review following desktop-screening by the Managing Editor. The sections on Evidence-Based Dentistry, the Radiology Corner, and Forensic Dentistry Corner are not peer-reviewed. Section headings and article-types other than those listed, and the review-process thereof, will be considered at the discretion of the Managing Editor, and the required information will be published along with the accepted manuscript. The Managing Editor will assign more Reviewers in cases where it is deemed necessary. Opinions and statements, of whatever nature, are published under the authority of the submitting Author, and the inclusion or exclusion of any medicine or procedure does not represent the official policy of the South African Dental Association or its associates, unless an express statement accompanies the item in question.

The Managing Editor reserves the right to decline articles, photographs or illustrations where products or services are mentioned that are not appropriate.

Peer Review Process
Papers reporting on Research, Reviews, Clinical Trials and Clinical Guidelines, and Case Reports, and the Oral Medicine corner are subject to peer-review. Letters, Book Reviews, Evidence-based Dentistry, Radiology Corner, Forensic-Dentistry Corner, Obituaries and Editorials are not peer-reviewed.

The first step is to ascertain whether the submission is recommended for review, based on relevance of the paper to the readership, the quality of the research and the presentation of the paper, etc. Once accepted for review, the paper is allocated a reference number to be used in all communications. At least two Reviewers/referees are identified, ensuring that each has background in the subject of the paper. The abstract is sent to the identified Reviewers with the enquiry as to whether they are prepared to undertake the review. If the answer is positive, the definitive paper is sent together with a form which includes a series of standard questions to record the opinion and advice of the referee. Feedback is sought on all aspects of the paper. The process is double-blind with the identities of both Author(s) and Reviewers being withheld.

The Reviewer is requested to respond within two weeks with the opinion as to whether to accept the paper, with or without minor or major revision, or to advise against publication. The opinions and guidance of the referees are conveyed to the Author(s). In the event of a recommendation for a revision, the paper may be again submitted to the referees or may be finally evaluated by the Editor.

Reviewers receive acknowledgement of the reports they have submitted. In all instances the Editor carries the final decision on whether to publish.

Panel of Reviewers
The journal records a comprehensive list of Reviewers who cover the broad range of the health sciences. Additional Reviewers are welcome and applications to be included on the panel may be sent to the Editorial Assistant Mr Dumi Ngoepe: sadj@sada.co.za. The application should include a profile and a statement of the special interest of the applicant.

Electronic Management of the Review Process
The review and resubmission process is tracked electronically, using PKP Open Journal Systems. Notifications are sent out during every stage of the electronic workflow, keeping both Authors and Reviewers up to date, at the same time recording the audit trail each article follows.

Open Access Policy

The South African Dental Journal is a peer-reviewed, Open Access journal, supporting the Budapest Open Access Initiative principles: “By ‘open access’ to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, is to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.”

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

The first four pages of original research papers published in the SADJ will be free of charge after which a charge of ZAR500,00 per page or part thereof will be levied.

Language Policy

All abstracts and articles are published in English.

Ethics

The journal requires for all research involving human or animal subjects a statement confirming that ethical approval has been granted by the relevant authority and should include the number of the Clearance Certificate. Adherence to the protocols enunciated by the Declaration of Helsinki is required. 

In the case of animal experiments, the ARRIVE guidelines are applicable (Animal Research >> Reporting in vivo Experiments).

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts may be actual or potential and full disclosure is expected beyond the obvious implications of any financial arrangements. Any agreements between authors and sponsors of the study should be declared, as well as the possible influences of personal relationships and academic competition.

Erratum

A relevant error made in the journal will be corrected by publication of a notice of the error in a subsequent issue of the Journal, linked to the online version. Authors may also retract invalid results by submitting a request signed by all authors and indicating how the results may have been affected.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism may be inadvertent, minor or major but all instances, including self plagiarism, are regarded as relevant and merit investigation. Papers are submitted to interrogation by Turnitin, a programme designed to identify instances of plagiarism. Serious transgressions may result in the rejection of the paper and withdrawal of the right of the author to submit any further papers to the Journal. The relevant institution will also be informed of the problem.

Retraction of an Article

This may be effected under exceptional circumstances, such as the discovery of major plagiarism or significant data error. A notice of retraction will be published, linked online to the article.

Copyright

Copyright for all articles is retained by the author/s of the individual articles. 

Licensing

An Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) applies to all articles published in the South African Dental Journal (SADJ). Articles are available to users for any lawful, non-commercial purpose to be read, copied, distributed, adapted or re-published without permission or fees, provided only that the author and original site of publication are properly acknowledged.

Digital Preservation Policy

SADJ utilises both the Portico and the PKP Preservation Network (PN) systems to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. Click here to view PELJ/PER in the Portico Keeper's Registry.

Advertisements

The publication of advertisements of materials or services does not imply an endorsement by the Association or a submitting author, should such material feature as part of or appear in the vicinity of any contribution, unless an express statement accompanies the item in question. The Association or its associates do not guarantee any claims made for products by their manufacturers. While every effort is made to ensure accurate reproduction, the authors, advisors, publishers and their employees or agents shall not be responsible, or in any way liable for errors, omissions or inaccuracies in the publication, whether arising from negligence or otherwise or for any consequences arising therefrom.

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