AAPD Instructions for Authors

instructions for author s

2015 1

Introduction

Manuscripts that are selected for publication promote the prac-

tice, education and research for the specialty of pediatric den-

tistry. Manuscripts are considered for publication only if the

article, or any part of its essential substance, tables or ﬁgures

have not been or will not be published in another journal or

are not simultaneously submitted to another journal.

e statements, opinions, and advertisements are solely those

of the individual authors, contributors, editors, or advertisers, as

indicated. Published manuscripts do not necessarily represent the

views of the editor, the AAPD Communications Department,

or the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry organization.

Types of Manuscripts

Type of manuscript must be one of the following: Meta-

Analyses/Systematic Reviews, Scientiﬁc Studies, Case Reports,

or Literature Reviews (JDC only), Letters to the Editor, Editorials

and Brief Communications.

Meta-Analyses / Systematic Reviews

Authors of systematic reviews must adhere to Preferred Re-

porting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses,

available at: ‘http://www.prisma-statement.org/statement.htm’.

Structured Abstracts for systematic reviews are recommended.

Headings should include: Research Question, Research Protocol,

Literature Search, Data Extraction, Quality Appraisal, Data

Analysis and Results, and Intrepretations of Results.

Scientic Studies

Full-length manuscript not to exceed 3,500 words (including

structured Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion,

AAPD Instructions for Authors

Pediatric Dentistry

Pediatric Dentistry is the oﬃcial publication of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Board of

Pediatric Dentistry and the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. It is published bi-monthly

and is internationally recognized as the leading journal in the area of pediatric dentistry. e journal promotes the practice,

education and research speciﬁcally related to the specialty of pediatric dentistry. is peer-reviewed journal features scientiﬁc

articles, case reports, and abstracts of current pediatric dental research.

Journal of Dentistry for Children

Acquired after the merger between the American Society of Dentistry for Children and the American Academy of Pediatric

Dentistry in 2002, the Journal of Dentistry for Children (JDC) is an internationally renowned journal whose publishing dates

back to 1934. Published three times a year, JDC promotes the practice, education and research speciﬁcally related to the

specialty of pediatric dentistry. It covers a wide range of topics related to the clinical care of children, from clinical techniques

of daily importance to the practitioner, to studies on child behavior and growth and development. JDC also provides in-

formation on the physical, psychological and emotional conditions of children as they relate to and aﬀect their dental health.

Conclusions, and Acknowledgments; excluding References and

Figure Legends). e structured abstract should be no longer

than 200 words and contain the following sections: Purpose,

Methods, Results, and Conclusions. e Introduction section

should include only pertinent references. e Methods section

should be suﬃciently detailed to replicate the study. e Results

section should include only results and not discussion of the

data. e Discussion section should discuss the results, of the

present study and compare them to the existing knowledge

base. e Conclusions section should consist of succinct, num-

bered statements that are supported by the results of the study.

ey should not repeat the Results section.

Maximum Figures: 4 • Maximum Tables: 3

Case Reports

Full-length manuscript not to exceed 1,850 words (including

unstructured Abstract, brief Introduction, Description of Case,

Discussion, Acknowledgments (if any), and References (if any). e

unstructured Abstract should be no longer than 150 words.

Maximum Figures: 4 • Maximum Tables: 3

Literature Reviews (JDC only)

Full-length manuscript not to exceed 2,500 words (including

unstructured Abstract, Introduction, the Review of the Literature

with appropriate subheading, Discussion, Conclusions, and

Acknowledgments; excluding References). e unstructured Abstract

should be no longer than 150 words.

Maximum Tables: 4

Letters to the Editor

Full-length manuscript not to exceed 350 words; excluding

References.

2 instructions for authors

2015

Editorials

Full-length manuscript not to exceed 1,000 words; excluding

References and Figure Legends.

Maximum Figures: 2 • Maximum Tables: 2

Brief Communications

Full-length manuscript not to exceed 2,000 words (including

structured Abstract; excluding References and Figure legends). e

structured Abstract should be no longer than 150 words.

Authors desiring to have more Figures or Tables

MUST agree to electronic publication of their manu-

script, and must select this preference. Each separate

chart, graph or photograph will be counted as a separate

ﬁgure. Figures grouped together will be counted as their

individual parts. See samples below:

3 Figures

4 Figures

6 Figures

Type of

article

Abstract

maximum

length & type

Maximum

text

length

Maximum

references

Maximum

no. of

gures

Maximum

no. of

tables

Notes

Meta-Analyses/

Systematic

Reviews

200 words,

structured

3,500

words

limit

Inclusion of figures

and tables will be at

the Editor-in-Chief’s

discretion

Scientiﬁc

Studies

200 words,

structured

3,500

words

40 4 3

Case Reports 150 words,

unstructured

1,850

words

20 4 3

Literature Reviews

(JDC only)

150 words,

unstructured

2,500

words

0 0 4

Brief

Communications

150 words,

structured

2,000

words

20 2 2

Letters to

the Editor

none 350

words

8 0 0

Editorials none 1,000

words

40 2 2 Invited by the

Editor-in-Chief

instructions for author s

2015 3

Manuscript Submission

All new manuscripts must be submitted to AAPD’s online sub-

mission and review website, ScholarOne Manuscripts; Pediatric

Dentistry at: “http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pediadent”; JDC

at: “http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jdentchild”. Authors who

do not yet have an account on the website should click the

‘Create Account’ link on the upper right-hand corner of the

welcome page and follow the step-by-step process to open an

account. On the dashboard page, authors should select the

Author Center. In the Author Center, they should click the

‘Click here to submit a new manuscript’ link.

If you already have an account, enter your user ID and

password and log in.

Manuscript submission guidelines for Pediatric Dentistry fol-

low the ‘uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to

biomedical journals’ which have been developed by the Inter-

national Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please visit the ICMJE website at: “http://www.icmje.org/

manuscript_1prepare.html” for more information.

Author Information

e author must include each author’s name, earned academic

degrees, professional title (such as ‘associate professor’, ‘chair’),

work aﬃliations, complete address, telephone and fax numbers,

and email address. In addition, each author should provide a

statement of responsibility detailing what he or she contributed

to the manuscript. ese can be uploaded to the site as a

Microsoft Word Document (it is recommended that statements

from all authors be placed in a single document). No honorary

designations such as ‘FRCS’, ‘FICD’, ‘Diplomate’, should be listed.

A submission with more than one author implies that each

author contributed to the study or preparation of the manu-

script. Only individuals who have made a signiﬁcant contribu-

tion to the study or manuscript should be listed as authors.

Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such

as individuals who provided only technical help or writing

assistance, should be listed in the Acknowledgments section at

the end of the manuscript. e corresponding author should

submit the following statement: “All authors have made sub-

stantive contribution to this study and/or manuscript, and all

have reviewed the ﬁnal paper prior to its submission.”

Authors (including authors of letters to the editor) are re-

sponsible for disclosing all ﬁnancial and personal relationships

that might bias their work. If such conﬂicts exist, the authors

must provide additional detail in the appropriate text box

during online submission. Funding sources for the work being

submitted must be disclosed in the Acknowledgments section of

the manuscript.

Authors should express their own ﬁndings in the past tense

and use the present tense where reference is made to existing

knowledge, or where the author is stating what is known or

concluded. Footnotes should be avoided and their content

incorporated into the text. e editors reserve the right to revise

the wording of papers in the interest of the journal’s standards

of clarity and conciseness.

e corresponding author will be asked to submit the names

and email addresses of four preferred reviewers for their manu-

script. Preferred reviewers should not be colleagues at the

contributors’ institution or present or former research partners.

Manuscripts will be published in English, using American

spelling. Manuscripts must be submitted with proper English

grammar, syntax, and spelling. Before submitting a manuscript

for consideration authors may consider using a professional

editing service such as: ‘http://www.journalexperts.com’. AAPD

does not endorse such service and use of such service has no

relation with acceptance of a manuscript for publication.

Two versions of the manuscript must be uploaded, one version

containing all the author information and one version without

any information identifying the authors or their institutions.

Tables should appear at the end of the main document, while

photos, photomicrographs and graphs are to be submitted as

separate ﬁles (.jpg or .tif format only). Do not embed tables,

photos, ﬁgures or graphics in the text of the manuscript. Prior

to submission, the corresponding author must guarantee that the

article has not been published and is not being considered for

publication elsewhere.

Manuscript Preparation

Authors are advised to review several recently published articles

to familiarize themselves with proper format and requirements.

Title: Titles should be as brief as possible while clearly convey-

ing the main point or purpose of the article. e manuscript

title is limited to 20 words or less, and a short title limited to

ﬁve words or less must also be submitted. All submissions, in-

cluding titles and subheads, are subject to change during the

editing process.

Short Title: Also refered as a ‘Running Head’, must be a brief

but comprehensive phrase of what the paper is all about, or a

brief version of the title of the paper. not to exceed 50 characters.

Keywords: A maximum of ﬁve keywords must be submitted.

Authors should ensure that the keywords appear in the title

and/or abstract and that they are PubMed searchable.

Abstract: All submissions must include an Abstract. An Abstract

should be brief, providing the reader with a concise but com-

plete summary of the paper. Generalizations such as ‘methods

were described’ should not be used. Meta-analyses/Systematic

Reviews and Scientiﬁc Studies should have a structured abstract

of no more than 200 words with the following sections: Purpose,

Methods, Results and Conclusions. Case Reports, Literature Re-

views (JDC only) and Brief Communications should have an

unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words.

Introduction: e introduction should provide the context for

the article, the objective of the study, and should state the

hypothesis or research question (purpose statement), how and

why the hypothesis was developed, and why it is important. It

should generally not exceed two or three paragraphs.

4 instructions for authors

2015

Methods: e Methods section should include as appropriate,

a detailed description of the study design or type of analysis and

dates and period of study; condition, factors, or disease studied;

details of sample (eg study participants and the setting from

which they were drawn); method of random sequence generation

in detail (coin ﬂip, random table, etc.); method of allocation

concealment in detail (opaque envelopes, sequential numbered

drug containers, etc); description of treatment providers; whether

providers and participants were blinded; inclusion and exclusion

criteria; intervention(s), if any; outcome measures; method of

blinding of outcome assessors; method of standardization and

calibration of outcome assessors, including kappa statistics; and

statistical analysis.

Results: e results reported in the manuscript should be spe-

ciﬁc and relevant to the research hypothesis. Characteristics of

the study participants should be followed by presentation of

the results, from the broad to the speciﬁc. e Results section

should not include implications or weaknesses of the study, but

should include validation measures if conducted as part of the

study. Results should not discuss the rationale for the statistical

procedures used.

Discussion: e Discussion section should be a formal consider-

ation and critical examination of the study. e research question

or hypothesis should be addressed in this section, and the

results should be compared to and contrasted with the ﬁnd-

ings of other studies. New results not previously reported in the

Results cannot appear ﬁrst in the Discussion. (Note: A lengthy

reiteration of the results should be avoided.) e study’s limita-

tions and the generalizability of the results should be discussed,

as well as mention of unexpected ﬁndings with suggested ex-

planations. e type of future studies needed, if appropriate,

should be mentioned.

Conclusion: e Conclusion should help the reader understand

why the research should matter to them after they have ﬁnished

reading the paper. Conclusions should be numbered, succinct

statements that are supported by the results of the study. ey

should not repeat the Results section.

Acknowledgment: Funding and other sources of support must

be disclosed in the Acknowledgment section. Personal ack-

nowledgments should be limited to appropriate professionals

who have contributed intellectually to the paper but whose

contribution does not justify authorship.

References: References are a critical element of a manuscript and

serve three primary purposes—documentation, acknowledg-

ment, and directing or linking the reader to additional re-

sources. Authors bear primary responsibility for all reference

citations. References should be numbered consecutively with

superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited

in the text. A list of all references should appear at the end

of the paper in numeric order as they are cited in the text.

Journal abbreviations are those used by Index Medicus. e

reference style to use is the recent edition of the American

Medical Association Manual of Style.

e following are sample references:

Journal

For journals, list all authors when there are six or fewer; when

there are seven or more, list the ﬁrst three, then ‘et al.’ Page

numbers should be included where possible. For example: 12-8,

191-5, 347-51.

Bogert TR, García-Godoy F. Eﬀect of prophylaxis agents

on the shear bond strength of a ﬁssure sealant. Pediatr

Dent 1992;14(1):50-1.

Book

Bixler D. Genetic aspects of dental anomalies. In: McDonald

RE, Avery DR, eds. Dentistry for the Child and Adoles-

cent. 5th ed. Philadelphia: CV Mosby Co; 1987:90-116.

Article, report, or monograph issued by a committee, institu-

tion, society, or government agency

Medicine for the public: Women’s health research Bethesda,

Md.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public

Health Service, National Institutes of Health; 2001. DHHS

publication 02-4971.

World Wide Web

Websites and Web articles (URLs) should be cited as ‘webcited®’

references in the reference section at the end of the manuscript—

do not include links to websites in the text. To webcite® a

web reference means to take a snapshot of the cited document

and to cite the archived copy (WebCite® link) in addition to

the original URL. AAPD requires that authors use the free

WebCite® technology (www.webcitation.org) to archive all cited

web references first before they cite them. Provide the original

URL, the WebCite® link and an access date.

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. AAPD Publications.

Available at: “http://www.aapd.org/publications/”. Accessed:

2015-03-20. (Archived by WebCite® at: “http://www.web

citation.org/6XAypVwds”)

Authors should provide direct references to original sources

whenever possible. Avoid using abstracts or literature reviews

as references. If possible, avoid references to papers accepted

but not yet published. If such a citation is necessary, these

papers should be cited as being ‘In press’, and veriﬁcation that

they have been accepted for publication must be provided.

Where possible, references of easily accessible material are pre-

ferable to dissertations, theses, and other unpublished documents.

Authors should avoid citing ‘personal communication’ unless

it provides essential information not available from a public

source. Personal communications should not be numbered, but

should be cited in the text as follows: (G. Seale, DDS, oral

communication, March 2015). Authors should obtain written

permission and conﬁrmation of accuracy from the source of a

personal communication; this permission should be uploaded in

ScholarOne as a supplementary document at the time of manu-

script submission. Authors should verify the accuracy of all re-

ferences and are responsible for ensuring that no cited reference

instructions for author s

2015 5

contains material that was retracted or found to be in error sub-

sequent to its publication.

Editorial Style

Text formatting:

• Manuscripts should be submitted as Oﬃce 2010 Microsoft

Word format (.docx); Word .doc ﬁles are also accepted.

No paper copy will be accepted.

• Double space all text.

• Use basic fonts such as Arial, Courier, Helvetica no smaller

than 11 points.

Units of measure: Authors should express all quantitative values

in the International System of Units (SI units) unless reporting

English units from a cited reference. Figures and tables should

use SI units, with any necessary conversion factors given in

legends or footnotes. For most cases spell out numbers under

10, and use numerals for numbers 10 and above — this applies

to all ages, days of the month, degrees of temperature, dimen-

sions, percentages; proportions, scores, serial numbers, speeds,

sums of money, time of day, and percent values. Numbers

beginning a sentence should be spelled out. Report percentages

to one decimal place (i.e., XX.X percent) when sample size

is >=200. Laboratory data values should be rounded to the

number of digits that reﬂects the precision of the results and

the sensitivity of the measurement procedure.

Statistical tests: e results of all statistical comparisons

should be reported to include the statistical test value and

the associated P-value and conﬁdence interval, if appropriate.

Except when one-sided tests are required by study design, such

as in non inferiority trials, all reported P-values should be

two-sided. In general, P-values larger than 0.01 should be re-

ported to two decimal places, those between 0.01 and 0.001 to

three decimal places. Actual P-values should be

expressed unless P<.001, in which case they should

be so designated. Results in the abstract and the paper

generally should include estimates of eﬀect size and 95 percent

conﬁdence intervals, not just P-values or statements that a

diﬀerence was statistically signiﬁcant.

Tooth names: e complete names

of individual teeth should be given

in full in the text of articles using

the following convention: [(primary/

permanent), (maxillary/mandibular),

(right/left), (central/lateral or ﬁrst/

second/third), (tooth type)]. Exam-

ples: ‘primary maxillary right ﬁrst

molar’, ‘permanent mandibular ﬁrst

molars’, but ‘mandibular right second

pre-molar’. In tables these names may

be abbreviated by the Universal system

(A-T for primary teeth, 1-32 for

permanent teeth).

Adult Dentition =

Permanent teeth 1-32

Child Dentition = Primary

teeth A-T

Wisdom Teeth = 1, 16, 17,

and 32

Commercially-produced materials: Any mention of commer-

cially produced materials, instruments, devices, software, etc.,

must be followed by the name of the manufacturer and the

manufacturer’s location in parentheses. Example: ‘... in an

Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft, Inc, Redmond, Wash., USA).’

Abbreviations: Abbreviations should be used to make manu-

scripts more concise. e ﬁrst time an abbreviation appears,

it should be placed in bold in parentheses following the full

spelling of the term [e.g., “…permanent ﬁrst molars (PFMs)…”]

Permissions: For materials taken from other sources, a written

statement from the authors and publisher giving permission to

Pediatric Dentistry for reproduction must be provided. Waivers

and statements of informed consent must accompany the manu-

script when it is submitted for review. Waivers must accompany

any photograph showing a human subject unless the subject’s

features are suﬃciently blocked to prevent identiﬁcation.

Human and animal subjects: Review of research involving hu-

man subjects is required by federal law. Federal laws and regula-

tions regarding research on human subjects have speciﬁc

requirements for Institutional Review Board (IRB) and study

administration. e IRB must review research that involves the

following areas, among others: medical and administrative record

data; research that uses leftover tissues (eg. extracted teeth);

health services research; survey research; behavioral research;

biomedical and other clinical research. An oﬃcial IRB-approval

letter in English dated prior to the initiation of the research

must be included with the submission. If the IRB has exempted

the research from review, a copy of the letter of exemption must

accompany the submission. Please state your IRB status on

the title page. If applicable, the manuscript must state in the

Methods section that the study was approved by an IRB or other

institutional research ethics committee and identify the name

and location of the institution housing the committee. When

human subjects have been used, the text should indicate that

informed consent was obtained from all participating adult sub-

jects, and parents or legal guardians of minors or incapacitated

adults. If required by the authors’ institution, informed assent

must have been obtained from participating children at or

above the age speciﬁed by the institution. e cover letter for

the manuscript must contain a statement similar to the follow-

ing: “e procedures, possible discomforts or risks, as well as

possible beneﬁts were explained fully to the human subjects

involved, and their informed consent was obtained prior to the

investigation.”

Figures: Image resolution, after cropping to the area of interest,

should be 300-600 dpi. Figures should be submitted indivi-

dually as .jpg or .tif ﬁles. Each separate chart, graph or photo-

graph will be counted as a separate ﬁgure. Figures grouped

together will be counted as their individual parts. Photomicro-

graphs must include a scale labeled with a convenient unit of

length (e.g., 50 µm). Figures should be numbered in Arabic

numerals in the order of the ﬁrst citation in the text. Legends

for each ﬁgure must be printed on a separate page. Include a

key for symbols or letters used in the ﬁgures. Figures should be

6 instructions for authors

2015

saved and submitted as a separate ﬁle. Figure legends should

be understandable without reference to the text. A key for any

symbols or letters used in the ﬁgure should be included. Ab-

breviations should be explained in a footnote to the ﬁgure. If

illustrations, tables, or other excerpts are included from copy-

righted works, the author is responsible for obtaining written

permission from the copyright holder prior to submitting the

ﬁnal version of the paper. Full credit must be given to such

sources with a superscript reference citation in the ﬁgure legend.

Reference citations in ﬁgure legends or captions should follow

numerically the reference number in the text immediately pre-

ceding mention of the ﬁgure. Figures take up additional page

space and should be limited to those that add value to the text.

Tables: Tables should be double-spaced, appear on separate

pages, and should be titled and numbered in Arabic numerals

in the order of the ﬁrst citation in the text. Short headings

should appear at the top of each column. Explanatory matter

should be placed in captions, not in the title. For footnotes,

use the following symbols in this sequence: *, **, †, ‡, §.

Tables should be understandable without alluding to the text.

Due to space limitations, only tables adding value to the text

should be included.

transfer as indicated during the online manuscript submission

process. e American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry owns

the copyright for all content published in the journal. e

AAPD and its licensees have the right to use, reproduce, trans-

mit, derivate, publish, and distribute the content, in the journal

or otherwise, in any form or medium. Authors will not use or

authorize the use of the contribution without the AAPD’s

written consent, except as may be permitted as ‘fair use’ under

U.S. copyright law. Authors represent and warrant to the

AAPD that: the submitted manuscript is the authors’ own ori-

ginal work; authors have the full right and power to make this

proprietary, intellectual property or personal rights of others; the

work is factually accurate and contains no matter defamatory

or otherwise unwise unlawful; authors have not previously in

any manner disposed of by sale or assignment any of the rights

granted to the AAPD nor previously granted any rights adverse

to or inconsistent with this copyright transfer; and that there

are no rights outstanding which would diminish, encumber or

impair the full enjoyment of the copyright transfer granted to

the AAPD.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Funded Manuscripts:

Authors of studies funded by the NIH whose manuscripts are

accepted for publication in either Pediatric Dentistry or the

Journal of Dentistry for Children will have their ﬁnal accepted

version deposited to PubMed Central (PMC) by the publisher

AAPD on behalf of the authors.

Actions Taken on a Manuscript

e following categories constitute the editorial actions that

may be taken on a manuscript:

Rejection: e ﬂaws that lead to this decision generally center

on substantive or methodological issues. A manuscript is usually

rejected because: it is outside the area of coverage of the journal;

it contains serious ﬂaws of design, methodology, analysis, or

interpretation; or it is judged to make only a limited novel

contribution to the ﬁeld.

Revision: Manuscripts may have publication potential but are

not yet ready for ﬁnal publication. e study as presented may

not merit acceptance as is but may warrant consideration after

substantive revision (e.g., reorganizing the conceptual structure,

conducting additional experiments, or modifying analyses).

e action editor will give the author an invitation to revise

and resubmit for another round of reviews (usually with the

same reviewers). An editor cannot guarantee acceptance of a

revised manuscript, but authors who respond ﬂexibly and

attend closely to suggested revisions enhance their chances for

an acceptance. Authors must include a detailed cover letter

outlining their responses to the revisions. Revisions must be

submitted using Track Changes so the original with the

sections deleted can be seen along with the new text.

Acceptance: When the reviewers and Editor have determined the

revision is acceptable the author receives a letter of acceptance

specifying an approximate time frame for anticipated publica-

tion. Once a manuscript is accepted, it enters the production

phase of publication. At this point, no further changes can be

made by the author other than those suggested by the copy-

editor.

New scholars who wish to learn more about the editorial and

peer review process as it operates with AAPD should e-mail the

AAPD Headquarters Oﬃce at [email protected].

instructions for author s

2015 7

AAPD Manuscript Submission Checklist

This checklist applies specically to original research articles but much of it will apply to submission of other manuscript

types, as well. Please see the section ‘Types of Manuscripts’ in the Instructions for Authors for complete information.

Submission Documents

o Submit manuscript in .doc or .docx format.

o Manuscript is double spaced.

o Used basic fonts such as Arial, Courier, Helvetica

no smaller than 11 points.

o Two versions of the manuscript are be uploaded,

one version containing all the author information

and one version without any information identi-

fying the authors or their institutions (blinded).

o Tables appear at the end of the main document,

while photos, photomicrographs and graphs are

to be submitted as separate les (.jpg or .tif

format only).

o IRB approval, informed consent (verbal or written),

HIPAA compliance (if from the United States),

and / or animal care committee must be included

with the submission.

o IRB approval letters must be in English, on ofcial

IRB letterhead, and over an ofcial signature of

the IRB approval agent.

Short Title

o A brief but comprehensive phrase summarizing the

paper.

Keywords

o Five words that appear in the title/abstract, and

searchable in PubMed.

Abstract

o The Abstract is brief, providing the reader with a

concise but complete summary of the paper.

o Date range of study should be given.

o Number of patients/animals (including age and

gender, if appropriate) should be given.

o Various groups, including controls, described.

o Procedures performed should be described.

o Specics of evaluation should parallel the results

portion of the abstract.

o Abstract results parallel abstract methods.

o Abstract results contain quantitative data along

with statistical signicance.

o Abstract conclusions can be drawn from the

results of the study.

Introduction

o Provides context for the article.

o Provides objective of the study.

o Provides a clear purpose/hypothesis.

o Does not exceed two or three paragraphs.

Methods

o As appropriate, includes a detailed description of

the study design or type of analysis.

o As appropriate, includes dates and period of study.

o As appropriate, includes condition, factors, or

disease studied.

o As appropriate, includes details of sample (e.g.,

study participants and the setting from which they

were drawn).

o As appropriate, includes method of random

sequence generation in detail (coin ip, random

table, etc.)

o As appropriate, includes method of allocation

concealment in detail (opaque envelopes, se-

quential numbered drug containers, etc.)

o As appropriate, includes a description of treatment

providers.

o As appropriate, includes whether providers and

participants were blinded.

o As appropriate, includes inclusion and exclusion

criteria.

o As appropriate, includes intervention(s), if any.

o As appropriate, includes outcome measures.

o As appropriate, includes method of blinding of

outcome assessors.

o As appropriate, includes method of standardization

and calibration of outcome assessors, including

kappa statistics.

o As appropriate, includes statistical analysis.

Results

o Clearly mirrors methods; used subtitles if needed.

Check for consistency in data in text, tables, and

gures.

o Report the results of the statistical analysis for all

variables collected and analyzed, not just for

those which exhibited statistical or near statistical

signicance.

o Text and Tables must stand alone.

Continued on next page

8 instructions for authors

2015

Discussion

o State pertinent new ndings, but do not repeat

results.

o How did your results differ from other relevant

literature?

o Do not cite tables or gures in the discussion. These

should be introduced in the methods and results

sections.

o Do not cite new results not previously reported in

the Results. All results the author wishes to discuss

must have rst been presented in the Results

section of the manuscript.

o Describe limitations of your study in the paragraph

just before your Conclusions. Include itemization of

limitations of any incomplete data.

o Describe the type of future studies needed, if

appropriate.

Conclusions

o Synthesis of key points.

o List and number using Arabic numerals.

o Conclusions should be supported by data.

o Numbered succinct statements.

References

o Call out references in order they appear in text.

o Adhere to AAPD guidelines.

o Verify accuracy of your references.

o Archive each and all references in WebCite

Tables

o Adhere to AAPD Maximum requirements according

to Type of Manuscript.

o Include title for each table.

o Numbers correspond to numbers in text.

o Dene abbreviations below each table.

Figures

o Adhere to AAPD Maximum requirements accord-

ing to Type of Manuscript.

o Image resolution, after cropping to the area of

interest, should be a minimum 300-600 dpi.

o Figures should be submitted individually as .jpg or

.tif les.

o Figures should be numbered in Arabic numerals in

the order of the rst citation in the text.

o Legends for each gure must be printed on a

separate page.

o Figure legends should clearly dene ndings on

each gure, with labels mentioned in the caption

if they are used in the gure.

o If based on individual subject, caption should in-

clude subject age and gender.

NOTE: Authors desiring to have more Figures or

Tables MUST agree with the electronic publication of

their manuscript, and must select this preference. Each

separate chart, graph or photograph will be counted

as a separate gure. Figures grouped together will be

counted as their individual parts. See examples on

page 2.