Editorial Policy

Scope of the Journal

Sulaimani Dental Journal encourages submissions from authors all around the world. Manuscripts are assessed by two experts solely on the basis of their contribution to original data and ideas and their presentation. All manuscripts must comply with Instruction to Authors. The following manuscript types will be considered for publication:

Original articles, systematic reviews, case reports/ case series, editorials, brief communications, and letters to the editor.

Manuscripts are accepted for consideration with the understanding that data, text, figures, photographs, and tables have not appeared in any other publication, except as an abstract submitted and published in conjunction with a presentation by the author(s) at scientific meetings, and that material has been submitted only to this journal.

Investigation on human subjects should conform to the guidelines noted in the World Health Organization Chronicle 1976; 30: 360-362. Researches submitted to the journal should be approved by an ethical committee according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki 1964 and its last revision. Experimental animal studies need to be carried out according to the principles of laboratory animal researchers. All articles will be critically reviewed by editors and invited referees within 2 months.

Publication are accepted in the following areas:

• Original research in all fields of dental, oral and craniofacial sciences.

• Biological, clinical, biomaterials and bioengineering parts for original research articles.

• Timely state-of-the-art review articles in all fields of dental, oral and craniofacial sciences.

• Leading meeting proceedings in the e-supplement and as a special issue. 

Editorial Decisions

Decisions made by the editorial board are based on the strength of arguments put forward by our reviewers and the authors as well as other considerations for each individual manuscript. This is the journal’s principal responsibility toward our readership, which is part of the scientific community. Thereby, we can serve our readers by considering the state of each article in relation to the many other articles also under evaluation.

Occasionally different and possibly conflicting recommendations might be provided by the two reviewers on the same paper, based on different experiences of our reviewers in the same field of knowledge. Therefore, the editorial board may have to make a decision based on conflicting advice during the process of unification of the reviewers’ comments and advice.

Double Blind Peer Review

The reviewing process of Sulaimani Dental Journal is a double blind process as neither the reviewers nor the authors are exposed to each other. However, and in rare cases, authors may suggest favored and non-favored reviewers during the process of submission. Nevertheless, the final selection of reviewers is undertaken by the editorial board of Sulaimani Dental Journal.

Our reviewers are not allowed to reveal themselves to the authors. Authors should inform the editor if any reviewer identifies him or herself to the authors.

The peer review process serves as a means of assessing the quality of articles prior to their publication, ensuring the high standard of submissions accepted for publishing. Sulaimani Dental Journal considers multiple factors beyond scientific validity and manuscript originality when evaluating articles. Elements such as the level of innovation and the significance of the knowledge presented in the paper in comparison to other accepted articles are also taken into account. This comprehensive approach guarantees the selection of articles that contribute significantly to the field.

The Peer review process starts with the following steps:

1- The first filter is performed by the editorial board and involves checking the submitted article for originality, specialty as some papers can fall into more than one specialty. Furthermore, some papers require modifications or correction according to Sulaimani Dental  Journal guidelines and instructions for authors before the peer review process starts.
2- Then the editor selects two reviewers who are usually experts in the particular field, and often a statistician is consulted about the quality of statistical analysis used in the article. Sometimes, when the editor is not satisfied with the statistical method applied in the submitted article, the editor advises the author to consult a statistician about the statistical methods applied in his/her article.
3- The submitted article receives one of the following decisions from the Journal: accepted submission, the submission will be accepted without revisions. Revision required, the article would be accepted after minor changes. Resubmit for review, the paper requires major work. Declined submission, the paper will not be published with Sulaimani Dental Journal.
4- The corresponding author can appeal via an email to the editorial office if he/she is convinced of the scientific value of his manuscript.

The Sulaimani Dental Journal editorial board provides a quick decision and publication under an affective editorial mechanism that is considered valuable to both our authors and the scientific community. We ask our reviewers to respond with the revision outcome within the number of days agreed. If the reviewer for any reason is expecting an unusual delay in the revision process, we ask them to inform us in order to inform the author about any expected delay and if necessary to change the reviewer. 

Publication Charge

Sulaimani Dental Journal levies a publication fee of 150,000 IQD for manuscripts that have been accepted for publication. Authors are required to pay the Article Publication fee to bear the expenses associated with the publication process. A partial waiver of 25% is granted to students. In the event that authors are unable to afford the requested fees, they are encouraged to request a waiver. Our objective is to ensure that financial constraints do not impede the distribution of valuable scholarly contributions.