Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript submission:

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the website Libyan Journal of Dentistry (uob.edu.ly). To submit online please follow on screen instructions and steps to upload different parts of your article at the website. If the references have been prepared using Reference Manager software or similar programs, please ensure to remove the reference manager links from the file before submission. If you have questions regarding the submission of your manuscript, please e-mail those questions to library.dent@uob.edu.ly

 Manuscript preparation:

Parts of the Manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted in two separate files: title page; main text file.

1. TITLE PAGE:

The title page should contain the following information in the order given:

• Full title of manuscript
• A short running title of less than 50 characters.
• Authors' full names.
• Authors' scientific degree, institutional affiliations including city and country.
• The name, telephone number and email address of the author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript
• Institutional email addresses of all authors, if there is no any, other email addresses are accepted.
• Acknowledgement(s), if there is any.
• A statement of author contributions, e.g.
  Author contributions: A.G. and A.E. conceived the ideas; S.E. and M.A.R. collected the data; M.A.R and A.G. analysed the data; and A.E. and S.E. led the writing;
• Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following 
• Data availability statement
• Funding statement
• Conflict of interest disclosure
• Ethics approval statement
• Patient consent statement
• Permission to reproduce material from other sources

MAIN TEXT FILE

• Authors are advised to write in clear and simple English. The manuscript file must be prepared in Microsoft Word document file format (*.doc) and a 12 point Times New Roman font. Please do not use sophisticated formatting and page styles, as these lead to some problem in file processing. Use 1.5 spacing throughout and number pages consecutively. An original article should not be more than 4000 words.
• As papers are double-blind peer reviewed the main text file should not include any information that might identify the authors.
• The main text file should be presented in the following order:
  1. Title, abstract and key words;
  2. Main text;
• References.

1. Full title of manuscript: Should be as concise as possible but informative enough to facilitate information retrieval and try to avoid abbreviations and not to use more than 20 words

2. Abstract: The structure of abstract should not be more than 300 words. The abstract should conform to the following outline and not contain an introduction, literature review or discussion. Abstract should not contain literature citations that refer to the main list of references attached to the complete article nor allusions to the illustrations. Define all nonstandard symbols, abbreviations and acronyms on their first use. The abstract should be written as one paragraph and should not contain displayed mathematical equations or tabular material, contain the following sections;

• Background: brief introduction to the research work.
• Objectives: List the specific goal(s) of the research.
• Materials and Methods: Briefly describe the procedures you used to accomplish this work.
• Results: Identify the results that were found as a result of this study.
• Conclusion: List the specific conclusion(s) that can be drawn based on the results of this study.
• Keywords: Keywords are to facilitate the retrieval of articles by search engines and will be used for indexing purposes, therefore do not use general terms. Provide 3–6 specific and suitable keywords related to the manuscript.
• Main text
•  contain the following in order:

3. Introduction– This section states the purpose of the research and includes a brief summary of the literature describing the current state of the field.

4. Materials and methods-This section states exactly what was done and should enable a reader to replicate the work. Materials or methods described elsewhere in the literature can be referenced without repeating these details. If human participants or animals were involved in the work, this section must contain a statement that the rights of the human or animal subjects were protected and ethically approval was obtained from an identified institutional review board, or its equivalent.

5. Results– This section should describe the objective findings without any comment on their significance or relative importance. Cite all tables and figures in sequential order in the text.

6. Discussion– This section includes the interpretation of your data and the comparison of your results with the previous work carried out by other researchers in the same area of research and also critically appraise the literature. The latter should be limited to this section only.

7. Conclusion– This section states what conclusions can be drawn specifically from the research reported. Bullet points are preferred. Do not repeat material from other sections.

8. Acknowledgements– If this research was funded or supported by a commercial firm or other outside entities, please provide their name and location. If an author(s) receives funding or support from a commercial firm or other outside entity related to this research, it also should be revealed here.

9. Conflict of interest: state here if there is any conflict of interest.

10. References:

Quoting references in the text of papers

• Citations/references must be shown as SUPERSCRIPT numbers in the text of the papers.
• Do NOT place the reference numbers in the parentheses.
• Numbers are placed AFTER punctuation marks such as commas, full stops (periods), etc.
• Number references consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.
• Do not have a space between the word and the reference number, or between the punctuation mark and the reference number.

Some examples:

• When one reference is quoted, a single number is used as a superscript.¹ It should be placed after the punctuation mark – such as after the comma if there is one present,² or if the reference number is used at the end of a sentence, then the number should be placed after the full stop as in this example.³
• If the two references are quoted, then two numbers are used with a comma between them but with no space.^6,7 This could be within a sentence after a comma such as here, or at the end of the sentence, as in this example.^7,8
• If more than two consecutive reference numbers are used, then the first and last numbers should be shown with a hyphen between them like this.^5-9
• If more than two references are quoted but the references are not consecutively numbered (such as when has been used earlier in the article), then the reference numbers should be separated by a comma.^2,7,9
• If there is a mixture of consecutive and non-consecutive numbers, then reference numbers should be listed with a mix of the above styles, as illustrated here.^2,47-10

List of references

• All references made to publications in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. References in the list must be numbered in the order in which they were cited. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the information given in the text is exactly the same as that given in the reference list. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references.
• References should be made according to the Vancouver system described below:

Book:

 Author A A, Author B, Author C C. Title of Book. Place of publishing: Publisher:year;page numbers.

e.g: Perry L M, Medicinal plant of East and Southeast Asia. Cambridge MITPress:1980;page number.

• book chapters

Author A, Author B, Author C. Title of article/ chapter. In Author X, Author Y. & Author, Z. (Eds.). Title of Book, 9^th ed (if applicable). Place of publishing: Publisher:year;page numbers.

e.g: Fitch R M, Tsai C H. Polymer colloids. In Fitch R M (Ed.).

Polymer colloids. New York: Plenum Press:1971;73.

Journal:

Author I, Author II, Author III, Article title written in full with no capitalization of the major words. J Abbrev, Year;Vol(I):firstpage-lastpage.

e.g: Andersen R, Davidson P. Ethnicity, aging, and oral health outcomes: a conceptual framework. Adv Dent Res. 1997;11:203-209..

Web References:

Author (s). Website Title [Internet]. City where the website was created: Publisher; date of the website’s creation [cited date cited ].

Conferences:

Published:

Author(s) of paper – family name and initials. Title of paper. In: Editor(s) Family name and initials, editor(s). Title of conference; Date of conference; Place of conference. Place of publication: Publisher’s name; Publication year. p. Page numbers

Online:

Author(s) of paper - family name and initials. Title of paper. In: Editor(s) - family name and initials, editor(s). Title of conference; Date of conference; Place of conference. Place of publication: Publisher's name; Publication year. p. Page numbers.

Unpublished:

Author(s) of paper – family name and initials. Title of paper. Paper presented at: Title of conference; Date of conference - Year Month Date(s); Place of conference.

Thesis

Author A. Title of thesis. Undergraduate/ Masters/ PhD diss., name of university (year).

e.g:Abdullah N. An assessment of pyrolysis for processing empty fruit bunches. PhD diss, Aston University (2005).

Multiple authors:

List all names for 3 authors, if more than 3 authors, list the first 3 authors followed

by “et al.”

Author A A, Author B, Author C et al. Title of article. Name of Journal (abbreviated): year; volume number (issue number); page numbers.

e.g: Taniguchi S, Kuroda K, Doi K, Inada K, Yoshikado N, Yoneda et al. Evaluation of gambir quality based on quantitative analysis of polyphenolic constituents. J Dent. 2007; 127 (8): 1291–1300.

Tables and figures

• Table and figures must be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end of the manuscript. Each table or figure must have its own legend accompanying it, numbered with Arabic numerals and sequentially referred to in the text.
• Make sure that the total of tables and figures is not more than eight.
• All abbreviations used in the table must be defined in a footnote.
• For significance level please indicate the significant of the statistical tests that which had been used (ex. P˂0.5, P˂.001).
• Tables cannot be in pictorial or image formats. Pictorial or image formats are figures and must be entered as figures.
• Label all figure parts with (a), (b), etc. Avoid any large disparity in size of lettering and labels used within one illustration. Ensure that lettering and lines are dark enough, and thick enough, to reproduce clearly, especially if reduction is necessary. Remember that fine lines tend to disappear upon reduction.

Coloured figures

• When preparing illustrations that will appear in colour in the online journal, authors must ensure that colours chosen will reproduce well when printed in black & white.

Graphs

• Graphs should be self-explanatory, their purpose evident without reference to the text.
• Indicate clearly what is being plotted, in both horizontal and vertical directions.
• Include appropriate units. Orient letters and numbers so that they may be easily read from the bottom or the right hand side of the graph. Relevant non-graphic material, such as the key to the symbolism in the graph, maybe included within the confines of the graph frame if it will fit without crowding; otherwise put the explanatory material in the caption.

Formulae/equations

Subscripts and superscripts should be clearly indicated. Take special care to clearly show the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter l. Give the meanings of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first used. For simple fractions use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal. Equations should be aligned to bring out their structure, displayed on separate lines set off from the text above and below and sequentially numbered (using Arabic numbers in parentheses flush right to the right margin). In general, only equations explicitly referred to in text need be numbered. Mathematical operation signs indicating continuity of the expression should be placed at the left of the second and succeeding lines. The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended. Also powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp.

Example: -

The values for fracture toughness (KIC) were calculated using the following equation:

y = 1.93 – 3.07 (a/w) + 14.53 (a/w) ² – 25.11 (a/w) ³ + 25.8 (a/w) ⁴

where,

• y = geometrical correction factor
• P = load at peak (N)
• S = span length (mm)
• a = notch length (mm)
• t = specimen thickness (mm)
• w = specimens width (mm)

Nomenclature and Units

• The use of units and symbols provided by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) [The International System of Units (SI)] is recommended.
• Commonly used unit: - g (gram), ml (millilitre), m (meter), mol (mole), min (minute), candela (cd), lux (lx). All similar-looking letters, numbers, and unusual/special symbols whose identity may not be obvious must be identified the first time they appear, and at all subsequent times when confusion might arise [for example, the number ‘one’ (1) and the letter ‘ell’ (l); the Roman letter ‘kay’ (k) and the Greek letter ‘kappa’ (κ); the ‘proportional to’ symbol (α) and the Greek ‘alpha’ (α)].