Oral Diseases

Official journal of the European Association of Oral Medicine

Edited by:
Bruce Baum and Crispian Scully

Print ISSN: 1354-523X
Online ISSN: 1601-0825
Frequency: Eight times a year
Current Volume: 16 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 9/55 Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine
Impact Factor: 2.087

TopAuthor Guidelines

Content of Author Guidelines: 1. General, 2. Ethical Guidelines, 3. Manuscript Submission Procedure, 4. Manuscript Types Accepted, 5. Manuscript Format and Structure, 6. After Acceptance.

Relevant Documents: Copyright Transfer Agreement, Online Open Copyright Licence Form, Colour Work Agreement Form

Useful Websites: Submission Site, Articles Published in Oral Diseases, Author Services, Blackwell Publishing's Ethical Guidelines, Guidelines for Figures

1. GENERAL

The editors encourage submissions of original articles, review articles, reports of meetings, book reviews and correspondence in the form of letters to the editor. Oral Diseases does not accept case reports.

Please read the instructions below carefully for details on the submission of manuscripts, the journal's requirements and standards as well as information concerning the procedure after a manuscript has been accepted for publication in Oral Diseases. Authors are encouraged to visit Blackwell Publishing Author Services for further information on the preparation and submission of articles and figures.

2. ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Oral Diseases adheres to the ethical guidelines given below for publication and research.

2.1. Authorship and Acknowledgements

Authorship: Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors and that all authors agree to the submission of the manuscript to the Journal.

Oral Diseases adheres to the definition of authorship set up by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). According to the ICMJE authorship criteria should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design of, or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data, 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2 and 3.

As of September 1st 2007, it is a requirement that the corresponding author submit a short description of each individual's contribution to the research and its publication. Upon submission of a manuscript all co-authors should also be registered with a correct e-mail addresses. If any of the e-mail addresses supplied are incorrect, the corresponding author will be contacted by the Journal Administrator.

Acknowledgements: Authors must acknowledge individuals who do not qualify as authors but who contributed to the research. Authors must acknowledge any assistance that they have received (e.g. provision of writing assistance, literature searching, data analysis, administrative support, supply of materials). If/how this assistance was funded should be described and included with other funding information. "Acknowledgements" should be brief and should not include thanks to anonymous referees and editors. Where people are acknowledged, a covering letter demonstrating their consent must be provided.

2.2. Ethical Approvals

Human Subjects: Experimentation involving human subjects will only be published if such research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (version, 2002 www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm) and the additional requirements, if any, of the country where the research has been carried out. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the above mentioned principles. A statement regarding the fact that the study has been independently reviewed and approved by an ethical board should also be included.

Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there are doubts as to whether appropriate procedures have been used.

Animal Study: When experimental animals are used the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the Guidelines laid down by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures or with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) and in accordance with local laws and regulations.

2.3 Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials should be reported using the CONSORT guidelines available at www.consort-statement.org. A CONSORT checklist should also be included in the submission material. Clinical trials can be registered in any of the following free, public clinical trials registries: www.clinicaltrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials-dev.ifpma.org/, http://isrctn.org/.As stated in an editorial published in Oral Diseases (12:217-218), 2006), all manuscripts reporting results from a clinical trial must indicate that the trial was fully registered at a readily accessible website. The clinical trial registration number and name of the trial register will be published with the paper.

2.4 DNA Sequences and Crystallographic Structure Determinations

Papers reporting protein or DNA sequences and crystallographic structure determinations will not be accepted without a Genbank or Brookhaven accession number, respectively. Other supporting data sets must be made available on the publication date from the authors directly.

2.5 Conflict of Interest and Source of Funding

All sources of institutional, private and corporate financial support for the work within the manuscript must be fully acknowledged, and any potential grant holders should be listed. Authors are also required to disclose any possible conflict of interest. These include financial (for example patent, ownership, stock ownership, consultancies, speaker's fee). Information on sources of funding and any potential conflict of interest should be disclosed at submission under the heading "Acknowledgements".

2.6 Appeal of Decision

The decision on a paper is final and cannot be appealed.

2.7 Permissions

If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author's responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the Publishers.

2.8 Copyright Assignment

Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the work and its essential substance have not been published before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that the authors automatically agree to assign exclusive copyright to Blackwell Publishing if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. The work shall not be published elsewhere in any language without the written consent of the publisher. The articles published in this journal are protected by copyright, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all of the articles printed in the journal. No material published in the journal may be stored on microfilm or videocassettes or in electronic database and the like or reproduced photographically without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Correspondence to the journal is accepted on the understanding that the contributing author licences the publisher to publish the letter as part of the journal or separately from it, in the exercise of any subsidiary rights relating to the journal and its contents.

Upon acceptance of a paper, authors are required to assign the exclusive licence to publish their paper to Blackwell Publishing. Assignment of the exclusive licence is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless licence has been assigned. (Papers subject to government or Crown copyright are exempt from this requirement; however, the form still has to be signed). A completed Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) must be sent to the Production Editor, Enrico Ventura, before any manuscript can be published. Authors must send the completed original CTA upon receiving notice of manuscript acceptance, i.e., do not send the CTA at submission. Authors wanting to pay for their article to be published with Open Access should not complete the CTA, but the Online Open Copyright Licence Form. See below under 2.9.

The CTA should be mailed to:

Wiley-Blackwell
At: Enrico Ventura
Journal Content Management
Wiley Services Singapore Pte Ltd
600 North Bridge Road
#05-01 Parkview Square
Singapore 188778
Email: ODI@wiley.com
Fax: +65 6295 6202

2.9. Option to Publish your Article with Open Access

Oral Diseases offers authors the opportunity to publish their paper OnlineOpen. OnlineOpen is a pay-to-publish service from Blackwell that offers authors whose papers are accepted for publication the opportunity to pay up-front for their manuscript to become open access (i.e. free for all to view and download). Each OnlineOpen article will be subject to a one-off fee of $3000 to be met by or on behalf of the Author in advance of publication. Upon online publication, the article (both full-text and PDF versions) will be available to all for viewing and download free of charge. The print version of the article will also be branded as OnlineOpen and will draw attention to the fact that the paper can be downloaded for free.

Any authors wishing to publish their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the combined payment and Online Open Copyright Licence Form (Please note this form is for use with OnlineOpen material ONLY).Once complete this form should be sent to the Production Editor (address on the form) at the time of acceptance or as soon as possible after that (preferably within 24 hours to avoid any delays in processing). Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform the Production Editor that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to. Authors wanting to publish their paper OnlineOpen should complete the Online Open Copyright Licence Form and not the Copyright Transfer Agreement.

For questions concerning copyright, please visit Blackwell Publishing's Copyright FAQ

3. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Oral Diseases only accepts online submission of manuscripts. Manuscripts should be submitted at the online submission site: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/odi. Complete instructions for submitting a manuscript are available at the site upon creating an account. Assistance for submitting papers can be sought with the editorial assistant Rosie Ledger at: odiedoffice@wiley.com

Upon successful submission, the journal administrator will check that all parts of the submission have been completed correctly. If any necessary part is missing or if the manuscript does not fulfil the requirements as specified below, the corresponding author will be asked either to adjust the submission according to specified instructions or to submit their paper to another journal.

3.1. Getting Started

Launch your web browser (supported browsers include Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher, Safari 1.2.4, or Firefox 1.0.4 or higher) and go to the journal's online Submission Site: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/odi

• Log-in or, if you are a new user click on 'register here'.
• If you are registering as a new user.
  - After clicking on 'register here', enter your name and e-mail information and click 'Next'. Your e-mail information is very important.
  - Enter your institution and address information as appropriate, and then click 'Next.'
  - Enter a user ID and password of your choice (we recommend using your e-mail address as your user ID), and then select your areas of expertise. Click 'Finish'.
• If you are registered as user, but have forgotten your log in details, enter your e-mail address under 'Password Help'. The system will send you an automatic user ID and a new temporary password.
• Log-in and select 'Corresponding Author Centre'.

3.2. Submitting Your Manuscript

After you have logged into your 'Corresponding Author Centre', submit your manuscript by clicking the submission link under 'Author Resources'.

• Enter data and answer questions as appropriate. You may copy and paste directly from your manuscript and you may upload your pre-prepared covering letter.
• Click the 'Next' button on each screen to save your work and advance to the next screen.
• You are required to register all of your co-authors with a functioning e-mail address. If the e-mail address is incorrect, you will be contacted by the journal administrator.
• You are required to upload your files: Click on the 'Browse' button and locate the file on your computer. Select the designation of each file in the drop down next to the Browse button. When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the 'Upload Files' button.
• Review your submission (in HTML and PDF format) before completing your submission by sending it to the Journal. Click the 'Submit' button when you are finished reviewing.

3.3. Manuscript Files Accepted

Manuscripts should be uploaded as Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rft) files (not write-protected) plus separate figure files. GIF, JPEG, PICT or Bitmap files are acceptable for submission, but only high-resolution TIF or EPS files are suitable for printing. The files will be automatically converted to HTML and PDF on upload and will be used for the review process. The text file must contain the entire manuscript including title page, abstract, text, references, acknowledgements, tables, and figure legends, but no embedded figures. In the text file, please reference figures as for instance 'Figure 1', 'Figure 2' etc to match the tag name you choose for individual figure files uploaded. Manuscripts should be formatted as described in the Author Guidelines below.

3.4. Blinded Review

All manuscripts submitted to Oral Diseases will be reviewed by two experts in the field. Oral Diseases uses single blinded review. The names of the reviewers will thus not be disclosed to the author submitting a paper.

3.5. Suggest a Reviewer

Oral Diseases attempts to keep the review process as short as possible to enable rapid publication of new scientific data. In order to facilitate this process, you must suggest the names and current e-mail addresses of from 2-4 potential reviewers whom you consider capable of reviewing your manuscript in an unbiased way.

3.6. Suspension of Submission Mid-way in the Submission Process

You may suspend a submission at any phase before clicking the 'Submit' button and save it to submit later. The manuscript can then be located under 'Unsubmitted Manuscripts' and you can click on 'Continue Submission' to continue your submission when you choose to.

3.7. E-mail Confirmation of Submission

After submission you will receive an e-mail to confirm receipt of your manuscript. If you do not receive the confirmation e-mail after 24 hours, please check your e-mail address carefully in the system. If the e-mail address is correct please contact your IT department. The error may be caused by some sort of spam filtering on your e-mail server. Also, the e-mails should be received if the IT department adds our e-mail server (uranus.scholarone.com) to their whitelist.

3.8. Manuscript Status

The average time from submission to first decision for manuscripts submitted to Oral Diseases is 20 days. You can access ScholarOne Manuscripts (formerly known as Manuscript Central) any time to check your 'Author Centre' for the status of your manuscript. The Journal will inform you by e-mail once a decision has been made.

3.9. Submission of Revised Manuscripts

To upload a revised manuscript, locate your manuscript under 'Manuscripts with Decisions' and click on 'Submit a Revision'. Please remember to delete any old files uploaded when you upload your revised manuscript.

4. MANUSCRIPT TYPES ACCEPTED

Original Research Articles: Manuscripts reporting laboratory investigations, well-designed and controlled clinical research, and analytical epidemiology are invited. Studies related to aetiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention and treatment are all of interest, but all papers must be based on rigorous hypothesis-driven research. Areas of interest include autoimmune, endocrine, genetic, infectious, metabolic and mucosal diseases; cancer and pre-cancerous conditions; chemosensory, developmental, geriatric and motor disorders, pain and wound healing.

Review Papers: Oral Diseases commissions review papers and also welcomes uninvited reviews. Reviews should be submitted via the online submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/odi and are subject to peer-review.

Editorials: These will only be solicited by the editors.

Letters to the Editors: Letters, if of broad interest, are encouraged. They may deal with material in papers published in Oral Diseases or they may raise new issues, but should have important implications.

Case Reports: ORAL DISEASES DOES NOT ACCEPT CASE REPORTS.

Meeting Reports: Will be considered by the editors for publication only if they are of wide and significant interest.

Book Reviews: These will be solicited by the editors.

5. MANUSCRIPT FORMAT AND STRUCTURE

5.1. Page Charge

Articles exceeding 7 proof pages (excluding figures and tables) are subject to a charge of GBP70 per additional page. One published page amounts approximately to 3 manuscript pages (excluding figures and tables).

5.2. Format

Language: Authors should write their manuscripts in British English using an easily readable style. Authors whose native language is not English should have a native English speaker read and correct their manuscript. Spelling and phraseology should conform to standard British usage and should be consistent throughout the paper. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

Presentation: Authors should pay special attention to the presentation of their findings so that they may be communicated clearly. The background and hypotheses underlying the study as well as its main conclusions should be clearly explained. Titles and abstracts especially should be written in language that will be readily intelligible to any scientist.

Technical jargon: should be avoided as much as possible and clearly explained where its use is unavoidable.

Abbreviations: Oral Diseases adheres to the conventions outlined in Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors. Non-standard abbreviations must be used three or more times and written out completely in the text when first used.

5.3. Structure: All papers submitted to Oral Diseases should include:

• Title Page
• Structured Abstract (reviews need not include a structured abstract)
• Main text
• References
• (Figures)
• (Figure Legends)
• (Tables)

Title Page: should be part of the manuscript uploaded for review and include:

• A title of no more than 100 characters including spaces
• A running title of no more than 50 characters
• 3-6 keywords
• Complete names and institutions for each author
• Corresponding author's name, address, email address and fax number
• Date of submission (and revision/resubmission)

Abstract: is limited to 200 words in length and should contain no abbreviations. The abstract should be included in the manuscript document uploaded for review as well as separately where specified in the submission process. The abstract should convey the essential purpose and message of the paper in an abbreviated form set out under:

• Objective(s),
• Subject(s) (or Materials) and Methods,
• Results,
• Conclusions(s).

The Main Text of Original Research Articles should be organised as follows

Introduction: should be focused, outlining the historical or logical origins of the study and not summarize the results; exhaustive literature reviews are inappropriate. It should close with the explicit statement of the specific aims of the investigation.

Materials and Methods must contain sufficient detail such that, in combination with the references cited, all clinical trials and experiments reported can be fully reproduced. As a condition of publication, authors are required to make materials and methods used freely available to academic researchers for their own use. This includes antibodies and the constructs used to make transgenic animals, although not the animals themselves. Other supporting data sets must be made available on the publication date from the authors directly.

(i) Clinical trials: As noted above, these should be reported using the CONSORT guidelines available at www.consort-statement.org. A CONSORT checklist should also be included in the submission material. Clinical trials can be registered in any of the following free, public clinical trials registries: www.clinicaltrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials-dev.ifpma.org/, http://isrctn.org/.As stated in an editorial published in Oral Diseases (12:217-218), 2006), all manuscripts reporting results from a clinical trial must indicate that the trial was fully registered at a readily accessible website. The clinical trial registration number and name of the trial register will be published with the paper.

(ii)Experimental subjects: As noted above, experimentation involving human subjects will only be published if such research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (version, 2002 www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm) and the additional requirements, if any, of the country where the research has been carried out. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the above mentioned principles. A statement regarding the fact that the study has been independently reviewed and approved by an ethical board should also be included.Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there are doubts as to whether appropriate procedures have been used. When experimental animals are used the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the Guidelines laid down by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures or with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) and in accordance with local laws and regulations.

(iii) Suppliers: Suppliers of materials should be named and their location (town, state/county, country) included.

Results: should present the observations with minimal reference to earlier literature or to possible interpretations.

Discussion: may usually start with a brief summary of the major findings, but repetition of parts of the abstract or of the results sections should be avoided. The section should end with a brief conclusion and a comment on the potential clinical relevance of the findings. Statements and interpretation of the data should be appropriately supported by original references.

Acknowledgements: Should be used to provide information on sources of funding for the research, any potential conflict of interest and to acknowledge contributors to the study that do not qualify as authors. All sources of institutional, private and corporate financial support for the work within the manuscript must be fully acknowledged, and any potential grant holders should be listed. Acknowledgements should be brief and should not include thanks to anonymous referees and editors. Where people are acknowledged, a covering letter demonstrating their consent must be provided.

5.4. References

The journal policy is to encourage references to original papers, not to literature reviews. References in the text should quote the last name(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication (Brown and Smith, 2005). Three or more authors should always be referred to as, for example, Jones et al., 2005.

We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting. EndNote reference styles can be searched for here: www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp. Reference Manager reference styles can be searched for here: www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp

A list of the references must be given at the end of the paper and should follow the recommendations in Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors, (1975), p.36. London: The Royal Society of Medicine.

a) The arrangement of the references should be alphabetical by first author's surname.

b) The order of the items in each reference should be:

(i) for journal references:

last name(s) of all the author(s) and their initials, year, title of paper, title of journal, volume number, first and last page numbers.

(ii) for book references:

Name(s) of author(s), year, chapter title, title of book, edition, volume, town of publication, publisher, page number(s).

c) Authors' names should be arranged thus:

Smith AB and Jones DE

d) The year of publication should be surrounded by parentheses: (2005).

e) The title of the paper should be included without quotation marks.

f) The journal title should be abbreviated, should be italicised, and followed by the volume number in bold type and page numbers separated by a dash.

Examples:

Gupta PC, Murti PR, Bhonsle RB, Mehta FS, Pindborg JJ (1995). Effect of cessation of tobacco use on the incidence of oral mucosal lesions in a 10-year study of 12212 users. Oral Diseases 1: 54-58.

Baum BJ, Voutetakis A, Wang J (2004). Salivary glands: novel target sites for gene therapeutics. Trends Mol Med. 10: 585-590.

Shear M and Speight PM (2007). Cysts of the Oral and Maxillofacial Regions. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford.

Scully C (2004). The oral cavity and lips. In: Burns DA, Breathnach SM, Cox N, Griffiths C, eds., Rooks Textbook of Dermatology. 7th Edition. Blackwell Science: Oxford, pp.66.1.-66.121.

5.5. Tables, Figures and Figure Legends

Figures: All figures and artwork must be provided in electronic format. Please save vector graphics (e.g. line artwork) in Encapsulated Postscript Format (EPS) and bitmap files (e.g. half-tones) or clinical or in vitro pictures in Tagged Image Format (TIFF).

Detailed information on our digital illustration standards can be found at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp.

Check your electronic artwork before submitting it: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/eachecklist.asp.

Unnecessary figures and parts (panels) of figures should be avoided: data presented in small tables or histograms, for instance, can generally be stated briefly in the text instead. Figures should not contain more than one panel unless the parts are logically connected.

Figures divided into parts should be labelled with a lower-case, boldface, roman letter, a, b, and so on, in the same type size as used elsewhere in the figure. Lettering in figures should be in lower-case type, with the first letter capitalized. Units should have a single space between the number and unit, and follow SI nomenclature common to a particular field. Unusual units and abbreviations should be spelled out in full or defined in the legend. Scale bars should be used rather than magnification factors, with the length of the bar defined in the legend rather than on the bar itself. In general visual cues (on the figures themselves) are preferred to verbal explanations in the legend (e.g. broken line, open red triangles etc).

Permissions: If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author's responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the Publishers.

Colour Charges: It is the policy of Oral Diseases for authors to pay the full cost for the reproduction of their colour artwork. Therefore, please note that if there is colour artwork in your manuscript when it is accepted for publication, Blackwell Publishing require you to complete and return a Colour Work Agreement Form before your paper can be published. In the event that an author is not able to cover the costs of reproducing colour figures in colour in the printed version of the journal, Oral Diseases offers authors the opportunity to reproduce colour figures in colour for free in the online version of the article (but they will still appear in black and white in the print version). Please send the completed Colour Work Agreement to:

Enrico Ventura
Production Editor
Journal Content Management
Wiley-Blackwell
Blackwell Publishing Services Pte Ltd
#05-01 Parkview Square
600 North Bridge Road
Singapore 188 778
Tel: +65 65118257
Fax: +65 6511 8288
Email: odi@wiley.com

Any article received by Blackwell Publishing with colour work will not be published until the Colour Work Agreement Form has been returned. If you are unable to access the internet, or are unable to download the form, please contact the Production Editor.

Figure Legends: should be a separate section of the manuscript, and should begin with a brief title for the whole figure and continue with a short description of each panel and the symbols used: they should not contain significant details of methods.

5.6. Supporting Material

Publication in electronic formats has created opportunities for adding details or whole sections in the electronic version only. Authors need to work closely with the editors in developing or using such new publication formats.

Supporting Material, such as data sets or additional figures or tables, that will not be published in the print edition of the journal, but which will be viewable via the online edition, can be submitted.

It should be clearly stated at the time of submission that the Supporting Material is intended to be made available through the online edition. If the size or format of the Supporting Material is such that it cannot be accommodated on the journal's Web site, the author agrees to make the Supporting Material available free of charge on a permanent Web site, to which links will be set up from the journal's website. The author must advise Blackwell Publishing if the URL of the website where the Supporting Material is located changes. The content of the Supporting Material must not be altered after the paper has been accepted for publication.

The availability of Supporting Material should be indicated in the main manuscript by a paragraph, to appear after the References, headed 'Supporting Material' and providing titles of figures, tables, etc. In order to protect reviewer anonymity, material posted on the authors Web site cannot be reviewed. The Supporting Material submitted that is an integral part of the article will be reviewed accordingly.

6. AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Upon acceptance of a paper for publication, the manuscript will be forwarded to the Production Editor who is responsible for the production of the journal.

6.1 Proof Corrections

The corresponding author will receive an email alert containing a link to a web site. A working email address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. The proof can be downloaded as a PDF (portable document format) file from this site.

Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following web site: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html . This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Hard copy proofs will be posted if no e-mail address is available; in your absence, please arrange for a colleague to access your e-mail to retrieve the proofs. Proofs must be returned to the Production Editor within three days of receipt.

6.2 Early Online Publication Prior to Print

Oral Diseases is covered by Blackwell Publishing's Early View service. Early View articles are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Early View articles are complete and final. They have been fully reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and the authors' final corrections have been incorporated. Because they are in final form, no changes can be made after online publication. The nature of Early View articles means that they do not yet have volume, issue or page numbers, so Early View articles cannot be cited in the traditional way. They are therefore given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and tracked before it is allocated to an issue. After print publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article.

6.3 Online Production Tracking

Online production tracking is available for your article through Blackwell's Author Services. Author Services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/ for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

6.4 Author Material Archive Policy

Please note that unless specifically requested, Blackwell Publishing will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted two months after publication. If you require the return of any material submitted, please inform the editorial office or production editor as soon as possible.

6.5 Offprints and Extra Copies

A PDF offprint of the online published article will be provided free of charge to the corresponding author, and may be distributed subject to the Publisher's terms and conditions. Additional paper offprints may be ordered online. Please click on the following link, fill in the necessary details and ensure that you type information in all of the required fields: offprint cosprinters. If you have queries about offprints please email offprint@cosprinters.com

6.6 Author Services

For more substantial information on the services provided for authors, please see Blackwell Publishing Author Services