Submissions

Author Guidelines

Introduction

The Journal of Nepalese Prosthodontic Society (JNPS) is the biannual official publication of the Nepalese Prosthodontic Society and is devoted to the field of prosthetic dentistry. JNPS is the first prosthodontic journal published from Nepal since 2017. JNPS is a peer-reviewed journal that is indexed in Scopus, Embase, NepJOL, and NepMed.

The Editorial Process

The submitted manuscripts are duly acknowledged and initially reviewed for possible publication by the Editors with the understanding that they are being submitted only to the JNPS, have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or accepted for publication elsewhere. On average, 30-40% of the manuscripts with insufficient originality or significant message, serious scientific and technical flaws are rejected. In the case of a good article that has been written poorly, the authors are asked to resubmit after revision. JNPS abides by the principles of COPE, WAME, ICJME, DOAJ, and OASPA guidelines.

The Peer Review Process

The manuscripts are then sent to two expert peer reviewers, blinded to the contributor’s identity and vice versa, for meticulous review, inputs, and comments. The final decision on whether to accept or reject the article is taken by the Editor-in-Chief based on the editorial board and peer reviewers. The contributors are informed about the rejection/acceptance of the manuscript with the peer reviewer’s comments. Accepted articles have to be resubmitted after making the necessary changes or clarifying questions raised during the peer review process.

The accepted articles are edited for grammatical, punctuation, print style, and format errors, and page proofs are sent to the corresponding author who should return them within three days. Nonresponse to the galley proof may result in the delay of publication or even rejection of the article.

Reporting Guidelines

The guidelines listed below should be followed where appropriate. Please use these guidelines to structure your article. Completed applicable checklists, structured abstracts, and flow diagrams should be uploaded with your submission; these will be published alongside the final version of your paper.

The Equator Network (Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research) provides a comprehensive list of reporting guidelines.

Focus and Scope

JNPS invites original research papers, review articles, case reports, prosthodontic rehabilitation, viewpoints, and letters to the editor containing new insight into any aspect of prosthodontic rehabilitation that are not published or not being considered for publication elsewhere. The journal is particularly interested in and welcomes papers in basic and clinical prosthodontic rehabilitation, dental materials, research, medical education, and publication ethics, too.

Formatting

The majority of the submitted manuscripts lack proper formatting; on top of that, headings and subheadings are not correctly written. Therefore, we encourage you to use appropriate JNPS formatting for your manuscript.

Editorial

It is submitted by an editorial board or an invited piece on the most pertinent issues in the field of prosthodontics in Nepal or in the world. It undergoes fast fast-track peer review process. Up to 800 words excluding 5 references.

Original Article

JNPS accepts Randomized controlled trials, interventional studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, case control series, and research conducted in the field of basic and clinical prosthodontic rehabilitation and dental materials science, with a maximum length of 3500 words (excluding abstract of 250 words and references).

Abstract structured (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusion); Up to 3-7 keywords in alphabetical order separated with commas, capitalize each keyword. Main body: formatted as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.

Figures and Tables: 10

• This section should include a description of the problem that motivated the investigation. Clearly and completely explain the problem. Summarize relevant research and identify any bias in past studies. Clearly state the purpose of the study and the research hypothesis at the end of the introduction.
• In addition to providing details about the overall design, the sample under study, the sample size, the type of interventions (or treatments) applied to the various components of the sample, and the principal outcome measure, this section also describes the materials or subjects used and the methods chosen to evaluate them. This section must contain the statistical approach and justification for the sample size determination.
• Present the findings succinctly and precisely, following the sequence in which the testing was explained in the Materials and Methods section. Describe the most important discoveries and patterns. Figures, tables, and text shouldn't be repeated. P values and actual data must be used to validate results that are marked as significant.
• The Discussion section should begin by stating whether or not the data support rejecting the stated null hypothesis. Don't duplicate the information provided in the Results section. Organize the discussion as follows: 1) Give a summary of the key conclusions, highlighting the new information this study offers. 2) Examine the study's results against the body of existing pertinent literature, highlighting any notable discrepancies and noting the findings' implications in that regard. 3) Talk about the limitations of the study and how they might affect interpretation.
• Includes only a brief and brief summary of the findings. Concisely list conclusions that may be drawn from the research; do not simply restate the results. The conclusions must be pertinent to the objectives and justified by the data.

Case Reports

Reports of clinical patient diagnosis and treatment that contribute to the body of prosthodontic knowledge by providing in-depth observations, treatment, and outcomes. These reports should document new, unique, or and diagnostic tests, case control series, and research conducted in the field of basic and clinical prosthodontic rehabilitation and dental materials science, with a maximum length of 3500 words (excluding abstract of 250 words and references).

Abstract structured (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusion); Up to 3-7 keywords in alphabetical order separated with commas, capitalize each keyword.

Main body: formatted as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.

Figures and Tables: 10

• Introduction: Write a summary of the literature that is pertinent to the issue encountered. Provide references to existing practices and procedures.
• Case Report: Give a brief description of the patient, the issue they brought in, and any pertinent medical or dental history. Explain the different treatment alternatives and the rationale behind the treatment choice. Give a detailed account of the treatment received, the duration of the follow-up period, and any progress that was observed as a result of the treatment. The past tense and paragraph structure should be used when writing this part.
• Discussion: Comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen treatment and describe any contraindications for it.
• Conclusion: Briefly summarize the patient treatment. Highlight the benefits and key limitations of the rendered treatment.

Review Article

Review articles which summarize the current state of understanding on a topic and analyze or discuss research previously published by others, rather than reporting new experimental results.

They are very thorough literature reviews that identify historical and current trends in the research, important scholars in the field, foundational articles, major discoveries, gaps in the research (areas for further exploration), and current debates or controversies. It has to be about 3500 words without counting the abstract (250 words) and references (>50 and usually <100).

Abstract structured (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusion); Up to 3-7 keywords in alphabetical order separated with commas, capitalize each keyword. At least three terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used.

Main body: formatted as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.

Figures and Tables: 10

Short Communication / Viewpoint

Short communication is a research article that doesn't fit exactly into a research article, but the findings are interesting, e.g. pilot study. It undergoes a peer review process. Viewpoint is based on issues related to health sciences to raise the voice, awareness, new ideas, thoughts to provoke concepts, and personal expert opinion to improve health. Up to 800 words excluding 5 - 8 references.

Letter to the Editor

Should be a short, decisive observation. Comment relating to a recent article, an elaboration of an important discovery, or simply a thought-provoking commentary of fewer than 1000 words without an abstract.

Tables and Figures

Table (each table complete with title and footnotes).

Figure legends: At initial submission, figures can be included in the manuscript or can be submitted in separate files. Should your manuscript reach the revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files.

References

References must be identified in the body of the article with superscript Arabic numerals. At the end of a sentence, the reference number falls after the period. The complete reference list, double-spaced and in numerical order, should follow the Conclusions section.

Reference formatting should conform to Vancouver style as set forth in “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (Ann Intern Med 1997;126:36-47).

Funding

You should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. You are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature.

Peer Review Process

1. The Chief Editor, together with the editorial board, will ensure the following peer review policy: Double blind: The manuscript will be blinded when sending out for review. The author is anonymous to the reviewer, and the reviewer is anonymous to the author as well.
2. One-stage review: The reviewer is involved in the initial review of the manuscript only, i.e., not involved in evaluating the revisions made by the author based on the reviewer’s comments. Rather, the Chief Editor carries the manuscript forward following the initial review.
3. In rare, controversial, and special circumstances, Two-stage review: Those papers that require revision as suggested by the reviewer will be sent back to that same reviewer for him/her to evaluate the manuscript once again after revised resubmission from the author.

The author has to submit their manuscript according to the JNPS section policy.

• All submitted articles will undergo international peer review with blinding for two peer reviewers, simultaneously. If the decision conflicts between two, it will be sent to a third peer reviewer.
• The typical review will take a minimum of 4-6 weeks, which includes 2 weeks for peer review and the remaining weeks for the peer review handling process. However, this may take a little longer due to unseen workloads.
• When the article is received from the peer reviewer, there will be one of the following outcomes, and the decision choices include:

Accept Submission: The submission will be accepted without revisions.

Revisions Required: The submission will be accepted after minor changes have been made according to the reviewer's comments.

Resubmit for Review: The submission needs to be re-worked, but with significant changes, it may be accepted. It will require a second round of review, however.

Resubmit elsewhere: When the submission does not meet the focus and scope of JNPS.

Decline Submission: The submission will not be published in the journal.

All comments received from the reviewers will be passed on to the authors within 4-6 weeks after getting back from the reviewers. Regardless of whether or not the submission is accepted for publication, appropriate feedback must be provided to the contributors.

JNPS respects the views, opinions, comments, and decisions of the reviewer. However, the right for acceptance and rejection of the manuscript is reserved with the Chief Editor, based on maintaining the integrity of the science, following the guidelines of ICJME and COPE.

The editors will be responsible for directing the manuscripts to the appropriate reviewers who have the knowledge and/or expertise in the requisite fields. Each manuscript will be accepted (sometimes on a conditional basis pending suggested changes) or declined based on the reviewers' comments, and other factors, by the Chief Editor's decision. In the case of a controversial, groundbreaking article that could have a far-reaching impact on the field, further reviews may be sought. The decision ultimately rests with the chief editor.

Peer Reviewers will be provided with Review Guidelines once they accept to review the submission. JNPS will rate reviewers on a five-point quality scale after each review.

Submission Documents

Please submit all the following documents while submitting your new manuscript to JNPS:

1. Forwarding letter
2. Authorship
3. Declaration
4. Manuscript
5. Ethical Approval letter*

*This is for a research article only. An ethical approval letter should be obtained before starting the research. Any research without ethical approval from a recognized ethical review board is of no value. The Ethical Review Board of Nepal Health Research Council is the apex body for looking after the ethics in research in Nepal.

However, ERB has established an institutional review committee in most of the medical colleges, tertiary care centre hospitals, and research centres throughout the country. If you do not belong to such IRC centres, please contact the ERB, NHRC for ethical approval of your research. For an international author, please provide an ethical approval letter from your institutional ethical committee or national body responsible for ethics in research.

Any submission without the above documents and a manuscript not in JNPS format will be rejected outright. Therefore, to avoid such errors and rejection, please submit your article with all supplementary and required files along with the use of the appropriate template given below.

Must Have Information

To minimize the rejection (or return for revision) of your article, please do the following:

All the documents have to be submitted at once (as listed above).

1. Please strictly follow the JNPS guidelines for your respective manuscript to avoid errors in the heading and subheadings.
2. Please address all the points described in the JNPS checklist, references, and manuscript preparation guidelines, etc.
3. Please do not submit the article that we do not publish (check the author guidelines for a different type of article we accept).
4. If you have difficulty working on the computer or are not good at it, particularly with Microsoft Word documents, please seek professional help to prepare your manuscript according to our needs.
5. Email is the preferred method of communication; therefore, please check your email once a day after you submit an article to JNPS. We will inform you about the status of your article through our system to the email you at your mail ID which you provided during REGISTRATION to JNPS. We may also contact you anytime for immediate information to speed up the review process.
6. Please do not contact the editorial members' personal telephone numbers, but the JNPS office. If you have more queries, please contact us anytime. Help us to help you by providing the required information as listed on this page.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors who do not adhere to these guidelines.

Submission Preparation Checklist:

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. The submission file should be a Microsoft Office Word (*.doc /*.docx) file format.
3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
4. The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
6. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review has been followed.
7. Supplementary Files: Please also submit supplementary files along with your manuscript, and also go through JNPS

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Copyright Notice

JNPS allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allows readers to use them for any other lawful purpose. The author(s) are allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions. The JNPS work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.