1. Policy on Handling Cases Requiring Corrections

In accordance with COPE and ICMJE guidelines, the Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) issues corrections when errors are identified in published articles that do not invalidate the overall findings or conclusions. Corrections may address inaccuracies in data presentation, author details, affiliations, figures, tables or text. The Editor evaluates all requests for correction and authors may be required to provide supporting documentation. Approved corrections are published promptly, clearly linked to the original article and labeled to describe the nature of the amendment, ensuring transparency while preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.

2. Advertising Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) does not accept or publish advertisements in any form. All content in the journal is strictly academic and peer-reviewed, ensuring that editorial decisions are completely independent of commercial interests. This policy aligns with COPE and ICMJE guidelines, maintaining the integrity, transparency and trustworthiness of the journal’s publications.

3. Data Sharing Policy

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) supports transparency and reproducibility in research. Authors are encouraged to deposit data in appropriate public repositories, where feasible, while ensuring participant confidentiality and compliance with ethical and legal obligations. If data cannot be publicly archived due to privacy concerns, authors must provide de-identified individual participant data, study protocols, and statistical data upon reasonable request.

4. Copyright Policy (Click Here)

5. Article Retraction Policy

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) follows the retraction guidelines set by the ICJME and a retraction notice will be published in the following issue of PJDR, citing the reason for the retraction of the article. A published manuscript can be retracted if it is a duplicate publication or if unethical research has been proven. Text announcing the retraction of the article will replace the online article on the journal website.

6. Scientific Misconduct Policy

The scientific misconduct policy of Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) is based on several national and international guidelines, such as the guidelines laid down by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC), ICMJE, WAME and COPE. The forms and examples of misconduct covered by the scientific misconduct policy of PJDR include falsification/fabrication of scientific data, plagiarism (as discussed above) involving misrepresentation of facts/ideas and language used by others in prior work, taking credit of authorship when there has been none, not giving other actual authors their due recognition, re-publishing the same research work as different research work in another journal, inclusion of individuals who have not participated in the research, fraudulently using other researcher’s ideas as own without informed consent.

The scientific policy of PJDR also prohibits contradiction of general principles of research in the form of manipulation of data to obtain desired preconceived results or for using dubious statistical analyses. The scientific policy of PJDr also rejects research during the process of which failure to comply with the local/national/international regulations occurred. Similarly, all forms of personal/professional misconduct, including leveling false accusations of misconduct, not reporting a case of misconduct or not sharing information about such cases, are also considered scientific misconduct. Additionally, not complying with the prerequisites of publishing a manuscript in PJDR, such as not declaring competing interests or source of funding for the research and not assuring transparency, is also construed as misconduct by the PJDR.

Responses to possible misconduct 

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) will halt the processing of manuscripts and will launch an investigation into allegations of misconduct if and when received. The PJDR has a zero-tolerance policy for professional/scientific misconduct.

7. Editorial Expression of Concern Policy

In accordance with COPE guidelines, Pakistan Journal of Dental Research may issue an Editorial Expression of Concern when serious questions arise regarding the integrity, validity or ethical conduct of a published article, but the available evidence is insufficient for immediate correction or retraction. Such a notice is issued by the Editor after due consideration, informs readers that an investigation is ongoing or unresolved and clearly identifies the nature of the concern. The Expression of Concern is linked to the original article and remains part of the scholarly record until the matter is resolved, after which it may be withdrawn, replaced by a correction, or replaced by a retraction as appropriate.

8. Plagiarism Policy (Click Here)

9. Policy for use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)–Assisted Technology

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research follows ICMJE guidelines for the use of AI in publication. At submission, the authors should disclose whether they used Artificial Intelligence (AI)–assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots or image creators) in the production of submitted work. Authors who use such technology should describe, in both the cover letter and the submitted work in the appropriate section, if applicable, how they used it. For example, if AI was used for writing assistance, describe this in the acknowledgment section. If AI was used for data collection, analysis, or figure generation, authors should describe this use in the methods. Chatbots (such as ChatGPT) should not be listed as authors because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, and these responsibilities are required for authorship. Therefore, humans are responsible for any submitted material that includes the use of AI-assisted technologies. Authors should carefully review and edit the results because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author. Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in-text citations and images produced by the AI. Humans must ensure there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations.

10. Policy on Research Involving Animals (Click Here)

11. Clinical Trial Registration

According to the ICJME, a clinical trial is “any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes. Health outcomes are any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events.”

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) will only consider the publication of results of those randomized controlled trials that have been conducted according to the ICJME instructions. The clinical trials that are unregistered and/or which have recruited participants before registration of the trial will NOT be published in the PJDR. Additionally, clinical trials without the provision of an Ethical Review Board will NOT be published.

12. Conflict of Interest

The WAME has defined conflict of interest as “ when a participant in the publication process (author, peer reviewer, or editor) has a competing interest that could unduly influence (or reasonably seems to do so) his or her responsibilities in the publication process".

Authors submitting their research manuscripts to the PJDR are required to declare any conflict of interest, which may be in the form of credits/promotions, grants, memberships, or any other professional or personal relationship that may influence the manuscript in any manner. Although such conflicts of interest are not entirely unethical, they should be stated clearly in the author’s undertaking and contribution form, as well as in the appropriate text box during the manuscript submission process, in addition to a statement at the end of the manuscript text before the references section. No conflicts of interest should also be declared explicitly.

13. Instructions for Authors & Authorship of articles

14. Ethical Approval for Research

The authors are required to declare if their experiments involving human subjects were conducted in accordance with the best ethical standards in place, as described in the Helsinki Declaration. It is pertinent to note that the use of any information that can lead to the identification of human subjects is strictly prohibited. Likewise, reports of experiments should state the institutional or national standards that were followed during experiments.

Manuscripts submitted to PJDR should be accompanied by an approval from the ethics committee / ethical review board of the institution where the study was carried out. In conditions where no ethical approval was required for the study, a statement explaining the situation, countersigned by the head of the department, should be submitted to the PJDR.

15. Disclosure of Research Funding

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research requires disclosure of all grants and funding received for the completion of research. These disclosures can be made in the appropriate text box during the submission process and at the end of the manuscript after declaration of conflict of interest.

In case of no external funding sources, the authors should explicitly declare so.

16. Withdrawal of Research Manuscripts

The authors should declare that they have submitted the manuscript of their research only to the PJDR during the submission of the manuscript because they are required to transfer the ownership of copyrights to the PJDR at the time of manuscript submission.

 If and when the authors want to withdraw the submitted manuscript after submission to the journal, they will have to inform the journal in writing, with all authors preferably signing a statement of withdrawal before sending it to the journal. The editorial board will then inform the corresponding author(s) about the withdrawal of the manuscript.

Prospective authors should note that a formal statement from the editorial board approving the withdrawal request is necessary and without it, no manuscript may be considered withdrawn. Submission of manuscripts once submitted to PJDR in other journals may result in black listing of the authors.

17. Informed Consent

All patients have a right to privacy and utmost care should be exercised to not violate their privacy. However, if and when the need arises, informed consent should be obtained from the patients. The latest version of the Helsinki Declaration can be followed as a useful guide for ethical standards involving informed consent.

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) follows the guidelines provided by the ICMJE as far as the rights of patients are concerned. All information that can be used to identify the patients, including but not limited to initials, names or hospital record numbers, should be omitted from the written or photographic material unless its inclusion can be justified and/or the patient or the parents/guardians of the patient consented to the inclusion in writing. If there is a doubt about the maintenance of anonymity, informed consent should be obtained from the patients.

If it is necessary to show an identifiable person in the manuscript, informed consent should only be obtained after showing the manuscript to the patient and the patient should be alerted to the availability of the published material via the internet as well as in paper form. Although the Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) usually does not require submission of such consent forms at the time of submission, they may be asked for during the processing of the manuscript. A statement of obtaining informed consent from the study participants before their inclusion in the study should be added to the manuscript, usually in the methods section.

18. Peer Review Process

The double-blind review process of peer review adopted by the Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) requires an internal peer review of the submitted manuscripts. Most manuscripts found unsuitable for publication with reference to poor structure, writing or topic are rejected at this initial stage of peer review. Once a submitted manuscript is deemed fit for publication by the in-house review by peers, it will be reviewed by external reviewers. The only exception to this process is the editorials and obituaries authored by the Editor in Chief, Pakistan Journal of Dental Research.

19. Permission for Replication of Published Material

Reproduction of material obtained from external sources 

The Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) will not obtain any permissions for the publication of material obtained from other publishers. The authors of a manuscript should make sure that all relevant permissions, if required, are obtained in advance of submission of the manuscript to the PJDR.

Written permission of the relevant copyright holder must accompany the manuscript if the manuscript contains parts of literature accessed from other sources.

Reproducing material published by PJDR

Since all authors are required to transfer the copyrights of published material to the Pakistan Journal of Dental Research upon acceptance and thereafter publication of their research, it is pertinent to note that prior permission is required from the PJDR for reproduction, storage in some kind of retrieval system or transmission of any part of the journal in any form conceivable.

20. Appeals against Rejection of Articles

An in-house review of letters of appeal carrying a detailed explanation of why an article rejected by the editorial board of PJDR should be published will decide the fate of rejected articles. Authors should not submit their revised manuscript at this stage. Once an appeal against rejection of an article has been granted, the authors will make a new submission of the revised manuscript and the review process will start afresh.

21. Comments on Published Work

The editorial board of PJDR encourages readers to contact the corresponding authors of a published research article if readers have any comments on the article. The Journal does not encourage mediation between the readers and corresponding authors of an article in view of the heavy workload.

22.  Supplements to Issues

Pakistan Journal of Dental Research (PJDR) publishes supplements to standard issues on different meetings, conference abstracts or topics upon requests by organizations. The requesting organization/body will bear all the costs that will be decided after discussion with the journal. The costs may vary from time to time. Articles published in such supplements shall not be considered as the policy of PJDR.

23. Authorship Criteria