Abstract
While research globally is a focused niche area, in India, it is one of the multiple requirements, especially for Orthodontists in the teaching profession. With guidelines for research becoming streamlined, it is important for the Orthodontist to be cognizant of these changes. With 10,000+ members and 300+ graduate colleges, the Indian Orthodontic Society (IOS) is the largest society in the world. However, the contribution to scientific literature is not proportional to the strength of the society.
Read the author’s instructions multiple times: Nothing annoys the Editor more than these guidelines not being followed. A leading orthodontic journal’s software automatically rejects the manuscript if there are more than three attempts or errors in the initial Quality Check. Some instructions are specific to a journal—The Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry does not encourage any new references after the Introduction section; this was news to me. Title: Keep the title precise and avoid brand or commercial titles. Shorter titles are more effective and cited more.
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A title with 10-15 words is better than a title with 30 or more words.2-4 Use the Keywords to draft the title. Avoid humor at all costs. Abstract: This is the section, along with the title, that forms the first impression. The aim should be 15% or less and is the shortest part of the abstract. The Methods section should be 30%; the Results section should be a maximum of 40%, with a preponderance of numerical data. The conclusions should match the aim and constitute 15% of the abstract. Introduction: Base the manuscript style on the Editor’s penchant (such as the sequence or number of paragraphs in the Introduction section) or on more complex sections, such as the interpretation of the network meta-analysis, which would make the armamentarium of the Orthodontist stronger. It is similar to the route taken by most of us from home to work, for example. We prefer a time-tested, routine route rather than anything else. The Editor is also one of us. Conclusion: The conclusion should match the aim. Any other finding should be a part of the discussion. If we are assessing metal release from brackets, the conclusion should answer this research question. The vegan diet population has lesser metal release, and so on; these are not part of the conclusions and should be avoided. Neutrality and disclosure: These are part of Ethics and Ethical disclosure if one of the authors is a Key Opinion Leader, which is mandatory. Remember, ALL research and, therefore, research manuscripts require Ethical Approval. If approval is not required, this decision can be taken only by the Ethical Committee, which will then provide the authors with a certificate for the same that has to be attached. Scientific writing and language: No one likes to make fun of our mother tongue. Since most of the scientific literature is in English, which is not our mother tongue, it is only natural that we make some basic errors. Please utilize the services of professional language editing services. Remember all the movies in which language and accents were made fun of? It may be hilarious in a movie, but it is definitely not so in a scientific manuscript, especially grammatical mistakes. Case in point—there is a world of a difference between “let’s eat Grandma” and “let’s eat, Grandma”. Case reports: While case reports are part of the lower rung of scientific evidence, most journal Editors are averse to publishing case reports as they do not contribute to citations. Case reports are published if they are truly an outlier and if that condition has not been published before.
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Most orthodontic journals require 1 year of post-retention records. The true advantage of writing case reports is that, though they are prone to rejection, they can serve as a valuable tool to start a career in scientific writing. Further, combining a case report with a literature review or a position paper would enable greater chances of publication.5, 6 My suggestion is to write at least five letters to the editor and five case reports before venturing into a scientific manuscript. These letters would serve to enlighten the authors on the topic and thus aid further research. A degree of familiarity with the name to the Editor is an added bonus. Journal preference: Many journals are focused on niche areas. For example, some orthodontic journals may focus on toxicity, while others focus on biomechanics or material advances. An extensive assessment of the past issues of the journal would provide more information on this aspect. Some journals do not encourage finite element models. Almost all Orthodontic journals reject Cephalometric norms and In Vitro Bond Strength studies, as there is sufficient literature on these topics. Attend the JIOS symposium: It is intended to help the Indian Orthodontist improve the quality of publications. With this as the objective, the IOS and the Journal of the Indian Orthodontic Society and Journal of Contemporary Orthodontics, the official journals of the IOS, have planned a series of modules to ensure that the quality of the publications of the Indian Orthodontist improves. With most mistakes being of an avoidable nature, the modules focus on avoiding common errors.
Most importantly, accept Rejection. It is a part of Life. Best wishes and Godspeed.