The Journal of Oral Implantology (JOI) editorial team strives continually to: (1) improve JOI for readers, (2) aid authors in submitting manuscripts that meet the necessary requirements for peer-review consideration, and (3) help reviewers perform critically valuable and time-efficient reviews. Dr Jonathan R. Brown, Senior Associate Editor-in-Chief, in collaboration with the JOI editorial team, has produced video and Microsoft PowerPoint instructions for authors and reviewers, in addition to reworking the reviewer-scoring rubric for the benefit of all. Authors are encouraged to review the Instructions for Contributors and the reviewer-scoring rubric as it will guide them in preparing manuscripts that will meet the criteria put forth by the Journal.
JOI's editorial goals are to recognize salient author contributions and to help contributing authors publish their research findings. In support of these goals, a presentation has been designed to provide important considerations that occur when a manuscript is submitted for possible publication in JOI. A link to this resource is included at the end of this editorial. Below, we summarizes the 4 major phases during the manuscript research-to-publication process.
The initial phase is researchers conducting scientific/clinical research and then reporting the findings from their research project. During this phase, assuming that an author intends to submit the results of the research findings to a peer-reviewed professional journal, they should identify a journal that has an active interest in the topic being investigated. One way to determine the interests of a journal to review, and possibly publish, research findings is to contact the editor-in-chief of one or more journals that have published articles about their research topic. The JOI Editor-in-Chief can be reached at joi.editor@icloud.com.
The second phase of the research-to-publication process is writing a manuscript that meets all—not just some—of the guidelines published by the targeted journal. There are two main reasons for the rejection of manuscripts: 1) The topic does not meet the needs of a journal's readership and 2) the author did not follow ALL of the journal's submission guidelines. The JOI editorial staff encourages all authors with potential submissions to review the detailed Information for Contributors that can be found on the JOI website (https://meridian.allenpress.com/joi/pages/author-information). These instructions are also linked at the top of each page of the JOI peer review website (https://www.editorialmanager.com/aaid-joi/). Additional author and peer-review considerations may be found in the video/PowerPoint link provided below.
The third phase in bridging the gap between research and publication is submission of a manuscript to a journal for publication consideration. Peer-reviewed journals have a process for reviewing work from contributing authors. Typically, the editor-in-chief of a professional journal screens incoming submissions and makes an initial decision regarding which manuscripts meet the needs of the journal and have met the guidelines for submission. Many manuscripts are rejected during this phase because those criteria are not met. Some manuscripts are then sent to a journal's peer reviewers.
The fourth phase of the research-to-publication process includes anonymous reviews by several peers who have professional education and experiences consistent with the manuscript's topic. If applicable, a statistician will be included during the review process to assure that research methodology and statistical arguments are tenable and empirical. This phase typically ends with a submitted manuscript in 1 of 4 outcome conditions:
Accept without revision (extremely rare recommendation)
Do not accept the manuscript but offer an option that includes minor revisions and resubmitting the manuscript
Do not accept the manuscript but offer an option that includes major revisions and resubmitting the manuscript
Reject the manuscript without the option to resubmit the manuscript
Approximately 80% of all JOI submissions are not accepted for publication. The reasons for rejecting a manuscript are briefly listed as a graphic in the linked video/PowerPoint presentation and is titled: Major Reasons for 80% of JOI Manuscript Rejection Rate.
The American Academy of Implant Dentistry, JOI's editorial board, Allen Press, and both Drs Brown and Rutkowski wish authors well as they work to successfully submit a competitive manuscript with the target of having the manuscript accepted, published, and shared with the professional community as an archived work for posterity. The link for the referenced video/PowerPoint presentation is http://www.aaid.com/author_aids_for_JOI_requirements.
