Table of Contents

• For Authors
• For Reviewers
• For Editors and Publisher

Enacted on March 2, 2012
Modified: April 21, 2023
Last modified: November 4, 2024

Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics (RDE) is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles. Conformation to standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected of all parties involved: Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and the Publisher. For the policies on research and publication ethics that are not stated in these instructions, the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) or the COPE Guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines) can be applied. Further, all processes of handling research and publication misconduct shall follow the applicable COPE flowchart (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).

For Authors

1) Authorship

• - Authorship credit should be based on (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, and analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Authors should meet these four conditions.
• - Role of corresponding author: The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all of the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing the details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and conflict of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely manner, and after publication, should be available to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information or questions about the article.
• - Contributors: Any researcher who does not meet all four ICMJE criteria for authorship discussed above but contributes substantively to the study in terms of idea development, manuscript writing, conducting research, data analysis, and financial support should have their contributions listed in the Acknowledgments section of the article.
• - Changes to authorship (the addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts) need to be approved by the Editor-in-Chief after a written confirmation by a corresponding author including the reason the name should be rearranged and all the signatures of co-authors.
• - Recommendations for working with individuals with personal connections: Authors must disclose if minors (under 19) or family members (spouse, children, relatives) are involved in the research or publication in the cover letter. Refer to the “Guidelines for Preventing Illegitimate Authorship” by the National Research Foundation of Korea for details.
• - Use of AI-assisted technologies: In line with ICMJE policies, AI tools (e.g., generative AI, language models, chatbots) may be utilized to enhance scientific writing by improving language accuracy, grammar, and overall expression. However, AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

2) Conflict-of-Interest Statement

• - All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.
• - The conflicts of interest may occur during the research process as well; however, it is important to provide disclosure. If there is a disclosure, editors, reviewers, and readers can approach the manuscript after understanding the situation and the background of the completed research.
• - All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

3) Originality and Duplicate Publication

• - All submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be in consideration by other scientific journals for publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Authors should not submit articles describing essentially the same research to more than one journal.
• - The authors should ensure that their work is entirely original works, all data in the article are real and authentic, and if the work and/or words of others have been used, this has been appropriately acknowledged.
• - Authors should present an objective discussion of the significance of research work as well as sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the experiments.
• - When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

4) Plagiarism

• - Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
• - Plagiarism means the appropriation of another person’s ideas, research processes, results, or text as one’s own. This includes using previously published material of oneself or any other author without citing the reference.
• - All submissions to RDE will be automatically screened using "Similarity Check", a plagiarism screening service powered by iThenticate, before being sent to reviewers.

5) Secondary publication

• - Manuscripts can be republished if they meet the ICMJE Recommendations for secondary publication available from https://www.icmje.org/:

(1) Certain types of articles, such as guidelines from governmental agencies and professional organizations, may be published in multiple journals to reach a broader audience with the consent of the authors and editors.

(2) Secondary publication in another language or country is permissible if: both journals' editors approve (the editor concerned with the secondary publication must have access to the primary version), and publication interval of at least one week is maintained unless otherwise agreed.

(3) The secondary version targets a different readership and may be abbreviated. It must reflect the primary version's data and interpretations accurately. The title page of the secondary version must indicate its secondary nature and cite the primary publication, e.g., “This article is based on a study first reported in [journal title, full reference].”

6) Statement of human and animal rights

• - Any experiment involving human and animal subjects will be published only if such research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles and guidelines, including the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/) and the additional requirements, if any, of the country where the research has been carried out.
• - All studies using human or animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Materials and Methods section identifying the review and ethics committee approval for each study, if applicable.
• - Either a copy of the informed consent form or a written exemption approval should be attached to the manuscript. Manuscript must be accompanied by a statement in the cover letter that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the above-mentioned principles.

7) Protection of privacy and confidentiality

• - Patients have a right to privacy that must not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, such as names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes and with written informed consent from the patient (or parent or guardian).
• - Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. If there is any doubt about maintaining anonymity, informed consent is necessary, as masking the eye region in photographs is inadequate. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors must assure, and editors must confirm, that these changes do not distort scientific meaning.

8) Inclusive language

• - Authors are encouraged to use inclusive language that acknowledges diversity, respects all individuals, and promotes equal opportunities.
• - Avoid assumptions about the reader's beliefs or identities, and refrain from language that implies superiority based on factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health condition.
• - Writing should be free of bias, stereotypes, and cultural assumptions. Gender neutrality is encouraged by using plural nouns (e.g., "patients") instead of gendered pronouns ("he/she"). Descriptors of personal attributes should only be used if relevant and valid.

For Reviewers

• - Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage.
• - Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments, so that authors can use them for improving the paper. Reviewers are asked to maintain a positive and impartial, but critical attitude in evaluating manuscripts. Offensive language is not acceptable. Reviewers should suggest relevant published work that may be cited.
• - Please inform the editor on any conflicts of interest as follows: (1) Reviewer is a competitor; (2) Reviewer may have an antipathy with the author(s); (3) Reviewer may profit financially from the work. In case of any of the above conflicts of interest, the reviewer should decline to review. If the reviewer still wishes to review, the conflicts of interest should be specifically disclosed. A history of previous collaboration with the authors or any intimate relationship with the authors does not prohibit the review.

For Editors and Publisher

1) Editor responsibilities

• - Editors of RDE are responsible for deciding which of the submitted manuscripts are accepted for publication and changes in authorship if requested by a corresponding author need to be approved by the Editor-in-Chief.
• - Editors should evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit. The validation of the work in question and its importance should drive such decisions. Editors should protect the anonymity of the reviewers.
• - Editors should monitor any plagiarism including screening by a plagiarism detecting software, or no fraudulent data, and take reasonable responsive measures such as publication of correction or retraction when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.
• - Editors should not have any conflict of interest with respect to the manuscripts they accept/reject.
• - The RDE publishers and editors should monitor the publishing ethics including plagiarism, any commercial involvement, etc. They always are willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed. The publisher should provide authors with proper reasons for retracting articles if any retraction is decided.
• - Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the editor(s) or publisher, and the editor(s) and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such material. Neither the editor(s) nor the publisher guarantees, warrants, or endorses any product or service advertised in this publication. Neither do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service.

2) Process for managing research and publication misconduct

• - When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct, such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, appropriation by a reviewer of an author’s idea or data, and complaints against editors, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by COPE (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).
• - Depending on the severity of malpractice, the following actions can be applied: (1) A warning letter to corresponding authors; (2) Public notification about misconduct in the Editorial section and title homepage; (3) Notification to National Research Foundation of Korea; (4) Decline of submitted manuscript; (5) Retraction of published paper.
• - In case of malpractice, authors shall be banned from future submission for at least three years, unless permitted by the Editor-in-Chief.

3) Handling corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern

RDE aims to ensure the integrity of the academic record of all published or potential publications. Whenever it is recognized that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement, or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. If, after an appropriate investigation, an item proves to be fraudulent, it should be retracted. The retraction should be clearly identifiable to readers and indexing systems.

• - Correction: Errors in published papers may be identified in the form of a corrigendum or erratum when the Editor-in-Chief considers it appropriate to inform the journal readership about a previous error and makes a correction to the error in the published article. The corrigendum or erratum will appear as a new article in the journal and will cite the original published article.
• - Retractions: An article may be retracted when the sincerity of the published work is undermined due to the errors in the conduct, analysis and/or reporting of the study. Violation of publication or research ethics may also result in a study’s retraction. The original article is marked as retracted, but a PDF version remains available to readers, and the retraction statement is bi-directionally linked to the original published paper. Retraction statements will typically include a statement of assent or dissent from the authors.
• - Editorial expression of concern: Where a certain amount of doubt arises as to the honesty or integrity of a submitted or published article, journal editors may issue an expression of concern. However, it should only be issued if an investigation into the problems relating to the article has proven inconclusive, and if there are strong indicators that the concerns are valid.