Authors wishing to submit their work to the journal are urged to read this detailed guide for authors and comply with all the requirements, particularly those relating to manuscript length and format. This will speed up the reviewing process and reduce the time taken to publish a paper following acceptance.

Online Submission
Submission and peer-review of all papers is conducted entirely online, increasing efficiency for editors, authors, and reviewers, and enhancing publication speed. Authors requiring further information on online submission are strongly encouraged to view the system, including a tutorial, at https://www.editorialmanager.com/IJOMS/default.aspx . For additional enquiries please visit our Support Center. Once a paper has been submitted, all subsequent correspondence between the Editorial Office ([email protected]) and the corresponding author will be by e-mail.

Editorial Policy
A paper is accepted for publication on the understanding that it has not been submitted simultaneously to another journal, has been read and approved by all authors, and that the work has not been published before. The Editors reserve the right to make editorial and literary corrections. Any opinions expressed or policies advocated do not necessarily reflect the opinions and policies of the Editors.

Declarations
Upon submission you will be required to complete and upload the declarations page (pdf version or word version) to declare funding, conflict of interest and to indicate that ethical approval was given – all studies involving patients must have patient consent and ethical committee approval or exemption in writing, please refer to the section on ‘Ethics’ below. Patient consent is required for the publication of any clinical photographs, and all single case reports, including those where the data is anonymised. This information must also be inserted into your manuscript under the acknowledgements section with the headings below. Upon submission you will be required to complete and upload this form (pdf version or word version) to declare funding, conflict of interest, and to indicate whether ethical approval and patient consent were given and you must also upload with it the IRB approval or exemption letter. This applies to original research articles carried out on humans, including observational studies and case series. Ethical committee approval or exemption is not needed for systematic review articles or articles that are not based on humans or animals. Research on animal studies should be uploaded with the appropriate ethical approval for the study. If the ethical approval or exemption letter is not in English please provide the text in English. Lastly you must confirm that all authors have agreed to the submission.

PLEASE NOTE that all funding must be declared at first submission, as the addition of funding at acceptance stage may invalidate the acceptance of your manuscript.

Authorship
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or 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 submitted.


Upon submission, you will be required to complete and upload the Author contribution form (word version) to show the contribution of each author to the paper.

Normally a maximum of four authors should appear on a case report or technical note, and six authors on all other article types. If there is a requirement to include additional authors please request this in your cover letter and include the authors in the author contribution form. Minor contributors and non-contributory clinicians who have allowed their patients to be used in the paper should be acknowledged at the end of the text before the references. Please note, a request for exceeding the number of authors is not automatically accepted. The Editor-in-Chief may disagree and require an adjustment.

Co-first authorship is permitted on request of the corresponding author and must be agreed to by all co-authors.

Please note that we can only allow for one corresponding author. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors are aware of their obligations. The corresponding author is responsible for the content and integrity of the data that is ultimately published in the accepted manuscript.

Changes to Authorship


Authors should consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the full list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any amendment to the author list (including addition and deletion) should be made only prior to acceptance of the manuscript. Please note that any change must be approved by the Editor-in-Chief. If you require to make a change to the authorship, please email [email protected] with the reasons for the change in authorship.

If the Editor-in-Chief agrees to the change, we must receive an email from each author including the manuscript number, the original author list, the new author list and their agreement to the change. Requests to add or delete, or rearrange the author list after the manuscript has been accepted will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended.

If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, no requests for authorship amendment will be considered.

Before a paper is accepted all the authors of the paper must sign the Confirmation of Authorship form. This form confirms that all the named authors agree to publication if the paper is accepted and that each has had significant input into the paper. Please download the form and send it to the Editorial Office. (pdf version or word version) It is advisable that to prevent delay this form is submitted early in the editorial process.

Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity providing the assistance (upload the certificate of editing if appropriate) and the funding source for this assistance. Professional language editing service may not be acknowledged in the acknowledgement section if it is a paid service.

Conflict of interest
At the end of the main text, all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If an author has no conflict of interest to declare, this should be stated.

Role of the funding source
All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text. Authors should declare the role of study sponsors, if any, in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

Open access
This journal offers you the option of making your article freely available to all via the ScienceDirect platform. To prevent any conflict of interest, you can only make this choice after receiving notification that your article has been accepted for publication. The fee of $3,300 excludes taxes and other potential author fees such as color charges. In some cases, institutions and funding bodies have entered into agreement with Elsevier to meet these fees on behalf of their authors. Details of these agreements are available at https://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies. Authors of accepted articles, who wish to take advantage of this option, should complete and submit the order form (available at https://www.elsevier.com/locate/openaccessform.pdf). Whatever access option you choose, you retain many rights as an author, including the right to post a revised personal version of your article on your own website. More information can be found here: https://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.



Ethics
Any manuscript concerned with human subjects, medical records, or human tissue that is submitted to the International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery should comply with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving ‘Human Subjects”, adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, and as amended most recently by the 64th World Medical Assembly, Fontaleza, Brazil, October 2013.

The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate Ethical Committee related to the institution(s) in which the work was performed, and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. The International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery requires institutional Ethics Committee approval for all human studies. For retrospective studies of records either a statement of approval or a statement of exemption from the Committee is appropriate. This statement should be provided upon submission of the manuscript.

Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines.

It is important that ethics committee oversight is independent, as stated by the ICMJE guidelines: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/protection-of-research-participants.html

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses
Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.


Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous-thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Patient confidentiality
Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore identifying information, including patients' images, names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and you have obtained written informed consent for publication in print and electronic form from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable). If such consent is made subject to any conditions, The Editor and Publisher must be made aware of all such conditions. Written consents must be provided to the Editorial Office on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. Patient consent is required for the publication of any clinical photographs, and all single case reports, including those where the data is anonymised. If consent for publication has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Registration of clinical trials
Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. A clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, dietary interventions, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration.

Supplementary Data
For ease of download, the recommended upper limit for the size of a single video/animation file is 150 MB, otherwise users may experience problems when downloading the file. Please see https://www.elsevier.com/authors/author-schemas/artwork-and-media-instructions/media-specifications for further information.

RESEARCH DATA
This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project. Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the 'References' section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described. There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page . For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect. In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Mendeley Data
This journal supports Mendeley Data, enabling you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository. Before submitting your article, you can deposit the relevant datasets to Mendeley Data. Please include the DOI of the deposited dataset(s) in your main manuscript file. The datasets will be listed and directly accessible to readers next to your published article online.

For more information, visit the Mendeley Data for journals page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data statement page.

Declaration of Generative AI in scientific writing

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should:

• Only use these technologies to improve readability and language, not to replace key researcher tasks such as interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions.
• Apply the technology with human oversight and control, and carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.
• Not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, or cite AI as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier?s AI policy for authors.
• Disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Language Editing Services
Papers will only be accepted when they are written in an acceptable standard of English. Authors, particularly those whose first language is not English, who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission should visit http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices/translationservices or visit our Support Center for more information. Please note, Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions.

Article Types
The following contributions will be accepted for publication. Please take careful note of the maximum length where applicable. Overlength articles will be returned to the authors without peer review:
• editorials (only if commissioned by the editor)
• clinical papers: no more than 3000 words and 30 references
• research papers: no more than 3000 words and 40 references
• review papers - no limit on length or number of references
• technical notes (surgical techniques, new instruments, technical innovations) - no more than 1500 words, 10 references and 2 figures
• case reports - no more than 1500 words, 10 references and 2 figures
• book reviews
• letters to the editor - please see detailed guidelines provided at the end of the main guide for authors
• IAOMS announcements
• general announcements.

Please note: Case reports will be considered for publication only if they add new information to the existing body of knowledge or present new points of view on known diseases.

All authors must have contributed to the paper, not necessarily the patient treatment. Technical notes and case reports are limited to a maximum of 4 authors, in exceptional circumstances, 5.

Criteria for Publication
Papers that will be considered for publication should be: • focused
• based on a sound hypothesis and an adequate investigation method analysing a statistically relevant series, leading to relevant results that back the conclusion
• well written in simple, scientific English grammar and style
• presented with a clear message and containing new information that is relevant for the readership of the journal
• Note the comment above relating to case reports. • Please include a paragraph in your cover letter where you explain what is new about your study and why it will have an impact on your field of research.

Following peer-review, authors are required to resubmit their revised paper within 3 months; in exceptional circumstances, this timeline may be extended at the editor's discretion. Please note below instructions on how to present revised manuscripts.

Presentation of new Manuscripts
General points
Papers should be submitted in journal style. Failure to do so will result in the paper being immediately returned to the author and may lead to significant delays in evaluation and eventual publication. Spelling may follow British or American usage, but not a mixture of the two. Papers should be double-spaced with a margin of at least 3 cm all round. Each line must be numbered.

Keywords
Please include a minimum of 5 keywords that are most relevant to the content of your article using the US National Library of Medicine MeSH terms. You can check whether your keywords are MeSH terms here: https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/search.

Including keywords with your article will ensure that your article will be found during PubMed, Scopus and other searches.

Format
Observational or Case Cohort Studies, as well as Case Series must be presented in conformance with STROBE guidelines: http://www.strobe-statement.org

Randomized Controlled Trials must be presented in conformance with CONSORT guidelines: http://www.consort-statement.org

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses must be presented according to PRISMA guidelines: http://www.prisma-statement.org

Papers should be set out as follows, with each section beginning on a separate page: • title page
• abstract
• text
• acknowledgements
• references
• tables
• captions to illustrations.
Please note that the qualifications of the authors will not be included in the published paper. Also, only the surname and initials of authors will appear in the article.

Title page
The title page should give the following information: • title of the article
• full name, relevant qualifications and affiliations of each author
• name and address of the department or institution to which the work should be attributed
• name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the author
responsible for correspondence and to whom requests for offprints should be sent
• sources of support in the form of grants
• key words.
If the title is longer than 40 characters (including spaces), a short title should be supplied for use in the running heads.

Abstract
200 words maximum. Do not use subheadings or abbreviations; write as a continuous paragraph. Must contain all relevant information and follow the sequence: background, methods, results and conclusion without including sub-headings.

Text
Please ensure that the text of your paper conforms to the following structure: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion. There is no separate Conclusion section.

Introduction
• Present first the nature and scope of the problem investigated
• Review briefly the pertinent literature
• State the rationale for the study by briefly presenting the knowledge gap
• Explain the purpose in writing the paper
• Complete this section with an "aims of the study" sentence
•; Should be written in the present tense

Materials and Methods
• Give the full details, limit references • Include exact technical specifications, quantities and generic names • Limit the number of subheadings, and use the same in the results section • Mention statistical method under a sub heading • Do not include results in this section

Should be written in past tense

Avoid using the first person (We,I). Use the impersonal form when forming sentences. For example: instead of "we performed the following procedures", use "the following procedures were performed."

Results
• Do not describe methods
• Present results in the past tense, also using non personal form of sentences
• Present representations rather than endlessly repetitive data
• Use tables where appropriate, and do not repeat information in the text

Discussion
• Discuss - do not recapitulate results • Point out exceptions and lack of correlations. Do not cover up data. • Show how results agree/contrast with previous work • Discuss the implications of your findings • State your conclusions very clearly

Sub-Headings: Sub-Headings enhance readability but should be appropriate to the nature of the paper. They should be kept to a minimum and may be removed by the Editors.

Quantitative analysis: If any statistical methods are used, the text should state the test or other analytical method applied, basic descriptive statistics, critical value obtained, degrees of freedom, and significance level, e.g. (ANOVA, F=2.34; df=3,46; P<0.001). If a computer data analysis was involved, the software package should be mentioned. Descriptive statistics may be presented in the form of a table, or included in the text.

Abbreviations, symbols, and nomenclature: Only standardized terms, which have been generally accepted, should be used. Unfamiliar abbreviations must be defined when first used. For further details concerning abbreviations, see Baron DN, ed. Units, symbols, and abbreviations. A guide for biological and medical editors and authors, London, Royal Society of Medicine, 1988 (available from The Royal Society of Medicine Services, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1M 8AE, UK).
The minus sign should be -.
If a special designation for teeth is used, a note should explain the symbols. Scientific names of organisms should be binomials, the generic name only with a capital, and should be italicised in the typescript. Microorganisms should be named according to the latest edition of the Manual of Clinical Microbiology, American Society of Microbiology.

Drugs: use only generic (non-proprietary) names in the text. Suppliers of drugs used may be named in the Acknowledgments section. Do not use 'he', 'his' etc where the sex of the person is unknown; say 'the patient' etc. Avoid inelegant alternatives such as 'he/she'. Patients should not be automatically designated as 'she', and doctors as 'he'.

References
References should be numbered consecutively throughout the article, beginning with 1 for the first-cited reference. References should be listed at the end of the paper in the order in which they appear in the text (not listed alphabetically by author).

The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author. References in the text should be numbered with superscript numerals inside punctuation: for example "Kenneth and Cohen¹⁴ showed..."; "each technique has advantages and disadvantages^5-13." Citations in the text to papers with more than two authors should give the name of the first author followed by "et al."; for example: "Wang et al³⁷ identified..."

All references cited in the text must be included in the list of references at the end of the paper. Each reference listed must include the names of all authors. Please see section "Article Types" for guidance on the maximum number of reference for each type of article.

Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to Index Medicus (see www.nlm.nih.gov.uk) . When citing papers from monographs and books, give the author, title of chapter, editor of book, title of book, publisher, place and year of publication, first and last page numbers. Internet pages and online resources may be included within the text and should state as a minimum the author(s), title and full URL. The date of access should be supplied and all URLs should be checked again at proof stage.

Data References This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Examples:
Journal article: Halsband ER, Hirshberg YA, Berg LI. Ketamine hydrochloride in outpatient oral surgery. J Oral Surg 1971: 29: 472-476.
When citing a paper which has a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), use the following style: Toschka H, Feifel H. Aesthetic and functional results of harvesting radial forearm flap. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2001: 30: 45-51. doi: 10.1054/ijom.2000.0005
Book/monograph: Costich ER, White RP. Fundamentals of oral surgery. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1971: 201-220.
Book chapter: Hodge HC, Smith FA. Biological properties of inorganic fluorides. In: Simons JH, ed.: Fluorine chemistry. New York: Academic Press, 1965: 135.
Internet resource: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. http://www.icmje.org [Accessibility verified March 21, 2008]

Tables
Tables should be used only to clarify important points. Double documentation in the form of tables and figures is not acceptable. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. They should be double spaced on separate pages and contain only horizontal rules. Do not submit tables as photographs. A short descriptive title should appear above each table, with any footnotes suitably identified below. Care must be taken to ensure that all units are included. Ensure that each table is cited in the text. Tables should not be too large or crowded. Tables which exceed one printed page or portions thereof, should be divided into two separate tables, and given separate labels such as `1A? and `1B?.

Figures
All illustrations (e.g. graphs, drawings or photographs) are considered to be figures, and should be numbered in sequence with Arabic numerals. Each figure should have a caption, typed double-spaced on a separate page and numbered correspondingly. The minimum resolution for electronically generated figures is 300 dpi. Figures should not have thin borders around the outside.

Line illustrations: All line illustrations should present a crisp black image on an even white background (127 x 178 mm (5 x 7 in), or no larger than 203 x 254 mm (8 x 10 in). The size of the lettering should be appropriate, taking into account the necessary size reduction.

Photographs and radiographs: Photomicrographs should show magnification and details of any staining techniques used. The area(s) of interest must be clearly indicated with arrows or other symbols.

Colour images are encouraged, but the decision whether an illustration is accepted for reproduction in colour in the printed journal lies with the editor-in-chief. Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour in the online version of the journal.

Size of photographs: The final size of photographs will be: (a) single column width (53 mm), (b) double column width (110 mm), (c) full page width (170 mm). Photographs should ideally be submitted at the final reproduction size based on the above figures.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier journals to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit https://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies

Proofs
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, which they are requested to correct and return within 48 hours. Elsevier sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post.
Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will normally not be accepted. Exceptionally, changes may be considered at this stage with permission and approval from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Offprints
The corresponding author will be provided, at no cost, with a customize Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on Science Direct. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's Webshop. Corresponding authors who have published their article open access do not receive a Share Link as their final version of the article is available open access on Science Direct and can be shared through the article DOI link.

Accepted Articles
For the facility to track accepted articles and set email alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, visit: http://authors.elsevier.com/TrackPaper.html There are also detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those related to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

Instructions for Letters to the Editor
The IJOMS welcomes Letters to the Editor. To facilitate submission of the highest quality of Letters to the Editor, the following guidelines should be followed:
1. Letters are meant to be focus pieces and, therefore, are limited to no more than 600 words, 6 references and a maximum of 2 figures. One reference (normally the first) should be a reference to the IJOMS article being addressed.
2. The letter should be concered with only one recently published article in IJOMS.
3. Please ensure all Letters to the Editors begin with `comment on:' followed by the IJOMS article being addressed. Please ensure any replies to Letters to the Editor also begin with `In reply to:' followed by the Letter to the Editor being addressed.
4. It is recommended that you limit your letter to one or two important and critical points to which you wish to provide a clear and precise discussion regarding the previously published article.
5. Please include any financial disclosures at the end of the letter. This would include the potential conflicts of interest not just related to the specific content of your letter but also the content of the IJOMS article and other related areas.
6. Please recognize that letters that are essentially in agreement with the author's findings and offer no additional insights provide little new information for publication. Likewise, letters that highlight the writer's own research or are otherwise self promotional will receive a low publication priority or may not be accepted.
7. There may be a need for additional editing. Should editing be required the letter will be sent back to the author for final approval of the edited version.
8. It is important to use civil and professional discourse. It is not advisable that one adopt a tone that may be misconstrued to be in anyway insulting.
9. Finally, it is not advisable to provide a letter that is anecdotal. While personal experiences can have great value in patient care, it is generally not strong evidence to be placed in a letter to the editor.

Guidelines for Revised Manuscripts


In addition to general instructions on what is to be uploaded with a revised manuscript which will be included in the editor's decision letter advising revision, the following is what is required from the editors' and reviewers' point of view to facilitate re-evaluation. Adherence to these guidelines will facilitate and speed up the review process of revised manuscripts.

1. Response letter. Authors are required to write a Response to Reviewers that indicates how each reviewer and editor comment was addressed in the revision: a point-by-point response.
2. Each point made by each reviewer and editor is to be consecutively numbered and for each number copied, it should be followed by authors' response (different colour or underlined), and then a clear indication (page and line numbers) of where the change to the manuscript was made as a relevant response. This is to be followed by a copy of the actual changes made to the text (in another colour or highlight).
3. The above point-by-point approach has to be followed for every point made by every reviewer and editor.
4. In their response, authors should avoid entering into a discussion with the reviewer alone in an attempt to answer the point made by the reviewer. Almost every point made by the reviewer implies a need to revise the text as well as answer the reviewer. Reviewers are in a sense test readers and any reviewer remark implies that the reader would need the same clarification in the manuscript itself.
5. Authors may certainly rebut reviewer remarks on occasion and no revision of the text implemented for a particular point. This may be encountered when a reviewer might misunderstand a specific issue within the manuscript, however, this is not the norm. Reviewers are volunteers trying to help and not adversaries of authors even when they are critical.
6. Revised manuscript (Track version) is required and should show the original manuscript with the changes made in response to reviewer and editor critique in Track (showing deletions as deleted text with a line across sentences, not removed) and newly added text in another colour. A comment flag has to be inserted behind every substantial modification of the text with a referral to the point number of the response letter, to show the reviewer which comment of the response letter was addressed.
7. Revised manuscript (Clean Version) is required and should show only the latest clean text without any of the old deleted text but including the newly added text but without highlighting the new content.
8. For tables and figures, track and clean versions must be included. Track tables and figures follow the track version. Clean tables and figures must follow the clean version so as to facilitate editors' re-evaluation.