1. Editorial Scope and Principles
The European Journal of Stomatology, Oral and Facial Surgery (EJSOFS) is committed to scientifically rigorous, ethically responsible and editorially independent publishing. Editorial decisions are based on scientific quality, methodological soundness, originality, ethical integrity and relevance to the Journal’s scope. Decisions are not influenced by authors’ nationality, institutional affiliation, professional status, political views, commercial relationships or membership of the publishing society.

2. Peer Review
EJSOFS uses double-anonymous peer review for peer-reviewed scholarly manuscripts. Author identities are not disclosed to reviewers and reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors. Authors must submit a separate Title Page and an anonymised Main Manuscript.

Manuscripts are first assessed by an editor for scope, completeness, originality, ethical compliance and minimum scientific quality. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be rejected or returned before external review.

Research articles and other peer-reviewed manuscripts should normally be evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers with relevant expertise. The handling editor may obtain additional reviews, including statistical or methodological review, where necessary. Editorial decisions may be Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject and Resubmit, or Reject. Acceptance is determined by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorised editor and is not decided by reviewers alone.

3. Editorial Independence and Articles by Editors
The Editor-in-Chief has authority over the scientific and editorial content of EJSOFS. The publisher, society, sponsors and advertisers may not direct the acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts for political, commercial, institutional or personal reasons.

A manuscript authored by the Editor-in-Chief, an editor, Editorial Board member or Guest Editor must be assigned to an independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest. The author must have no access to reviewer identities, confidential reviews or the editorial decision process beyond the information normally available to authors. Such manuscripts are subject to the same standards and external peer review as other submissions.

4. Publication Ethics and Research Misconduct
EJSOFS follows internationally recognised principles of publication ethics. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate image manipulation, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest and misrepresentation of authorship are prohibited.

Where credible concerns arise, the Journal may request data or documentation, contact authors and institutions, suspend editorial consideration, reject a manuscript, publish a correction or expression of concern, retract an article or take other action required to protect the scientific record. Investigations will be conducted fairly and confidentially and will distinguish honest error from misconduct.

5. Authorship and Contributorship
EJSOFS follows the current authorship recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Every author must fulfil all four ICMJE criteria: substantial contribution to the work; drafting or critical intellectual revision; final approval; and accountability for the work. Individuals who do not fulfil all four criteria must not be listed as authors but may be acknowledged with permission.

A contributorship statement using the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy is required where applicable. Changes in authorship after submission require a written explanation and agreement from all affected authors.

6. Conflicts of Interest and Funding
Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence the submitted work. All sources of financial and material support, funders and grant numbers must be reported. Reviewers and editors must disclose relevant conflicts and decline involvement when impartial assessment could be compromised.

7. Research Ethics
Research involving human participants, identifiable human material or identifiable human data must comply with applicable legal and institutional requirements and the current World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. The manuscript must identify the approving Research Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board and provide the approval or reference number where applicable. Any waiver must identify the authority granting it and explain the reason.

Animal research must comply with relevant ethical and regulatory requirements and should follow the applicable ARRIVE recommendations.

8. Informed Consent and Consent for Publication
Authors are responsible for obtaining informed consent for research participation where required. Written consent for publication is mandatory whenever an individual could reasonably be identified from a description, image, video or other published information, and for case reports. Masking the eyes does not necessarily guarantee anonymity. Consent documentation must be retained by the authors and supplied to the Editorial Office on request.

9. Clinical Trial Registration
Clinical trials must be prospectively registered in an acceptable publicly accessible registry at or before the time of first participant consent for enrolment. The registry and registration number must be entered during submission and included in the manuscript. Failure to register prospectively must be explained and does not guarantee consideration.

10. Reporting Guidelines
Authors must use the reporting guideline appropriate to the study design, including CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, PRISMA-P, SPIRIT, STARD, TRIPOD, CARE, ARRIVE, SQUIRE, COREQ, SRQR, CHEERS and SAGER where applicable. The relevant completed checklist should be uploaded when available. Compliance with a reporting guideline does not replace sound study design or ethical approval.

11. Data Availability Transparency and Reproducibility
Original Research articles must include a Data Availability Statement explaining where and under what conditions supporting data may be accessed. Authors are encouraged to deposit de-identified data, protocols, statistical code and related materials in recognised repositories with persistent identifiers when ethically and legally possible.

Where data cannot be made public because of confidentiality, consent, data-protection law, ethical restrictions or other legitimate reasons, the statement must explain the restriction. Editors or reviewers may request access to underlying data, subject to appropriate ethical, legal and confidentiality safeguards.

12. Preprints and Prior Publication
Posting a manuscript on a recognised non-commercial preprint server does not by itself prevent consideration. The preprint must be disclosed at submission and its persistent identifier provided. Authors should update the preprint with the DOI and citation of the final article after publication where possible. Conference abstracts and presentations do not ordinarily prevent submission of the full manuscript. Duplicate publication is prohibited.

13. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies
Artificial intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors must disclose substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation, scientific content, data analysis, programming, literature processing or image generation or modification. Where AI forms part of the scientific methods, the tool, version where relevant, purpose and sufficient methodological detail must be reported. Routine spelling, grammar and non-generative reference-formatting tools do not normally require disclosure.

Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content and must verify accuracy, originality, references, data, images, analyses and conclusions. AI must not be used to fabricate, manipulate or obscure research data.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, figures, supplementary files or editorial information to external AI systems where confidentiality, data retention or reuse cannot be assured. Reviewers may not delegate scientific judgement or preparation of their review to generative AI.

14. Image Integrity
Images must accurately represent the original data. Global adjustments to brightness, contrast or colour may be acceptable when they do not obscure or misrepresent information. Selective enhancement, deletion, movement, duplication or introduction of image features that misrepresents data is prohibited. Composite images must be clearly identified. The Journal may request original unprocessed files.

15. Corrections
When an error does not invalidate the principal findings, EJSOFS may publish a formal correction linked to the original article. Minor typographical errors that do not affect interpretation may be corrected online with appropriate version control. Substantive scientific changes will not be made silently.

16. Retractions and Expressions of Concern
An article may be retracted when its findings are unreliable because of misconduct or major error, when it contains substantial plagiarism or redundant publication, when research was conducted unethically, when peer review or authorship was manipulated, or when continued presentation as reliable literature would compromise the scientific record. Retraction notices will identify the article, state the reason as appropriate and remain permanently available.

An Expression of Concern may be published when serious questions exist but an investigation is incomplete, inconclusive or expected to take substantial time. Retraction is a mechanism for correcting the record and is not primarily punitive.

17. Complaints and Appeals
Complaints about editorial procedures, publication ethics or staff conduct should be sent in writing to editorial@ejsofs.com. They will be reviewed fairly, confidentially and with appropriate independence. Complaints concerning the Editor-in-Chief will be referred to an independent senior editor or publisher representative not involved in the matter.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when a significant factual error, procedural irregularity or misunderstanding materially affected the decision. An appeal must provide a clear scientific or procedural justification. Disagreement with reviewer opinion alone is insufficient. One substantive appeal will normally be considered and its outcome will be final.

18. Reviewer Responsibilities and Confidentiality
Manuscripts under review are confidential. Reviewers must not disclose or use manuscripts, data, figures, ideas, reviews or correspondence for personal, academic, financial or competitive advantage. Reviews must be objective, evidence based and constructive. Reviewers must decline when they lack suitable expertise, cannot review in a reasonable period or have a conflict of interest.

A reviewer wishing to involve a trainee or colleague must first obtain permission from the handling editor. Any authorised contributor is subject to the same confidentiality and conflict-of-interest obligations. Reviewers must not request citations primarily to increase citations to themselves, associates or a particular journal.

19. Special Issues and Guest Editors
Special issues must fall within the scope of EJSOFS and remain under the authority of the Editor-in-Chief. Guest Editors must have appropriate expertise and disclose conflicts of interest. Articles undergo the same quality, ethical and peer-review standards as regular submissions. A Guest Editor may not independently decide on publication of their own work, which must be handled by an independent editor.

20. Policy Review
EJSOFS reviews its editorial policies periodically to reflect developments in research integrity, biomedical publishing, open science and indexing standards. Substantive changes normally apply prospectively unless required to protect or correct the scientific record.

Laste edited:  October 2026.
Editorial Office: editorial@ejsofs.com