Peer-review process in the Ortodoncie journal

The peer-review process is a critical step in the evaluation of papers submitted to the journal. The process falls within the purview of the editorial office, and external experts are asked to conduct the reviews. It is possible to assign a review to an expert who is an editor; but in this case, there are special conditions for avoiding a conflict of interest. Even in such a case, a member of the editorial office who has a direct relation to the organisation of the peer review in question must not be assigned to a peer review. A flawless, independent and critical evaluation of the quality of the submitted papers is integral to editorial work. The Ortodoncie journal respects and implements international requirements placed on medical periodicals. Peer review can thus be seen as an extension of scholarly work on the given issue. Peer review helps the editor to assess the suitability of submitted papers and to decide whether to publish them. The titles and numbers of papers accepted for review, the number of reviewers, the peer-review process and the use of peer reviews are regularly reported. The journal always asks for three peer reviews for each paper. The conclusions of these reviews are very important for the editors in deciding whether to publish. The peer-review process is led by a single editor. All the requirements are published in Section 12: Instructions for authors.

On submission, an editor first assesses whether the work meets the requirements (these are specified in Section 12; for instance, are all documents and appendices attached, is the formatting correct, etc.). If the topic, contents and formatting of the text are appropriate, it goes forward to the peer-review process.

Check-list for an editor responsible for receiving an article and referring it for further processing:

• Structure of the article complies with Instructions for authors (including contents, layout, format etc.)
• CRediT list
• Information about research funding
• Statement about the origin of the work, originality and non-publication in another periodical
• Statement of compliance with the rules for avoiding conflicts of interest
• Statement that the rights of humans and animals in medical research were respected
• Statement of compliance with the rules of informed consent
• Statement of compliance with the ethical rules of the Ortodoncie journal
• Agreement with the transfer of the copyright to the Ortodoncie journal
• Copyright agreement
• Ethics Committee consent

These items are considered essential and must not be omitted, otherwise the article cannot be referred further. If missing items are not supplied by the author (or co-authors), the article will not be accepted for consideration and will not be referred to peer review. The editor responsible may ask the author or co-authors to supply any missing items, and to do so as soon as possible.

If all items are in order, the editor responsible selects three reviewers and sends them the article. The names of the authors or their institutions are not disclosed to reviewers. Reviewers are selected according to their field of expertise and professionalism. They must not have a conflict of interest regarding the article topic. Reviewers are usually given one month to conduct their review, unless the scope or complexity of the work assessed requires more time. All communication regarding the peer-review process is confidential.