General Information

The American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics  publishes original

research, reviews, case reports, clinical material, and other material related to
orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics.

Submitted manuscripts must be original, written in English, and not published or under
consideration elsewhere. Manuscripts will be reviewed by the editor and consultants and
are subject to editorial revision. Authors should follow the guidelines below.

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 any product
or service. Each reader must determine whether to act on the information in this
publication, and neither the Journal nor its sponsoring organizations shall be liable for any
injury due to the publication of erroneous information.

Electronic manuscript submission and review

The American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics  uses the Elsevier

Editorial System (EES), an online manuscript submission and review system.

To submit or review an article, please go to the AJO-DO EES

website: http://ees.elsevier.com/ajodo.

Rolf G. Behrents, Editor-in-Chief

E-mail: [email protected]

Send other correspondence to:

Chris Burke, Managing Editor
American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
University of Washington
Department of Orthodontics, D-569
HSC Box 357446
Seattle, WA 98195-7446
Telephone (206) 221-5413
E-mail:[email protected]

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for

journal publication.

Studies in humans and animals

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work
described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World
Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The
manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting,
Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of
representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations.
The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained
for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must
always be observed.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried
out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated
guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of
Health guide for the care and use of Laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023,
revised 1978) and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such
guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where
appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Conflict of interest

Each author should complete and submit a copy of the International Committee of Medical
Journal Editors Form for the Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest, available
at http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously
(except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple,
redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and
tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and
that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any
other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-
holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection
service Crossref Similarity Check.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to

differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Articles should make no assumptions about
the beliefs or commitments of any reader, should contain nothing which might imply that
one individual is superior to another on the grounds of race, sex, culture or any other
characteristic, and should use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that
writing is free from bias, for instance by using 'he or she', 'his/her' instead of 'he' or 'his',
and by making use of job titles that are free of stereotyping (e.g. 'chairperson' instead of
'chairman' and 'flight attendant' instead of 'stewardess').

Author contributions

For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an author statement file outlining their
individual contributions to the paper using the relevant CRediT roles: Conceptualization;
Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project
administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing -
original draft; Writing - review & editing. Authorship statements should be formatted with
the names of authors first and CRediT role(s) following. More details and an example
Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting
their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original
submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list
should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by
the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from
the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written
confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or
rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation
from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or
rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor
considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript
has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will
result in a corrigendum.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing

Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding
author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'
form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including

abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is
required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works,
including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are
included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and
credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in
these cases.

For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to
complete an 'Exclusive License Agreement' (more information). Permitted third party reuse
of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your
work. More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the
research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s),
if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing
of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding
source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

Open access
Please visit our Open Access page from the Journal Homepage for more information.

Language (usage and editing services)

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a
mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing
to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific
English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's
Author Services.

Informed consent and patient details

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent,
which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases
must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal
information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication.
Written consents must be retained by the author but copies should not be provided to the
journal. Only if specifically requested by the journal in exceptional circumstances (for
example if a legal issue arises) the author must provide copies of the consents or evidence
that such consents have been obtained. For more information, please review the Elsevier
Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals. Unless
you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the
personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary
materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Submission

Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your
article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single
PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to
typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the
Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

Blinding

The AJO-DO uses a blind review process; the identity of the author and the location of the
research are concealed from the reviewers, and the identities of the reviewers are
concealed from the author. The following submission items are sent to reviewers during
the review process and should not contain any identifying information.
Manuscript * Figures * Tables * Other Material
The title page, which should contain complete author information, is not sent to reviewers.
In the manuscript, please pay special attention to Material and Methods and
Acknowledgments sections; wherever author is mentioned, use the "hidden" format in
Word to conceal it, or move it to the title page.

Guidelines for Original Articles

Submit Original Articles via EES: http://ees.elsevier.com/ajodo.

Before you begin, please review the guidelines below. To view a 7-minute video explaining
how to prepare your article for submission, go to Video on Manuscript Preparation.

1.  Title Page. Put all information pertaining to the authors in a separate document.
Include the title of the article, full name(s) of the author(s), academic degrees, and
institutional affiliations and positions; identify the corresponding author and include an
address, telephone and fax numbers, and an e-mail address. This information will not be
available to the reviewers.

2. Abstract.  Structured abstracts of 250 words or less are preferred. A structured

abstract contains the following sections: Introduction, describing the problem; Methods,
describing how the study was performed; Results, describing the primary results; and
Conclusions, reporting what the authors conclude from the findings and any clinical
implications.

3. Manuscript.  The manuscript proper should be organized in the following sections:

Introduction and literature review, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions,
References, and figure captions. Express measurements in metric units, whenever
practical. Refer to teeth by their full name or their FDI tooth number. For style questions,
refer to the AMA Manual of Style, 10th edition. Cite references selectively, and number
them in the order cited. Make sure that all references have been mentioned in the text.
Follow the format for references in "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to
Biomedical Journals" (Ann Intern Med 1997;126:36-47); http://www.icmje.org. Include the
list of references with the manuscript proper. Submit figures and tables separately (see
below); do not embed figures in the word processing document.

4. Figures. Digital images should be in TIF or EPS format, CMYK or grayscale, at least 5

inches wide and at least 300 pixels per inch (118 pixels per cm). Do not embed images in a
word processing program. If published, images could be reduced to 1 column width (about
3 inches), so authors should ensure that figures will remain legible at that scale. For best
results, avoid screening, shading, and colored backgrounds; use the simplest patterns
available to indicate differences in charts. If a figure has been previously published, the
legend (included in the manuscript proper) must give full credit to the original source, and
written permission from the original publisher must be included. Be sure you have
mentioned each figure, in order, in the text.

5. Tables.  Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate, the
text. Number them with Roman numerals, in the order they are mentioned in the text.
Provide a brief title for each. If a table has been previously published, include a footnote in
the table giving full credit to the original source and include written permission for its use
from the copyright holder. Submit tables as text-based files (Word is preferred, Excel is
accepted) and not as graphic elements. Do not use colors, shading, boldface, or italic in
tables. Do not submit tables as parts A and B; divide into 2 separate tables. Do not
"protect" tables by making them "read-only." The table title should be put above the table
and not as a cell in the table. Similarly, table footnotes should be under the table, not table
cells.

6. Model release and permission forms. Photographs of identifiable persons must be

accompanied by a release signed by the person or both living parents or the guardian of
minors. Illustrations or tables that have appeared in copyrighted material must be
accompanied by written permission for their use from the copyright owner and original
author, and the legend must properly credit the source. Permission also must be obtained
to use modified tables or figures.

7. Copyright release. In accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976, which became
effective February 1, 1978, all manuscripts must be accompanied by the following written
statement, signed by all authors:  "The undersigned author(s) transfers all copyright
ownership of the manuscript [insert title of article here] to the American Association of
Orthodontists in the event the work is published. The undersigned author(s) warrants that
the article is original, does not infringe upon any copyright or other proprietary right of any
third party, is not under consideration by another journal, has not been previously
published, and includes any product that may derive from the published journal, whether
print or electronic media. I (we) sign for and accept responsibility for releasing this
material." Scan the printed copyright release and submit it via EES.

8. Use the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Form for the Disclosure of
Conflict of Interest (ICMJE Conflict of Interest Form). If the manuscript is accepted, the
disclosed information will be published with the article. The usual and customary listing of
sources of support and institutional affiliations on the title page is proper and does not
imply a conflict of interest. Guest editorials, Letters, and Review articles may be rejected
if a conflict of interest exists.

9.  Institutional Review Board approval.  For those articles that report on the results of
experiments of treatments where patients or animals have been used as the sample,
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is mandatory. No experimental studies will be
sent out for review without an IRB approval accompanying the manuscript submission.

Guidelines for Systematic Reviews

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses must be prepared according to

contemporary PRISMA (Preferred Reporting for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)
standards. The AJO-DO will screen submissions for compliance before beginning the
review process. To help authors understand and apply the standards, we have prepared a
separate Guidelines for AJO-DO Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. This guide
includes links to a Model Orthodontic Systematic Review and an
accompanying Explanation and Elaboration document.

These guidelines are supplemental to the Guidelines for Original Articles, which describe
how to meet general submission requirements, such as figure formats, reference style,
required releases, and blinding.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Guide for Authors

You can access a link to an annotated example of a Model Orthodontic Systematic

Review. Further explanation of reporting practices is given in the
accompanying Explanation and Elaboration document. These documents have been
prepared in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and the "PRISMA Statement for Reporting
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies that Evaluate Health Care Interventions:
Explanations and Elaboration"
(http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000100).

However, we have made these guidelines more relevant to orthodontics and have adapted
the reporting template to encourage transparent and pertinent reporting by introducing
subheadings corresponding to established PRISMA items.

Further information on reporting of systematic reviews can also be obtained in the

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (http://www.cochrane-
handbook.org).

Guidelines for Randomized Clinical Trials

Randomized Clinical Trials must meet current CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of
Reporting Trials) requirements. The AJO-DOwill screen submissions for compliance before
beginning the review process. To help authors understand and apply the standards, we
have prepared a separate document, Guidelines for AJO-DO Submissions: Randomized
Clinical Trials. This document contains links to an Annotated RCT Sample
Article and The CONSORT Statement: Application within and adaptations for orthodontic
trials.

These guidelines are supplemental to the Guidelines for Original Articles, which describe
how to meet general submission requirements, such as figure formats, reference style,
required releases, and blinding.

Guidelines for Miscellaneous Submissions

Letters to the Editor and their responses appear in the Readers' Forum section and are
encouraged to stimulate healthy discourse between authors and our readers. Letters to the
Editor must refer to an article that was published within the previous six (6) months and
must be less than 500 words including references. Submit Letters via the EES Web site.
Submit a signed copyright release with the letter.

Brief, substantiated commentary on subjects of interest to the orthodontic profession is

published occasionally as a Special Article. Submit Guest Editorials and Special Articles
via the Web site.

Books and monographs (domestic and foreign) will be reviewed, depending upon their
interest and value to subscribers. Send books to Chris Burke, Department of Orthodontics,
University of Washington D-569, HSC Box 357446, Seattle,WA98195-7446. They will not be
returned.

Checklist for Authors

____Title page, including full name, academic degrees, and institutional affiliation and
position of each author; brief description of each author's contribution to the submission;
and author to whom correspondence and reprint requests are to be sent, including
address, business and home phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail address

____Highlights (up to 5 Highlights, written in complete sentences, 85 characters each

____Abstract (structured, 250 words; a graphical abstract is optional)

____Manuscript, including references and figure legends

____Figures, in TIF or EPS format

____Tables

____Copyright release statement, signed by all authors

____Photographic consent statement(s)

____ICMJE Conflict of interest statement for each author

____Permissions to reproduce previously published material

____Permission to reproduce proprietary images (including screenshots that include a
company logo)

Double-blind review

This journal uses double-blind review, which means the identities of the authors are
concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our
website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names, affiliations,
acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for
the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Blinded manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the
references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying
information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

Article structure

Introduction

Provide an adequate background so readers can understand the nature of the problem and
its significance. State the objectives of the work. Cite literature selectively, avoiding a
detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Material and Methods

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. If methods have already been
published, indicate by a reference citation and describe only the relevant modifications.
Include manufacturer information (company name and location) for any commercial
product mentioned. Report your power analysis and ethics approval, as appropriate.

Results

Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion

Explain your findings and explore their significance. Compare and contrast your results
with other relevant studies. Mention the limitations of your study, and discuss the
implications of the findings for future research and for clinical practice. Do not repeat
information given in other parts of the manuscript.

Conclusions

Write a short Conclusions section that can stand alone. If possible, refer back to the goals
or objectives of the research.
Essential title page information

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems.

Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family
name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your
name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present
the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names.
Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's
name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each
affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of
refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering
any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is
given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the
article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address')
may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author
actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic
numerals are used for such footnotes.

Highlights

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the
discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of
bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that
were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the examples here: example
Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system.
Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85
characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Abstract

A structured abstract using the headings Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions
is required for Original Article, Systematic Review, Randomized Controlled Trial, and
Techno Bytes. An unstructured abstract is acceptable for Case Report and Clinician's
Corner.

Graphical abstract

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention
to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in
a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical
abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image
size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally
more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen
resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can
view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.
Authors can make use of Elsevier's Illustration Services to ensure the best presentation
of their images and in accordance with all technical requirements.
Acknowledgments

Collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the
references; do not include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title page, or
otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (eg, providing
help with language or writing assistance, or proofreading the article).

Formatting of funding sources

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers
xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the
United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and
awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university,
college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that
provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Artwork

Image manipulation

Whilst it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity,
manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and
will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following
policy: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed,
or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and
as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original.
Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure
legend.

Electronic artwork

General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork. 
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option. 
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman,
Symbol, or use fonts that look similar. 
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text. 
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files. 
• Provide captions to illustrations separately. 
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version. 
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given
here.
Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint,
Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format. 
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic
artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats
(note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone
combinations given below): 
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts. 
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi. 
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of
1000 dpi. 
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a
minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not: 
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically
have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors; 
• Supply files that are too low in resolution; 
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Color artwork

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or
PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted
article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge,
that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) in
addition to color reproduction in print. Further information on the preparation of electronic
artwork.

Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the
figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of
the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all
symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next
to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables
consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes
below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in
them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using
vertical rules and shading in table cells.

References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list
(and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished
results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may
be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should
follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the
publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of
a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Reference links

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online
links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing
services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the
references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles,
publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references,
please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any
electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is:
VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic
continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of
Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of
such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

Web references

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last
accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a
source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately
(e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the
reference list.

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.

References in a special issue

Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any
citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference management software

Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular
reference management software products. These include all products that
support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from
these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when
preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically
formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow
the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use
reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before
submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from
different reference management software.

Users of Mendeley Desktop can easily install the reference style for this journal by clicking
the following link:
http://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/american-journal-of-orthodontics-and-
dentofacial-orthopedics
When preparing your manuscript, you will then be able to select this style using the
Mendeley plug-ins for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice.

Reference style

Text: Indicate references by superscript numbers in the text. The actual authors can be
referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Sci
Commun 2010;16351-9.
Reference to a book:
2. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
3. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones
BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age. New York: E-Publishing Inc; 2009.
p. 281-304.
Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51-9, and that for more than 6 authors the
first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al.' For further details you are referred to 'Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals' (J Am Med Assoc
1997;277:927–34) (see also http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Video

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your
scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit
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article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or
animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files
should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to
ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in
one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file,
1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic
version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply
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separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link
to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages.
Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal,
please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the
article that refer to this content.

Data visualization

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and
engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about
available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

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
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There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can
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For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your
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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. During the
submission process, after uploading your manuscript, you will have the opportunity to
upload your relevant datasets directly to Mendeley Data. 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.

Submission Checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to
the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Phone numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources
(including the Web)

For any further information please visit our customer support site
at https://service.elsevier.com.

Permissions

To use information borrowed or adapted from another source, authors must obtain
permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher). This is necessary even if you
are the author of the borrowed material. It is essential to begin the process of obtaining
permissions early; a delay may require removing the copyrighted material from the article.
Give the source of a borrowed table in a footnote to the table; give the source of a
borrowed figure in the legend of the figure. The source must also appear in the list of
references. Use exact wording required by the copyright holder. For more information
about permission issues, contact [email protected] or
visit https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/copyright/permissions.

Permission is also required for the following images:

•Photos of a product if the product is identified or can reasonably be identified from the
photo
•Logos
•Screenshots that involve copyrighted third-party material, whether a reasonably
identifiable user interface or any nonincidental material appearing in the screenshot

Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if
we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or a link will be
provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. To ensure a fast
publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof
corrections within two days. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be
annotated; for this you will need to download the free Adobe Reader, version 9 (or higher).
Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online).
The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site. 
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections
(including replies to the Query Form) and return them 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 scan the pages and return via e-mail. 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 only be considered at
this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your
article published quickly and accurately. It is important to ensure that all 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.

Offprints

The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a customized Share Link providing 50

days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. 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.

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find
everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted
article will be published.