Updated January 2026. This update includes guidelines for the use of AI chatbots in submitted manuscripts. 

General Dentistry welcomes the submission of original clinical manuscripts that have not been published in the past and are not under publication consideration, accepted for publication, or pending publication elsewhere. 

General Dentistry is peer reviewed; the review process may take up to 4 months. To ensure that your manuscript moves through the review process as quickly as possible, please follow the steps outlined below when preparing your submission. 

Submit Your Manuscript


Scope of General Dentistry

With a readership of more than 35,000 dentists, General Dentistry seeks to publish technique papers, case reports, literature reviews, and original research containing insights and information that are applicable to everyday practice. The journal content mirrors the scope of general dental practice, covering topics ranging from anesthesiology to dental materials, esthetics to oral medicine, implants to prosthodontics and beyond.

All submitted manuscripts must be grounded in accepted science and include appropriate review and citation of the scholarly literature. General Dentistry welcomes the following submissions: 
  • Technique papers that clearly and thoroughly describe a clinical or laboratory procedure
  • Case reports that demonstrate a comprehensive treatment plan with general practice applications
  • Literature reviews that explore topics relevant to the practice of general dentistry and provide a critical analysis of the information found
  • Clinical or laboratory investigations that reflect a practical application to general dentistry and the etiology, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease 
General Dentistry does not accept submission of meta-analyses; meta-analytic studies will be unsubmitted from the system.

Preparing your manuscript

Plagiarism
Every manuscript must offer unique ideas presented in the authors’ own words. Unattributed use of phrases and sentences from previously published works (including works by the submitting authors) constitutes plagiarism and is grounds for immediate rejection. Manuscripts submitted to General Dentistry may be screened with plagiarism detection software. If plagiarism is detected after an article has been accepted, acceptance will be withdrawn.

Using AI chatbots
General Dentistry accepts that AI chatbots are sometimes used to improve and clarify language in scientific manuscripts. However, chatbots are susceptible to inaccuracies, bias, and misinformation, including invention of false literature citations. Use of AI should be limited to revision of text written by the manuscript authors. Chatbots should not be used to generate new content via prompts. All content revised by a chatbot must be carefully reviewed to ensure its validity; authors are responsible for the accuracy and originality of all content. Chatbots do not meet the requirements of authorship and cannot be listed as an author of any manuscript.

Use of chatbots must be disclosed when prompted in ScholarOne. Disclosure must include the name and version of the application and an explicit description of its use in manuscript preparation. Failure to disclose use of a chatbot application may be grounds for rejection. 

Using preprint servers
General Dentistry accepts manuscripts that were previously uploaded to a preprint server; however, no updates or revisions to the preprint may be made once the article has been submitted to General Dentistry. If the manuscript is accepted and published in General Dentistry, the published version cannot be uploaded to the preprint server. Authors will be prompted to disclose any uploads to preprint servers in ScholarOne. 

Conflicts of interest and funding 
Authors will be prompted in ScholarOne to disclose any potential conflicts of interest (eg, receipt of grants, honoraria, or materials from entities with financial interests related to the study) or funding by an outside source. 

Formatting and manuscript materials 

All manuscripts must be written in English and prepared as Microsoft Word documents. Manuscripts should be approximately 10 double-spaced pages (roughly 3000 words), not including the cover page and figure captions.

Each manuscript submission should contain the following:

Article file (body of text and references)

Nov 21, 2025, 15:58 PM

Body text:

  • The article should follow this basic order: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. The headings may vary in technique papers, case reports, and literature reviews. Manuscripts should be a minimum of 1500 words and a maximum of 6000 words. Not including the cover page and captions, a length of approximately 3000 words is typical. 

References:

  • Literature must be cited in the text numerically, and the sources should be numbered in order of first appearance in the text. The reference list should be provided at the end of the article file (not as footnotes at the bottom of the page). If a reference manager has been used, the references and citations should be converted to plain text.
  • References should be up to date and reflect the current literature. The majority of references should be no more than 10 years old, unless used in a historical context.
  • A broad, thoughtful review of the literature is critical to the value of an article. In general, no single researcher or group, including the manuscript authors, should be cited in more than 20% of references.
  • General Dentistry follows the most recent edition of the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style for references. For more information and examples, please see the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition. Samples below:
    • Minta AA, Ferrari M, Antoni S, et al. Progress toward measles elimination—worldwide, 2000-2023. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73(45):1036-1042. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7345a4
    • Manji F, Fejerskov O. Dental caries epidemiology. In: Fejerskov O, Nyvad B, eds. Dental Caries: The Disease and Its Clinical Management. 4th ed. Wiley Blackwell; 2024:35-57.

Product mentions: 

  • Generic terms are preferred except for materials used in experimental studies. At the first mention of a brand name of a product, list the name of the manufacturer in parentheses. Do not list the manufacturer’s location.
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Submitting your manuscript

Manuscripts and corresponding materials should be submitted to mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/gendent. Please note that if any required materials are missing, the review process will be delayed until all materials are received.

The editorial team will perform a brief review of submitted manuscripts to ensure that they are appropriate for inclusion in the broader peer-review process. Manuscripts will be rejected without peer review if they contain plagiarized content; are irrelevant to General Dentistry’s target audience; do not follow submission guidelines; demonstrate language problems that pose a significant barrier to understanding; present a significant conflict of interest; or are meta-analyses. Prescreening decisions are based on the publishing needs of the journal and the interests of its audience and do not necessarily reflect the quality of the research or manuscript. Read more from our Editor on prescreening. 

Rejected manuscripts

In the event your manuscript is rejected, we return the copyright to you so that you may consider submitting the manuscript to another journal. 

Submit your manuscript

Quick Links

The following downloadable forms are commonly used during manuscript submission. Please only submit the forms you need. 

Manuscripts and corresponding materials should be submitted to mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/gendent.

Questions? Email us at generaldentistry@agd.org.