Editorial Policies

TUMI Oral Health

1. Mission, Focus, Scope, and Readership

TUMI Oral Health is an international, peer-reviewed, fully open access scientific journal dedicated to advancing knowledge, clinical practice, education, and public health in oral and dental sciences.

The journal publishes scientifically rigorous and ethically conducted research addressing clinically, methodologically, socially, or educationally relevant questions in fields including:

Clinical and preventive dentistry.
Periodontology and implant dentistry.
Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics.
Prosthodontics and restorative dentistry.
Endodontics.
Pediatric dentistry.
Oral medicine and oral pathology.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Oral and maxillofacial radiology.
Dental materials and biomaterials.
Cariology.
Community and public oral health.
Dental education.
Epidemiology and evidence-based dentistry.
Digital dentistry.
Research methodology applied to oral health.

The journal’s primary readership comprises researchers, clinicians, educators, postgraduate students, policymakers, and other professionals involved in oral health research and practice.

TUMI Oral Health prioritizes original research and evidence syntheses that make a substantive contribution to the international scientific literature. Manuscripts must be consistent with the journal’s aims and scope and must demonstrate scientific relevance beyond a purely local or descriptive interest.

2. Ownership, Publisher, and Editorial Independence

TUMI Oral Health is owned and published by the Latin American Society of Medical Sciences, Peru.

The publisher provides the administrative, technological, financial, and production infrastructure required for the operation of the journal. Scientific and editorial decisions remain under the exclusive responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team.

Editorial decisions are independent of:

Commercial interests.
Institutional interests.
Sponsorship.
Advertising.
Article Processing Charge payments.
Requests for waivers or discounts.
Personal or professional relationships.
The nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, beliefs, or professional status of the authors.

The publisher, sponsors, and administrative personnel may not interfere with reviewer selection, scientific evaluation, editorial deliberations, or final decisions.

3. Publication Model and Frequency

TUMI Oral Health is published every two months and releases six regular issues per calendar year:

January–February.
March–April.
May–June.
July–August.
September–October.
November–December.

The journal is committed to maintaining its declared publication schedule without unjustified delays.

TUMI Oral Health does not currently publish:

Special issues.
Supplementary issues.
Guest-edited collections.
Conference proceedings.
Thematic supplements managed by external editors.

Proposals for special issues, supplements, or guest-edited collections are therefore not accepted.

Any future change to this policy will be publicly announced before implementation and will establish independent editorial oversight, external peer review, conflict-of-interest controls, and the full responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief.

4. Types of Contributions

TUMI Oral Health accepts the following manuscript categories:

Original Research Articles.
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Methodological and Technical Articles.
Case Reports.
Letters to the Editor.

The journal does not currently accept:

Unsolicited narrative reviews.
Research protocols.
Abstract-only publications.
Theses or dissertations submitted as articles without substantive adaptation.
Conference summaries.
Commercial or promotional articles.
Proposals for special issues or supplements.
Manuscripts managed by guest editors.

Editorials and invited commentaries may be commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief. These contributions are clearly identified as editorial content and undergo internal editorial assessment for accuracy, relevance, disclosure of conflicts, and scholarly quality.

An invited manuscript presenting original research, a systematic review, a case report, or another research-based contribution is subject to the same external peer-review requirements as an unsolicited manuscript. Invitation does not exempt a scientific article from peer review.

5. Submission Language and Scientific Reporting

The journal publishes manuscripts exclusively in English.

Submissions must be written in clear, grammatically correct, and academically appropriate English. Authors remain responsible for the scientific meaning and accuracy of the manuscript, including when professional language-editing or automated tools have been used.

Authors must follow the reporting guideline appropriate to the study design, including, when applicable:

CONSORT.
STROBE.
PRISMA.
CARE.
STARD.
COREQ.
TRIPOD.
ARRIVE.
CHEERS.

The applicable guideline must be identified in the Methods section. The corresponding checklist and flow diagram must be submitted when required.

Compliance with a reporting guideline does not replace the obligation to provide complete, transparent, and reproducible methods.

6. Initial Editorial Assessment

Every submission undergoes an initial editorial assessment before external peer review.

The editorial team evaluates:

Consistency with the journal’s aims and scope.
Originality and scientific relevance.
Completeness of the submission.
Compliance with the Author Guidelines.
Scientific and methodological suitability.
Ethical approval and informed consent, when applicable.
Clinical trial registration, when applicable.
Compliance with reporting guidelines.
Quality and clarity of academic English.
Adequacy of tables, figures, references, and supplementary files.
Authorship, contribution, funding, and conflict-of-interest declarations.
Similarity-screening results.
Availability of required supporting information.

A manuscript may be returned for technical correction or rejected without external review when it:

Falls outside the journal’s scope.
Does not meet minimum scientific standards.
Contains serious methodological limitations.
Lacks essential ethical documentation.
Presents insufficient originality.
Does not comply with the required manuscript structure.
Is written in language that prevents reliable scientific evaluation.
Shows evidence of duplicate submission, plagiarism, fabrication, manipulation, or another form of misconduct.

Editorial rejection before peer review does not imply a judgment regarding the professional competence of the authors.

7. Peer-Review Process

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial assessment undergo double-anonymous peer review. Authors do not know the identities of reviewers, and reviewers do not receive identifying information about the authors.

Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, Methodological and Technical Articles, and Case Reports are evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers with relevant expertise.

Letters to the Editor are initially assessed by the editorial team. External review may be requested when a letter contains original data, substantive methodological criticism, or scientific claims requiring specialist evaluation.

Reviewers assess manuscripts according to:

Originality.
Relevance to the field.
Scientific contribution.
Methodological rigor.
Ethical compliance.
Validity and transparency of analyses.
Adequacy of results and conclusions.
Reproducibility.
Quality of reporting.
Appropriate interpretation of previous evidence.
Clarity of presentation.

Possible reviewer recommendations include:

Accept.
Minor revision.
Major revision.
Reject with the possibility of a substantially revised resubmission.
Reject.

When reviewer reports differ substantially, the handling editor may seek clarification, invite an additional reviewer, or make a reasoned editorial decision based on the totality of the evidence.

Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers or evaluated editorially, depending on the nature and extent of the revisions.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final decision rests with the handling editor or Editor-in-Chief, who must provide an academically justified decision based on the reviewers’ reports, the manuscript, and the journal’s editorial standards.

8. Reviewer Selection, Independence, and Confidentiality

Reviewers are selected according to:

Expertise relevant to the manuscript.
Research and publication experience.
Independence from the authors.
Absence of disqualifying conflicts of interest.
Ability to provide a substantive and timely evaluation.
Institutional and geographic diversity when appropriate.

Reviewers should not accept an assignment when they:

Have a financial, personal, professional, or institutional conflict.
Have recently collaborated with the authors.
Are directly competing with the authors.
Cannot provide an impartial assessment.
Lack the necessary expertise.
Cannot complete the review within the requested period.

Reviewers must treat manuscripts, supplementary files, author responses, and editorial communications as confidential documents. They may not share, reproduce, retain, distribute, or use unpublished information for personal or professional advantage.

Reviewers may not contact authors directly regarding a manuscript.

9. Optional Transparency of Peer Review

The primary evaluation model remains double-anonymous peer review.

After final acceptance, anonymized reviewer reports and author responses may be published as supplementary editorial material only when the authors, reviewers, and responsible editor provide explicit consent.

Reviewer identities will not be disclosed unless the individual reviewer expressly agrees to be identified.

Participation in this transparency option is voluntary and has no influence on the editorial decision.

10. Editorial Decisions and Revisions

Editorial decisions are based exclusively on:

Scientific relevance.
Originality.
Methodological quality.
Ethical compliance.
Transparency and reproducibility.
Quality of reporting.
Reviewer assessments.
Suitability for the journal’s readership.

Authors invited to revise must submit:

A revised manuscript.
A detailed point-by-point response to every editorial and reviewer comment.
A clear indication of the changes made.
A reasoned explanation when a recommendation has not been followed.

An invitation to revise does not guarantee acceptance.

Acceptance is valid only when it has been formally communicated by the journal after completion of scientific, ethical, and editorial evaluation.

11. Manuscripts Submitted by Editors or Editorial Board Members

Manuscripts authored or coauthored by the Editor-in-Chief, associate editors, editorial board members, journal staff, reviewers, or their close collaborators are not given preferential treatment.

Such manuscripts are assigned to an independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.

An author holding an editorial position:

Does not select reviewers.
Does not access reviewer identities.
Does not participate in editorial deliberations.
Does not have access to confidential correspondence beyond that available to any author.
Does not make or influence the final decision.

The published article must contain an appropriate disclosure of the author’s editorial role.

12. Editorial Endogeny and Diversity

TUMI Oral Health monitors institutional and editorial endogeny.

In each of the two most recently published issues, the proportion of research articles containing at least one author who is an editor, editorial board member, member of journal staff, or regular reviewer should not exceed 25%.

The journal seeks appropriate disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity among editors, reviewers, and authors.

Editorial board membership, previous reviewing activity, or an institutional relationship with the publisher does not guarantee publication.

13. Authorship and Contributorship

TUMI Oral Health applies the authorship criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Every author must:

Make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or another substantive scientific component.
Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
Approve the final version.
Accept responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

All manuscripts must include an individual contribution statement based on the CRediT taxonomy.

CRediT roles describe the nature of contributions but do not replace the ICMJE authorship requirements.

Honorary, guest, gift, coerced, purchased, and ghost authorship are prohibited.

Contributors who do not meet the authorship requirements may be identified in the Acknowledgments section with their permission.

A valid ORCID iD is mandatory for every author and must be included in the submission metadata and Title Page.

14. Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must:

Be made in writing.
Explain the reason for the requested change.
Include the agreement of all listed and affected authors.
Be approved by the Editor-in-Chief before implementation.
Include updated CRediT contributions.

Changes after acceptance are permitted only in exceptional and adequately justified circumstances.

Authorship changes will not be approved when there is evidence of authorship sale, honorary authorship, coercion, concealment of contributors, or another unethical practice.

15. Originality, Exclusive Submission, and Prior Dissemination

Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not:

Have been formally published in another journal.
Be under simultaneous consideration elsewhere.
Substantially duplicate a previously published work.
Fragment one study into unjustifiably separate publications.
Reuse text, data, tables, or figures without appropriate citation or permission.

Authors must disclose related manuscripts, previous reports, conference abstracts, theses, dissertations, repository records, and other forms of dissemination that could overlap with the submission.

Previous dissemination does not automatically preclude consideration when it has been transparently declared and does not constitute duplicate publication.

16. Preprint Policy

TUMI Oral Health accepts manuscripts previously deposited in recognized preprint servers.

Preprint deposition is not considered prior formal publication.

Authors must:

Disclose the existence of the preprint during submission.
Identify the preprint server.
Provide the DOI or persistent URL.
Inform the journal about changes made to the preprint record.
Declare whether the submitted version differs materially from the deposited version.

Following publication, authors should update the preprint record with the complete citation and DOI of the Version of Record published by TUMI Oral Health.

The existence of a preprint does not exempt the manuscript from originality, ethical, authorship, peer-review, and disclosure requirements.

17. Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools

Artificial intelligence and automated tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, or accountability of a manuscript.

Authors may use automated tools for routine spelling, grammar, formatting, or language improvement.

Use of generative artificial intelligence beyond routine language correction must be disclosed in the manuscript. The disclosure must identify:

Name of the tool.
Version, when known.
Purpose of use.
Section or task in which it was used.
Procedures used by the authors to verify the output.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

Factual accuracy.
Originality.
Citation integrity.
Absence of fabricated references.
Validity of analyses.
Protection of confidential information.
Compliance with copyright and ethical standards.

Generative AI must not be cited as a scientific authority or primary source.

Authors must not upload identifiable participant information, confidential datasets, unpublished third-party material, copyrighted content, or other protected information to an AI system without appropriate authorization.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, supplementary files, reviewer reports, or editorial correspondence to publicly accessible generative AI systems.

Peer-review reports and editorial decisions may not be delegated to artificial intelligence.

18. Similarity Screening and Research Misconduct

All research manuscripts undergo routine similarity screening during the initial editorial assessment. A second screening may be conducted before final acceptance.

Similarity reports are interpreted by qualified editors in their scientific and publication context. Manuscripts are not accepted or rejected solely on the basis of an automated similarity percentage. Editorial assessment considers the nature, extent, location, attribution, and possible justification of the identified similarities.

The journal investigates suspected:

Plagiarism.
Self-plagiarism or inappropriate text recycling.
Duplicate or redundant publication.
Data fabrication.
Data falsification.
Inappropriate image manipulation.
Selective or misleading reporting.
Citation manipulation.
Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Authorship misconduct.
Peer-review manipulation.
Undisclosed third-party manuscript production.
Paper-mill activity.
Manipulation of ethics documentation.
Other forms of research or publication misconduct.

When concerns arise, the journal may request:

Original datasets.
Statistical output.
Laboratory records.
Ethics approval documentation.
Consent forms.
Original image files.
Study protocols.
Authorship confirmation.
Institutional clarification.

Authors will ordinarily be given an opportunity to respond to substantiated concerns unless doing so could compromise an investigation.

The journal may contact the relevant institution, ethics committee, funding body, publisher, or other competent authority when independent investigation is necessary.

Cases are handled in accordance with applicable COPE guidance and with due regard for confidentiality, fairness, evidence, and the integrity of the scholarly record.

19. Policy Against Paper Mills

TUMI Oral Health does not tolerate manuscripts produced, purchased, manipulated, or submitted through paper mills or comparable fraudulent services.

Indicators that may trigger enhanced scrutiny include:

Implausible or internally inconsistent data.
Fabricated or unverifiable ethics approval.
Manipulated images.
Inappropriate or irrelevant citations.
Unusual authorship changes.
Coordinated peer-review manipulation.
Repeated submission patterns.
Unverifiable author identities or affiliations.
Template-based or scientifically incoherent content.

Suspected submissions may be placed on hold while additional documentation is requested.

Confirmed fraudulent submissions will be rejected. Published articles may be corrected, retracted, or otherwise marked according to the evidence and applicable editorial standards.

20. Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript.

Relevant interests may include:

Employment.
Consultancies.
Honoraria.
Grants.
Stock or equity ownership.
Patents.
Paid expert testimony.
Personal relationships.
Institutional responsibilities.
Professional rivalries.
Editorial positions.

All authors must complete the journal’s required declaration and, when requested, the applicable ICMJE disclosure form.

Editors and reviewers must disclose potential conflicts before participating in the editorial process and must withdraw when impartial evaluation is not possible.

An author who holds a position in the journal must disclose that role in the manuscript.

21. Funding and Role of the Funder

Authors must identify all financial, institutional, material, and commercial support.

The funding declaration must include, when applicable:

Name of the funder.
Grant or project number.
Provision of equipment, products, materials, or services.
Role of the funder in study design.
Data collection, analysis, or interpretation.
Manuscript preparation.
Decision to submit for publication.

When the funder had no role in these activities, this must be stated.

When no specific funding was received, authors must provide an explicit no-funding declaration.

22. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, identifiable clinical information, biological material, medical or dental records, or health-related data must have prior approval from a recognized research ethics committee unless a formal exemption applies.

The manuscript must report:

Full name of the ethics committee.
Affiliated institution.
Approval number or code.
Approval date or year.
Applicable ethical standards.

Research involving human participants must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable national and institutional requirements.

When ethics approval was not legally or institutionally required, authors must explain the basis for the exemption. The journal may request written confirmation from the competent institution or ethics committee.

23. Informed Consent and Participant Privacy

Authors must state how informed consent was obtained when research involves human participants.

For minors, the manuscript must report, when applicable:

Consent from a parent or legal guardian.
Assent from the participating minor.

Consent to participate in research is distinct from consent to publish identifiable information.

Case reports, photographs, radiographs, videos, pedigrees, and other potentially identifiable clinical material require written informed consent for publication.

Authors must remove unnecessary identifying information. Removing a participant’s name alone does not necessarily guarantee anonymity.

The journal may request confirmation that valid consent for publication has been obtained, although confidential consent documents should not normally be submitted unless specifically requested through a secure process.

24. Research Involving Animals

Animal studies must:

Have prior approval from an appropriate animal ethics committee.
Report the committee name and protocol or approval number.
Follow applicable national and institutional animal-welfare requirements.
Follow the ARRIVE reporting guideline.
Describe measures used to minimize pain, distress, and unnecessary animal use.

The journal may reject manuscripts that do not provide adequate evidence of ethical oversight or humane research practices.

25. Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible registry recognized by the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform or by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

The manuscript must report:

Registry name.
Registration number.
Registration date.

This information must appear in the abstract and Methods section.

Clinical trials conducted in Peru must also report registration in the Peruvian Clinical Trials Registry of the Instituto Nacional de Salud when applicable.

Retrospectively registered trials are not ordinarily accepted. Exceptional consideration requires a detailed justification and does not guarantee peer review or acceptance.

Clinical trial reports must comply with CONSORT and include the corresponding checklist and participant flow diagram.

26. Data, Code, Materials, and Reproducibility

Every manuscript must include a Data Availability statement.

Authors must deposit the data, statistical code, protocols, questionnaires, instruments, software, and other materials supporting the findings in an appropriate public repository whenever ethical, legal, contractual, intellectual-property, and confidentiality conditions permit.

Deposited research outputs must be formally cited in the manuscript and reference list using a DOI or another persistent identifier whenever available.

The Data Availability statement must identify:

Repository name.
Dataset or material title.
DOI or persistent identifier.
Applicable license.
Access conditions.

When public sharing is not possible, authors must explain the specific reason, which may include:

Participant confidentiality.
Ethics committee restrictions.
Legal or contractual restrictions.
Risk of participant re-identification.
Protection of sensitive or Indigenous data.
Intellectual-property restrictions.

A statement that data are unavailable without an adequate explanation may be considered insufficient.

The journal may request confidential access to underlying data or materials for editorial verification, subject to appropriate ethical, legal, and confidentiality safeguards.

27. Open Access Policy

TUMI Oral Health is a fully open access journal.

All published content is freely and immediately available online without:

Subscription.
Payment by readers.
Embargo.
Institutional restriction.
Mandatory registration.

Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to, text-mine, adapt, and reuse published articles for lawful purposes in accordance with the applicable open license.

Access to published scientific content is permanent and is not conditional on the subsequent payment of fees by authors or readers.

28. Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their published work.

Authors grant TUMI Oral Health a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide right to publish, reproduce, distribute, publicly communicate, index, archive, and preserve the Version of Record.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Under CC BY 4.0, users may share and adapt the content for lawful purposes, including commercial use, provided that:

Appropriate credit is given to the authors.
The original publication is cited.
A link to the license is included.
Changes are clearly indicated.

The license must be displayed in the PDF, HTML, and article metadata.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that third-party material is compatible with CC BY 4.0 or has been reproduced under valid permission.

29. Self-Archiving and Repository Policy

Authors may deposit the following versions in an institutional, disciplinary, or general-purpose repository:

Preprint.
Author Accepted Manuscript.
Published Version of Record.

No embargo is imposed.

When depositing the Version of Record, authors should include:

Complete bibliographic citation.
DOI.
Link to the journal publication.
CC BY 4.0 licensing information.

Repository deposit must not misrepresent an earlier manuscript version as the final published article.

30. Archiving and Digital Preservation

Long-term preservation of eligible published content is provided through the PKP Preservation Network integrated with Open Journal Systems. The journal periodically monitors the preservation status of its published issues and addresses any deposit errors identified by the system.

The journal also maintains publication records, metadata, supplementary files, and editorial documentation within its editorial management infrastructure. Digital Object Identifiers are assigned to published articles to support persistent identification, citation, linking, and interoperability.

Participation in PKP PN and the assignment of DOI identifiers complement, but do not replace, the journal’s responsibility to maintain reliable backups and preserve the integrity and accessibility of the scholarly record.

31. Article Processing Charge and Other Author Fees

TUMI Oral Health charges an Article Processing Charge of USD 150 for manuscripts accepted for publication.

The APC is requested only after:

Completion of peer review.
Formal editorial acceptance.
Confirmation that scientific and ethical requirements have been satisfied.

The journal does not charge:

Submission fees.
Peer-review fees.
Fees based on the number of authors.
Additional-author fees.
Page charges.
Color figure charges.
Supplementary material charges.
Manuscript withdrawal fees.
Language evaluation fees.

Waiver or discount requests are evaluated independently from scientific and editorial decisions according to the journal’s APC and Waiver Policy.

Payment does not guarantee:

Acceptance.
Expedited peer review.
Favorable reviewer reports.
Preferential editorial treatment.
Priority publication.

Editors and reviewers are not informed about an author’s ability to pay when this information is irrelevant to their role.

32. Manuscript Withdrawal Policy

Withdrawal after submission is discouraged when editorial or peer-review work has already begun.

Authors may request withdrawal by submitting a written request that:

Identifies the manuscript.
Explains the reason.
Confirms the agreement of all authors.

Before external review, a properly documented withdrawal request will ordinarily be processed without further editorial action.

During peer review, authors must provide a reasonable justification because editors and reviewers may already have invested substantial work.

After acceptance, withdrawal is permitted only in exceptional circumstances, including the discovery of major scientific errors, legal concerns, authorship disputes, or serious ethical issues.

TUMI Oral Health does not charge manuscript withdrawal fees.

A published article cannot be withdrawn as though it had never existed. Post-publication concerns are addressed through corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or, in exceptional cases, content removal.

33. Corrections and Version Control

Material errors that do not invalidate the principal findings may be corrected through a formal correction notice.

Correction notices must:

Identify the affected article.
Explain the nature of the correction.
Be linked bidirectionally to the original article.
Receive their own publication record and persistent identifier when applicable.

Minor typographical corrections that do not alter meaning may be incorporated without a formal notice when permitted by the journal’s version-control procedures.

Changes to authorship, data, results, conclusions, ethical declarations, or conflicts of interest require formal editorial assessment.

34. Retractions, Expressions of Concern, and Removal

Retraction may be considered when there is reliable evidence of:

Fabrication or falsification.
Plagiarism.
Redundant publication.
Unethical research.
Invalid findings resulting from major error.
Manipulated peer review.
Fraudulent authorship.
Other serious threats to the integrity of the record.

A retracted article will ordinarily remain accessible and will be clearly identified as retracted. The retraction notice will explain the basis for the action to the extent permitted by legal, confidentiality, and fairness considerations.

An expression of concern may be published when substantial doubts exist but the evidence is inconclusive or an investigation remains incomplete.

Removal of published content is reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as:

Serious legal requirements.
Defamatory content.
Immediate risk to participant privacy.
Material that poses a serious and demonstrable public harm.

Corrective actions follow applicable COPE guidance.

35. Complaints and Editorial Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested parties may submit complaints concerning:

Editorial procedures.
Peer review.
Ethical issues.
Conflicts of interest.
Published content.
Staff conduct.
Failure to follow a stated policy.

Complaints must be made in good faith and should include relevant documentation.

An appeal against an editorial decision must provide a clear scientific or procedural justification. Disagreement with the outcome alone is not sufficient.

Appeals are reviewed by an editor who was not directly responsible for the original decision whenever practicable.

When a complaint or appeal concerns the Editor-in-Chief, it will be referred to an independent senior editor or appropriate representative of the publisher who has no relevant conflict.

Submission of a complaint or appeal does not guarantee reversal of a decision and will not result in retaliation.

36. Reviewer Recognition

The journal may publish an annual acknowledgment of reviewers who have contributed during the corresponding year.

Participation requires reviewer consent.

The acknowledgment may include:

Reviewer’s name.
Institutional affiliation.
Country.

Reviewer names will not be linked to specific manuscripts, reports, authors, or editorial decisions.

Reviewer recognition does not compromise the confidentiality of the double-anonymous review process.

37. Editorial Performance and Decision Times

The journal aims to communicate an initial editorial or peer-review decision within approximately eight weeks. This period is an editorial target and not a guaranteed deadline.

Processing time may vary according to manuscript complexity, reviewer availability, the number of review rounds, the extent of the required revisions, author response time, and the need for ethical, statistical, or methodological clarification.

The journal does not guarantee manuscript acceptance or a fixed date of publication.

Aggregate performance indicators may be published periodically when sufficient verified data are available, including:

Submission-to-first-decision time.
Submission-to-final-decision time.
Acceptance-to-publication time.
Acceptance and rejection rates.

Only calculated and verifiable statistics will be reported.

38. Advertising, Sponsorship, and Marketing

TUMI Oral Health does not currently accept commercial advertising within its scientific articles.

Any future advertising or sponsorship arrangement must:

Be clearly distinguishable from editorial content.
Not influence editorial decisions.
Not be linked to acceptance of manuscripts.
Not compromise reader privacy.
Not make misleading scientific or clinical claims.

The journal does not engage in deceptive, coercive, or misleading solicitation of manuscripts, reviewers, editorial board members, or payments.

Indexing claims, metrics, affiliations, and institutional relationships must be accurate and verifiable.

39. Confidentiality and Personal Information

Personal information collected from authors, reviewers, editors, and readers is used only for legitimate editorial, publication, indexing, preservation, and communication purposes.

The journal takes reasonable measures to protect:

Author contact information.
Reviewer identities.
Confidential manuscript content.
Editorial correspondence.
Ethics and consent documentation.
Unpublished research data.

Personal information is not sold to third parties.

Information may be disclosed when required for publication, indexing, legal compliance, research-integrity investigation, or protection of the scholarly record, subject to appropriate safeguards.

40. Consistency Across Language Versions

When journal policies are available in more than one language, all versions must communicate equivalent requirements and conditions.

Updates affecting:

Peer review.
Access.
Licensing.
Copyright.
Author fees.
Ethical requirements.
Accepted manuscript types.
Publication frequency.

must be implemented consistently across all language versions of the journal website.

In the event of an unintended discrepancy, the journal will correct the affected version promptly.

41. Policy Review and Updates

These policies are reviewed periodically to reflect developments in research integrity, open science, scholarly communication, indexing standards, and applicable ethical guidance.

Material changes will be publicly dated and will not ordinarily be applied retrospectively in a manner that disadvantages authors.

Revised: July 2026