Selected Podcast
JOMS Guide for Authors and Peer Reviewers
Dr. Thomas Dodson – who became Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in 2022 – explains his vision for the journal as well as its importance to the future of the specialty.
Featured Speaker:
Dr. Thomas Dodson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgery at University of Washington School of
Dentistry.
He received his dental degree from Harvard School of Dental
Medicine and Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public
Health. He completed his OMS training at University of California-San
Francisco. Additional post-doctoral training included a Dental Public
Health residency and a NIH-funded fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology
at UCSF. He is current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery.
Dr. Dodson believes that patients are our partners in discovery. As
such, his research interests lie primarily in outcomes research. The
primary goal of his research efforts is to improve patient outcomes by
elucidating and promoting data-driven clinical decision-making.
Learn more about Thomas Dodson, DMD, MPH, FACS
Thomas Dodson, DMD, MPH, FACS
Thomas Benton Dodson - UW School of Dentistry (washington.edu)Dr. Thomas Dodson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgery at University of Washington School of
Dentistry.
He received his dental degree from Harvard School of Dental
Medicine and Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public
Health. He completed his OMS training at University of California-San
Francisco. Additional post-doctoral training included a Dental Public
Health residency and a NIH-funded fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology
at UCSF. He is current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery.
Dr. Dodson believes that patients are our partners in discovery. As
such, his research interests lie primarily in outcomes research. The
primary goal of his research efforts is to improve patient outcomes by
elucidating and promoting data-driven clinical decision-making.
Learn more about Thomas Dodson, DMD, MPH, FACS
Transcription:
JOMS Guide for Authors and Peer Reviewers
Bill Klaproth (host): This is an AAOMS on the go podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth and with me is Dr. Thomas Dodson, who is here to discuss the J O M S guide for authors. And peer reviewers. Dr. Dodson. Thank you for being here.
Thomas Dodson: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you this morning, Bill.
Bill Klaproth (host): Thank you so much. Great to see you. So first off, what is your personal background and what led you to work on the journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery? Or as what we're calling JOMS.
Thomas Dodson: Thank you. I can tell you quite frankly, but I never woke up one morning with an epiphany that my goal was to become the chief of the journal of oral and maxillofacial
Bill Klaproth (host): You were early. A little tike at Nine years old. You didn't be like, I'm going to be the editorial manager of JMOS someday.
Thomas Dodson: That is correct. That is correct.
A story. That sounds good in Retrospect. But, so in college I was an English major, which gave me the opportunity to get exposed to some critical thinking and critical writing. Then went off into dental school. And At the end of my dental school, I had the chance to go to the Harvard school of public health and get a Public health degree But during that time, I was exposed to quantitative methods. that we use in patient oriented. research, things like study design. and biostatistics. And then went off and did my residency.
And at the end of my residency, I had an opportunity to fellowship in clinical epidemiology. Which really helped us Samantha foundation in clinical research. And based on that background, I had the opportunity to do research, published a number of papers, in fact, the very first paper I wrote. Was accepted without revision. So I'm thinking to myself, this publishing stuff is really easy. My next manuscript that got published without revision was my 100th. So anyway, so I had a lot of chance to practice writing and doing research and things like that.
So, but I think that background helped to lay a foundation for my becoming, We're all first I'm a member versus a reviewer of the journal and moving on to be the section editor, research in the journal, I was in the early two thousands. And for about 11 years, I was. the associate editor for the journal and tell, I became the editor in chief this last January.
Bill Klaproth (host): Wow. Wow. So your background really has led you to this position. It's kind of interesting how your education and background got you to this position.
Thomas Dodson: Yes. it wasn't without a lot of pre-planning. Just sort of. Happened, this..
Bill Klaproth (host): It happen organically.
Thomas Dodson: happened actually quite organically.
Bill Klaproth (host): As many things in life do it just kind of flows and you follow the path and here I am kind of a thing. So, can you explain the importance of the journal to the future of OMS?
Thomas Dodson: Absolutely. So every specialty has its core clinical components that really characterize what a specialty is. And the way you demonstrate that knowledge and expertise is through your clinical care, but also through research. And I would argue that the journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery is the vehicle by which we disseminate and distribute the information about research. I would say within oral and maxillofacial surgery, our core competencies are dental alveolar surgery. Temporomandibular joint surgery, orthognathic surgery and reconstructive surgery. And we have not just good clinical experience and expertise in that area, but we've really documented our expertise within the journal itself.
As our specialty in evolves, we've been moving into other areas as our scope has gotten broader, and we have moved into areas of cosmetic surgery surgical oncology and reconstruction and pediatric craniofacial surgery. And again, we just can't claim expertise in that area. We actually have to demonstrate expertise in terms of both our clinical care. But put a stamp on that activity throughout the research that we do. And I would say that. We've had a very good experience with surgical oncology and reconstruction in terms of establishing expertise through research.
But I think we also had a pretty good exposure to our research in pediatric cranial facial injuries. I would say that our weakest area of research has caused cosmetic surgery. And it would be interesting. I'd like to see more articles coming to the journal in that area as well. Again, just to put up stamp on our expertise in that area.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Is it Fair to say the journal is a Foundational education for an OMS?
Thomas Dodson: I think It's a component of the foundation of OMS. I think there's a lot of didactic work that needs to get done to lay the groundwork. I think in order to be able to consume the information that's distributed with JMOS, I'd like to think the JMOS is really the State-of-the-art in terms of the research activity, but you still need to have a foundation established in order to appreciate the sort of the incremental gains in knowledge.
Bill Klaproth (host): Okay. Got it. So then what is the JMOS. Ms guide for authors and peer reviewers? What is that?
Thomas Dodson: Sure. Well, let me, just step back for a second. Let me just read what the mission is for JMOS. The mission is to curate, shape and promote excellent scientific research that informs the knowledge base and clinical practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. And supports the clinical educational service and research activities for AAMS and the Canadian association of OMS members and membership. And with that as our role, we're trying to curate and promote scientific excellence and core to that is the peer reviewer are the backbone of the journal. We've got an excellent editorial board. Excellent section editors.
I would argue excellent associate editors and an editor in chief, but our backbone is really our reviewers And the role of though the reviewers are really to help us to identify articles that are within the scope of the journal. Articles that have topics of interest to the membership. Articles that have a good scientific basis. Now one of the things that I introduced or modified fairly significantly this last year, when I became editor in chief was rewriting the guide for the authors.
And the purpose of that guide was to really accomplish two things. One is to promote excellent scientific writing. But equally to help with readability of the journal. So, I think manuscripts that follow The guide for authors are both going to be have good scientific integrity, have a logical organization. And be accessible to most readers in a really logical readable format. And I will, say that that guide has generated a little bit of controversy in the sense that, there's been some criticism that the guide for authors is to rigorous.
Bill Klaproth (host): So that's why you're making it easier to read or easier to digest?
Thomas Dodson: The guide for I believe if that's followed, does make the articles easier to read and easier to digest. And more accessible. In fact, truth is many people only read the abstract and I've actually, so I've worked really hard to sort of structure an abstract. So if that's actually all you read. You should be able to get a pretty good sense of the manuscript.
Bill Klaproth (host): And you know that in writing the abstract that most people are gonna read this, so we've gotta get this right.
Thomas Dodson: We've got to get that right Cause that may be the only thing they consume.
Bill Klaproth (host): Okay. Well, that's really interesting. I love how you said the JMOS is there to curate and promote scientific evidence kind of is an Overall mission of what you're trying to do. So it seems like. then for an AAMOS member, they would want to become involved in the journal. So how and why, you should have name an AAMOS member become involved in the journal?
Thomas Dodson: Well, As I alluded to the journals out there to serve the membership. But it needs the input from the membership as well. And as such, I would really encourage pretty much anybody to become a reviewer for the journal. And I think there's an impression that the only reviewers that are out there should be those that are in academic oral and maxillofacial surgery. But I would counter that argument with, I think that the private practitioner. Has their own vision, their own filter of the world. And they're being involved in being reviewers as well, I think is mission critical to really getting that sort of a 360 degree view of a manuscript and a review of the specialty.
Bill Klaproth (host): So their perspective is valued? And needed?
Thomas Dodson: Correct. And needed.
Bill Klaproth (host): So that's why you're looking for people to become reviewers?
Thomas Dodson: Yes, whether they're an academic oral maxillofacial surgery or in private practice. Yeah, then there's also a bias that we're only looking for publications articles from academic centers. But we're absolutely looking for input from the private practitioner as well. With the qualifier, which is that it has to be good research that's well-written and there's no reason why someone in private practice can't do equally good research as people who are The academic centers.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well, this has really been, Interesting to Talk about this. Anything you want to add Dr. Dodson about the JMOS or guide for authors and peer reviewers?
Thomas Dodson: Sure. I would like to just touch on one issue, which is, there's been a perception that, with the rewrite of the guide of authors, that it's become too rigorous and too critical. And I would make the argument. Well, will say that Our acceptance rate is a little bit lower than it has been historically at about 12% of the articles that are submitted get accepted. But if you look at other journals, like Journal the American Medical Association. They're actually at 8%. So, but would make the argument that sound research that's written that aligns with a guide the authors has a very high probability of being accepted.
Again, the purpose of the guide for authors is to structure your manuscript. in a logical manner to make it easy to read. And I'd also say that if you send me an article that doesn't have a background sentence in the abstract, that doesn't tell me what the study design is. doesn't nicely describe what the sample is fails to describe what the variables are. has the data analysis section missing. It's not ready for prime time. And All those things are detailed quite thoroughly. in the guide for authors. So if You spend the time, and invest the time preparing.
Bill Klaproth (host): It's there to help you with it. Yeah.
Thomas Dodson: It is Absolutely there to help you. Scientific writings, not creative writing. The creative process happens during the research. the presentation of that information can be in a relatively standardized forward.
Bill Klaproth (host): type of format.
Thomas Dodson: Yeah. Exactly right.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well, Dr. Dodson, this has been fascinating. Thank you so much for your time.
Thomas Dodson: Thank you for the invitation Bill to be here and I've enjoyed it very much.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. And I know this is really important because you want people to register as a reviewer for JOMS so they can visit editorial manager.com/yJOMS. Right. And they can also send an email to JOMS@Aamos.Org. So that's a good way to reach you. And I know that you are looking for reviewers. So now kind of a yeah. If you want to do this, this is more of a, we need you let's cause this ultimately helps this specialty.
Thomas Dodson: Yeah.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well again, thank you so much for your time, time. Doctor.
Thomas Dodson: Yeah, pleasure Bill. Thank you for the invitation to be here this morning.
Bill Klaproth (host): You bet Dr. Dodson. And for more information in the full podcast library, please visit AAOMS.org that's AAOMS.org. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please share it on your social media and be sure to subscribe. So you don't miss an episode. Thanks for listening.
JOMS Guide for Authors and Peer Reviewers
Bill Klaproth (host): This is an AAOMS on the go podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth and with me is Dr. Thomas Dodson, who is here to discuss the J O M S guide for authors. And peer reviewers. Dr. Dodson. Thank you for being here.
Thomas Dodson: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you this morning, Bill.
Bill Klaproth (host): Thank you so much. Great to see you. So first off, what is your personal background and what led you to work on the journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery? Or as what we're calling JOMS.
Thomas Dodson: Thank you. I can tell you quite frankly, but I never woke up one morning with an epiphany that my goal was to become the chief of the journal of oral and maxillofacial
Bill Klaproth (host): You were early. A little tike at Nine years old. You didn't be like, I'm going to be the editorial manager of JMOS someday.
Thomas Dodson: That is correct. That is correct.
A story. That sounds good in Retrospect. But, so in college I was an English major, which gave me the opportunity to get exposed to some critical thinking and critical writing. Then went off into dental school. And At the end of my dental school, I had the chance to go to the Harvard school of public health and get a Public health degree But during that time, I was exposed to quantitative methods. that we use in patient oriented. research, things like study design. and biostatistics. And then went off and did my residency.
And at the end of my residency, I had an opportunity to fellowship in clinical epidemiology. Which really helped us Samantha foundation in clinical research. And based on that background, I had the opportunity to do research, published a number of papers, in fact, the very first paper I wrote. Was accepted without revision. So I'm thinking to myself, this publishing stuff is really easy. My next manuscript that got published without revision was my 100th. So anyway, so I had a lot of chance to practice writing and doing research and things like that.
So, but I think that background helped to lay a foundation for my becoming, We're all first I'm a member versus a reviewer of the journal and moving on to be the section editor, research in the journal, I was in the early two thousands. And for about 11 years, I was. the associate editor for the journal and tell, I became the editor in chief this last January.
Bill Klaproth (host): Wow. Wow. So your background really has led you to this position. It's kind of interesting how your education and background got you to this position.
Thomas Dodson: Yes. it wasn't without a lot of pre-planning. Just sort of. Happened, this..
Bill Klaproth (host): It happen organically.
Thomas Dodson: happened actually quite organically.
Bill Klaproth (host): As many things in life do it just kind of flows and you follow the path and here I am kind of a thing. So, can you explain the importance of the journal to the future of OMS?
Thomas Dodson: Absolutely. So every specialty has its core clinical components that really characterize what a specialty is. And the way you demonstrate that knowledge and expertise is through your clinical care, but also through research. And I would argue that the journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery is the vehicle by which we disseminate and distribute the information about research. I would say within oral and maxillofacial surgery, our core competencies are dental alveolar surgery. Temporomandibular joint surgery, orthognathic surgery and reconstructive surgery. And we have not just good clinical experience and expertise in that area, but we've really documented our expertise within the journal itself.
As our specialty in evolves, we've been moving into other areas as our scope has gotten broader, and we have moved into areas of cosmetic surgery surgical oncology and reconstruction and pediatric craniofacial surgery. And again, we just can't claim expertise in that area. We actually have to demonstrate expertise in terms of both our clinical care. But put a stamp on that activity throughout the research that we do. And I would say that. We've had a very good experience with surgical oncology and reconstruction in terms of establishing expertise through research.
But I think we also had a pretty good exposure to our research in pediatric cranial facial injuries. I would say that our weakest area of research has caused cosmetic surgery. And it would be interesting. I'd like to see more articles coming to the journal in that area as well. Again, just to put up stamp on our expertise in that area.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Is it Fair to say the journal is a Foundational education for an OMS?
Thomas Dodson: I think It's a component of the foundation of OMS. I think there's a lot of didactic work that needs to get done to lay the groundwork. I think in order to be able to consume the information that's distributed with JMOS, I'd like to think the JMOS is really the State-of-the-art in terms of the research activity, but you still need to have a foundation established in order to appreciate the sort of the incremental gains in knowledge.
Bill Klaproth (host): Okay. Got it. So then what is the JMOS. Ms guide for authors and peer reviewers? What is that?
Thomas Dodson: Sure. Well, let me, just step back for a second. Let me just read what the mission is for JMOS. The mission is to curate, shape and promote excellent scientific research that informs the knowledge base and clinical practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. And supports the clinical educational service and research activities for AAMS and the Canadian association of OMS members and membership. And with that as our role, we're trying to curate and promote scientific excellence and core to that is the peer reviewer are the backbone of the journal. We've got an excellent editorial board. Excellent section editors.
I would argue excellent associate editors and an editor in chief, but our backbone is really our reviewers And the role of though the reviewers are really to help us to identify articles that are within the scope of the journal. Articles that have topics of interest to the membership. Articles that have a good scientific basis. Now one of the things that I introduced or modified fairly significantly this last year, when I became editor in chief was rewriting the guide for the authors.
And the purpose of that guide was to really accomplish two things. One is to promote excellent scientific writing. But equally to help with readability of the journal. So, I think manuscripts that follow The guide for authors are both going to be have good scientific integrity, have a logical organization. And be accessible to most readers in a really logical readable format. And I will, say that that guide has generated a little bit of controversy in the sense that, there's been some criticism that the guide for authors is to rigorous.
Bill Klaproth (host): So that's why you're making it easier to read or easier to digest?
Thomas Dodson: The guide for I believe if that's followed, does make the articles easier to read and easier to digest. And more accessible. In fact, truth is many people only read the abstract and I've actually, so I've worked really hard to sort of structure an abstract. So if that's actually all you read. You should be able to get a pretty good sense of the manuscript.
Bill Klaproth (host): And you know that in writing the abstract that most people are gonna read this, so we've gotta get this right.
Thomas Dodson: We've got to get that right Cause that may be the only thing they consume.
Bill Klaproth (host): Okay. Well, that's really interesting. I love how you said the JMOS is there to curate and promote scientific evidence kind of is an Overall mission of what you're trying to do. So it seems like. then for an AAMOS member, they would want to become involved in the journal. So how and why, you should have name an AAMOS member become involved in the journal?
Thomas Dodson: Well, As I alluded to the journals out there to serve the membership. But it needs the input from the membership as well. And as such, I would really encourage pretty much anybody to become a reviewer for the journal. And I think there's an impression that the only reviewers that are out there should be those that are in academic oral and maxillofacial surgery. But I would counter that argument with, I think that the private practitioner. Has their own vision, their own filter of the world. And they're being involved in being reviewers as well, I think is mission critical to really getting that sort of a 360 degree view of a manuscript and a review of the specialty.
Bill Klaproth (host): So their perspective is valued? And needed?
Thomas Dodson: Correct. And needed.
Bill Klaproth (host): So that's why you're looking for people to become reviewers?
Thomas Dodson: Yes, whether they're an academic oral maxillofacial surgery or in private practice. Yeah, then there's also a bias that we're only looking for publications articles from academic centers. But we're absolutely looking for input from the private practitioner as well. With the qualifier, which is that it has to be good research that's well-written and there's no reason why someone in private practice can't do equally good research as people who are The academic centers.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well, this has really been, Interesting to Talk about this. Anything you want to add Dr. Dodson about the JMOS or guide for authors and peer reviewers?
Thomas Dodson: Sure. I would like to just touch on one issue, which is, there's been a perception that, with the rewrite of the guide of authors, that it's become too rigorous and too critical. And I would make the argument. Well, will say that Our acceptance rate is a little bit lower than it has been historically at about 12% of the articles that are submitted get accepted. But if you look at other journals, like Journal the American Medical Association. They're actually at 8%. So, but would make the argument that sound research that's written that aligns with a guide the authors has a very high probability of being accepted.
Again, the purpose of the guide for authors is to structure your manuscript. in a logical manner to make it easy to read. And I'd also say that if you send me an article that doesn't have a background sentence in the abstract, that doesn't tell me what the study design is. doesn't nicely describe what the sample is fails to describe what the variables are. has the data analysis section missing. It's not ready for prime time. And All those things are detailed quite thoroughly. in the guide for authors. So if You spend the time, and invest the time preparing.
Bill Klaproth (host): It's there to help you with it. Yeah.
Thomas Dodson: It is Absolutely there to help you. Scientific writings, not creative writing. The creative process happens during the research. the presentation of that information can be in a relatively standardized forward.
Bill Klaproth (host): type of format.
Thomas Dodson: Yeah. Exactly right.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well, Dr. Dodson, this has been fascinating. Thank you so much for your time.
Thomas Dodson: Thank you for the invitation Bill to be here and I've enjoyed it very much.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. And I know this is really important because you want people to register as a reviewer for JOMS so they can visit editorial manager.com/yJOMS. Right. And they can also send an email to JOMS@Aamos.Org. So that's a good way to reach you. And I know that you are looking for reviewers. So now kind of a yeah. If you want to do this, this is more of a, we need you let's cause this ultimately helps this specialty.
Thomas Dodson: Yeah.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well again, thank you so much for your time, time. Doctor.
Thomas Dodson: Yeah, pleasure Bill. Thank you for the invitation to be here this morning.
Bill Klaproth (host): You bet Dr. Dodson. And for more information in the full podcast library, please visit AAOMS.org that's AAOMS.org. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please share it on your social media and be sure to subscribe. So you don't miss an episode. Thanks for listening.