Cytotoxicity of non-vital dental bleaching agents in human gingival fibroblasts

<jats:p>Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare several non-vital dental bleaching agents for their in vitro cytotoxicity to human gingival fibroblasts primary cell line.Methods: The cells were cultivated in DMEM and were seed in plates of 96 wells; then, it was exposed to the conditioned medium according to the experimental groups (n=12): G1- SP (sodium perborate) + distilled water; G2- SP + 20% CP (carbamide peroxide); G3- 20% CP; G4- SP + 35% HP (hydrogen peroxide); G5- 35% HP. In the control group (n=12), corresponded to the curve of cell growth and viability, the cells did not receive any treatment. Cell viability was measured photometrically using a MTT assay after a 24h and 48h of exposure period. Data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey’s tests.Results: All the experimental groups presented high cytotoxicity statically in comparison to the control group. The rank of  the most to the least toxic material after 24 hours was: SP + DW &gt; 35% PH &gt; PS + 20% PC &gt; PS + 35% PH &gt; 20% PC; and after 48 hours was: SP + DW &gt; PS + 20% PC &gt; 35% PH &gt; PS + 35% PH &gt; 20% PC. All the bleaching agents had presented cytotoxicity effects, reducing significantly the cell viability, however, in the conditions that the study was conducted the association of sodium perborate with distilled water was the most toxic bleaching agent.</jats:p>

section_content: The Brazilian Dental Science (2178-6011) is a continuation of the Pos-Graduação em Revista and Ciência Odontológica Brasileira. 

The Pos-Graduação em Revista was published between 1998-2002, continued from 2002 to 2012 as Ciência Odontológica Brasileira, and then, since 2013, as Brazilian Dental Science. 

Its abbreviated title is Braz. Dent. Sci., and it should be used in bibliographies, footnotes, references, and bibliographic strips. 

The Journal BRAZILIAN DENTAL SCIENCE is a trimonthly scientific internationally peerreviewed open access publication of the Sao Paulo State University -UNESP-Institute of Science and Technology of São José dos Campos, with a strong motto to promote advance research applications in Dentistry. 

Brazilian Dental Science (BDS) publishes original scientific articles, invited reviews, reviews in general (systematic, meta-analysis, critical review, state of the art reviews, etc), short communications, editorials, letter to the editor, series of cases and case reports, which provide an international readership with up-to-date results of basic and clinical studies in the field of oral and maxillofacial science and aims to clarify the relevance of these results for a modern practice.
section_name: AUTHORS GUIDELINES 1 -General Information

section_content: There are no fees for submission and evaluation of articles.
section_name: Manuscript submission and evaluation process at BDS are free of charge

section_content: To submit a manuscript for BDS, it is necessary to register in the website, providing a login and password. Important: Before concluding the registration form, please certify that the option author of the "Register as" item is checked. Once registered as author, enter 'User Home' (third link at the top menu), then enter 'author' and 'start a new submission. ' The manuscripts should be written in concise and clear English for a proper comprehension. There is no limit for authors in the paper. However, all activities of the co-authors must be clarified in the title page. 

Research in humans must provide the protocol number of the Institutional Review Board in the "Material and Methods" session of the manuscript. The original document must be attached in a separate file to guarantee a blind revision. 

Editors and reviewers spend many hours reading manuscripts, and therefore they appreciate receiving material that has been carefully prepared in accordance with these Instructions to Authors. 

The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to make minimal literary corrections for the sake of clarity. Authors for whom English is not the first language should have their manuscripts read by colleagues fluent in English. If extensive English corrections are needed, authors may be charged for the cost of editing or an English certificate revision will be request. 

Manuscripts which are not written in fluent English will be rejected automatically without refereeing. 

A plagiarism detection will be performed in the beginning of the process by the assistant editors of BDS team. A match percentage of less than 25% is recommended. 

Authors are required to suggest two potential reviewers for their submitted article (name and email address are required). Reviewers must have no conflict of interest with manuscript. Authors must pay attention in this recommendation. Find potential reviewers from a country different from yours.
section_name: The Publication Fee is R$ 650,00 Reais Brasileiros (for Brazilian authors) or U$ 300.00 American dollars (for foreign authors) and will be charged to the corresponding author.

section_content: Authors are responsible for the content originality of manuscripts;
section_name: Authors' responsibilities:

section_content: Authors are individuals who effectively contributed to the study, being familiar with its contents;

Authors should declare they have read the final version of the manuscript and assume the responsibility for its contents (copyright transfer with original signature).
section_name: Manuscripts should not be submitted to other journals until a final decision is issued;

section_content: For further guidance on electronic submission, please visit the BDS website.
section_name: Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety.

section_content: "This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials. "

Page charges: This journal has no page charges.
section_name: This Journal adopts Creative Commons license CC-BY:

section_content: To facilitate the editing of your manuscript, and lessen the time for publication, please adhere to the following simple general guidelines and advices:

1. Use double spacing throughout, with margins of 2 cm on each side, and Arial justified paragraph (size 12). 2. The article should not contain any author identification. 3. Be especially careful to use full stop as decimal point, not comma. As spell checker, use American English. 4. Number the pages consecutively beginning with the Abstract. Do not number lines. 5. Be consistent: use the same form of units, etc., and key these elements in exactly the same way throughout the manuscript. Put a space between the digits and the unit, e. g. 5. 2 mm. 6. When emphasizing words (seldom necessary), use the italics feature of your text processor software rather than the underline feature 7. Do not use the uppercase l for 1 (one) or the uppercase O for 0 (zero), use the proper numerals instead. 8. Use the space bar only as a word separator, not as a tabulator. 9. Format tables using the table functions of your text processor. 10. Template for original articles.
section_name: -Manuscript preparation

section_content: Provide the context or background for the study (i. e. the nature of the problem and its significance). Only pertinent references should be used. Do NOT include data or conclusions from the work being reported. In the last paragraph of the Introduction section, authors MUST concisely state the aim of the study and, if applicable, present the study hypothesis.
section_name: Introduction

section_content: In this section, describe all methods, materials and sample so that other researchers would be able to reproduce the reported methodology. Use appropriate subheadings for the different segments of the Material and Methods section, when doing so could improve objectiveness. For well-known methods, a brief description and a reference to another paper may be enough. However, if you deviate from the well-knows methods, you MUST provide a more complete description of the methodology. Authors MUST present materials' name, number and batch, and manufacturers' name, city, and country. Both materials and manufacturers information should be in parenthesis. Quantitative estimates of the validity and reliability of the methods are desirable. Report length, height, weight, and volume in metric units (meters, kilograms, or liters), or their decimal multiples. Provide temperatures using Celsius. The use of the International System of Units (SI) is recommended. Correct unit abbreviations should be used (e. g. ''yr'', ''wk'', ''d'', ''h'', ''min'', ''s'' and ''μm''). Scientific names of bacteria, binomials in italics, MUST be given in full when first mentioned. Subsequent mention may abbreviate genus, taking care that this abbreviation is unambiguous (Staph. or Strep. instead of S. ). 

Authors MUST provide information regarding to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for studies involving humans or animals, including IRB approval number. The submission of the IRB approval memorandum as supplementary material is mandatory.
section_name: Material and Methods

section_content: Present your results in a logical sequence giving the main or most important findings first, usually in past tense, WITHOUT subjective comments and comparison with other studies. For clarity, the Results section might have subheadings. 

Data that can be easily found in the tables or illustrations MUST NOT be repeated in the text. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries. Do NOT duplicate data in graphs and tables.
section_name: Results

section_content: The Discussion section should present the interpretation of the findings. This section is the appropriate section for subjective comments and comparison with other studies. Authors MUST NOT repeat what has already been reported in the Results section.
section_name: Discussion

section_content: The conclusion MUST be restricted to the main outcomes of the manuscript (results) and whether these data confirm or reject the study hypothesis. It MUST NOT contain overgeneralizations or recommendations.
section_name: Conclusion

section_content: Short communication is a section dedicated to short papers addressing new ideas, controversial opinions, "Negative" results for example. As short Communications are short papers, they will receive priority and rapid publication, and each paper will begin with "Short Communication" followed by the title. 

Short Communications are limited to 3000 words. The structure of the main file must follow the same guide for original manuscripts above, however with minimal quantity of figures and tables. Please, go to Figures and Legends topic to observe the requirements for the files.
section_name: B. Short Communications

section_content: C. 1 Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: gather as much evidence as possible on a specific question and present the pooled findings together C. 2 Narrative Literature Review: succinct summary of some literature. This type of manuscript needs invitation or approval by the editor-in-chief before submission. Authors interested in submitting to this section must contact the Editor-in-chief of Brazilian Dental Science, Dr. Sergio Gonçalves, at sergio. e. goncalves@unesp. br for submission approval and instructions.
section_name: C. Review articles

section_content: These manuscripts should summarize information that is well known and emphasize recent developments over the last five years with a prominent focus on critical issues and concepts that add a sense of excitement to the topic being discussed.
section_name: C.3 Critical Review:

section_name: C.4 State of the

section_content: The figures, tables and illustrations are embedded in the text, and also provided in separate files with the requested resolution. 

Upload the figures as Supplemental Material (step 4 of the submission process). The tables must be in word format (including titles, description, footnotes). The figures must be in electronic file format JPG or TIFF. The size of the file must be over 300 DPI, with minimum of 1200 pixels. 

The dimension of the figures should be close to the desired dimensions of the published version. The dimensions must be 17 X 11 cm or 8 X 5 cm.
section_name: For all kind of manuscript (A to D) A. Figures and Legends

section_content: Articles published in peer-reviewed journals are preferably accepted as references. Manuscripts being in the writing process, master dissertations or doctorate thesis, and abstracts presented at conferences are not acceptable as references. Book references should be kept at the indispensable minimum as they show the opinions of the respective authors and/or editors. References to the most recent books with international access will only be accepted. 

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.
section_name: B. References

section_content: As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.
section_name: Submission Preparation Checklist

section_content: One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details: -E-mail address -Full postal address All necessary files have been uploaded:
section_name: Ensure that the following items are present:

section_content: Include 5 keywords in alphabetical order. The manuscript is original and has not been published previously, nor is under consideration elsewhere. The submission file is in Microsoft Word (. doc or. docx) format. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Submission Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed. Ensuring a Blind Review: Research in humans must provide the protocol number of the Institutional Review Board in the "Material and Methods" session of the manuscript. The original document must be attached in a separate file to guarantee a blind revision. The main file of the manuscript should not contain any author identification to ensure a blind revision. Funding, conflict of interest, regulatory statement and acknowledgment must be descripted in the end of the main text, before references.
section_name: Manuscript:

section_content: A separate title page was provided including description of the contribution of each author and the indication of potential reviewers for your manuscript was performed. Authors have read and agreed with the publication ethics and malpractices of the journal. The figures and illustrations (JPG or TIFF format), and tables (word format) are embedded in the text, and also provided in separate files with the requested resolution. All tables (including titles, description, footnotes). The manuscript text is double-spaced with 12-point Arial font; it employs italics, rather than underlining; tables are placed in the text body at appropriate points, rather than at the end. Authors have signed and uploaded the Copyright notice. Native Portuguese speakers must provide an abstract written in Portuguese Title Page Template: Click here to download the TITLE PAGE TEMPLATE. 

For further information, visit our BDS website.
section_name: Supplemental files (where applicable)

section_content: Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their work and ideas. 

All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet standards of academic excellence. If approved by the editor, submissions will be considered by peer reviewers, whose identities will remain anonymous to the authors. 

Our Research Integrity team will occasionally seek advice outside standard peer review, for example, on submissions with serious ethical, security, biosecurity, or societal implications. We may consult experts and the academic editor before deciding on appropriate actions, including but not limited to recruiting reviewers with specific expertise, assessment by additional editors, and declining to further consider a submission.
section_name: PUBLICATIONS ETHICS AND MALPRACTICES -BDS

section_content: The editor-in-chief will work with a team of section editors. They will confirm the roles and responsibilities of all editors and editorial staff (assistant editors), so that everybody is clear about who does what. 

The editorial board will be invited by the editors according with their expertise and levels of activity and involvement. BDS journal has a policy of appointing editors for a fixed time period, and the editorial committee will discuss possible changes if necessary. 

Changes in the direction of the journal to redefine its scope must be undertaken in agreement with the other editors and the publisher; otherwise editorial decisions may be inconsistent. New aims and scope need to be agreed on and clearly published in whatever medium the journal uses to communicate with authors, reviewers, and editors.
section_name: A. Relations with the other editors/editorial board

section_content: Authors must not use the words, figures, or ideas of others without attribution. All sources must be cited at the point they are used, and reuse of wording must be limited and be attributed or quoted in the text. 

Brazilian Dental Science uses Turnitin to detect submissions that overlap with published and submitted manuscripts. 

Manuscripts that are found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other authors, whether published or unpublished, will be rejected. all possible conflicts -whether they actually had an influence or not -allows others to make informed decisions about the work and its review process. 

If conflicts of interest are found after publication, this may be embarrassing for the authors, the Editor and the journal. It may be necessary to publish a corrigendum or reassess the review process.
section_name: Plagiarism

section_content: Financial -funding and other payments, goods and services received or expected by the authors relating to the subject of the work or from an organization with an interest in the outcome of the work Affiliations -being employed by, on the advisory board for, or a member of an organization with an interest in the outcome of the work Intellectual property -patents or trademarks owned by someone or their organization Personal -friends, family, relationships, and other close personal connections Ideology -beliefs or activism, for example, political or religious, relevant to the work Academic -competitors or someone whose work is critiqued
section_name: Conflicts include the following:

section_content: Authors must declare all potential interests in a 'Conflicts of interest' section, which should explain why the interest may be a conflict. If there are none, the authors should state "The author(s) declare(s) that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper. " Submitting authors are responsible for coauthors declaring their interests. 

Authors must declare current or recent funding (including article processing charges) and other payments, goods or services that might influence the work. All funding, whether a conflict or not, must be declared in the 'Funding Statement'. 

The involvement of anyone other than the authors who 1) has an interest in the outcome of the work; 2) is affiliated to an organization with such an interest; or 3) was employed or paid by a funder, in the commissioning, conception, planning, design, conduct, or analysis of the work, the preparation or editing of the manuscript, or the decision to publish must be declared. 

Declared conflicts of interest will be considered by the editor and reviewers and included in the published article. 

The editors recommend that the authors pay attention to the current guidelines. These instructions should clearly state what is expected of authors and what the journal will do in cases of suspected misconduct such as plagiarism or data fabrication. The authors should consult the link to the COPE flowcharts (http://publicationethics. org/resources/flowcharts) and Retraction Guidelines (http://publicationethics. org/resources/guidelines). BDS provides in its website a "check list" of what is expected from authors to maintain standards of manuscripts. 

Decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication will be based only on the paper's importance, originality, and clarity, and the study's relevance to the remit of the journal.
section_name: B. Relation with authors

section_content: Work with the journal publisher/editorial office to determine processes for handling submissions that are the most efficient and appropriate for the journal. The electronic submission system aids authors in providing all required information (e. g., authorship declarations, funding information). All elements must be completed before a manuscript is sent for peer review (chasing details at a later stage can delay publication and upset schedules). BDS will consider checking for the following elements (as appropriate):

Confirmation that the authors have read and understood the Instructions to Authors Authorship statement explaining what each author contributed to the paper Funding information Competing interests declaration Permission obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web) Documentation for any citations to unpublished work (e. g., articles in press/personal communications) Confirmation that the manuscript is under evaluation solely to BDS and it is not published, in press, or submitted elsewhere. 

BDS adopts and promotes an authorship policy that is appropriate to the field of research. This will include: BDS provides guidance to reviewers on everything that is expected of them. Guidelines are available in our website and from COPE (COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. http://publicationethics. org/resources/guidelines). This guidance is regularly updated and is referred to the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines (http://publicationethics. org/resources/code-conduct). BDS will consider the following points:

Reviews should be conducted objectively Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments and references as necessary and not be defamatory or libelous Reviewers should declare any competing interests Reviewers should decline to review manuscripts in which they have a competing interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers Reviewers should respect the confidentiality of material supplied to them and may not discuss unpublished manuscripts with colleagues or use the information in their own work Any reviewer that wants to pass a review request onto a colleague must get the editor's permission beforehand. 

BDS has systems for assessing the performance of reviewers and removing from the database those whose performance is not acceptable. 

BDS also has systems in place to ensure that peer reviewers' identities are protected. 

Reviewers will be asked to address ethical aspects of the submission such as:

Has the author published this research before? Has the author plagiarized another publication? Is the research ethical and have the appropriate approvals/consent been obtained? Is there any indication that the data have been fabricated or inappropriately manipulated? Have the authors declared all relevant competing interests?

Reviewers must declare any remaining interests in the 'Confidential' section of the review form, which will be considered by the editor.
section_name: Transparency (a checklist to authors)

section_content: If the 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. 

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.
section_name: Studies involving humans or animals

section_content: For protocols involving the use of human subjects, authors should indicate in their Methods section that subjects' rights have been protected by an appropriate Institutional Review Board and written informed consent was granted from all subjects. When laboratory animals are used, indicate the level of institutional review and assurance that the protocol ensured humane practices.
section_name: Institutional review board and written informed consent

section_name: Acknowledgments

section_content: Collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e. g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc. ). 

Example: The authors are grateful to XXXXXXXXXXXXXX for content contributions, XXXXXXXXXXXXXX for their critical review of the manuscript and the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX for support during the development and writing of these manuscript.
section_name: Acknowledgments

section_content: These formatting instructions are valid for both clinical-and laboratory-based research, as well as for manuscripts "in full" and for "short communications")

section_name: Funding

section_content: This study was partially or totally supported by XXXXXXXXXXXXX [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]. 

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. "
section_name: Funding

section_name: Literature Review Manuscripts must include:

section_content: Title (English) and (Portuguese -only for Brazilian native speakers authors) Abstract (English) and (Portuguese -only for Brazilian native speakers authors) Critical Review Discussion, final analysis or considerations References
section_name: Literature Review Manuscripts must include:

section_content: A title page should be submitted as supplemental material containing the article's title, name of authors and affiliations (degree, department, university, city, and country), and the corresponding author's address. 

The ORCID and contribution of each author must be included in the title page. 

Authors are required to suggest two potential reviewers for their submitted article. Reviewers' information (name, telephone, email address and affiliation) should be provided. Reviewers should declare any conflict of interest with the manuscript. 

The role and contribution of each author should be stated in the title page.
section_name: Title Page

section_name: Click here to download the TITLE PAGE TEMPLATE

section_content: All manuscripts should be accompanied by a letter of transmittal, signed by each author, and stating that the manuscript is not concurrently under consideration for publication in another journal, that all of the named authors were involved in the work leading to the publication of the paper, and that all the named authors have read the paper before it is submitted for publication.
section_name: Copyright Notice

section_content: All manuscript's copyright ownership of the article "________________________________" is transferred from the author(s) to the BRAZILIAN DENTAL SCIENCE, in the event the work is published. The manuscript has not been published elsewhere and that it has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. 

We hereby attest the study is original and does not present manipulated data, fraud or plagiarism. We made significant scientific contribution to the study and we are aware of the
section_name: COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AND RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT (PDF)

section_content: The authors have no proprietary, financial, or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service, and/or company that is presented in this article.
section_name: Conflict of Interest

section_content: All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript, approved its claims, and agreed to be an author. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution. Author contributions must be described on the Title Page, using roles defined by CRediT. Changes in authorship must be declared to the journal and agreed to by all authors. 

Anyone who contributed to the research or manuscript preparation, but is not an author, should be acknowledged with their permission. 

Submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be considered.
section_name: Authorship and acknowledgments

section_content: Conflicts of interest (COIs, also known as 'competing interests') occur when issues outside research could be reasonably perceived to affect the neutrality or objectivity of the work or its assessment. This can happen at any stage in the research cycle, including during the experimentation phase, while a manuscript is being written, or during the process of turning a manuscript into a published article. 

If unsure, declare a potential interest or discuss with the editorial office. Submissions with undeclared conflicts that are later revealed may be rejected. 

Conflicts of interest do not always stop work from being published or prevent someone from being involved in the review process. However, they must be declared. A clear declaration of
section_name: Conflicts of interest

section_content: Brazilian Dental Science asks that authors submitting manuscripts reporting from a clinical trial to register the trial a priori in any clinical trials registries that takes part of WHO network (International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)). The clinical trial registration number and name of the trial register should be included in the Acknowledgments at the submission stage.
section_name: Clinical trials

section_content: Randomized clinical trials should be reported using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT). A CONSORT checklist and flowchart (as a Figure ) should also be completed and included in the submission material.
section_name: Randomized control clinical trials

section_content: Submitting authors of epidemiological human observations studies are required to review and submit a 'strengthening the reporting of observational studies in Epidemiology' (STROBE) checklist and statement. Compliance with this should be detailed in the materials and methods section.
section_name: Epidemiological observational trials

section_content: The abstract and main body of the systematic review should be reported using the PRISMA for Abstract and PRISMA guidelines respectively. Authors submitting a systematic review should register the protocol in a readily-accessible source at the time of project inception (e. g. PROSPERO database, previously published review protocol in journal, OSF). The protocol registration number, name of the database or journal reference should be provided at the submission stage in the "Registration" section in the abstract and 'Methods' section in the main body of the text. A PRISMA checklist and flow diagram (as a Figure ) should also be included in the submission material. Source of funding (grant number, if available) should be added in 'Acknowledgments' section.
section_name: Systematic Reviews

section_content: The number of reviewers will be defined by the editors according to the complexity of the manuscript, with a minimum of two reviewers. The affiliations are masked, and the reviewers must complete a checklist/form within 21 days after review acceptance. Reviewers can also attach files with their comments to the authors and to the editors. BDS has systems to ensure that material submitted to the journal remains confidential while under review. 

Additionally, BDS ensures that peer review is undertaken in a timely fashion so that authors do not experience undue delays. The process is monitored regularly to increase efficiency. 

If the comments are considered inappropriate or insufficient by the editors, another reviewer must be assigned. 

If there is a conflict (doubt) between the opinions of the reviewers, a person from the editorial assistant consultant board will be assigned for the third opinion. The final decision will rest with the editor. 

The website allows us to choose different rounds among questions by reviewers and answers by the authors. The acceptance or rejection of the manuscript must be made by the section editors and or the journal editor after a deep analysis of these rounds. 

The possible results after the discussion of any controversial cases may be: the rejection of the manuscript; a new round of required revisions (minor or major requirements); professional proofreading of the English by a native speaker with a proofreading certificate; acceptance of the manuscript.
section_name: D. The peer-review process

section_content: The COPE Code of Conduct will guide the editors in cases of suspected misconduct, even for submissions they do not intend to publish. COPE's flowcharts (http://publicationethics. org/resources/flowcharts)

In cases of plagiarism, data fabrication, or an authorship dispute, BDS will notify other editors directly involved in dealing with the manuscript and inform the publisher. Editors may consult the COPE and other guidance: http://publicationethics. org/cases http://publicationethics. org/resources/flowcharts http://publicationethics. org/resources/guidelines BDS will also deal with publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed. 

Retractions will follow the COPE's guidance on retractions (http://publicationethics. org/resources/guidelines).
section_name: Responding to possible misconduct/inappropriate behavior and dealing with complaints

section_name: Sources of Support

section_name: Institute of Science and Technology of São José dos Campos

section_content: Visit the BDS website to find the answers you need or contact us. You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.
section_name: Author inquiries

section_content: When required, the authors must contact one of these English Reviewers below for professional proofreading of the final text, before publication. 

Enid Rosenstiel enidrosenstiel@gmail. com Louis Vega louisfranciscovega@gmail. com
section_name: Proofreading Certificate