Guidelines for Submitting Letters to the Editor

Inscriptions welcomes letters to the editor from AzDA members. The AzDA Council on Communications offers the following guidelines:

  • Views expressed in Letters to the Editor are not to be regarded as the views of Inscriptions or AzDA.
  • Email is the preferred method of delivery. Brevity is strongly suggested.
  • Letters must include daytime phone number and must be signed, or include full name when submitted via email.
  • AzDA/Inscriptions reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
  • The AzDA Council on Communications reviews all letters and makes recommendations on suitability for publication. Letters considered unsuitable for publication will be returned to the author with suggestions for improvement and an invitation to amend and re-submit.
  • When reviewing letters to the editor, among the points the Council takes into consideration are: (1) whether the letter offers constructive criticism and/or suggestions for a positive outcome, (2) the appearance of a personal attack, (3) factual misrepresentations, (4) redundancy, (5) excessive length, and (6) relevancy to AzDA members. Other considerations apply and are reviewed and voted upon on a case-by-case basis.
  • Letters received with “Do not edit” or similar requests will be rejected and not returned for amendment and re-submission. The Editor has final authority to accept or reject a letter.
  • AzDA/Inscriptions reserves the right to publish an “Editor’s Note” alongside letters accepted for publication, at its discretion, that support, clarify, and/or refute comments made.

FOLLOW THIS STEP BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE

Before submitting your article for consideration, run it through an AI (ChatGPT or Claude) to ensure it does not contain promotional language, which may result in rejection by AzDA's Editorial Board.
You don't need to use a paid plan to access this feature in Chat or Claude. Copy and paste the prompt below and then attach or link to your article so the AI can run an objective analysis on it.

Copy and paste the following prompt:
I am attaching an article I wrote for consideration in a monthly dental publication. According to the submission guidelines, articles must avoid both explicit and implicit self-promotion.

Please analyze the attached article for any language, claims, examples, descriptions, or calls to action that could be perceived as promotional, sales-oriented, or overly favorable toward me, my practice, my company, my services, my products, or any affiliated organization.

For each instance you identify, please provide:

1) The original wording.
2) A brief explanation of why it may be perceived as self-promotional.
3) Suggested alternate language that is more neutral, educational, and appropriate for a professional dental publication.