Our statutes

These statutes were approved at the Annual General Assembly June 12th, 2023. The assembly was held as a digital meeting.


§ 1 - The name
The Name of the society is Acta Odontologica Scandinavica Society.  The Society is registered in Sweden.


§ 2 – The purpose
The Society’s purposes are  

• To publish international English language scientific journals in dental research including Acta Odontologica Scandinavica (AOS) and Biomaterial Investigations in Dentistry (BIiD) ( hereinafter the Journals). The Society owns the Journals.

• To promote dental research in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) including awarding prizes and scholarships to outstanding researchers in odontology or to authors in the Society’s journals, and to support activities to stimulate Nordic collaboration in odontology involving more than three Nordic countries.

The society shall keep Nordic students, researchers and practitioners in the dental area aware about the Society and its purposes continuously. Such information can be arranged by each member and/or by dedicated working groups in the Society. The Society may support such activities financially.     


§ 3 – The membership
The Nordic dental associations/societies and the Nordic dental faculties/institutions are members of the Society.

Other Nordic dental institutions can become members following a decision by the Society’s annual general assembly.

Each member of the Society appoints one regular individual representative. The individual representative will represent the member at the General Assembly.  

Each member shall at least annually, but no later than ten working days after the member received the invitation to the Annual General Assembly, by e-mail inform the Chairperson, or a person appointed by the Chairperson, on who the individual representative is, including position, postal and e-mail addresses and the elected term for the individual representative.  

Withdrawal from the Society should be with six-month notice submitted to the Society’s Chairperson and withdrawal will be valid at the end of the calendar year when the notice was submitted.
  
§ 4 – Language
The language of the Society is English.    


§ 5 – The Society’s administrative location
The location of the Society is Sweden.    


§ 6 – The Society’s decision making and executive bodies
The General Assembly is the Society’s supreme decision-making body.     

The Board is responsible for the daily activities of the Society. The Board appoints the Editor(s)-in-Chief for the Journals.

§ 7 – General Assembly
The General Assembly is the Society’s supreme decision-making body, and a general assembly is to be held annually before end of June each year.
      The following items should be included in the agenda

• Opening of the meeting and registration of members/voters  
• Election of a Chairperson for the general assembly
• Election of two members to approve minutes and to be tellers
• Election of one member to be responsible for the minutes    
• Approval that the General Assembly has been dutifully notified
• Approval of the agenda
• Membership list
• Annual report from the Board presented by the Chairperson (documents to be included with invitation)
• Annual financial report from the Board (documents to be included with invitation)
• Auditor’s report (documents to be included with invitation)
• Grant the Board’s free of responsibility/discharge
• Reports from the Editor(s)-in-Chief (documents to be presented at the meeting)  
• Report from the publisher (documents to be presented at the meeting)
• Budget for next year including approval of annual fees for Board, Editor(s)-in-Chief and other editorial members, if any (suggestions to be included with invitation)
• Election of Board  
• Any other business
• Next year’s meeting      
• Closure of the meeting

A written invitation, including the agenda and all other documents for the meeting and the General Assembly’s starting time and location shall be sent to all the members no later than one month before the meeting in an electronic format. The invitation should be sent to the individual representatives elected by each of the Society’s members.  Each member pays for its own travelling costs, if any, to the General Assembly.

At the general assembly each member has one vote. In case of a vote simple majority is decisive. If the votes on a particular motion divide equally, the Chairperson of the Board has the casting vote.  

Decisions are taken with a simple ordinary majority excluding changes of statutes and dissolution of the Society. For changes or dissolution at least ¾ of all members needs to be represented and cast votes.

Any member can make suggestions to the agenda. Such suggestions can either be introduced during the general assembly or sent to the Chairperson prior to the general assembly.

An extra annual general assembly will take place if the Board, the auditor(s) and/or one third of the members so request. At the extra annual assembly only the issue that led to the extra annual meeting will be dealt with. An extra annual assembly shall be held no later than six weeks from the request was submitted to the Board or raised by the Board. Invitations including agenda shall be submitted to the members no later than two weeks before the meeting. Agenda shall include starting time and location.     


§ 8 – The Board
The Board is responsible for the Society’s daily activities, implementing decisions from the General Assembly and appointing the Journals’ Editor(s)-in-Chief as well as agree on terms and conditions, exclusive of the annual fees, for the editors including associate editors, if any.
  
Each Nordic country is entitled to suggest a board member. The Board consists of up to five members representing at least three of the Nordic countries and is elected by the General Assembly. Each member is elected for a four year term with the option to be reelected twice (total twelve years). Each of the Board members is appointed as from the annual General Assembly’s meeting and for four years.

The Board elects among themselves a Chairperson and a Treasurer. The Chairperson presides over the Board’s meetings. The Chairperson and the Treasurer have the authority to sign for the firm (rätt att teckna firman), signed either jointly be the two or one each (tillsammans två i förening eller var och en för sig).
  
The Board shall meet at least once a year to discuss and decide on the Society’s activities.   The Board may include the Editors-in-Chief in the Board meetings but without any voting rights.

Meetings are held after notice from the Chairperson or when at least two other Board members so request. The Board can only make decisions when at least three Board members are represented. In a case of a vote a simple majority is decisive.  

There shall be minutes from the Board’s meetings and the minutes from each Board meeting shall be adjusted by two members of the Board.

The Board may establish working parties for special projects including awards, educational meetings etc.

The Board may make external appointments and purchase services for administration and accounting from external sources.

§9 – Finances and administration
The Society’s fiscal year is the calendar year.  

The Chairperson is responsible for submitting the financial report to the General Assembly and an external auditor, appointed by the General Assembly, shall examine, and approve the accounts.  

The financial reports shall be in SEK (Swedish kronor).


§ 10 – The Editor(s)-in-Chief
The Editors-in-Chief, who are appointed by the Board, are responsible for each of the Journal(s) including the Journal’s scientific standard.  

The Board and the Editor(s)-in-Chief agree in a written, and by both parties, signed agreement, on tasks, expiry date, pre cancellation options, work responsibilities, and payments and other misc. issues.   
  
The Editor-in-Chief, for each of the Journals, makes all final decisions on content selection, and The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for all daily activities including contacts with authors, reviewers and publisher.

The Editor-in-Chief appoints each of the Journal’s editorial board including associate editors, co- editors or similar functions and The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the job descriptions and responsibilities.

The General Assembly sets the annual fee for the Editor(s)-in-Chief and the General Assembly may also allocate funds for the other editorial board members and/or other editorial tasks as thematic issues, supplements, dedicated edition in certain subject areas, etc.

Each of the Journal’s  Editor-in-Chief is appointed for a four calender year term and she/he may be reelected twice  (total twelve years) but any Editor(s)-in-Chief must resign no later than the year The Editor-in-Chief become 75 years of age.

Each of the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief shall make an annual report to the Board and to the General Assembly including information on

• number of article submissions and geographical breakdown
• rejection rate
• types of articles submitted and accepted
• lead times from submission to acceptance
• number of reviewers invited and used  
• workload and responsibilities for editorial board
• any other business that may be seen as vital for each of the Journal’s development and improvement


§ 11 – Awards
The Society may award annual prizes, for excellent contribution to dental research and/or for research contributions published in any of the Society’s Journals.

The prizes are awarded provided funds are available and the annual amounts per prize are decided by the Board.

The election for  prizes is made by committees comprising the Chairperson of the Board, each of the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, and three members appointed by the Board.  

The Board decides on when and where the prizes shall be awarded. All costs, if any, for the prize winner(s) for travel and accommodation to award ceremony is to be covered by the Society.

§ 12 – Amendments of statutes
All changes and amendments to these statutes are decided at the General Assembly. Decisions are made when 2/3 of all votes cast are and individual representatives for at least three Nordic countries are in favor for a change or amendment.  
  
§ 13 – Dissolution of the Society
Decision about the dissolution of the Society is made by the General Assembly. Such decision needs a ¾ majority of the votes casted and votes come from individual representatives from at least three Nordic countries.

If a decision on dissolution is made The Board is responsible for the administrative and financial arrangements, if any, with Editor-in-Chief and editorial board, prize winners, Journal’s publisher and authors, accounting agencies and auditors.  

If the Society’s dissolution is decided any remaining funds in the Society shall be used for promotion of Nordic dental research as decided by the General Assembly.



These statutes have been approved by the Society’s Annual General Assembly 12.6. 2023 and replace the statutes from 20.12.22 (change is the clarification in p. 8, 3rd section)

   
Chairperson of the Board
June 13th, 2023