IADR: the premiere research association worldwide

“We plan our meetings six years before the event,” explained Dr Fox at the 87th Session and Exhibition in Miami. “A couple of years ago we decided we wanted to have our annual meeting in Latin America, so in 2013 we will have it in Rio de Janeiro.”

Dr Fox said there’s excellent research being conducted in Brazil, and a lot of joint Brazilian-USA studies. “We want no only to bring international research to South America, but also to expose our international researchers to what’s being done in Brazil,” said the IADR director.

“My understanding is that the Brazilian Society for Dental Research has about 4,000 to 5,000 members, and only about 10 per cent of those are IADR members,” explained Dr Fox. “We want to bring them the value of being part of an international research community — and science is all about international collaborations — and bring our meeting there.”

Fox explained that IADR has 21 divisions, and then smaller sections, but that it was very difficult to manage. “So we divided them into regions much as the World Health Organization does, so we have a North American Region, which is the US, Mexico and Canada; a Latin American Region, and Asia-Pacific Region, an African Region and a European Region, and they are in charge of their divisions, and also have meetings. This year the Latin America Region has their meeting in November in Isla Margarita, Venezuela; one in Mombassa, Kenya for the African Region, and one in China for the Asia-Pacific Region.”

Regarding acceptance in the United States of dental research conducted abroad, Dr Fox said that “the fact that IADR is a real international organization based in Washington, and that due to the number of collaborations done over the years — there are a lot of Brazilians who have come to the U.S. to do their postgraduate studies — the perception has changed, certainly among IADR membership. They value and appreciate” their research.

Journal of Dental Research

The Journal of Dental Research (JDL) is the flagship of IADR. Dr Fox described JDL as the number one journal that publishes original research in the dental field as measured by the Thompson Reuters Impact Factor, a rate that compares and measures citations among journals. All members of IADR have access online to JDL.

“Our commercial publishing partner is SAGE, and they make sure we have the broadest exposure around the world for the publication,” concluded Dr Fox.

Resources

IADR: www.iadr.org
Impact Factor: www.thomsonreuters.com
SAGE: www.sagepub.com/societies