Revista de la Facultad de Medicina

Author Guidelines

The Revista de la Facultad de Medicina (Journal of the Faculty of Medicine) adheres to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals del International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf).

General guidelines

A. Submission of articles to the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina (Journal of the Faculty of Medicine)

Articles shall only be received at our OJS (Open Journal System) website (http://goo.gl/rsVzGU). Submission must include: article, metadata and complementary files (assignment of copyright https://goo.gl/EfWPdX and authorship responsibility https://goo.gl/6zztk4)

B. Languages of submission and language of publication

1. Submission and publication languages

As of January 10, 2018 and in accordance with what is stated in the editorial of V65N2 (https://goo.gl/HaZ37B) , all articles received and approved for publication shall begin a transition process for being published in English only. Thus, articles written in Spanish or English can be submitted to the Journal, as long as  they comply with the following terms:

Submissions in Spanish

Besides the paper written in Spanish, authors shall include in the submission the Publication in English Commitment Letter (https://goo.gl/4rhxxh), signed by all authors, in  which they accept that, as long as the article is approved for publication, its contents will be translated into English by the official translator of the Journal. Authors will not be charged extra costs for this service, and the English version of the paper shall be sent to them, so that they can review it, reply to comments made by the translator, and approve the translation. Taking this into account, submiting papers written in Spanish is recommended, since, as mentioned above, authors will not incur in extra charges associated with the translation process.

Submissions in English

In case a paper written in English is submitted, the submission must include a letter signed by an official translator with a certified English language proficiency (C2) and experienced in the writing/translation of biomedical texts, stating that the article has been translated into English or proofread by the translator and that it meets the highest quality standards of biomedical English (clear and natural writing, and proper use of terminology).

It should be noted that, based on our experience, prior to hiring any translation/proofreading service, authors must verify that the official translator is experienced in writing biomedical articles; also, authors must review the paper before making the submission to our journal, since all papers will be completely reviewed, and those failing to meet the language standards will be either rejected, or authors will be asked to send a Spanish version or to pay for a new translation/proofreading service.

Likewise, based on unfortunate experiences, letters issued by institutions offering editing services, but that are not signed personally by an official translator that meets the abovementioned criteria, shall not be accepted. In case a submission in English is made, but the abovementioned letter is not included, the submission will be rejected. If deemed necessary, authors can send an Email to the journal or the Editorial Coordinator asking for contact information of ideal specialized professionals that have been approved by the journal to offer these services.

Finally, authors shall include  the Publication in English Commitment Letter (https://goo.gl/4rhxxh), signed by all authors, in the submission, regardless of the language in which the paper has been written.

2. Writing style

The writing of scientific and academic articles should be clear and precise. In this sense, writing brief and punctual ideas and avoiding the use of redundant explanatory terms that may confuse potential readers is suggested. Also, standard language should be used, avoiding the use of regionalisms as much as possible; in the case of specialized terminology, the wide use and acceptance in the scientific community of specialized terms must be confirmed beforehand; in addition, terms that are only used by the authors of the article, but are not widely used in the relevant literature, will not be accepted. The writing of the article should be based on the following premise: "the clearer, more precise and concise the idea, the easier its understanding", so consice and clear writing will be favored; however, verifying that all ideas expressed in the article are complete and do not give rise to possible confusion or misinterpretation, and that the structure of the manuscript complies with the requirements for each type of article accepted by the journal is also important. For more information on how to write a scientific article, please go to: https://bit.ly/2PQ1JIJ, https://bit.ly/3h9zTCY and https://go.nature.com/2XZzsnk.

C. Authorship

Those appointed as authors of articles submitted to our Journal must fully comply with the authorship criteria established in the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals del International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME), setction II, subsections A and B (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf)

D. Structure of articles – General sections

In accordance with the ICJME recommendations, before submitting an article, authors must verify it has the following general structure (please, keep in mind that according to the type of article an specific structure will also be required, for further details please see Section E of these guidelines)

i. Title page: 

• Provide a title in the language in which the article is written
• Provide a title in a second language (English or Spanish depending on which language is written the article)
• Provide a short title no longer than 40 characters (including blank spaces)
• All authors’ full names and last names must be stated; their institutional affiliation must be identified with superscript Arabic numerals.
• Institutional affiliation for each author must be presented without specifying positions, only institutions and sections/departments within them shall be included.
• Provide the ORCID number for each author. This information must be provided also while completing your meta data field during the submission process (step 2).
• In the case of Colombian authors, it is necessary to have an updated profile in the CvLAC (Curriculum Vitae of Latin America and the Caribbean) platform and state your progile link to access this information. This information should also be included in the step 2 of the submission (autors' metadata).
• Complete contact details of the main author or the corresponding author must be provided (name, institutional address, telephone, city, country, email).
• Word count: please state the total number of words that make up the article without taking into account words included in titles, abstracts, acknowledgments, tables, figures, and the list of references. The number of words must not exceed the maximum allowed for each the type of article (see Section F)
• Number of figures and tables: please state the total number of tables and figures included in the article. The maximum numbers of tables and figures allowed is 6.

ii. Abstract (in Spanish)

• It must not exceed 250 words.
• References must not be included.
• In case of experimental studies, protocol (clinical trial) registry number must be included in the last line of the abstract, example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29791437
• Original research articles, review articles and short communications must have an abstract made up the following sections: "introduction", "objective", "materials and methods", "results" and "conclusions".
• For case reports, abstracts shall be presented in accordance with the CARE checklist of information to include when writing a case report (http://www.care-statement.org/resources/checklist), item 3, Abstract.
• Keywords (in Spanish): Include 3 to 6 exact descriptors from DeCS Bireme (http://decs.bvs.br/).

iii. Abstract

• It must not exceed 250 words.
• References must not be included.
• In case of experimental studies, protocol (clinical trial) registry number must be included in the last line of the abstract, example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29791437
• Original research articles, review articles and short communications must have an abstract made up the following sections: "introduction", "objective", "materials and methods", "results" and "conclusions".
• For case reports, abstracts shall be presented in accordance with the CARE checklist of information to include when writing a case report (http://www.care-statement.org/resources/checklist), item 3, Abstract.
• Keywords: Include 3 to 6 exact MeSH descriptors (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/).

iv. Introduction

The summarized rationale of the study must be included in this section. Furthermore, at the end of this section, the purpose of the study must be clearly stated. Only the references required to support the ideas depicted here are to be included.

v. Materials and methods

The type of study and the methodology used (sample identification, selection criteria, statistical methods, etc.) shall be described here. If the procedures performed during the study involved humans or animals, authors must explicitly state that they followed the ethical principles for medical research on humans of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) and any other applicable national regulations, said documents must be duly referenced. Additionally, it must be clearly expressed that the study was approved by the ethics committee of the institution or institutions where it was carried out, and the corresponding letter of approval from the ethics committee must be enclosed.

In case of experimental studies, registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication is mandatory. An example of a public trial registry can be found at https://clinicaltrials.gov. The clinical trial registration number must be included in the last line of the abstract.

vi. Results

The results obtained in the study must be presented in a logical and coherent way. Data can be shown in tables or figures, but not simultaneously in both. Avoid repeating the data presented in tables and figures within the body of the article, and do not combine the presentation of results with your discussion, as the latter has its own section.

vii. Discussion

In this section, results obtained in the study must be addressed without making a general review of the subject. Authors must only discuss the new and most relevant aspects presented by the study and the conclusions proposed from them. Limitations of the research and the agreement or disagreement of findings reported in the article with other studies on the subject, duly referenced, must be reported.

viii. Conclusions

Conclusions must be related to the objectives of the study described in the "introduction" section. Do not draw conclusions that are not supported by the findings of your study or that are supported by a work that has not yet been finalized. If appropriate, create new hypotheses but present them as such. Propose your recommendations.

ix. Conflict of interests

Please state, based on the funding sources of the study or any other reason, whether the authors have a conflict of interest or not. Authors must complete and sign the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form of the ICJME (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/conflict-of-interest-disclosure-forms) and attach it to the submission (step 1).

x. Funding

Please state if the study was funded by external sources and if they influenced its completion.

xi. Acknowledgment

Express your gratitude only to people and institutions that have contributed substantially to your work. Authors are responsible for acknowledging the people or institutions that could be recognized as contributors to the results of the work and its conclusions by the readers.

xii. Tables, figures and references

• a. Tables

A maximum of 6 tables and/or figures is allowed. Tables shall be editable, have a title, be listed in order of appearance, be mentioned within the body of the article and be included immediately after the paragraph in which they are first mentioned. If abbreviations are used, they must be clarified in table footers. If a table already published is partially or totally reproduced, the corresponding reference must be added and a letter of permission for its reproduction must be attached. If a table is created by the authors, the legend “Source: own elaboration.” must be included.

• b. Figures

A maximum of 6 tables and/or figures is allowed.  Figures must be editable and have a minimum 30 dpi resolution. Figures include any type of illustration other than tables (graphics, x-rays, photographs, etc.) and must be listed in order of appearance. Every figure shall be mentioned within the body of the article and included immediately after the paragraph in which it is first mentioned. If abbreviations are used, they must be clarified in figure footers. Titles and legends must not be included in the figure but below it. If a figure already published is partially or totally reproduced, the corresponding reference must be added and a letter of permission for its reproduction must be attached. If a table is created by the authors, the legend “Source: own elaboration.” must be included.

Please refrain from including any description in figures footers, such explanations shall only be included in the main text of the article.

xiii. References

Both in-text and end references must conform strictly to the Vancouver style adopted by the ICJME in its recommendations. References must be introduced in order of appearance and identified by Arabic numerals in parentheses, without superscripts, at the end of the sentence or paragraph where they are alluded to. For a complete guide on the Vancouver system, please go to https://goo.gl/XdCdmS or https://goo.gl/8DJ5Er.

E. Type of articles accepted – Specific structure

In addition to the general structure described above, each type of article must meet the following requirements:

i. Editorial

An editorial is a paper written by the editor, by a member of the Editorial Board or by a guest researcher on orientations in the subject domains of the journal.

The maximum number of words allowed for Editorials, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 1000.

ii. Original research

Original research articles are papers that present in detail the original results of both research projects already finished and biomedical researches. It is an unpublished text that provides new information on specific aspects, as well as relevant contributions to scientific knowledge.

Original research articles shall have a structured abstract and must comply with the general structure for writing articles required by the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina (see Section D).

If the procedures performed during the study involved humans or animals, authors must explicitly state that they followed the ethical principles for medical research on humans of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) and any other applicable national regulations, said documents must be duly referenced. Additionally, it must be clearly expressed that the study was approved by the ethics committee of the institution or institutions where it was carried out, and the corresponding letter of approval from the ethics committee must be enclosed.

In case of experimental studies, registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication is mandatory. An example of a public trial registry can be found at https://clinicaltrials.gov. The clinical trial registration number must be included in the last line of the abstract, for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29791437

Articles  reporting results of clinical trials in “Materials and methods” must include a data sharing statement that complies with the provision of the ICMJE recommendations, Section II, Subsection L, paragraph ii (Data Sharing).

The maximum number of words allowed for Original Research articles, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 3500. 

iii. Short communication

It’s a brief article reporting final, partial or preliminary original results of a technologic or scientific research that usually requires a rapid dissemination.

Short communications shall have a structured abstract (in English and Spanish) and must comply with the general structure for writing articles required by the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina (see Section D).

If the procedures performed during the study involved humans or animals, authors must explicitly state that they followed the ethical principles for medical research on humans of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) and any other applicable national regulations, said documents must be duly referenced. Additionally, it must be clearly expressed that the study was approved by the ethics committee of the institution or institutions where it was carried out, and the corresponding letter of approval from the ethics committee must be enclosed.

The maximum number of words allowed for Short communications, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 1500.

iv. Systematic Review

Review articles are the result of a research where the results of published or unpublished researches on a field of science or technology are analyzed, systematized and integrated in order to report development trends and the progresses that have been made in the field the review addresses. This type of paper is characterized by a careful literature systematic review of at least 50 references.

- Only systematic reviews are to be submitted. Narrative or literature reviews will not be accepted anymore, unless the editor asks authors to submit this type of article to start the publication process

- Systematic reviews shall have a structured abstract and must comply with the general structure for writing articles required by the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina (see Section D).

- At least 50 references shall be included.

- Systematic reviews must strictly comply with all the items established in the PRISMA checklist: http://prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/Checklist

- Systematic reviews must comply with the following structure: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results (where the PRISMA based studies selection flowchart (https://goo.gl/hD7PWq) should be included), Discussion and Conclusions, this in line with the structure established in the PRISMA checklist: http://prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/Checklist

The maximum number of words allowed for Systematic reviews, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 4000.

v. Reflection paper

When writing reflection papers authors shall present the results of a research from their analytical, interpretative or critical perspective on a specific topic and using original sources. Essays and reflection papers s on topics related to medicine and health areas are to be included in this section.

Reflection papers must have the following structure: “Introduction”, “other sections of the article”, “conclusions”.

The maximum number of words allowed for Reflection papers, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 3500.

vi. Case report

A case report is an article where the results of a study on a particular situation are presented in order to make known the technical and methodological experiences considered in a specific case. It includes a brief review of the literature related to the condition being reported.

Case reports submitted to the Journal must follow all the items of the CARE checklist for writing case reports (http://www.care-statement.org/resources/checklist).

When submitting a case report, the informed consent signed by the patient(s), or legal representative(s), whose data and/or experience was used for writing the report must be uploaded as a supplementary file in step 1 of the submission process.

The maximum number of words allowed for Case reports, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 2000.

vii. Letter to the editor

A document presenting critical, analytical or interpretative stances on documents published in the Journal that, in the opinion of the Editorial Board, constitute an important contribution to the subject discussion by the scientific community of reference.

The maximum number of words allowed for Letters to the editor, excluding abstracts, tables and figures, and references, is 1000.

F. Assignment of rights, responsibility of authorship and translation commitment letter

All submissions must be accompanied by the assignment of rights, responsibility of authorship and translation commitment letter forms, duly completed and signed by all authors. The forms are available in https://goo.gl/EfWPdX, https://goo.gl/6zztk4 and https://goo.gl/4rhxxh, respectively. These forms can be loaded during step 1 of the submission.

G. Similarity and plagiarism report

Once received, articles will be analyzed, using the TurnItin Software, to generate a similarity and plagiarism report. If the article exceeds 15% of similarity, and if said similarity is not derived from a thesis (be aware this report does not take into account references and less than 7 words matches), it will be sent back to the authors for modification or rejected as appropriate.

H. Ethics and transparency

The Revista de la Facultad de Medicina accepts and adheres to the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (www.icmje.org) and to the guidelines established by the Equator (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network (http://www.equator-network.org/) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/) in order to guarantee the quality of scientific publications, their transparency, integrity and respect for the ethical principles that govern biomedical research. In consequence, the works sent to the Journal must be adjusted to these guidelines.

When procedures have been carried out on humans or animals, the ethical principles for medical research on humans of the Declaration of Helsinki 2013 (https://goo.gl/C5BPi3) and any other applicable national regulations must be explicitly stated and duly referenced. Additionally, the study must be approved by the ethics committee of the institution or institutions where it was carried out, and the respective letter of approval issued by the ethics committee must be enclosed.

If personal images or data are used during the study, the identity and the privacy of the people involved must be protected by editing the images included in the article and using terms and conventions to refer to their data or names.

The articles (or important parts of them) sent to the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina must be unpublished documents that do not correspond to translations or adaptations of other sources already published. It should be noted that  it is possible to send articles published as preprints (e.g. SciELO preprints, www.preprints.org, etc.)

By submitting the article together with the assignment of rights (https://goo.gl/EfWPdX) and authorship responsibility (https://goo.gl/6zztk4) forms duly completed, the authors state that:

1. They grant an exclusive license to publish and reproduce their work to the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina in case the article is accepted.

2. They assume full responsibility for the content of the document, as well as legal and moral responsibility to ensure that matters relating to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are properly investigated and resolved.

3. The document has not been previously published under any modality, has not been submitted to another journal and that it will not be sent to other journals while waiting for acceptance or rejection.

4. They accept that the Journal reserves the right to make modifications to the original text during the proofreading and layout processes and to only accept the changes suggested by the authors that the journal team considers pertinent.