EDITORIAL STANDARDS

BIOSALUD Journal is a biannual publication of Universidad de Caldas, whose objective is the publication of original, revision, and reflection articles, as well as case reports associated with different subjects related to human health. This publication is aimed at professionals and researchers in the area of health and it has been conceived as a tribune of opinion on different subjects related to the policies and the health problems, as well as a letter of introduction for the different results obtained from research related to human health in Colombia.

The journal has been catalogued in the A category by the National System of Indexing and homologation of specialized journals of CT+I (Publindex), since 2008, for a two-year period.

For the publication of the different issues, the Journal has a budget assigned by the Research and Graduate Studies Vice-Rector’s Office and the Faculty of Health Sciences at Universidad de Caldas. This budget covers the printed publication and maintenance of the Journal website in which the different issues are published in electronic format.

DEFINITION OF EACH TYPE OF ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL

1. Scientific and technological research article: it is a document that presents in detail the results obtained from a research project. This article must contain: title, summary in English and Spanish, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion.

2. Reflection article: it is a document that presents a personal and critical analysis of the research results, based on original sources.

3. Revision article: a document in which the state of the art of a specific research topic is analyzed and presented. This document must highlight the contributions of the authors in the extension of the knowledge on the specific topic. It must contain at least 50 references from original articles.

4. Short article: it is a document in which an advance of the results obtained in the development of a research project are presented, must be to their impacts, making their publication essential before the investigative process is finalized.

5. Case report: it is a writing in which the results of a particular situation appear, since they are considered to be new findings, methodologies, or therapies, associated with a short and critical revision of the state of the art at a worldwide level of similar cases that have been presented.

6. Subject revision: it is the document in which a specific subject is updated, accompanied by an analysis of the data collected for said revision.

7. Editorial: a document written by the editor or any member of the Editorial Committee or by guest invited by the publisher. The editorial can be related to present problems in the health field, health education, as well as an analysis of new findings in the biomedical research.

8. Letter to the editor: it is a document sent to the editor by the readers of the journal in which critics are made, results are refuted or reviews related to articles published in previous numbers of the journal, that according to the Editorial Committee, their knowledge by the scientific community is considered important.

9. Bibliographical reviews: a section of the journal in which commentaries on recent publications are made by the scientific community of the Faculty of Health Sciences in particular, and by publications made at national or worldwide level. For the submission of different articles, the following requirements for the uniformity of the manuscripts presented to biomedical journals (Vancouver norms) should be followed. These have been extracted from: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirement for Manuscript Submitted to Biomedical Journal: Writing and editing for Biomedical Publications, updated February, 2006, IN: http://www. icmje.org/

ASPECTS TO CONSIDER BEFORE THE SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS:

Originality

Any article sent to the journal for its publication must be unpublished and the authors must send to the director of the journal a written document in which they give their consent for its publication, in case that it was satisfactorily evaluated; in this consent the authors will also give faith that said article has not been published totally or partially in another written or electronic publication, in order to avoid infringing copyright laws.

Nevertheless, it is possible to make a second publication in the same language of the first publication or in a second language when: there is consent on part of the directors of both journals; the priority of the first publication is respected by a week; the group of readers is different; the second publication faithfully reflects the information and interpretations of the first.

In the second version, as a footnote, the readers will be informed that this article has already been published partially or totally in another journal, mentioning said journal; the permission for the second publication must be gratuitous.

Protection of the identity of the subjects of study

When a research study involves humans, the description of details should be avoided as much as possible, that might lead to the identification of a person or persons subjects of study. The use of patients’ names, initials, clinical history numbers, photographs, genealogies or personal data that might injure their right to privacy are prohibited; if it is necessary to publish said data, the written consent of these people is required. Said consent must guarantee that the manuscript is known and understood, and that they agree with the publications of the descriptions or images made with the related people, even if the material subject to possible identification is going to be available on the Internet after its publication. This informed consent must be sent along with the manuscript for its revision.

In addition, when the experiments require the use of animals and humans, it should be indicated if the procedures are in agreement with the norms of the medical ethics and animal committees of the sponsoring institution and with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, updated in 2000. For the specific case of animal experimentation, it should be indicated if the norms related to the use and care of the laboratory animals were followed.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

General principles

The text of articles product of the observation and experimentation are usually divided in sections such as: introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion. The extensive articles specially need to be divided in subsections in the results and the discussion with the purpose of being more comprehensible. Other articles such as: case reports, revisions, reflection articles and editorials, probably require other formats.

The use of double space throughout the manuscript, as well as suitable margins, allow the editor and reviewers to edit the text directly line by line, adding commentaries or doubts in the manuscript. If the manuscripts are sent via e-mail, this article also must be doubled space, since it must also be printed for its revision and edition.

The languages accepted for an article to be published in the journal are Spanish and English. In the case of publications in English, a translator certification stating the proper grammatical use of such language is required.

The page numbers is another important aspect, so that the reviewers and the editor can reference specific portions of the manuscripts. Each section of the manuscript must be separated in the following way:

Title page

It must include the following information:

- Title of the article: it must be concise and easy to understand.

- Names of the authors and institutional affiliation.

- Name of the section of the institution to which the authors are enrolled, with the corresponding institutional name.

- Correspondence for authors: it must contain: address, telephone number, fax and electronic mail address of the author responsible for the manuscript. In addition, the author must state if he/she wishes their electronic address to be published.

- Name and address of the authors to whom re-impressions can be solicited.

- Source or sources of the resources that served to finance the investigation.

The journal welcomes the guidelines described by ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) related to the conditions that a person must meet to be considered as the author of an article, among which are the following parameters:

- Participation in the design of the investigation that led to the manuscript.

- Obtaining of the results of the research project.

- Participation in the analysis of the results obtained.

- Participation in writing the manuscript.

- Have approved the final manuscript.

- Consent for publication in the Journal.

Authors

Surnames (separated by a dash) and the names of all the authors must appear. The maximum academic degree attained by each of them, the institutional affiliation, the city (state or department), the country, the institutional email address, the ORCID code and the profile link from Google Scholar must be placed on a footnote. Keep in mind that the first author will be the one who will be registered in the databases of the different indexing and summary services. It is essential to indicate which author will be in charge of receiving and sending the correspondence, or else it will be assumed that the first author will take charge of such a function.

Abstract and Key Words

The abstract must be on the page following the title page. The abstract must be in English and in Spanish. It must contain a short summary of the introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, enunciating each of these sections before their contents. New and important aspects of the study or observations must be emphasized, as well as the basic procedures, main findings, wherever possible with their statistical significances and the main conclusions. The extension should not exceed 300 words. The abstract should not include information or aspects that are not covered in the text, abbreviations, references to the text or references. It should be written in third person.

Since the abstracts are the parts mentioned in many databases, special care is required in their writing, so that it faithfully reflects the content of the articles. 3 to 10 key words in English and Spanish should be included. They can also be short phrases that capture the main topics of the article. Key words are important for the indexation of the article in databases. The key words used should be listed in the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the Medicus Index: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ mesh/MBrowser.html, for the key words in English. For the key words in Spanish, use the electronic page of the virtual health library; descriptores en ciencias de la salud:

http://decs.bvs.br/cgi-bin/wxis1660.exe/decsserver/?IsisScript=../cgi-bin/decsserver/decsserver.xis&interface_language=e&previous_page=homepage&previous_task=NULL&task=start

If there are no words available for recently introduced terms, they can be used.

Introduction

The introduction contains a context of the study in which the problem is justified, what is the intention or objectives of the research; the state of the art on the subject being studied should be appropriately referenced, but data or conclusions of the research being published should not must be be included.

Materials and methods

The methodological alternatives used are should be described here to reach the obtained results. Data product of the application of these methods should not be included. The mechanisms of selection of the subjects of study observed or of the animals experimented on should be clearly described, including the inclusion criteria. Some of the variables used must be explained, for example, the reason why individuals of certain ages or sex were preferred; in case variables such as ethnicity or race are used, their classification criteria must be enumerated, and their relevance should be justified.

The measurement methods, the equipment implemented should be identified, including the name of the manufacturer and its address in parentheses. The procedures must be enunciated so that they can be reproduced by other researchers. These methods must be adequately referenced, and in case they have undergone modifications, the reason why these modifications were made must be explained, in addition to evaluating their limitations. The drugs or chemical substances should be identified; in the case of drugs, their generic name, dosage and administration route must be included.

The authors who submit their manuscripts must include a section describing the methods implemented to locate, select, extract and synthesize data. These methods must also be presented in a concise way in the abstract. The statistical methods used in the analysis of the information must be described with sufficient detail, whenever possible the findings must be quantified and presented with the appropriate indicators of measurements of error or uncertainty (confidence intervals); the statistical terms, abbreviations and many of the symbols used should be defined. The statistical computerized program implemented should be specified.

Results

They must be presented in a logical sequence, enunciating the main and most important findings first. All the data in the charts or illustrations should not be repeated in the text. Additional material and the technical details must be placed in an appendix that does not interrupt the flow of the text; these appendices will only be published in the electronic version of the journal.

The numerical results not only are must be to express in percentage but also in absolute numbers and the statistical methods used are must be to explain to analyze such. The charts and figures to those necessary for the argumentation and valuation of the discussion are must be to restrict. To charts data in and graph are not must be to duplicate.

Discussion

Emphasizing the new and important aspects of the study, as well as the conclusions derived from them. Information should not be repeated in the introduction or the results. In the experimental studies, it is useful to begin the discussion briefly summarizing the main findings, and later explaining the reason for these results. A comparison and contrast of the results with those of other relevant researches must be carried out. The limitation of the research must be enumerated, as well as exploring the implications of the findings for future researches, and for the clinical practice whenever possible.

It is important to relate the conclusions with the findings of the study, but avoiding affirmations and conclusions that cannot be confirmed with the enclosed data; particularly, affirmations regarding economical benefits should not be expressed, unless the manuscript includes appropriate economical information and analysis. New hypotheses should be enunciated if they are adequately backed up, but it is necessary to clearly indicate that they constitute hypotheses.

Bibliography

Revision articles must implement original articles as references, avoiding the use of abstracts as references. In case that a reference hasn´t been published yet, it must be indicated that it is “in process”; the authors must obtain a written permit to reference such articles, as well as verifying that the articles have been accepted for its publication. And in case a reference has not been published, it should be identified as “unpublished observations” with the written consent of the source.

Avoid the references of “personal communication”, unless they are a source of essential information unavailable from a publication, in this case, the name of the person and the date of the mail should be referenced in parentheses in the text. For a scientific article, the authors must obtain written permission and confirmation of the source of said communication.

The references must be consecutively numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. The references, charts and legends in the text must be identified with Arabic numbers in parentheses. The legends mentioned in charts or figures must be numbered according to the sequence established in the text. The titles of journals must be abbreviated according to the style used in the Medicus Index, consulting the list of the journals indexed by MEDLINE or SCIELO: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals

The citation of the authors of a referenced publication must be done in the following manner: last names in lower case letters, initials of the first names. Each name must be separated by a comma; all the authors of said reference must be mentioned. With the purpose of having a uniform presentation of the references, the norms of the international committee of medical periodic publication publishers will be followed, which can be consulted in: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Journal Articles:

Provide last name and initials of the first names of each of the authors, title, journal, year of publication, volume, number in parentheses (if necessary) and pages. Include only six authors and if there are more than six, after the last one place the abbreviation “et al.”.

Soberón GA, Naro J. Fairness and health attention in Latin America. Principles and dilemmas. Bol of Sanit Panam 1985; 99 (1): 1-9.

March F, Coll P, Guerrero RA, Busquets and, Cayla JA, Prats G, et al. Predictors of tuberculosis transmission in prisons: an analysis using conventional and molecular methods. AIDS 2000; 14:525 - 535.

If the author is an institution, place its name instead of the individual names.

When there is no author: Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994; 84:15.

Books:

Provide last name and initials of the names of each of the authors or publishers, book title, edition number, place, editorial, date and, if necessary, the pages after the abbreviation p.

Monson RR. Occupational epidemiology. 2nd Edition. Boca Ratón, Fl: CRC Press; 1990. White Kl., Henderson MH, eds. Epidemiology as a fundamental science. New York: Oxford University Press; 1976. p. 35-37.

Book chapter:

Allison RF, Dowling Wl, Munson FC. The role of the health services administrator and implications for education. In: Commission on Education for Health Administration, eds. Education for health administration. Vol. 2. Ann Arbor, MI: Health Administration Press; 1975.

Antó JM. The quantitative and qualitative methods in public health. In: Martinez FN, Antó JM, Castellanos PL, Gili M, Marset P, Navarrese V. Public health. Madrid: McGrawHill, Inter-American; 1998.

Internet Sites:

American Center Society [Internet]. Available at: http://www.cancernet.nci. nih.gov/ dictionary.html. Consulted February 2000.

Personal communications must be indicated in the body of the text, in parentheses, not as footnotes, indicating date and institution of whom communicates. The following do not have to be included as references: unpublished documents, even if they have been presented in conferences or congresses; articles sent for publication that have not yet been accepted and abstracts. If it is absolutely necessary to mention unpublished sources, these must be mentioned in the text in parentheses or in a footnote. The appropriate way to mention other types of material not considered above, must be consulted on the internet sites already indicated.

Charts

The charts must be concise with the suitable level of detail and precision, for said purpose, it is desirable to include data instead of text. Each table must go on a separated page, adequately identified and in the order of its first reference in the text. Each table must have a short title; horizontal nor vertical lines should be used; each column must have a short heading or an abbreviation. When necessary, explanatory notes must be placed at the end of the table; all the uncommon abbreviations must be explained; sequentially use the following symbols for these explanations: *, †, ‡, §,||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡. Identify statistical measures of variation as standard deviation and the mean standard error. Make sure that all the charts have been mentioned in the text.

Illustrations or figures

All the figures must be of an excellent quality, and they must be photographed and scanned or sent as digital photographs, it is also necessary to send them in JPEG or GIF format, so that they can be published in the electronic version of the journal. The x-rays plates, the scanographs, ultra sounds, or other diagnostic images, as well as microphotographs must be sent in black and white, and in digital format.

Each figure must be placed on a separate page and must have a title with a consecutive numeration in agreement with the order in which it was mentioned in the text; they must also have a legend that emphasizes what they are showing. If in the figures or photographs there are symbols, arrows, numbers or letters to identify their parts, these symbols must be referenced and explained clearly in the legend of the figure. If photographs of people are included, these cannot allow the identification of the people, or in the other case, they must be accompanied by the written consent of the person who appears in said document.

Units of measurement

Metric units are preferred (meters, kilograms or liters) or their multiple decimals; the temperature must be in degrees Celsius, the blood pressure in millimeters of mercury; in the results of sanguineous parameters SI units should not be used exclusively, but instead, the alternative units of measurement (example: mg/dl., mm/h. mm³, etc).

Symbols and abbreviations

The most common abbreviations should only be use. Avoid abbreviations in the title; the complete term of an abbreviation must precede it the first time that it is used in the text with the abbreviation in parentheses.

Shipment of the manuscript

The manuscript can be sent in physical and electronic format to the director of the journal, at Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias para la Salud, Universidad de Caldas A.A. 275, Manizales-Caldas-Colombia. The name of the person responsible for the content of the article must be included, with the address for the reception of correspondence and the shipment of manuscripts that require corrections. The manuscript can also be sent to the following e-mails: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peer review process

Each of the received articles is submitted to a review and selection process. The study and the initial selection of the writings are in charge of the Editorial Committee, which accepts or rejects the originals according to the scientific quality, the concordance with the themes of the journal and the temporary validity of the results. In addition, the Editorial Committee may request modifications and make the recommendations deemed necessary to adjust the document to the indications of the journal.

After this revision, the document will be subjected to double blind type evaluation by two external academic pairs (national or international) who, using the evaluation format established by the Journal (see article evaluation format), will issue a concept that can be: it is approved without changes; it is approved subject to minor changes and does not require a new evaluation; it is approved subject to major changes and requires new evaluation; and, it is rejected, it is not publishable in the Journal. In the event that the concept of the evaluators derives controversies, these will be resolved initially by the Editor or, if necessary, a second or third evaluation by academic peers will be requested.

Anonymity of both, the authors and the evaluators, will be kept during the evaluation process. In the same way, this evaluation will be informed to the author of the article via email with the purpose of making the necessary adjustments that the evaluators have requested. Upon receipt of the article with the corrections made, compliance with the suggestions of the evaluators will be verified and the justifications of those that have not been taken into account will be analyzed. Once this phase has been approved, the article will be sent to the author again, if necessary, to make the necessary adjustments. The process of reviewing and evaluating the material delivered may take an average of four months, and its receipt does not imply approval and immediate publication; the average time for the publication of an article is twelve months. 

Reserved rights

If the manuscript is accepted for publication the reproduction rights will belong to Universidad de Caldas. The manuscript must be accompanied of the cession of rights form and the CV resume (see format in the Web page), the letter or original communication in which permission is granted to reproduce text, figures or any other material that has reserved rights. The authors are responsible for the contents, judgments and opinions of their articles.

Conflict of Interest and Financing

Authors must declare any conflict of interest associated with the publication. This conflict of interests may be economic, professional or ethical. The statement must appear after the discussion and conclusions of the article. Likewise possible sources of funding for research that led to the manuscript also should appear.