Submissions

Author Guidelines

General Aspects

The Cuban Journal of Health and Work, hereinafter referred to as the journal, is a scientific publication, certified by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma, in Spanish), with a four-monthly periodicity, which is managed under the responsibility of the National Institute of Workers' Health (Insat, in Spanish) and receives contributions related to Occupational Health thematics.

The works proposed for publication in the journal will be original and unpublished, a condition guaranteed by the authors who will retain their authorship rights, which will be simultaneously protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

This license allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and initial publication in this journal (BY component or attribution). Coinciding with the Open Access policy, no commercial use may be made of the contents published by this journal (NC component). Derivative works (remix, transformation, or creation from the original work) are allowed, as long as they are distributed under the same license as the original work (SA component).

Authors may adopt other non-exclusive license agreements for distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., deposit it in an institutional repository or publish it in a monographic volume or other journal) as long as the initial publication in this journal is respected and indicated.

Authors are allowed and encouraged to disseminate their work through the Internet, in institutional repositories, preprint servers, Web pages, etc., which can produce interesting exchanges and increase citations of the published work (see The effect of open access).

The Editorial Board of the journal reserves the option to reproduce articles or other documents that have previously appeared in other publications.

The selection of material for publication is based on the criteria of correspondence with the journal's profile; timeliness; scientific quality; clarity of writing; originality; timeliness; applicability beyond the place of origin; consistency in structure; and adherence to ethical standards (especially regarding human and animal experimentation, consistent application of informed consent and confidentiality with respect to personal information).

The opinions of the authors are their sole responsibility and do not necessarily coincide with those of the journal. 

The mention of commercial names, manufacturers, or distributors of equipment or supplies does not imply that the journal approves, recommends, or uses them.

Research papers should follow the IMRYD format (introduction, methods, results, and discussion). Approval or rejection for publication will depend on the selection process.

It is the journal's disposition to open data, and in case the referees or the Editorial Committee consider it, authors will be asked to submit primary documentation (databases and other procedures), in harmony with the Open Science policy and through the sites Zenodo, DataCite, SciELO Data, etc. 

Registration in the Journal

The journal uses the Open Journal System (OJS) to guarantee the online editorial process.

The submission of papers is the first step in the process and is preferably done by the main author, who must first access the journal's website:

http://www.revsaludtrabajo.sld.cu/index.php/revsyt/

In order to facilitate access to the site and avoid unnecessary loss of time when visiting it, it is recommended that you add the complete URL in the Favorites option or in another place where it is easy to locate and the procedure is expedited.

As a prerequisite for the submission, you must use the Register option at the top right of the platform form and then follow the procedure, which is very simple and explained in detail; in case you make a mistake, you will receive the corresponding clarification; two very important aspects that you must take into account in the process are: select that you want to play the roles of Reader and Author and, almost at the end, you must apply the option to receive a confirmation of registration via e-mail with your user name and password. 

Submission of works

Once the profile has been created and each time you log in, you will see the option Send article at the top right-hand side, through which you will have to complete a 5-step procedure, also very simple and explained in detail, which begins with the obligatory completion of a checklist and which will culminate with the success of your objective, receiving a confirmation of receipt of the manuscript by e-mail.

The proposed papers will be introduced with the complete text in Word format, including tables, figures, boxes, and bibliography, according to the instructions under the heading Presentation of the paper.

Nevertheless and preliminarily, we outline some aspects that should be taken into account at the time of submission, some of which are part of a previous and highly advisable "table work":

a) Have located in an easily accessible place the Word version of the work to be proposed, since in the second step the system asks you for its location Browse, and once located in the tab, it guides you to Load to subsequently Save and continue.

b) In the third step, Enter metadata, you will notice that the person who appears first is the one who is entering the work, so that, if he/she is not the main author, there is a possibility of ordering the group correctly, once everyone's data has been entered.

c) In the same aspect, the author will observe that his data appear implicitly, since the system places them automatically, correctly, completely, and detailed, in accordance with the care, patience, and thoroughness with which they have been reflected at the time of creating the user profile.

d) It is essential to take into account, at the end of the metadata of the main author and before reflecting the title and abstract, an option to Add author(s), which must be done as many times as members of the collective, as a requirement for them to appear in the table of contents and be credited with authorship in the correct order; In these cases, ideally, all the requested data should still be completed, although only the first and last names and e-mail address appear as mandatory fields; if the e-mail address of a member of the collective isn´t available, the e-mail address of any of the other authors, including the main author, may, exceptionally, be repeated.

e) Although it does not appear in the platform as an obligatory field, the authors previously enabled a profile in ORCID (https://orcid.org), in order to obtain an indicative code of 16 digits, our publication, complying with guidelines of the higher instances and obeying good practices in the edition of scientific publications, has determined it as an indispensable requirement and as such is explicit in the present norms, this code will constitute a unique identifier to avoid losses and dispersion of the individual scientific production due to the use, involuntary or not, of different names of the same person.

f) With respect to the title, abstract, keywords (in singular and all beginning with lower case) and separated by semicolon and without period at the end, as well as bibliographic references, they must be carefully reflected. In the case of references, regardless of the fact that they should be numbered in the original article, when entering them in the metadata, the numbering should be removed and a space should be inserted between each one of them, to avoid distortions in the HTML format version.

g) Click on Save and continue.

h) After saving the Spanish version of the metadata in the previous step, you must return to this third step, and at the top of the page select English in the Language tab of the form and then click on Submit, here you only have to fill in the aspects of the title, abstract and keywords, which as a mandatory aspect integrate the proposed manuscript, remember again to Save and continue.

i) In the fourth step you almost never have to do anything, just Save and continue.

j) In the fifth step, just check that the file that appears is the one you want to include in the platform and click on Finish sending.

Once inserted in the platform, the article begins, also online, the established editorial process, which includes peer review and double blind, and in which, as you go along, you will have communication with the editor assigned to attend to the process, you will receive, if applicable, observations and comments to be reviewed or corrected, until the final moment in which you should receive confirmation of acceptance of the article, and then, after the editing process is completed, a notification to users with the data of the issue in which it will be published and visible from that moment on the home page of the journal.

With our online journal management system, you can log in to the journal's website and track the progress of your submission through the editorial process.

The journal uses a double-blind peer review system, where neither authors nor reviewers are identified with each other.

However, the open peer review modality is accepted, in accordance with the new Open Science precepts, with the prior authorization of the authors and the referees.

This process of external evaluation of scientific articles, also known as refereeing, is carried out by experts who assess the merits and deficiencies of the manuscript. Their criticisms are forwarded to the editor in charge, who will make a decision as to whether or not to publish the manuscript; if deemed appropriate, their suggestions are forwarded to the author to improve the quality of the work. This process is repeated as many times as necessary.

The referees have a period of 2 weeks to send to the editor in charge of the article their observations (through the completion of a mandatory online form) and their recommendation (accept submission, publishable with modifications, re-evaluable and not publishable); additionally, they have the option to upload a Word file with other considerations and comments on the revised article.

It should be emphasized that the documents sent by the authors are considered confidential during the entire evaluation process. Only if it is decided to publish it, its content will be communicated to third parties. Consequently, referees and editors must refrain from communicating to anyone outside the Editorial Board any aspect of the work under their consideration.

To upload an article, the author must explicitly declare his conflicts of interest, if any, or otherwise state that he or she does not have any. In this regard, the Editorial (Declaration of conflicts of interest of authors in scientific journals) can be consulted. 

Sections of the journal

The sections foreseen for the journal are the following (see a description of each of them in the Section Policies):

- EDITORIALS

- ORIGINAL ARTICLES

- PRESENTATION OF CASES

- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

- COMMENTS AND REFLECTIONS

- SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

- BIBLIOMETRIC AND SCIENTOMETRIC STUDIES

- LETTERS TO THE DIRECTOR/EDITOR

- SEMBLANCES

- OBITUARIES

- CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL REVIEWS

- CREDITS PAGES 

Submission of papers

These instructions are based, in general, on the recommendations contained in "Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)."Uniform Requirements for Preparing Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals," by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (Last revised December 2016). These guidelines are commonly referred to as Vancouver-style standards. 

Language

The journal is published in Spanish, with title, abstract, and keywords also in English. It may also receive submissions in English, French, and Portuguese, from authors of those native languages, immediately warning the sender that it will be translated and submitted to arbitration and at the end, a Spanish language version will also be published. Titles of references and names of institutions shouldn´t be translated unless an official translation exists. The use of terms from another language in the submitted text should be avoided. 

Format for the presentation of the text

The first page or title page should contain: a) classification of the article; b) title of the article or document in Spanish and English, b) name(s) and surnames, institutional affiliation, e-mail, and ORCID of each author, d) name(s) and surnames, postal and e-mail addresses of the author responsible for correspondence with the journal, e) name and address of the author from whom reprints of the article or document should be requested, or a statement warning that he/she does not accept to provide reprints, and f) financial or other support that sustains the proposed work.

Next, the text of the article should be written until it is complete, beginning with the abstract and keywords in Spanish and English, and including tables, figures, boxes, and references, written in single spacing. The text should be written in Microsoft Word, Arial font, and size 12. Pages shouldn´t be numbered. 

Specifications for each part of the article

Title: The title shouldn´t exceed 15 words. It should describe the content in a concise, clear, and specific way. Acronyms and abbreviations shouldn´t be used. Punctuation that interrupts the sentence (period, colon, and parenthesis) should be avoided, except when required.

Authors: The names and surnames of the author(s) should appear only on the title page or first page, not at the beginning of the text of the article. This page should include the name of the institution where they work and the ORCID code in the format: https://orcid.org/0000-000X-XXXX-XXXX  

The author in charge of sending the article and of maintaining correspondence with the Journal and its readers should include the postal address, e-mail, and telephone number. In a separate communication, the Journal will be informed which of these data can´t be disclosed to readers.

Only those who have participated directly in the execution of the research or in the elaboration of the work presented and who can be publicly responsible for its defense should appear as authors. Mentioning other people as authors, due to friendship, recognition, help given or hierarchy in the organization isn´t acceptable and constitutes a lack of ethics.

The contribution of each author to the paper is a good practice that, from this moment, on we establish as an indispensable requirement for the submission of the paper, and in order to facilitate compliance with this requirement, we list the examples of contributions that can be used and a brief description of each one of them.

- Conceptualization - Ideas; formulation or evolution of overall research goals and objectives.

- Data curation - Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), delete data, and maintain research data (including soft-ware code, where necessary to interpret the data itself) for initial use and subsequent reuse.

- Formal analysis - Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.

- Acquisition of funds - Acquisition of financial support for the project that led to this publication.

- Research - Conducting or leading a research process, specifically conducting experiments or data collection/testing.

- Methodology - Development or design of methodology; creation of models.

- Project administration - Management responsibility and coordination of the planning and execution of the research activity.

- Resources - Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory specimens, animals, instrumentation, computer resources or other analytical tools.

- Software - Programming, software development; design of computer programs; implementation of computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.

- Supervision - Supervisory and leadership responsibility for planning and execution of research activity, including mentoring external to the core team.

- Validation - Verification, either as part of the activity or separately, of overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research results.

- Visualization - Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of published work, specifically data visualization/presentation.

- Original draft writing - Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of published work, specifically initial draft writing (including substantive translation).

- Writing, reviewing, and editing - Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of the published work by those in the original research group, specifically critical review, co-mentoring, or revision, including pre- or post-publication stages. 

The number of authors is limited to a maximum of six. A larger number should be duly argued, parallel to the submission of the article and addressed to the editors through the e-mail address: insatinv@infomed.sld.cu, explaining the specific contribution of each one to the article, according to the above methodology; the totality of the proposed authors should be inserted in the metadata at the time of online submission, and the editorial decision will be communicated in due time to the person in charge of correspondence.

The order of appearance of the authors is their joint decision, as is the responsibility for the correct inclusion of all coauthors in the metadata of the platform, in the order agreed upon by them. This should be done during the submission stage of the original article, taking into account that the order of authors appearing in the submitted document doesn´t materialize if it´s not respected when entering the metadata. 

The quality, completeness, and accuracy in the order and data of the authors of the article at the time of submission will ensure the officialization of their contribution and visibility in the table of contents of the issue in which it is published, regardless of whether they are reflected in the full-text versions that are published through the platform.

Regarding these aspects of authorship, it´s suggested to consult the "Uniform requirements for preparing manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals" (Vancouver style guidelines).

Any addition, rearrangement, or deletion in the list of authors must be made before acceptance of the article and always with prior authorization from the Editor.

To request such a change, authors must send the Editor a signed letter confirming that all authors agree with the addition, deletion, or reordering. In case of addition or deletion, the added or deleted author must also confirm this action. Persons who have contributed to the paper and are not authors are appropriate to be mentioned in the Acknowledgements. Papers may be published with corporate or institutional authorship identification.

Authors are responsible for acknowledging and disclosing any financial or other conflicts of interest related to the work, which should be reflected in the corresponding heading in the introduction of each author's metadata.

On the other hand, the journal adheres to modern demands to avoid as much as possible the so-called "endogamy", both editorial, a negative phenomenon in which publications incur when a quarter or more of the contributions have among their co-authors a member of the Editorial Board, nor the "institutional", consisting of having half or more of the coauthors of the contributions belonging to the institution sponsoring the publication. 

Abstract

The article should be accompanied by an abstract, written in paragraphs and structured, containing an introduction, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions; no longer than 250 words. The abstract should not include any information or conclusions that do not appear in the text. It is written in an impersonal way, without abbreviations, acronyms, references to the text, footnotes or bibliographical references. 

Keywords

The abstract should be followed by 3 to 10 keywords or short phrases that will help the referees in the cross-indexing of the article and that will be published with the abstract. Terms from the list of the Descriptors in the Health Sciences (DECS) and Medical Subject Headings (MESH) of the Index Medicus should be used. If there are no terms that can be used here, the most common ones with respect to the subject of the article will be used. The terms used should be written in lowercase and should be separated from each other using semicolons, without reflecting a period at the end. Necessary and pertinent corrections may be made during the editorial process.

Authors should send the title, abstract, and keywords also in English. 

Body of the article

Research papers are usually accepted and, therefore, should conform to the IMRYD format (introduction, methods, results, and discussion, the last two aspects should be separated from each other).

Revision or update papers and debate, papers or essays, usually require a different form, seeking flexibility in the arrangement of the text. In these cases, titles and subtitles of the parts to be written should be used. In comments and/or reflections and brief communications, the IMRYD format can be dispensed with, but the sequence in the text will be maintained, which can be organized in Introduction, Development, and Conclusions. 

Introduction

The background and basis of the research, the purpose -and objectives- of the work, and observations should be expressed. Use only the essential references and do not include data or conclusions of the work reported. 

Methods

This section may adopt a flexible structure depending on the type of communication in question, as long as elementary coherence guidelines are respected, and may consist of sub-headings if the author so wishes, but this structure isn´t required because many theoretical, conceptual, reflective, review or didactic papers don´t conform to the classic demand of research articles based on empirical data obtained by the researcher.

It must obey a basic principle, which should be clarity about the objective of the work and the way in which it was carried out. For example, it should be explained why only subjects of a certain age were included or why women were excluded. Authors should avoid terms such as race because it lack precise biological meaning, and instead use alternative descriptors such as ethnic group or skin color. What the descriptors or variables mean should be specified in detail and how the data were collected should be carefully described (what terms were used in the survey questionnaires, whether the data were obtained by the authors themselves, or whether they received them from other sources).

The methods, study subjects, equipment and supplies, procedures, and schedule should be described with sufficient detail and clarity so that other investigators can reproduce the research.

When experiments with human subjects are presented, it will be indicated whether the methods and procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the corresponding committee at the institutional or country level, and with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, revised in 1983.

Results

They should be presented in logical sequence in the body of the text, indicating the places for tables, figures, and boxes. Data shouldn´t be repeated, what is relevant should be highlighted and redundancies between the text and the data appearing in tables and figures should be avoided. 

Discussion

New and important aspects of the study should be highlighted. Data from previous parts shouldn´t be repeated. The limitations of the data and of the study should be presented and its observations should be related to other relevant studies. The conclusions should be linked to the objectives. Conclusions should be based on the results without repeating them. Economic formulations (low cost, savings) shouldn´t be made if economic data and their analysis haven´t been presented. Recommendations may be included. 

Footnotes

Footnotes in smaller type that are numbered consecutively at the bottom of the page. They are used to complement the text and identify unpublished sources. They should be kept to a minimum and shouldn´t include sources that may be classified as references. 

Bibliographic references

It´s the resource to identify original sources of the concepts, methods, and techniques mentioned (cited) in the text.

The journal uses as a reference system the one indicated in the "Uniform requirements for the preparation of manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals", of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. 

Citation

References are indicated with a number, in consecutive order of appearance in the text, between parentheses, in superscript, preferably at the end of the paragraph, and without leaving space after the text or the punctuation mark that precedes it. For example: Instead of: Zorrilla⁵ has found..., it should be reflected: Zorrilla has found a higher frequency of bleeding due to the use of this drug.⁽⁵⁾

When several citations are made regarding a specific subject, consecutive numbers are separated by commas. For example: ....(3,4,5,6,7)

In textual quotations, in quotation marks, or in a segregated paragraph, the corresponding number is placed at the end.

The list of references is added at the end of the paper, and the citations should conform to the following rules: 

Journal articles: For each article: authorship; the title of the article; the abbreviated title of the journal (as it appears in Index Medicus) in which it is published; year; volume (in Arabic numerals); number, same numbering; initial and final page number of the article. All this information is in the language of the cited work. Differences are established in the cases in which the references have DOI or not.

Of individual authors: The surnames and initials of the authors will be given, all, up to six; if there are more, the expression et al. will be added.

With DOI:

Vega V, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatic-biliary disease. AA Intern Med. 1996;124(11):980-3. DOI: http://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-124-11-199606010-00005  

No DOI:

Fabregat M, Cifre E. Telework and health: a new challenge for Psychology. Papeles del psicólogo. 2002 [accessed 22/02/22];(83):55-61. Available at: https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/778/77808308.pdf  

Organization as author:

The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust. 1996;164:282-4.

Anonymous:

Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J. 1994;84:15.

Article in a language other than English or Spanish:

Ryder TE, Haukeland EA, Solhaug JH. Bilateral infrapatellar seneruptur hos tidligere frisk kvinne. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 1996;116:41-2.

Volume with supplement:

Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102 Suppl 1:275-82.

An issue with supplement:

Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol .1996;23(1 Suppl 2):89-97.

Volume with one part:

Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem. 1995;32(Pt 3):303-6.

An issue with one part:

Poole GH, Mills SM. One hundred consecutive cases of flap lacerations on the leg in aging patients. N Z Med J. 1994;107( 986 Pt 1):377-8.

Non-volume issue:

Turan I, Wredmark T, Fellander-Tsai L. Arthroscopic ankle arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Orthop. 1995;(320):110-4.

No issue or volume:

Browell DA, Lennard TW. Immunology status of the cancer patient and the effects of blood transfusion on antitumor responses. Curr Opin Gen Surg. 1993:325-33.

With pagination in Roman numerals:

Fisher GA, Sikic BI. Drug resistance in clinical oncology and hematology. Introduction. Hematol Oncol Clinn North Am. 1995 Apr;9(2):xi-xii.

Type of article indicated as appropriate:

Enzensberger W, Fischer PA. Metronome in Parkinson's disease [letter]. Lancet. 1996;347:1337.

Clement J, De Bock R. Hematological complications of Hantavirus nephropathy (HVN) [abstract]. Kidney Int. 1992;42:1285.

Article with a retraction:

Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. Ceruloplasmin gene defect associated with epilepsy in EL mice [retraction of Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. In: Nat Genet 1994;6:426-31]. Nat Genet. 1995;11:104.

Article retracted:

Liou GI, Wang M, Matragoon S. Precocious IRBP gene expression-sion during mouse development [retracted in Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1994;35:3127]. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci.1994;35:1083-8.

Article with erratum:

Hamlin JA, Kahn AM. Herniographyin symptomatic patients following inguinal hernia repair [published erratum appears in West J Med. 1995;162:278]. West J Med. 1995;162:38-41.

Books and monographs:

Individual author(s):

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

Editor(s) or compiler(s) as author(s):

Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.

One organization as author and as publisher:

Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington: The Institute; 1992.

Book chapter:

Phillips SJ, Whisnan JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.

Event proceedings:

Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan, Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996.

Papers presented at events:

Bengtsson S, Solgeim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy, and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland, Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.

Scientific or technical report:

Published by funding or sponsoring agency:

Smith P, Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment billed during skilled nursing facility stays. Final report. Dallas (TX): Dept. of Health and Human Services (US), Office of Evaluation and Inspections: 1994 Oct. Report No. HHSIGOEI69200860.

Published by an implementing agency:

Field MJ, Tranquada RE, Feasley JC, editors. Health services research: workforce and educational issues. Washington: National Academy Press: 1995. Contract No.: AHCPR282942008. Sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.

Dissertation:

Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly's access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ.; 1995.

Patent:

Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR, inventors; Novoste Corporation, assignee. Methods for procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart. US patent 5,559,076. 1995 Jun 25.

Other published works:

Newspaper article:

Lee G. Hospitalizations tied to ozone pollution: study estimates 50,000 admissions annually. The Washington Post. 1996 Jun 21;Sec.A:3(col. 5).

Audiovisual material:

HIV+AIDS: the facts and the future [videocassette]. St. Louis (MO): Mosby-Year Book; 1995.

Legal documents:

Cuba. Law 677 of December 23, 1959. Ordinary Official Gazette of December 24, 1959:2-3.

Maps:

North Carolina. Tuberculosis rates per 100,000 populations, 1990 [demographic]. Raleigh: North Carolina Dept. of Environment, Health, and Nature Resources, Div. Of Epidemiology; 1991.

Books of the Bible:

The Holy Bible. King James Version. Grand Rapids (MI): Zondervan Publishing House; 1995. Ruth 3:1-18.

Dictionaries and similar reference works:

Stedman's medical dictionary. 26th ed. Baltimore: Williams &Wilkins; 1995. Apraxia; p. 119-20.

Classical materials:

The Winter's Tale: act 5, scene1, lines 13-16. The complete works of William Shakespeare. London: Rex; 1973.

Unpublished materials:

In press:

Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med. In press 1996.

Electronic materials:

Journal article in electronic format:

More SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Ma [access 06/05/1996];1(1):[24 screens]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm

Monograph in electronic format:

CDI, clinical dermatology illustrated [monograph on CD-ROM]. Reeves JRT, Maibach H. CMEA Multimedia Group, producers. 2nd ed. Version 2.0. San Diego: CMEA; 1995.

Computer file:

Hemodynamics III: the ups and downs of hemodynamics [computer program]. Orlando (FL): Computerized Educational Systems; 1993. 

Tables

Tables in the article should be single-spaced (in the appropriate place in the body of the text), numbered consecutively according to the order of appearance, and mentioned in the text that precedes them.

Each table should have a brief but explanatory title, in round letters and without a period at the end. Each column or row should be headed with a brief or abbreviated text. All explanatory notes should be placed at the foot of the page, including explanations of non-standard abbreviations. Symbols to identify footnotes may be lowercase letters or symbols (*,+,≠...). Horizontal or vertical lines shall not be used within tables. The number of tables shall not be abused. The font should be at the bottom in italics including a colon (Font:) with the text following it in round and dotted at the end.

The following symbology should be used in the tables: ...; ignored; 0.0; less than 0.05; operation not possible; -; zero quantity. Decimal figures must be shown with commas and separated from symbols and signs. In the case of appearing in the English version of the abstract, decimal places are reflected with a period and aren´t separated from symbols and signs. 

Figures

Include statistical graphs, drawings, diagrams, maps and photos. They should be numbered, without distinction of type and consecutively, according to the order of appearance and should be mentioned in the preceding text. The titles and detailed explanations in the illustrations are part of the legends and not part of the figures. The position below the figure is as follows: caption, source (with the same requirements as in tables), and figure caption. 

Boxes

Its content is a summary text separated from the body of the article, generally enclosed in a single-line box. It is formed with a title, the text and the source (all with the same indications as for tables). They are placed in close proximity to the related content of the article text and are numbered consecutively as they appear. 

Abbreviations:

Only standard abbreviations should be used. They shouldn´t appear in the title or abstract. The full term represented by the abbreviation should precede the abbreviation the first time it appears in the body of the text, followed by the abbreviation between parentheses. A form of abbreviation is an acronym. 

Units of measurement

The measurements of the International System (SI), which is based on the Decimal Metric System, should be used. According to this system, the symbols of the units do not take the plural ending (5 km and not 5 kms), nor are they followed by a period (10 mL and not mL.). In Spanish texts, used in the Journal, decimal numbers should be expressed using the decimal point instead of a period. Figures should be grouped in trios, arranged to the right and left of the decimal point, and separated from each other by a single space. Examples:

Correct forms:

12 500 350 (twelve million five hundred thousand three hundred and fifty).

1 900.05 (one thousand nine hundred and five hundredths).

Incorrect forms:

12, 500, 350 / 12500350

1900, 05 / 1. 900. 05 / 1900.05 

Acknowledgments

Include persons or institutions that contributed in some way, but do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as those who have provided technical help, editorial assistance, financial or material support. 

Privacy

Individuals have a right to privacy that shouldn´t be violated. If it´s deemed necessary to do so (a photo, for example), their (informed) consent will be obtained. Information that identifies individuals shouldn´t be published by means of written descriptions, photographs and genealogy. If such information is deemed essential, permission should be sought. The patient's informed consent for these purposes requires that the item to be published be shown to the patient. 

Conflicts of Interest

The absence of conflicts of interest on the part of all members of the authors' collective will be explained. 

Authors' contribution

The contribution of each of the authors to the article should be reflected, according to the instructions established above. The details of the contributions will be the responsibility of the authors' collective. The format of the contribution statement should be reflected as follows.

Conceptualization: Authors included in the aspect and ordered (in round letters and with a period at the end).

Curation of data: (Idem to the previous one, repeating the names of the authors...)

And so on, until all the appropriate taxonomies are completed.

Receipt, selection, and refereeing

A refereed journal is one whose articles are submitted for review by experts (referees), who may or may not work in the sponsoring institution. The journal carries out a double-blind peer review of its articles, i.e., the referee doesn´t know the authors and the authors don´t know their referees. However, the option of open peer review is accepted, subject to the consent of all parties.

The process in OJS takes the form of a strictly organized and scheduled workflow that begins with the submission of the article, which, when successfully submitted, is marked as Unassigned and Active in the author's profile.

Next, an editor is appointed to take care of its follow-up, who, preliminarily, performs a formal review, consisting of an observation of the manuscript, some general aspects contained in these instructions, and the quality and completeness of the metadata entry.

Next, it selects the referees related to the subject matter, at least two, but preferably three, who receive a version of the article, called Corrected for Reviewers, in which all the data included on the first page of the original document containing personal information of the authors' group is deleted.

The review form is anonymous and the considerations, observations and remarks to be reviewed and corrected by the author, or the negative response in case of rejection, are sent by the editor in charge; this procedure is followed in the same way if another member of the collective and not the main author is the person responsible for the correspondence and is repeated as many times as necessary.

Once the acceptance of the article has been proposed by the referees and ratified by the editor in charge, it is submitted to the consideration of the Director of the Journal, who may make observations on the text and decide whether or not to approve its publication.

In approved cases, the Editor's decision is issued and the editing process follows, the first part of which is in charge of Medical Sciences Editorial, where, in addition to the correction of originals, the translation of the title, abstract, and keywords in English and the design of the figures are reviewed and approved; it´s then sent back to the Journal's editorial team to conform the versions in PDF-XML and PDF-PRINT formats, the number and volume in which it will appear is assigned and it´s published on the platform.

The author is kept informed through e-mail of the sequence of the process and receives, conveniently, notifications with the result of the review and, together with all users, the notification about the publication of all articles and issues of the Journal, including those articles that, after concluding their editorial and editing process, are published in advance before the closing of the issue to which they are assigned.

 These instructions will be updated periodically and in accordance with the dynamics of the editorial processes of medical scientific journals at the national and international levels.