Submissions

Author Guidelines

Types of Articles Published in the Scientific Journal of Health Sciences

• Original Articles
• Short Communications
• Case Reports
• Systematic Review Article
• Narrative Review Article
• Editorial
• Letters to the Editor
• Others (current affairs/opinion/reflection/research protocol articles)

Article topics cover all areas of health, internal medicine and subspecialties, medical ethics, medical education, epidemiology, public health, basic sciences, among others.

Table 1. Typology and main characteristics of manuscripts to be submitted to the Scientific Journal of Health Sciences

Documents to Be Submitted Along with the Manuscript

Cover Letter. The cover letter must include a brief description of the objective, novelty, and relevance of the study, as well as the declarations required by the journal, including originality, authorship (ICMJE), conflicts of interest, ethical aspects, data availability, and use of artificial intelligence (AI). It must be explicitly stated that the manuscript is unpublished, along with an explicit declaration that the manuscript will not be submitted to another journal before receiving the decision of the editors of the Scientific Journal of Health Sciences.

Authors' Contributions: The Journal adopts the current recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) regarding authorship, which are incorporated into the model cover letter. Full names, ORCiD, email address, institutional affiliation, and signature of each author must be provided. The corresponding author must also be identified.

Conflict of Interest Declaration: Every article published in the journal will include Declarations of Potential Conflicts of Interest. All authors must submit a declaration of conflicts of interest (financial and non-financial), in accordance with ICMJE recommendations (last 36 months), in the cover letter.

Reviewer Suggestions: The cover letter may optionally include suggestions of three reviewers (names, surnames, email addresses) with no conflict of interest who could serve as reviewers for the manuscript. Conflicts of interest include review by co-investigators (who share authorship in other published articles or research projects), individuals working in the same Department and/or Institutional Section, and family members. Reviewers with whom there is a conflict of interest and who should not act as evaluators may also be identified.

Ethics Certificates. For clinical case reports and studies involving humans or animals, a copy of the approval decision from a relevant Ethics Committee must be attached, in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable international guidelines.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Authors must declare the use of artificial intelligence tools in the preparation of the manuscript, in accordance with the journal's policy.

Data Availability: The manuscript must include a statement on the availability of the data used in the study, in accordance with the journal's policies.

Formatting Requirements

Manuscripts must follow the required formatting; otherwise, they will be returned to their authors. The manuscript must be written in compliance with the following formatting specifications:

Text:

• Line spacing: 1.15
• Font size: 10 points
• Font: Verdana
• Spacing: no space between paragraphs
• Alignment: justified
• Use italics instead of underlining
• Margins: 5 cm on each side of the page
• Page size: A4
• Document format: Microsoft Word compatible, submission format
• Character count: maximum according to typology (see Table 1)
• Illustrations: Tables and figures must be submitted in editable format, placed in their appropriate location, with proper captions. Tables must not have lines separating cells.
• Bibliographic references: presented at the end of the text following Vancouver style. Guidelines for Vancouver Style

Manuscript Structure

Original Articles / Systematic Review Articles and/or Meta-analyses

Original articles present the results of original and novel research. Systematic review articles and/or meta-analyses are similar to original articles, where the unit of analysis is prior studies. (link to format)

• Title: in Spanish and English, clear and concise, no acronyms, no more than 15 words, accompanied by its English translation. Must reflect the content of the study.
• Author(s): full name and surnames of each author and active email addresses. Authors must include their unique identifier (ORCID). The responsible author is properly identified in the manuscript and during submission for evaluation.
• Institutional Affiliation: full name of the center, department, and/or institution to which the authors belong, city and country.
• Abstract and Keywords: maximum of 250 words, in two languages: Spanish/English. Must include a brief introduction, study objective, materials and methods, results, and conclusions. Keywords (between 3 and 6, in two languages: Spanish/English) must be registered in the DeCS.
• Introduction: Present the main background of the study. Cite only strictly relevant references, without an extensive review of the topic. In the last paragraph, state the purpose or objective of the study.
• Materials and Methods: Describe how the observed subjects or experiment participants were selected. Identify the methods, instruments, equipment, and procedures in sufficient detail for other researchers to reproduce the results. Provide references for accredited methods, including statistical ones, and specify the software used. Do not use patient names, initials, or medical record numbers, especially in illustrative material. Include an ethics section.
• Results: Present results in logical sequence using text, tables, and figures. Tables will be adjusted to the publication format and may be modified by the editorial team if technical difficulties arise. Figures must have a title and explanatory footnote. Describe findings without including bibliographic citations. The total number of tables or graphs must not exceed 6.
• Discussion: Highlight the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions derived from them. Explain the significance of the results and their limitations, including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Present the conclusion in the last paragraph of the discussion.
• Acknowledgments
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Authors' Contributions: as coded in the cover letter
• Funding Sources
• Data Availability
• Bibliographic References: follow Vancouver guidelines. The recommended number is 15 to 30; 70% of cited articles should be from the last 5 to 10 years and published in journals indexed in Scopus.

Short Communications

Communications involving few results, generally preliminary, that do not constitute a full paper. The structure is the same as an original article. (link to format)

Case Reports

Clinical cases involving one to three patients or an entire family are described. (link to format)

• Title: in Spanish and English (no more than 15 words)
• Abstract: in Spanish and English (no more than 200 words)
• Keywords: in Spanish and English, between 3 and 6, must be registered in the DeCS
• Brief Introduction: (no more than 1 page)
• Case Presentation
• Discussion: based on the literature; if possible, include differential diagnosis
• Ethics Approval
• Acknowledgments
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Authors' Contributions: as coded in the cover letter
• Funding
• Data Availability
• Bibliographic References: follow Vancouver guidelines. The recommended number is 15 to 20; 70% of cited articles should be from the last 5 to 10 years and published in journals indexed in Scopus.

Narrative Review Articles

A document resulting from research in which results of published or unpublished studies in a field of science or technology are analyzed, systematized, and integrated, with the aim of reporting advances and development trends. (link to format)

• Title: in Spanish and English (no more than 15 words)
• Abstract: in Spanish and English (no more than 200 words)
• Keywords: in Spanish and English, between 3 and 6, must be registered in the DeCS
• Brief Introduction: (no more than 1 page)
• Development of the topic
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Authors' Contributions: as coded in the cover letter
• Funding
• Data Availability
• Bibliographic References: follow Vancouver guidelines. The recommended number is 15 to 50; 70% of cited articles should be from the last 5 to 10 years and published in journals indexed in Scopus.

Letters to the Editor

The author's (or authors') views on an important, current topic, or an expansion or discussion of a published article. No abstract required. (link to format)

Others (current affairs/opinion/reflection articles) (link to format)

Requires an unstructured abstract (no more than 200 words), an introduction, development of the topic, conclusions, conflict of interest statement, authors' contributions, funding, and bibliographic references. Research protocols or other types of documents will be accepted on an exceptional basis.

Citations

Direct Quotations

A direct quotation transcribes text verbatim. It must be brief — fewer than five lines — inserted within the text in quotation marks, with the corresponding number placed at the end, after the closing quotation marks and before the punctuation mark, although this may vary according to the standards set by the receiving institution. The number corresponding to the cited author may appear after the period, as a superscript and in parentheses.

Example: Recent studies suggested that "social representations are constructed from widely disseminated or dominant ideas, knowledge, beliefs, values, and ideologies within a society or a particular social group" (1). According to this definition…

Citing More Than One Source at the Same Time

If more than one source is to be cited in the same sentence, a number must be included for each source cited. If the numbers are consecutive, they must be joined by a hyphen; if non-consecutive, the numbers must be separated by commas.

Example: The following example cites sources numbered 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, and 15 in the same sentence: Several studies (6-9,13,15) have analyzed the effect of alcohol on driving.

Indirect Citations or Paraphrasing

This refers to the mention of an author's ideas in the writer's own words. It is included within the text without quotation marks, and the reference number is written at the end of the idea.

Example: Studies demonstrated that a gluten-free diet can alter serological and histological results.(2)

Citing the Author's Name in the Text

You may use the author's name in your text, but the citation number must still be inserted.

Example: According to López,(2) the role of the informal caregiver entails a high physical and emotional burden.

Citing More Than One Author's Name in the Text

If a document has more than one author, use 'et al' after the first author.

Example: According to García et al,(3) depression is common in patients with heart failure.

Bibliographic References

The reference list is a single list of all documents cited in the manuscript, regardless of type and origin. The list must be written in numerical order; each number must identify and match the document cited in the text.

Periodical Publications — Journals

Authors (maximum 6; then et al). Article title. Journal name. Year; Volume(number): first-last page.

Example: (1) Vitoria JC, Bilbao JR. Novedades en enfermedad celíaca. An Pediatr. 2013;78(1):1‐5.

Online Article: URL or DOI

Authors (maximum 6; then et al). Article title. Journal name. Year of publication; Volume(number): first-last page. Available at: URL or DOI of the article.

Example: Manavella G, Manavella D, Ruiz O. Tasas de embarazo y nacido vivo en mujeres jóvenes infértiles con baja reserva ovárica. Revista Científica Ciencias de la Salud. 2021;3(1):6-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsalud/03.01.2021.06

Books

Author(s). Title. Volume. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; date of publication.

Example: (3) Ross M and Wojciech P. Histology: Text and Atlas. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer; 2015.

Online Books: URL or DOI

Author(s). Title. Volume. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; date of publication. Available at: URL.

Example: Patrias K. Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers [Internet]. 2nd ed. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2007. Available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine

Book Chapter

Author(s). Chapter title. In: Surname Initials of Editor(s), editors. Book title. Place of publication: Publisher; year of publication. p. first-last page.

Example: (5) Sumner P, Mollon JD. Did primate trichromacy evolve for frugivory or folivory? In: Mollon JD, Pokorny J, Knoblauch J. Normal and defective colour vision. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003. p. 21-30.

Online Book Chapter: URL or DOI

Author(s). Chapter title. In: Surname Initials of Editor(s), editors. Book title. Place of publication: Publisher; year of publication. p. first-last page. Available at: URL.

Example: (6) Sumner P, Mollon JD. Did primate trichromacy evolve for frugivory or folivory? In: Mollon JD, Pokorny J, Knoblauch J. Normal and defective colour vision. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003. p. 21-30. Available at: URL.

Conferences, Presentations, and Symposia

Author AA, Author BB. Conference/presentation/symposium title. Paper presented at: Event title; Event date; City, Country.

Example: (7) Castillo M, Martínez AM. El control reproductivo como efecto de la violencia contra la mujer. Paper presented at: 12th Latin American Congress on Women's Health; June 14–15, 2013; Lima, Peru.

Theses

Author AA. Thesis title [Master's thesis or Doctoral thesis]. Location: Institution to which the thesis was submitted; year. Number of pages.

Example: (8) Aponte C. Educación ambiental y evaluación de la densidad poblacional para la conservación de los cóndores reintroducidos en el Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados y su zona amortiguadora [Master's thesis]. Manizales, Colombia: Universidad de Caldas; 2009. 408 p.

Websites

Surname AA. Page title. Place of publication: Publisher; year of publication. Available at: URL.

Example: Argosy Medical Animation. Visible body: Discover human anatomy. New York, USA: Argosy Publishing. Available at: http://www.visiblebody.com

Legal Materials

Laws/Decrees Country. Law No. number/year of enactment. Title of the document.

Example: (10) Paraguay. Law No. 5282/2014. On free citizen access to public information and governmental transparency.