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ISSN 1667-8990
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ISSN 16678682
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Instructions to authors

 

Scope and policy

 

It publishes original articles, reviews, case reports, observational studies, author’s chronicles, interviews to specialists and other documents. The journal invites international and national authors to submit their original papers to the medical community reached by the journal by means of its wide geographical and virtual distribution.
Each original paper is evaluated by at least two scientific external reviewers that assess the scientific significance, technical accuracy, methodological exactitude, clarity, and objectivity of manuscripts.  
Its content is published in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. As the two first ones are the principal languages in Iberoamerica, SIIC considers them irreplaceable in the transmission and unambiguous understanding of continuous education and training texts for the majority of regional professionals.
The articles from the section Invited Experts are published in Spanish and Portuguese. In both cases, their abstracts are translated into English. The articles of Brazilian authors or written in Portuguese are published in their mother tongue with the translation of ambiguous or difficult words into Spanish for Spanish speaking readers.
The articles submitted in English by foreign authors are translated into Spanish or Portuguese by the biomedical professionals that belong to the translation specialized staff of SIIC. These versions undergo different language style, scientific (internal and external), linguistic and editorial supervisions that ensure the exact translation of original texts. 
The section Interviews to Experts publishes interviews to well-known international specialists done by medical correspondents, columnists, or counselors of SIIC.
The abstracts of those original articles recently approved and that for space reasons cannot be published in the current edition are published in advance in Papelnet SIIC.
The RedCIbe (Red Científica Iberoamericana) section published observational reports written by specialists that wish to communicate their experiences or thoughts. This section increases the number and quality of scientific papers written by specialists, it encourages local researchers to publish in the qualified medical media of the region.
Case Reports gathers those descriptions of patients that, because of their clinical characteristics, diagnosis, infrequent disease presentation, radiological images or studies could be of interest for our readers.
The brief section Colleagues Inform publishes objective summaries in Spanish of selected news provided by editorial colleagues and are completely quoted.
The page Beyond Health, one of the final pages of the journal, gathers texts related to medicine and healthcare from other fields of knowledge.
The scientific content of Salud(i)Ciencia is responsibility of those authors that wrote the original manuscripts.
The announcers that purchase the pages where advertisements are published are the only responsible of the information contained.

Salud(i)Ciencia complies with Open Access to scientific information policies because it considers that the scientific publications as well as governmental financially supported research must circulate on the Internet freely and without restrictions.
Salud(i)Ciencia confirms the Open Access model in which the scientific publication contents, i.e. full texts, are free on the Internet, without temporal restriction, and whose costs of editorial production are nor transferred to authors. This policy means to overcome economical barriers that produce inequality both in information access and in publication of research results

 

 

Form and preparation of manuscripts

 

Editing Processes
Process 1 – Presentation requirement
Those authors who wish to submit an article for evaluation and publication in the Sociedad Iberoamericana de Información Científica (SIIC) should access http://www.siicsalud.com/presentacionpreliminar.phpand fill in the form called Preliminary Presentation.
Immediately after completing and sending the form, you will receive an Invitation Letter.

Process 2 - Submission of the Article
Authors will submit their articles on line at www.siic.info/ssea
Submission Process
You have accessed the Submission Process of your article
Important:
You can complete this form at a time or save it and complete it at different moments along 7 days. This period starts when the author finishes Stage 1. During this period you can make those corrections you consider necessary.
We recommend you to Save the information at each stage to avoid having to enter it again in case of involuntary interruptions.
If you wish to ask for help or you have any questions, please, write to Mensajes a SIIC

 

Stage 1 – Identification
1A. When you first access the System you sill write your User Name (email address of the author) and your Reference ICE Number that appears in the invitation received as expert columnist . Then, please, click the button “Access to SSEA”. If you do not have a Reference ICE Number contact Mensajes a SIIC

The next page contains the Introduction to SSEA System and its stages. Read it carefully.
Then click “Enter”. Write your personal data and follow the easy instructions of the system and these Guidelines

1B. The author will design the person who will be responsible for monitoring the process. This person, Responsible of the Process (RP) will ensure the relationship with the editors, will centralize the relationship with coauthors if there are any, and will help to keep the epistolary exchange with supervisors fluent. These supervisors will start their task when the author finishes submitting his/her article.
During the processes Submission of the Article and Article Evaluation, the RP will be in touch with the Editorial Coordinator of SIIC and with the supervisors related to the corresponding issue: writing guidelines, scientific style, language, figures and illustrations, informatics and external peer review. We suggest no to change the RP while the article is undergoing editorial process.
The editorial process ends with the publication of the approved article or the notification to the author of article rejection.

 

Stage 2 – The Authors
2.A. Details of the Author
Enter the complete details of the principal author (full name, postal address, electronic address, professional qualification, current position, full name of the institution where you work, etc)
Brief Curriculum Vitae
Write a brief CV of 80 to 100 words. Include your name, professional qualification (with date and place), current position, specialty, postgraduate or update courses, subjects or areas of interest for study or research, summary of published scientific articles and details of participation in conferences.

2.B. Complements
Personal Photograph
Include your personal photograph of at least 300dpi (dots per inch) in JPG or TIFF format.
Please, inform us if you would be interested in being an external reviewer of articles written by peers.

2.C. Coauthors
If there are any coauthors, please, supply their personal details. No more than 10 co-authors may be included.

2.D. Published Articles
Articles Registered in SIIC
If you are already SIIC’s Expert Columnist our database has the record of your articles previously published in SIIC or in other journals. If you need to correct a bibliographic reference, you have the opportunity to do it now.

Other Articles written by the principal author
Enter here and in the next fields of Published Articles the references of each article written by the principal author and in which his or her research field or specialization is more evident. You can include up to 10 published articles. We recommend to enter most recent articles.
This information, as other included in other sections of SSEA, will help the reader to know the principal author better.
The articles published in the virtual collections of SIIC link to the pages of the authors that have been developed, free of charge, by the Editorial Department of SIIC.

 2.E. Submission Letter
You may submit your article supplying a presentation letter written in a colloquial style in which you could summarize the main conclusions of your article and briefly describe any special events occurred during the research.
The author may also include the names of the coauthors and the acknowledgements he may consider adequate.
Please, address it to SIIC Editor-in-Chief.

 

Stage 3. The Article
Language and Style
The manuscript should be written in English. Manuscripts are then translated into Spanish by SIIC and edited both in Spanish and in English.
Authors who are unsure of proper English usage should have their manuscripts checked by someone proficiency in the English language.
Manuscripts might be rejected on the basis of poor English or lack of conformity to accepted standards of style.
If your native language is other than English, you must also submit it in that language. In this case, follow the Guidelines in Stage 4. It would then be published in three languages.

Types of Articles
The author will choose the style and format for his article. Articles of scientific journals belong to the following principal types (original articles, reviews and meta-analysis, articles of opinion, descriptive articles (case reports, observational articles, short reports, special communications, etc.), consensus statements and clinical practice guidelines, correspondence, review of books or of articles published in other sources).
In these Guidelines, we consider the first two types

Original Articles
Those articles that describe the results of original research, for example randomized and controlled studies, case and control studies,  observational studies, series of cases (clinical or preclinical [in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, in silico]), must have Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusions.
The Introduction is a short reference of the general aspects and importance of the subjects to be addressed. The last sentence of the Introduction must refer to what authors are about to present and describe
The Materials and Methods section describes the sample (whose size will be variable), the origin of the analysed data, if it is retrospective or prospective, the statistical methods used,
and the analysis of the statistical significance, if needed.
In the Results and Conclusions the authors must compare their results with those obtained by other colleagues and clearly state the conclusions to which they have arrived.

 

Reviews
Review articles collate, summarize and review the available information about a particular topic. As very often clinicians use reviews as guides for clinical decisions it is very important that this type of articles should be systematic, include relevant data and are not overly influenced by the opinions and biases of authors. Reviews should specify the methods used to search for, select, and summarize the information.
A Meta-analysis is a review article that includes statistical techniques that analyze results from independent studies.
Authors will include subtitles in the review according to their criteria.

3.A Title
To make reading easier and to provide key points of the work, write a concise, specific and informative title. 

Abbreviated title for running head (optional)
Mention the main topic of your article in no more than 10 words.
The abbreviated titles appear at the top of the page of the article, together with the bibliographic reference (journal name or abbreviation, volume number, date of issue and page number)

3.B. Brief and Long Articles
Extension: 
Articles should be written in Word text files or other compatible program
SSEA allows you to choose between sending either Brief and Long versions of your article or a Single version. Therefore, submit your article in two versions of different length or only one single version.
Brief Article: It will be published in the printed journals of SIIC: Salud(i)Ciencia (ISSN 1667-8982), Trabajos Distinguidos and others.
The Brief Article extension will of between 2500 and 3000 words
If you submit the Brief Version of your article, it means that you will submit the Long Version as well. Therefore, when you upload the first one SSEA will tell you to upload the other one
Long Article: it will be published on http://www.siicsalud.com (ISSN 1667-9008)
The extension of the Long Article is of 5000 words.

3.C. Single Version: If you choose to write only one version, it should not be longer than 3000 words.
If you wish to write a longer article because you believe it is worth, ask SIIC for permission sending a message to Messages to SIIC In Original Articles as well as in Reviews, the abstract, the key words, tables, figures and bibliographic references are not included in the length limit.
Statistical Analysis
When describing the statistical analysis, the authors should clearly notify which methods have been used. When data are shown in tables, the statistical methods used should be detailed in a footnote for each method. Specify which statistical software was used.
Drugs
Identify drugs by means of their generic name and natural or synthetic chemical compounds used. Avoid mentioning trademarks and commercial names. Write this terminology according to Descritores de Ciências da Saúde (DeCS)andMedical Subject Headings (MeSH).
Superfluous words
Avoid using ordinary words that are known as noisy or superfluous words, i.e. health, medicine, study, patients, etc.
SIIC Data Bases, the same as the main data bases of the world, ignore these words because they lack identity since, in most cases, they do not contribute to delimit the topic.
If possible, use words with accurate meaning or key words.
Bibliographic references
References should be numbered consecutively throughout the text and cited as superscript numerals. References should be cited in full at the end of the article following Vancouver style:
1- Order: Type of reference (journal article, journal article in press, article in edited book, abstract), authors, article title, journal title abbreviation, year, volume, number, pages.
2- The names and initials of authors should be given in full. If they are six authors, they should all be included. If they are more than six, include three authors followed by et al.
3- Medical journal abbreviations should follow Index Medicus usage http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20130415/tsd/serials/lji.htmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals  and Vancouver Style. (http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf)
4- Unpublished work, work in preparation or personal communications should not be used as references but can be mentioned in the text.
5- Journal article in press, articles in edited books and abstracts presented in congresses can be used.

If references link to an online journal, SIIC may include a hyperlink to that site provided the editor’s authorization

3D Abstract
Articles should be accompanied by an abstract written in English of between 220 and 250 words.
Avoid using abbreviations in the Abstract, with the exception of those used instead of the word or phrase they stand for. The Abstract should be a brief but accurate and informative synthesis of the article.
The scientific and literary quality of abstracts is appreciated by editors, readers and data bases.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
If your article is an original article, divide the paragraphs using subtitles (introduction, materials and methods, results, and conclusions). Include the objective of the research.
The Abstract will be the same for any of the three versions that you have decided to submit (brief, long or single article).
If your article is a review, you will include the objective, subtitles, results, and conclusions

3.E. Essence
Provide, in a minimum of 50 words and a maximum of 75, the essence or succinct conclusions of your article. Do not use abbreviations with the exception of those needed to replace the complete name or phrase they stand for.

 

3.F. Key Words
Provide 5 to 7  key words under which the paper would be indexed. Key words should be written according to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
KW will be included in accordance with their order of importance or weight in the article, i.e., the first one you write will be the most important, the second more important than the third, and so on.
A key word is a word or phrase (i.e. diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension) that will not include article (the, a, an), nor conjunctions (and, or) and will be representative of the main topic of the article. They are fundamental for accurate searches. They are always written in lower case letters. Trade marks are excluded. Avoid using as key words, terms with wide and general meanings (i.e. health, medicine, study, patients, treatment, etc.)

3.G. Abbreviations
Avoid writing abbreviations in the title, and, if possible avoid using them in the abstract.
In the text, use as less abbreviations as possible. The complete definition of an abbreviation and acronym should be written before its first use in the text, with the exception of standard units of measurement.
Alphabetical List of Abbreviations
Provide a list in alphabetical order and the definition of each non-standard abbreviation and acronym used in the article, with full names in brackets. Do not include full names of units of measurement

3.H. Principal institution
In this stage, give the full details of the institution where the study was conducted or the author’s main place of work.
The registers of the institutions of the coauthors of the article will be requested in the stage Authors, step Coauthors.

3.I. Classification by areas
Mark the orientation and the style of your article
Classify your article in two biomedical Specific areas and more than two Related ones
SIIC articles are spread over 56 biomedical areas. The accuracy of the procedure is ensured by the first classification made by the authors and that subsequently made by the Scientific Department. This sector of SIIC will sub-classify the article under the sub-specialties or topics in which the majority of areas can be divided.
To see the editorial result, please consult the Specific section of News by Specialty. www.siicsalud.com/main/novespe.php

3.J. Reviewers
Internal Review
The scientific directors and the editorial department of SIIC perform a preliminary evaluation of manuscripts. Those articles that gather the required criteria (importance of and interest for the topic, use of scientific method, correct submission and relevance) and include the appropriate documentation go over to the next stage, peer review.

Peer Review 
Manuscripts undergo external peer review to assess their clinical relevance, technical exactitude, methodological accuracy, clarity, and objectivity. Reviewers are from the academic field and do not receive an honorarium for their work.
Authors may suggest up to three peer specialists to review your article. This does not imply an obligation for the editor. This is particularly useful in those research areas that a rare o not very well known. The specialists proposed should comply with the corresponding recommendations of the Vancouver Style

The acceptance, revision, or rejection of an article is communicated to the author in written

3.K. Receiver of Correspondence
Give the name of the person who will liaise with SIIC and the readers (consultations, correspondence, etc.).

 3.L. Figures and tables
You may include up to 2 (two) tables and 5 (five) figures in colour or black and white.
Provide the tables in Excel or Word files.
Provide the figures, which include graphs. charts, photographs, maps and other types of illustrations, in JPG or TIFF files in at least 300dpi.

Captions.
Number the captions of figures and tables according to their appearance in the text.
Write a summary of the figure or table in from 10 to 30 words.
Provide the necessary information that may help in understanding figures.
If data, figures or tables have been published elsewhere, quote the original source and ask for authorization to republish the material.

3.M Self-evaluation of the reading
Self-evaluation of the article will allow the reader to know whether he/she has correctly interpreted its fundamental aspects. This system is used in hospital associations, institutions of higher education, research centers and other educational establishments.
The authors submit questions that their readers analyze and discuss with their peers. On many occasions, this leads to the need for direct connection between the parties.
Offer readers an evaluation of your article in multiple-choice form. Write an Introduction, ask a Question, and provide 5 possible Answers, only one of which is correct. Do not forget to say which it is. Add a brief well-founded justification for the correct answer in from 50 to 100 words.
The 5 possible answers will have fewer than 10 words each.
Make sure that the fifth answer does not negate or give as valid all or some of the previous ones. Provide answers that will involve a re-reading of core fragments of the text.
Mark the correct answer.
Justification: do not repeat the correct answer. Clarify and enlarge on its meaning. The justification must be exclusively based on the article content. The extent should not be of more than 70 words.

3.N. Statements
Identifying Materials
The manuscript should be written according to ethical standards that include patients informed consent for publication, if needed. Identifying information (patients´ names, initials, hospital numbers, etc) should not be published unless it is essential for scientific purposes and the patient gives informed consent for publication. Informed consent implies that the patient (or his/her representative) could see and read the article, and review all the photographs and illustrations in which she/he is included before publication.
When informed consent has been obtained it should be included in the published article.
See the Form: Informed Consent Certificate for the Publication of Identifying Materials

3.Ñ.Ethical Treatment
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards on human experimentation consistent with the Declaration of Helsinki and the the appropriate institution or of the relevant national body. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
See the Form: Statement of ethical treatment of human subjects and animals

3.O. Conflict of interest and funding disclosure
Declare if there are or there are not any conflicts of interest according to Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical. Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publications http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf 
See the Form: Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure

3.P. Acknowledgements
Include here acknowledgements to all those persons or institutions that have collaborated in preparing this Article. Separate them with a full stop/period and a space

Stage 4. Native Language
 If your native language is other than English, you must also submit your article in that language. Follow each step as you have done when you submitted your article in English in Stage 3.

Notification of Acceptance
When the Scientific Committee has assessed that a manuscript is acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific merit the author is required to sign the Authorship Certificate and Copyright Assignment.
See the Form Authorship certificate and copyright assignment form
Please, print to sign. Then send either by fax, scanned by e-mail or by post.
Also send it online from SSEA.

The manuscript then undergoes editorial process.
If it has been written according to the criteria set forth in this instructions, this process will be successfully completed. If something fails the author will be required to supply what might be missing or has not been done as required.
Once this process is finished, the manuscript is scheduled for publication in www.siicsalud.com, and a notification is mailed to the author.

The author may use his manuscript for other publications only if:

  • The author asks SIIC for a written permission and informs the title of the journal where he/she wishes to submit his new article.
  • SIIC is acknowledged as original source with the complete bibliographic reference.
  • Is meant to be published after three months of the original publication by SIIC

SIIC will inform you in advance the article publishing date. You will receive a password to access your article freely during a week.

This Guidelines comply with Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical. Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publications http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf  Stated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org)

If you wish to ask for help or you have any questions, please, write to Mensajes a SIIC or by phone to 0054 11 4702 1011.
SOCIEDAD IBEROAMERICANA DE INFORMACIÓN CIENTÍFICA (SIIC)
ua 82814

 

 

 

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