INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

Colombia Médica devoted to the publication of scientific material for improving academic level of professions related to health sciences. Is located in Building 118, Faculty of Health, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, telephone (57-2) 558-1939, email: colombiamedica@gmail.com

The Editorial Committee strongly suggests to incorporate references of Colombian authors published either in national or in foreign country journals.

Papers appearing in the journal are the exclusive reliability of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the thoughts of the Editorial Committee.

To meet its objectives, Colombia Médica  is governed by the Medical Guides Editorial Independence of World Association of Medical Editors (www.wame.org/wamestmt.htm#independence) a nd the Code of Good Practice developed Committee on Publication Ethics (www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines/)

Colombia Médica has the right of publishing the papers received by the Editorial Committee. It is not permitted to reproduce papers published in Colombia Médica without a previous authorization.

For more information please consult Requirements for presenting articles to Colombia Médica and read the article One hundred sins of the medical writing).

The Faculty of Health, Universidad del Valle, publishes Colombia Médica, a quarterly journal whose papers are submitted to evaluation by two or occasionally three authorities for review (please consult the article Review by experts) and offers contributions of different nature in Spanish, English and Portuguese, among others the following ones:

Original articles. In this section will appear investigation and unpublished papers of interest to the readers of Colombia Médica. Presentations of these papers should follow the pattern of scientific world literature in accordance with Vancouver Style (The International Committee of Editors of Medical Journals). References must be limited to 20 quotations more than 10 years-old.

Review articles. Review articles are by invitation to researchers with large experience in the subject area. People willing to submit an uninvited review article must send the title, abstract, and detailed index of the proposed manuscript. Additionally, author's background supporting his/her experience in the subject area should be included. The Editorial Group review appropriateness of each proposal and communicates their decision to the proponent author. It is expected that review articles contain references of original articles published by the authors submitting the manuscript.  References must be limited to 60 quotations more than 10 years-old.

Some thoughs on. They are documents that present investigation results from an analytical, interpretative or critical perspective of the author, on a specific subject, where original sources have been consulted.  References must be limited to 20 quotations more than 10 years-old.

Short communications. These are short notes indicating the results of therapeutic trials, preliminary studies, new techniques and case reports. They may also be related to a teaching on a specific theme either to comment some recent problem or to inquire solutions to any inquietude. References must be limited to ten quotations.  References must be limited to 5 quotations more than 10 years-old.

Case of interest. It is a document that communicates the results of a study on a particular situation with the purpose of presenting the technical and methodological experiences given in a specific course. It may include a commented systematic revision of literature on similar cases. References must be limited to 5 quotations more than 10 years-old. Consent form to be completed

From medical literature. These are papers of exceptional interest previously appeared in other journals. In this type of articles a written permission of the editor of the journal is always mandatory.

Letters to the editor. They are important positions, either analytical or interpretative, on papers previously published in the magazine that in accordance with the Editorial Committee opinion may be an important contribution for discussing the subject by the scientific community of reference. Also they can be a communication on some important finding. Only five references should be given.  References must be limited to 5 quotations more than 10 years-old.

Publication regulations

The articles must be sent with a letter signed by all the authors where they express their agreement with the contents and that these correspond to studies non previously published, and that will not appear to any other magazine before knowing the Editorial Committee's decision and to be accepted for their publication. Reproduction rights belong to the Universidad del Valle; Colombia Médica can publish them in physical and/or electronic formats including Internet. Also the intellectual participation of each one of the authors must be indicated in the letter (Letter). When the article offers acknowledgments, a communication signed by people mentioned there is due to send where they authorize that their names appear in this section.

Once initiated the evaluation process of the article, the authors commit themselves not to retire it and not to send it to another journal until not finishing the evaluation. After this process, the authors must correct the article and again send it to Colombia Médica in order to be Publisher.

The presentation of original investigations must fulfill the Declaration of Helsinki. For the Colombian investigations it is due to fulfill in addition the Resolución 8430 de 1993 of the Ministry of Social Protection and in all of the cases, the approval of the institutional committee of ethics in investigations must also be enclosed.

Written in a clear precise manner, the text should be sufficiently concise to normally not to exceed twelve typewritten pages for papers and six for short communications.

Contributions must be sent to the Editor of Colombia Médica. Papers must be written in a Word processor (between 2500 and 4000 words), one and a half space, 12 point's font Times New Roman, including references. Furthermore, texts by Internet should also be submitted.

The Editorial Committee will study every paper and will decide about the convenience of its publication. Contributions should be either accepted with modifications or suggestions will be given on the appropriate form towards a new presentation.

The following sequence should be observed:

a. Title (please consult the article The title) of the paper with the name of the author(s). In the bottom of the page, professional rank and current academic position of the author(s) as well as the institution where the research was done, source of financial support (if any) and address for correspondence.

b. Summary. Up to 300 words long. It must outline the objective of the study, the methodology, state the results obtained and the conclusions reached. Abbreviations or bibliographic quotations should not be included. After the summary the author(s) must furnish four or five key words for indexing. Descriptors on Health Sciences

c. Introduction (not necessarily typed). It should set out the purpose of the study, give a brief summary (not a review) of previous relevant work and state what new advance has been made in the investigation.

d. Material and methods. In a precise manner techniques useful to understand and reproduce the work should be cited. Already known methods should be mentioned.

e. Results. When necessary, should be accompanied by tables, graphics or illustrations for offering the data in such a clear manner that only commentary and no duplication be necessary in the text, which should complement this data organization. If indicated, data must be subject to statistical analysis. This section should be informative, not an interpretation.

f. Discussion. It is related to the results obtained in accordance with the light of present understanding of the problem with the appropriate references.

g. Summary. It is a reproduction in English of item (b), presenting the main conclusions of the paper, with 6 keywords. If the papers in English this summary should be in Spanish and Portuguese.

h. References. All the references are due to enumerate consecutively with the order that they have in the text. The quotation of magazines will be included in its order: last family name and surname initials of all authors of the author (authors); if they are six or less all are mentioned; if there are more than six, mention the six first and later the abbreviation et al.; the title of the article, the name of the magazine (outstanding in italics) in accordance with the abbreviations of the Index Medicus (please, consult it, and the Vancouver Style (The International Committee of Editors of Medical Journals), the year of publication, the volume (outstanding in italics) and the complete digits of the first and last pages of the consulted paper. For example, Guevara CA, Henao DP, Herrera JA. Síndrome de desgaste profesional en médicos internos y residentes. Hospital Universitario del Valle, Cali, 2002. Colomb Med. 2004; 35:173-8.

The tables (maximum of 6 tables) will be enumerated consecutively and they are due to display one by page, when finalizing the text. The same will be done with the graphs (maximum of 3 graphics) that must take an independent numeration of the one of the pictures. The numbers should be Arabic. Each table or graph will be accompanied by a legend describing with clarity the material that appears. The pictures, as well as graphs and photos, must be original of the author (authors). If they are modifications or reproductions of another article, it is necessary to accompany an authorization signed by the respective editor.

All of the contributions should be sent to the Editor of Colombia Médica Julián A. Herrera, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, telefax (57-2) 558-1939. e-mails: colombiamedica@gmail.com, colombiamedica@yahoo.com, comedica@univalle.edu.co, http://colombiamedica.univalle.edu.co

Author(s) living outside Cali, please send the texts of the paper in Word by Internet and the affidavit signed letter to the fax (57-2) 558-1939 in PDF archive or by Internet