ISSN 0122-0268
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

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

The Journal MVZ Cordoba is a scientific publication of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechny of the University of Córdoba, Montería, Colombia. It publishes national and international articles related to the agricultural sciences in the form of original investigation, literature reviews, short communications and clinical cases. The subjects that are published in Journal MVZ Córdoba correspond to veterinary medicine and zootechny, agriculture, biology, biotechnology, biomedical basic sciences, public health and other subjects of interest in agricultural sciences. The magazine is directed to professionals in veterinary and zootechny medicine, public health, epidemiology, aquaculture, biology, biomedical basic sciences and biotechnology.

“The Journal MVZ Cordoba follows the policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) and of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), for clinical trials registration, recognizing the importance of those initiatives for international dissemination of information on clinical research, in open access. Therefore, since 2007 the Journal MVZ Córdoba only publishes articles from clinical investigations that have received an identification number in one of the Clinical Trial Registries validated by criteria established by WHO and ICMJE, whose addresses are available on the ICMJE website. The identification number is listed at the end of the abstract”.

When an article for possible publication is received, the corresponding author will be formally notified of the receipt of the article and compliance with guidelines and requirements will be verified. After that step, the article will be confidentially sent to two referees, external to the institution, using the double blind method for evaluation. In case of discrepancy, a third referee will be used. In each case the necessary measures will be taken so that the article does not contain elements that allow the referees to identify the authors. The editor will be the only one responsible for communicating the result of the evaluation to the authors. The Editorial Committee and the Editor reserve the right to reject articles that do not comply with the requirements and guidelines, as well as the right to introduce (with the approval of the authors) editorial changes pertaining to grammatical rules, makeup, layout and distribution of editorial space. If the article is approved, a galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author, who will be the only one responsible for socializing, correcting and approving the final version of the article with the coauthors.

The Journal MVZ Cordoba conforms to the general uniformity guidelines for biomedical magazines (Vancouver style) with some modifications as mentioned below.

1. Structure of original articles: Titles should be capitalized, text left aligned and in boldface type. They should contain the following information:

1.1. Title of the article: This should be written in Spanish and English, in lower case and in bold, underneath the first line with double spacing and 10 point font. The title should be precise and informative, without abbreviations and a maximum of 15 words. Names in Latin should be written in cursive. Under the title in English an abbreviated title in English should be included with a maximum of 8 words.

.2. Authors: Are those that participate in the planning, execution, preparation, discussion and writing of the article. The name of the authors should be written in the following way: The first name, first surname and the initial of the second surname in capitals followed by a comma, except in the case of registered signatures, creed or other types. Two surnames could be included if they are joined by a hyphen (Arrieta-Contreras), followed by a comma and by a superscript that indicates the relationship of each author and the last title or academic degree obtained by the author (the professional or technologist title is required as a minimum. Candidates are not accepted). The following abbreviations will be used according to the case: Specialization (Esp.), Masters (M.Sc.), doctorate (Ph.D.) or the abbreviation of the professional title. The name of the corresponding author should be marked with an asterisk and the email should be included, which will appear in the article and will therefore be public. The institutional affiliation of the authors should be organized hierarchically: Institution, Faculty, Department, Institute, Laboratory, Study Group, etc., address, city and country. Example:

Determination of Thermo-resistant Lactic Acid Bacteria

Determinación de bacterias ácido lácticas termoresistentes

Lactic Acid Bacteria

Mario Pérez B,^1* Ph.D, Vanessa Arrieta-Contreras,2 M.Sc, Diva Almentero S,1 Lic.

¹ Universidad de Córdoba, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas del Trópico, A.A. Nro. 354, Montería, Colombia. 2Lactoanalysis. Calle 27 Nro. 18-62 Montería, Colombia. *Correspondence: elcorreopig@servidor.com

1.3. Abstract: It should be structured and have a maximum of 250 words and a minimum of 150, written in one paragraph. It should offer a clear idea of the content of the article including subtitles: objective, materials and methods, results and conclusions, in boldface type. Each subtitle should be followed with a period and space, after which the text of each section should begin.

1.4. Key words: These are short terms that define the content of the article, classify it and allow it to be found in an automated file. A suggestion is to use a maximum of six words that are not in the title of the article, written in alphabetical order. The terms in the MeSH list or another thesaurus should be used according to the subject of the investigation, such as DeCS, BIREME, NLM, CAB thesaurus, AGROVOC thesaurus, ASFA thesaurus, IEDCYT animal biology thesaurus, environmental thesaurus for Colombia, National Agricultural library, etc., and indicate at the end the thesaurus used, written in parenthesis and in italic type:

Key words: Extramedullary, lymph nodes, plasmacytoma (Source: DeSC, CAB).

1.5. Resumen: This is the same summary in English translated to Spanish; it should have the same structure and content.

1.6. Palabras clave: These should be the same key words in English translated into Spanish.
1.7. Introduction: It should clearly indicate the purpose of the investigation, as well as selectively connecting pertinent literature. Data and conclusions on the work that is being discussed should not be included. This section should end with a general objective.

1.8. Materials and methods: Procedures used in the investigation should be clearly described, including statistical design and data analysis. This section should be structured (with subtitles) to specify the type of study, location, geo-climatic conditions, study location coordinates, patients or animals in the study, laboratory methods, ethical aspects, results analysis, etc. Subtitles should be in boldface type, followed by a period and space, and then the text.

1.8.1. Ethical aspects: A brief description of the procedures for handling patients (humans or animals) and the safety risks and guarantees offered during the study according to the type of investigation carried out. It should be stated that the investigation began only after obtaining the authorization of the entities involved. The informed consent form of the participants (humans) and the approval certification issued by the Ethical Committee should be annexed. Support documents should be on the letterhead of the corresponding institution and then scanned and sent in.

As an example, the following text is cited: “Samples were collected by students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechny of the Universidad de Córdoba, who took into account the procedures for sample collection, handling and preservation, techniques, and the scientific, administrative and ethical standards for animal investigation contained in Law 84 (Colombian National Congress, 1989). During the study, the confidentiality of information about sampled farms and positive animals was maintained. The investigation was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Institute of Tropical Biological Investigations of the Universidad de Córdoba by means of Resolution 012009 on February 1, 2014”.

Additionally, in this section existing and in force regulations of each country should be cited, including clean production and preservation of the environment, as well as those pertaining to international regulations of compulsory global compliance.

1.9. Results: This is the information on the findings, without including comments or references from other studies. The use of tables and figures is suggested. The results should be expressed in the past, noting the level of statistical significance in parenthesis (p≤ 0.05, p≤0.01, p>0.05). Tables and figures should be cited in this section in strict order. Text citation could be done in two ways: a) …as can be seen in Table 2; or b) …capture success of 0.1313 individuals/hours-network (Table 1).

Units of measurement will be cited according to the decimal metric system and a space between the number and the unit should be left except for percent signs (%), centigrade degrees (ºC) and pesos ($) which should always be next to the amount. Units of measurement should not be used in plural or have a final period (example: kg instead of kgs, kg.). When a unit of measurement is used for several numbers, only the last instead of 8 kg – 15 kg). Decimals should not be written with commas, but with periods. All the composites, reagents and equipment used should include in parenthesis the main production company, headquarter city, state and country (example: Sigma, St. Louis, MO). No commercial names should be included in the text and the active ingredient will always be referenced.

1.10. Discussion: This is the interpretation of the results obtained and comparison with related studies done by other authors. The limitations of the study should be highlighted and speculations avoided. Conclusions of the study and recommendations for future investigations should be included.

1.11. Acknowledgments: Relate the names of the people, institutions, businesses, laboratories, farms, etc., that have collaborated with the investigation (financing, logistics, etc.). This section is not obligatory though it is recommended. Maximum 50 words.

1.12. References: These should be numbered consecutively according to the order they are first mentioned, using Arabic numerals in parenthesis (1). Only those articles directly related to the investigation should appear in this section in order to avoid extensive bibliography reviews. If an article has from one to six authors, all of them should be included in the reference; but if there are more, after the sixth one the expression et al should be written, in italics and without punctuation (et al). Journal titles will be abbreviated (short name, no punctuation) according to the style used in the IndexMedicus. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=journals).

The list of references will be submitted on a separate page, in strict order as they appear in the text, not in alphabetic order. For original articles up to 30 references will be accepted; for literature reviews, up to 50 and for the presentation of clinical cases and short communications, up to 15.

Summaries of conferences, seminaries, events, courses, presentations, technical reports, newsletters, personal statements, non-indexed electronic consultations, monographs, websites and undergraduate graduate work are not accepted as references. References should be up to date and not be older than 10 years. If necessary, they could be included with proper justification but cannot go beyond 20% of the total amount of references. Only two books can be included as references.

2. Short communications: These should have the same structural content as the original articles. Minimum 1.800 words and maximum 3.000.

3. Clinical cases: Structural content is similar to that of short communications, but the summary is not structured. Additionally, after the introduction an evaluation of the patient will be included (subtitles: anamnesis, clinical exam findings, diagnostic aids, etc., in boldface type), treatment approach.

4. Literature reviews: These consist of a critical analysis of literature published on a timely subject of interest and pertinent to animal sciences. The above guidelines should be adhered to, without including materials and methods, results and discussion sections; in its place, use the necessary titles and subtitles (in boldface type) related to the subject considered. Authors should discuss, sustain or dispute the information in the review. Additionally, they should make a critical contribution on the strengths, weaknesses and investigation opportunities of the proposed subject. Generally, the editor is the one that invites expert and known authors to make these contributions.

Printing and copy rights: Authors are bound to cede reprinting rights of the published material to Journal MVZ Córdoba. Translation or partial or total publication of the magazine requires written permission from the Editor. The Journal MVZ Córdoba and the Universidad de Córdoba are not responsible for the opinions and results expressed by the authors. Content published in the Journal MVZ Córdoba are under the license “Attribution – No Derivs – Non-commercial” from Creative Commons, 3.0 whose complete text can be consulted in: http://co.creativecommons.org/tipos-de-licencias/.

Correspondence: Complete name of the corresponding author, work and home address, email, cell phone and landline. This information should be filled out on the Author declaration form. The Journal MVZ Córdoba will keep all information provided by the authors confidential.

Consultation: This should be done exclusively by the corresponding author, who will be the only one responsible for administrative communication with the Journal. The name of the article to be consulted should be included in the subject line of the email and sent to the following emails: editormvzcordoba@gmail.com, revistamvz@unicordoba.edu.co and revistamvz@gmail.com.

Certificates: These will be issued to the referees once the opinion on the article is delivered. These will only be issued to the authors when the article has been evaluated, approved and corrected for publication. The Journal MVZ Córdoba does not make any commitments to the speedy publication of articles related to obtaining academic degrees (M.Sc., Ph.D.), funding sources, final reports on investigation projects, etc., and therefore those articles will be subject to the same current regulations.

Identity of the authors: Will be held strictly confidential by the editorial team of the journal. Articles withdrawn by the authors and those rejected by the Editorial Committee for publication will be filed in the historic data base of the journal and its contents will not be used under any circumstances.

Plagiarism and self-plagiarism: Authors should respect and acknowledge all sources of information in obtaining data, figures, photographs, etc., giving respective credit to the consulted authors. Incompliance with this rule will cause the immediate withdrawal of the article when discovered during the submission process. In case of being detected after publication, whether by members of the journal or because of a complaint or report from other authors, the Journal MVZ Córdoba, after verification, will publish the corresponding retraction notice. Journal MVZ Córdoba will correct typographical or any other type of errors in any published article. Duly argued retraction requests will be accepted.

Changes in authorship: Can be due to incorporation, suppression or modification in the order initially sent. In any case the corresponding author should send a letter to the editor justifying such changes and include the signature of the involved parties. Under no condition will changes be allowed after the article is approved.

Editorial Committee of the Journal MVZ Cordoba
Universidad de Córdoba, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia.
Telephone: (57) (4) 756 90 27
Montería - Colombia
Editor: Marco González Tous. MVZ., M.Sc.
editormvzcordoba@gmail.com.
http://revistas.unicordoba.edu.co/revistamvz/.

The article should be written in third person, using a word processor, single spaced, in 12 point Verdana Font, in one column with 3 cm margins. The article, including tables, figures, references, table and figure legends should not exceed 6.000 words for original articles and literature reviews; 3.000 for short communications and clinical cases. Articles in Spanish and in English are accepted and from 2015 they should be sent in the two languages, annexing the corresponding translation certificate.

In the article will use the word “Figure” to refer to all the illustrations (graphs, photographs and original drawings). The figures should be of good quality, with well defined, clean lines and legible text; margins should be maximum 1 cm. Photographs should be neat, in focus and with balanced lighting.

All tables and figures should have titles, tables in the upper part and figures in the lower part, numbered and cited in the article, without boxes. Tables in image format are not accepted and they all should be annexed at the end of the text in separate pages. The maximum amount of tables and figures will be 8. Each figure should be sent separately with the following specifications: TIFF format, resolution: 300 pixels per inch and 16 cm wide. When including photographs, original files should be sent, indicating the source, with the following requirements: jpg format, 180 pixels per inch and 26 cm wide. If Microsoft Excel is used for graphs, the file should be sent in xls or xlsx format

Interested parties should send the following forms to the editor, duly filled out and signed by each one of the authors: Presentation of articles and self-review, which can be found in the link: http://www.unicordoba.edu.co/revistas/revistamvz/index.htm