ISSN 0120-2804
printed version

ISSN 2357-3791
online version

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/rev.colomb.quim

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement
• Sending of manuscripts

The pourpose of Revista Colombiana de Química is to publish original results of basic and applied research in any of the different areas of chemistry such as analytical chemistry, biochemistry, organic and physical chemistry, food chemistry, inorganic chemistry, material sciences, organometallic chemistry, and chemistry teaching, among others. The target audience are professionals of any area of chemistry.

TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS

RESEARCH ARTICLES

They are articles that present results of investigation that have not been published previously. The authors should highlight the contribution of their work to novel knowledge. It is suggested a maximum of 40 references.

REVIEWS

They will be requested by invitation of the Publishing Board, considering the experience of the authors in a specific subject. They are articles that present the current state of the knowledge on a subject. Additionally, in this type of articles, the authors should clearly establish their contribution and own criterion. It has to present more than 50 references, preferably of the last 5 years.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The journal defines a conflict of interest as any subject that interfere in: the complete and objective presentation, the review by pairs, the taking of publishing decisions, or the publication of investigation articles presented to the journal. The conflict of interests can be of financial and no financial nature, professional or personal, and can come up in relation to an organization or another person.

SUBMITTING AND OUTLINE FOR THE GENERAL REVIEW

Manuscripts submitted to the Revista Colombiana de Química for their possible publication have to be unpublished (no subjected at the same time to any other journal, either printed or digital). The authors are responsible for their opinions and ideas declared in the manuscript. The precision of the information in a manuscript, including figures and tables, is complete responsibility of the author (s).

Manuscripts can be submitted for their evaluation via email (rcolquim_fcbog@unal.edu.co) or through the platform on-line of the journal (http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/rcolquim).

General requirements for submitting

• Sending through the portal online are possible if the author is registered. If not, the author should register following the necessary steps. Before beginning, it is important to check that the sending meets all the requirements requested by the journal (See section Preparation for on-line sending).
• Neither abstract nor authors' data should be included in the on-line version of the document. These information should be included in the metadata, that is to say, in the submission form. On the contrary, if the article is sent by e-mail it has to contain all the data that is specify in the Format section.
• In both cases, on-line submitting or via e-mail, a letter presenting the article must be submitted. This letter should include the most relevant aspects of the manuscript, a list of three possible reviewers, with their respective contact data. The letter should be sign by all the authors.
• Photos, diagrams, maps, and figures should be named as figures. Photos and maps should be attached in a separated file, in a TIFF or JPEG format. They should have the size at which they have to be published, with a resolution of 300 dpi, and in a grey scale in black and white. If a grey scale is not good enough then different trams should be used. Photos and maps should not be copied in Word because they lose resolution, and therefore there will be problems during the formatting. If the graphic corresponds to archives developed in Excel or Word, then authors should send it in the original program.

Reviewing flow

• After receiving the manuscript and verifying that it fulfils with the format established in this guide, it is sent to peer-reviewers.
• After receiving the evaluations, the decision of the Editorial Board is sent to the correspondence author:
• Accepted with minor changes: Authors should send a new version to the journal. When the editor verifies that the changes were made (the authors have to send a detailed list with the changes made or the reason why they do not made the changes), the article is accepted.
• Major changes: Authors should send a new version to the journal, which will be subjected to a fast evaluation (the authors have to send a detailed list with the changes made or the reason why they do not made the changes).
• Rejected: The authors decide if they subject a new version to the journal, which will be treated as a new article.
• If the article is accepted, it will appear initially in a pre-print format in the web page of the journal (http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/rcolquim/index). Later on it will be replaced by the diagramed version. Finally, the printed version will be distributed.

PREPARATION

The document has to be presented in a Word .doc or .docx file, size letter, 2.0 line spacing, with top and bottom margins of 2.5 cm and 3.0 cm in right and left margins, font Times New Roman, pages consecutively numbered. The titles: ABSTRACT, RESUMEN, RESUMO, INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, and REFERENCES should to be used.

Language

FIRST PAGE

Title

The title has to be in small letter, unless the capital is compulsory. It has to be concise but informative and does not have to exceed 120 characters including spaces. The title has to appear always in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. For example:

• Catalytic oxidation of toluene and 2-propanol over Mn and Co mixed oxides obtained by coprecipitation method.
• Oxidación catalítica de tolueno y 2-propanol sobre óxidos mixtos de Mn y Co obtenidos por coprecipitación.
• A oxidação catalítica de tolueno e 2-propanol em óxidos mistos de Mn e de Co, obtidos por coprecipitação.

AUTHOR(S) AND THEIR FILIATIONS

• Full names.
• Last professional title.
• Working institution.
• Country and city of residence.
• E-mail (for each author).

Filiation data should keep a categorical order as follows: laboratory, institute, university, city, state, country, e-mail. Each filiation should be listed with numbers in superscript and referenced to each author.  The author of correspondence has to be denoted with an asterisk. For example:

Mauricio Acelas1, Elizabeth Gil2, Markus Doerr3, Martha Daza3, Juan Manuel Urbina1*

1 Laboratorio de Química Orgánica y Biomolecular - LQOBio, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Ciudad Universitaria, AA 678, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
2 Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7 Nº 43-82, Bogotá D.C., Colombia.
3 Grupo de Bioquímica Teórica - GBQT, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Ciudad Universitaria, AA 678, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
* Author of correspondence: jurbina@uis.edu.co

BODY OF THE MANUSCRIPT

The manuscript should be justified (aligned to both left and right), with the pages and lines numbered continuously. All titles and primary and secondary subtitles should be justified to the left. The titles (ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION, MATERIAL AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, and REFERENCES) have to go with capital letter and bold type. The primary subtitles have to go with small letter sustained and bold type. The secondary subtitles have to go in italic. Always the statistics terms, abbreviations, and symbols have to be defined the first time they are used in the manuscript. For the measurement units, the International Metric System should be used. When not followed by units numbers are written up to ten with the word (one, two, three, etc.) and higher than ten with numbers (11, 12, 102). Numbers with units should be followed by the units keeping a space between one and another (100 m, 50 mL). If the number represents a percentage then there should not be any space between the number and the unit (80%). In manuscripts written in Spanish decimals are separated by comma (,) and in English by point (.). Each figure and table in the text must be quoted according to the order of apparition and in the following format: Figure 1 or Figures 1 and 2 or Figures 1A-1F or Table 1.

ABSTRACT

Abstract should have a maximum of 200 words. To write an introductory sentence is suggested. The authors have to mention the aim of the investigation, the notable results (providing specific data and, if possible, its statistical significance), and the main conclusions without bibliographic references. Authors should emphasize towards the new and important aspects of the study. A descriptive abstract should be avoided (where no data is shown), instead, an analytical abstract (where notable data obtained in the investigation is shown) should be presented. The abstract has to appear always in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

KEY WORDS

Between three to six words have to be listed. The words used in the title of the manuscript should not be used in this section. Key words have to appear always in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

INTRODUCTION

The logical foundations for the realization of the work have to be presented. Only strictly timely references should be given. Data or conclusions of the manuscript should not be included in this section. At the end of the introduction, the aim of the work have to be shown.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In a subsection, the reagents used, trade, and the country have to be listed. The methods used should be listed by subtitles. The procedures have to have the sufficient detail to allow other professionals to reproduce the experiments. This section must include the equipment, including name of the manufacturer and country, in addition, the references of the methodology and statistical methods should be provided. Authors should describe the new methods or those that have been substantially modified, supporting the reasons to use them and evaluating their limitations.

Authors submitting reviews should describe the methods employed to locate, select, extract, and synthesize the information. If statistical tests are done, then a subtitle “Statistical analysis” should be included for their description.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results should be presented in a logical order and in accordance to the order presented in the MATERIALS AND METHODS section. Authors should highlight the results that contribute to the generation of new knowledge. The information contained in tables does must not be repeated in figures, and vice versa.

New and outstanding outcomes of the study should be highlighted. Information presented in the sections INTRODUCTION should not be shown again in this section. It is advised to evaluate possible relations between the obtained results, to judge the results in relation with the ones obtained by other authors, and to propose hypotheses to explain the obtained data. The sections should have a minimum extension of three pages written in double space.

CONCLUSIONS

Minimum one paragraph should be presented as conclusion (s). Conclusions should be in accordance to the aim of the study, avoiding to enumerate them or to present them as loose sentences. Author should present the conclusions well supported by the data.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding sources should be mentioned in this section. Support received for the realization of the study (e.g., scholarships, equipment, reagents) should also be included. Autors can appoint those people that contributed to the work, but whose contributions do not justify the authorship, describing the contribution carried out, for example, "technical support", "critical review of the writing", "collecting samples".

REFERENCES

The format is based in the guide of styles of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

References in text: All the appointments that appear in the text have to coincide with those presented in the section REFERENCES, and vice versa.

Authors must avoid referencing as bibliography:

• The summaries presented in congresses or other meetings.
• Personal communications.
• Unpublished data. The citation of a manuscript as "in press" supposes that it was already accepted for publication.

The references should appear with italic numbers in parentheses in the line of the text, and inside the punctuation. For example:

- The conditions of extraction are reported in other studies (1).

If there is more than one reference there must be separated by comma (,) without spaces between numbers. If they are consecutive references they are separated by hyphen. For example:

-The results obtained were similar to those reported by other authors (8,26-30).

The references should be written with natural numbers in accordance to their order of apparition. If within the text the author(s) are to be mentioned, then the citation has to be as:

• An author: Duque (2)
• Two authors: Duque and Palomeque (3)
• More than two authors: Duque et al. (4)

Format of references: The references have to be organized in the same numerical order in which they were presented along the text.

Journals

The surname and the initials of the name of all the authors have to be included. Surnames should be separated of the initials of the name by comma. The initials of the names of authors should be accompanied with point. Authors should be separated with semicolon. After the authors information the title should be written. The name abbreviated of the journal in italic, according to the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI, http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp). The year in bold type, the volume with italic type and the pages (separated with hyphen). If available the DOI should be included.

- Up to six authors: all the authors should be included.

Da Silva, R.; Nissim, I.; Brosnan, M.; Brosnan, J. Creatine synthesis: Hepatic metabolism of guanidinoacetate and creatine in the rat in vitro and in vivo. Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab. 2009, 296, 256-261. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.90547.2008.

-  More than six authors: include until the sixth author and then write et al.

Books and other monographs

• Books without editors

Stout, J.; Antonio, J.; Kalman, D. Essentials of creatine in sports and health. Humana Press Inc.: Totowa, NJ, 2008; pp 30-40. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-573-2.

Budavari, S.; O’Neil, M. J.; Smith, A.; Heckelman, P. E.; Obenchain, J. R., Jr.; Gallipeau, J. A. R.; D’Arecea, M. A. The merck index, an encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals, 13th ed. Merck & Co., Inc.: Whitehouse Station, NJ, 2001; pp 1768-1769.

• Books with editors

Rowe, R. C.; Sheskey, P. J.; Owen, S. C. (eds.). Handbook of pharmaceutical excipients, 5th ed. Pharmaceutical Press and American Pharmacists Association: Grayslake, IL, 2006; pp 798-799.

• Chapter in edited book

McBrien, M. Selecting the correct pH value for HPLC. In HPLC made to measure: A practical handbook for optimization; Kromidas, S., Ed.; Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, Germany, 2006; pp 89-103.

Doctoral Thesis (or similar)

• Printed

King, K. J. Development of a pressurized system for oxidation studies of volatile fluids. M.S. Thesis, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, March 1983.

• Online

Abrams, N. M. Efficiency enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells through light manipulation. Ph.D. Dissertation [Online], The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, December 2005. http://etda.libraries.psu.edu/theses/approved/WorldWideIndex/ETD-1061/index.html (consulted on the 2nd April 2014).

Web sites

Penn State Department of Chemistry. http://www.chem.psu.edu/ (consultado el 7 de junio de 2014).

Mallet Chemistry Library, University of Texas Libraries. ThermoDex home page: An index of selected thermodynamic and physical property resources. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/thermodex/ (consultado el 19 de marzo de 2014).

In press

Martínez, F.; Jouyban, A.; Acree, W. E., Jr. Comments on ‘‘Solubility and thermodynamic function of a new anticancer drug ibrutinib in 2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)ethanol + water mixtures at different temperatures”. J. Chem. Thermodyn. 2015. In press. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jct.2015.11.031

TABLES AND FIGURES

Photos, diagrams, maps, and graphics should be mentioned as figures. We encourage authors to present data in figures instead to tables. In any case, redundancy among tables, figures, and text should be avoided.

Figures with legends have to be sent individually in format .TIFF, of excellent quality, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and with one of two sizes (9 cm of width, that is a column, or 20 cm that covers the two columns). The color impression does not generate additional costs for the authors, however, it represents a greater cost for the journal. With this in mind, a scale of grey or trams should be used whenever possible. The use of color might be considered when it is strictly necessary. Figures originally created in Microsoft Word or Excel should be sent in that program.

Tables should be included in the body of the manuscript at the end of the document. Both tables and figures have to be self-contained (They should be interpreted without needing information from the body of the manuscript). Keys and abbreviations should be described in the legend of the figure and in the title or foot of the table. It is advised to provide in addition to the average, the standard deviation, and other notable statistical information.

The labels of each table have to be at the top of it, whereas in figures the labels have to be presented at their foot. Small figures should be avoided: group figures with information related in compound figures entitled with letters (Figure 1a, Figure 3b, etc.). If a manuscript contains tables or figures reproduced (even if they are from the author (s) submitting the manuscript) it is compulsory to the authors to declare the origin and to present permission to use them. It is responsibility of the authors to achieve the corresponding permission. In case of any doubt in this regard, please contact the journal via e-mail (rcolquim_fcbog@unal.edu.co) or by telephone (+571 3165000 Ext. 14458).

Revista Colombiana de Química follows the ethics policy proposed by COPE: http://publicationethics.org/ intended for peer-reviewed scientific journals. Please be aware that plagiarism, ghost writing, and duplication of results are considered to go against our ethics policy. This journal uses an evaluation system in which authors and referees are unknown to each other.

PREPARATION FOR ON-LINE SUBMITING

Before sending your manuscript, by the Portal or by email, verify that it fulfils with the following conditions:

• It has a title in the 3 languages requested.
• It provides full names of the authors, and for each one it is mentioned:
• Last professional title.
• Institution in which the author works.
• Country and city of residence.
• E-mail.
• It presents an analytical abstract, of maximum 200 words, in the three languages requested.
• It presents keywords, in the 3 languages requested.
• The body of the article follows the format requested.
• The cited references in the body of the article appear in the section REFERENCES and vice versa.
• The format of the references follows the indications stipulated in this guide.
• In the references the DOI of the articles are presented, if it is the case.
• The figures are in format .TIFF with resolution greater than 300 dpi. (in separated files). If a figure was created in Word or Excel then sent it in that format.
• The tables are placed at the end of the document.
• A letter presenting the manuscript in a format as suggested above is included.

MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION

If the Editor has notified the correspondence author that his (her) manuscript could be accepted for publication in case the modifications suggested by the referees are taken into account, the author should send the new version of the manuscript accompanied of a letter detailing the response to each one of the comments. In the case a comment is not taken into account the author should justify the reason. The new version of the manuscript should be created with the “track changes” option or highlighting in yellow the changes, so that the Editor can identify them easily.

Once the process of reviewing is completed, the Editor will send an email to the correspondence author manifesting the decision of the Editorial Board. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, an e-mail attaching the suggestions, indications, and comments of each reviewer will be sent to the correspondence author. To continue with the process of publication, the author should send the following archives to the e-mail of the journal (rcolquim_fcbog@unal.edu.co):

• The new version of the manuscript in which the author uses the option “track changes” or highlight in yellow the modifications performed.
• A letter detailing the response to each one of the comments. In the case a comment is not taken into account the author should justify the reason.
• In the case that a reviewer suggest that a figure should be modified, then be aware that it should be in format .TIFF with a resolution greater than 300 dpi.