ISSN 2665-2056
online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Method and Preparation of Texts
• Jouurnal Ethics Statement
• Sending of manuscripts

Revista de Investigación e Innovación en Ciencias de la Salud (RIICS in its Spanish acronym) is an Ibero-American scientific journal of the Health Professions, peer-reviewed, in open access and Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, whose purpose is to be a channel of disciplinary communication of research and review articles, original and unpublished, derived from research projects and processes that provide evidence to respond to current gaps, needs and problems.

Research Article

A research article is an original and unpublished production that presents in a detailed and organized manner the results derived from a completed research project. This type of article follows the RIMRDyC structure (resume, introduction, methodology, results, discussion and conclusions). It should have a maximum length of 5000 words and at least 25 bibliographical references.

Review Article

Document derived from research that systematically compiles, organizes and analyzes the most recent and important researches in the area; it presents the evolution of a topic providing a general and current overview of its trends, controversies and debates; its authors should be researchers with expertise in the field of research.

For this typology, RIICS includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses that follow the guidelines of the PRISMA statement. Similar to the research article, it should follow the RIMRD&C structure. The maximum length should be 6000 words and use at least 50 bibliographic sources for its analysis.  Please, refer to PRISMA statement for information on your method. It is also recommended to visit the official publication and updated of the method in The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews and PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews; you can also review this version in Spanish: Declaración PRISMA 2020: una guía actualizada para la publicación de revisiones sistemáticas; you can find more information in Ekuator Network. We recommend reviewing the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

Reflection Article

Original document that presents research results from an analytical, interpretative and critical perspective; the reflection should be focused on a specific, controversial, emerging or current topic in the area. Although it is a particular position adopted by a person or group of people based on evidence, it must be expressed in a clear, coherent, organized and argued manner to demonstrate a deep and broad understanding of the topic, leading to new ideas and perspectives. The author must have experience and expertise in the field of research to justify his or her position well, and be clear about the implications or consequences of the opinions expressed. The structure of the article should contain the following parts: summary, introduction, reflection or point of view, conclusions and references. The maximum length of the article should be 4500 words and at least 25 bibliographic sources should be used. 

Editorial

Document written by the Editor, a member of the Editorial Board or an invited researcher in which orientations are provided in the thematic area of the journal, or an opening is given to the published issue, or discussions are opened around emerging or current issues in the Health Professions. Editorials should have a length between 1000-1500 words and contain no more than 10 references. 

Letters to the Editor

Document that presents a critical, analytical or interpretative position about an article published by RIICS. The Editorial Committee will publish those letters that make an important contribution to the discussion and will make the decision to invite the authors of the article under discussion to write a letter in response to the Editor. The letters should be submitted one year after the article has been published, have a clear, concise title that refers to the article, and should be no longer than 750 words and have 10 references.

Cover Page

The front page should contain: the title of the article, short title, author information, disclaimer, source of support, word count, number of figures and tables, and conflict of interest statement. This section applies to review and reflection articles.

Title

The title provides a summary description of the article and must include information that, combined with the keywords and abstract, allows electronic recovery in several search engines. The title should be focused on the subject matter being developed to catch the reader's attention. Please take into account these other guidelines on the title:

1. It should be precise and explain itself. 2. Jargon and local linguistic usages should be avoided. 3. Metaphors or poetic expressions should be avoided. 4. Popular or vulgar language should be avoided. 5. It should not be redundant or use abbreviations (syntax must be taken care of). 6. Do not use too many prepositions. 7. The ideal length is 75 to 100 characters or 10 to 15 words. 8. Exclamation marks, semicolons and slashes ("/") should not be used. Commas, parentheses, question marks and colons may be used.

Short title

The short title must be a summary of the title and should not exceed 40 characters (including spaces).

Author’s information

Standardized names of authors

The authors in the publication exercise must use a unique way of naming themselves, this is called pen name. Standardizing the way of signing the publications will allow their name not to be confused with other similar ones and it will allow them to be cited correctly and not lose citations throughout their scientific life. For the signature, RIICS asks the authors to follow the criteria of the International Registry of Authors-Links to Identify Scientists (IraLIS) and register in this system.

Orcid

It is an alphanumeric code that identifies scientists and other academic authors in a unique manner. All the authors who have submitted their proposals to RIICS must have their Orcid. When registering in Orcid, please keep the same name used in IraLIS.

CvLAC (Latin American and Caribbean Curriculum Vitae)

All Colombian authors who have submitted their proposals to RIICS must be registered in CvLAC (if you do not have one, you can start the registration here). This criterion does not apply to authors outside Colombia.

Authors' academic degrees

Number all the academic degrees of higher education received (postdoctoral, doctorate, master's, specialization, profession).

Institutional affiliation

It is the corporate entity where the research is carried out, or the institution to which the author belongs; it is not always a university, it can be a research center, a hospital, a governmental entity or a private company. It must be remembered that proper names have no translation. After the affiliation, the city and country must be included. Example of complete affiliation: Phisiotherapy Program; Health Sciences School; Fundación Universitaria María Cano; Medellín; Colombia. 

Mailing address

Include this information only for the main author or corresponding author.

Telephone and e-mail

All the authors should include their contact number, institutional and personal e-mail.

Disclaimer

The author(s) must declare that the opinions presented in the article are his/her own and not an official position of his/her institution or funder. 

Source(s) of support

All sources of support that facilitated the research and writing of the article must be included. List the funding sources in the standard form to facilitate meeting funder requirements. See the following example:

Funding: this research was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the University... [number of the research project zzzz]; the Public Health Institute... [grant number yyyy].

If no funding was provided for the research, include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or nonprofit sectors.

Word count

The author should report the number of words in the article. The information on the cover page, tables, legends, figures and references are not taken into account in this count. 

Number of figures and tables

The author(s) should report the number of figures and tables accompanying the article. This will help the Editor to confirm and corroborate the total number. 

Conflict of Interest Statement

The author(s) must report if there was a conflict of interest surrounding the manuscript submitted to RIICS. A conflict of interest is considered when the author has personal, academic, or financial relationships that may bias or affect his/her actions in the research and publishing.

Resume (abstract)

The abstract is the most important paragraph of the article. It will be the first information to be evaluated by the Editors and reviewers and the first to be reviewed by the readers. Because of this, the content of the article must be clearly reflected here. A good abstract combines aspects of writing and language quality and must be presented in both languages: Spanish and English. As the length of the abstract is extremely short (RIICS accepts a maximum of 250 words), the authors should be precise and select the most important information to be written in a fluent manner. The abstract must present the following pattern:

1. Objetive
2. Design / methodology / approach
3. Results
4. Limitations of the study / implications
5. Originality / value
6. Findings/ conclusions

About Keywords

It is recommended to include between 10 and 12 keywords. This will increase the probability of article retrieval through search engines. It is necessary that the selected words are standardized, which means they are recognized by health sciences databases. RIICS recommends the thesaurus of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the National Library of Medicine of the United States [see here] and the Health Sciences Descriptors [DeCS] of the Virtual Health Library for Latin America and the Caribbean (AL&C) [see here]. The keywords should be presented in Spanish and English.

Introduction

The introduction develops the background of the research, in other words, the nature of the problem and its importance. The purpose or hypothesis of the study must be presented as well. The authors should select the most pertinent sources and in any case conclusions must be presented. A detailed study of the literature (typical of a review) or a summary of the results must be avoided.

Methods

This section should be very clear, precise and detailed, in order to allow other researchers to replicate the research without overlooking any aspect. It must state that it was approved by a bioethics committee or the body that approved the research. The following sections should be considered: 

Selection and description of the participants

Describe the population and the selection of the participants (with inclusion and exclusion criteria). A detailed description (age, sex, ethnic) is very important. Researchers must attempt to include representative samples and provide descriptive data and relevant demographic variables. A neutral, precise and respectful language should also be used to describe the participants. 

Technical Information

Please specify the main and secondary objectives of the study, report the methods, equipment used and procedures in detail to allow others to reproduce the results. Reference the methods, describe the equipment (name, manufacturer, etc.). Provide reasons for the selection of instruments, their reliability and limitations. If chemicals or medicines were used, identify them accurately (including generic names), dosages used and routes of administration.  

Statistics

Describe adequately and accurately the statistical methods used to allow other researchers to apply them to the data and obtain the same results (a peer reviewer may request them to confirm the findings). Where possible, present reliability intervals and avoid relying only on statistical hypothesis tests, such as P-values, as they do not convey important information about effect size. Include a description of effect size estimates. Define the statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols used. Include information on the statistical software and version used.

Results

Present the results of the research in a logical sequence and supported by tables and figures. Present the most important findings first. Do not be redundant with the data by presenting them in different ways. Restrict tables and figures to only those necessary: do not duplicate them. Use graphics as an alternative to explain tables with many records. Be as technical as possible with statistical terms to avoid confusion or misinterpretation.

Discussion

Make an introductory paragraph summarizing the main findings; then provide explanations for each of the results and relate them to the objectives or purpose of the study. Emphasize new and important findings, discuss them with the literature avoiding extensive citations. Discuss the possible influence or association with the study variables. Do not repeat in detail information from other sections (introduction, methodology or results). 

Limitations and recommendations

Report limitations and possible implications for future studies. Provide recommendations to other researchers in order to continue lines of study.

Conclusions

Conclusions must demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the research; connect the objectives of the study with the results; be adequately supported by the data; present open questions and possible solutions and/or applications; a general explanation of the results may also be hypothesized.

References

The authors base their research on the work of other authors and their own, this is done by means of citations within the text that must coincide with the complete reference at the end of the article. The style used by RIICS is Vancouver, officially known as Recommendations for the Conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical Journals. It is a set of rules established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), formerly known as the Vancouver Group due to the fact that it met for the first time in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

When the author cites in the text, it should be done by placing an Arabic numeral in square brackets consecutively. The bibliography at the end of the article must be numbered and in the order in which it was cited. For the proper application of each of the citations and references, the authors are requested to refer to the sample references and in more detail to Citing Medicine, 2nd edition.

Please keep the following in mind: cite and reference only what you had at hand to perform the research; consult primary sources, from reputable Editorials and works that have undergone peer review; the sources must have a wide coverage, both national and international, having a greater amount of international sources (it is suggested that 30% of the sources be Latin American and the remaining 70% be outside Latin America); 70% of the references must be from the last five years; under any case, the references should not be used to promote personal or other interests; citing articles from predatory journals must be avoided; although review articles are important in the research process, it is suggested to refer to the originals for more accurate information; avoid frequent self-citation; if citing accepted but unpublished papers, place the mention "in press"; do not cite retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction; remember to check that everything cited is properly referenced and everything referenced is properly cited, and in both cases the numbering of the citation corresponds to the referencing; verify that there are no missing or excess citations or references;  it is suggested to use a manager  of bibliographic references to reduce errors (e.g., Mendeley, EndNote, Mendeley, EndNote). Mendeley, EndNote, Zotero, etc.); include always the DOI of the article, by clicking here you will be able to search if the consulted source has a DOI (use the title of the consulted document for the search).

Tables

Tables included in the article must be editable, mentioned in the body of the text and numbered in consecutive order; if they have notes, they must be outside, at the end of the table and centered. Be sure that the data presented in the tables do not duplicate the contents described in other sections; the use of shading or inserting figures or graphic content in the cells is not recommended. In general terms, a table seeks to synthesize a certain amount of data in a convenient manner; for this reason, it is suggested that the range of rows be between 5 and 15; in any case, its size must not exceed one page.

Figures (images, graphics, photos)

Figures included in the article must be in their source format (jpg, png, tiff) and high resolution; they must be quoted in the text and numbered consecutively according to their appearance; if the Figures include text, attempt to use the following fonts: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol or use fonts that look similar. Keys must be separated and at the foot of the Figure. A copy of the Figures must be sent to the journal in their source format with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch).

Calculations and equations

Calculations and equations should be included with the support of Word: Insert/Equation (images are not accepted); calculations and equations should have a separate numbering as follows: Eq. 1; Eq. 2, etc. the above in order to be retrieved by search engines and processed with XML jast methodology.

RIICS has a social commitment to the scientific community of the Health Sciences, therefore it will ensure that the publication processes are transparent and rigorous, the intellectual property rights are followed according to the law and it will encourage its authors to follow good practices in research, avoid misrepresenting the results of their research and violate copyright in order to protect the reputation of the journal and not to compromise the trust of the journal and its scientific community. For this purpose, RIICS follows the guidelines of the:

Council of Scientific Editors (CSE): see the White Paper on Publication Ethics.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE): see the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals; and Form for Disclosure of Interests.

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME): see Ethics Case Discussions and Syllabus for Prospective and Newly Appointed Editors.

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): see Core practices; Flowcharts on handling different aspects of publication ethics issues; Guidelines intended to advise editors and publishers on expected publication ethics practices.

To the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing proposed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA and WAME; to the declarations on the scientific integrity of Singapore and Montreal: see Singapore statement on research integrity and Montreal Statement on Research Integrity in Cross-Boundary Research Collaborations; to the ethical principles of Hong Kong: see Hong Kong principles; to the scientific, technical, and administrative standards for health research in Colombia: see: Resolution number 8430 DE 1993; to the Universal Declaration on bioethics and human rights of UNESCO: see Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights; to the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association: see WMA declaration of Helsinki – Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects; the Guidelines for animal research of the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research: see The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0; and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Academy of Sciences.

The above guidelines should be taken as a guide for the responsible production of research and not as a regulation. Therefore, investigators and sponsors must adhere to the official policies of the appropriate national agencies and organizations. RIICS requires that manuscripts and authors comply with the principles and responsibilities of the integrity of scientific research and publication and avoid any violation of ethics.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

We declare that: we are the original authors and we agree with the order of appearance in the manuscript; we approve the current version and submission to RIICS; the manuscript has not been published by any media (print or digital); it is not available on the internet (repository, database, web page, blog, etc.); it was not submitted to another journal simultaneously, and it is not being considered for publishing by another editorial.

We have read the journal's policies and we agree with them (see Guide for authors).

The text adheres to the shipping requirements outlined in the Shipping instructions.

We, the authors, have downloaded the cover letter model, registered all the requested information, reviewed and complied with the checklist that is contained there, signed at the end, and attached to this shipment (download cover letter model at HERE).

All authors have individually downloaded, read, responded to and signed the Declaration of interests and attached in this shipment (download the Declaration of Interests template HERE).

We confirm that the following files are attached to this submission: 1. Cover letter; 2. Article; 3. Declaration of interests (of each of the authors). 4. Figures (if the manuscript contains figures, they must be attached in separate files: jpg, png, etc.). 5. Research approval document (of the bioethics committee or organizations that approved the study). 6. Informed consent for publication (if there is data, photographs, or material that identifies the study participants in the article).

All authors assign the copyright to Fundación Universitaria María Cano (Institution that publishes the journal) if the manuscript is approved for publication (see Assignment of rights policy).