Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission Guidelines

1. I) Elaboration of manuscript

 The Revista Venezolana de Salud Pública considers among the types of articles to publish the following:

 Original articles: these articles are the product of original research on public health and related areas oriented in a complex and interdisciplinary vision. They are characterized by a) scientific findings of research carried out through field work, descriptive, analytical, quasi-experimental or experimental as well as clinical cases of public health importance at the discretion of the editorial committee and b) a first approach to a theoretical interpretation of these or other findings, increasing or restructuring knowledge about a certain topic. The articles will have a maximum length of 5,500 words or 20 pages including the abstracts in spanish and english. The articles are usually divided into the following sections:

1. a) Introduction: answers the question What is the problem? It is the conceptual stage of the investigation including the objectives.
2. b) Materials and Methods: answer the question How is the problem studied? Type of study, population, sample, instrument and data analysis procedure. In this section, mention should be made of the informed consent of the participants in the study and of the authorization to carry out the investigation of the corresponding ethics committee.
3. c) Results: answer the question What were the findings? Corresponding tables or graphs are presented.
4. d) Discussion and Conclusions: answer the question What do the findings mean? An analysis of the results is presented.

 Systematization of Experiences: these articles include the results of research on the knowledge produced in a lived experience that includes the teaching, clinical, managerial, community or research practice, by different subjects, through the collection, analysis and evaluation of his actions. The experience is reconstructed and knowledge is produced from the lessons learned. They will have a maximum extension of 5,500 words or 20 pages including the abstracts in spanish and english. They are usually divided into the following sections:

a) Introduction: contains theme, objectives, institutional framework, context of the experience, methodology systematization and characterization of the actors of the process.b) Body: body of the text with internal subtitling, according to the different moments of the experience, chronological and/or thematic criteria (initial moment, intervention and current situation).c) Conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned. 3. Essays: includes critical reflection writings whose objective will be to stimulate discussion on topics of interest in public health (among others, policies and systems of health, equity, health services, health promotion and education, ethics). Must be supported through an adequate, sufficient and updated documentation. Its length will be maximum 15 pages or 4500 words including the abstracts in spanish and english. The essay is structured as follows:a) Introduction: the central thesis of the essay is exposed.b) Body: different arguments that support or reject the thesis are presented. The arguments presented may be the author’s own or supported by other sources of recognized authority.c) Conclusion: where the scope is shown and also the relevance of the topic, importance, benefits and recommendations of lines of analysis for subsequent writings. It is important to emphasize that the three components of the essay do not constitute subtitled sections; in this sense the author or author must present their arguments in a single text. 4. Review articles: these are articles that show the result of a recent information analysis in an attempt to synthesize the results achieved on a topic, thesis or state of the art of a certain topic related to public health. The review can be done following any of the accepted methodologies for that purpose. Its extension will be between 15 and 20 pages including the abstracts in spanish and english. The review is structured as follows: a) Introduction and objective of the work; b) Method of localization, selection and evaluation of primary studies; c) Development and discussion of the topic and d) Conclusions.  5. Critical Review: consists of a commented synthesis of published work in the form of books, journals and other types of publications on some of the fields or topics of public health in order to offer a vision, interpretation and personal assessment of the chosen text by researchers. Its extension will be between 8 and 10 pages including the abstracts in spanish and english. This type of manuscript is structured as follows: a) Introduction: it includes the bibliographic reference of the book or article reviewed. In accordance with the style of the author of the review, it can incorporate the author’s central opinion or thesis. b) Body: Include all those elements contained in the book or article that can serve to present the evidence that will sustain the opinion. Emphasis is made on the successes and shortcomings of the work read.c) Conclusion: is the final wording which condenses the critical opinion of the author.

 Letters to the Editor: these are observations, criticisms and suggestions about what has been published in the journal or in another scientific journal that have not been published in any magazine or media. Letters to the editor can have multiple purposes, among which can be mentioned: a) issue a critical judgment about a fact of public health; b) comment on some aspects of the editorial policy of the journal in question and c) develop, clarify or explain particularities of a research work recently published in the journal. The maximum length will be 500 words or 2.5 pages, without including authors or references. Letters to the editor cannot be signed by more than two authors. They may include up to three references and a table if necessary. The letters will be received only when they refer to material published in the two most recent issues of the journal.

 Historical Article or semblance: they refer to the knowledge of the historical evolution of institutions, diseases and/or events related to public health with the purpose of laying the foundations for the understanding of current events. The historical note or semblance can also refer to the history of a person's life and its achievements. Historical notes or sketches can also refer to groups and places, trying to understand a phenomenon of symbolic-social importance. The axis of interest is not a person but a group and its relationship or influence in a specific place. The maximum length will be between five and eight pages. The historical note or semblance is structured as follows:

7. a) Introduction: describes the institutions, characters, diseases and/or events related to public health that will be subject to historical review. It should point in the direction of generating interest to readers.
8. b) Body: the origins of the object of historical review are exposed. Background that have influenced the development of the character, institution or theme related to public health is reviewed. It is essential to provide interesting links and relevant facts that lead the reader to understand more about the character, institution, and/or events related to public health, among others.
9. c) Conclusions: where relevant elements of the historical evolution that is part of the study are exposed.

 General Guidelines for Citations and References

The Revista Venezolana de Salud Pública, uses the general guidelines for citations and references contained in the document Uniform Requirements for Preparing Manuscripts Presented to Biomedical Journals (1) prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Directors (updated in February of 2006). These guidelines are also known as "Vancouver standards."

Brief or extensive quotations

A quote is an idea of ​​an author of a text or document that is used to support, corroborate or contrast the expressed. The short textual quotation, less than five lines, is placed in quotation marks and the corresponding number is placed at the end, after the quotation marks and before the punctuation mark. The extensive textual citation is greater than five lines. It is written without quotation marks in a separate line, centered with indentation of 4 spaces on each side, the size of the letter will be one point less than that of the general text (Arial, number 11); the number of the quote is written at the end. The explanatory notes will refer to the footnotes and will be indicated in the text with Arabic numbers in superscript. Informal citations refer to unpublished observations such as letters, electronic messages, verbal and presentations at events. These observations will be indicated in the text with an asterisk (*) and placed as a footnote with the following information: type of communication, name or institution, position, city, date. Example: Personal communication by Darío Ramírez, Director of Social Security, Bogotá, July 10, 2012.

General Considerations on References

Whenever possible, readers should be provided with direct references to the original sources of the concepts, methods, and techniques referred to in the text, which come from research, studies, and previous experiences.

From the quotes of the References

• Only citations will be accepted to reinforce or support an idea or finding. Only those references consulted directly by the researcher are included before making citations (or second sources)
• All references should be cited in the text with consecutive numbers, in parentheses, preferably using superscript, as follows: "It has been observed (3, 4) that ..." Or: "Several authors (1-5) have indicated that ...
• References to articles already accepted but not yet published should be cited with the specification "in press" or "forthcoming". Authors should obtain a written authorization to cite such articles as well as confirmation that they have been accepted for publication. Information on manuscripts that have been submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with the written permission of the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available in a public source and, in this case, the name of the person and the date of the communication should be quoted in parentheses. In scientific articles, authors should obtain written permission and confirmation of the accuracy of the source of a personal communication.

 List of References

The list of references will be numbered consecutively according to the order in which the citations appear in the text. The list of references will be added in separate sheets, at the end of the manuscript, and will conform to the standards described below.

1. Books: Surname and initial of the name of the authors; title of the work or chapter; surname and initial of the name of the editors; title of the book; edition; editorial; city ​​where the work was published; year; cited pages (initial-final).
2. Magazine articles. It is important to provide the following information: author (s), title of the article (in its original version without translation), Name of the journal in which it is published; year; volume (in Arabic numerals), number and initial and final pages. All information will be presented in the original language of the cited work.
3. Articles from online magazines: Author/s of the article. Article title. Name of the magazine [Online Magazine]. You can also get: [Online magazine]. [Online Magazine]. Year [date of consultation]; can also be put: [access ...]; [consulted ...]; [aforementioned...]; volume (number): [Extension / pages - if they had it].
4. Newspaper article: Author (if it is available). Article title. Name of the newspaper. (complete). Day, month and year; Section: (If identified) Column: (If identified). Page.
5. Legal Documents. Laws, Decrees, Orders. Title of the law, decree, project, etc. (Followed by dot.) Name of the Official Gazette (Followed by comma) Number of the bulletin where it was published (Followed by comma) Date of publication. (In parentheses, day-month-year-).

Tables and Illustrations (Figures)

The tables collect information in a concise manner and present it efficiently; they also offer information with detail and precision. The inclusion of data in tables and not in the text allows to reduce the extension of it. It is advice to print the tables in double space on a separate sheet. Number the tables consecutively following the order of the first quote that appears in the text and assign them a brief title. Do not use horizontal or vertical lines. Each column should be headed by a short or abbreviated title. The authors must place the explanations in footnotes of the table, not in the title. Explain all non-usual abbreviations in footnotes. They should be placed at the end of the work, (after the references) in separate pages each one separately and sent as images and in JPG format. The figures will be designed and photographed in professional quality or presented as digital photographs. They should be presented in a specific format (for example, JPEG or GIF) and at the end of the article (after the references) on separate pages each one separately. For radiographs, scanned images and other images of diagnostic techniques, as well as for photographs of images of pathological samples or microphotographs, send clear and bright photographs in black and white or in color, normally 127 × 173 mm. The legends of the figures should include titles or explanations but these explanations should not appear inside the illustrations. The figures should be numbered consecutively following the order of first appearance in the text. If a previously published figure is used, the original source must be mentioned and the written authorization of the copyright owner presented to reproduce the material. The permission is necessary regardless of the author or the publisher except in the case of public domain documents.

Measurement units

Measurements of length, height, weight and volume should be given in metric units (meter, kilogram or liter) or in decimal multiples or submultiples. Temperatures should be expressed in degrees Celsius. Blood pressure should be measured in millimeters of mercury, unless the journal specifies other units.

Abbreviations and symbols

Use only standard abbreviations; the use of non-standard abbreviations can be extremely confusing for readers. Avoid the use of abbreviations in the title. The first time an abbreviation is used, it should be preceded by the term without abbreviation, unless it is a standard unit of measure.

 References

(1) International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniformity requirements for manuscripts sent to biomedical journals: Reference examples [Online monograph]. Maryland: National Library of Medicine of the USA (NLM) National Institutes of Health; [Updated on July 27, 2010; consulted: February 21, 2011]. [9 p.]. Available at: http://www.metodo.uab.cat/docs/

Other Specific Criteria for Publication and Selection Process

The Revista Venezolana de Salud Pública is bilingual and publishes articles in Spanish or English on public health issues and related areas. The journal does not make translations and only publishes in the original language (Spanish or English) in which the manuscript undergoes evaluation. It is essential that you take care of the spelling and writing of the text as this may affect the acceptance in the journal. The editors of the journal may in some cases change some words and make obvious and very simple wording without the consent of the author; this, however, should not be common and at the time of sending the proof of printing will be request the author’s approval. Articles must be transcribed in Times New Roman font, size number 12 with a spacing of one space and a half of line and conventional indentation. The tables, figures and illustrations should be placed at the end of the manuscript after the bibliographic references and in JPG format. It is suggested to limit the number of tables and include only the ones that illustrate the quantitative results. A selection criteria and opinion process is performed anonymously, using a process of arbitration "double blind" which assesses the suitability of the topic for scientific strength, originality, timeliness of the information as well as methodological coherence and compliance with bioethical standards.

The manuscripts that the Editorial Committee considers pertinent are submitted to a peer review process, which implies 1) a first review, responsability of the Editorial Committee, in which the importance, relevance and depth of the work is determined; also if the manuscript corresponds to the editorial line, adheres to the standards of the journal and complies with the general criteria of publication; 2) a second revision, which is entrusted to two referees, experts in the field under study. The referees will evaluate the content of the article globally according to criteria related to the importance of the subject studied, originality and validity, the rigor of the design and methodology of the study, relevance of the discussion, strength of the interpretations and conclusions, the internal organization of the manuscript and the quality of the form (good syntax, coherent paragraphs, absence of grammatical errors) and the adaptation to the rules of presentation. In case the opinions issued are contradictory, it is submitted to the Editorial Committee or an additional evaluation is requested. The results of the review process can be acceptance, rejection or conditioned to the modifications suggested by the arbitrators. Any decision is communicated in writing exclusively to the author of correspondence, within two to three months from the date on which the original manuscript is received. If the manuscript is conditioned, the new version must be sent within the period indicated but in no case may it exceed 30 days.

1. 
   II) Postulation of the manuscript to the journal

All the manuscripts must be sent in electronic file in Word format to the following email: rvsp@ucla.edu.ve o  https://revistas.ucla.edu.ve/ or http://bibmed.ucla.edu.ve/rvsp/ requesting the publication of their work in the journal; this request should include the basic data of the manuscript such as title, authors and origin. All manuscript sent should include a letter indicating the following: 1) approval of the content of the work (including tables and figures) and the order of appearance of the authors which will be considered final without exception; 2) acceptance of the transfer of copyright to the journal in case the manuscript is published and 3) declaration that it is an original work that has not been published or submitted simultaneously for publication, in whole or in part, by themselves or other authors, to another national or foreign magazine or medium -printed or electronic-. The author will receive a confirmation email of the receipt of his email with the attached files.