Acesso Livre a Informação  - Instructions for Authors

 

REVISTA DE CIÊNCIAS MÉDICAS - ISSN 1415-5796

The "Revista de Ciências Médicas" publishes articles related to the several fields of health, with the purpose of stimulating the production of interdisciplinary works, in the following categories: Original articles: contributions to disseminate results of inedited original research that can be reproduced. Review: article including the available knowledge about a particular subject, through the analysis and interpretation of the relevant bibliography so as to contain a critical and comparative analysis to works done in the area that discuss the methodological limits. Only 2 papers/issue will be published. 

Current Comments: article reporting information published about a subject of interest to a particular specialty. Previous Notes: notes reporting previous or preliminary results of researches in progress. Opinion: qualified opinion on a specific topic in medicine and correlated sciences and Case Reports .

The concepts emitted in the articles and communication are of total responsibility of the authors. Therapeutic essays will not be accepted.

Research involving living beings

Results of research including living beings should be accompanied by a copy of the opinion of the Research Ethics Committee of the Institution of origin or another certified National Council of Health. Furthermore, the last paragraph of the item Methods should contain a clear affirmation of abiding by the ethical principles contained in the Declaration of Helsinki (2000) and of being in agreement with the specific legislation of the country where the research took place.

Experiments with animals should follow the institutional guides of the National Councils of Research on the use and care of laboratory animals.

Records of Clinical Trials

Articles with results of clinical researches should present a number of identification in one of the Records of Clinical Trials validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria whose addresses are available at the ICMJE site. The identification number should be located at the end of the abstract.

Editorial procedures

1) Manuscript assessment

Authors should suggest at least three competent reviewers in their field and may also suggest individuals whom they wish to have excluded from the review process.

Texts submitted to the journal for review that are in agreement with the editorial policy will only start if they are also in agreement with the “instructions for authors.” If not, they will be returned so that they can be formatted according to the rules or to include a letter or other documents that may become necessary.

It is strongly recommended that the authors seek for professional linguistic advisement (certified reviewers or translators of Portuguese and English) before they submit articles that may contain errors and/or morphological, syntax, idiomatic or stylistic inadequacies. The use of the first person of the singular or plural should be avoided since scientific discourses should be impersonal and not contain judgment of value.

Original articles identified with errors or morphological and syntax inadequacies will be returned even before they are submitted to assessment regarding the merit of the work and the convenience of its publication.

The manuscripts that are approved in this phase will be sent to ad hoc referees (reviewers) selected by the editors and authors. Each manuscript will be sent to two reviewers of known competence in the selected theme. If they are not in agreement, the manuscript will be sent to a third referee.

The peer review assessment is the blind review system where the identity of the authors and the referees are kept secret. Thus, the authors should do everything possible to avoid the identification of the authors of the manuscript.

If there is a conflict of interest on the part of the referees, the Editorial Committee will send the manuscript to another ad hoc referee.

The opinions of the referees consist of three possibilities: a) full acceptance; b) accepted with reformulations; c) fully refused. They authors will be notified whatever the case.

The final decision regarding the publishing of the article is always from the editors and they are allowed to make any adjustments they find necessary. If there are essay problems, the text will be returned to the authors so that corrections are made within the maximum stipulated period.

Accepted manuscripts: accepted manuscripts can be returned to the authors for approval of changes that were made in the editing and formatting processes, according to the style of the journal.

Copies: typographical copies will be sent to the others for correction of printing errors. The copies should return to the Núcleo de Editoração on the stipulated deadline. Other changes in the original manuscript will not be accepted during this phase.

2) Submission of works

Works must be accompanied by a letter signed by all authors describing the type of work and thematic area, declaring that the manuscript is being presented only to the Journal of Medical Sciences and agreeing to transfer the copyright to the journal.

If figures and tables published elsewhere are used, the authorization for their use must also be attached to the manuscript.

Authorship: the number of authors must be coherent with the dimensions of the project. Authorship credit must be based on substantial contributions, such as conception and design, or data analysis and interpretation. Including the names of authors who do not fit within the parameters listed above is not justified. Other contributors may be cited in the Acknowledgement section.

The identification page of the manuscripts should contain explicitly how each one of the authors contributed.

3) Presentation of the manuscript

Please send four copies of the manuscript to the Núcleo de Editoração of the Journal formatted with double spacing between the lines and font Arial 11. The material should also be sent in floppy disc or CD-ROM. The file should be saved in a text editor similar or above version 97-2003 of MSWord (Windows). The names of the authors or file should be printed on the label of the floppy disc or CD-ROM.

Of the four copies mentioned above, three should come without any identification of the authors so that the assessment can be done secretly; however they should be complete and identical to the original manuscript, omitting only the authorship. It is essential that the scope of the article does not contain any form of identification of the authors , which includes, for example, references to previous works of one or more of the authors or the institution where the work was done.

The text should contain from 15 to 20 pages. The pages must have personalized numbering starting with the cover page which should be number 1. The paper must be size A4 with at least 2.5cm of upper and lower margins and 3cm of left and right margins.

Reformulated version: the reformulated version must be sent in three complete copies, in paper and in a floppy disc or CD-ROM with a label indicating the number of the protocol, the version number, the name of the authors and the name of the file. It is absolutely forbidden to return the previous version .

The text of the article must use a colored font (blue) for all changes, together with a letter to the editor confirming the interest in publishing in this journal and informing what changes were made in the manuscript. If there is disagreement regarding the recommendations of the referees, the authors should present the arguments that justify their stance. The manuscript title and code should be specified.

The title page should contain:

a) full title - must be concise, avoiding excess words such as “assessment of...”, “considerations on...”, “exploratory study…”;

b) short title with up to 40 characters in Portuguese (or Spanish) and English;

c) full name of all the authors indicating where each one works. Each author is allowed one employee and one title. The authors should therefore choose among their titles and employees those that they judge to be most important;

d) All data regarding titles and employees should be presented in full, without abbreviations;

e) List the full addresses of all the universities with which the authors have affiliations;

f) Indicate an address to exchange correspondence, including the manuscript, with the author, including facsimile, telephone and e-mail address.

Observation: this should be the only part of the text with identification of the authors.

Abstract: all articles submitted in Portuguese or Spanish should have an abstract in the original language and English, with at least 150 words and at most 250 words.

The articles submitted in English should contain the abstract in Portuguese or Spanish and in English.

For original articles, the abstracts must be structured highlighting objectives, basic methods adopted, information on the location, population and sample of the research, most relevant results and conclusions, considering the objectives of the work and indicating ways to continue the study.

For the remaining categories, the format of the abstract must be narrative but with the same information.

The text should not contain citations and abbreviations. Highlight at least three and at most six keywords using the descriptors of Health Science - DeCS - of Bireme, http://decs.bvs.br

Text: except for manuscripts presented as Review, Current comments, Previous Notes and Case Reports, the works should follow the formal structure for scientific works:

Introduction: must contain current literature review and pertinent to the theme, adequate to the presentation of the problem and that highlights its relevance. It should not be extensive unless it is a manuscript submitted as Review.

Methods: must contain a clear and brief description of the method employed along with the correspondent bibliography, including: adopted procedures, universe and sample; measurement instruments and if applicable, validation method; statistical treatment.

Inform that the research was approved by an Ethics Committee certified by the National Council of Health and inform the number of the procedure.

If experiments with animals are reported, indicate if the directives of the institutional or national research councils - or any law regarding the care and use of laboratory animals – were followed.

Statistical analysis: The authors must demonstrate that the statistical procedures employed were not only appropriate to test the hypotheses of the study but have also been correctly interpreted. Do not forget to mention the level of significance adopted (e.g. p<0.05; p<0.01; p<0.001).

Results: whenever possible, the results should be presented in tables and figures and constructed in a way as to be self-explanatory and contain statistical analysis. Avoid repeating the data within the text.

Tables, charts and figures together should be limited to five and numbered consecutively and independently with Arabic characters according to the order in which data is mentioned and must come in individual and separate sheets. Their locations should be indicated in the text. Information on the location and year of the study is absolutely necessary .

Each element should have a brief title. Tables and charts must have open side borders.

The author is responsible for the quality of the figures (drawings, illustrations, tables, charts and graphs). It must be possible to reduce their size to one or two columns (7 and 15 cm respectively) without loss of sharpness. Landscape format is absolutely forbidden . Digital figures should have the jpeg extension and a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Figures should be sent in a high-quality print version in black-and-white and/or different tones of gray and/or hachure.

Graphs should be submitted separately in WMF (Windows Metafile) format file and in the format of the program in which they were generated (SPSS, Excel), accompanied by their quantitative parameters in table form and with the names of all the variables.

Printing of colored images when this printing is possible is paid by the authors. If the authors are interested, the Journal of Medical Sciences will inform them of the costs which will vary according to the number of images, their distribution in different pages and the concomitant publication of colored material by other authors.

Once the costs are presented to the authors, these are asked to deposit the amount in a bank account. The information regarding the account will be disclosed when necessary.

Discussion: should explore adequately and objectively the results and discuss them in light of other observations already registered in the literature.

Conclusion: present the relevant conclusions taking into account the objectives of the work and indicate ways that the study can be continued. Bibliographical citations in this section are absolutely forbidden .

Acknowledgements: acknowledgments are accepted in a paragraph with no more than three lines and may contain the names of institutions or individuals who actually collaborated with the research.

Attachments: include attachments only when they are absolutely essential for the understanding of the text. The editors will determine if their publication is necessary.

Abbreviations: these must be used in the standard manner and restricted to the usual or sanctioned ones. They should be followed by their full meaning when first cited in a text. They should not be used in the title and abstract.

References according to the Vancouver Style

References: must be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they were first mentioned in the text, according to the Vancouver Style.

In references with two or up to the limit of six authors, all authors are cited; references with more than six authors, the first six should be mentioned and the remaining referred to as et al.

The abbreviations of the titles of mentioned journals should be in agreement with the Index Medicus. Citations/references of senior research papers, works of congresses, symposiums, workshops, meetings, among others and unpublished texts will (examples, classes among others) not be accepted.

If an unpublished work of one of the authors of the study is mentioned (that is, an article in press) it is necessary to include the letter of acceptance of the journal who accepted the article for publication.

If unpublished data obtained by other researchers are cited in the manuscript, it is necessary to include a letter authorizing the disclosure of the data by their authors.

Bibliographical citations in the text: they should be placed in numerical order, in Arabic characters, half a line above and after the citation and must be included in the list of references. If there are only two authors, both are mentioned and separated by a “&”; if more than two, only the first one is mentioned followed by the expression “ et al. ”.

The exactness and adequateness of the references to works that have been consulted and mentioned in the text of the article are of responsibility of the authors . All authors whose works are cited in the text should be listed in the “References” section.

Examples

Article with one author

Guimarães CA. Revisão sistemática da pesquisa em animais. Acta Cir Bras. 2009; 24(1):67-8.

Article with more than six authors

Miasso AI, Oliveira RC, Silva AEBC, Lyra Junior DP, Gimenes FRE, Fakih FT, et al. Erros de prescrição em hospitais brasileiros: um estudo exploratório multicêntrico. Cad Saúde Pública. 2009; 25(2):313-20.

Electronic article

Elias N, Tarasoutchi F, Spina GS, Sampaio RO, Pomerantzeff PMA, Laurindo FR, et al. Fibrose miocárdica e remodelamento ventricular na insuficiência aórtica crônica importante. Arq Bras Cardiol [periódico na Internet]. 2009 [citado 2009 mar 4]; 92(1):63-7. Disponível em: <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0066-782X2009000100010&lng=pt&nrm=iso>. doi:10.1590/S0066-782X2009000100010.

Book

Braunwald EK, Dennis L, Hauser SL, Fauci A, Longo DL, Jameson JL. Harrison medicina interna. 17a. ed. São Paulo: McGraw-Hill Interamericana; 2009. v.2.

Electronic book

Mauss S, Berg T, Rockstroh J, Sarrazin C, Wedemeyer H, editors. Hematology 2009. [monograph online]. Germany: Flying Publisher; 2009 [cited 2009 Mar 4]. Available from: <http://www.hepatology textbook.com/hepatology2009.pdf>.

Book chapters

Fernandes JL, Viana SL. Avaliação por imagem das doenças reumáticas. In: Moreira C, Pinheiro GRC, Marques Neto JF. Reumatologia essencial. Rio de Janeiro: Guanabara Koogan; 2009. cap. 6.

Electronic book chapters

Hepatitis E: epidemiology, transmission and natural history. In: Mauss S, Berg T, Rockstroh J, Sarrazin C, Wedemeyer H, editors. Hematology 2009. [monograph online]. Germany: Flying Publisher; 2009 [cited 2009 mar 4]. Available from: <http://www.hepatologytextbook.com/hepatology2009.pdf>.

Dissertations and theses

Viegas K. Prevalência de diabetes mellitus na população de idosos de porto alegre e suas características sociodemográficas e de saúde [tese]. Porto Alegre: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; 2009.

Electronic text

Ministério da Saúde. Saúde como estilo de vida: atitudes simples e hábitos saudáveis previnem doenças e trazem qualidade de vida. Brasília, 2009 [acesso 2009 mar 4]. Disponível em: <http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/aplicacoes/noticias/default.cfm?pg=dspDetalhes&id_area=124&CO_NOTICIA=2059>.

Computer software

Statistical Packege for the Social Sciences. SPSS statistics base, version 17.0. Chicago; 2008. Consultation of the rules of the Committee of Medical Journals Editors (Grupo Vancouver) is recommended for other examples (http://www.icmje.org).

 

CHECKLIST

  DECLARATION OF RESPONSIBILITY AND COPYRIGHT TRANSFER

Each author must read and sign the documents (1) Declaration of Responsibility and (2) Copyright Transfer.

First author:

Author responsible for the negotiations: Title of the manuscript:

1. Declaration of responsibility: all the persons mentioned as authors must sign the declarations of responsibility in the terms mentioned below:

– I certify that I have participated in the creation of this work and render public my responsibility for its content; I have not omitted any affiliations or financial agreements between the authors and companies that may be interested in the publication of this article;

– I certify that the manuscript is original and the work, in part or in full, or any other work with a substantially similar content of my authorship was not sent to another journal and will not be sent to another journal while its publication is being considered by the Journal of Medical Sciences, whether in the printed or electronic format.

 

Signature of the author(s)                                                 Date      /      /

 

2. Copyright transfer: “I declare that, if this article is accepted, the Journal of Medical Sciences will have its copyright and exclusive ownership and any reproduction, in part or in full, printed or electronic, is forbidden without the previous and necessary consent of this journal. If the consent is granted, I will include my thanks for this journal.”

 

Signature of the author(s)                                                 Date      /      /

  All correspondence should be sent to Journal of Medical Sciences at the address below

Núcleo de Editoração SBI/CCV - Campus II

Av. John Boyd Dunlop, s/n., Prédio de Odontologia,

Jd. Ipaussurama, 13060-904, Campinas, SP, Brasil.

Fone/Fax:+55-19-3343-6875

E-mail: ccv.revistas@puc-campinas.edu.br

Web: http://www.puc-campinas.edu.br/centros/ccv