Author Guidelines

Policies for submit manuscripts

The journal Health and Science - Integrating Knowledge voluntarily adheres to the policies and guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). These serve as the foundation for implementing best practices in publication, transparency, and ethics governing biomedical research in Costa Rica and the region.

The application of these terms within the journal and its policies is detailed below

• Declaration of originality and unpublished:

This publication requires the exclusive application of original writings, that is, written by the signatories of the document, which fully demonstrate the text and without conflicts of interest.

In addition, the requirement for an unpublished manuscript, which we understand as writing never before published, partially or totally in another media, such as journals, repositories, web, blog, printed format media and others.

Failure to comply with this guideline will determine the outright rejection of the article.

Citation text and style:

For the presentation of the writing, the author(s) must take into account the following guidelines:

Format guidelines:

• The text has single spacing; 12 point font size, 14 point font size in Titles and Subtitles; italics are used instead of underlining (except in URLs); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed in the appropriate places in the text, rather than at the end.

Style Guidelines:

• The cover of the document must include:
  • Title in Spanish.
  • Title in English.
  • Short title (when applicable): no more than 50 characters, including spaces.
  • Full name of each author.
  • Complete affiliations: complying with the format of academic degree, department/faculty, university or institution, City and Country.
  • ORCID: you must do this at https://orcid.org
  • For author principal contact, must include email address and contact telephone number.
  • Summary in Spanish and English: 150-250 words.
  • Keywords in English and Spanish.
• Body of the manuscript according to document type:
  • Articles: written document that presents original research results, in a specific field of knowledge, allowing authors to share their findings with the academic community and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their area of ​​study. This type of publication is subjected to a rigorous peer review process, where experts in the field evaluate its quality of content, originality and contribution to science. Scientific articles must follow the following standard structure:
    • a) Introduction: It must clearly state the context and purpose of the study, objectives and the questions to be addressed, methodology and summarize the main results.
    • b) Materials and Methods: define a research question, indicate the set of sources, procedures, techniques and approaches used in the development of the research, justifying with reliable sources the selection of these methods, and justifying their application in accordance with the requirements of the research. investigation.
    • c) Results: presents the findings obtained from the research according to the objectives and application of the research methodology, indicating only those essential and representative data of the study, following a chronological order and focused on the data obtained.
    • d) Discussion: under this section, in consideration of what is stated in the results, discuss your considerations regarding the fulfillment of your research question, limitations and opportunities identified as a researcher, analyzing the relevance of your findings.
    • e) Conclusion: Synthesize the results of the research, their relevance and address the answer to the questions posed at the beginning of the study. Explain why the results are significant in the scientific context and offer areas for research or actions based on the findings.
    • f) References: using the Vancouver format, according to the magazine's specifications.
  • Biomedical research studies: includes research focused on the understanding of biological processes, diseases, treatments and risk factors in a specific population. Focused on aspects related to human and biological health through the application of rigorous methods, collect and analyze new data for the research response. Biomedical research studies must comply with the following structure:
    • a) Topic reviews: the exhaustive review of bibliographic sources on the topic of study. This section must demonstrate the search criteria, selection of the studies to which the analysis will be applied. Present the key findings and then discuss their implications and limitations, providing a conclusion that informs the reason for the research.
    • b) Introduction: It must clearly state the context and purpose of the study, objectives and the questions to be addressed, methodology and summarize the main results.
    • c) Materials and Methods: must explain how the study was carried out, the target population and its selection, the selection of the study design (observational, experimental, prospective or retrospective), definition of the variables evaluated and measurement methods, the application of ethical procedures (consenting) and the tools or methods for the application of statistical analysis.
    • d) Development: in this section, broadly present the data collected, providing the results of the analysis and comparison with the literature covered previously. Additionally, interpret these results, discuss how these new findings affect the medical field, and finally, recognize and express the restrictions of the study.
    • e) Conclusion: Synthesize the results of the research, their relevance and address the answer to the questions posed at the beginning of the study. Explain why the results are significant in the scientific context and offer areas for research or actions based on the findings.
    • f) References: using the Vancouver format, according to the magazine's specifications.
  • Case reports and case series: both types of publication include detailed descriptions of clinical or medical situations identified as unusual. In the case of reports directed at one patient or a small sample, in the case of series, it is the set of several similar or related cases.
    • a) Introduction: the context and relevance of the case or series of cases is established, and a brief description of the purpose of the report is made. It must include a description of the patient(s) such as demographic data, ages, gender and background; the reason for the consultation or how you sought medical attention, and, finally, explain why it is considered an interesting or unusual case.
      b) Case presentation: Details the evolution of the patient or the study population from the beginning of the symptoms to the consultation and applied medical follow-up. It must detail the signs, symptoms observed, results of the analyzes applied, and then provide a differential diagnosis that lists the possible conditions that were considered and how a diagnosis and treatments for the conditions evidenced were determined.
      c) Discussion: in this section, the contextualization of the case should be sought with the literature that shows the existence of other similar reports, then the possible causes of the clinical problem are analyzed. Then, if applicable, ethical aspects related to the patient during care are discussed, and opinions are given regarding the teaching of this case.
      d) Conclusion: consists of recapitulating the key aspects of the case, explaining how it is important for medical practice and detailing future areas of research for the best clinical management based on the case.
      e) References: using the Vancouver format, according to the magazine's specifications.
  • Editorials: This publication corresponds to the communication by the magazine's councils to the readers, in the desire to communicate or discuss topics of relevance to the professional community in the medical sciences, or other topics of importance to this publication. This section is reserved for publication through prior communication with the editor or by direct invitation from the publisher.

Tables, graphs and other inputs

Authors must upload as separate files in any of the following formats: .jpg or .png in high quality size and resolution. All must have a title and references to the bibliographic source, as appropriate.

Equations and formulas

The authors must include the equations and formulas where appropriate to the text, using the Microsoft Office Equation Editor.

Bibliographic references

A maximum of:

1. a) Original articles: minimum of 15 and maximum of 30 references,
   b) Topic reviews: minimum of 15 and maximum of 50 references
   c) Case reports or case series: minimum of 10 and maximum of 20 references
   d) Editorials: no minimum and a maximum of 5 references.

References should be included at the end of the document, numbered in Vancouver format.

• Control against plagiarism and bad practices:

During the first phase of the editorial process, all manuscripts are reviewed with the plagiarism and similarity detection tool, Turnitin.

This tool performs a textual comparison of the document and its database (which includes international databases), based on the results, it generates a similarity report. This input will be analyzed by the editorial board, each case is evaluated individually, placing emphasis on reports that indicate more than 20% similarity.

The authors will be notified of the status of the report and the actions to be taken in relation to their writing. If the editor determines that the alerts correspond to omissions or unintentional bad practice in writing, the authors will be given the opportunity to correct the text.

Intentionally plagiarized texts or documents without mention of the sources are grounds for rejection.

Additionally, all manuscripts are submitted to peer review, who will be asked to indicate the degree of originality and quality of the documents submitted.

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