Submissions

Author Guidelines

INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS

The Universidad y Salud (Univ. Salud) (University and Health) Journal is a publication edited by the Center for Health Studies of the University of Nariño (CESUN-UDENAR), located in San Juan de Pasto, Colombia. Until 2015, the Journal had a semi-annual printed edition frequency, but in 2016 it became a four-monthly online version. From 2023 it has adopted a continuous publication frequency with three annual issues (January-April, May-August, and September-December) and maintained the online format.

The Journal is a means to disseminate mainly scientific and technological knowledge from national and international researchers through unpublished works on Health Sciences and related topics such as: public health policies, health services, community care, health education, safety and health at work, health education, healthy lifestyles, and chronic non-communicable diseases. This Journal is addressed to all people who are interested in this area of knowledge. The application is open access and does not require any cost for either authors or readers.

To comply with international standards, a maximum of two articles published by author in a single volume is allowed

Objectives

1. Create a space of communication and exchange between the Journal, and researchers of academic institutions in the field of Health Sciences, and other related streams.
2. Provide a space for researchers and academics to publish advances in scientific knowledge and technological development.
3. Establish a means of remaining up to date through the diffusion of research and articles.

 Publication Guidelines

The works to be published according to the classification of the Publindex[1] may include:

1. Scientific and technological research article: document that presents, in detail, the original results of completed research projects. The structure generally contains five important aspects: introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusions.
2. Reflection article: document presenting results of research completed from an analytical, interpretative, or critical perspective of the author, on a specific topic, using original sources.
3. Review article: Document resulting from completed research, where the results of published research on a field in science or technology are analyzed, systematized and integrated, in order to account for advances and trends in development. It is characterized by presenting a careful bibliographical review of at least 50 references, and describes how the selected topic was found, databases consulted, years of search, etc.[2]
4. Short article: Short document that presents preliminary or partial original results of scientific or technological research, which usually requires prompt dissemination. It requires at least 15 bibliographical references and no more than 25. Do not exceed 12 pages.
5. Subject review: document resulting from the critical review of the literature on a particular topic.
6. Letters to the editor: critical, analytical, or interpretative positions on documents published in the Journal, which in the opinion of the Editorial Committee constitute an important contribution to the discussion of the topic by the scientific community of reference.
7. Editorial: document written by the editor, a member of the editorial committee, or a guest researcher on orientations in the thematic domain of the Journal.

For more information on the characteristics of the articles, you can download the EQUATOR Network Guides at the following link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1bv3vsjjlaehmpy/AADqdOJV4L1hWawDMUVQUoA5a?dl=0

 PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

Submission characteristics:

• The Journal adopts the requirements of uniformity of manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals, according to the Vancouver System https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/
• The title-page will contain: title, name of the author(s) in order of importance according to their role in the work (first investigator or main author, second co-investigator, third others, etc.), a small curriculum of the authors indicating date of birth, identity document, education level, Orcid number, standardized signature (must be registered at https://www.iralis.org),  current position and institutional affiliation, email address (preferably institutional), telephone number, and mailing address. The participation of the authors must be sufficient enough to publicly accept the responsibility of their work, the content, or any portion of it.
• Citations are presented with a superscript and without parentheses, being listed consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned for the first time in the text. All consulted documents are to be noted at the end of the paper, under the heading “References.”
• Original articles resulting from research should not exceed 40 references and at least 60% should be from primary information sources, preferably current (last five years).
• The tables and figures should begin with the title and sequential numbering. Only the first one should contain the city and year. At the end of each of these the source should be mentioned. If it is not included, it is assumed that it was elaborated by the author(s).
• All tables and figures must be cited in the text, in the order in which they appear. In the case of tables, only use horizontal lines. A maximum of 4 tables or figures are permitted.
• Authors should place explanations in the footnotes, not in the title.
• Figures must be of good quality, and sent in an attached file in TIFF format.
• The articles may have a maximum length of 15 pages. For other documents, the length may reach up to 20 pages (letter size, Cambria font, size 11, 1.5 line spacing).

 SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

• The author must accept the presentation guidelines that follow.
• The author must submit the article in the Open Journal System platform, at: http://revistas.udenar.edu.co/index.php/usalud
• The author must register (username and password), following the steps that demonstrate how to send the article. In addition, one can register as an evaluator, or reader.
• All entries must be sent with the following letter, signed by all authors, guaranteeing that the document is unpublished, that it has not been published in another written or virtual medium, nor is it participating in an arbitration process in another journal. This letter can be downloaded from: declaración de no conflicto de intereses.
• In addition, the active participation of each author in the article should be recorded record, as well as the subsequent analysis of the data, and also participation in writing the manuscript. In the same way, the authors certify in the letter that Universidad y Salud Journald is free from any conflict of interest between the authors, that all information provided in the platform is true. The letter confirms that reproduction of copyrighted material within the article, sources of funding and any conflict of interest that may exist on the part of the author(s) is authorized.
• They also certify that all data included in the article that comes from previous work(s), has been referenced, regardless of whether or not they come from the same authors. If the article under evaluation is a sub-analysis of a project that has already generated a previous publication, this must be cited.
• Finally, the author will transfer copyright to Universidad y Salud Journal. If accepted, the publication will fall under the license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International 
• It is not the responsibility of the Journal to make decisions about authorship/ collaboration, nor to intervene as an arbiter in authorship conflicts.
• Authors should send information about possible evaluators for their article (name, institution and email).

 ARTICLE EVALUATION PROCEDURE

• The Editorial Committee decides if a work is eligible to be published.  In addition to complying with the scientific quality, the work must also comply with the guidelines and regulations of publication and presentation described above.
• In the first review, the author can be asked to make clarifications or adjustments before proceeding with the evaluation process.
• The Journal reserves the right to reject articles that do not comply with the conditions established  for publication.
• The Editor will send the article to judges, or evaluators, experts on the subject. The evaluators will declare that there is no conflict of interest, attach the evaluation format to the work, and notify the established deadline. The Journal will provide a certification to the judge for their evaluation work.
• The type of evaluation used by the Journal is “double-blind”, in which the evaluators do not know the identity of the author, and the author does not know the identity of the evaluators.
• Once the verdicts emitted by both judges are available, the possible results of this stage can be: acceptance of the article, acceptance with corrections, or rejection. In order to settle cases of controversy, an evaluation by a third judge may be used. This phase of the process may take 4 months.
• The concepts of the evaluators will be returned to the author of correspondence for any modifications, depending on the case.
• After making the requested changes, the article will be returned by the authors to the journal accompanied by a letter specifying punctually the corrections made and/or justifying the non-completion of the observations that were not accepted, arguing them with the pertinent bibliographic references. In addition, the document should highlight the changes made.
• The Editorial Committee will verify compliance with the recommendations given by the evaluators, and determine the feasibility of publication. At this point in time, the article may be returned to the author for additional modifications, which, if not accepted will result in the article not being published.
• The Journal reserves the right to select the articles that are published in each volume.
• To comply with international standards, a maximum of two articles published by author in a single volume is allowed.
• Once the publication has been approved by the Editorial Committee, the editing of style, layout, and final adjustments will follow. This document will be sent to the authors for general review, and will return it within 48 hours, attaching observations that they consider pertinent or certifying to be in agreement with the final version.
• If the article is written in English or Portuguese, the authors must attach an official translation certification in the English language of the abstract and keywords.

PRESENTATION NORMS

Scientific research articles type a, b and c will contain the following sections:

Title: it should be short, give a clear and precise idea of the subject of research, variables, and target population. It will not exceed two lines, and will not use abbreviations. 

Authors: complete information of all authors, which includes full names, training, Orcid number, standardized signature (must be registered at https://www.iralis.org/), current position and institutional affiliation, email address (preferably institutional), telephone number. The order of appearance will be decided by the authors, according to their contribution.

Abstract: presents the essential aspects of the article in a synthetic way, with the following aspects: introduction, objective, materials and methods, results, and conclusions. It should be written in the past, except for the last sentence that presents the conclusions. Don`t exceed 200 words. It is written in Spanish, the final approved version must also be presented in English and Portuguese.

Key words: correspond to the main variables and concepts developed in the work. Must be between 3 and 5 words in Spanish and English, which will be consulted by the author in the following links:

• Descriptors in Health Sciences of the Virtual Health Library of PAHO, through the link: http://decs.bvs.br/cgi-bin/wxis1660.exe/decsserver/?IsisScript=../cgi-bin/decsserver/decsserver.xis&interface_language=e&previous_page=homepage&previous_task=NULL&task=start
• UNESCO thesaurus: http://databases.unesco.org/thessp/
• For English words: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

Introduction:  describes the research problem, the point of view from which it will be addressed, and the interest of the topic for the area of research, and the reader. The objective of the manuscript should be indicated in the final paragraph.

Materials and methods: describes the process that was used to solve the research question. It will describe population, sample and types of sample allocation, population characteristics (sex, age), as well as the type of study and analysis, evaluation methods and instruments used and its validity. Similarly should describe the statistical methods with enough detail so that a versed on the subject with access to the original data, the reader can verify the findings are reported. Specify any computer program, commonly used, that has been used.

The ethical conditions of the study should be specified. If it is a question of studies with human populations, indicate whether the ethical standards of the committee (institutional or regional) responsible for supervising human tests, and the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as amended in 2004, were followed. In the case of animal studies, indicate whether the guidelines of the institution or of a national research council have been followed, or whether any national laws on the care and use of laboratory animals have been taken into account. The presentation of original Colombian investigations must comply with Resolution 8430 of 1993 of the Ministry of Social Protection, and the investigations of other countries must fall under the Declaration of Helsinki. Statistical methods should also be described in sufficient detail so that a reader versed in the subject with access to the original data can verify the findings being reported. Specify any commonly used computer program used.

Results: summarize the results of the study. The use of tables or original figures is required to facilitate the presentation and adequate visualization of the data, hence the need for them to be clear. It is also important to avoid repeating the information that appears in the tables or figures (no more than four), in the text. It can be written in the present so that the findings are considered scientific evidence, or in the past as part of a previously realized process.

Discussion: the analysis of the research question in the light of the results should should be presented in the analysis. How the results were obtained, and if a hypothesis was put forward should be explicitly stated whether the results support it or not. The results are compared with those of other investigations from primary information sources. Brief improvements to the research itself or to new research can be suggested briefly. The discussion section addresses the contribution, or contributions, of research or reflection. It must be written in the present, in order to support the actuality and evidence of the results.

Conclusions: should coincide with the objectives, results, and discussion. The article should present the contributions made by the research, whether in the form of carrying out the processes, conceiving the ideas or understanding a situation. Likewise, the limitations of research, and the new perspectives created in the field of research, must be made clear.

Recommendations:  are optional, and are used in cases where researchers want to emphasize the limitations and new problems generated with the conclusions drawn.

Acknowledgments: if desired, cite people or institutions that have collaborated with the research.

Funding sources: where appropriate, the sources of funding for the project (s) of which the manuscript is derived should be listed.

Conflict of interest: the statement on the conflict of interest is included in this section.

References: list of texts, documents and other works consulted for the construction of the document and cited in its body. Must appear at the end of each article, and be numbered in a strict, consecutive order (Vancouver Norms).The references must be organized with the help of a bibliographic reference manager (Mendeley – EndNote - ZOTERO etc.), since any error (additional or deleted spaces, etc.) will prevent the article from being properly digitized for publication.

For subject reviews and review articles, consult the Prisma Guide available on the OJS platform of the Journal or through the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5biL8m92ycqb3BOa1Q3OGx0YjU1UUM3NTg4aUJuemVmbndJ/view?pref=2&pli=1

Other Considerations

• Reproduction of material published in Universidad y Salud without prior authorization is prohibited.
• The reception of articles will be done throughout the year, and will be published on a quarterly basis ((the first day of January, May and September). Ending the edition period, the articles that have complied with the process of evaluation, correction and approval by the Editorial Committee will be taken into account.
• Reproduction and print: Universidad y Salud Journal authorizes the printing of articles published in PDF format for academic purposes, citing the source: http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=0124-7107&lng=es&nrm=iso
• The Journal applies good editorial practices: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xi12pt5jf61n0tx/publication%20ethics.pdf?dl=0 
• The concepts, judgments, opinions and results derived from the works published in the Journal are the responsibility of the authors.