Publication guidelines

MedUNAB accepts scientific manuscripts written in Spanish, English or Portuguese, in any of the following categories. 

However, as of January 1st, 2025, to increase the MedUNAB Journal's international visibility, we motivate the authors to translate the article to English as soon as the manuscript is accepted. MedUNAB offers different options for this, which will be presented to the author in the publication phase. 

It is important to send Key Point information, which will be included at the end of the article with the following information:

  • What is known about the subject? Write 3 or 4 sentences that summarize the essential points about what is known about the research topic (maximum 100 words in total)
  • What does it contribute to the knowledge of the subject? Write 3 or 4 sentences that summarize the essential points about what the study contributes to the knowledge of the topic (maximum 100 words in total).

Articles may be submitted in the following categories. The editors reserve the right to change the category to maintain consistency with the style of MedUNAB Journal.

Types of articles

Original article. This document presents detailed outcomes of original research projects. For observational studies (cross-sectional, cohort, cases and controls) take into account the STROBE checklist (https://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=available-checklists). For qualitative research, the COREQ checklist is recommended. For CONSORT clinical trials (only trials with registered identification number will be published on validated pages, for other types of studies take into account the EQUATOR guidelines (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/coreq/). Maximum length of 5,000 words including the title, abstract, keywords, tables, figures and references. In the case of qualitative research studies, a maximum length of 6,000 words is accepted.

  • It generally contains five sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions (A-I-M-R-D-C). Include the key points before the references.  Maximum number of references: 40.

Short article. Short reports or progress on partial results of original research, in which its rapid disclosure is of great utility, with a maximum length of 3,000 words including the title, abstract, keywords, tables, figures and references. It is important to include Key Point information.

  • It generally contains five sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions (A-I-M-R-D-C). Maximum number of references: 20. 

Review article. Document resulting from research in which the results of another research are analyzed, systematized, and integrated. Within this category you may find the integrative, systematized reviews, Scoping review or exploratory systematic review. 

Scoping Review Revisions (Scopus or overview). The list of verification must be used for this type of tipology, considering the following checklist: (PRISMA-ScR-Fillable-Checklist_11Sept2019.pdf (squarespace.com). Also, the protocol must be registered previously. We suggest to use the OSF (Open Science Framework) platform in the following link: OSF Registries | Scoping review protocol.

https://www.medwave.cl/medios/medwave/Marzo2021/PDF/medwave-2021-02-8144.pdf

https://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1988-348X2015000200002.

  • It is important to include Key Point information. It generally contains five sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Results (the inclusion of tables, diagrams and figures is recommended), Discussion and Conclusions (A-I-M-R-D-C), with a maximum extension of 5,000 words, including the title, abstract, keywords, tables, figures and references. The key points must be included before the references. Minimum number of references: 50.

Systematic review with or without meta-analysis. It presents a detailed systematic search of the literature, in which the inclusion and exclusion criteria are exposed, as well as the terminology used for the search, databases, period, languages, among others, from the chosen literature to support the study in course. Expose searching data and the process in which articles were selected, as a flowchart (http://www.prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/Checklist.aspx). It differs from a meta-analysis due that in the latter, authors present a reasonable synthesis with a statistical analysis of the results found in studies. The following readings are suggested to clarify the key aspects of the elaboration of this type of articles: https://www.revespcardiol.org/es-revisiones-sistematicas-metaanalisis-bases-conceptuales-articulo-S0300893211004507; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10654-019-00576-5. The systematic review protocol must have been previously registered in one of the registration systems, such as: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/.

  • It is important to include Key Point information. It generally contains five sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results (it is recommended to include tables, charts and figures), Discussion and Conclusions (A-I-M-R-D-C), with a maximum length of 5,000 words including the title, abstract, keywords, tables, figures and references. Include the key points before the references. Minimum number of references: 20 and maximum: 50.

Methasynthesis. It is a rigorous revision and interpretation of findings in several qualitative investigations using qualitative methods. It aims to produce a new and integrative understanding of the findings that can benefit much more than the individual results of each investigation.

  • Generally, it has five sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, results (we suggest including tables and figures), discussion and conclusions (A-I-M-R-D-C), with a maximum extension of 6,000 words including title, abstract, keywords, tables, figures, and references. Include the key points before the references. Number of references: Minimum: 20 and maximum: 50. 

following link: http://doi.org/10.4321/S1132-12962011000100023. 

Special Articles. A variety of topics will be considered, among which stand out the approach of topics related to research methodology, specialties, academic development in the area of health sciences, or any other type of article in English or Spanish. Your work could contribute significantly to the current trends at the national and international levels.

The editorial team is open to any suggestion from authors or groups interested in updating knowledge in a specific or novel aspect of the health sciences area, with a maximum length of 4,000 words, including title, abstract, keywords, tables, figures, and references.

  • It generally contains five sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions (R-I-M-R-R-D-C). Maximum number of references: 30. Include information on key points. The maximum number of authors allowed is 6.

Images in clinical medicine. Photographs that aim to capture and illustrate visually and didactically a concept, discovery, variety, disease or diagnosis found by health professionals, in daily clinical practice. These must be original images, with a high quality and resolution, and may not have been submitted or published in other sources. These photographs must represent and should highlight the relevance from the subject it intends to illustrate. Maximum number of photographs: 4. Each photograph must be sent separately (they will be referenced in order from left to right and those located above and in the below row: A, B, C, D, respectively).

Requirements on the quality for submitted photographs: appropriate angle and composition, enough sharpness and lighting in order to be able to appreciate details, and with a 300 dpi resolution. They must be in JPEG format.

Any clue on the patient’s identification must be avoided (name, ID number, name of the institution, clinical record code, among others). The patient must sign an informed consent, which must be sent along with the photographs.

Title’s extension acceptance is up to eight words. The descriptive text from the photographs should be sent in an editable file apart from that containing the photograph. The text has not particular structure and must contain clinically relevant information (case description, clinical and laboratory findings, treatment response, clinical evolution), definition from the disease shown, description of the typical injuries mentioned in the literature, and the justification that enables to highlight the importance of publishing this image. The journal reserves the right to edit submitted photographs, in order to adjust quality requirements

  • Maximum number of words for the description of the clinical medical image: 800 including title and references. Maximum number of authors: 4. Maximum number of references: 6.

Perspective. A perspective is an opinionated review of the primary research literature that has a more limited scope than a typical review. Although opinionated, they are aimed to encourage new approaches and discussions about models, theories and ideas. 

Comments or abstracts of the practice based on the evidence. In this type of article, a clinical problem is presented thoroughly, where several recent studies have been published that have changed the knowledge of the subject. It aims to find the applicability in the practice derived from the analyses of these studies. It includes a discussion about these studies' validity, results, and interpretation. It will be presented in the following structure: Title in a question format, backgrounds that sustain the question or the clinical problem, body of the evidence that answers the question (principal studies), critical evaluation of the evidence, results or principal findings, conclusion in recommendation format or an abstract that includes strength and direction of the scientific evidence that supports it.

  • The limit of words is of 3000 including title, abstract, keywords, tables and references. Maximum number of authors: 6. Maximum number of references: 25. 

Some examples of these types of articles may be consulted in the following links:

Letter to the editor. Critical, analytical or interpretative positions about documents already published by the MedUNAB journal that according to the Editorial Committee, constitute an important contribution to the discussion of the topic on behalf of the scientific community. The publication can be edited because of length, grammar, or style, and the author will be informed about it before it is published. Maximum number of references: 10.

Editorial. This document is written by the editor, a member of the Editorial Committee or a guest researcher chosen by the editor, about current topics of scientific interest and/or orientations about the thematic purpose of the journal. Editorials will have a maximum length of 1,500 words counting the title and the references. (10 or less). Tables/figures: a maximum of 1 figure or table. Be sure to leave a clear and concise message in the conclusion. 

Science and Art. This section corresponds to a review of the image presented on the MedUNAB Journal cover, where the author presents their credentials and the most relevant aspects that inspired the piece's design and technique. The correspondence sent can be edited because of extension factors, grammatical, or style corrections. The author will be informed before it is published. The maximum number of words is 1000, including the title. 

Section characteristics

General guidance

In case the following indications are not met, the editorial process of the manuscripts already received will not start nor will certify that such document is in evaluation process.

The manuscripts will be received in an digital and editable format (e.g. Microsoft Word®), they must include: title page (it will be in a separated file), title and short title, abstract, keywords, text, acknowledgement, topics of interests, references, charts, tables, figures along with their titles and texts. Abbreviations and units of measurement must be typed to double space using just one side of the page without allowing spaces between paragraphs; and entering just one space after a period. Use Times New Roman font, size 12, and set up the page margins to 3 centimeters on each side. Also use italics for scientific terminology; and please do not underline them.

The original manuscript and its annexes must be remitted to the editor in an electronic editable format through OJS (Open Journal System) platform.

Each section feature guidance 

Title page. This section must include, for each author, his/her full name, academic degree(s), institutional affiliation, city, department, country (the information provided should not include abbreviations or acronyms), e-mail (personal and institutional), ID number and place of issue, telephone number (cellphone or landline number), link of the author’s CvLAC (with updated information) and identifiers such as: ID Redalyc, ORCID (we highly recommend to create your login: https://orcid.org/register); go to link 1 to view the tutorial “Creating an ORCID”: [ORCID registration tutorial link] and link 2 to view the tutorial “Updating your ORCID”: [ORCID update tutorial link], Scopus, Cvlac, Research Gate, Mendeley, Academia, Google Citation, among others (identifiers that are not provided by the authors will not be included). 

All the authors must send the data mentioned previously and it is also required to provide full contact information from the correspondence author, including postal address, phone number and e-mail address. The peer evaluators proposed must fulfill the minimum criteria of a master's degree, having published in indexed journals in Scopus or WOS the last two years related to the topic they are evaluating; the editing committee of the Journal will choose if the peer evaluators proposed will be consulted. 

It is important to take into account that this section must be sent in a separate file, so that there is no information about the authors within the article.

Title. It must describe the article clearly, accurately and precisely; the title must have proper syntax, lack of abbreviations, has a maximum length from 15 to 20 words (except in clinical medical images where the number of words for the title is up to 8). The title must have a short title for the heading of the pages.

Abstract. The work must include a well-structured abstract, the structure of it will depend on the article type. For example, for an Original research article the structure will include Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. The abstract is presented only in the article’s original language and will have a maximum of 250 words. The translation of the abstract into the other two languages will be carried out by MedUNAB journal, if the author requires it. The use of references is not allowed, nor is recommended the inclusion of acronyms in the abstract. The writing must be in third person. 

Keywords. It is required to list from five to eight keywords in Spanish as well as in English and Portuguese. Consult the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) published in https://decs.bvsalud.org/es/ ; to select the ones in Spanish and Portuguese, and consult Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html , to select the ones in English.

Text. It should not include the author’s names, due that this information must be presented in the Title Page. The text of the article depends on the article type, as mentioned in that section.

Introduction. This section must provide enough background to give the reader a proper contextualization about the topic so that he/she can clearly see the scientific justification of the article. The objective of the article must be presented in a clear, concise and direct way. It is recommended to present the objective of the article in the last paragraph of this section. 

Methodology. In general, it must include all necessary information to enable other researchers an adequate and an accurate reproducibility of the research. It may include: type of study, selection of population or materials used detailing the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, the brand and series of the materials, conditions under which the experiments were performed, the instruments used, in the case of surveys, it must be mentioned if they were elaborated by the authors or if they used previously validated surveys please mention in which or what studies these surveys were validated; technical specifications of the procedures, detailed procedures that allow other researchers to reproduce them, statistical analysis with their respective statistical techniques to each set of variables, and statistical packages used. In the final paragraph of the methodology include ethical aspects, where the type of risk study is mentioned, the ethics committee that approved the study, or in the case of clinical trials, the code which the clinical trial is registered in.

Results. Data or measurements of the main findings of the research must be presented in a logical, simple and clear sequence in the text, and they must be written in the past tense; data or measurements repeated must be given in charts or figures. The percent sign must be next to the number, no spaces between. The decimals should be indicated as a period (.) and the thousand units as a comma (,), this must be in the whole text.

Discussion. In this section, the author analyzes the results compared with those of the literature reviewed, where the author highlights the similarities and differences among them. The specific findings are mentioned as first and then, the general implications, keeping a logical, organized, clear and concise sequence. In this section is recommended to be precise with the meaning of the findings related to the hypothesis of the study, and to mention the limitations presented during the study.

Conclusions. They must be related to the objectives of the study, they must mention the scope of the research, and avoid statements not derived from the study's results.

Declaration of competing interests. Authors must inform in the manuscript if during the development of the work competing interests took place, declare the sources of financing of the work including the names of the sponsors along with explanations of the function of every source where appropriate, in designing the study, collecting data, analysis and interpretation of results, report writing, or a statement that funding does not have implications which could skew or suggest that may bias the study.

Tables and figures. Graphics, schemes and photographs, diagrams, charts, among others, will be named "Figure" and “Table”. They must be placed at the end of the document. They should be cited in the order as they appear along the text, with Arabic numerals providing a list for the figures and another one for the tables, which should not have vertical lines.

Each table and figure must be sent in a separate page along with their titles, explanatory description and its source (in case it is elaborated by the author of the manuscript, it must be specified). Titles must be precise and must specify if they are elaborated by the author and if not, cite the source from which it was taken or their respective authorization. Every table must have their title above its appearance. Figures on the other hand, must have their title below its appearance. The maximum number of tables and figures is 8.

Photographs must have an excellent image quality, date and source must be clarified and also the photos should be sent in JPEG format of 300 Dpi. In microscope preparations, it must be mentioned color and size according to the used objective.  Figures will be published in color or black and white, according to its suitability.

Funding sources: authors must declare if they received any source of funding, indicating the funding entity or entities and the name of the project with which the publication is associated (if applicable).

Abbreviations. The author should avoid the use of abbreviations in the manuscripts title and abstract. When they appear for the first time in the text, they should be between parentheses and proceeded by the complete term they are making reference to, except for the units of measurement, which will be presented according to the International System of Units, without using plural.

References. Observe strictly the Vancouver Citations and References Guide produced by the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (Correa-Parada I, Picón-Merchán J, Estupiñán-Ortiz A, Barreto-Montenegro AE. Guía de citas y referencias Vancouver [Internet]. 2020. Recuperado a partir de: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12749/11879). Assign a number to each reference cited in the text. Write down the reference numbers between parentheses; if the reference is next to a punctuation mark, place the number before this.

See the list of periodical publications accepted by PubMed (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html) to get the exact abbreviation of the cited journal; if the journal does not appear, type the journal's full title. Transcribe only the first six authors of the article, followed by “et al”. It is recommended the inclusion of national and Latin-American references for which you can see Lilacs, Latindex, Sibra, Imbiomed, Scielo, Publindex, Fuente Académica, Periódica, Redalycs among other bibliographic sources. References should include articles about the topic published in the last four years in indexed journals in recognized databases and academic resources and auto-citation must be avoided. In your manuscript, no more than 30% of all references can be from documents published more than 5 years ago.

The following are some examples of references in Vancouver style:

Printed publication

  • Journal article: Gempeler FE, Díaz L, Sarmiento L. Manejo de la vía aérea en pacientes llevados a cirugía bariátrica en el Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia. Rev Colomb Anestesiol. 2012;40(2):119-23.

 

  • No authorship: Solución corazón siglo 21 puede tener un aguijón en la cola. 2002; 325(7357):184.

 

  • Books and other monographs: Grossman SC, Porth CM. Porth’s pathophysiology: Concepts of altered health states: Ninth edition. Porth’s Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States: Ninth Edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2013. 1648 p.

 

  • Book chapter and alike: Mompart García MP. La situación en enfermería. En: Cabasés Hita JM, editor. La formación de los profesionales de la salud: formación pregraduada, postgraduada y formación continuada. Madrid: Fundación BBVA; 1999. p. 493-514.

 

  • Presentation: Arendt T. Alzheimer’s disease as a disorder of dynamic brain self-organization. En: van Pelt J, Kamermans M, Levelt C, van Ooyen A, Ramakers G, Roelfsema P, editores. Development, dynamics, and pathology of neuronal networks: from molecules to functional circuits Proceedings of the 23rd International Summer School of Brain Research; 2003 Aug 25-29; Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2005. p. 355-78.

 

  • Technical reports:
    • Barker B, Degenhardt L. Accidental drug-induced deaths in Australia 1997-2001. Sydney: University of New South Wales, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; 2003.
    • Newberry S. Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on lipids and glycemic control in type II diabetes and the metabolic syndrome and on inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, renal disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and osteoporosis. Rockville: Department of Health and Human Services (US), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2004. Report No.: 290-02-0003.

 

  • Newspapers:
    • La "gripe del pollo" vuela con las aves silvestres. El País (Madrid) (Ed. Europa). 17 de julio de 2005;28.
    • Gaul G. When geography influences treatment options. Washington Post (Maryland Ed.). 24 de julio de 2005;Sec. A:12 (col. 1).

Online Publications

- Journal article

 

  • With DOI: Rossi C, Rodrigues B. The implications of the hospitalization for the child, his family and nursing team. A descriptive exploratory study. Online Braz J Nurs [Internet]. 2007;6(3):15-24. doi: https://doi.org/10.5935/1676-4285.20071110
  • With continuous editing format: Title. Journal. Year; Volume (number). With an e and after number of pages. Doi.
    • If they do not have volume: Last name and initial of the authors. Work title. Abbreviated name of the journal. Year; day and month of the publication date and doi. 

- Book or monography

  • With URL: Zubrick SR, Lawrence D, de Maio J, Biddle N. Testing the reliability of a measure of Aboriginal children's mental health: an analysis based on the Western Australian Aboriginal child health survey [Internet]. Belconnen (Australia): Australian Bureau of Statistics; 2006 [cited 2016 Oct 25]. 65 p. Available from: https://goo.gl/WkS9OL

 

- Book chapter

  • With URL: Jessup AN. Diabetes Mellitus: A Nursing Perspective. En: Bagchi D, Sreejayan N, editores. Nutritional and Therapeutic Interventions for Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome [Internet]. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2012 [cited 2017 Oct 3]. p. 103-10. Available from: https://goo.gl/M9u1qt

 

  • With DOI: Urquhart C, Currell R. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis of health IT. En: Ammenwerth E, Rigby M, editores. Evidence-Based Health Informatics: Promoting Safety and Efficiency through Scientific Methods and Ethical Policy. Amsterdam: IOS Press; 2016. p. 262-74. doi: https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-635-4-262

 

  • Technical report: Arkes J, Pacula R, Paddock S, Caulkins J, Reuter P. Technical report for the price and purity of illicit drugs: 1981 through the second quarter of 2003 [Internet]. Washington (DC): Executive Office of the President (US), Office of National Drug Control Policy; 2004 [cited 2016 Oct 26]. Report No.: NCJ 207769. Available from: https://goo.gl/7yhrcB

- Presentation

  • With URL: Corral Liria I, Cid Expósito G, Núñez Álvarez A. Vinculación del género en la profesión de enfermería. En: Suárez Villegas JC, Liberia Vayá IH, Zurbano-Berenguer B, editores. I Congreso Internacional de Comunicación y Género Libro de Actas: 5, 6 y 7 de marzo de 2012. Facultad de Comunicación Universidad de Sevilla [Internet]. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla; Editorial MAD; 2012 [cited 2016 May 3]. p. 72-85. Available: https://idus.us.es/xmlui/handle/11441/33158

 

  • With DOI: Yue-Ping Z, Yu-Jie G, Xiao-Yan L. Application of problem-based learning mode in nursing practice student teaching. En: Li S, Dai Y, Cheng Y, editores. Proceedings - 2015 7th International Conference on Information Technology in Medicine and Education, ITME 2015 [Internet]. Los Alamitos (CA): IEEE; 2016. p. 385-9. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ITME.2015.163

- Master or Doctoral thesis

Soto Ruiz MN, Guillén Grima F (dir), Marín Fernández B (dir). Evolución de los estilos de vida relacionados con factores de riesgo cardiovascular en estudiantes universitarios de Navarra [Thesis on the Internet]. [Pamplona]: Universidad Pública de Navarra; 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 3]. Available from: http://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/20868 

- Complete webpage 

U.S. National Library of Medicine. PubMed [Internet]. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 2016 [cited October 26th, 2016]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

- Dataset references: 

Authors. Title of the database. Year. Data archive: version (if one exists). DOI. 

Submissions

Any material proposed for publication in MedUNAB must be sent via “portal de revistas académicas” at Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB) https://revistas.unab.edu.co/index.php/medunab/index through the Open Journal System (OJS). Subscribe as an author by clicking on https://revistas.unab.edu.co/index.php/medunab/user/register . 

Article eligibility

The documents put into consideration of the editorial committee must meet the following criteria:

  • Contributions to knowledge. The document makes interesting contributions to the state of art of the object of study.
  • Originality. The document must be original, i.e. produced directly by the author, without imitation of other documents. Authors are requested to declare that the document is original and unpublished and that it is not postulated simultaneously in other journals or editorials entities.
  • Validity. Statements must be based on valid data and information.
  • Clarity and accuracy in writing. Drafting the document must provide coherence to the content and clarity to the reade.

In case of further doubts or need of guidance, you may contact us under: