Publication rules for authors

Actas Médicas (Ecuador) is the official publication of the Alcívar Hospital and will be considered for publication related to hospital medicine in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Traumatology, Surgery, and Gynecology-Obstetrics. The journal publishes original articles, clinical cases, review articles, medical education topics, short communications, and invitational editorials. All the articles were analyzed by at least two reviewers (peer review) for acceptance. Manuscripts previously published in print or electronic format will not be accepted. The Magazine consists of the following sections:

A.- Review of the articles:

Title: Specifies the topic to be discussed.
Summary in Spanish and abstract in English. Maximum word count 300.
Introduction and subtitles, if considered necessary.
References must have a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 50 citations using the Vancouver style.
Maximum six figures.

B.- Original Works

Research on etiology, pathophysiology, pathological anatomy, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment is needed. The recommended designs are analytical, including cross-sectional, longitudinal, case-control, cohort, and controlled trials. The length of the text (not including summary, bibliography, tables, and figure captions) should not exceed 3,000 words. The structure of the research work should include an introduction, methodology, results, and discussion. The structured summary should consist of the study objectives, methods, results, and conclusions in both Spanish and English.

Tables or graphs must be presented at the end of the text and with figure captions. Both tables and figures must be cited in strict order of appearance. The information in the tables in the text is suggested to be consistent.
The number of bibliographic citations did not exceed 40, and up to a maximum (including both) of 8 figures or tables must be included. It is recommended that the number of signatories not exceed six. For bibliographical citations, the Vancouver style should be adopted.
If necessary, they must present the approval of the Bioethics Committee for Research on Human Beings recognized by the Ministry of Public Health, stating the indication of informed consent, the authorization of the entity where the study was carried out, and the anonymization of the patients, if applicable.

The registration of a clinical trial will be indicated if the written article refers to a clinical trial conducted in Ecuador, which must receive corresponding approval from the Health Regulation Control and Surveillance Agency (ARCSA) and be registered in the ARCSA clinical trial registration form.

C.- Short Original Works

Originals with a limited sample size. This paper describes clinical cases of exceptional observation that represent an essential contribution to the knowledge of the disease. The maximum length of the text (which must include a summary) will be 1,500 words. The bibliographic citations will not exceed 20, and up to a maximum (including both) of 4 figures or tables will be accepted. It is advised that the number of signatories not exceed five.

It must follow the same order as the original works.

D. Clinical Case

Title: It must be specified whether it is one or two cases or a series of cases.
Summary: In Spanish and abstract in English, with title and keywords. It would be best to briefly describe the case and the importance of your publication in a maximum of 150 words.
Introduction: The disease or syndrome and the attributable cause are described.
Presentation: Clinical description, laboratory, and other diagnostic studies. Figures and tables are mentioned in the document's text and appear at the end with figure captions.
Discussion: The most recent or necessary bibliographic references are discussed to understand the clinical case's importance or relevance, the particularity of the case that makes it communicable, and the similarities or differences with previous cases in the bibliography.

E.- Editorial

An article that analyzes a topic or news of great relevance. This comment reflects the ideological line and position of the Journal Actas Médicas (Ecuador). Recent advances can also be discussed. The journal's Management and Editorial Team commissioned these articles.

F.- Special Articles

Under this heading, works of particular interest to nephrology that, due to their characteristics, do not fit under the editorial heading will be published. The same publication rules apply as in the previous section.

G.- Images

It must be written double-spaced, with 2.5 cm margins. The title contains fewer than eight words. The explanatory text will contain the most relevant information in 250 words or fewer. The studies included a maximum of 4 bibliographic citations. All symbols contained in the images will be adequately explained in the text. It will contain a maximum of three figures.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES

The authors are responsible for obtaining the appropriate permissions to reproduce in Actas Médicas (Ecuador) material (text, tables, or figures) from other publications. These permissions must be requested from both the author and the publisher of the material.

Authorship. Only those who have contributed intellectually to the development of the work should appear on the list of authors. There must be more than helping collect data or participating in some techniques to appear as an author. In general, to be listed as an author, the following requirements must be met:

Having participated in the conception and execution of the work resulted in the article's question.
We participated in the writing of the text and its possible revisions.
We have approved the final version that will be published. The Editorial Secretariat decreases any responsibility for possible conflicts arising from the authorship of the works published in the Journal.

Previous publication. The article's content must be original, not previously published or submitted to any other publication (or submitted for consideration). These restrictions do not apply to published summaries of communications, papers, or conferences presented at national or international scientific meetings. When the article submitted for publication is on a similar topic to another article published by the authors, they must send a photo of that work so the Management and Editorial Team can verify that there is no risk of duplication or redundancy in the publication. The authors must be aware that failing to disclose that the material submitted for publication has already been published, in whole or in part, constitutes a severe breach of scientific ethics.

Informed consent. The authors must mention in the methods section that the procedures used in the patients and controls have been performed after obtaining informed consent.

When experiments involving animals are described, it must be indicated whether the relevant institutional and national recommendations governing the care and use of laboratory animals have been followed.

Likewise, in all cases, the authors must declare that they have followed the protocols established by their respective health centers to access the data from the medical records to carry out this type of publication for research/dissemination purposes for the scientific community.

The authors declare any potential conflicts of interest in their research and provide the sources of funding.

PRESENTATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE WORK

The components will be arranged on pages: page, headline, summary and keywords, text, bibliography, tables, and figure captions. All pages must be numbered consecutively.

Title page or cover

It must be presented separately from the rest of the text.

The title page must contain the following data:

Article title. It must be as explicit as possible and, in any case, no longer than 85 letters.
Abbreviated title of no more than 40 letters.
The list of authors must be in the same order as they appear in the publication. The first name and one or two last names must be mentioned. It should be taken into account that the format that the authors choose for their signature will be, in the event of the article's publication, the same one that will be indexed in the different bibliographic databases in which the Revista Actas Médicas (Ecuador) is indexed.
Name of the work center and its full address.
If the work has been financed, the origin and numbering of said financing must be included.
Previous presentation at meetings, congresses, or symposiums, with name, city, and date.
Please provide the author's name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Word count of the text, excluding abstract, bibliography, tables, and figure captions.
Shipping date.
Email of each author.

Summary and keywords

A structured summary of approximately 250 words will be incorporated into the original works with the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions. In each of them, the problem underlying the research, how it was carried out, the most notable results, and the conclusions derived from the results will be described. For the sections on short originals and unique articles, a summary of approximately 150 words will be included. Authors should ensure that the summary presents the most important results in detail, as this summary (in English) will appear in MEDLINE. Between 3 and 10 keywords should be included at the end of the page where the summary appears. The terms contained in the Medical Subject Headings of the Index Medicus must be used. Available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html

English. An English title, summary, and keywords translation must be included.

Text. It is recommended that the text be written in impersonal form. The work should be divided into sections: the original in Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each section should be headed to separate pages.

Generally, a minimum of abbreviations is desirable, as is accepting the terms used internationally. Uncommon abbreviations must be defined at the time of their first appearance. Abbreviations were avoided in the title and abstract. When there are three or more abbreviations, they should be listed in a table on a separate sheet. Authors may use both metric units of measurement and International System (SI) units. When SI measurements are used, it is convenient to include the corresponding metric units immediately afterward in parentheses. Drugs should be mentioned by their generic name. Instruments used to perform laboratory or other techniques must be identified, in parentheses, by the brand as well as the address of their manufacturers.

References

Bibliographic citations must be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance in the text in flown numbers, according to the “Vancouver style.” The reference to journal articles will be made in the following order: authors, using the surname(s) followed by the initial of the name, without punctuation, and each author separated by a comma; the full title of the article in the original language; the name of the journal according to the abbreviations of the Index Medicus, available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html year of appearance, volume and indication of the first and last page. All authors must be mentioned when there are six or fewer; When there are seven or more, the first six must be cited, and then the words ''et al.'' must be added. A similar style will be used for book citations. Below are three examples:

Article

Trenchs Sáinz de la Maza V, Cambra Lasaosa FJ, Palomeque Rico A, Balcells Ramírez J, Seriñá Ramírez C, Hermana Tazanos MT, et al. Therapeutic limitation in intensive care. An Esp Pediatr. 2002; 57:511–7

Valls Soler A, Páramo Andrés S, Centeno Monterubio C, AnsóOliván S, Gortazar Arias P, López de Heredia I, et al. Morbidity and mortality in very low weight newborns in quality control of perinatal care. An Pediatr (Barc). 2003; 58:464–70.

Book
Ferber R, Kryger M, editors. Principles and practice of sleep medicine in the child. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; nineteen ninety-five.

Chapter of the book

Blines JE. Chronic and recurrent abdominal pain. In: Walker-Smith JA, Hamilton JR, Walker WA editors. Practical pediatric gastroenterology. 2nd ed. Madrid: Ergon Editions, 1996. p. 25–37.

Citations of the style of “personal communication,” “in preparation,” “submitted for publication,” or conference summaries that are not published in a scientific journal should not be included in the bibliography. If it is considered essential to cite said material, its origin must be mentioned in the corresponding place in the text. You can consult the Vancouver Standards (1997 edition) to prepare the bibliography. Available at: http://www.icmje.org

Tables

They must be numbered in Arabic characters in order of appearance in the text. They will be written double-spaced, will not exceed the size of a sheet of paper, and will be sent on separate sheets. They will have a title at the top that concisely describes its content so that the table is understandable without having to read the text of the article. If abbreviations are used, they should be explained at the bottom of the table. Presenting the same data in text, tables, and figures should be avoided.

Figures

Whether they are graphs, drawings, or photographs, they will be numbered in Arabic characters consecutively and jointly as figures in order of appearance in the text. To create graphs, the authors must follow the guidelines established in the document “Graphics of Statistical Data in Medicine,” available at
https://www.seh-lelha.org/graficos-datos-estadisticos-medicina/. Eventually, reproducing photographs or drawings in color is possible, as long as the Management and Editorial Team approves it. If pictures or patient data are reproduced, these must not identify the subject. The figures will be accompanied by the corresponding footer, written on a sheet incorporated into the text.

Responsibility of authorship ( CRedit )

CRedit methodology roles :

Conceptualization – Ideas; formulation or evolution of the overall objectives and goals of the research.
Data curation – Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), cleanse data, and maintain research data (including software code, when necessary to interpret the data itself) for initial use and subsequent reuse.
Formal analysis – Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
Fundraising – Acquiring financial support for the project leading to this publication.
Research – Conducting research and the research process, specifically conducting experiments, or collecting data/evidence.
Methodology – Development or design of the method; creation of models.
Project management – Responsibility for managing and coordinating the planning and execution of research activities.
Resources – Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analytical tools.
Software – Programming, software development; computer program design; implementation of computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
Supervision – Responsibility for supervision and leadership in the planning and execution of research activities, including external mentoring to the core team.
Validation – Verification, either as part of the activity or separately, of the overall replicability/reproduction of the results/experiments and other research products.
Visualization – Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of published work, specifically data visualization/presentation.
Writing – original draft – Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of the published work, specifically the writing of the initial draft (including substantive translation).
Writing – Review and Editing – Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by members of the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary, or revision – including pre- and post-publication stages.

Prior publication and plagiarism

The article must be entirely original and not have been previously published or submitted to any other publication or for consideration. These rules do not apply to published abstracts of communications, papers, or conference presentations at national or international scientific meetings. If the submitted article covers a similar topic to another article published by the authors, they must send a copy of that work so the Editorial and Management Team can verify there is no risk of duplication or redundancy. Authors should remember that failing to disclose if the material has already been published in whole or in part is a serious breach of scientific ethics. Plagiarism is unacceptable, and the Journal actively works to ensure the originality of each accepted article.

Informed consent

Authors must state in the methods section that procedures for both patients and controls were performed after obtaining written informed consent.

Approval of ethics committees

Original articles must be approved by a human research ethics committee registered with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health. When describing experiments involving animals, it must be indicated whether the relevant institutional and national recommendations governing the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

Likewise, in all cases, authors must declare that they have adhered to the protocols established by their respective healthcare centers for accessing data from medical records to conduct this type of research and disseminate it to the scientific community. The list of committees approved by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health is updated annually and available at: CEISH approved committees.

Conflicts of interest and sources of financing

Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to their research, such as financial ties, employment, or interactions with commercial firms. Additionally, the sources of funding and specific budget items for the submitted study should be clearly stated.

Bibliographic standards

Bibliographic citations should be numbered consecutively in brackets in order of appearance in the text, using superscript numbers, according to the "Vancouver style". References to journal articles should be in the following order: authors, using the surname(s) followed by the first initial, without punctuation, and each author separated by a comma; the full title of the article in the original language; the name of the journal using Medicus Index abbreviations available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html , year of publication, volume, and first and last page indications. If there are six or fewer authors, all authors should be cited; if there are seven or more, the first six should be cited, followed by the words "et al." A similar style should be used for book citations.

Procedures for review and acceptance of articles

A contribution submitted to the journal Actas Médicas (Ecuador) is reviewed by an editorial team to determine if it has the necessary components.

Title, Authors, Affiliations, Authors' emails, ORCID of each author

Structured abstract, Structured abstract in English.

Introduction with references in brackets and in order of appearance; Methods; Results; Discussion; Conclusions.

Abbreviations; Supplementary Materials; Acknowledgments (Optional); Author Contributions (CRedit Policy); Funding; Availability of Data or Materials; Ethics Committee Approval and Consent to Participate; Consent to Publish; Conflicts of Interest; Author Information (Optional).

Once the article is finished, the editorial team checks for plagiarism using anti-plagiarism software within about a week. Articles found to contain plagiarism are reported to the editor. After the content suitability review, the editor assesses the contribution's relevance to the scientific community, including the research idea or methodology, and may reject the article from consideration for peer review. Relevant articles proceed to the peer review stage. Two experts in fields such as internal medicine, surgery, traumatology, and gynecology and obstetrics are invited to review the article and provide comments on its validity. During the first review, the reviewer may make observations that must be clarified by the author. If the article does not meet academic standards, it may be recommended for "not to publish." Within 6 to 12 weeks, the editor reviews the reviewers' initial decisions. If there is a consensus not to publish, the author is notified. Articles with recommendations are sent back to the authors for point-by-point revisions. In the second review round, the experts receive the revised article along with the authors' editing guidelines. If the article has been corrected and receives positive feedback, the editor approves it for publication within 4 to 8 weeks after resubmission.

How to present affiliations

The affiliations are presented in the following order, joined by a comma:

For health institutions:

Service or Department, Hospital, Institution, City, Country.

Example: Cardiology Service, Quito Sur Hospital, Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.

For academic institutions:

Department, Faculty, University, City, Country.

Example: Postgraduate Department of Traumatology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Copyright

The journal Actas Médicas (Ecuador) grants its authors authorship rights without an embargo period. We encourage authors to republish their work in institutional repositories and share it with unrestricted open access.

Clinical trial registries

For experimental studies, the submission must include the clinical trial registration number of the trial conducted under one of the Human Research Ethics Committees registered by the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador.

Language of publication

The journal Actas Médicas (Ecuador) has an editorial team that carefully reviews scientific manuscripts to ensure the quality, clarity, and accuracy of the research before publication in both English and Spanish.