Submissions

Author Guidelines

Editorial Policy

The Journal Ciencia y Enfermería, founded in 1995, is the official organ of the Faculty of Nursing in the Universidad de Concepción, Chile, and considers for publication unpublished articles in the fields of nursing and health, reserving exclusive rights over the publication of selected works.

Ciencia y Enfermería publishes in Spanish, Portuguese or English in the categories: Research, Reviews, Articles and Letters to the Editor. The concepts, judgments and opinions expressed in these categories are the sole responsibility of the authors.

A double-blind peer review system will be used. Plagiarism, autoplagiarism and manuscripts with data collected more than 5 years ago will not be accepted.

Manuscripts are subjected to a similarity detector called Compilatio.

Ciencia y Enfermería recommends the guidelines from: EQUATOR Network, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Citing Medicine, and Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers (COPE).

Ciencia y Enfermería is a non-profit journal and the processing fee requested from the authors is aimed at covering editing costs: review, translation of abstracts in the three languages (Spanish, Portuguese and English), layout and marking.

Ciencia y Enfermería only receives contributions through the OJS system, which generates an access and tracking code. The journal publishes annually each volume using the continuous flow system, supported by an editorial management process that includes 5 stages: preliminary evaluation, arbitration, edition, publication and dissemination.

Ciencia y Enfermería protects information referring to conflicts of interest declared by authors and peer reviewers.

Editorial Management

The editorial management process of the Journal begins when the author's registry has been completed, which allows access to the submission platform and the submission of all the documentation of a manuscript: 1) .doc file of the manuscript; 2) Excel file with tables and figures (if applicable); 3) Pdf file with Declaration of Responsibility; 4) Ethics Committee report in the case of original research; 5) Conflict of interest note, if necessary.

The reception of the manuscript is formalized by sending all requested documentation, after which a code and date of receipt are assigned.

The stages of the editorial management are the following:

1. Preliminary evaluation: This includes a general evaluation of the manuscript for the proposed section, fulfillment of requirements in terms of form, organization, relevance and editorial interest. The result of this evaluation may be rejection or arbitration. Any decision is communicated to the author.

2. Arbitration: This includes the assignment of the manuscript to thematic and/or methodological peer reviewers using a double-blind system. The verdict may be: rejection, acceptance with suggestions or acceptance, subject to review by at least two peers. If necessary, the final result is adopted by the journal's Executive Board. Any decision is communicated to the corresponding author. In cases of Acceptance with Suggestions or Acceptance, the corresponding author receives a letter including the suggestions indicated by the reviewers and/or the Editor-in-Chief.

3. Edition: The process starts when the corrected version of the document and attached files are received. This stage includes the tasks of adaptation of writing and style, changes in the initial and final parts of the manuscript, revision of translation of titles, abstracts, key words; and layout. At this stage, direct communication is maintained with the corresponding author. The process ends when the authors approve the final version of the edition. The selected works will become property of the journal unless the corresponding author submits in writing the decision of the entire group of researchers to withdraw the article for publication, prior to approval of the final version.

4. Publication: This stage includes marking, preliminary publication on the journal's website (cienciayenfermeria.udec.cl) and DOI assignment.

5. Dissemination: It includes the dissemination of the manuscript in databases and social networks.

Form and Preparation of Manuscripts

Guidelines for choosing the type of manuscript and presentation of the text

Articles: They should develop a specific topic of interest in the area of Nursing and/or Health or be related to theoretical, methodological or ethical-scientific aspects of the research process. They are accepted in Spanish, Portuguese or English, with double-space, on letter-size sheets using Times New Roman font size 12, leaving a margin of 3 cm on all edges. The length of the text, including bibliographical references and abstracts, should not exceed 10 pages. The title, the abstract with a maximum length of 130 words and key words must be translated into the three languages.

Letters to the Editor: Short manuscript with a maximum of 2 pages which includes readers' opinions on published works or commentaries related to the journal’s topics. It should follow the same indications of language and text presentation of Articles, although this type of document does not include an abstract.

Original research and revisions: The articles must follow the guidelines of the EQUATOR Network according to the type of study:

For studies on health care quality, use the Revised Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE 2.0 — checklist) guideline.

For qualitative studies, follow the COREQ (checklist) guideline.

For randomized clinical trials, use CONSORT (checklist and flowchart).

For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, follow the PRISMA guideline (checklist and flowchart).

For observational studies in epidemiology (cohort, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies), follow the STROBE (checklist) guideline.

Articles should be sent written in Spanish, Portuguese or English, typed using double space, on letter-size sheets using Times New Roman font size 12, leaving a margin of 3 cm on all edges. The length of the text, including bibliographical references and abstracts, should not exceed 20 pages. From the Introduction section to the Conclusions (body of the manuscript), the first paragraph must not be indented and the others must be typed without line breaks after full stops.

Text organization: Works should be divided into the following sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements (if applicable) and Bibliographical References.

Title: The first page of the work should have a concise and informative title of the research in capital letters with no more than 15 words that already includes the descriptors (key words) and should be written in affirmative form in the original language (Spanish, Portuguese or English), followed by the titles in the other two languages.

Authorship: At the bottom of the first page, indicate the full name(s) of the author(s) accompanied by one or more asterisks (*), depending on the authorship position. In the page footer and with the corresponding asterisk(s) you should include: profession, institutional affiliation (up to 3 hierarchies, for example: Department or School, Faculty, University), city and country, e-mail address and finally "Corresponding Author". Up to two corresponding authors are accepted.

This page should also include sponsorships and/or sources of financial assistance, if any, in the form of grants, equipment, drugs or all of them.

Abstract: It must be in the original language, followed by the other two languages (English, Spanish or Portuguese) and briefly indicate objective, materials and methods, and results of the study. This should not exceed 960 characters and 250 words written with single space, including 3 to 6 descriptors, preferably selected from the list Descriptores en Ciencias de la Salud - DeCS or the Medical Subject Headings - MeSH).

Introduction: This part of the work should be subdivided into the following elements:

*Problem: It describes the specific problem under study. The motivation and the purpose of the research should be clearly stated. These should be developed in one or two initial paragraphs.

*Literature Review: It presents and discusses the theoretical framework supporting the research. Citations are necessary to recognize previous related studies.

*Objective or hypothesis: The objective and the reasoning of the proposal should be stated formally as well as a definition of possible variables, if applicable. The objective should indicate in an unequivocal manner what the researcher is attempting to observe and measure, and should be written in affirmative form and offer only one interpretation. The hypothesis should express in a clear, precise and concise way either a relationship or difference between two or more variables, including the variables of the study and their effect.

Materials and Methods: This section should mention the research paradigm and clearly describe the universe, the selection of the sample, instruments and procedures to allow other observers to replicate the observations. When conducting experiments on human subjects, it should indicate whether the procedures meet pre-established ethical standards reviewed by an ad-hoc committee of the institution where the study was carried out. It should also indicate the number of subjects, observations, the statistical method(s) employed and the level of statistical significance previously established in order to assess the results.

Results: These should be presented in a logical sequence and have a statistical or interpretative analysis in relation to the objective of the study. If tables, graphs or figures are included, they should not be included in the text and should be sent on a separate Excel file. These elements should be designed in black and white, half the width of a page, with clearly distinguishable texture patterns, have sufficient size for reduction, and indicating number with a title that briefly and clearly describes their content. The text should not repeat information presented in a table, graph or figure, but rather highlight or summarize the most relevant observations.

Discussion: The discussion should be based on the objectives and the results in order to compare them with the empirical framework. Discussion should focus on new aspects and limitations of the study, stating perspectives or new hypotheses if appropriate.

Conclusions: These should respond to the objectives of the study, focusing on obtained data and not citing references.

Acknowledgements: optional

Bibliographical References: This section includes the sources used to carry out the research. It is suggested that, in order to support the study, no less than 30 references be cited, of which 50 % should correspond to the last five years and the rest, to the last ten years, except if they correspond to reference works in the research area. Of these 30 references, 50% should come from a primary source. There should be a direct relationship between the citations found in the text and those in the reference list or list of resources used to carry out the research. All citations in the text should appear in the reference list. These and the final list should be presented in the "Vancouver" style according to which the references should be cited in the text with consecutive numbers, using parenthesis according to their appearance in the text and in superscript. Relevance and internationalization are expected.

Authorship

Only those who have taken part in the work in a sufficient way so as to take public responsibility for the content should be regarded as authors. Additionally, all authors must be qualified to appear as such. No more than six authors will be accepted unless justified by the type of research. When submitting a manuscript, the Declaration of Responsibility sheet should be attached, confirming that the work is unpublished, that it has not previously been published in print or electronic format, and that it will not be submitted to another medium before the journal's decision is known.

Ethical Considerations

Ciencia y Enfermería fully supports universal ethical principles with the contribution the journal makes to society and, especially, to the knowledge of the discipline, giving equal opportunities to publish articles under equal conditions that comply with previously established regulations, but also rejecting any type of individual or group discrimination, maintaining discretion and confidentiality by protecting the names of the authors of the works, the names of peer reviewers and the articles selected for publication, and preserving information accuracy and transparency in all the stages of the selection process and in the publication of the selected articles.

Ciencia y Enfermería assumes that all research works to be published have previously fulfilled the requirement of being evaluated by an Ethics Committee and expects a report from the endorsing committee.

Declaration of Responsibility 

Complete the Declaration of Responsibility form and submit it in PDF format with the rest of the documents.

Payment of Processing Fee

Once the manuscript is considered Accepted with Suggestions or Accepted, a processing fee equivalent to CLP 100,000 (Chilean pesos) for each manuscript from Chile, or US $ 150 (US dollars) for international manuscripts, must be paid.

Submission of Manuscripts and Subscriptions

For manuscript submission access Ciencia y Enfermería and author registration.

Privacy Statement

Names and e-mail addresses will be used only for the purposes stated in this publication and will not be shared with third parties or used for any other purpose.