Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Types of Accepted Manuscripts

The journal welcomes the following types of scholarly contributions for evaluation:

  • Original research articles employing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method approaches.

  • Systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

  • Critical narrative reviews.

  • Methodological papers, tool development studies, software articles, or data papers.

Originality, Authorship, and Rights

By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors certify that:

  • The work is original, unpublished, and is not under consideration by any other journal or publisher.

  • All authors have reviewed and approved both the submission and the final version of the manuscript.

  • All necessary permissions have been obtained for the use of third-party materials, including figures, images, tables, scales, or instruments.

  • The information presented is accurate, verifiable, and complies with ethical and scientific principles related to data integrity and traceability.

Authorship Criteria and Contributions

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the study, in accordance with the principles promoted by COPE. Such contributions may include the conception and design of the research, data collection, analysis or interpretation, manuscript drafting or critical revision, approval of the final version, and responsibility for the content of the work.

A dedicated Author Contributions section must be included at the end of the manuscript, clearly specifying the role of each author using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework.

Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors must transparently disclose:

  • All sources of funding supporting the research, including the funding institution, project, grant, or reference number where applicable.

  • Any potential conflicts of interest of a financial, professional, institutional, personal, or academic nature.

If no conflicts of interest exist, authors must explicitly state that there are no conflicts of interest.

These declarations form part of the journal’s editorial and scientific integrity policies.

Manuscript Preparation

Language

Manuscripts may be submitted in either English or Spanish.

Suggested Length

  • Original Article: up to 3,500 words, excluding references, tables, and figures, with a maximum of 5 tables and/or figures.

  • Systematic Review or Meta-analysis: up to 3,500 words and a maximum of 5 tables and/or figures.

  • Narrative Review: up to 3,000 words and a maximum of 6 tables and/or figures.

Structure

Manuscripts should be organized as follows:

  • Clear, concise, and informative title.

  • Abstract of up to 250 words accompanied by 3–6 keywords.

  • Introduction.

  • Methods, including ethical considerations, study design, sample, variables, and statistical or analytical procedures.

  • Results.

  • Discussion, including limitations and practical implications of the findings.

  • Conclusions, where applicable.

  • Funding, author contributions, and acknowledgments.

  • References.

Style and References

The journal follows the Vancouver citation and reference style. Consistent application of this format is essential to ensure editorial quality, proper metadata management, and effective indexing of published articles.

Tables, Figures, and Supplementary Material

  • Tables and figures must be numbered according to the order in which they are cited in the text.

  • Each table and figure should include a complete and descriptive title.

  • Figures must be submitted in high resolution, preferably between 300 and 600 dpi, depending on their characteristics.

  • The use of supplementary material is recommended for extensive appendices, supporting datasets, or additional analyses that complement the main findings.

Submission, Revisions, and Documentation

All manuscripts must conform to the journal’s official formatting requirements.

At the time of submission, authors must provide:

  • An anonymized manuscript for peer review.

  • Statements regarding ethics, conflicts of interest, funding, author contributions, and data availability.

  • Permissions for the use of third-party materials when applicable.

During the review process, authors must submit:

  • A detailed response addressing each comment provided by reviewers and editors.

  • A revised version of the manuscript incorporating all applicable modifications.

Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Discussion

The journal maintains editorial mechanisms for managing:

  • Corrections and errata.

  • Expressions of concern.

  • Retractions, when justified.

These actions are implemented in accordance with international COPE recommendations and the editorial integrity policies adopted by the journal.