Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript submission

RPMESP receives manuscripts in Spanish and English, related to topics of interest to public health or experimental medicine, which have not been published in part or in full; nor have they been submitted simultaneously to other scientific journals, in any language. Manuscripts deposited in certified preprint servers are eligible to be evaluated for publication in RPMESP.

Steps to follow:

1. If you are registered, log in with your username and password in the "Login" option (located on the top right)

2. If you are not registered, register as an author in the "Register" option.

3. Select the type of article and complete the check list.

4. Upload your complete article (step "2. Upload Submission").

5. Upload the required documentation and supplementary files (step "2. Upload Submission").

6. Enter the article data (title, abstract and authors) (step "3. Enter Metadata").

7. Finalize the submission (step "4. Confirmation").

Check the status of your submission through the OJS system by logging in with your username and password.

NOTE: If you have not been able to upload your documentation, please contact RPMESP at rpmesp@ins.gob.pe.

Requirements and mandatory documentation

It is mandatory that the corresponding author submit the following documentation:

1. Registration of all authors in the OJS system, in the order of appearance in the manuscript.

2. Inclusion of the ORCID number of each author in the OJS system.

Note.- If the system reports the following ERROR: “The ORCID you have specified is not valid”, you must omit it and it will only be registered in First page.

3. Sworn statement duly completed and signed by the corresponding author.

4. Authors from INS Peru must submit a scanned copy of the document certifying that their publication proposal is known to the General Director of their center or office.

5. If the research involves humans and/or animals (when applicable), the code or document of approval by an institutional research ethics committee must be attached.

6. Observational and experimental research on tuberculosis or COVID-19, carried out in Peru, must be registered in the Health Research Projects platform (PRISA, https://prisa.ins.gob.pe/), the registration code generated by this platform must be attached.

7. In the case of Peru, clinical trials must be registered in the Peruvian Clinical Trials Registry platform (REPEC, https://ensayosclinicos-repec.ins.gob.pe/). Clinical trials from other countries must be registered in one of the primary registries of the World Health Organization’s Registry Network or registries approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/). In both cases, the generated registry code should be attached.

From item 3 to item 7 the files will be attached in “step "2. Upload Submission"”, through our OJS system. Each file uploaded in this step should not exceed 10 MB in size.

Items 5, 6 and 7 should be specified under ethical aspects in the Materials and Methods section. Submissions without the mandatory documentation attached will not be accepted; if so, the corresponding author will be informed.

When registering the article, RPMESP will assign a unique identification code to it, which will be used throughout the editorial process.

General instructions

General considerations

- The text must be in Microsoft Word®, with Arial font, size 10, and 1.5 spacing (1.5 lines).

- RPMESP uses the International System of Units.

- Scientific names (family, genus, species) should be in italics.

- Abbreviations and acronyms should follow the full name they represent when they are mentioned for the first time in the body of the text. For example: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

- In the text of the article, when referring to two authors, place the last names of both authors (e.g., Gutierrez and Caceres). When referring to three or more authors, indicate the surname of the first author followed by the term et al.

- At the foot of tables or figures, calls should use the letters of the English alphabet in lowercase and superscript in ascending order.

- p-values should have three decimal places. Statistical estimators and measures of strength of association should have two decimal places. Percentages should have one decimal place. In all cases, the decimal point should be used.

- References should include the doi of electronic publications (e.g., doi: 10.17843/rpmesp.2021.382.6562).

First page

Must include (in order of appearance):

1. Title: In English (with a suggested length of 20 words).

Note.- If the research has been presented in part or in full at a scientific event (abstract, poster or oral presentation), is part of a thesis, technical report or is in a digital repository, the authors should place the primary reference below the title.

Example:

Role of the intercultural facilitator for international migrants in Chilean health centers: perspectives of four key stakeholder groups.

This study is part of the thesis: Sepúlveda-Astete C. Qualitative study of the role of intercultural facilitators in the health care of international migrants in two communes of the Metropolitan Region: Quilicura and Santiago [Master’s thesis]. Santiago: Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Chile; 2019.

2. Short title: In English (with a suggested length of 7 words).

3. Authors’ identification: Each author must include his/her ORCID number (e.g. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5120-0713). The form of presentation of the authors’ names is their responsibility, according to the examples in Table 1.

4. Affiliation: Only one institutional and one academic affiliation (if applicable), city and country should be included per author (e.g., National Center for Public Health, National Institute of Health. Lima, Peru). For profession and academic degree, each author should indicate his/her profession and the highest academic degree obtained (e.g., physician specialist in Endocrinology, doctor in Public Health). Terms such as “candidate for”, “consultant”, “teacher”, “resident in”, “chief of service” or “professor” are not accepted.

5. Authors’ contributions: The contribution of each author in the elaboration of the article should be indicated, as stated in the authorship contributions of the sworn statement.

6. Funding: Indicate whether the research has been self-funded or funded by an institution. If it has been funded by a competitive fund, it should include the corresponding identifier.

7. Conflicts of interest: Each author must declare any relationship, condition, circumstance, or position that may affect the objectivity of the manuscript, as indicated in the sworn statement. It is recommended to review the Conflicts of Interest Policy.

8. Correspondence: The names, surnames and e-mail address of the corresponding author must be indicated.

Manuscript body (from the second page onward)

It should include (in order of appearance):

1. Title: The title in English.

2. Abstract: In English. Original articles should have the following structure: objectives, materials and methods, results and conclusions. Brief reports should have the same structure, but without subtitles. In the other types of articles, the abstract is not structured.

3. Keywords: A minimum of three and a maximum of ten should be proposed, separated by semicolons in Spanish and in English. The BIREME health sciences descriptors (http://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/portal/decs-locator/?lang=es) for Spanish keywords and MeSH NLM (http://nlm.nih.gov/mesh/) for English keywords should be used.

4. Article content: The “Specific instructions for each section” should be followed. The maximum length is different for each section, as indicated in Table 2.

5. References: Only those cited in the text should be included, according to their order of appearance. Vancouver format should be used in accordance with the ICMJE’s “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” (https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). If there are more than six authors, the first six should be placed followed by et al. The use of reference managers is recommended. Examples of the presentation of references can be found in Table 3.

Manuscripts whose references are not in Vancouver style will not enter the editorial process. 

6. Tables, figures and supplementary material:

Tables, figures and supplementary material should be placed after the references (in the same Word file), and should also be sent separately in their original format.

Tables: They must be arranged in Arabic numerals and contain the necessary information, both in the content and in the title, to be interpreted without referring to the text. Only one horizontal line should be used, to separate the heading from the body of the table. No vertical lines should be used. The meaning of all acronyms, signs and calls must be included in the table footnotes. Tables should be in an editable format (Word or Excel) and should be placed after the references (in the same Word file).

Figures: Maps, photographs, diagrams or graphs are considered figures and should be arranged with Arabic numerals. Photographs should be sent in TIFF or JPG format with a resolution greater than 600 dpi or 300 pixels. Maps, diagrams or graphs should be submitted in an editable format. The meaning of all acronyms, signs and calls must be included in the caption of the figure. Legends of microphotographs should indicate the magnification and staining technique. Maps should also have a scale. Photographs showing patients’ faces should be edited to avoid identification of the individual. Authors should state that consent for publication of the photographs was obtained from the patients or their legal representative. If a previously published figure is included, the source must be stated and written permission from the copyright holder must be provided. Figures should be placed after the references (in the same Word file), and should also be sent separately in the formats mentioned above.

Supplementary material: Includes tables, figures, codes, databases, instruments, files, images, etc. that complement the main findings of the study, whose inclusion is not necessary in the published article, but that contribute to a better understanding of the work. They will be available only in the electronic version and will be downloaded directly through a web link. Supplementary material that is available in external repositories such as Figshare, GitHub or others is also allowed. The Committee will evaluate the supplementary material to be published. This material will not be edited, so the content and formatting will be the responsibility of the authors.

Specific instructions for each section

Editorial

Submitted at the request of the director of RPMESP. Content will relate to articles published in the same issue of the journal or will be about a topic of interest according to our editorial policy.

Original Article

Articles resulting from research on topics in the field of public health and experimental medicine, developed with methodological quality, originality, topicality and in a timely manner, including systematic reviews and meta-analysis. It should have the following structure: title, abstract, keywords, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and references. The maximum length is 250 words for the abstract, 4000 words for the content, six tables or figures, and 35 references.

1. Abstract: Its structure includes objectives, materials and methods, results and conclusions. In English (250 words).

2. Keywords: A minimum of three and a maximum of ten should be included, both in Spanish and in English. The BIREME (http://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/portal/decs-locator/?lang=es) and MeSH (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh) health sciences descriptors should be used for Spanish and English, respectively.

3. Key messages: A paragraph of up to 100 words including 1) the motivation for the study (identification of the knowledge gap); 2) the main findings, and 3) the implications for public health or health policies. This message should be written in a simple language that can be understood by a non-specialist audience.

4. Introduction: Brief statement of the current state of the problem, as well as the background, justification and objectives of the study. The aim of the study should be presented at the end of the introduction.

5. Materials and methods: The methodology should be described in a way that allows the study to be reproduced and the quality of its information to be evaluated. The type and design of the research should also be included, as well as the characteristics of the population and the way the sample was selected. In some cases, it is convenient to describe the study area. The study procedures should be detailed; and if they have been previously described, the corresponding reference should be cited. It should include the way in which the variables of interest were measured or defined. The statistical procedures should be mentioned. The procedures for collection and botanical identification should be described if medicinal plants are used.

Drugs and chemical compounds should be identified, with their generic name, doses and routes of administration. Manuscripts using characterized (and purified) metabolic compounds with a defined chemical composition will be prioritized for publication.

It is recommended to review international consensus for specific types of articles, such as STROBE guidelines, for observational studies; STROBE-ME, for molecular epidemiology studies; CONSORT, for clinical trials; STARD, for diagnostic test studies; PRISMA-S, for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (it is suggested to register the protocol in PROSPERO); COREQ, for qualitative studies; CHEERS, for economic evaluations; SAGERS, for sex and gender reports in the study; ARRIVE, for experimental studies in animals, etc. You can find all these guidelines and useful information for submitting your articles on the EQUATOR website (https://www.equator-network.org/).

6. Ethical aspects: The ethical considerations involved in the study should be detailed. If the study involved human beings or experimental animals, it should be mentioned that the internationally required ethical standards were met. For human studies, the institutional ethics committee that approved the protocol should be identified and the approval code should be included. If required, the Editorial Committee may request proof of ethics committee approval and informed consent. The Editorial Committee will require the approval of the study by an institutional ethics committee in the cases detailed in chapter 4, “Ethical considerations in research and publication”.

Include the PRISA code (https://prisa.ins.gob.pe/), REPEC code (https://ensayosclinicos-repec.ins.gob.pe/), or the registration number generated by one of the primary registries of the World Health Organization’s Registry Network or registries approved by the ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/).

7. Results: The results should be clearly presented, without including opinions or subjective interpretations. They can be complemented with tables or figures, which should not repeat information from the text. Subtitles can be included to facilitate their presentation.

8. Discussion: Consider the main evidences of the study, the contrast of these with those of other studies, the strengths and limitations (including possible sources of bias), the implications for public health and, finally, the conclusions and recommendations.

9. Acknowledgements: When appropriate, it should be specified to whom and the reason for the acknowledgment. The persons included in this section should authorize their mention.

10. References: The references that were cited in the article should be included, according to the specifications mentioned in Table 3.

Brief Original

These are research articles that, because of their objectives, design and results, can be published in an abbreviated form.

Includes research results or methodological developments that can be presented succinctly or preliminary results of larger studies.

Structure: title, unstructured abstract, keywords, introduction, description of the study (including methodology), findings (to show the results), discussion and references. The maximum length is 150 words for the abstract, 2000 words for the content, four figures or tables, and 20 references. The Editorial Committee will evaluate the pertinence of the publication according to the date of execution of the study and the generation of the data.

Review

Includes narrative or exploratory reviews (scoping reviews) of current information on a specific topic of interest for public health or experimental medicine. The Editorial Committee will evaluate the acceptance of other types of reviews submitted to the journal.

Structure: Title, unstructured abstract, keywords, introduction (including the aim of the review), methodology section (including the search strategy, databases consulted, selection criteria and the process of extraction and synthesis of information), body of the article, conclusions and references.

Maximum length: 250 words for the abstract, 4000 words for the whole content, five figures or tables, and 60 references.

It is recommended to review international consensus, such as PRISMA-ScR for exploratory reviews or the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA).

This section does not include systematic reviews and meta-analyses that should be submitted as original articles.

Special Section

Articles on health topics and/or new or alternative techniques or methodological approaches of interest for public health or experimental medicine. On some occasions the RPMESP Committee may invite experts to prepare this type of articles.

It also includes systematizations of applied interventions and clinical practice guidelines; in these cases, the Editorial Committee will define the articles that will be accepted for this section. 

Structure: Title no longer than 18 words, unstructured abstract, keywords, introduction, body of the article, conclusions and references. The maximum length of the abstract is 150 words and 3500 words for the content, four figures or tables and 40 references.

Case Report

The submitted cases must involve diseases or conditions of public health concern.

The case report should comply with the CARE (Case Report) guidelines. You can find these guidelines and useful information for the submission of your articles on the EQUATOR website (https://www.equator-network.org/).

Case subjects should be identified by sequential numbers, not initials; medical record numbers or any information that would allow identification of the human subjects reported.

The authors should declare whether they have the informed consent of the patient or his/her legal representative, if applicable. If it is not possible to obtain the informed consent of the patient or legal representative, the approval of an ethics committee should be obtained.

In addition, the authors must have the permission of the head of the Department or service of the hospital or equivalent for the publication of the report.

The structure of the case report is: unstructured abstract, keywords, introduction (where the novelty of the case is stated), the case report itself, discussion (where the contribution of the article is outlined) and references. The maximum length is 150 words in the abstract and 2000 words in the content. Up to five figures or tables and 20 references are accepted.

Photographs should be sent in a separate file with a resolution greater than 600 dpi or 300 pixels. Image captions should describe in detail what is shown in the photographs, arrows may be used to facilitate understanding. When reproducing microscopic slides, the magnification and staining methods should be mentioned. The meaning of the used acronyms should be included in the caption.

History of Public Health

Articles published in this section cover health history topics within their historical development. This section may include studies on historical events of interest to public health. As well as biographical notes on people who have made outstanding contributions to public health or experimental medicine.

Structure: Title, unstructured abstract, keywords, introduction (where the context of the article is stated), body of the article, optionally conclusions and references. The maximum length is 100 words for the abstract, 2500 words between introduction, body and optionally conclusions, as well as three figures or tables, and 30 references.

Letters to the Editor

This section is open for epistolary contributions from RPMESP readers.  There are two types of letters:

a) Letters discussing or complementing the results of original or short original articles published in the last issue of the journal. Up to three authors, a maximum length of 500 words, one table or figure and six references are allowed. The editorial policy of the journal allows the referred authors to make a reply.

b) Scientific letters: Communications that present preliminary results of research or interventions that have not been published or submitted simultaneously to another journal. Up to five authors, up to 800 words, one table or figure and six references are allowed. The content should include the objective, methodology, results, limitations and conclusions.

Letters to the editor that do not argue the discussion of the results of the published article or do not qualify as a scientific letter will not be accepted. In special cases, the Editorial Committee will evaluate exceptions.

Editorial process

Reception of the manuscript

After submitting the manuscript and complementary files through the OJS-RPMESP platform, it will be verified whether the requirements from the section Requirements and mandatory documentation have been met. The manuscript will be accepted if all requirements are met; otherwise, the corresponding author will be informed by e-mail that the manuscript has not been received and that he/she should resubmit the article in compliance with the established requirements.

Article evaluation

Editorial evaluation:

Submitted articles will be presented to the RPMESP Editorial Committee, which is composed of a multidisciplinary team of experts, members of leading research institutions. Each article is assigned to an associate editor. The editors present each assigned article to the RPMESP Editorial Committee who will evaluate if it complies with the instructions for authors, if it is within the thematic area of the journal, if it presents any methodological problems that invalidate its results or if it contributes to the generation of new scientific knowledge; then, the committee will decide if the article is accepted for peer review or otherwise it will be returned to the author.

All communications of the editorial processes will be made only between the assigned editor and the corresponding author of each article.

The members of the RPMESP Editorial Committee who are authors of manuscripts must comply with the requirements specified in these Instructions for Authors, and the editorial process will be carried out according to what is stipulated therein. These manuscripts will follow the editorial process without the participation of the member of the Editorial Committee involved, that is, he/she will not participate in the sessions of the Editorial Committee where his/her article is reviewed or decided upon, nor will he/she know the assigned reviewers. In addition, the members of the RPMESP Editorial Committee will declare their potential conflicts of interest in such articles.

Peer review:

The peer review arranged by the Editorial Committee seeks to guarantee the quality of the published articles. Research articles are evaluated by two or more national or foreign reviewers, selected according to their expertise in the subject, based on their publications and their professional or academic experience. Likewise, reviewers with expertise in biostatistics and epidemiology will focus on the methodological aspects of the studies. In all cases, the participation of the reviewers is anonymous and ad honorem.

At the end of “Step 1: Start submission” of the OJS system, authors may include the data of four possible reviewers for their manuscript (full name, academic degree, affiliation, e-mail), who should not be directly related to the authors.

The reviewers’ reasoned comments may conclude the following: a) publishable without modifications; b) publishable with minor comments for improvement of the article; c) publishable with major comments, the response to which is essential before accepting the article; d) with invalidating comments, it is recommended not to publish the article. For original articles, reviewers may suggest that the article be published as a brief report.

Depending on the reviewers’ comments, the Editorial Committee will decide whether to approve the article for publication, not to approve it, or to send the comments to the author.

Response to comments

The corresponding author must submit the revised article (changes in red or with the Track Changes tool in the Word file) as well as the response to each of the comments in a separate document. Each comment made by the reviewers and the RPMESP Committee must be addressed, duly supported, in the response letter.

Based on the response to the comments, the Editorial Committee will decide whether or not to approve the article. If the Committee considers it appropriate, it may resend the revised article to a reviewer before considering its publication, or send it to a new round of review, before making a decision.

If the revised version is not received within five weeks after sending the comments to the authors, the article will be withdrawn from the editorial process.

Final decision

If the article is approved, the authors will be informed of the decision and the document will be edited by the responsible editor. If the article is not approved, the reasons supporting this decision will be provided in an e-mail to the authors.

The average length of the editorial process, which starts from the reception of the article to the final decision by the RPMESP Editorial Committee, is four months, depending on the speed of our reviewers and the response of the authors.

Editing and proofreading

Approved articles will enter the editing process, where text length, tables and figures may be modified; this stage is coordinated between the authors and the editors. At the end of the editing process, the article is sent to the proofreader, who will check the grammar, syntax and spelling of the text.

Design and layout

Once the editing and proofreading is finished, the article will go through the design and layout process, according to the journal’s style. After that, the article is converted into PDF format.

The layout version of the article is sent to the responsible editor for review and then sent to the scientific editor for final review and conformity, before sending it to the authors.

Print proof

The responsible editor will send the print proof in PDF format to the corresponding author’s e-mail for approval. The author may submit minor corrections before final approval.

If the authors do not make any comments on the proof within the deadlines established by the Editorial Committee, RPMESP will consider the final version as accepted.

Translation into Spanish

The associate editor in charge of translations at RPMESP will edit and translate the entire article into Spanish. This includes the title, abstract, key messages, content, tables and figures of the article; except for supplementary material. The translation process will begin once the article is approved by the editorial committee and will be carried out simultaneously with the editing process in English.

Closing and publication

The article is published virtually and then sent to the printer. The article is published in PDF and HTML formats. Simultaneously, we start processing the files for submission to the following databases: SciELO Peru, SciELO Public Health (Brazil), MEDLINE and SCOPUS.

The journal’s issues are disseminated through mass media and social networks.

Article follow-up

Authors are advised to consider the following aspects for the follow-up of their articles submitted to the RPMESP:

- Acknowledge receipt of each communication.

- A notification of receipt, acceptance, peer review comments, approval or not of the article and the print proof will be sent to the corresponding author copied to each of the authors of the article.

- The corresponding author of the article may inquire about the progress of the review process of his/her article at any time, considering the average length of the editorial process, which was mentioned previously.

- If no response is received regarding the comments sent within five weeks, the article will be withdrawn from the editorial process.

- If you have any questions, please contact us at rpmesp@ins.gob.pe or call (+511) 748-1111 extension 2122.