ISSN 1135-5727
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Aim and editorial policy
• Presentation and organization of originals
• Information to authors

The Revista Española de Salud Pública accepts works related to the Public Health and Sanitary Management. The Revista publishes the following kinds of papers:

Originals: research works on Public Health and Sanitary Management (epidemiology, sanitary statistics, health promotion and disease prevention, sanitary planning, sanitary information, and health economics).

Original works should present the following organization: abstract, keywords, text (introduction, material and methods, results and discussion), acknowledgements and bibliography. The text should not exceed twelve pages size DIN-A4, double-spaced, with a maximum of six figures and six tables. Its is recommended that the total number of authors does not exceed six.

Special Contributions: the text should not exceed fifteen pages size DIN-A4, double-spaced. The bibliography should not exceed a hundred citations. Tables and figures are optional.

Letters to the Director: this section will publish comments related to works recently published in the Revista. It will also accept works which, due to their shortness, do not constitute an original article. Letters should not exceed two pages size DIN-A4, double-spaced, as well as one table and one figure. The bibliography should not exceed ten citations. The number of authors should not exceed four.

Other Sections: the Revista Española de Salud Pública publishes other sections, such as Editorials and Book Reviews. The latter will publish contributions by invitation of the Revista. However, authors willing to submit contributions to these sections should previously consult the journal redaction in writing.

All works accepted for publication become a permanent property of the Revista Española de Salud Pública. Published works should not be reproduced in total or in part without a written permission from the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo.

Works which have been previously published, or simultaneously submitted to other journal will not be accepted.

All originals should be presented according to the following order:

1. The first page should contain, in the order stated here, the following data:

• Title of the article (concise and informative).
• Last name and two forenames of each author.
• Full name of the work institution of each author, which should appear in Arabic numerals within parentheses following the respective author.
• Name and full address of the corresponding author, including telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail.
• Sponsorships, research grants, fellowships and other specifications should be mentioned when considered necessary.

2. The following page should present:

• Abstract with the minimum of 150 words and a maximum of 250 words.
• The work's content should be divided in four parts: Background, Methods, Results and Conclusions. For each one, authors should concisely describe, respectively, the research objective, the way of developing it, the most important results found out, and the main conclusions of the work. New and relevant aspects of the work should be emphasized.
• Keywords: Three to ten keywords or short expressions should follow the abstract; this aims at the indexing of the article by national and international biomedical databases. Authors should indicate the larger number possible up to ten, using the terms of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), of the Index Medicus. If the adequate terms are not available in the MeSH, because they are brand-new, the journal will accept those new terms.
• The title, the abstract and all keywords should be accompanied by their English versions.

3. The following pages should present the article's text. Original articles should be divided according to the following sections: Introduction, Material and methods, Results and Discussion. Those sections and their titles should not appear in the case of Letters to the Director. Special Contributions may present different sections in order to facilitate their understanding.

Introduction: it should clearly indicate the background and the objective of the work, summarizing the criteria which led to its execution, and offering, if necessary, the indispensable bibliographical basis. An extensive review of the literature should be avoided. It should not include data or conclusions of the work.

Material and methods: it should clearly describe the criteria for selecting the material of the study, including the control groups. It should state the employed methodology, including the chosen instrumentation and systematics, offering enough information to enable other groups to reproduce the same work. It should refer to the methods used for statistical analysis. When an original methodology is used, it is necessary to state the reasons that led to its usage, and describe its possible limitations.

Experimental works which have employed human groups should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards approved by the ethics committee of the institution where the study was carried out, and with the Helsinki Declaration as revised in 2000 (http://www.wma.net/). Patients' names and initials should not be mentioned.

Drugs or chemical compounds must be referred to by their generic names, indicating administration and dosage.

Results: observations resulting from the use of the material and methods should be described, not interpreted, presenting the results in a logical sequence in the text. Data given in tables and figures should not be repeated in the text, but the most important observations may be emphasized or summarized.

Discussion: new and important aspects of the study and its conclusions should be emphasized. Data or other material given elsewhere in the text should not be repeated in detail in the Discussion. Inferences of the findings and their limitations should be mentioned, including the deductions for a future research. Observations relating other relevant studies should be refered. The conclusions of the work should be confronted with its objectives, avoiding simplistic assertions and conclusions not firmly supported by data.

Acknowledgements: when necessary, people, centers or institutions which have contributed to the work should be cited.

4. The bibliography should follow the discussion or the acknowledgements, when existing. Bibliographical references should be numbered and presented in the order they appear in the text. Along the text, references should be always indicated by superscript Arabic numerals. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the Índice Médico Español and the Index Medicus. The "List of Journals Indexed" published every year, or the January issue of the Index Medicus should be consulted.

The use of imprecise expressions as bibliographical references should be avoided. Expressions such as "Unpublished observations" or "Personal communications" should not be included in the bibliography, but they may be cited in the text within parentheses.

Works accepted for publication, but not yet published, should be included in the bibliography specifying the journal title, followed by the expression "in press". Bibliographical references should be written down from the original documents, always citing the initial and final pages of the work. Some examples of bibliographical references follow:

Journal articles

(1) Standard journal articles. (All authors up to six should be cited; when there are more than six authors, only the first six followed by the expression "et al" should be cited).

Llorca Díez J, Prieto Salceda D, Dierssen Sotos T y Delgado-Rodríguez M. Comparación entre varias poblaciones estandar para el ajuste de edades. Rev Esp Salud Pública 2000; 74:341-350.

(2) Corporative authors

Ministerio de Sanidad e Consumo. Liga Española para la lucha contra la Hipertensión. Sociedad Española de Hipertensión. Control de la hipertensión arterial en España. Rev Esp Salud Pública 1996;70: 139-210.

(3) Anonymous works

Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994;84:15.

(4) Volume's supplement

Shen HM, Zhang KF. Risk assesment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102 Supl 1:275-82.

(5) Issue's supplement

Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women´s psichological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996;23(1 Supl 2):89-97.

(6) Part of a volume

Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem 1995;32(Pt 3):303-6.

(7) Part of an issue

Poole GH, Mills SM. One hundred consecutive cases of flap lacerations of the leg in ageing patients. N Z Med J 1994;107(986 Pt 1):377-8.

(8) Issue with no volume

Turan I, Wredmark T, Fellander-Tsai L. Arthroscopic ankle arthrodesis in reumathoid arthritis. Clin Orthop 1995;(320):110-4.

(9) Issue with no number nor volume

Browell DA,Lennard TW. Inmunologic status of the cancer patient and the effects of blood transfusion on antitumor responses. Curr Opin Gen Surg 1993:325-33.

(10) Pages using Roman numerals

Fisher GA, Sikic Bl. Drug resistance in clinical oncology and hematology. Introduction. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 1995 Abr;9(2):XI-XII.

Books and other monographs

(11) Individual authors

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2ª ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers;1996.

Hawe P, Degeling D hall J. Evaluación en promoción de la salud. Guía para trabajadores de la salud. 1ª ed.Barcelona:Masson,1993.

(12) Editors or organizers as authors

Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editores. Mental health care for elderly people. Nueva York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.

(13) Corporative authors

Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid programme. Washington (DC): The Institute; 1992.

(14) Book chapter

Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertensión and stroke. En: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editores. Hypertensión: pathophisiology, diagnosis and management. 2ª ed. Nueva York: Raven Press;1995. p. 465-78.

Regidor Poyatos E, Rodríguez Blas C y Gutiérrez Fisac JL. Reducir los comportamientos perjudiciales para la salud. En: Indicadores de Salud. Tercera evaluación en España del programa regional europeo Salud para Todos. Madrid, Ministerio de Sanidad e Consumo; 1995.p. 239-273.

(15) Congress annals

Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophisiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophisiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japón. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996.

Navarro C. Epidemias de asma asociadas con la inhalación de polvo de soja. Libro de ponencias de la XII Reunión Científica de la Sociedad Española de Epidemiología; 1994 Sep 29-30-Oct 1: Alicante: Departamento de Salud Pública. Universidad de Alicante,1994.

(16) Works presented in congresses

Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. En: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienholf O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Ginebra, Suiza. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.

(17) Scientific and technical reports

Smith P, Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment billed during skilled nursing facility stays. Fynal report. Dallas (TX): Dept. of Health and Human Services (US), Office of Evaluation and Inspections; 1994 Oct. Report No.: HHSIGOE169200860.

La diabetes del adulto en la Comunidad de Madrid. Madrid: Consejería de Salud; 1996. Documentos Técnicos de Salud Pública núm.37.

(18) Theses

Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health-care: the elderly´s acces and utilization [tesis doctoral]. San Luis (MO): Washington Univ.; 1995.

(19) Patents

Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR, inventors; Novoste Corporation, assignee. Méthods for procedures related to the electrophisiology of the heart. US patent 5,529,067. 1995 Jun 25.

Other published works

(20) Periodical articles

Lee G. Hospitalitations tied to ozone pollution: study estimates 50.000 admissions annually. The Washington Post 1996 Jun 21; Sec. A:3 (col. 5).

(21) Audio-visual materials

VIH +/SIDA: the facts and the future [videocassette]. San Luis (MO): Mosby-Anuario; 1995.

(22) Computer files

Hemodynámics III: the ups and downs of hemodynámics [programa de ordenador]. Versión 2.2. Orlando (FL): Computerized Educational Systems; 1993.

(23) Internet document:

Donaldsom L, May, R. Health implications of genetically modified foods [citado 12 de oct. 2000]. www.doh.gov.uk/gmfood.htm.

(24) Maps

North Carolina. Tuberculosis rates per 100,000 population, 1990 [mapa demográfico]. Raleigh: North Carolina Dept. of Environment, Health and Natural Resources Div. of Epidemiology; 1991.

(25) Diccionaries and reference works

Stedman´s medical dictionary. 26th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1995. Apraxia; p. 119-20.

(26) Works in press

Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med. En prensa 1997.

(27) Legal documents

Boletín Oficial de Navarra. Decreto Foral 545/1995, de 13 de noviembre, por el que se modifica la estructura orgánica y funciona del Instituto Navarro de Salud Laboral. BON núm 149,4/12/1995.

Boletín Oficial del Estado. Real Decreto 2210/1995 por el que se crea la Red Nacional de Vigilancia Epidemiológica. BOE núm 21, 24/1/1996.

Diario Oficial de las Comunidades Europeas. Directiva 94/33/CE relativa a la protección de los jóvenes en o trabalho. DOCE núm L 216, 20/8/1994.

The punctuation of the bibliographical references should follow that presented in the examples.

5. Following, the tables should be presented in separate sheets, and include:

a) a sequential numbering in Arabic numerals,
b) a title, and
c) only one table in each sheet.

Authors should clearly build all tables; all abbreviations should be always accompanied by an explanatory footnote. If a table takes more than a sheet, its title should be repeated in the second sheet.

6. At last, all figures should be presented within an envelope. On the back of each figure a label should be fixed, containing the figure's number and the author's name, and indicating the top of it. No one of those data should be written on the figure's front. All figure's legends should be typed in double space, begining in a separate page and identifying them with the respective Arabic numerals. When using symbols, arrows, numbers or letters for indicating certain parts of the illustrations, it will be necessary to identify and explain the meaning of each one in a footnote or in the legend.

All photographs should be carefully selected to assure a good quality, not including those which do not contribute to a better understanding of the text. Their size should be 9 x 12 cm. It is very important that all photographs present the maximum quality, assuring a good reproduction. They should be presented in a way that all opaque elements appear in white. It is recommended that no more than six photographs should be submitted. Coloured illustrations will be accepted, and should be submitted in the form of slides within an envelope.

Graphics (up to six) should be of sufficient quality to ensure a direct and good reproduction (photocopies will not be accepted), and size 10 x 15 cm or a multiple. Authors should follow the same presentation rules as for photographs.

All photographs and graphics should be sequentially numbered in Arabic numerals, under the general title figures.

Abbreviations and symbols. Only common abbreviations should be used. The use of abbreviations in the title and the abstract should be avoided. When an abbreviation is cited for the first time, it should be preceded by its name in full, except for the very known measure units.

2. The redaction of the Revista will acknowledge the receipt of all works. Later, it will communicate their acceptance or rejection.

3. All originals will be anonimously reviewed by two specialists in the area of the study and/or its methodology. The redaction of the Revista reserves the right to reject the articles considered not adequate for publication, as well as to introduce style changes to abridge the texts, without changing their contents.

The concepts expressed in the published works will exclusively be responsibility of the authors. The Redaction Committe is not responsible for the rejected material, once the rejection is communicated to the authors.

4. When originals are next to their final acceptance, the Revista will ask the authors a copy of the work in diskette. When presenting the diskette the authors should:

• include a printed copy of the work.
• include in the diskette the most recent version of the work, as well as the tables and figures.
• lable the diskette with the format and the name of the files.
• inform which software and hardware were used for preparing the texts, tables and figures.

5. When an article is in the press, the authors will receive typographical proofs for revision, sending them back to the redaction of the Revista within 48 hours after their receipt.

6. Once a work is published, each author will receive a copy of the Revista.