ISSN 1025-0298
On-line version
ISSN 1025-028X
Printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Manuscript writer

VacciMonitor accepts manuscripts either in Spanish or in English: editorials, letters to the editor, original papers, and exceptionally reviews, short communications, conference reports and advertisements of scientific events, products and services.

Peer Review: The Editorial Board of VacciMonitor will accept or reject manuscripts as recommended by reviewers according to their scientific quality and adequacy to the journal aims. Blinded peer-review process will be conducted. Considerations and corrections will be sent to the authors. Authors should send corrected papers in no more than 20 days.

Copyright: VacciMonitor is an open Journal under Creative Commons License. Permissions are granted to:

- Authors can distribute electronic or print copies of the published article among students or colleagues, including the authorization to be used for educational purposes by other specialists of the institution.

- Re-use the whole article or a part of it in new manuscripts or future books.

- Authors are authorized by VacciMonitor to use either their version or the one edited by the Journal in their personal website or in any other free-access repository.

Ethical Issues: VacciMonitor publishes the results of research involving human subjects only if such research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the provisions of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Any manuscript describing the results of such research that is submitted for publication must contain a clear statement to this effect, specifying that the free and informed consent of the subjects or their legal guardians were obtained and that a qualified ethical review board approved the investigation.

When reporting experiments on animals, authors must indicate whether the welfare of animals used in scientific experiments was taking into account, and if the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

Clinical Trials: They must be previously registered and carried out according to international requirements. Papers must include a format for results reporting, like CONSORT Guidelines.

Conflict of interest: A conflict of interest arises when a professional judgement concerning the validity of the research tends to be influenced by any self-interested motive. Authors should disclose at the time of submission information on financial conflicts of interest that may influence the manuscript. They may also declare other conflicts that could influence the results of the study or the conclusions of the manuscript.

Title: It should be concise and should be written in upper and lower cases.

Authors: Name(s) and last name of the author(s) should be provided, as well as personal data: academic degree, professor, e-mail and postal address. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence. Authors should not be more than 8.

Authorship will be confirmed by a letter signed by all authors if papers are sent by e-mail. The letter has to state that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the named authors. It can be scanned or sent by e-mail enclosed to the paper.

Affiliation: The name of the institution, postal address, including the country and in the same order of authors, using the exponential form. (1; 2; 3) should be provided.

Non-structured Abstract: It has to describe in no more than 250 words the aims, methods and conclusions. Key words should be included at the end. (Up to six words).

In general, the summary should: -Present the main objectives and scope of the investigation. To describe the methodology used. -Summarize Results -End up with the main conclusions.

Introduction: The introduction should supply sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand and evaluate the study. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Material and Methods: This section should include the design of the study, the setting, the type of participants or materials involved, a clear description of all interventions and comparisons, and the type of statistical analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate.

State the clinical disorders, important eligibility criteria, and key socio-demographic features of patients. The numbers of participants and how they were selected should be provided, including the number of otherwise eligible individuals who were approached but refused. If matching is used for comparison groups, characteristics that are matched should be specified. The proportion of participants who completed the study must be indicated and the number of patients withdrawn should be given.

Animal information should include: breed, breeder, sex, age, weight and the maintenance conditions.

Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty. Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information. When appropriate, confidence intervals should be presented.

Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the name and address of the manufacturer in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow others to reproduce the results. Give the references of the usual methods, including statistical methods; provide references and brief descriptions of methods that have been published but are little known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons why they have been used and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic names, doses and routes of administration.

Provide sufficient technical details to allow the work to be reproduced, with details of supplier and catalogue number in parentheses when appropriate. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. Describe new methods completely.

Results: Results should be clear and concise. This section should include the results of the experiments. Present the results as concisely as possible in one of the following: text, table(s), or figure(s). Avoid extensive use of graphs to present data that might be more concisely presented in the text or tables. Limit photographs to those that are absolutely necessary to show the experimental findings. Number figures and tables in the order in which they are cited in the text, and be sure to cite all figures and tables.

The main outcomes of the study should be reported and quantified. Results of statistical analysis should include, where appropriate, relative and absolute risks or risk reductions, and confidence intervals. Studies of screening and diagnostic tests should report sensitivity, specificity, predictive value or precision and accuracy.

All randomized controlled trials should include the results of intention-to-treat analysis, and all surveys should include response rates.

Discussion: The Discussion should provide an interpretation of the results in relation to previously published work and to the experimental system at hand and should not contain extensive repetition of the Results section or reiteration of the introduction.

A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Provide only conclusions of the study directly supported by the results, along with implications for clinical practice, avoiding speculation and overgeneralization. Indicate whether additional study is required. Give equal emphasis to positive and negative findings of equal scientific merit.

Abbreviations and acronyms: The full name should be written when mentioned the first time. They should be used neither in the title nor in the abstract.

International System of Units (SI): All clinical laboratory results are reported in SI units or permitted by this. If you want to add the traditional units, these are written in brackets. Example: glycemia: 5,55 mmol/L (100 mg/100 mL).

References: Identify references by Arabic numerals in parentheses without superindex, for example: "It has been observed (3, 4) that..." or "Some authors (1-5) have pointed out...". They should be placed in the order they are first mentioned in the text at the end of the paper. Original papers should use no more than 20 references, reviews no more than 50 and short communications no more than 10. Relevant and updated published documents should be cited. Unpublished manuscripts and personal communications should not be included. However, papers approved to be published should be included indicating in parentheses the journal name. Abbreviations of journal names should conform to those provided in the Index Medicus. The order of bibliographic elements as well as punctuation will be that of Vancouver Standards.

Articles in Journals:

Standard

List the first six authors followed by et al.

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7.

As an option, if a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume (as many medical journals do) the month and issue number may be omitted.

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2002;347:284-7.

Optional addition of a database's unique identifier for the citation:

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7. Cited in PubMed; PMID 12140307.

More than six authors:

Rose ME, Huerbin MB , Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res 2002;935(1-2):40-6.

Organization as author

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension 2002;40(5):679-86.

Both personal authors and an organization as author (This example does not conform to NISO standards).

Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1,274 European men suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. J Urol 2003;169(6):2257-61.

No author given

21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ 2002;325(7357):184.

Article not in English

(Note: NLM translates the title into English, encloses the translation in square brackets, and adds an abbreviated language designator).

Volume with supplement

Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93-9.

Issue with supplement

Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology 2002;58(12 Suppl 7):S6-12.

Volume with part

Abend SM, Kulish N. The psychoanalytic method from an epistemological viewpoint. Int J Psychoanal 2002;83(Pt 2):491-5.

Issue with part

Ahrar K, Madoff DC, Gupta S, Wallace MJ, Price RE, Wright KC. Development of a large animal model for lung tumors. J Vasc Interv Radiol 2002;13(9 Pt 1):923-8.

Issue with no volume (exceptional)

Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty. Clin Orthop 2002;(401):230-8.

No volume or issue (exceptional)

Outreach: bringing HIV-positive individuals into care. HRSA Careaction. 2002 Jun:1-6.

Journal article on the Internet

Castillo Belén JR, Rams Veranes A, Castillo Belén A, Rizo Rodríguez R, Cádiz Lahens A. Lactancia materna e inmunidad. Impacto social. MEDISAN 2009;13(1). Disponible en: http://bvs.sld.cu/revistas/san/vol13_1_09/san13109.htm. (Consultado en línea: 20 de agosto de 2011).

Pagination in roman numerals

Chadwick R, Schuklenk U. The politics of ethical consensus finding. Bioethics. 2002;16(2):iii-v.

Type of article indicated as needed

Tor M, Turker H. International approaches to the prescription of long-term oxygen therapy [letter]. Eur Respir J. 2002;20(1):242.

Lofwall MR, Strain EC, Brooner RK, Kindbom KA, Bigelow GE. Characteristics of older methadone maintenance (MM) patients [abstract]. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002;66 Suppl 1:S105.

Article containing retraction

Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. Safety and tolerability of a rapidly escalating dose-loading regimen for risperidone. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(2):169. Retractación de: Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. J Clin Psychiatry. 2000;61(12):909-11.

Article retracted

Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. Safety and tolerability of a rapidly escalating dose-loading regimen for risperidone. J Clin Psychiatry. 2000;61(12):909-11. Retractación en: Feifel D, Moutier CY, Perry W. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(2):169.

Article republished with corrections

Mansharamani M, Chilton BS. The reproductive importance of P-type ATPases. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2002;188(1-2):22-5. Corregido y republicado de: Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2001;183(1-2):123-6.

Article with published erratum

Malinowski JM, Bolesta S. Rosiglitazone in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a critical review. Clin Ther. 2000;22(10): 1151-68; discussion 1149-50. Errata en: Clin Ther 2001;23(2):309.

Article published electronically ahead of the print version

Yu WM, Hawley TS, Hawley RG, Qu CK. Immortalization of yolk sac-derived precursor cells. Blood. 2002 Nov 15;100(10):3828-31. Epub 2002 Jul 5.

Books and Other Monographs:

Surnames and initials of all authors (or editors, compilers, etc.), or the full name of a collective entity are included; title of the book; issue number; place of publication, publisher, and publication year. Where appropriate volume numbers and pages visited will be added. In the event that the quotation refers to a book chapter, indicate the first and last page of the chapter, separated by a hyphen.

Personal author(s):

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS , Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis : Mosby; 2002.

Editor(s), compiler(s) as author:

Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York : McGraw-Hill; 2002.

Author(s) and editor(s)

Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

Organization(s) as author

Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing research and practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide (Australia): Adelaide University; 2001.

Chapter in a book

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York : McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

Conference proceedings

Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Conference paper

Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

Scientific or technical report

Issued by funding/sponsoring agency:

Yen GG (Oklahoma State University, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stillwater, OK). Health monitoring on vibration signatures. Final report. Arlington (VA): Air Force Office of Scientific Research (US), Air Force Research Laboratory; 2002 Feb. Report No.: AFRLSRBLTR020123. Contract No.: F496209810049.

Issued by performing agency:

Russell ML, Goth-Goldstein R, Apte MG, Fisk WJ. Method for measuring the size distribution of airborne Rhinovirus. Berkeley (CA): Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division; 2002 Jan. Report No.: LBNL49574. Contract No.: DEAC0376SF00098. Sponsored by the Department of Energy.

Dissertation

Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.

Patent

Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1.

Other Published Materials:

Newspaper article

Tynan T. Medical improvements lower homicide rate: study sees drop in assault rate. The Washington Post. 2002 Aug 12;Sect. A:2 (col. 4).

Audiovisual material

Chason KW, Sallustio S. Hospital preparedness for bioterrorism [videocassette]. Secaucus (NJ): Network for Continuing Medical Education; 2002.

Legal Material

Public law:

Veterans Hearing Loss Compensation Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-9, 115 Stat. 11 (May 24, 2001).

Unenacted bill:

Healthy Children Learn Act, S. 1012, 107th Cong., 1st Sess. (2001).

Code of Federal Regulations:

Cardiopulmonary Bypass Intracardiac Suction Control, 21 C .F.R. Sect. 870.4430 (2002).

Hearing:

Arsenic in Drinking Water: An Update on the Science, Benefits and Cost: Hearing Before the Subcomm on Environment, Technology and Standards of the House Comm. on Science, 107th Cong., 1st Sess. (Oct. 4, 2001).

Map

Pratt B, Flick P, Vynne C, cartographers. Biodiversity hotspots [map]. Washington: Conservation International; 2000.

Dictionary and similar references

Dorland's illustrated medical dictionary. 29th ed. Philadelphia : W.B. Saunders; 2000. Filamin; p. 675.

Electronic Materials:

CD-ROM

Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson 's electronic atlas of hematology [CD-ROM]. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.

Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Monograph on the Internet

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Web site

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org.

Part of a homepage/Web site

American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html.

Database on the Internet

Open database:

Who's Certified [database on the Internet]. Evanston (IL): The American Board of Medical Specialists. c2000 - [cited 2001 Mar 8]. Available from: http://www.abms.org/newsearch.asp.

Closed database:

Jablonski S. Online Multiple Congenital Anomaly/Mental Retardation (MCA/MR) Syndromes [database on the Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US). c1999 [updated 2001 Nov 20; cited 2002 Aug 12]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive//20061212/mesh/jablonski/syndrome_title.html.

Part of a database on the Internet

MeSH Browser [database on the Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2002 - [cited 2003 Jun 10]. Meta-analysis; unique ID: D015201; [about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html Files updated weekly.

Figures (graphs and images):

Graphs: The graphics should be elaborated using programs and compatible formats with Microsoft Windows (CorelDraw, Illustrator, Excel and Power Point). Inserts them in the text in such a way that the program on which it was elaborated can be published (“opened”). Do not paste them as image. Any graph that has not been elaborated in one of these programs and be not compatible with Microsoft Windows it should be delivered as independent image. They will be carried out in white and black, the series of data of the graphics of columns, bars or to circulate may be identified with filler layers if it was necessary. In those of lines or dispersion, the identification among the series of data will be made using different markers. The thickness of the lines and curved in general should be bigger than a point. Three-dimensional graphics are not admitted.

Drawings and Diagrams: They will be sent in black and white, conveniently digitized, assuring appropriate contrasts, sharpness and intensity.

Photographs and other images: They should have an excellent contrast and sharpness, and be sent as files bitmaps (TIFF, PSD, EPS, JPG or JEPG) with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi without compression. The author must guarantee that he is entitled to publish the photographs that he is sending, since it will be his responsibility in the event of violation. Photographs or images GIF will not be accepted, because the resolution will not be the appropriate one. Nor images, graphics neither illustrations downloaded from internet will be accepted.

In the figures (graphic, drawings and images) the title will not be inserted in its interior, but outside of the area, in the document in Microsoft Word. The numeration will be made with Arabic numbers in serial order and the format of its footnotes will be in the following way: Figures 1. Humoral Immune Response… The legends will be placed preferably under the figures or in the texts of their respective footnotes. Avoid the employment of abbreviations, initials, symbologies and notations that are not of international or very recognized. Funds will not be used in the figures; neither will they be locked in squares of any type. We suggest the additional sent of the original files.

Tables:

The titles will be written at the top, the numeration will be made with Arabic numbers and in consecutive order. They will quote in the following way: Table 1. Quality control … The legends and corresponding notes will be written under the tables. They will be built using the editor of tables of Microsoft Word and their structure must be simple, only using horizontal lines to frame the body of the table and the head. Avoid using the rest of the horizontal and vertical lines.

Postal Address: “Finlay Ediciones”. Ave. 27 No. 19805. La Lisa. Havana, Cuba. CP 11600, AP 16017.

Phones: (53) 7 271 9123; (53) 7 208 0982

e-mail: vaccimonitor@finlay.edu.cu

Website: http://vaccimonitor.finlay.edu.cu