Submissions

Author Guidelines

                                                 Instructions for authors

1. Submission of original scientific papers

1.1. General instructions

Proposals for submission in Saúde & Tecnologia, ESTeSL’s open access scientific journal, may include articles resulting from research projects and scientific reviews in Portuguese or English. Each issue is composed of, at least, two thirds of articles resulting from research projects. Saúde & Tecnologia journal includes critical book reviews and can also promotes special thematic numbers (not regular), from an individual proposal and/or from invited authors.

Original articles must necessarily be sent electronically to the Editorial Board e-mail revistacientifica@estesl.ipl.pt, with a cover letter and a statement assuming that the article is not simultaneously submitted for publication in another journal and that the contents and the data presented are from the exclusive responsibility of the authors. This declaration is mandatory and must be mailed within five days after the electronic submission of the article, without which it will not be published.

Articles should not exceed 20,000 characters (including spaces), including notes, references, tables and figures included (1.5 line spacing; Arial 12 font; 25mm margins). Articles must include an abstract not exceeding 1,750 characters, written in English, Portuguese, or Spanish. Book reviews should include the abstract, the evaluation and the presentation of the main ideas of the book and should not exceed 3,500 characters, spaces included.

Authors must indicate their academic and/or professional titles, organizational affiliations and clearly identify the corresponding author.

1.2. Article organization

Articles must include a title with a short title (the running title) with less than 40 characters.

Each article must have a structured abstract (Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References), written in Portuguese and English, not exceeding 1,750 characters each. Following the abstract, four to six keywords should be added which should allow the identification and the proper research of the article.

Introduction

The introduction should contain essentially scientific arguments to sustain the study and justify the objectives.

Objectives

Objectives must be presented in a clearly and explicit way at the end of the introduction.

Methods

Methods should demonstrate the study design, the sample and/or study population, the form of identification and selection, as well as the methodology for collecting and analyzing data. Ethical considerations should be included at the end of this section.

Results

Results should be presented in text, and figures, tables, graphs, photographs, etc., could be used.

Discussion

Discussion should focus on the relationship of the data obtained with those observed in other studies/ major theoretical models and constraints or limitations of the study. Saúde & Tecnologia journal leaves to the consideration of the authors the option of a single chapter with the results and discussion.

Conclusions

The existence of this section is optional. If the authors choose for its inclusion, this should contain the main results of the study and avoid statements and conclusions not fully supported by the study.

References

Citations and references should be prepared according to Vancouver Standard (www.icmje.org) which can be obtained from the application manual Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/). Some examples:

Citations: The numerical indication in the text must coincide with the reference list presented at the end of the paper (e.g., Many studies^1-2,5 show that… Other studies^7,9-11 prove that…, etc.).

Article reference (example):

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

Book reference (example):

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 6th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2008. X, 960 p. ISBN-13 9780323054706

Electronic reference (example):

Kaul S, Diamond GA. Good enough: a primer on the analysis and interpretation of noninferiority trials. Ann Intern Med. 2006 [cited 2007 Jan 4];145(1):62-9. Available from: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/145/1/62.pdf

Website reference (example):

Cancer-Pain.org [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/

Other notes: 1) Abbreviations should be identified by their long form in its first presentation and subsequently abbreviated; 2) Expressions in other language versions, other than the Portuguese, should be presented in italics.

The book reviews refers to the abstract, evaluation and presentation of the outline of the work.

2. Illustrations

Illustrations as figures, graphs, tables, diagrams, or photographs must be submitted in an electronic file of figures in TIF or JPEG format, black and white or color and with the quality required for publication (with no less than 300 dpi). (Before submitting the article, authors should check the quality of the illustrations in case of electronic publication.)

Fonts, numbers and symbols on figures must allow legibility after text reduction. Titles and detailed explanations should be part of their legends and not the illustrations themselves.

Illustrations must be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance in the text.

Legends should be typed on a separate sheet, 1.5-line spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. Wherever used symbols, arrows, numbers or letters to identify parts of illustrations, each of them should be identified and clearly explained in the legend.

Whenever photographs of people are used, subjects must be unidentifiable or otherwise must be accompanied by a written permission for their publication.

If the authors intend to publish an illustration previously published, the original source must be informed and submission for publication must be presented with the written permission of the copyright.

3. Article electronic submission

The cover letter, the main text of the article, figures and tables must be sent in Word files. A Word file of the article should also be sent, so that the original can be revised, eliminating the identification of its authors.

The high-quality images or other elements that may lose quality when converted into PDF file, could be sent later in TIF files after acceptance of the article and if necessary.

4. Analyzing and reviewing

All articles submitted for publication will be evaluated by the Editorial Board and those who fulfill their standards will be sent to two referees of recognized scientific merit in the field. The anonymity of the authors is preserved throughout the reviewing process.

The final decision about the publication of articles is made by the Editorial Board, based on the referees analysis. In case of disagreement between referees, a third referee will be appointed.

In the appreciation process of the articles, the referees will take into account the following parameters: accuracy, originality, technical quality, clarity/quality of the article, importance/impact in the field (they will be qualified as excellent, very good, good, sufficient and insufficient). Reviewers may also make some recommendations and/or suggestions if appropriate.