Submissions

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Author Guidelines

NOVA is an open-access publication without any cost in which scientific works, written in Spanish or English are disseminated.

1. Categories:

1. Original article: is an unpublished work derived from biomedical research that provides new information on specific aspects and contributes relevant to scientific knowledge.


2. Systematic review article: study and critical analysis of recent literature and relevant to a specific research topic, which answers a research question and is conducted according to a pre-established design; the evidence is presented in a "descriptive" way but must account for a rigorous and analytical process. These can be of two types: qualitative (systematic review) or quantitative (meta-analysis). To ensure that a systematic review is valuable to users, the authors must prepare a transparent, complete, and accurate account of why the review was carried out, what they did (how the studies were identified and selected) and what they found (cases of studies and results). Narrative reviews that refer to “general aspects” of a condition and do not declare methods for obtaining and selecting information but will not be considered. For this reason, NOVA hosts the twenty-seven criteria recommended in the PRISMA 2020 declaration regarding systematic reviews to guarantee original, updated and complete manuscripts.

1. Short communication: is the report of partial or final results of an investigation whose rapid dissemination is important. This must contain a maximum of 1,000 words and not exceeding a maximum of two (2) figures and tables.


2. Technical note: this is a brief paper that describes in detail a novel laboratory technique or modifications made to an already established technique, emphasizing the advantages of the procedure or the innovations developed.


3. Essay: this is a brief philosophical, literary, or scientific writing that presents the author's reasoned opinion on a specific topic.


4. Letters to the editor: readers request clarifications or submit comments on any material published in the journal. As well as analytical or interpretative critical positions on the documents published in the journal, which, in the opinion of the Editorial Committee, constitute an important contribution to the discussion of the topic by the scientific reference community.

2. Preparation of the manuscript

The authors should follow the directions of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which are published as Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (Updated December 2013) (http://icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf).

The manuscript should include the following sections:

1. Presentation sheet: this section should include:

• Title (maximum 165 characters)


• Title in English (maximum 165 characters)


• A paragraph with the full names of the authors only with the first surname


• Institutional affiliation composed of group, institution, city and country. Institutional affiliation relates to authors with superscript numbers and must be omitted from academic positions and degrees.


• Correspondent Author: name of the responsible author, full address, telephone number, email and ORCID identifier.

1. Abstract: the work should include a structured abstract in Spanish and English with the subtitles introduction, objective, methodology, results, and conclusion. Abstract should not exceed 250 words. The use of references is not permitted, and the inclusion of acronyms or acronyms is not recommended.

1. Keywords: should include a maximum of 6 keywords in each language; see Descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS) of the Index of Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS) at http://decs.bvs.br/E/homepagee.htm  for English  see the Subject Headings (MeSH) of the Index Medicus  at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.htm.

1. Text: the entire manuscript, including the title page, abstracts, references, and the figures and tables legends, must be written in Arial 12 pt font of double space and aligned to the left, without leaving extra spaces between paragraphs; after using a period at the end of a sentence or paragraph, a space should be left.

The tables should be configured in Arial 10 pt font to simple space.

It should be used italic font for scientific terms, without underlining them.

Decimal numbers in Spanish should be separated from integers by commas, not by points.

The acronyms for reference units of measurement, must be those recognized by the International System of Units (SI).

1. Acknowledgments:
   Aimed at people with contributions who do not justify accreditation as an author for technical assistance received or material and financial support.


2. Conflict of Interest and source of funding: Authors must include a paragraph stating whether or not there are conflicts of interest. In addition, another paragraph should be submitted, including the source of funding for the advance investigation.


3. References: All manuscripts must be presented in accordance with the Vancouver system. Please note the following recommendations:

• Number each reference cited, in ascending order, including those in the text, tables, and figures.


• The reference numbers go in parentheses and not as a superscript or subscript.


• When there is more than one quote, they must be separated by comas, but if they are correlative, the first and last are mentioned separated by a hyphen.


• When an author is mentioned in the text, the number of the reference is placed after the author's name. If it were a work carried out by more than two authors, the first of them is cited followed by the abbreviation et al. and its reference number.


• The exact abbreviation of a cited journal should be found in the Index Medicus' of journals titles (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html); if the journal does not appear, the full title of the journal is written. Only the first six authors of the article should be transcribed, followed by et al


• We recommend using a reference manager (Mendeley or EndNote) to ensure the correct use of Vancouver system.

Some examples:

1. Scientific journal article:

Author/s (first surname followed by the initials of the name) in bold. Title. Abbreviation of the jounal. Year; volume: initial page-final page. DOI or PMID: Pubmed

Kolovou G, Daskalova D, Mikhailidis DP. Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and atheros-clerosis. Angiology. 2003;54(2): 59-71.

1. Organization or equipment as author:

SEPAR Working Group. Regulations on the management of threatening hemoptysis. Arch Bronconeumol 1997; 33: 31-40.

1. Books:

Author/es. Book title. Edition. Place of publication: Editorial; year.
Jiménez L, Montero FJ. Compendium of Emergency Medicine: therapeutic guide. 2nd ed. Madrid: Elsevier; 2005.

Note: The first edition does not need to be recorded. The edition is always written in Arabic numbers and abbreviations: 2nd ed. If the work was composed of more than one volume, quote it after the title of the book.

1. Organization as author

Community of Madrid. Mental Health Plan of the Community of Madrid 2003-2008. Madrid: Community of Madrid, Ministry of Health; 2002.

1. Book chapter:

Author/is of the chapter. Title of the chapter. In*: Director/Coordinator/Editor of the book. Book title. Edition. Place of publication: Editorial; year. Initial page - end page of the chapter.
Mehta SJ. Abdominal pain. In: Friedman HH, editor. Medical Diagnostic Manual. 5th ed. Barcelona: Masson; 2004. p.183-90.

1. Communication submitted to a congress

Author/is of the presentation. Paper title. In: Official Title of Congress. Place of Publication: Editorial; year. Initial page - end page of the communication/presentation.
Castro A, Escudero J. The Heart Area of the Hospital Complex “Juan Canalejo”. In: Papers: V Days of Health Cost Management and Evaluation. Bilbao; Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, Basque Government; 2000.p. 12-22.
Note: This same structure applies to Days, Symposia, Scientific Meetings etc.

1. Scientific or technical report

Author/es. Title of the report. Place of publication: Agencies/ Publishing agency; year. Number or identification series of the report.

World Health Organization. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease: new areas of research. Report of a WHO Scientific Group. Geneva: WHO; 1994. Technical Reports Series: 841.

1. PhD dissertation

Author. Title of the dissertation [PhD doctoral thesis]*. Place of publication: Editorial; year.

Muñiz J. Cross-sectional study of cardiovascular risk factors in the rural Galician [PhD dissertation]. Santiago: Publications and Scientific Exchange Service, University of Santiago; 1996.

1. Patent

Inventors; titular company. Patent title. Patent type. Patent registration number. Year.

Joshi R, Strebel HP, inventors; Fumapharm AG, owner. Use of fumaric acid derivatives in transplant medicine. European Patent. ES 2195609T3. BOPI 1-12-2003.

1. Non-scientific journal article

Author/is of the article. Title of the article. Name of the journal [Internet journal]* year [result date]**; volume (number): [Extension/page***]. Electronic direction.
French I, Barandiarán M, Marcellán T, Moreno L. Psychocognative stimulation in dementias. An Sist Sanit Navar [Internet journal]* 2003 September-December. [access 19 October 2005]; 26(3). Available at: http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci-arttext&pid=S1137-66272003000500007 &lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en.en.

1. Internet database

Institution/Author. Title [Internet database]. Place of publication: Editor; Establishment date, [date of modification; date of consultation]. Electronic direction.
PubMed [netline database on the Internet]. Bethesda: National Library of Medicine; 1966- [access date December 19, 2005]. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/

Declaration of originality

The letter of declaration of originality must be submitted at the time of submission of the manuscript, together with a letter of reference from potential evaluators (See submission checklist).

Agreement of assignment of the copyright

The letter of assignment of the copyright is sent once you have been notified of the acceptance of your manuscript (Download Here), you will be notified through the journal’s online portal and received by the same means.

3. Submission of manuscript

1. The manuscripts and suggested evaluators should be sent through the online system available at: https://revistas.unicolmayor.edu.co/index.php/nova/login


2. To log into the site, register a new account (yes new user) or access your credentials in case you have a previously registered account.


3. Access the tab "Submission" and follow every step the platform will indicate. Remember that you must record all metadata (full data from all authors, abstracts, keywords, and references) before saving their submit.


4. Add the files of declaration of originality, images, illustrations and/or tables, ethics committee minutes (if applicable), in full compliance with the guidelines indicated in the manuscript preparation instructions.

By submitting a manuscript for publication in the journal NOVA, the authors accept with their signature, explicitly or implicitly, that:

1. They are aware of the instructions for authors and have followed them in detail.


2. All authors meet all internationally accepted criteria for consideration as such.


3. The name of any author who meets the requirements to be considerate as such has not been excluded from the list of authors.


4. All authors know the final version of the manuscript submitted for publication and agree with it.


5. The authors have not engaged in any conduct that could be considered a violation of scientific integrity or the ethical principles that govern scientific publications.

4. Editorial process

All papers submitted for publication and submitted through our online platform will be subject to pre-review with the editorial coordinator, to verify compliance with the minimum quality and style requirements defined in the submission checklist. Manuscripts that do not comply with the guidelines will be returned, notified and responded to once they are registered and included in the corresponding process.

Assort of this step, the articles are forwarded to the editor, who will deliver the texts to the Editorial Committee, which will carry out the selection of articles and the choice of external academic peers for the evaluation process (double-blind peer review system). Once the journal receives the concept and comments from the evaluators, the author will be asked for adjustments and answer point per point within a maximum of 15 calendar days; if in the course of the next two weeks the journal has not received a response from the authors, the editorial coordination will remove the manuscript.

Once the manuscript has been accepted for publication, the Editorial Committee will not accept any modifications to its content and will be requested the agreement of assignment of the copyright to be sent to the journal, which must be signed by all authors.

NOVA reserves the right to accept or reject the manuscripts submitted for publication and will make the necessary suggestions to improve their presentation, quality and suitability. After editing and correcting style, the authors will receive the galley proof of the article, which must be reviewed in detail by the correspondent author and returned to the editor within a maximum of 72 hours.

Checklist for the preparation of submissions

All submits must meet the following requirements.

• The manuscript has not been previously published or submitted to any other journal.


• The file has been sent in Microsoft Word format


• The text has double space interline, 12 pt font, aligned to the left and is used italics instead of underlined (except in URLs)


• The text meets the stylistic and bibliographical conditions of Vancouver system included in the Author Guidelines, in About the journal.


• The authors send the declaration of originality letter signed by each


• The authors send a letter of potential evaluators, four national and four international; this includes the full data: names and surnames, e-mail and their institutional affiliation is different from that of any of the authors.


• All authors have ORCID identifier and public profile registered in Google Scholar


• At the time of submission, all the metadata requested from the journal's online portal were recorded: complete data from the authors, keywords (Spanish and English), abstracts and references separated by a double interlinear to facilitate validation and deposit in CrossRef.


• All illustrations, figures and tables are sequentially inserted into the text as appropriate. They are also attached in independent files identified according to order of appearance in the text, and in the original formats to allow its editing.


• About the abstract: Includes the abstract structured in Spanish and English, with a maximum length of 250 words and with the following subtitles (bold font): introduction, objectives, methodology, results and conclusions. Structured abstract is only required for original articles and short communications.


• About the structure of the original article, short communications and technical notes: § title page: title in Spanish, title in English, authors, institutional affiliation and complete correspondence author data. § Abstracts and keywords in Spanish and English § Introduction § Materials and methods § Results § Discussion § Acknowledgments § Declaration of conflict of interest § Financing References § * Illustrations, figures and tables with their respective legends inserted in the text as appropriate and identified as upward


• About illustrations, figures and tables: § Illustrations, figures and tables are inserted in the manuscript, in sequential order, with their respective legends and with the source of them. § The titles of the illustrations, figures and tables should not be part of the graph. They must be written at the bottom of them. § Also, the illustrations, figures and tables are sent in independent format, identified according to consecutive text (Figure 1., Figure 2., Figure 3.) in the permitted formats: JPG, TIFF, GIF, EPS and PNG. § The standard size corresponds to 2400 x 1500 pixels in 300 dpi (ppp). The minimum acceptable size is 1200 x 750 pixels at 300 dpi. § Tables are found in Word or Excel format, configured in Arial 10 pt font to simple space.


• About the references:  § References should be cited in Vancouver standards § References are numbered according to the order of appearance in the text § When references are cited in the tables, they must follow the order with which they were quoting in the text


• About the Nomenclature: § Taxonomic names of genus and species must be written in italics.  § The names of microorganisms are written in full the first time they are quoted, even in the title and in the abstract; then, only the initial of the genus and the full name of the species are used.


• Other considerations: § Attach the minutes of the Ethics Committee for those manuscripts that have been derived from projects with experimentation on humans or animals, which must be mentioned at the end of the Materials and Methods section. § For clinical trials for human intervention and experimentation, include location and registration number. § All manuscripts include a statement on the source of funding.


• About the title: § The titles are included in Spanish and English (maximum 165 characters). § The authors appear only with their institutional affiliation, not to mention positions or academic degrees. § The city and country corresponding to institutional affiliation are included. § The correspondent's author includes his full details: names, surnames, address, telephone and email.

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