Instructions for Authors

These instructions establish the guidelines for the preparation and submission of manuscripts to the journal Ciencia y Tecnología Aplicada a la Salud Pública, in accordance with international editorial standards. Authors are encouraged to review each section prior to submission in order to ensure compliance with the requirements and facilitate the editorial process.

Content

A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

All manuscript files received, including tables and figures, must be submitted in editable formats (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.). Ideally, authors should follow the predefined layout proposed by the journal.

  • The manuscript must be prepared on A4-size paper using Times New Roman or Arial font, size 11 pt, with 1.5 line spacing and justified alignment, leaving margins of at least 3 cm on all four sides. All pages must be numbered in the upper right corner, in accordance with the institution’s publication structure guidelines.
  • The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature shall be used for scientific names of animals, and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants shall be followed. Scientific names (family, genus, species) must be italicized.

  • The journal follows the recommendations of the  International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) for the nomenclature of chemical compounds.

  • The International System of Units (SI) must be used.

  • Abbreviations, acronyms, and initials must be accompanied by the full term they represent when first mentioned in the text. For example: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

  • In the text of the article, when referring to two authors, both surnames must be included (e.g., Gómez and Arias). When referring to three or more authors, the surname of the first author should be followed by the term et al.

  • Footnotes in tables or figures must use lowercase superscript letters from the Spanish alphabet in ascending order.

  • P values should be reported with up to three decimal places; statistical estimators and measures of association with up to two decimal places; and percentages with one decimal place. In manuscripts written in Spanish, the decimal comma should be used, whereas the decimal point should be used in English-language manuscripts.

  • In the references section, whenever available, the DOI code for electronic publications must be included (e.g., doi: 10.4236/ojemd.2025.152003)
  • The Title Page section must appear at the beginning of the manuscript text.

Table No. 1. Maximum length according to section

Section Abstract Main text Tables/Figures References
Editorial* - 1500 - -
Original Article 250 4000 6 40
Brief Original 150 3000 4 30
Review Article 250 4000 5 70
Case Report 150 3000 5 30
Letter to the Editor - 800 1 10

*Section by invitation from the ESSALUD Journal Committee

  • The word count must include all content from the Introduction onward, including Methods, Results, Discussion, and figure and table legends.

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B. CONSIDERATIONS ACCORDING TO THE TYPE OF MANUSCRIPT

1. SECTION I

The following guidelines apply to all manuscripts submitted to the journal:

a. Title

Authors must provide the title and a short title in both Spanish and English, with a suggested maximum length of 20 words.
If the research has been partially or fully presented at a scientific event (abstract book, poster, or oral presentation), forms part of a thesis or technical report, or is available in a digital repository, authors must include the primary reference below the title.

b. Author identification

Each author must provide their name and ORCID number.
Authors should be identified by their first name and paternal surname. The use of the maternal surname or its initial is at the discretion and responsibility of each author. Authors are encouraged to use a consistent format for their names.
At the end of each author’s name, Arabic numerals in superscript must identify the Section(s), Department(s), Service(s), and Institution(s) to which the author belonged during the execution of the study, as well as the geographical location (postal code, city, country).

c. Affiliation

Affiliation refers to the institution(s) or organization(s) where the author(s) work or study and which contributed in some way to the development of the research.
If an author changes workplace or institution after conducting the research, the current affiliation may only be included in the Acknowledgments section, since the affiliation must indicate which institution is responsible for the research.
Regarding profession and academic degree, each author must indicate their profession and highest academic degree obtained (e.g., specialist physician in Oncology, PhD in Public Health). Terms such as “candidate for,” “consultant,” “lecturer,” “resident in,” “head of service,” or “professor” are not accepted.

d. CRediT roles

Authors must specify their contributions according to the CRediT role (https://credit.niso.org/).

  • Conceptualization: Formulation of ideas, research goals, and objectives.
  • Methodology: Development and design of methodology and/or creation of models.
  • Software: Programming, software development, computer program design, implementation of code and supporting algorithms, and testing of existing code components.
  • Validation: Verification of the replicability and reproducibility of results, experiments, and other research outputs.
  • Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
  • Investigation: Conducting the research process, specifically performing experiments or data/evidence collection.
  • Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, patients, animals, laboratory samples, instruments, computer resources, or other analysis tools.
  • Data curation: Activities related to metadata management, data cleaning, and maintenance of research data for use and reuse phases.

e. Corresponding author

The full name, address, and email address of the corresponding author must be included.

f. Funding source 

If applicable, funding must be declared in the form of research grants, equipment, medications, or all of these. All financial support received must be disclosed, specifying whether the organization providing the support had any influence on the study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation; or manuscript preparation, review, or approval.

g. Manuscript word count

The word count begins with the body of the manuscript. The Title Page, Acknowledgments, References, and Tables/Figures are excluded from the word count.

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2. SECTION II

This section must be prepared according to the manuscript type. The main components of each manuscript type are described below and should follow the specific structure indicated in Section III of these Instructions for Authors:

1. Abstract

An abstract must be included in both Spanish and English. Original Articles must include the following structured sections: objectives, materials and methods, results, and conclusions. Brief Original Articles should follow the same structure, but without subheadings. For other article types, the abstract should be unstructured.

2. Keywords

A minimum of three and a maximum of ten keywords must be proposed, separated by semicolons, in both Spanish and English. The Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) from BIREME must be used for Spanish and English keywords. Alternatively, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) from the National Library of Medicine may be used for English keywords

3. Introduction

This section should present the current state of the problem, background, justification, and study objectives. The final sentence of the Introduction must clearly state the study objective.

4. Materials and methods

This section must include the type and design of the research, characteristics of the population (location, timeframe, among others), sample selection procedures, definition and categorization of variables, procedures performed, statistical analysis, and ethical considerations. The information provided must ensure study reproducibility. Previously described procedures must be properly cited.

As a requirement to begin the review process, manuscripts must follow the appropriate reporting guidelines according to article type, including: STROBE for observational studies; CONSORT for clinical trials; STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies; PRISMA-S for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (protocol registration in PROSPERO is suggested); COREQ for qualitative studies; CHEERS for economic evaluations; SAGER guidelines for sex and gender reporting; ARRIVE for animal experimental studies; among others. All these guidelines and additional useful information can be found on the EQUATOR Network website

5. Ethical consideration

Ethical considerations involved in the study must be detailed at the end of the Materials and Methods section, under a subsection entitled Ethical Considerations. If the study included human subjects or experimental animals, authors must indicate compliance with internationally required ethical standards. For studies involving humans, the institutional ethics committee that approved the protocol must be identified, including the approval code. When required, the Editorial Committee may request proof of ethics committee approval. The Editorial Committee will require institutional ethics committee approval in the cases specified in the Ethics section.

Authors must also provide  PRISA or REPEC codes, or the registration number generated by any primary registry within the World Health Organization Registry Network or registries approved by the ICMJE.

6. Results

Research findings must be presented clearly and transparently, without subjective opinions or interpretations. Results may be complemented with tables or figures whenever the information can be represented more objectively. Subheadings may be included to facilitate presentation.

7. Discussion

The most relevant study findings should be highlighted in order to compare them with existing literature and enrich the discussion around the main topic of the article. Previous studies supporting or contrasting the results should be included. The final part of this section should present the strengths and limitations of the study (including possible sources of bias and how they were addressed), implications for public health, and finally the conclusions and recommendations.

8. Acknowledgments

This section is optional. Authors may acknowledge individuals or institutions that contributed to the research. When applicable, the person or entity acknowledged and the reason for acknowledgment must be specified. Individuals mentioned in this section must authorize their inclusion.

9. References

Authors must use the Vancouver style according to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). When there are more than six authors, the first six authors should be listed, followed by et al. The use of reference management software is recommended. Preference should be given to original articles published in journals indexed in Index Medicus, National Library of Medicine, USA. Only references cited in the text should be included, ordered consecutively according to their appearance in the manuscript.

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3. SECTION III. STRUCTURE ACCORDING TO MANUSCRIPT TYPE

1. Original Article

Articles developed from research on topics related to public health and experimental medicine, conducted with methodological quality, originality, timeliness, and relevance; this category includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The maximum length is 250 words for the abstract, 4000 words for the main text, six tables or figures, and 40 references.

The sections of an Original Article must follow this structure:

  • Title
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References

2. Brief Original

These are research articles that, due to their objectives, design, and results, may be published in abbreviated form. Brief Originals include studies whose findings or methodological developments can be presented succinctly, or preliminary results from larger studies.

The maximum length is 150 words for the abstract, 3000 words for the main text, four tables or figures, and 30 references. The Editorial Committee will evaluate the suitability of publication according to the date of study execution and data generation.

The abstract must follow the same structure as Original Articles (objectives, materials and methods, results, and conclusions), but without subheadings.

The sections of a Brief Original must follow this structure:

  • Title
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • The Study (section equivalent to Materials and Methods)
  • Findings (section equivalent to Results)
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References

3. Review Articles

This section includes narrative reviews, scoping reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses on current topics of interest in public health or experimental medicine. The Editorial Committee will evaluate the acceptance of other review types submitted to the journal. The maximum length is 250 words for the abstract, 4000 words for the main text, five tables or figures, and 70 references.

International consensus guidelines such as PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews or the SANRA quality assessment scale for narrative reviews should be followed.

The sections of a Review Article must follow this structure:

  • Title
  • Unstructured Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction (including the objective of the review)
  • Methodology (including search strategy, databases consulted, selection criteria, information extraction process, and synthesis of findings)
  • Body of the article (discussion of findings)
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • References

4. Clinical Case Report

A brief report describing the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient (or a small series of patients). A brief review of the relevant literature may also be included.

  • The following may be reported:

➢ An unexpected association between diseases or symptoms.
➢ An unexpected event during the course of study or treatment, including adverse events or unexpected clinical evolution.
➢ Findings that provide new insight into the possible pathogenesis of a disease or adverse effect.
➢ Unique or rare disease characteristics.
➢ Unique therapeutic approaches.
➢ Variations in anatomical structures.
➢ Particular situations directly related to diseases with major individual or social impact

  • Consent and anonymity

Informed consent is an ethical requirement for studies involving human subjects. Therefore, before preparing the case report, authors must obtain authorization from their institution’s ethics committee.

  • Structure of a Clinical Case Report:

Title, Abstract, Introduction, Case Description, Discussion (brief), Figure and/or Table Legends, Figures/Tables, References. A review of the topic may be included in the Discussion section.

5. Letters to the Editor

This section is open to correspondence from readers of the ESSALUD Journal. Two types are accepted:

  • Letters discussing or complementing the results of original or brief original articles published in the last two issues of the journal. Up to three authors are allowed, with a maximum length of 800 words, one table or figure, and 10 references. The journal’s editorial policy allows the authors concerned to submit a reply. The structure must include: Title Page, title, content, and references.
  • Scientific letters: Communications presenting preliminary results of research or interventions that have not been published or simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Up to five authors are allowed, with a maximum of 800 words, one table or figure, and 10 references. The structure must include: Title Page, title, methodology, results, limitations, conclusions, and references.
  • Letters to the Editor that do not support their discussion with references from the published article or that do not qualify as scientific letters will not be accepted. In special cases, exceptions may be evaluated by the Editorial Committee.

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