Submission Guidelines
Authors interested in submitting a manuscript to Acta Neurológica Colombiana should take into account the following essential information:
Author data, affiliation and corresponding author. Authors who participate in the journal must be registered in ORCID: https://orcid.org/register
ORCID must be completed in at least three fields: institutional affiliation (Employment), academic degrees (Education and qualifications) and publications (Works).
The journal, by editorial guideline, does not include in the authors' information but only their institutional affiliation, city and country. Example:
1 Hospital Pablo Tobón Uribe, Medellín, Colombia.
In this way, authors are asked to send only the information of their current institutional affiliation and, if possible, only one affiliation. Academic degrees (MD, neurologist), work positions, distinctions, etc., should be included in the ORCID, as such a link will be provided for each author.
Finally, each manuscript should have a designated corresponding author, who is the person with whom the editor or journal will have permanent contact. That corresponding author should also provide a physical address (with street nomenclature) of his/her university, hospital, clinic, office or research center, including city, country and e-mail address.
Types of manuscripts. Acta Neurológica Colombiana publishes original research articles (including clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses), narrative reviews, clinical cases, updates, perspective articles and short communications.
To verify the conditions of structure and length of each type, please go to the section Manuscript Types: https://actaneurologica.com/index.php/anc/manuscripts
Official languages. The journal welcomes submissions and publishes manuscripts in both Spanish and English. Authors are invited to submit their contributions in either language.
Originality. The journal only accepts submissions of original manuscripts, which have not been published in part or in full elsewhere. The submission of articles already published in other languages or the recycling of texts will be considered an ethical misconduct.
Editorial and scientific quality of manuscripts. ANC invites authors to submit well-written manuscripts, carefully revised and reread to achieve the greatest possible clarity in their structure, argumentation and scientific prose. The submission of draft versions, sloppy or submitted for the purpose of fulfilling academic or research commitments, is not acceptable.
Manuscripts with poor use of language, problems in their structure, or poor and outdated bibliographic support will most likely be discarded in the first phase of the evaluation process (editorial filter).
Correct use of sources and protected material. All manuscripts received by the journal are subjected, in a first evaluation stage, to an editorial filter that involves a review of their similarity with other sources, through a robust anti-plagiarism software (IThenticate by Turnitin). If it is detected that the manuscript is using texts without giving the correct credit (citation) or if it has tables, images, figures or any other graphic element taken from another source, without the proper authorization of use or reproduction, it may be rejected.
Ethics. The journal follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and devotes an entire section of its policy to this issue: https://actaneurologica.com/index.php/anc/etica
All authors should be aware of the journal's ethics policy and adhere to it in the submission of their manuscripts and throughout the publication process.
Peer review process. All manuscripts published in the journal are submitted to external peer review, according to the conditions of the "double-blind" system. The details of this process in the journal can be read in the following section: https://actaneurologica.com/index.php/anc/review
Copyright. Once a manuscript is approved after the peer review process, authors must sign a publication license to the journal and the Association in order to formalize publication.
This license does not transfer the rights of the manuscripts to the journal or to the Association and authors retain full copyright ownership so that they can reuse their work if they wish to do so.
In turn, the journal articles will be published under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (BY-NC-ND) license.
This license implies that the texts published by the journal may be used under the following conditions:
“You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution - You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial - You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
NoDerivatives - If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.”
Frequency. The journal is published on a continuous basis. This model implies that each manuscript that is approved by external reviewers is immediately passed to editorial production (style correction, design and layout) and is programmed within an issue that is open according to its subject matter and typology of manuscripts.
In this way, the publication of papers in the journal is dynamic and the contents of the journal can be updated all the time, week by week.
Access. ANC publishes its contents in immediate open access and under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (BY-NC-ND) license.
Regarding self-archiving, the journal allows articles to be self-archived in institutional repositories or in the websites that the author considers, in its final edited version, as long as the complete reference to the original article published in the journal and its respective DOI (digital object identifier) is included.
Preservation. ANC protects the content it publishes on its website and provides perennial access to it, through stability, security and continuous support for its platform. In addition, in order to preserve its contents over time, it subscribes to the PKP Preservation Network project.
Publication costs. Acta Neurológica Colombiana, despite being an open access journal, does not charge for the submission or publication of articles. The journal operates with the support of the Colombian Association of Neurology and its purposes are exclusively scientific, not commercial.
Types of manuscripts for submission
The journal publishes the following types of manuscripts and each one meets certain conditions of structure or length:
Original articles. Among original research articles the journal is interested in receiving observational studies (STROBE), clinical trials (CONSORT) and systematic reviews or meta-analyses (PRISMA).
The structure of these articles should have the following: introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion and conclusions. In terms of length, the limit is three thousand (3000) words, not including references.
The abstracts of these papers must be structured, in a way that corresponds to the contents of the article, through these items: introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion and conclusions.
The abstract cannot exceed 250 words, not including the title, structure items and keywords.
Narrative reviews. These reviews deal with a topical issue, of common interest to the neuroscience community, and useful for clinical or medical practice. In terms of length, the limit is three thousand (3000) words, not including references.
The abstracts of these papers must be structured, but through these three items: introduction (what is the context and importance of the topic to be addressed?), contents of the review (with free subsections, according to the author's approach) and conclusions.
The abstract cannot exceed 250 words, not including the title, structure items and keywords.
Clinical cases. The cases seek to contribute to the diagnosis of patients and to the challenges of clinical practice in neurology. The structure of the cases should have the following: introduction (context and purpose), presentation of the case, discussion and conclusions. In terms of length, the limit is two thousand (2000) words, not including references.
Case abstracts should be structured, in a way that corresponds to the contents of the article, through these items: : introduction (context and purpose), presentation of the case, discussion and conclusions.
The abstract cannot exceed 250 words, not including the title, structure items and keywords.
Consensus, guidelines and recommendations. Consensus, guidelines and recommendations are manuscripts that give indications, mainly, for clinical practice in Neurology. In their structure, these documents should have a title, structured abstract (including purpose, description of the methodology, contents and conclusions), keywords (between 6 and 12), introduction, description of the methodology, development of contents (with the subtitles and sections required by the manuscript), conclusions and references.
There is no limit to the length of these documents, except as suggested by the editor-in-chief or editor-in-charge or as recommended by the peer reviewers for each specific case. The abstract will have a maximum of 250 words.
Update. These are articles that report a novel treatment or a recent useful development for clinical practice. They may also address issues or problems of rapid development in research, with a particular interest in new theories, concepts or results in neuroscience and neurology. In terms of length, it is two thousand five hundred (2500) words, not including references.
The abstract should be structured in three items, mainly: introduction (context and purpose), body of the text (in the sections that the author freely needs to develop in his argumentation) and conclusions.
The abstract cannot exceed 200 words, not including the title, structure items and keywords.
Perspective. These are articles in which the authors give their point of view, their perspective, on some matter of interest for neurology or neurosciences and with scientific, ethical, clinical or contextual repercussions in the area, in the relationship with patients. However, even if it is a reflective text, it must be well supported by findings and current scientific literature relevant to the topic being addressed. In terms of length, the limit is two thousand five hundred (2500) words, not including references.
The abstracts of Perspectiva articles should be structured, in a way that corresponds to the contents of the article, through these items: introduction (context and purpose), body of the text (in the sections that the author freely needs to develop in his argumentation) and conclusions.
The abstract cannot exceed 200 words, not including the title, structure items and keywords.
Short communication. These are articles that address a topic of scientific or clinical interest that requires rapid dissemination (and discussion) among the basic and clinical neuroscience community. In terms of length, the limit is two thousand (2500) words, not including references.
The abstracts must be structured, in a way that corresponds to its contents, through these items: introduction (context and purpose), body of the text (in the sections that the author freely needs to develop in his argumentation) and conclusions.
The abstract cannot exceed 200 words, not including the title, structure items and keywords.
Letters to the editor. Letters to the editor are discussion papers submitted to the editor-in-chief regarding a paper published in the journal. Its maximum length is one thousand words (1000) and its structure is free. They do not require an abstract.
Keywords. Keywords for all manuscripts requiring an abstract should range from 6 to 12 terms and should be selected using the DeCS/Mesh tool here:
https://decsfinder.bvsalud.org/dmfs
Methodological guidelines (equator network). For the writing of several of these manuscripts, the use of the following guidelines and their checklists is recommended (it is important to note that such guidelines can be requested in the peer review process):
https://www.equator-network.org/
Graphic aspects of manuscripts
Regarding the graphic aspects in the presentation of a manuscript, the following aspects should be taken into account:
Elaboration of tables and figures. It is suggested that, as far as possible, authors should prepare all the graphic material of their manuscript. In the case of having to use any table, image or photograph from an external source, already published, it will be the sole responsibility of the author to request the corresponding permissions (such permission must clearly state that the use in digital media is authorized). Graphic components brought from other sources will not be published if the permissions are not sent to the journal.
It is important for authors to bear in mind that the right of quotation cannot be applied to images, photos or graphic components, since they are considered a work in themselves and the right of quotation is exercised only on a fragment of a work. Neither should adaptations or translations be made without due authorization, as this would result in the creation of an unauthorized derivative work.
Name of tables and figures and sources. In the case of using a figure or table from another source, which has the respective permission, the source must be declared and included in the list of references and in the corresponding numbering order in the body of the text, according to Vancouver style.
Likewise, all tables and figures must have a title and, if necessary, may have explanatory notes and conventions for their understanding. Photographs or images should be named as "figures" in all cases and numbered consecutively, according to their order of appearance.
Mention of tables and figures in the body of the text. All tables and figures accompanying a manuscript should be named in the body of the text. It is not correct to include a table or figure if it has not been mentioned in the body of the text of the manuscript, and such an error may represent a problem in the marking or indexing of the article in some systems or in the publication in certain formats.
Limitations on quantity. Manuscripts submitted to the journal may have a maximum of 6 tables and 6 figures. Photographs or images simply for decorative use in a manuscript are not allowed; a figure should serve to illustrate or demonstrate an aspect that is being addressed in a manuscript.
Manuscript final declarations
All articles should include some final statements, most of them are of a mandatory use. The sections with each statement would be as follows:
1. Funding. It should be stated whether the authors received funding for the research, writing or publication of the manuscript and from whom or what organization. If there is no funding, it should be declared.
2. Conflicts of interest. Authors should declare whether they have conflicts of interest, one by one. If there are no conflicts, this should be declared.
3. Authors' contribution. Authors should declare the contribution that each author made to the manuscript, according to the 14 roles of the CRediT taxonomy:
https://credit.niso.org/
An example of how authors should record their contribution is as follows:
Diego Roselli: conceptualization, data curation, research, methodology, supervision, writing (original draft), writing (revision and editing of the manuscript); Catalina Cerquera: data curation, research, methodology, visualization, writing (original draft), writing (revision and editing of the manuscript); Hernán Bayona: data curation, formal analysis, methodology, project management, software, writing (original draft), writing (revision and editing of the manuscript).
The only case in which this section is optional is when it is a single-author manuscript.
4. Ethical implications. It should be stated if the manuscript has any ethical implications, if it was endorsed by an ethics committee or if informed consent was required. If there are implications in the research methodology, it should be mentioned in this final section but also the authors should clarify or specify such implications directly in the methodology section of the manuscript.
5. Acknowledgments (optional). If the authors wish, acknowledgments to third parties who played a role in the research or in the writing, publication, and review of the manuscript may be included. This is the only optional section.
Citation style
Acta Neurológica Colombiana follows the Vancouver citation style. In this regard, it is important that the authors are careful in the inclusion of each source and that the correspondence between what is called in the body of the text and what appears in the final list is perfect. As the Vancouver style demands that the sources be numbered according to their order of appearance in the text, care must be taken to ensure that the numbering does not omit or repeat references.
As for the citation structure of each bibliographic entry, the Vancouver style in Spanish can be consulted in the following manual (chapter 5, from page 79):
https://medicina.uniandes.edu.co/es/noticias/estudiantes/manual-de-citas-y-referencias-bibliograficas
In English, it can be consulted in this link of the National Library of Medicine:
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
Finally, regarding references, it is essential that each entry, in the final list, has its DOI (digital object identifier). Crossref has a system that locates the DOI of the references that have it and it is very easy to use here:
Simple Text Query: https://apps.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery
There, you enter the complete section of references in the field and hit submit; after a few seconds or a minute, the system returns all the DOIs of the references that have it. Please include all DOIs in your manuscript.