Publishing regulations

Firstly, and in general, authors commit to the following:

  • The articles submitted are original and unpublished and have not been simultaneously published in other journal(s).
  • At least one of the authors shall be member of the Official Nurses Association and should be up to date with the membership fees. It isn´´ t necesary for the author to be registered in Malaga. He/She can be member of the other Official Nurses Association.
  • Articles shall be submitted in OpenOffice/Word format.
  • Bibliographical references shall provide URL addresses whenever possible.

Manuscripts should include the following sections (each one starting on a new page):

A. Cover letter: It should include the title of the article, authors, academic/professional credits, together with a statement where authors declare that:

  1. It is an original work and has not been published before or simultaneously submitted to another publication.
  2. All authors have intellectually contributed in its elaboration and therefore are their actual authors.
  3. All authors have read and approved the final version of the submitted manuscript.
  4. There have been no conflicts of interest during the creation and elaboration of the manuscript. In case there were any conflicts in terms of financing or other means of support, the authors agree to declare them in the corresponding section.
  5. The manuscript describes the results of the study in an honest and accurate way, and does not overlook any important aspect of it. It also explains any possible discrepancies.

B. Title page. The title page should include:

    1. The title of the article: concise (up to 15 words) but informative. It shall not include any references.
    2. The name of all authors, their highest academic grades and organizational affiliations.
    3. The name of the department(s) or organization(s) that should be accredited for the work.
    4. If applicable, a disclaimer statement.
    5. Name, postal address and email of the author in charge of the correspondence.
    6. Source of supports received, such as subsidies, equipment and medications.
    7. Abbreviated title (up to 40 characters including letters and blank spaces) at the bottom of the first page.

C. Abstract (both in English and Spanish): Up to 250 words. It shall include: aims of the study, methodology, main results and conclusions. In the event that this convention is not applicable for the study, the authors shall outline its content as clearly and precisely as possible. Following the abstract, the authors must provide 4 to 6 keywords (in Spanish and English) as per established by the Health Sciences Descriptors system (https://decs.bvsalud.org/en/).

D. Manuscript: Original articles should not exceed more than 5000 words. As for those specified in the authors’ guidelines as ‘brief’ or ‘special’ articles (clinical cases, letters to the editor, editorials, innovative experiences, critical reviews, news, etc.), the limit is 2500 words, excluding Resumen and Abstract sections, as well as images, charts and bibliography. The margin width should be no less than 25 mm (1 inch). Times New Roman font size 12, double spacing and justified alignment should be used throughout the article, including the title pages, abstract, text and bibliographic references. Pages shall be numbered consecutively starting with the title page. The page number should be at the top or bottom right corner of each page. The text of the articles (with the exception of clinical cases, editorials, special articles, critical reviews and letters to the editor) shall be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. In the case of original studies including researches on human beings (following the Good Clinical Practices Guidelines), or those containing data subject to the current legislation regarding Data Protection policies, the article shall include the authorization issued by the referred Research Ethics Committee together with an express statement on how the informed consents were requested to patients and how the patients’ autonomy and personal data were protected. Since manuscripts will be ‘blind reviewed’, the names of authors and institutions should not be included. Instead, they shall be replaced by an ‘X’.

E. Charts and images: They need to be consecutively numbered following the order of their first appearance in the text, and they should include a brief title describing their contents. Any necessary explanation can be added as a footnote (placed at the bottom of the chart/ image, not on top of it). These notes will specify any unusual abbreviations used. Charts will have neither horizontal nor vertical lines inside and will be edited in black (without colour).

F. Bibliography: It should follow Vancouver citation style.

RULES FOR THE "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR": this section hosts brief manuscripts that comment a published article or dealing with a current topic or scientific observations. The text will have a minimum length of 500 words and a maximum length of 1000 words. As well as a maximum of 5 bibliographic references.