The journal receives unpublished contributions as original articles, reviews, brief communications, case reports, photo galleries and letters to the editor, which are reviewed by national and foreign experts (peers) who have published similar research previously, they give their blinded opinion about the quality and validity of their results. The number of reviewers depends on the type of article, only those articles that have favorable comments and solve the observations being made are published. The reviewing time frequently takes between 2 and 6 months depending on the speed of the reviewers and authors.

Ethics in publication

In case any fault against the ethics in publication is detected during the revision process or after its publication (if it was the case); the Journal will take the measures set by the Committe on Publication Ethics (www.publicationethics.org.uk), which can include the rejection or retraction of the article, a publication ban for subsequent articles in the RPMESP for all of the authors, the notification to other journals of SciELO Peru, and the communication to the respective authorities (institution of origin, institution financing the study, professional colleges, ethics committees).

General Rules

Every article presented to the RPMESP must be written in Spanish, address issues of interest in public health and must not have been previously published, or simultaneously sent to other scientific journals, and they can belong to one of the following categories:

• Editorial;

• Original Articles;

• Brief communications;

• Reviews;

• Special Section;

• Symposium;

• Prominent personalities in Peru´s Public Health;

• Case Report;

• Photo Gallery;

• Letters to the Editor.

Required Documentation

This information is compulsory for any article presented to the RPMESP, its omission will generate an automatic rejection.

Cover Letter. It should be signed by the corresponding author, specifying the type of submitted article. A format of this document can be downloaded at www.ins.gob.pe/rpmesp/documentos.asp

Publication Authorization. It must be signed by all the authors, recording their contribution to the elaboration of the article according to the RPMESP coding system. The format can be downloaded at www.ins.gob.pe/rpmesp/documentos.asp

First page. It must include the title in Spanish and English, a short title of up to 60 characters, the names of the authors as they wish to appear in the article, the institutional affiliation, city, country, profession and academic degree, as well as the e-mail of all the authors. The financing source and conflicts of interest disclosure. Additionally, they must state the corresponding author, indicating his address, telephone and e-mail. In case the study has been presented as an abstract in a congress or is part of a thesis, this must be stated with the corresponding reference.

Main text. The following aspects should be observed:

• I must be written in Arial 12 font, in A4 format, with 3 cms. margins.

• It must include the article title but no data about the authors;

• Every section starts in a new page, with consecutive page numbers;

• Texts must be written in Word for Windows XP or Vista software, the figures and tables can be inserted in the end of the text with their respective legends;

• The tables must only have horizontal lines to separate the heading from the body of the table, under no circumstances vertical lines can be included;

• The figures (statistical graphs) must be sent in MS-Excel or tif or jpg format, images and maps must be saved in TIFF or JPG formats, under a resolution of at least 600 dpi or 300 pixels, although they can be included in the last pages of the article text, they should additionally be sent in the original program.

• The following are considered as figures: drawings, maps, photos or graphs; they must be ordered by arabic numerals, the legends of microphotographs must also indicate the scale and staining method. Maps should also have a scale. The number of tables and figures depends on the type of article sent. The journal´s Editor Committee reserves the right to limit their number.

• The bibliographic references will only include those cited in the text, they will be ordered sequentially according to their appearance and will be written following the procedures of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals of the International Committee of Editors of Medical Journals, in its updated version of October 2008. The authors must be highlighted in black fonts, in the case of more than six authors, “et al” will be added, separated by a coma. Additionally, the title of the reference will have to record an hyperlink directed to the web site where one can access the reference, as long as the respective electronic version exists. Some examples to take on account in the wording of this section can be found at www.ins.gob.pe/rpmesp.

Journal Articles:

Palomino M, Villaseca P, Cárdenas F, Ancca J, Pinto M. Eficacia y residualidad de dos insecticidas piretroides contra Triatoma infestans en tres tipos de vivienda. Evaluación de campo en Arequipa, Perú. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica. 2008; 25(1): 9-16.

Troyes L, Fuentes L, Troyes M, Canelo L, García M, Anaya E, et al. Etiología del síndrome febril agudo en la provincia de Jaén, Perú 2004-2005. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica. 2006; 23(1): 5-11.

Book:

Acha P, Szyfres B. Zoonosis y enfermedades transmisibles comunes al hombre y los animales. 3ª ed. Washington DC: Organización Panamericana de la Salud; 2003.

Book chapter:

Farmer J. Enterobacteriaceae: introduction and identification. In: Murray PR, Baron EJ, Pfaller MA, Tenover FC, Yolken RH, editors. Manual of clinical microbiology. 7th ed. Washington DC: American Society for Microbiology; 1999. p. 442 -58.

Thesis:

Pesce H. La epidemiología de la lepra en el Perú. [Doctoral Thesis]. Lima: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos; 1961.

Web page:

Brasil, Ministério da Saúde. Sistema de Informações sobre Orçamentos Públicos em Saúde [página de Internet]. Brasília: Ministério da Saúde; 2009. [Cited: May 2009] Available at: http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/se/area.cfm?id_area=572

Specific standards by type of article:

Editorials

Are done at the request of the Editorial Committee of the RPMESP.

Original Articles

Are research products only, and must be written in up to 3500 words (without taking on account abstract, references, tables and figures), according to the following outline:

• Abstract: In spanish or english. It shouldn’t have more than 250 words. This review is structured, and has to include in a brief way: Objectives, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusions.

• Key words: From three to seven, and have to be based on health sciences descriptors (DeCS) of BIREME and on the Medical Subject Headings (MesH) of the National Library of Medicine in english.

• Introduction: Brief exposition (less than 25% of the total length of the article) about the actual situation of the problem, background, rationale and objective of the study.

• Materials and methods: It describes the methodology used in a way that it allows its reproduction and the evaluation of the quality of information by the readers and reviewers. The type and design of the research must be described, the characteristics of the population and the means of sample selection when necessary. In some cases, it is suitable to describe the study area. When medicinal plants are used, the procedures of recollection and identification must be described. Also point out the way in which the variables were measured or defined. The procedures done must be detailed or if previously described, make the respective citation. Mention the statistical procedures used. Detail the ethical aspects involved in its performance, as well as the approval by an Institutional Ethics Committee, the use of informed consent among others.

• Results: The presentation of the findings must be done in a clear fashion, without any opinions or interpretations other tan the statistical ones. These can be complemented with up to eight tables or figures, which shouldn’t repeat the information presented in the text.

• Discussion: The results are interpreted, comparing their findings with those of other authors, exposing the suggestions, statements or conclusions the author reaches. Limitations and biases of the study must be included.

• Acknowledgements: When it corresponds, the authors should mention specifically who they acknowledge and the type of support given in the research.

• Conflicts of interest: If there is any conflict of interest it should be mentioned.

• Bibliographic references: No more tan 30 references.

Brief originals

These articles result from an original research, outbreak reports or preliminary research advances that due to their relevance require a rapid publication, these will be written in up to 2000 words (without counting abstract, references, tables and figures) . The abstract is non-structured in Spanish and English and has a limit of 150 words, with 3 to 5 key words. It has an introduction, a section called “The Study”- referred to materials and methods-, then findings- centered in the results- up to 4 tables or figures can be included, discussion and no more than 15 bibliographical references.

Reviews

These can be done on request from the Editorial Committee or by the author´s initiative, who can be an expert in the field; they must include an exhaustive, objective and systematic exploration of the updated information on a given subject of interest in public health. The structure of the article is left to the author´s criterion, it must be written in no more than 5000 words (without taking on account abstract, references, tables and figures, which must be no more than ten. It must include an unstructured abstract in Spanish and English, with a limit of 150 words, with three to five key words. Up to 150 bibliographical references can be used.

Symposia

Are written on request from the Editorial Committee for a given subject l which will be developed in a specific issue of the journal, they can include viewpoints or essays about a selected topic. The structure of the article is left to the author´s criterion, it must be written in up to 4000 words (without taking into account abstract, references, tables and figures). It must have an unstructured abstract in Spanish and English, with a limit of 150 words with three to five key words. Up to 100 bibliographical references can be used.

Prominent Personalities in Public Health in Peru

In this section, tributes to people that have contributed to public health in Peru are published, they include a biographical sketch highlighting the main activities in professional , scientific and academic life of the scientist, emphasizing his contribution in the area, a photography is included. It doesn’t require abstract and can or not have bibliographic references, it can have up to 1800 words.

Special Section

Articles that don’t fulfill the criteria of the previous journal sections will be incorporated; these include essays, viewpoints, systematizations and experiences of interest for public health. The structure of the article is left to the author´s criterion, it must be written in up to 3000 words (without taking into account abstract, references, tables and figures, these last must be no more than eight). It must include an unstructured abstract in Spanish and English, with a limit of 150 words with three to five key words. Up to 50 bibliographical references can be used.

Case reports

The presented cases must be of diseases or situations relevant to public health, they must be written in up to 2000 words (without taking into account abstract, references, tables and figures). It must include an unstructured abstract in Spanish and English, with a limit of 150 words and three to five key words. It has an introduction, a section called “case report” and a discussion in which the contribution or main lesson of the article is highlighted. Up to four tables or figures and no more than 15 bibliographical references can be included.

Photo Gallery

Photographs which are of interest to a particular health issue can be sent, together with a brief comment about the topic and an explanation of the origin of the pictures presented (up to 800 words). The photos must be also be given with an explanatory legend. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to limit the number of pictures.

Letters to the Editor

This section is open to all the readers of the RPMESP, to which they can send their questions, comments or criticisms to the articles that have been published in the last numbers, taking on account the possibility that the authors in question can answer. Preliminary research communications or outbreak interventions that have not been published or submitted for publication in other journals can be accepted, as well as comments about problems in public health, ethics and medical education. The maximum length to be accepted is 1000 words (without taking on account references, tables or figures), with a maximum of six bibliographic references (including the reference of the article that originated it (when it is the case) and a table or figure.

The presentation of articles can be done through a printed form, an original and a copy of all the documentation must be handled, as well as the electronic files in a CD, to the Instituto Nacional de Salud , Cápac Yupanqui 1400, Lima 11, Perú, directed to the Director of the la Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública or by electronic mail to rpmesp@gmail.com, the electronic formats are available at http://www.ins.gob.pe/rpmesp/documentos.asp