32
Instructions for Authors
Aim and e ditorial policy
The São Paulo Medical Jo urnal / Revista Paulista de Medicina, fo unded in 1932, is o ne o f the o ldest medical publicatio ns in Brazil. Published bimo nthly by the Associação Paulista de Medicina, the journal accepts o riginal articles in the field o f Clinical Health Science (Internal Medicine, Gyneco lo gy and Obstetrics, Mental Health, Surgery, Pediatrics, and Public Health).
Articles will also be accepted in the fo rm o f review p ap e rs, up d ating p ap e rs, c ase re p o rts, sho rt co mmunicatio ns and letters to the Edito r. Papers with a co mmercial o bjective will no t be accepted.
Papers sho uld be sent to the Publicatio ns Unit at the address belo w, and must co mply with the edi-to rial re g u latio n s fo r p ap e rs s u b m itte d edi-to b io medical jo urnals (ICMJE, 1997), the rules fo r repo rts o n clinical trials (Begg, 1996), and systematic reviews (Mo her, 1999).
All papers will be analyzed by the edito rial co uncil o f the jo urnal, which will have the final wo rd regarding acceptance. The referees’ repo rts will be sent to the autho rs by the secretary o f the jo urnal, witho ut revealing their identity. If autho rs agree with the co rrectio ns suggested by the referees, the papers sho uld be rewritten and sent to the jo urnal o nce again.
The manuscript
The manuscript must be sent in English and in Po rtuguese (two co pies o f each), printed and o n disk (3½”). Pap e rs sub m itte d m ust b e o riginal and acco mpanied by a declaratio n fro m the autho rs that the paper has no t and will no t be published in any o ther jo urnal.
Research articles invo lving human beings must be submitted together with a copy of the authorization from the Ethical Co mmittee o f the institutio n in which the wo rk was perfo rmed.
The paper must be structured so as to co ntain Intro ductio n, Metho ds, Results, Discussio n and Co nclusio n.
The illustratio ns and pho to graphs must be o f go o d quality and be marked o n their reverse o nly with the figure number and title o f the paper. The legends fo r pho to graphs, illustratio ns and tables must be printed o n separate sheets o f paper. The number o f illustratio ns must no t exceed half the to tal number o f pages minus o ne.
Abbreviatio ns must no t be used, even tho se in co mmo n use. Drugs must be referred to by their generic names, avo iding co mmercial terms.
Ackno wledgments, if necessary, must be placed after the references.
First page
The first page must co ntain: 1) the title o f the paper, which must be sho rt but info rmative; 2) the typ e o f p ap e r ( o riginal artic le , re vie w artic le , updating article, sho rt co mmunicatio n, letter to the e d ito r) ; 3) the nam e o f e ac h autho r ( d o no t abbreviate), his/her highest academic title attained and the institutio n where he/she wo rks; 4) the place where the wo rk was develo ped; 5) the meeting, date, and p lac e whe re the p ap e r was p re s e nte d , if applicable; 6) the co mplete address and telepho ne number o f the autho r to be co ntacted regarding the manuscript; 7) the co mplete address, telepho ne number and e-mail address o f the main autho r fo r publicatio n; 8) so urces o f suppo rt in the fo rms o f finance, eq uipment o r drugs; 9) any co nflicts o f interest held by the autho rs.
Se cond page
The seco nd page must include three to five key-wo rds (NLM, 1998), and an abstract structured (Haynes, 1990) in acco rdance with the classificatio n o f the article. Fo r o riginal articles there are nine items: 1) co ntext; 2) o bjective; 3) type o f study; 4) setting (where the study was perfo rmed); 5) participants (the sample); 6) p ro c e d ure s (inte rve ntio n o r d iagno stic te st o r e xp o sitio n, if ne c e ssary); 7) m ain o utc o m e s measurements; 8) results; 9) co nclusio ns.
Re fe re nce s
The references (Vanco uver style - ICMJE, 1997) sho uld be laid o ut o n the final pages o f the article and numbered in the o rder o f citatio n. References cited in legends o f tables and figures must maintain sequence with references cited in the text. List all the autho rs if there are less than six; if there are six o r mo re, cite the first three and then add “et al”. So me examples o f references:
- Lahita R, Kluger J, Drayer DE, Ko ffler D, Reidenber MM. Antibo dies to nuclear antigens in patients treated with pro cainamide o r acetylpro cainamide. N Engl J Med 1979; 301:1382-5.
- Reppert SM. Circadian rhythms: basic aspects and pediatric implications. In: Styne DM, Brook CGD, editors. Current co ncepts in pediatric endo crino lo gy. New Yo rk: Elsevier; 1987:91-125.
Original article s
The text must no t exceed 5,000 wo rds (excluding tables, figures and references) and must include a structured abstract with a maximum o f 350 wo rds. The structure o f the text sho uld whenever po ssible fo llo w the fo rmat laid o ut belo w:
1) Introduction: specify the reaso ns fo r carrying o ut the study, describing the present state o f kno wledge o f the theme. Cite o nly tho se references deemed essential, and do no t include any results o r co nclusio ns o f the study. Use the last paragraph to specify the principal questio n o r o bjective o f the study, and the principal hypo thesis tested, if there is o ne.
2) Methods
2.1) Type of study: describe the design o f the study specifying, if appro priate, the use o f rando mizatio n, blind studies, diagno stic test standards, time directio n (retro spective o r pro spective). Fo r example: rando mized clinical trial, do uble-blind, co ntro lled placebo ; study o f accuracy.
2.2) Setting: indicate where the study was carried o ut, including the health care ranking (fo r example: primary o r tertiary; private o r public institutio n).
2.3) Sample (participants or patients): describe the selectio n pro cedures, inclusio n criteria, and the number o f patients at the beginning and end o f the study.
2.4) Procedures (interventionor diagnostic test or exposition, if necessary): describe the principal characteristics o f any interventio n, including the metho d and duratio n o f its administratio n.
2.5) Main measurements: describe the metho d o f measuring the primary result, in the way it was planned befo re data co llectio n. If the hypo thesis repo rted was formulated during or after data collection, this fact needs to be specified.
2.6) Statistical methods: first item, describe the sample size calculatio n metho d; seco nd item, describe planned statistic al analysis, statistic al te sts use d , and significance levels, and so me post hoc analysis.
3) Results: describe the principal results and, if po ssible, these sho uld be acco mpanied by their 95%
co nfidence interval and by the exact level o f statistical significance. Fo r co mparative studies, the co nfidence interval must be stated fo r the differences between the gro ups.
4) Discussion: emphasize the new and impo rtant facto rs enco untered in the study, which will fo rm part o f the co nclusio n. Do no t repeat data presented in the intro d uc tio n o r re sults in d e tail. Me ntio n any implicatio ns o r limitatio ns o f yo ur findings that sho uld be no ted, including implicatio ns fo r future research. Relate any o bservatio ns fro m o ther relevant studies.
5) Conclusions: specify o nly the co nclusio ns that can be sustained by the data o f the study, to gether with its clinical significance (avo iding excessive generalizatio n), or whether additional studies would be necessary before the info rmatio n co uld be put into practice. The same emphasis sho uld be placed o n studies with po sitive and negative results.
Re vie w and updating Article s
Review and updating articles have free fo rmat. Systematic review articles must co mply with the rules fo r repo rts o n systematic reviews (Mo her, 1999).
Short communications or Case se rie s / Case re ports These must be limited to 1,000 wo rds and fo ur references, including an abstract with key-wo rds, a descriptio n o f the case and a pertinent discussio n.
Letter to the edito r
In this catego ry the text must no t exceed 500 wo rds and fo ur references.
Proce dure s of the journal
After receipt o f the article by the Publicatio ns Unit, the autho rs will be supplied with a pro to co l number. This number serves to maintain go o d understanding between the autho rs and the Publicatio ns Unit.
Fo llo wing this, the article will be examined to verify whether it co mplies with the jo urnal’s instructio ns. Only then will the article be submitted to peer review fo r analysis and appro val, in additio n to appro val by the Edito r. After appro val it will enter the queue fo r publicatio n.
Docume nts cite d
Internatio nal Co mmittee o f Medical Jo urnal Edito rs. Unifo rm Req uirements fo r Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Ann Intern Med 1997; 126:36-47. Available o n website: [www.acpo nline.o rg/ jo urnals/annals/01jan97/unifreqr.htm]
Begg C, Cho M, Eastwo o d S, et al. Impro ving the quality o f repo rting o f rando mized co ntro lled trials. The CONSORT statement. JAMA 1996;276:637-9. Available o n website: [www.ama-assn.o rg/sci-pubs/jo urnals/ archive/jama/vo l_276/no _8/sc6048x.htm]
Haynes RB, et al. Mo re info rmative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med 1990; 113:69-76. Available o n we b site : [www.ac p o nline .o rg/jo urnals/re so urc e / 90aim.htm]
Mo her D, Co o k DJ, Eastwo o d S, Olkin I, Rennie D, Stro up DF. Impro ving the quality o f repo rts o f meta-analyses o f rando mised co ntro lled trials: the QUOROM statement. Quality o f Repo rting o f Meta-analyses. Lancet 1999 No v 27; 354(9193):1896-900. Available o n web site: [www.thelancet.co m/newlancet/eprint/2/ index.html]
Natio nal Library o f Medicine. Medical Subject He adings: Anno tate d alphab e tic list. Be the sda: NLM;1998. Avaliable o n website: [www.nlm.nih.go v/ mesh]
