Any article submitted to this journal must follow the guidelines outlined in the "Ethics and Policies" section of this author’s guide. It is essential to consult it before submitting manuscripts.
Regardless of the type of article or the section of this journal, authors must always include on the first page of the article, in addition to the title, authors, affiliation, and email address, statements regarding Ethical Considerations, Informed Consent, Funding, Conflict of Interest, the use of artificial intelligence, and Authors' contributions.
Ethical Considerations:
If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author must ensure that the described work has been carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki for experiments involving human beings; and in accordance with uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Authors should include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from human subjects and that all ethical procedures were followed. The rights to privacy of human subjects must always be respected. Approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or the relevant ethics committee should be indicated in this section.
Funding:
Authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if applicable, in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript drafting, and decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, this should be stated.
Conflicts of Interest:
All authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships with other individuals or organizations that could influence their work, even if they are not directly related to the current manuscript.
Possible conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, other funding, travel grants, and participation in courses and conferences as paid experts. If none of these conditions apply, the statement should read: "Conflicts of Interest: None."
The Journal contains the following sections:
Originals. Prospective works of clinical, pharmacological or microbiological research will be admitted, as well as original contributions on the aetiology, physiopathology, histopathology, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases in general.The recommended length of the text will be 3,000 words (including acknowledgements). A maximum of 30 bibliographic references and up to 6 figures and 6 tables will be accepted.
The structure of the articles will be as follows:
First Page (See General Rules)
Abstract: The originals in Spanish will be sent with an abstract translated into English and the originals in English will be submitted with an abstract translated into Spanish. This will be no longer than 250 words or no less than 150 words. The content of the abstract is structured into four subsections: Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusion. In each of these, the aim of the research, the way it will be carried out, the most interesting results and the conclusions derived from these, respectively, must be stated.
Key words: A minimum of 3 and up to a maximum of 10 key words used in the Index Medicus (Medical Subject Headings) will be included, Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/entrez/meshbrowser.cgi
Text: It must be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. Particularly complex articles may include sub-sections in some sections, so as to better understand its contents.
Introduction. It will be as short as possible and must only provide sufficient explanation to understand the text that follows next. It must not be a review of the subject or an advanced discussion. It must clearly state the objectives of the work in its last paragraph.
Methods. The selection of the subjects or experiments must be described; mention the methods and apparatus, (name and address of the manufacture in parentheses) and procedures used with sufficient detail to enable other researchers to reproduce the experiments with ease. If the methods or procedures are well used and known, their references must be provided and avoid describing them in detail. The statistics methods used must be adequately explained. When the experiments involve human beings it must be indicated that the procedures followed were authorised by the Clinical Trials and Research Committee of the corresponding institution, that they comply with all the legal requirements and consent has been obtained from the subjects. The drugs and products used must be mentioned with their generic names. Patient names, their initials or their history number must not be used, or any other data that might be able to identify them.
Results. Observations made should be stated, not interpreted. They must be presented in a logical sequence with the help of tables and figures. Unnecessary repetition of those results that are already shown in the tables must be avoided and be limited to highlighting the most significant results.
Discussion. Emphasis must be placed on the most significant aspects of the study and in the conclusions what is derived from this. Data already provided in the results section must not be repeated, except when it is required to compare them with those of other authors. It is necessary to clearly define the questions opened by the research carried ut so that it may encourage other authors to resolve them.
It is just as important for the authors them-selves to mention the contribution made by their work as well as pointing out its limitations.
Acknowledgements: (See general rules).
Bibliography: (See general rules).
Short Originals. Research works which, due to their special characteristics (series with a low number of observations, research works with very specific objectives and results, descriptive epidemiological studies, etc.) can be published in a shorter and more rapid form. These works should have a maximum of 1,400 words (including acknowledgements). A maximum of 15 bibliographic references and up to 2 figures and/ or tables will be accepted. The maximum number of authors is six. Each article should be structured like an original article (an abstract with a maximum of 150 words or no less than 100 words) with four sections.
Diagnosis at first sight. In this section, works whose main objective is the presentation of images on a topic of clinical or microbiological interest that is especially relevant for the readers of the journal, due to their exceptional nature, original form of presentation or teaching quality of the images, will be accepted. They must be cases or clinical observations made by the authors. The form of presentation will be in the form of a brief explanation of the case, without giving the diagnostic result, followed by the images on the same page. On another page, a final comment will be made with the evolution and diagnosis.
The title should not detail the final result. The manuscript length and structure will be the following:
- Description of the case: will not exceed 250 words and one figure
- Evolution and diagnosis: will not exceed 500 words and two figures
The images (maximum of 3) must contain sufficient information so that, with the help of the previously presented information, a diagnosis can be established, at least presumptive.
The quality and originality of the images will be a main factor when evaluating your manuscript.
The inclusion of up to 3 bibliographical references are allowed.
Letters to the Editor. Discussion of works published in the last three months have preference in this Section as well as the expressing of opinions, observations or experiences that, due to their characteristics, can be summarised in a short text. The section is divided into ‘‘Scientific Letters’’, that is, works which contain clinical cases that can be presented in short form, and “Letters to the Editor’’.
The maximum length will be about 700 words. One figure or table and a maximum of 10 bibliographic references will be accepted. The number of signatories must not exceed four. The title and key words in English and Spanish must be included.
Consensus Documents. ENFERMEDADES INFEC-CIOSAS Y MICROBIOLOGÍA CLÍNICA, as the official journal of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), will only publish consensus documents that com-ply with its current rules (http://www.seimc. org). Consensus document produced by other Scientific Societies, in which SEIMC or one of its study groups has collaborated, will also have to comply with these rules. The final manuscript will be submitted for assessment to the Journal together with the corresponding authorization by the SEIMC Board of Directors or its authorized representative. The definitive acceptance of the consensus document will be decided by the Journal’s Editorial Committee, providing that it complies with its general rules and its editorial priorities. There should be a conflict of interest section in the article that clearly states that there was no financial support from any institution in the private sector. The Editorial Committee recommends that updated consensus documents should only be sent for publication when their content has changed significantly. Updates of previously published consensus documents should state clearly any additions introduced that make a new publication necessary.
If authorship is corporate, the first author will be the “Study Group of … of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC))/other participating Societies and Institutions” followed by the authors of the consensus document grouped under a single Writing Committee. The first two authors and the last author of the Writing Committee will be the three coordinators of the consensus document. The writers and then the reviewers of the consensus document will be cited after the two first coordinators in the order decided by the Study Group.
The consensus document must be submitted in English.
The journal will only publish the Executive Summary of the consensus document that has been accepted by the editorial committee, with a maximum length of 3,000 words. In addition, an unstructured abstract will be submitted in Spanish and English, each with a maximum of 150 words, and the corresponding keywords.
The Executive Summary may be accompanied by a short introduction (not compulsory) regarding the methodology used to produce the document, but must not include tables, figures, or references, although a maximum of two references will be accepted as long as they are related to the methodology used.
The title should begin with the following sentence: "Executive summary of the consensus document on...". The aim of publishing the executive summary is to offer readers a synthesis of the consensus document, but with sufficient detail and clarity to understand the scope and most relevant points of the full document.
The full document will be sent as supplementary material and will include all tables, figures, and references from the consensus document. The full consensus document will be published online as supplementary material to the executive summary, and will also be available on the SEIMC website. This full document will be accessible via a link at the end of the executive summary when it is published.
Endorsements by the relevant scientific societies participating in the document must also be submitted as supplementary material.
Other sections. The journal also includes the sections: Editorials, Revisions and Continuous Medical Training. These papers are commissioned by the Editorial Committee from the authors. However, spontaneous collaboration will be accepted, after the editors have been consulted in writing. In any case, the manuscripts will be subject to revision by the Editorial Committee. Revisions (including acknowledgments, if any) must not exceed 5,000 words. A maximum of 60 references and 6 figures and/or tables will be accepted (if there are more, they will only be published as online material). These must be accompanied by an unstructured abstract in Spanish and English of a maximum 150 words. The key words will be added in both languages.