Guide for authors

The Spanish Journal of Legal Medicine (Revista Española de Medicina Legal), first published in 1974, is the official Journal of the National Association of Forensic Physicians (la Asociación Nacional de Médicos Forenses).

The Journal publishes scientific articles of different topics in the field of legal and forensic medicine which are represented as a learning tool of the specialty that gives the reader an update of different topics in the field of legal and forensic medicine. It also serves as continuing education in practical aspects of the daily work of the forensic physician in the field of the Administration of Justice.

The Journal incorporates all groups- forensic physicians, specialists in legal and forensic medicine, university teachers, forensic laboratories specialists, psychiatrists and psychologists, experts in the assessment of body injury, scientific police and legal experts interested in the subject.

Any article submitted to this journal must include a series of declarations both on the first page and in the body of the article in some cases.

FIRST PAGE OR TITLE PAGE
The declarations that must be included on the first page, which contains the title, authors, affiliation, and email address of the corresponding author, will vary depending on the type of article. Some declarations, such as Ethical Considerations and Informed Consent, will also be stated in the BODY OF THE ARTICLE.
Declarations will be required even if they are also requested on the submission platform or if the author considers that they do not exist or are not applicable.

Ethical Considerations
Any article that includes experiments with humans will require the author to declare that all procedures were conducted in accordance with Helsinki, relevant laws, and institutional guidelines. The reference number of the study's approval by an ethics committee will be included in the Originals where there is human experimentation. In Originals involving animal experimentation, compliance with the corresponding regulations will also be noted.
This is a mandatory declaration for Originals and Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses.

Informed Consent
It will be declared that there are no patient data in the article, when applicable, and if there are, that they do not violate the privacy and confidentiality of the patient, nor allow recognition, and that in any case, written informed consent has been obtained from the patients for participation in research and the presentation of results in a publication.
The privacy rights of human subjects must always be respected. Appropriate consents and permissions must be obtained when presenting one or more cases (anonymized) without experimentation or when an author wishes to include details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Isolated data such as age, sex, service, or institution presented together can breach the patient's privacy and confidentiality. Images accompanied by any patient data always require this statement.
The author will retain the written consents and will only provide Elsevier with copies of the consents or proof of their acquisition upon request.
When the Original research refers to retrospective studies in which obtaining informed consent is not possible, the author must obtain an exemption from this declaration from their institution's Ethics Committee to proceed with the research.
This declaration is mandatory for Originals.

Funding
The author will identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and will briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if applicable, in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in drafting the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, this should also be declared.
This is a mandatory declaration for all sections. In the absence of funding, it will state "Funding: none."

Conflict of Interest
The existence of any financial and personal relationship with other individuals or organizations that may have influenced their work must be specified, even if it is not directly related to the current manuscript. Examples of possible competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and other funding, as well as travel grants and participation in courses and conferences as a paid expert. If none of the above conditions are disclosed, the following statement should be added: "Declaration of interest: none."
This declaration is always mandatory. There will be a declaration for each participating author. If there is none, it will state: "Conflict of interest: none."

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Writing
Other uses are not authorized. Please refer to the description further along in these guidelines.
This statement is always mandatory when used.

Authorship
All authors must have made substantial contributions in each of the following aspects: (1) the conception and design of the study, or the acquisition of data, or the analysis and interpretation of the data; (2) drafting the article or critically revising the intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be submitted. Changes in authorship or alterations to their order cannot be made once the article has been submitted without prior justification and approval from the Editor in Chief.

BODY OF THE ARTICLE
In the case of experiments involving animals or humans, certain statements must be included within the manuscript even if they are also required on the submission platform or on the first page.

Ethics and Informed Consent
In the case of experiments on human subjects or animals, the author will declare in the materials and methods section that the Human and Animal Rights guidelines described in the "Ethics in Publication" section of this guide for authors have been followed. In particular, if experimenting with human subjects, the authors will confirm that the research has been conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association code of ethics (Declaration of Helsinki), and in the case of animals, that the ARRIVE guidelines have been followed or that they are acting in accordance with the Animal Laboratory Use and Care Act and, where applicable, the Animal Welfare Act.
The authors must also declare in the materials and methods section (Original) that they have obtained informed consent and approval from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CREC) or the relevant committee without disclosing data that would hinder blinded assessment. Please note that the Spanish Law on Biomedical Research establishes that the Ethics Committees for Research corresponding to each centre must evaluate all biomedical research involving human interventions or the use of their biological samples.
Appropriate consents and permissions must be obtained when presenting one or more cases without experimentation, or when an author wishes to include details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. The author will retain the written consent forms and provide Elsevier with copies of the consent forms, or evidence of having obtained them, upon request.

SECTIONS

Editorials

With few exceptions, these will be by invitation of the Editorial Committee and on a current topic, which may or may not refer to an article published in the same issue of Revista Española de Medicina Legal. These will usually be of 800-1,000 words in length and with a maximum of 15 literature references. Only one author is preferable.

Originals

Medico-legal, experimental, or technical descriptions that contribute to increasing the knowledge on a topic in the field of the Journal. Original articles should follow a format of, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results and Discussion. The maximum length of text will be approximately 3,500 words, and up to 6 Tables or Figures will be accepted. It is essential to include a structured abstract, in Spanish and English, of no more than 250 words in length. After the Abstract (Resumen), from 3 to 8 keywords will be added. The bibliography should be restricted to a maximum of 30 references.

If the original article is a clinical trial, Revista Españo­la de Medicina Legal recommends that all authors should register it in a public electronic and free access register, following the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, http://www.icmje.org/faq.pdf). In this sense, every clinical trial is defined as a research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to a particular intervention or group to study the cause-effect relationship between the intervention and a clinical result. The investigators who conduct a randomised prospective trial should consult the latest version of the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, http://www.consort-statement.org/) and include a flow-chart of the type recommended by CONSORT, detailing the distribution of the subjects to study during the trial. Prospective and randomised studies should be clearly identified in the title and abstract of the article. Additionally, the register number and the name of the register must be included in the last line of the abstract.

Clinical trials may be registered in any of the following registers (or in others that meet the ICMJE requirements):

• Clinical Trials: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/
• ISRCTN Register: http://www.controlled-trials.com/isrctn/
• Netherlands Trial Register: http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp
• UMIN Clinical Trials Registry: http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr

Short Originals

These should have a maximum length of 1,300 -1,500 words, a structured Abstract, of 150 words, in Spanish and English, After the Abstract, between 3 to 6 keywords will be added. The bibliography should be restricted to a maximum of 10 references, and no more than two illustrations. The maximum number of signing authors will be six.

Reviews

Revista Española de Medicina Legal will give special priority to those review works that deal with current topics. The maximum length of the text will be approximately 4,500 words, and up to 6 Figures or Tables will be accepted. It is essential to include an unstructured abstract, in Spanish and English, of no more than 150 words in length. Between 3 and 8 keywords will be added after the abstracts, in Spanish and English. The bibliography should be restricted to a maximum of 50 references.

If the authors carry out a systematic review of the literature, or a meta-analysis, on a topic, they should follow the recommendations proposed by QUOROM (Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses) (Moher D, Cook DJ, Eastwood S, Olkin I, Rennie D, Stroup DF, for the QUOROM Group. Improving the quality of reports of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials: the QUOROM statement. Lancet. 1999; 354:1896-900) (www.consort-statement.org/QUOROM.pdf).

Special Articles

Articles related to Medicina Legal y Forense will be included in this section, which, due to its characteristics, cannot be considered for the Originals or Reviews section. The maximum length of text will be approximately 3,000 words, and up to 4 Tables and/or Figures will be accepted. There should be no more than 30 literature references. It is essential to include an unstructured abstract, in Spanish and English, of no more than 150 words in length. Between 3 and 8 keywords will be added after the abstracts, in Spanish and English.

Medical-forensic cases

The Editorial Committee of the Revista Española de Medicina Legal will evaluate those medico-legal reports that, due to their relevance, may have a clear informative value for the readers of the Journal. They could include case studies in which new or exceptional aspects are described, or which add significant appraisals. Additionally, clinical cases associated with Legal Medicine will also be considered for publication. The maximum length will be approximately 900 words and should be structured into the following sections: Introduction, Medical-forensic description, and Discussion. Up to 2 Figures and 2 Tables will be accepted. There should be no more than 15 literature references. The maximum number of authors will be 5. It will include an unstructured abstract, in Spanish and English, of no more than 150 words in length. Between 3 and 8 keywords will be added after the abstracts, in Spanish and English.

Practical Forensic Medicine

In this section, descriptions will be presented on the basic concepts as regards procedures, examinations, or interpretation of tests of use in Legal and Forensic Medicine.

The maximum length will be approximately 1,500 words, up to 3 Figures will be accepted and there must be no more than 10 literature references. The maximum number of authors will be 6.

Legal Medicine in Images

Forensic and/or medical images that have educational value will be included in this category. The maximum length of the text, in which a short summary of the case, along with a short discussion will be presented. It will contain between 150 and 300 words. The image quality should be at least 600 dots per inch (dpi) and in TIFF or JPEG format. The differential diagnosis of the case should be indicated at the end of the text. The maximum number of authors allowed will be 4, and the bibliography should not contain more than 5 references.

Letters to the Editor

The Editorial Committee encourages readers of the Revista Española de Medicina Legal to submit objections or comments associated with articles recently published in the Journal and, in some cases, on relevant articles published in other journals. This correspondence must contain interesting ideas and comments, which must always be supported by data and by a maximum of 10 literature references. If possible, the letter will be published simultaneously with the response by the authors of the commented article. The maximum length will be 450 words. The maximum number of authors will be 4.

Other sections

The Journal also includes literature Comments, which will be written by a prior commission of the Editorial Team, who will indicate the desired format.

You can send your manuscript at http://ees.elsevier.com/reml

This journal has no page charges.

This journal is published in Spanish and in English language.

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
- E-mail address
- Full postal address
All necessary files have been uploaded:
Manuscript:
- Include keywords
- All figures (include relevant captions)
- All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
- Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
- Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)
Supplemental files (where applicable)
Further considerations
- Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
- All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
-Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
- A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
- Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of Health guide for the care and use of Laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978) and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author but copies should not be provided to the journal. Only if specifically requested by the journal in exceptional circumstances (for example if a legal issue arises) the author must provide copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals. Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' section of our ethics policy for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the SSex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the S SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the Sresources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram are available online.

Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. A clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, dietary interventions, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration.

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Author Services.

Please submit your article via http://ees.elsevier.com/reml

This journal operates a double anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

This journal uses double-anonymized review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names affiliations, acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Anonymized manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Structure of original articles and brief reports

Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading (Introduction, Material and Methods, Results and Conclusions). Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'.

It will be brief and must only provide the information necessary for the reader to be able to understand the text that follows later. It must not contain Tables or Figures. The last paragraph should include a clear statement of the objective/s of the work.

In the first paragraph of the Materials and methods section, it must state; the design type (experimental, clinical, retrospective, prospective, observational, clinical trial, controlled or not, etc.), and field of the study (whether or not it is multicentred, type of centre, etc.). The methods and procedures used will be presented with sufficient detail that will enable other investigators to reproduce the research. In clinical trials, the randomisation method will be given in detail. Additionally, it must specify the method used to calculate the sample size, specifying the main endpoint of the study and the estimations made to calculate it. The methodology used for the statistical analysis must be explained.

Whenever it is intended to publish a rare observation, the literature search method must be given in detail, the key words used, the years covered, and the date it was performed.

When studies conducted on humans are submitted, it must be indicated whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Committee responsible for human research (institutional or regional) and with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, revised in 1983, and available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm. A photocopy of the corresponding Ethics Committee approval will be provided. When animal research is conducted, it should state whether the Regulations of the European Community on Animal Research were followed.

They state, not interpret, the observations made with the material and methods employed. These data will be presented in a logical sequence and may be expressed in detail in the text or in the form of Tables and Figures, but the data in the Tables or Figures should not be repeated in the text.

The authors will attempt to give their own opinions on the subject, without repeating the details provided in the Introduction or in the Results. Emphasise here: a) the significance and practical application of the results; b) thoughts on a possible inconsistency of the methodology, and the reasons why the results may be valid; c) relationship with similar publications and a comparison between the areas of agreement and disagreement, and d) the indications and directions for future research, putting forward new hypotheses when justified, clearly labelling them as such. Emphasis should be made on the new and important aspects of the study and, in the conclusions that they are obtained.

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration.  Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

A structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for the research and should state its purpose, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

This is one of the fundamental sections of the article, as it is through this that the basic information of the study is obtained in the literature data bases.

In the Revista Española de Medicina Legal the originals and short originals must be structured into 4 sections: Introduction, which will indicate the aims of the study; Material and methods, where the patient series will be described, the laboratory material, and other methods used are described, and the nature of the study (randomised, retrospective, experimental, etc.); Results, which will include the basic data with numeric values and their statistical significance; and Conclusions, where the main outcomes of the study will be succinctly pointed out.

In Reviews, In Special Articles and Medical-Forensic Cases, the abstract does not have to be structured, but its contents must be equally informative. The use of abbreviations in the Abstract must be avoided.

In all cases, the authors must also provide the Spanish version of the Abstract.

After the Abstract (Resumen), the authors should specify, and identify as such, from 3 to 8 key words that would help when indexing the article in the data bases. The terms in “Medical Subject Headings” (MeSH Terms) of Index Medicus should be used, which may be consulted and downloaded at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/, as well as their translation into Spanish. If suitable terms cannot be found in MeSH, doing to being recently introduced, terms in use could be used.

Place the acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the manuscript and before the Literature References. Do not mention them in any other part of the article.

When necessary mention will be made of the persons (whose intellectual contribution did not justify their inclusion as authors), centres or bodies that may have collaborated or supported the performing of the work. If there are commercial implications, they must also be mentioned in this section.

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Whilst it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following policy: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites). Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork.

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. This identifier will not appear in your published article.

Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

These will be presented in the order that they appear in the text and with their corresponding consecutive Arabic numbers. The reference numbers must always be shown in the text in superscript numbers, whether or not accompanied by the names of the authors; when these are mentioned in the text, if it is a work performed by two, mention both, and if there are several, mention only the first one followed by the expression, et al.

The names of the Journals must be abbreviated in accordance with the style used in Index Medicus, available at: ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/online/journals/archive/ljiweb.pdf

Wherever possible, avoid including text books and meeting minutes as literature references. Avoid the use of vague phrases as literature references, and those such as “unpublished observations” or “personal communication” cannot be used, but they may be quoted between parentheses within the text. The literature references must be checked by comparing with the original documents, always giving the first and last pages of reference.

The format of the literature references must follow the rules adopted by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org). The examples quoted below are some of the most commonly used ones.

Journal Article

Surname and initials separated by commas. List all the authors if there are 6 or less than 6, placing only a coma between them, and a full stop after the last author; if there are 7 or more, list the first 6 and add the expression “et al”. The title of the article, in the original language, is then included, followed by a full stop, abbreviation of the journal name, also followed by a full stop, year of publication, followed by a semi-colon, volume number, after which a colon will be placed, then the first and last page of the work, separated by a hyphen.

Standard journal article with less than 6 authors:
Armendáriz-Rubio P, De Miguel Velasco M, Ortiz Hurtado H. Comparación de colostomías e ileostomías como estomas derivativos tras resección anterior baja. Cir Esp. 2007;81:115-20.

Standard journal article with more than 6 authors:
Bujalance Cabrera FM, Herrera Merino N, Salvador Fernández M, Escudero Escudero J, Sierra Ortega MA, Oliva Díaz C, et al. Tratamiento quirúrgico de la peritonitis. Cir Esp. 2007;81:139-43.

Supplement Article of a volume:
Del Río C, Biondo S, Martí-Ragué J. Incontinencia fecal. Valoración del paciente. Tratamientos clásicos. Cir Esp. 2005;78 Suppl 3:34-40.

Article In press:
Serra C, Baltasar A, Pérez N, Bou R, Bengochea M. Re-gastrectomía tubular laparoscópica. Cir Esp. In press 2007.

The author is an organisation:
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40:679-86.

Individual and Organisation, both are authors:
Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, Van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1274 European men suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. J Urol. 2003;169:2257-61.

No author:
21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325:184.

Volume with a Supplement:
Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93-9.

Journal issue with supplement:
Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002;58 (12 Suppl 7):S6-12.

Book and Book chapter

Whole book
Authors as editors:
Mvoelkel NF, MacNee W, Editors. Chronic obstructive lung diseases. Hamilton: BC Decker Inc.; 2002.

Personal author(s) (no editors):
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4thEd. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Different Authors and Editors:
Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2ndEd. In: Wieczorek RR, Editor. White Plains: March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

Organisation as Author:
Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing research and practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide: Adelaide University; 2001.

Book chapter
Weibel ER. The structural basis of lung function. In: West JB, Editor. Respiratory physiology: people and ideas. New York: Oxford University Press; 1996; pp. 3-46.

Legal texts

Real Decreto 386/1996, de 1 de marzo, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de los Institutos de Medicina Legal. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 9 de marzo de 1996, núm. 60, pp. 9633-9636.

Ley 29/1980, de 21 de junio, de autopsias clínicas. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 27 de junio de 1980, núm. 154, p. 14636-14637.

Decret 411/2006, de 31 d’octubre, pel qual s’aprova el Reglament de l’Institut de Medicina Legal de Catalunya. Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya, 3 de noviembre de 2006, núm. 4753, p. 45601-45606.

Decreto 106/1996, de 11 de junio, por el que se aprueban las normas de Policía Sanitaria Mortuoria. Boletín Oficial de Aragón, 21 de junio de 1996, núm. 72, p. 2896-2898.

Directiva 2001/83/CE del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 6 de noviembre de 2001, por la que se establece un código comunitario sobre medicamentos para uso humano. Diario Oficial de las Comunidades Europeas, 28 de noviembre de 2001, L 311, p. 67-128.

Documents in electronic format

Standard article in electronic format:
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [electronic journal] 1995; 1 [consulted on 05-06-1996]: Available at: http://www. cdc. gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm

CD-ROM:
Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson’s electronic atlas of haematology [CD-ROM]. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.

Internet site (page):
Cancer-Pain.org [page on internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 (updated 16 May 2002; referenced 9 July 2002]. Available at: http://www.cancer-pain.org/

Court judgements

Supreme Court:
España. Tribunal Supremo (Sala de lo Penal, Sección 1ª). Sentencia núm. 1229/2017 de 29 de marzo.
Cita en texto: (STS 1229/2017 de 29 de marzo).

Constitutional Court:
España. Tribunal Constitucional (Pleno). Sentencia núm. 35/2017 de 1 de marzo.
Cita en texto: (STC 34/2017 de 1 de marzo).

Databases:
España. Tribunal Constitucional (Pleno). [Versión electrónica. Base de datos de Westlaw] Sentencia núm. 35/2017 de 1 de marzo [Consultado el 20 de abril de 2017].

Internet:
España. Tribunal Constitucional (Pleno). [Internet] Sentencia núm. 35/2017 de 1 de marzo [Consultado el 20 de abril de 2017]. Disponible en: http://hj.tribunalconstitucional.es/es/Resolucion/Show/25277

European Court of Human Rights:
Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos (Sección 3ª). Caso Rubio dos Amantes contra España. Sentencia de 21 de febrero 2017.
Cita en texto: STEDH de 21 de febrero 2017.

Court of Justice of the European Union:
Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea. Sentencia de 12 de julio de 2005, Schempp, C-403/03, EU:C:2005:446 apartado 19.

Tribunal General de la Unión Europea. Sentencia de 6 de junio de 2007, Walderdorff / Comisión, T-442/04, no publicada, EU:T:2007:161.

Other published material

Conference Proceedings:
Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, Editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 13-15 September 2001; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download the free Adobe Reader, version 9 (or higher). Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and scan the pages and return via e-mail. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

The corresponding author will be notified and receive a link to the published version of the open access article on ScienceDirect. This link is in the form of an article DOI link which can be shared via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's Author Services.

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.