Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería

All articles received will be assessed by the Editorial Board and, when relevant, will move on to a process of review by peers with external evaluators. Documents can be submitted in Spanish or Portuguese. All articles accepted will become the permanent property of ALADEFE and cannot be reproduced partially or totally without permission by the journal. Published articles or those submitted simultaneously to another journal will not be accepted; this fact should be declared by the author in the letter of introduction for the article.

For those research studies involving human beings, it is required to attach the approval by the different Ethic Committees as complementary materials.

This is a non-profit publication by the Latin-American Association of Nursing Schools (ALADEFE), with the sole purpose of contributing to scientific knowledge in nursing as a discipline; therefore, THERE ARE NO COSTS FOR SUBMISSION OR PUBLICATION. It has been a quarterly publication since 2012 (January, April, July and October).

The manuscript should be written using the Word program as Word processor and Excel or PowerPoint in case of graphs and tables (image format is not accepted for these). The text must be presented with single line spacing in all its sections, pages numbered in the lower right corner, using Times New Roman font size 12, leaving lateral, upper and lower margins of 2.5 cm. If sending digital images, these must be attached separately, with 300 dpi resolution, 10 x 15 cm size and jpg format.

The manuscript text, not including the bibliography, should not exceed 4,500 words for original articles, reviews, and innovative educational experiences; letters to the editor should not exceed 1,500 words. Tables, charts and graphs will be also sent as a file separate from the text; these must not exceed the number of six as a set, and must be numbered and defined according to the order in which they appear in the text, including headline, key or caption, as relevant. Photographs must be original, stating their authorship; their authors must authorize their use for online publication. Abbreviations and acronyms should be restricted to the highest extent possible, and will be defined when first mentioned in the text.

All manuscripts must state explicitly any potential financial support, and the organization, agency, institution or company funding the study, as well as the project, agreement or contract number. In case of no external funding, this must be stated as “Funding: None”. Besides, all articles sent must include a statement with any potential conflict of interests by each one of the persons signing the article. Conflicts of interests can be occupational, research-related, economic or moral. If there is no conflict of interests, this must be stated as “Conflict of Interests: None”. Including this information at the end of the manuscript (before the Bibliography section) will be an essential requirement for the manuscript to be considered and entered into the editorial process. When the authors believe that the inclusion of an Acknowledgements Section is relevant, this will include those persons not meeting the authorship criteria but who have facilitated conducting the study.

TYPES OF ARTICLES

1. Original Article. Research studies conducted with quantitative, qualitative or mixed methodology, with the objective of describing a research activity in nursing care, its teaching or research, contributing or demonstrating new knowledge. It will include the following sections:
   • Title: the title page must include the title of the article (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), which must be brief and informative (it should not exceed 15 words); the name and two surnames of each author (with six authors at most); their ORCID number; only the highest academic degree achieved should be stated, as well as the institutional affiliation, but not their professional category; the name and email of the corresponding author must also be stated.
   • Abstract and key words: the abstract (in Spanish, Portuguese and English) must not exceed 250 words, and should be structured into the following sections: Objective, Methodology, Results and Conclusions. Key words will be placed below; from five to seven terms which define the article contents (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), standardized according to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus or its Spanish version, “Descriptores en Ciencias de la Salud” (DeCS).
   • Introduction: it must include the background and current status of the subject studied (contextualisation), as well as the elements for justification and applicability or the conceptual framework for understanding the article, if relevant, and the study objectives must be defined at the end.
   • Methodology: the following must be specified: the study design, population and sample, the variables studied and their measurement, the tool/s used, a detailed description of the process for data collection, the strategies to guarantee data reliability and validity, as well as the plan for analysis, with the specific statistic treatment. Those ethical aspects linked to different designs must also be detailed.
   • Results: an initial description of the subjects studied, and the subsequent presentation of the information regarding the study objectives. Tables, graphs and images must be clear and relevant, and the order in which they appear in the text must be stated. Data shown in tables or graphs should not be repeated in the text, and only the most significant observations should be described or summarised, without discussing or interpreting data.
   • Discussion and conclusions: without repeating the data presented in the previous section, results will be discussed in comparison with other previous similar and relevant articles, mentioning any potential differences and similarities. The strengths and limitations of the study will be pointed at, as well as the potential generalization of findings and any research lines that might be opened, and also any recommendations for clinical practice. Conclusions must verify whether the objective/s proposed have been addressed or not.
   • Bibliography: the bibliography used for preparing the manuscript must be ordered consecutively throughout the text, using Arabic figures, in parentheses, and with the same font type and size used for the text. It will be aimed to use quotes dated within the past 5 or 7 years; from 15 to 35 references are recommended for original articles. Whenever possible, the access URL and the quotation date will be provided for online articles. The references must follow the Vancouver Rules: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
2. Review article: Secondary research studies based on analysis, comparison, interpretation and adaptation to a specific situation of the existing evidence on a specific matter. It will contain the following sections:
   • Title: the title page must include the title of the article (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), which must be brief and informative (it should not exceed 15 words); the name and two surnames of each author (with six authors at most); their ORCID number; only the highest academic degree achieved should be stated, as well as the institutional affiliation, but not their professional category; the name and email of the corresponding author must also be stated.
   • Abstract and key words: the abstract (in Spanish, Portuguese and English) must not exceed 250 words, and should be structured into the following sections: Objective, Methodology, Results and Conclusions. Key words will be placed below; from five to seven terms which define the article contents (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), standardized according to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus or its Spanish version, “Descriptores en Ciencias de la Salud” (DeCS).
   • Introduction: it must include the background and current status of the subject studied (contextualisation), as well as the elements for justification and applicability or the conceptual framework for understanding the article, if relevant, and the study objectives must be defined at the end.
   • Methodology: the following must be specified: type of review, descriptors used, databases included, search strategy, the number of articles initially retrieved and the number of articles finally used for review, among others.
   • Results: an initial brief description of the articles studied, and the subsequent presentation of the information regarding the study objectives. Tables, charts, graphs and images must be clear and relevant, and the order in which they appear in the text must be stated. Data shown in tables or graphs should not be repeated in the text, and only the most significant observations should be described or summarised, without discussing or interpreting data.
   • Discussion and conclusions: without repeating the data presented in the previous section, results will be discussed in comparison with other previous similar and relevant articles, mentioning any potential differences and similarities. The strengths and limitations of the study will be pointed at, as well as the potential generalization of findings and any research lines that might be opened, and also any recommendations for clinical practice. Conclusions must verify whether the objective/s proposed have been addressed or not.
   • Bibliography: the bibliography used for preparing the manuscript must be ordered consecutively throughout the text, using Arabic figures, in parentheses, and with the same font type and size used for the text. It will be aimed to use quotes dated within the past 5 or 7 years; at least 30 references are recommended for review articles. Whenever possible, the access URL and the quotation date will be provided for online articles. The references must follow the Vancouver Rules: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html“Narrative reviews” or “bibliographic reviews” will not be considered, due to the lack of clear methodology and because their results are not a contribution to the discipline.
3. Innovative educational experience. Research studies systematising pedagogical experiences with an evident innovative action, either at theoretical or practical level. It will include the following sections:
   • Title: the title page must include the title of the article (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), which must be brief and informative (it should not exceed 15 words); the name and two surnames of each author (with six authors at most); their ORCID number; only the highest academic degree achieved should be stated, as well as the institutional affiliation, but not their professional category; the name and email of the corresponding author must also be stated.
   • Abstract and key words: the abstract (in Spanish, Portuguese and English) must not exceed 250 words, and should be structured into the following sections: Objective, Description of the Innovative Educational Experience, Results and Conclusions. Key words will be placed below; from five to seven terms which define the article contents (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), standardized according to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus or its Spanish version, “Descriptores en Ciencias de la Salud” (DeCS).
   • Introduction: it must include the background and current status of the subject studied (contextualisation), as well as the elements for justification and applicability or the conceptual framework for understanding the article, if relevant, and the study objectives must be defined at the end.
   • Description of the innovative educational experience and its results: the innovative educational experience must be described, stating specifically the key stakeholders in the process, the steps previous to conducting the experience, and its sociocultural context. After this there will be a description of the results, which must address the objective previously mentioned. Tables, charts, graphs and images must be clear and relevant, and the order in which they appear in the text must be stated. Data shown in tables or graphs should not be repeated in the text, and only the most significant observations should be described or summarised, without discussing or interpreting data.
   • Discussion and conclusions: without repeating the data presented in the previous section, results will be discussed in comparison with other previous similar and relevant articles, mentioning any potential differences and similarities. The strengths and limitations of the study will be pointed at, as well as the potential generalization of findings and any research lines that might be opened, and also any recommendations for clinical practice. Conclusions must verify whether the objective/s proposed have been addressed or not.
   • Bibliography: the bibliography used for preparing the manuscript must be ordered consecutively throughout the text, using Arabic figures, in parentheses, and with the same font type and size used for the text. It will be aimed to use quotes dated within the past 5 or 7 years; between 15 to 20 references are recommended for innovative educational experiences. Whenever possible, the access URL and the quotation date will be provided for online articles. The references must follow the Vancouver Rules: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
4. Letter to the Editor. The publication of a letter to the editor can be occasionally accepted; this includes any communications that readers wish to make in the journal regarding previously published articles, as well as those research studies, case reports, reviews, or contributions to any matter of interest for Nursing which can be summarized in a brief text. It will contain the following sections:
   • Title: the title page must include the title of the article (in Spanish, Portuguese and English), which must be brief and informative (it should not exceed 15 words); the name and two surnames of the author (no multiple authors will be accepted); their ORCID number; only the highest academic degree achieved should be stated, as well as the institutional affiliation, but not their professional category, and the email address.
   • Body of the letter: it must start by the headline “To the Editor”, and continue with the discussion of the matter selected, which must be of great current interest to the scientific and educational nursing community. It is recommended to follow a logical order of introduction, discussion and conclusion, but without separating them into different sections. As a reminder, the letter must not exceed 1,500 words, not including the bibliography.
   • Bibliography: the bibliography used must be ordered consecutively throughout the text, using Arabic figures, in parentheses, and with the same font type and size used for the text. It will be aimed to use quotes dated within the past 5 or 7 years; at least 5 references are recommended for Letters to the Editor. Whenever possible, the access URL and the quotation date will be provided for online articles. The references must follow the Vancouver Rules: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts must be sent to Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería, to the following email address: articulosALADEFE@grupo-paradigma.com. The letters described in the previous section of these rules must be submitted with the manuscript; for any doubt or clarification, please write to the email: revistacientificaaladefe@gmail.com. Reception of all manuscripts will be confirmed, and each one will be assigned a number of registration for any query or information regarding the article.

Manuscripts will be separated into the following files, which must be sent in 1 single email:

1. Letter of Introduction.
2. Letter of Authorship Responsibility.
3. Complete manuscript.
4. Charts, graphs and tables.
5. Photos and images (in a compressed ZIP file).
6. Evaluation report by the Scientific Ethics Committee, if relevant.

COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería intends, within its guidelines, to uphold the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors, designed to provide a set of minimum standards which all COPE members are expected to comply with (https://www.um.es/ead/red/etica_cope.pdf).

In order to guarantee the protection of persons and animals, in those studies conducted on persons, the Method section must state that these have granted their Informed Consent, that their anonymity has been maintained as well as data confidentiality, and that it has been conducted according to current regulations, the World Medical Association and the Declaration of Helsinki (https://www.wma.net/es/policies-post/declaracion-de-helsinki-de-la-amm-principios-eticos-para-las-investigaciones-medicas-en-seres-humanos/). In case of animal experiments, it must be stated that the procedures described by relevant authorities have been followed. In both scenarios, it must also be stated whether the studies have been approved by a Research Ethics Committee, and this document must be attached as complementary file.

The author/s must report any previous submission or publication of the same article, either in full or partially, which might be considered a redundant or duplicate publication. It is required to quote and include the bibliographic reference of these previous publications in the new manuscript. Previous presentation of the article in a congress is not considered redundant publication. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería disapproves plagiarism and self-plagiarism in the manuscripts received; this will represent a serious ethical misconduct if detected at any stage of the editorial process.

In case of confirmed ethical misconduct, such as simultaneous submission to another journal, duplicate publication or plagiarism, among others, the situation will be shared with the Editorial Board and authors will be informed, and they won’t be able to submit any new manuscripts for the next 5 years.

Any judgements and opinions expressed in the articles belong to the author; and therefore the ALADEFE management, the Editorial Board of the journal and its Advisory Board are not responsible for said materials. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain any relevant permissions to reproduce any materials already published or subject to copyright, if relevant. The Editorial Board of Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería is not responsible for any potential conflicts derived of the authorship of the articles published, and it does not endorse the statements by any product advertised in the journal, as this is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer or service provider.

The manuscript must be submitted with a Letter of Introduction signed by all authors, describing the type of article (original article, review, innovative educational experience or letter to the editor), explaining the contribution by the findings and conclusions of the scientific text to the advance in knowledge in the health and nursing area, and reporting the study innovation.

They must also declare that the statements in the following list are true:

• The manuscript complies with the Rules for Publication by Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería.
• The authors declare whether they have or not any conflict of interests, and this is adequately expressed.
• All authors have participated in writing the manuscript and have approved its final version which is attached to this statement, as well as its submission for evaluation and potential publication in Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería.
• If an Acknowledgement Section is included, those persons mentioned have granted their authorization.
• All necessary permissions have been obtained, if relevant, to reproduce texts, tables, illustrations or photographs from other publications, as well as original photographs of persons.
• The manuscript has neither been published in any other journal nor submitted simultaneously to other journals.
• If the study has been presented in some scientific event, this has been expressly stated in the manuscript.
• Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería is hereby granted the intellectual property of the article, as well as the right to reproduce any data or illustrations in other publications by its Publisher.

Lack of express agreement with these requirements, or their lack of veracity confirmed by the Editorial Board, could be a reason for rejecting the manuscript (Please download the template for the Letter of Introduction here).

A Letter for Authorship Responsibility must be also attached, signed by all the authors, where they declare their participation as authors of the manuscript.

• I hereby certify that I have contributed directly to the intellectual contents of this manuscript, its genesis and data analysis, and therefore I am able to be publicly responsibly for it, and I accept that my name appears in the list of authors.
• I hereby certify that this article (or major parts of it) is unpublished and will not be send to other journals while awaiting the decision by Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería editors.

At the end of the statement, the name (column 1) and the signature by each author (column 2) must be mentioned, as well as the “participation codes” (column 3), where the letters identifying the stages of participation by each one in the manuscript must be determined.

In the “participation codes” column, each author must write down the codes identifying their participation in the study, selected from the following list:

• Concept and design of the study
• Data collection / retrieval
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Writing the manuscript
• Critical review of the manuscript
• Approval of its final version
• Provision of patients or study materials
• Securing funding
• Statistical consultancy
• Technical or administrative consultancy
• Other contributions (please define)

When the editorial review requires a new version of the article, the corresponding author will be responsible for its approval by all authors (Please download the Letter for Authorship Responsibility here).

The journal is 100% online, there is no printed version; as a plan for electronic safety, articles are stored in html and pdf format.

EDITORIAL PROCEDURE

The Editorial Board of Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería will conduct a preliminary evaluation of those articles received, in order to confirm if the minimum requirements for entering the editorial procedure are met, and assigning a follow-up code, which will be informed to the authors. Manuscripts which pass this initial selection are subject to evaluation by peers (peer review) by external evaluators, typically at least two, under the “double blind” criterion where reviewers are not aware of the identity of authors, and authors are also unaware of the identity of reviewers.

In case of requesting a new modified version of the manuscript, the authors must submit said version within the deadline determined by the Editorial Board, with the changes required highlighted in bold or in a different font colour to the one used for the rest of the document.

Submission of the modified article does not mean that it has been accepted; it could also be sent again for external review. The final decision whether to accept a manuscript or not will be the result of an evaluation process where different Board members are involved, as well as of the quality and ability of response of the authors regarding the suggestions received. In any case, if the authors refuse to implement the modifications requested, the Editorial Board is entitled to reject publishing the article.

Once the Editorial Board has accepted the manuscript, and therefore it has entered the editorial process, the authors are not able to withdraw it. After the final acceptance of the manuscript, Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería reserves its right to make any editorial style changes or introduce modifications to facilitate its clarity or understanding, including the modification of the title and the abstract, without entailing any changes in its intellectual contents. Those manuscripts accepted for publication in the journal will become the permanent property of Revista Iberoamericana de Educación e Investigación en Enfermería, and no total or partial reproduction will be allowed without its authorization.

Submitting a manuscript to the journal implies accepting these rules for publication and the final decision regarding accepting or rejecting its publication.