Submissions

The journal Investigación en Educación Médica (Research in Medical Education) is a mexican, peer-reviewed, periodic publication that publishes original research articles, as well as reviews and high-quality perspectives articles in the area of education in health sciences. 

Investigación en Educación Médica is directed towards institutions, academics, professionals and students in the field of health sciences that are interested in the theoretical and practical aspects of education in this field. The articles published herein are focused on any education level from undergraduate, postgraduate and continuous professional development, with the objective of analyzing experiences and stimulating the establishment of innovative thinking approaches in health sciences education.

This journal is open access; all articles are immediately and permanently available, reading and download of materials are allowed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Manuscript categories 

Investigación en Educación Médica published original research, review and methodology articles as well as editorials, critic essays and letters to the editor. Specific guidelines per category are described in the following table:

* Excluding abstract, references, boxes, tables, figure legends and appendices.

Preparing your manuscript

All papers sent to Investigación en Educación Médica undergo an initial technical check process. Only manuscripts complying with the following general statements as well as those particular requirements according to the category of the paper (presented in the table above), are considered for posterior peer-review:

1. Format. All the manuscript must have a 1.5 line spacing, the text must be aligned left, Arial font of size 12, with margins of at least 2.5 cm, letter size. Pages must be numbered. Avoid using non-conventional acronyms or abbreviations; if needed, described them the first time they appear in the text only. Scientific units must be expressed after the International System of Units. Prior to sending your manuscript, please remove links introduced by software for inserting references and inactivate “track changes” in your word processor.
2. The manuscript must be separated in three different files: first page, anonym manuscript and figures, tables and boxes. 

3. In the file corresponding with the first page, include the following: 

• Main title of the manuscript of up to 15 words. Titles must not include acronyms or abbreviations that are not well-known in an international context. The title must not put emphasis on the local nature of the study.
• Short title of up to 10 words. This is used as page header.
• Full name, ORCID (if you do not have one, you must register for free at https://orcid.org/), and institutional affiliation for each author (only one). Follow this sequential order when drafting each affiliation, separating the elements with commas: Department or Specific Unit, Faculty or School, Principal Institution, City or Locality, State, Country. For example: Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. In the case of undergraduate students, residents, independent researchers, or retired health professionals, indicate the position held at the institution of origin and the academic degrees.
• Contact information for the author responsible for the manuscript (e-mail, complete address and phone number).

• Add a section of “Clarifications” with the following contents:
• Authorship: briefly describe the contribution of each author to the study. Write down only the initials to denote each author.
• For mentioning collaborators that do not fulfill the requirements to be considered coauthors of the work.
• Former presentations: Report different formats of presentations of the submitted work, for instance, as a conference or poster in a congress. Write down “None” otherwise.
• Regarding Manuscripts on Preprint Servers and Repositories: In order to promote transparency and accessibility in scientific dissemination, the submission of manuscripts from repositories or preprint servers is allowed. Authors are required to declare this circumstance on the first page of the manuscript, including the corresponding URL or link. This practice enhances early research dissemination and facilitates access to valuable information for the scientific community.
• Funding: Mention institutions that provided resources that allowed the study to be conducted.
• Conflict of interest: Report any possible personal bias related with the study, for instance, affiliation or personal funding from a certain institution.
• Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing. During the completion of this work, the author(s) utilized [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE/ASSISTED TECHNOLOGY] for [REASON OR PURPOSE]. After using this tool/service/technology, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and assume full responsibility for the content of the publication.
  This statement does not apply to the use of basic grammar, spelling, reference-checking tools, etc. If no artificial intelligence was used in the preparation of the manuscript, explicitly declare that no AI tools were employed.

With exception of the titles, do not include the information included in the first page file in the other files. This is done with the objective of making the peer-review a blinded process. Also ensure that the metadata of all your files do not contain any identifying information of the author(s).

4. In the corresponding field of the editorial manager, as well as in the anonym manuscript, include:

• The Abstract in two versions: Spanish and English, respectively. Up to 300 words are allowed. It must summarize the whole content of the manuscript and not selected parts of it. For original research and review articles, abstracts must be subdivided in the same sections as the main text (except Discusion and References). At the end of the abstract include up to five keywords, preferably MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms, if applicable.
• Manuscripts must include structured abstracts in both Spanish and English to ensure accessibility for an international audience. For non-Spanish-speaking authors, prepare the English abstract first using the specified structure below. The Spanish abstract should mirror the main text's subtitles, excluding "Discusión" (Discussion) and "Referencias" (References), and use the following: "Introducción" (Introduction), "Objetivo" (Objective), "Método" (Method), "Resultados" (Results), and "Conclusiones" (Conclusions). The English abstract is titled "Abstract" and contains the corresponding subtitles: "Introduction," "Objective," "Method," "Results," and "Conclusions". Only in review articles, methodology articles, and critical essays may authors determine the number and titles of the sections. For the content of every section in the manuscript, it is advisable to follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (http://www.icmje.org).
• In general, the manuscript must be written in impersonal past tense. Avoid using gerunds (verb forms ending in “-ing”) in the description of the methodology and results, use simple past tense instead. Avoid incorrect uppercase letters (for instance, “the Instrument”, “Medical School”).
• The statistical analysis must be explained in the context of the study design as a subsection of the Method. If the methods described are particularly complex or not well-known, it is recommended to include an appendix with a detailed description of them. 
• At the end of the Method, include a concise paragraph entitled “Ethical considerations”, where it must be made explicit the information regarding informed consent and indicated if an Ethics protocol was followed at the institution where the study was performed. Likewise, indicate if all participants had knowledge of the objective of the study and whether their participation was voluntary.
• In the Results, cite in the text with initial uppercase the corresponding tables and figures (e. g., “As Table 1 shows, […]”).
• It is compulsory to include in the Discussion the study limitations, as well as its strengths and improvement opportunities. Moreover, this section must include a comparison and contextualization of the results within the recently published literature concerning  the field. All papers involving research in human beings must follow the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki by the World Medical Association https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/ The authors must seek approbation of the corresponding Ethics or Research Committee available in their institution. Potential harm to students and teachers must be avoided and the privacy of the participants guaranteed. 
• If as part of the design of the study an instrument was used (for instance, an exam, questionnaire and so forth), please include it with your submission, as it will allow a better evaluation and interpretation of the data. In case you wish not to publish the instrument, still include it but declare your wish.
• Regarding the References, the authors take full responsibility for their exactitude and integrity. Furthermore, the technical check will not be completed until the authors success in following the required format. This implies that the peer-review and the rest of the editorial process would have to be postponed if references do not comply with the requirements. The citation style follows Vancouver norms. Further details can be found at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/.  Regarding the formatting, references must be in the same font and size as the rest of the manuscript. They must be sorted according to their order of appearance in the main text rather than alphabetically and in-text citations must be with superscript numbers with no parentheses. Personal communications and unpublished results are not to be included as references themselves, but only appear in their main text in parentheses after the backed sentence. Some exemplary references follow:

Articles in print journals:

1. Corvetto M, Bravo MP, Montaña R, Utili F, Escudero E, Boza C, et al. Simulación en educación médica: una sinopsis. Rev Med Chile. 2013;(141):70-9.

Websites:

2. Grajales F, Clifford D, Loupos P, Okun S, Quattrone S, Simon M, Henderson D. Social Networking Sites and the Continuously Learning Health System: A Survey. [Internet] Institute of Medicine; 2014 [consulted 2016 March 30] Available at: http://www.ednfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Facebookguideforeducators.pdf

Books / Conferences proceedings:

3. Wang QY, Woo HL, Quek CL, Yang YQ. Use of Facebook for teaching and learning: A review of research. En: Wang QY, Kong SC, et al (Ed.) Proceedings of the 14th GCCCE. Singapore: GCCCE; 2010. p. 326-35.

Institutional reports:

4. Dirección General de Planeación. Agenda Estadística 2013: Población Escolar. [consultaded 2015 Feb 19]. Available at: http://www.planeacion.unam.mx/agenda/2015/pdf/pob-escolar.pdf

• Within the Anonymous main text, which will be used for the peer-review process, as well as the tables and figures file, the authors must not include any information identifying either them or their institution. This applies for the title, abstract, method, and any section of the paper. The authors must make sure that the names of the files, page headers or footnotes do not contain such information. 

5. All figures and tables must be saved together in a different file than the main text, with each in a different page. The legend must appear above (but not within a cell of the table), while annotations and explanations on symbols below the figure or table. All of them have to be referenced to in the main text. The legend has to be understandable even without having read the main text. In general, elaborate on the kind of data and variables, the sample size, place and date of the study. Use tables and figures whenever the information cannot be summarized clearly in the main text or if it is a main element of the manuscript to emphasize. All pictures, graphs, schemes and diagrams have to be referenced to as Figures and must be numbered according to their order of appearance in the main text. They must be referenced to in the main text with a first uppercase letter and the corresponding number (e.g., “As shown in Figure 1“).

Tables and boxes have to be created in a Word file using the table function, and contain text with single spacing. Columns must be clearly labeled and include the measurement units. Use footnotes if additional information is required to make the table clear. Include these notes immediately after the table, but not within a cell. Allowed symbols to appear in tables are: *, †, ‡, §, ʠ.

If possible use grayscale formatting since the print journal version allows no color figures. Figures must be provided in a size as close as possible to the final intended for visualization by the reader. They must have a resolution of at least 300 dpi, and be in format JPEG, GIF, TIFF, EPS, or PNG.  It is advisable to follow the guidelines on figures preparation by the Journal BMC Medical Education, available at: https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/submission-guidelines/preparing-your-manuscript#preparing+figures

6. Additionally, include a document stating that the authors freely accept to give the journal the copyright of the manuscript and that the paper has not been already published or submitted in any other journal. This document must be signed by all authors.
7. Once the submission process is finished, you will receive a confirmatory e-mail indicating that the submission process was completed successfully. The corresponding author will be kept updated of the process and the final decision through the website. It is imperative that the corresponding author be the one to submit the manuscript on the OJS platform, as all notifications related to the editorial process will be sent to the email address associated with the created user account. Ensure that the correspondence email address indicated on the First Page of the manuscript matches exactly the one registered on the platform, in order to prevent any communication issues. Retain a copy of the final version of the manuscript for reference during the follow-up of the review process
8. It is advisable to use the Original Manuscripts and First Page Formats when preparing the files. These documents contain the required structure for assessment in this journal.

Manuscript submission information  

Once the preceding guidelines have been followed and the manuscript is considered to be in its final version and ready to be reviewed by the editors, register yourself as an author or log in. Afterward, go to http://riem.facmed.unam.mx:90/ojs/index.php/riem/about/submissions, select English language and click on “Make a new submission”. Then: 

• Select the language of the submission. 
• In “Section”, select the manuscript type. Keep in mind that only original articles and letters to the editor do not require a previous invitation from the Editor, as opposed to all the other Sections. Although the system will allow submitting manuscripts at all Sections, manuscripts other than original and letters to the editor with no prior invitation will be rejected without reviewing. 
• Confirm that your manuscript complies with the submission requirements by selecting all the fields enlisting the characteristics that your manuscript should adhere to. Then, click on “Save and continue”.
• Now, you will upload the submission files. Remember that your submission must be split in several files, as mentioned in the Instructions for authors:
• Anonymous manuscript. Upload it as “Article text”, then click “Continue” and review details to delete your user ID and to name the file “Anonymous manuscript”. Click on “Continue” and select the option “Add another file”.
• For all the following files ignore the field “If you are uploading a revision of an existing file, please indicate which file.”, as this would only be useful when submitting corrections of the files.
• Tables and figures. Upload as  “Research results”. Review details to delete your user ID and to name the file “Tables and figures”. Click on “Continue” and select the option “Add another file”.
• First page. Upload as “Other”. Review details and name the file “First page”. This is not an anonymous file. Click on “Continue” and select the option “Add another file”.
• Letter entitling the journal with the rights on the manuscript. Upload as “Other”. Review details and name the file “Rights on the manuscript”. This is not an anonymous file. Click on “Continue” and select the option “Add another file”.
• Appendices. Upload in a single file as “Research instrument”, then click “Continue” and review details to delete your user ID and to name the file “Appendix”. Click on “Continue” and select the option “Add another file”.
• Click on “Save and continue”. The window “3. Enter metadata” will follow. Herein you should provide the title of the manuscript, the abstract, author list and keywords in Spanish and English. Click on “Save and continue” and “Finish submission”.

Further details

• The journal Investigación en Educación Médica follows the recommendations and conduct codes by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/). The authors must inform themselves about ethics aspects on publication of papers, including duplicated publications and publication in “salami slices”, which are discouraged to be submitted to the journal.
• The authors submit their manuscript under the understanding that the paper has not been published elsewhere in print or electronic form, and is not under consideration for publication in any journal. An electronic system for detecting plagiarism will be used to scan the manuscripts. By submitting it, the authors accept their manuscript to be subject of such checks. Manuscripts not complying with the required format will be returned to the authors for their correction and resubmission before being considered for peer-review, which would have to be postponed in such cases.
• Up to three initial technical revisions will be conducted. If the manuscript does not conform to the observations made, the document will be rejected.

• Upon acceptance of the manusript for publication, authors agree that copyright ownership is transferred to Investigación en Educación Médica.

• Reproduction of the published articles (or sections thereof) for non-commercial purposes is permitted, as long as the source is provided and acknowledged. Authors are free to upload their published manuscripts at any non-commercial open access repository.

If even upon completely reading this document and after watching the tutorial you are unable to submit your manuscript, get in contact with the editorial office:

Revista Investigación en Educación Médica
Facultad de Medicina, UNAM.
Avenida Universidad 3000. Circuito Escolar, C.U.
Ciudad de México, 04510.
Tel. (55) 5622-6666 Ext. 82300
E-mail: riem@unam.mx

Editorial process and peer review:

• All submitted manuscripts will be read be the editor. One or more associate editors might get involved in early decisions regarding the editorial process of the manuscript. Manuscript with unclear writing, or about topics unrelated to the journal interests will be rejected in this stage.
• Afterwards, the manuscripts will be sent to two experts in the field for undergoing peer-review. Peer-review will be “double-blinded” by not disclosing the identities of the authors and reviewers to each other. Our goal is to provide an initial decision in a lapse no longer than 12 weeks. Accepted manuscripts will be further edited according to the final style format of the journal. The final publication proofs will be sent once more to the authors for a final check. 
• The authors accept full responsibility for the statements written down in their paper.
• The total time of the editorial process ranges from at least eight to up to 16 weeks.