Submissions

Author Guidelines

La Revista Colombiana de Cancerología is an official publication of the Instituto Nacional de Colombia (INC). The Revista is published quarterly with the aim of broadening and disseminating knowledge in the field of oncology. The Revista publishes articles on: molecular carcinogenic mechanisms and treatment responses; cancer epidemiology; clinical features and treatment of neoplastic disease and public health campaigns to control cancer. Manuscripts which contain original material shall be accepted for possible publication. Neither the article nor any part of its contents (including statistical or graphic content) may have been published or submitted for publication in any media other than the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología. No acceptance shall be made  of preliminary reports (abstracts or posters) presented at scientific meetings, neither of press releases on programmed meetings. All manuscript copies shall be placed at the disposition of the Journal Editorial Board. Under exceptional circumstances, secondary publications in Spanish or other languages may be submitted, provided they comply with certain conditions which justify said submission

Authors shall be liable for obtaining permission to use texts, figures or tables from other publications. Acknowledgements of individuals who loan said material(s) shall follow original publisher´s recommendations or complete reference shall be included. Loan material shall be accompanied by a letter of permission on the part of the proprietor of reproduction rights.

Manuscript submission

Manuscripts must be submitted through the OJS system, registering as an author and completing the steps indicated by the system for submission.

The text of the manuscript (without authors or affiliations), must be accompanied by the title, abstract and keywords (these three in Spanish and English) together with the references, tables and figure captions in a single file (anonymous) . The manuscript must be accompanied by a cover letter (model available at http://www.cancer.gov.co/content/revista-2002). The title page and each of the figures, if any, will be sent in separate files.

We request to take into account the guidelines for authors established for each type of manuscript described below:

Cover letter

All manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover (available https://www.revistacancercol.org/index.php/cancer/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/7). In addition to the title of the Work, the cover letter must include:

1. The section of the Revista in which author wishes Work to be published.

2. A  statement  that the Work  is original and  is not being evaluated  for publication in any other scientific Revista.

3. An  explanation  (maximum one  paragraph in length)  on the Work´s relevance and innovative contribution to the field.

4. A statement by the authors assuring that they have taken into account ´´Ethical Responsibilities´´ governed by current regulations, including: a) that all research procedures have complied with Ethic Committee´s regulations on responsible human or animal experiments (institutional or regional) and those of the World Medical Association and the Declarationcof Helsinki; b) that patients´ rights to privacy and confidentiality have been guaranteed in accordance with the regulations set forth by the documents described herein; that the article submitted for possible publication contains no identifying data in its text or images; c) that patients´ informed consent for study participation and subsequent publication of results in printed and digital (internet) format in the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología has been provided and is in authors´ possession and a statement to such has been provided on the pertinent form.

5. A statement declaring any economic support (monetary or otherwise) that has been received in the course of developing Work.

6. A statement confirming that signing authors have complied with authorship requisites (declaring degree of participation is optional) in accordance with regulations listed in ´´Authorship´´ section and that a declaration to such has been provided.

7. A statement on whether any part of the article has been published in another Revista (redundant or duplicate publication), in such case details should be specified and declaration made that publication permission has been granted by author and editor of said Revista (see also section on ´´Guarantees and Granting of Intellectual Property Rights´´).

8. A statement on the part of each author declaring the existence or non- existence of conflict of interest and confirmation of said. 

Authors may recommend individuals whom they consider qualified to make critical review of the manuscript. Recommended reviewers cannot have been collaborators or coauthors during the previous three years, nor have previously contributed a substantial critique on the manuscript. 

Author´s Obligations

• • Protection of people and animals: When describing experiments carried out on human beings, a statement must be included on whether Ethics Committee (institutional or regional), World Medical Association and Declaration of Helsinki regulations on responsible human experiments were adhered to (available at:  http//www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html).

  • When describing experiments on animals, a statement must indicate whether institutional, international research council or national legal guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were adhered to.

  • Confidentiality: Authors are responsible for adhering to established protocols in their respective health care centers regarding access to clinical case data to be used in research/publication for the community; therefore, a statement must be included verifying said compliance.   Author is under the obligation to guarantee that full compliance has been made in informing all patients included in the study, and that he/she is in possession of said signed patient documents, in which patients certify their having received sufficient information and their having given informed consent to participate. Authors must mention in article´s ´´Methods´´ section procedures used in patients and controls carried out once informed consent were granted.

  • Privacy: Author is responsible for guaranteeing patients´ right to privacy and the protection of their identities in the written text of the article as well as in any accompanying images. Use shall not be made of names, initials or hospital clinical  case numbers (nor any other irrelevant research data that would allow for patient identification) neither in the text nor in photographs, unless said information is essential to scientific objectives, in which case such information may be included in the article if patient---or his/her parent or guardian---grants written informed consent for its publication. Authors are responsible for obtaining written consent in which authorization is granted for publication, reproduction and dissemination in both printed and electronic formats with free internet access.

  • Funding:  Authors must declare the source of any funding received. Both national and international research support programs

  • Authorship: The authors´ list shall include only those individuals who have made an intellectual contribution to developing the Work.   Assisting in data collection or having participated in a technical aspect are in themselves insufficient cause to be considered an author (See ´´Acknowledgements´´). In general, to be considered an author, the following requisites must be fulfilled:

1. 1. Participation in concept and design of the article, as well as in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data in the Work which provided the resulting article.

   2. Participation in the writing and the possible rewrites of the text.

   3. Granting approval of the final version to be published.

In case of collective authorship, names of the writers or those responsible for the Work followed by ´´and the Group….´´ when all members of the group are considered coauthors of the Work. If the name of the group is to be included, although not all members are considered coauthors, the form to be used is to name all responsible authors followed by ´´in the name of the Group…´´. In either case, the names and group members´ institutions shall be included in an attachment at the end of the manuscript.

Authors shall state, on title which they have read and approved manuscript and that authorship requisites have been fulfilled.

The Revista Colombiana de Cancerología assumes no responsibility for possible authorship conflicts of interest which may result in published Works. 

• Conflict of interest: A conflict of interest exists when the author has or has had economic or personal ties that can bias or inappropriately influence his/her actions.

Possible conflict of interest exists independently of whether the interested parties consider that said ties do or do not influence their scientific criteria. In the cover authors shall describe any financial or personal ties they have or have had with individuals or institutions at the time of writing or submitting the article to be considered for publication that could be the cause of a conflict of interest. Said declaration shall be included in the printed version of the Revista (See, also, ´Acknowledgements´).

• Obtaining permission: Authors are responsible for obtaining requisite permission for reproduction of partial material (text, tables or figures) from other publications. Said permission must be requested of both the author and the publisher or of the media which has published said material. Publication permission is required from the institution which has financed research.

• Originality: A statement declaring that the article is original and has not been previously published, nor submitted to be considered for publication elsewhere, either totally or partially, neither have any parts thereof. 

Non-disclosure of the fact that the article, either totally or partially, has already been published constitutes a grave breach of scientific ethics.

• Redundant or duplicate publication: The Revista does not accept previously published material and shall not consider for publication manuscripts that have been simultaneously submitted to other Journals. Neither shall redundant or duplicate publications be accepted; that is, articles which substantially overlap ones already published (either in printed or electronic media).

• In cover letter, authors must report any previous submissions or publications of said Work, either partially or totally, which could be considered redundant or duplicate. It is requisite that these previous publications be cited and included in the bibliography of the new manuscript. These restrictions do not apply to published abstracts in announcements, lectures or conferences given at national or international scientific meetings.

5. Manuscript Presentation 

These guidelines are based upon the ´´Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals´´, published in Ann Intern Med 1997;  126 (1): 36-47, (original version updated at www.icmje.org), in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)Regulations, 5th Edition, original publication by the Vancouver Group. 

Authors should adjust their type of manuscript according to international standards for the publication of scientific articles Equator, available at http://www.equator-network.org/.

• Languages: Articles are published in either Spanish or English. In case of manuscripts in English, official translation certification must be attached.

• Manuscript Cover Page: The non-declarative, concise and descriptive title of the article shall appear on a separate page. Authors shall be included in order of appearance, by name and one surname, under no circumstances shall more than one name be used. If author wishes to include two surnames, these shall appear with a hyphen. Institutional affiliation of each author must be included, along with department and institutional names; no additional information shall be published. Institutional affiliation shall be included in a foot note for each article. Corresponding author must be identified, including name, complete physical address, telephone number and email address to allow communication with Revista´s Editorial Board,. Research articles must clearly state sources of funding for said study.

• Key Words: From 3 to 10 key words are to be included, taken from the Spanish Language Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) thesaurus for articles in Spanish and from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) for those in English.

• Abbreviations: Abbreviations, except those for units of measurement (international standards), should be avoided wherever possible. Only well known acronyms and abbreviations shall be accepted. The initial appearance of an abbreviation shall be accompanied by the words which provide its meaning.

 By order of appearance, manuscripts shall be made up of the following parts:

a) Title page; b) Abstract and key words page; c) Pages of body of article; d) Acknowledgements page; e) Bibliography pages(s); f) Page for each table; g) Page(s) for figures´ footnotes. All of these parts, with the exception of the title page, make up one single file.

The figures that accompany the manuscript and the title page shall be sent in separate files.

Review Process

Once manuscript has been received, and if it fulfills all the above mentioned requisites, it shall be assigned a registration number. Each manuscript is then sent to the Editorial Board which shall decide upon its importance and relevance. If article is granted initial acceptance, it shall be subject to the approval of a body of academic peers (specialists), in adherence with double-blinded evaluation procedures. We appreciate authors´ suggesting names for possible reviewers, but we reserve the right to final selection.

Decisions on acceptance or rejection shall be sent by e-mail to corresponding author. Materials from rejected articles shall not be returned; therefore, authors must keep their own copies of same.

Editorial Policy

Judgments and opinions expressed in articles and communications published in the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board and the NCI accept no responsibility for said materials. Neither the Editorial Board nor the NCI guarantee or support any product announced in the Revista, neither do they guarantee any statements made by manufacturer related to said product or service.

Guarantees and granting of intellectual property rights

The author will declare the authorship and assignment of rights as well as the existence or not of a conflict of interests.

The pertinent text of guarantees and granting of copyright are reproduced below:

1. Author´s guarantees and liability. Author guarantees that texts, including any graphic content, charts, designs or illustrations (henceforth, generically referred to as ´´the Work´´) submitted to the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología for publication are original, unpublished and of original authorship, and that same have neither been previously published or simultaneously submitted to any other publisher for publication. Additionally, author guarantees and accepts liability for possession of all exploitation rights related to Work, and that in no case do rights infringe on the rights of third parties, and that in the case that exploitation rights of third parties may be involved, author has obtained corresponding authorization for their exploitation and authorization for their exploitation on the part of Instituto Nacional de Cancerología-INC

Furthermore, author guarantees that Works submitted do not violate personal data protection regulations. Specifically, author guarantees that he/she has obtained previous written authorization and consent from patients or their family members for said publication, in cases in which patients may be identified in Works or when published information would make them easily identifiable.

2. Granting of Exploitation Rights. Author grants to  the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología exclusive exploitation rights, with the rights to grant said rights to third parties, derived

from Works which may be selected for publication in the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología, as well as any products derived from same, specifically, rights to public reproduction, distribution, communication (including interactive availability) and transformation (including adaptation, modification, and when necessary, translation) for all means of exploitation (including but not limited to: printed, electronic, on line, information or audiovisual backup formats, as well as any other format, including those related to promotional or publicity and/or creation of derived products), for worldwide territory and for the legal duration of said rights set forth in the Revised Text on Intellectual Property.

Accordingly, author may not publish nor disseminate Works selected for publication in the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología, neither totally nor partially, neither shall author grant authorization to third parties for publication of the same, without having received previous express mandatory authorization, in writing, from the Revista Colombiana de Cancerología.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when circumstances exist which may alter the study´s validity or involve authors in the possibility of earning a profit.

Conflict of interest exists whether these circumstances are concurrent or not, independent of whether study´s validity may be affected or not.

Each author must explicitly declare on manuscript´s first page if he/she has any conflicts of interest, providing additional details if necessary.

Besides indicating said information in the manuscript, upon submission of same, authors shall fill out ´´Conflict of Interest´´ form in the ´´Additional Information´´ section.

Editorial Process

The Revista Colombiana de Cancerología´s Editorial Board  shall acknowledge receipt of Works submitted and shall provide information on decisions: acceptance, modification or rejection. Evaluation of works, which shall adhere to an established protocol, shall be anonymous. The initial evaluation process shall last from three to four months.

In order to ensure blind review, neither authors´ names, nor their provenance, nor references to the center or centers where work has been developed shall appear in any sections of the manuscript, except on the title page.

In the event that work shall require modifications, these must be submitted to the Revista within a 2-week period; if not received within said time period, work will be returned to responsible author and withdrawn from consideration for publication. No work shall be definitively accepted until all corrections have been made. Whenever Editorial Board requests modified versions, authors must submit new version within a 2-week period, accompanied by a  letter written, in which changes suggested by Editorial Board are explained in detail as well as inclusion of responses to those recommendations proposed by expert consultants.

Editorial Board reserves the right to make changes or modifications in the study with the aim of improving comprehension of the same, without affecting meaning of content.

Author must approve Editorial Board´s edited version. A diagrammed proof version of the article shall be sent to the corresponding author.

Authors must proofread proof copy, mark any possible errors in same and return said copy within 2 days. These printing proofs shall serve to detect errors in typing, spelling and form. Authors shall also be responsible for proofreading text in English.

No corrections shall be accepted which affect content or modify original meaning of article. If said proofs are not received within established time period, Editorial Board shall not be responsible for any error or omission which may be published.

Editorial Board reserves the right to accept or reject corrections made by author in diagrammed proof copy.