ISSN 0122-0667
Printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

The publication only receives investigation work of type A scientific quality, defined by the Indice Bibliografico National Publindex.  It is considered that the published documents belong to the following typology:
Scientific and technological investigation article: Document that presents in a detailed manner, the original results of finished projects in investigation. The structure used contains the following paragraphs:
Types of articles that may be published in the magazine must have the following structure:
- Introduction:
- Materials and Methods
- Results
- Discussion of results
- Bibliographical references

Articles for pondering: This is a publication that presents completed investigative reports from an analytical, interpretative and critical point of view of the author about a specific subject appealing to original sources.

- Title

It should be in Spanish and English.

- Author (s)

The order in which the authors are mentioned must reflect the magnitude and importance of the contribution of each individual.

- Institution (s) and post office box

This should be at the end of the first page.

- Abstract

This should be structured and include: Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusion.
The summary must be maximum 250 words. The verbs used must be conjugated in past tense.

- Key words

These are for easing the entry (describers) in the indexing system and for information retrieval. Please use the support of Thesaurus or www.bireme.br, where you can find the describer DeC/MeSH and the orientation for the definition of certain key words and identify the translation of the terminology.

Note: The summary and the key words must be presented in Spanish and English.

- Introduction

This section should include a brief mention on the following aspects: the problem or objective, indicating its origin, background and importance according to the magnitude of the dimensions, priority and vulnerability; the existing knowledge on the subject, summarizing the results of previous research and its bibliographical references and the definition of the main variables, terms and abbreviations. This section should be expressed in the present time. It is a mistake not to have any bibliographic support.

- Materials and methods

This section details the way how the results were obtained in regards to the design, technique and materials used, so that the research process may be replicated. Don’t forget to include the following items in the description of the materials employed: technical specifications and exact amounts; generic, chemical and commercial names; manufacturer; techniques of preparation.

When the work is on animals, plants and microorganisms, identify the type, species and variety and include age, sexual, genetic and physical condition. In case of works on human subjects, identify the main characteristics of the population and the sample.
In the methods try to express the type of design used and the type of sampling used; mention the statistic techniques and the tools for gathering the information; report indicators of internal and external validity of the tests used, without going into demonstrations; mention the important aspects of the field work and use verbs in past tense.

In respect to the design of the study, it is important to clarify the selection process of the subjects or objects and the assignment of subjects or objects to the study groups (experimental, control, intervention and treatment). The text must be specific about the mediation of the effect and the exposition. The analysis methods must be supported and in accordance to the objectives of the study.

- Results

The objective of this section is to present the contributions that the study have done. In this section, information pertinent to the objectives of the study is presented in a coherent way and also the statistical proofs are applied to the information that was gathered. Don’t forget that you must mention all the relevant findings, including those against the hypothesis, and you should also include enough details to justify the conclusions. The author(s) may use charts whenever necessary to summarize the information but when it relates to one or just a few pieces of data, describe them in the text; the statistical figures, sketches and diagrams help in making results clear; the information contained in the charts and sketches should not be repeated in words, only expressed in those conclusions that are inferred from them; the statistical data gathered with tests of significance, must be expressed with clear, direct and simple and interpretations and conclusions. The verbs in this section should be conjugated in past tense.

Requirements for charts and diagrams: the titles of the charts go on top of the charts and the titles of the diagrams are written in the lower part of these. They must be self explanatory, simple and easy to comprehend and indicate the place, date and source of information. Relative units of measure must be included (reasons, percentages, rates, indexes).

- Discussion

The goal of this section is to show the interpretations, generalizations, relationships, conclusions and recommendations that the results indicate and the discrepancies with other findings from other research cited on the background and the theoretical setting.
It is suggested that the author(s) should: explain the main relations and generalizations that the results indicate; point out exceptions, lack of correlation and set out the boundaries of the unresolved aspects; show how the results and interpretations agree or disagree with previously published work; formulate the conclusions in the clearest way possible; summarize the tests that support each conclusion; use the past
tense for the conclusions and present tense for the bibliographical references. The conclusions are part of the discussion of the results and allow the inference of a fact which is admitted, shown or supposed to be.

- Acknowledgements

This section acknowledges the cooperation of people and institutions that helped the authors.

- References

The references allow the identification of original sources; they give solidity to the facts and opinions expressed by the author. They also guide the reader to get more information. To expand this information, it is suggested that you look up the Vancouver Norms.

References for a magazine:

Author (s) Last name. Title of the article. Name of the magazine. Year of publication.
Volume number Page (first and last)

References for a book:

Author (s) or editor (s) Title. Edition (if it is not the first) City, editorial’s headquarters.
Editorial. Year of publication.

Appendixes or annexes:

In order to complete or illustrate the development of the subject, you may include information that because of its extension or configuration, it does not fit within the body of the article.

NOTE: The authors are subject the selection process and arbitration of the publication Revista Médica de Risaralda.

On line submission to http://revistas.utp.edu.co/index.php/revistamedica