Guías de publicación: ¿eficiencia editorial o desesperación profesional?

Author publication guidelines (APG) are created by scientific journals to instruct authors when submitting manuscripts for publication. These documents include formal elements that articles must comply with for submission (e.g., format of references, document layout, word limit, and structure), as well as ethical aspects related to the scientific research or journal editorial policies. Despite the importance of these documents for research management, their clarity and quality vary among journals, causing frustration for research staff and financial expense for publishers. The objective of this study is to propose generic recommendations for publication guidelines and to classify the informative elements to be included in these documents. Resumen Las guías de publicación (GP) son documentos elaborados por las revistas con el fin de instruir a los autores a la hora de enviar un manuscrito para su publicación. A tal fin incluyen desde aspectos formales que deben cumplir los documentos para su envío (formato de las referencias bibliográficas, extensión, estructura, etc.) hasta información relativa a aspectos éticos del trabajo científico o políticas editoriales de las revistas. Pese a la importancia de estos documentos para la gestión de la investigación, su claridad y calidad son muy desiguales entre publicaciones, generando frustración al personal investigador y gastos económicos a las editoriales. El objetivo de este trabajo es proponer un decálogo de recomendaciones genéricas para la elaboración de guías de publicación, así como establecer una taxonomía de elementos informativos a incluir en estos documentos.

Neuroprotective Treatment of Postanoxic Encephalopathy: A Review of Clinical Evidence

Postanoxic encephalopathy is the key determinant of death or disability after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Animal studies have provided proof-of-principle evidence of efficacy of divergent classes of neuroprotective treatments to promote brain recovery. However, apart from targeted temperature management (TTM), neuroprotective treatments are not included in current care of patients with postanoxic encephalopathy after cardiac arrest. We aimed to review the clinical evidence of efficacy of neuroprotective strategies to improve recovery of comatose patients after cardiac arrest and to propose future directions. We performed a systematic search of the literature to identify prospective, comparative clinical trials on interventions to improve neurological outcome of comatose patients after cardiac arrest. We included 53 studies on 21 interventions. None showed unequivocal benefit. TTM at 33 or 36°C and adrenaline (epinephrine) are studied most, followed by xenon, erythropoietin, and calcium antagonists. Lack of efficacy is associated with heterogeneity of patient groups and limited specificity of outcome measures. Ongoing and future trials will benefit from systematic collection of measures of baseline encephalopathy and sufficiently powered predefined subgroup analyses. Outcome measurement should include comprehensive neuropsychological follow-up, to show treatment effects that are not detectable by gross measures of functional recovery. To enhance translation from animal models to patients, studies under experimental conditions should adhere to strict methodological and publication guidelines.

The Natural History of Medical Waste

As per publication guidelines we did not write an abstract for our commentary.

Editorial policies on local authorship in rural health

Introduction: Community engagement in health research potentially benefits researchers, institutions and local people. Objective: This work reviews health journal policies looking for local authorship instructions, and clear specific recommendations on ethic issues for rural, remote or communities from low and middle income countries research publications. Methods: A research at National Library of Medicine, CAPES and Embase identified 37 journals related to rural health. A review of all instructions to authors were conducted independently by two authors, looking for any mention of local co-authorship or how to relate to local communities in the publication guidelines of the included journals. Results: Eleven [n=11] journals fit the inclusion criteria and just one [n=1] had any instruction or ethic concern about local authorship on the author’s instructions. Most journals are from high income countries. Although the care in rural areas are more concentrated in Primary Care the journals were varied in its scope. Only four journals include in its description and scope primary care, general practice or family medicine. Conclusions: Authorship and publication policies should include specific and clear ethical recommendations related to community engagement in all major scientific communication vehicles. This should stimulate local participation through clear guidance to authors as a way of promoting a more inclusive, active and horizontal relationship between researchers and communities.