Authors instructions

The Bulletin of the Mexican College of Urology (Boletín del Colegio Mexicano de Urología) is an organ of scientific diffusion, published four-monthly and with open access, which purpose is to disseminate research studies related to urology and other areas alike. This includes: research in nephrology, endocrinology (mineral metabolism, adrenal pathology), research methodology, and epidemiology.

The submission of articles to the journal is exclusively electronic, via the following link: http://publisher.BCMU.permanyer.com

For this purpose, the journal will consider contributions in the following sections:

- Editorial
- Original articles
- Review articles
- Clinical cases
- Letter to the editor

PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts must be submitted via the journal's new electronic editorial system http://publisher.BCMU.permanyer.com, in which the corresponding author must first register as an author. Once you have a username and password, you can upload your work files to the system by following the instructions.

To avoid duplications in the system, please refrain from creating a new request when resubmitting your modified files. You should continue using the same reference until your manuscript completes the editorial process.

All articles must include without exception:

1. Cover letter addressed to the Editor in Chief, signed by the first author or corresponding author.

2. A front page with:

– Titles in Spanish and English.

– Short title or running title, of no more than 40 characters.

– First name, middle initial (if applicable) and last name(s) of each author (without titles or positions). Add a dash if you put the second last name. For example: Antonio P. Morales, Antonio Morales or Antonio P. Morales-Andrade.

– The affiliations will be referred to with consecutive numbers in superscript, after the name of the author. For example: Antonio P. Morales1; XXXX2; etc.

– ORCID codes, of each author

– The institutional departments to which they are associated: Unit, Service, Department / Hospital / Faculty and University / City, Province, Country.

– Name and current address of the author responsible for the correspondence.

– Acknowledgments: this section will describe the acknowledgments to people and institutions, as well as the financing. This section must go on the front page so that the main document of the manuscript remains anonymous.

2.1. Authorship

– All submitted manuscripts must have a first author and a corresponding author.

– The number of authors per article is a maximum of six.

– In the case of more than six, the role of each of the participating authors must be specified in the contributions section. This will be done using the initials of the authors and their participation in the manuscript.
Example: SDE: drafting of the manuscript, statistical analysis, conceptualization, and study design. ABC: literature review and statistical analysis. CBR: obtaining samples and databases. OLP: sampling, laboratory experiments and analysis of results. FHG: validation of results, review, and edition of the manuscript. CRA: project administration.

This section must appear before the references in all submitted manuscripts except clinical cases or letters to the editor.

3. Full text, tables and figures.

The texts must be in a Word word processor file. Manuscripts must be correctly written in English.

– The text should be double-spaced, in Times New Roman font at 12 points and starting on a new page for each of the sections (front page; abstracts in Spanish and English with their keywords; main text; bibliography + tables + feet of figure).
– The pages will be numbered consecutively starting at the front page. The page number will be placed at the top of each page.
Original articles, review articles, and clinical cases must contain:

– A front page with all the data detailed in point 1.

– A second file with the totally anonymous manuscript, the declarations of conflict of interest, financing and ethical responsibilities that are completed electronically in the manuscript manager when the article is submitted.

– The main text of the manuscript must be a completely anonymous document and must contain:

- An abstract in Spanish and one in English, with their corresponding keywords.
- The body of the article in Spanish or English.
- References, tables and figure captions.

It is suggested to consult the page of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals of the International Committee of Biomedical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org). For more information on the preparation of manuscripts, please consult the information available at the following electronic address: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html

ARTICLE TYPES

– Editorial. This section will be dedicated to the analysis and reflection on the health problems of the population, the different preventive and therapeutic approaches, as well as the advances achieved in the field of biomedical research. By invitation of the publisher.

– Original article. Original manuscripts should not exceed 2,500 words, excluding tables, abstracts, and references. The format should be as follows: summary, introduction, material and methods, results, discussion and conclusions.

Abstract: the abstract of the manuscript should be a maximum of 250 words divided into: objective, material and methods, results and conclusion. The abstract must be in Spanish and English and must not contain references. It is recommended not to use abbreviations. You must include 3 to 5 keywords in Spanish and English.

Introduction: The introduction of the manuscript should be concise and with information supported by the bibliography. It is recommended that the last sentence of the introduction mention the main objective of the research.

Material and methods: This section should include the study design, the period of time and the place where the study was carried out, in addition to the permission of the health authorities or Ethics Committee that authorized the research.

To promote the transparency and quality of the research, the authors will be asked, as an essential requirement, to self-assess adherence to the relevant international guidelines according to the type of study:

- Clinical trials: CONSORT (http://www.consort-statement.org/). In addition, all trials must be registered in one of the international databases, and the corresponding registration number must always be indicated.

- Observational studies: STROBE (www.strobe-statement.org).

- Articles on diagnostic tests: STARD (www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard/).

- For other types of studies, consult the guides in the EQUATOR initiative (http://www.equator-network.org/).

The type of statistical analysis used and the computer programs used must be included. Example: "The data was processed with Excel® (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) and EpiInfo version 7.2.4 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA)" In this section, it should be specified if the use of informed consent.

In the case of experiments, a section may be made where the methods used are mentioned.

Examples:

1. “Urine samples were collected; then, each sample was centrifuged at 2,000 rpm for 5 min. The pellet was washed three times with PBS and resuspended in PBS buffer added to Fc Receptor Blocking Solution® (BioLegend, San Diego, CA, USA). Afterward, the cells were incubated with antihuman TREM-1-PE® (phycoerythrin) (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA) for 30 min at room temperature.”

2. “Urine samples were transported to the laboratory and were processed for the determination of pesticides with the HPLC/MS/MS (high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry) method with Agilent Technologies® Model 1200 equipment for HPLC and Model 6430B for MS/MS spectrometry.”

Results: This section may have subdivisions. In case of presenting tables or figures, they must be mentioned and included in the text. The tables should be used as a tool to summarize the data, so it is recommended not to describe the tables in detail in the text and only point out the most important aspects of the table. All tables and figures must be numbered and have a title. The number of tables or figures is limited to a maximum of six.

Discussion: This section needs to cover the key findings of your research. It is suggested to highlight novel data and compare the results obtained with other investigations. We also suggest adding a paragraph mentioning the strengths and weaknesses of the study. Authors are invited to carry out an extensive analysis of the results obtained in this section of their work in order to make readers reflect critically on the subject. It is also important to question what has been investigated and generate new hypotheses for future research on the subject when this is possible.

Conclusions: This section should contain the authors' own comments, highlighting the most relevant points of their work. No references should be included in this section.

References: The number of references should not exceed 25. The references should be indicated in superscript in the text and in numerical order.

– Review article, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The maximum length will be 20 pages (Word format), including iconography and bibliography. It will be on a topical topic of medical relevance. The main author or the correspondent must be an authority in the area or subject being reviewed and must attach a bibliographic list of their contributions that supports their experience in the subject.

Abstract: The abstract must be presented in Spanish and English, in a single paragraph without sections and maxium 250 word. The abstract should present the details of the disease that will be presented in the clinical case and avoid adding the data of the particular case.

Conclusions: This section should contain the authors' own comments, highlighting the most relevant points of their work. No references should be included in this section.

References: The number of references should not exceed 25. The references should be indicated in superscript in the text and in consecutive order.

For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the authors will be required to self-assess adherence to the PRISMA guidelines (http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

– Clinical cases. The presentation of clinical cases should be concise and to the point. For this type of submissions, the number of authors may not exceed five. Clinical cases are limited to 1000 words (excluding abstract, tables, figures and bibliography).

Bibliographic citations must have updated information of no more than four years and limited to five references.

Authors will be required to self-assess adherence to the CARE international quality guidelines (www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/care/).

Abstract: The abstract must be presented in Spanish and English with maxium 100 words. It must be presented in a single paragraph without sections. The abstract should reflect the details of the disease that will be presented in the clinical case and avoid adding the data of the particular case.

Presentation of the case: In this section the most relevant data of the patient's clinical history will be presented. It is important to only add the data that is important for the presentation of the case and not a complete clinical history. Laboratory results must be presented with the units of measurement appropriately. The prognosis and the final results of the case should be in this section, please avoid repeating it in the discussion. In case of including tables or figures, the number is limited to a maximum of three.

Discussion: It is necessary that in this section the authors carry out an analysis of the importance of the case and use the bibliography as support for the information presented. The clinical cases do not have a conclusions section, so the authors may include them in the last paragraph of the discussion.

References: The number of references should not exceed five. References should be indicated in superscript in the text and in numerical order.

– Letters to the editor. Its purpose is to expose: 1) positive or negative comments in response to a previous post; 2) the concise communication of an investigation; or: 3) a case report. It must have a maximum of 4 authors, a maximum length of 800 words, title in Spanish and English, 2 figures, without tables and without abstract.

- The authors must confirm or clarify any of the following assumptions, as appropriate, in the ethical disclosures section:

- The authors declare that they have not used any type of generative artificial intelligence for the writing of this manuscript, nor for the creation of images, graphics, tables, or their corresponding captions.

- The authors declare that they have used generative artificial intelligence, specifically (name of the AI in question) in the writing of this manuscript and/or in the creation of images, graphics, tables, or their corresponding captions (please specify in all cases where it has been used).

REFERENCING STYLE

References should be presented in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (International Committee of Biomedical Journal Editors). The references will be indicated with Arabic numbers consecutively and in the order in which they appear cited for the first time within the text. They will be referred to in the text, tables and figure captions with the corresponding numbers.

In citations with more than six authors, only the first six authors of the paper should be included, followed by ", et al." after the abbreviation of the name or names of the sixth author.
In the case of six or fewer authors, all of them must be included in the citation (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

• Articles published in periodicals should appear in the following format: Welt CK, Chan JL, Bullen J, Murphy R, Smith P, DePaoli AM, et al. Recombinant human leptin in women with hypothalamic amenorrhea. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:987-97.

• References to books must include the full name of the publisher, as well as the city and country of publication and the year in which it was published, according to the following model: Aréchiga H, Somolinos J. Mexican contributions to modern medicine . Mexico City, Mexico: Economic Culture Fund; 1994.

• References to book chapters should appear as follows: Pasternak RC, Braunwald E. Acute myocardial infarction. In: Isselbacher KJ, Braunwald E, Wilson JD, Martin JB, Fauci AS, Kasper DL, editors. Harrison's principles of internal medicine. 12th edition. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill; 1994.pp. 1066-1077.

TABLES

They must be double spaced, numbered consecutively in the order cited within the text, and they should include the titles at the top. The explanatory notes and the meaning of the abbreviations will go below, in this order. They should be included at the end of the manuscript after the bibliography section.

FIGURES OR GRAPHICS

– Figure captions should be double-spaced. The caption will contain the necessary information to correctly interpret the figure without resorting to the text. They must be referenced in the text in order. Qualities: graphics, layouts and drawings must be generated with high-resolution graphics programs, PowerPoint® or Illustrator® (JPG, TIFF, EPS files). All iconography must be original. Otherwise, the source reference must be cited and the author must obtain prior permission from the respective publisher. Data already written in the text will not be repeated in the figures. Object photographs will include a ruler to calibrate the reference measurements.

In the photomicrographs, the microscopic magnification or a reference micron bar should appear.

The name, face, patient data or any recognizable features will not appear on the figures.

Authors are suggested to add color illustrations that adequately decorate the text.

ETHICAL DISCLOSRES

The following form must be filled in when the article is uploaded to the platform: https://www.permanyer.com/formulario-responsabilidades/# In relation to possible conflicts of interest, the right of subjects to privacy and confidentiality , as well as human and animal rights as research subjects, the journal adheres to the "Uniform Requirements for Preparing Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing Biomedical Publications" in the most recent version published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors on its website (http://www.icmje.org). A copy of the informed consent will be requested in the case of studies with patients and clinical cases, as well as the approval of the Ethics Committee of the corresponding institution in the case of clinical and experimental studies.

Human procedures must comply with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki) Ethical Principles for Medical Research involving human subjects. JAMA 2000, 284:3043-5. Also, with the agreements given by the Ministry of Health, published on January 26, 1982 and the Rules for Ethics and Research from the institution where the study originated. Animal studies should follow similar guidelines (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, National Research Council. Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals. Washington, DC. National Academy Press, 1996). Regarding the confidentiality of data, you should inform on how the anonymous status of the participants and the confidentiality of their information were protected.

You can download the format by accessing the following link: http://www.permanyer.com/formulario-responsabilidades/

FINANCING

The author must mention the organizations that fund their research in the Funding section of their manuscript, including grant numbers if necessary.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

This section should be noted after the contributions section and before the references.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (OPTIONAL)

If included, they must appear after the conflict of interest and before the references.

RECEPTION AND PUBLICATION TIMES

The time that elapses between the receipt of the article and the first concept of the arbitration process is approximately one month. The time between the receipt of the article and the concept of acceptance for publication is approximately two months.

COPYRIGHT

The submitted papers must be accompanied by a letter signed by all the authors of the paper stating that it has not been previously published, nor has it been simultaneously sent to another journal, that there is no conflict of interest and, in case of acceptance, the copyright is transferred to Colegio Mexicano de Urología Nacional A.C.

The opinions contained in the article are the responsibility of the authors.

Articles will not be accepted for review if they are not prepared in accordance with the Instructions to Authors.

EDITORIAL PROCESS

The editorial process consists of 6 stages:

1. Reception of the manuscript (indeterminate, depending on whether the author meets the requirements): its objective is to verify that the manuscript complies with the specifications of these instructions for authors and that the submitted documentation is complete.

2. Initial editorial review (maximum 5 business days): its objective is to corroborate the relevance, timeliness, originality, and scientific contribution of the manuscript, as well as the methodological and statistical soundness of the study. At this time, it will be submitted to an electronic plagiarism detection system. Derived from this, a rejected opinion may be obtained, or it will be sent for review by peer researchers.

3. Review by peer researchers (maximum 30 business days): the opinion of at least two experts in the area in question will be obtained, who will evaluate the technical and methodological aspects of the investigation.

4. Editorial review (maximum 7 business days): its objective is to make a decision based on the opinion of peer reviewers. The opinion can be rejected, major changes, minor changes or accepted. In the case of major or minor changes, it will be submitted again for evaluation by the initial peer reviewers.

5. Final edition (6 weeks): its objective is the technical and linguistic edition (and translation), layout of galleys, DOI assignment, and correction by the author.

6. Advanced publication: All manuscripts will be published ahead of print on the journal's website as soon as they complete the editing process, until they are incorporated into a final issue of the journal.

WITHDRAWAL OF ARTICLES

If the authors wish to withdraw an article, they must send a message or communication via email to the editor, requesting the withdrawal and the reasons for doing so. The editor will confirm receipt and acceptance of the request.

PLAGIARISM

As the official means of communication for the Colegio Mexicano de Urología Nacional A.C., the Boletín del Colegio Mexicano de Urología stands against all kinds of plagiarism. In case of detecting manuscripts with plagiarized data or not adequately cited, this will be cause for rejection for publication.

PRINT PROOFS (PDF) OF ACCEPTED ARTICLES

The corresponding author will receive proofs of the article for revision and correction of terminology errors, or any other updates related to facts/figures. As the article will already have been edited according to the journal’s internal editorial guidelines, style corrections will not be accepted. The corresponding author will receive an email with the article in PDF format, on which they can leave their comments. Authors will need to have Adobe Reader (version 9, or a later version), downloadable for free). For other system requirements, please visit the Adobe website.

Alternatively, authors may list their corrections and submit them via email. Any major changes at this stage will be subject to the approval of the Editor. Authors should make sure to include all changes in a single email, as we cannot guarantee the inclusion of subsequent corrections.

The proof review is the responsibility of the author.

Relevant links:

Committee on Publication Ethics. Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Responsibilities in the Submission and Peer-Review Process