Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to ensure that their submission complies with all the items listed below. Submissions that do not conform to these guidelines will be returned to the authors.

• The manuscript has not been previously published, nor has it been submitted to another journal (or an explanation has been provided in the “Comments to the Editor” section).
• The cover letter has been entered as text in the “Comments to the Editor” field.
• The title page has been prepared in accordance with the manuscript templates of the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES).
• The manuscript file does not contain the names of the authors or their affiliations and has been prepared in accordance with the manuscript templates of the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES).
• The manuscript complies with the requirements and style guidelines indicated in the Author Guidelines and the document Types of Contributions.
• In Step 3, “Enter Submission Metadata,” all authors must be listed together with their affiliation and e-mail address.
• If copyrighted material or material requiring prior authorization for publication is included, the corresponding permissions must be uploaded as supplementary files.

Author Guidelines

1. General Requirements

1.1. Adherence to the Vancouver Style

The Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) adheres to the Vancouver style, formally

known as the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The official text is available at:

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

Failure to comply with these recommendations, as well as with the present guidelines, may result in delays in the editorial process and may lead to rejection of the manuscript.

 

1.2. Originality of Manuscripts

Manuscripts that have been previously published or are under consideration by another journal at the same time will not be accepted.

However, manuscripts previously presented at scientific meetings may be considered, provided that the conference presentation was partial and that the submitted manuscript develops or extends the scope of the original research.

Manuscripts that have been partially published (for example, the methodology, part of the results, a preliminary literature review, etc.) may also be considered, provided that this circumstance is clearly stated in the manuscript.

 

1.3. Ethics in Studies and Experiments

When reporting studies involving human participants, authors must indicate that the study was approved by the corresponding Clinical Research Ethics Committee and that it complies with the Declaration of Helsinki (1975) and its subsequent revisions.

Authors must state that patient data were obtained following the provision of informed consent, whenever required. Likewise, authors must declare that they have complied with the protocols established by their respective healthcare institutions for access to medical records to conduct this type of publication for research and scientific dissemination purposes.

For studies involving animals, authors must indicate whether institutional guidelines or those of a national or international research council were followed, and whether any national legislation on the care and use of laboratory animals was considered.

 

1.4. Authorship

Only individuals who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the development of the work should be listed as authors, in accordance with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (see the Authorship Policy).

 

1.5. Conflict of Interest

Authors submitting any manuscript to the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) are responsible for identifying and declaring any financial or other conflicts of interest that could introduce bias into the work.

In addition to being disclosed in the cover letter, all sources of financial support that have contributed to the conduct of the study, as well as any relevant financial or personal relationships, must be explicitly stated in the manuscript.

The absence of conflicts of interest must also be declared in the manuscript.

 

1.6. Use of Inclusive Language

The Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) is committed to promoting gender equality and therefore encourages authors to follow the recommendations on inclusive language set out in its Gender Equality Policy.

 

2. Manuscript Preparation and Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts, written in Spanish or English, must be prepared using the templates provided by the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) and submitted electronically through the journal's website.

Authors may also use the website to track the progress of the editorial process.

The following links provide simple instructions on how to register and submit a manuscript:

Tutorial para registrarse en el Boletín Epidemiológico Semanal >>

Tutorial para enviar un artículo en el Boletín Epidemiológico Semanal >>

 

2.1. Types of Contributions (Download PDF: Types of Contributions)

The Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) publishes the following types of articles:

• Letter to the Editor

Brief communications presenting scientific observations, critical comments, or opinions concerning articles recently published in the Bulletin or topics of relevance or current interest in epidemiology and public health.

• Editorial Note

Primarily intended for the dissemination of topics related to the Bulletin itself or issues considered to be of relevance or current interest. Editorial Notes are prepared at the request of the Editorial Board.

• Public Health Technical Note

Short communications describing practical experiences, public health interventions, health alerts, or other issues relevant to public health practice and health administration.

• Short Original Article

Concise reports of original quantitative or qualitative research that provide relevant findings in a summarized format.

• Epidemiological Study

Original quantitative or qualitative research articles that provide an in-depth analysis of public health issues using epidemiological methods.

• Review Articles

Papers that analyse, synthesize, and critically evaluate the available scientific evidence on a topic relevant to epidemiology or public health, providing an up-to-date overview.

• Book and Literature Reviews

Descriptive and critical analyses of recent publications (books, reports, or other relevant documents), highlighting their relevance and contribution to the field of public health.

• Contributions

Technical, methodological, or professional papers that provide knowledge relevant to epidemiological or public health practice. These contributions are prepared at the request of the Editorial Board.

Manuscripts must comply with the following requirements and characteristics:

 

2.2. Style and Formatting Guidelines

All submissions must include, at a minimum, the following three components: a Cover Letter, a Title Page, and the Manuscript File. Authors may also provide Supplementary Materials containing additional information.

Cover Letter

The cover letter should be entered in the “Comments to the Editor” field during Step 1 of the submission process. It must include:

1. The title of the manuscript and the type of article.
2. A statement indicating whether the manuscript:
• has not been published previously;
• has been partially published; or
• has been previously presented at a scientific conference.

In the latter two cases, a complete reference enabling identification of the previous publication or presentation must be provided. A brief statement to this effect should also be included on the title page.

3. A statement confirming that the manuscript is not under consideration by any other journal.
4. A declaration that all necessary permissions have been obtained for the reproduction of previously published material (where applicable) and that the relevant documentation will be provided to the Editorial Board of the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) once the manuscript has been accepted for publication.
5. Any conflicts of interest, or a statement declaring that none exist.
6. Details of grants, funding, or financial support received for the research on which the article is based.
7. A justification for any request for expedited publication due to the timeliness of the research or the rapid obsolescence of the data.

Title Page

The title page must be prepared using the manuscript templates provided by the journal and must contain:

Article Title

The title should be as concise, clear, and informative as possible and should accurately reflect the content of the manuscript. It must not exceed 15 words.

If the study focuses on a specific population group (e.g., women only, men only, older adults), this population should be explicitly identified in the title.

The use of uncommon acronyms, codes, and symbols should be avoided.

The title must be provided in both Spanish and English.

Authors' Names and Affiliations

Provide the full name and surname of each author, ensuring that they are presented using the correct spelling and according to each author's preferred bibliographic signature.

Each author should be identified with an Arabic numeral superscript referring to their affiliation (institution, department or centre, and country).

The ORCID identifier must be included for all authors.

Academic degrees and professional titles should not be indicated.

The e-mail address of each author must also be provided.

A maximum of six authors is recommended. If the number of authors exceeds this recommendation, the need for the additional authorship contributions must be justified.

Corresponding Author

Clearly identify the person responsible for handling correspondence throughout the manuscript evaluation and publication process, as well as after publication.

An e-mail address must be provided.

Funding

All financial and material support received for the study must be acknowledged, including the funding body, agency, institution, or company, as well as the project, grant, agreement, or contract number, where applicable.

If no external funding was received, the statement “No funding” should be included.

Conflicts of Interest

Any potential conflicts of interest for each author must be disclosed.

Conflicts of interest may be professional, research-related, financial, or personal in nature. The Editorial Board may request that this declaration be expanded or described in greater detail whenever deemed necessary.

If no conflicts of interest exist, this should be explicitly stated using the word “None.”

Other Statements

Authors must declare that all authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and that the manuscript has not been submitted, either in whole or in part, to any other journal simultaneously with its submission to the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES).

Manuscript File

The manuscript file must not contain any information that could reveal the identity of any of the authors. It should be prepared using the journal’s manuscript templates and must include:

Article Title

The title should be as concise, clear, and informative as possible, accurately reflecting the content of the manuscript. It must not exceed 15 words.

If the study focuses on a specific population group (e.g., women only, men only, older adults), this population should be explicitly identified in the title.

The use of uncommon acronyms, codes, and symbols should be avoided.

The title must be provided in both Spanish and English.

Abstract / Resumen

The abstract should provide the background or context for the research and include:

• The purpose of the study;
• The basic procedures used (selection of study participants, observational and analytical methods);
• The principal findings (including specific effect sizes and statistical significance, whenever possible); and
• The main conclusions.

The structure and word limit vary according to the type of article.

For original articles, the abstract must be structured under the following headings:

• Objective
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusions

The abstract must be provided in both Spanish and English, and both versions must be complete and accurate translations of one another.

Note: In the Spanish abstract, decimals should be expressed using a comma as the decimal separator. In the English abstract, a period should be used as the decimal separator.

Keywords

Keywords should be provided immediately after both the Spanish and English abstracts, in the corresponding language.

A minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 keywords should be included to complement the information contained in the title and facilitate indexing and retrieval in bibliographic databases.

Keywords should correspond to terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the Index Medicus.

The Spanish equivalents can be found in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) database.

Main Text

Short Original Articles, Epidemiological Studies, and Contributions should be organized into the following sections:

 

 

Introduction

The Introduction should be as concise as possible and should justify the need for the study being presented. The problem should be framed using current evidence and data. Only essential references should be cited. Results or conclusions of the study should not be included in this section.

The final paragraph of the Introduction should clearly state the objective(s) of the study.

Methods

This section should describe the setting in which the research was conducted, the study period or duration, the characteristics of the study population, the selection criteria used, and the methods and techniques applied.

Authors should provide a clear and detailed description of how the study was conducted, including the study design, inclusion and exclusion criteria, intervention or treatment procedures (if applicable), statistical analyses, and any other relevant methodological aspects. The information provided should be sufficient to allow replication of the study.

In the case of review articles, authors must describe in as much detail as possible the literature search strategy, data sources (bibliographic databases), search terms used, inclusion and exclusion criteria, methods employed to assess the quality of the evidence, and techniques used to evaluate and synthesize the findings.

Results

This section should present the findings obtained through the materials and methods described, including both positive and negative results.

Data may be presented in the text, tables, or figures. Information already shown in tables or figures should not be repeated in the text. Only those findings that directly address the objectives of the study should be highlighted.

Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the results, emphasizing the novel and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that can be drawn from them.

The findings should be compared and discussed in relation to relevant published studies. Authors may also present their own interpretations and viewpoints on the topic.

The Discussion should address:

• The significance and practical implications of the findings;
• Comparisons with similar publications;
• Areas of agreement and disagreement with previous studies;
• Recommendations and directions for future research; and
• Potential limitations of the study.

The Discussion should not become a general review of the topic, nor should it repeat concepts already described in the Introduction. Likewise, the Results section should not be repeated. Unsupported statements and conclusions not based on the findings or existing evidence should be avoided.

Any limitations that may affect the interpretation of the results should be clearly acknowledged.

The Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) does not include a separate Conclusions section for original articles or review articles. Conclusions should instead be incorporated into the final paragraph of the Discussion.

Acknowledgements

This section should acknowledge any material or financial support received, regardless of its nature.

The funding organization, institution, or company should be identified, together with the corresponding project number where applicable.

Technical assistance, equipment support, academic collaboration (consultation or advice), and any other form of financial support (such as grants or awards) should also be acknowledged.

Any individual or organization mentioned in this section must be aware of and agree to their inclusion.

Conflict of Interest

In addition to being declared in the cover letter, the existence or absence of any conflict of interest must be stated within the manuscript. This section should also disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence the work of editors or reviewers.

References

Only references directly related to the content of the manuscript should be cited. Authors are responsible for conducting an adequate review of the existing literature relevant to their research topic. Reviewers will pay particular attention to whether all relevant literature has been considered.

Whenever possible, unpublished data and personal communications should not be included in the reference list but may instead be mentioned in the text.

Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the abbreviations used by the U.S. National Library of Medicine for Medline/PubMed. For journals not indexed in Medline/PubMed, the full journal title should be used without abbreviation.

References should be listed in the order in which they first appear in the manuscript text, tables, or figures, using consecutive Arabic numerals.

When a citation appears next to punctuation, the citation should precede the punctuation mark.

In the text, citation numbers should be indicated as superscript numbers enclosed in parentheses (see the manuscript templates).

The reference style must strictly follow the recommendations for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Examples of citation formats are available at:

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Whenever possible, the DOI number should be included at the end of each reference.

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals and cited in the text in the order of appearance.

Each table must include:

• A title positioned above the table.
• Abbreviations, acronyms, and explanatory notes placed below the table.

Exceptionally large tables may extend over more than one page.

Table content should be self-explanatory, and data presented in tables should not be duplicated in the text or in other tables or figures.

Figures

Figures include all non-tabular material such as photographs, diagrams, algorithms, histograms, graphs, and other illustrations.

Figures must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals and cited in the text in the order of appearance.

Figures should be submitted in high quality and with sufficient resolution.

• The figure title should appear above the figure.
• Figure legends or captions should appear immediately below the figure and include the corresponding figure number.

Photographs of patients must be prepared so that individuals cannot be identified.

Figures should preferably be submitted in JPEG or PNG format.

Numbers and Decimal Fractions

A comma should be used as the decimal separator.

Numbers smaller than one must include a leading zero before the decimal separator (e.g., 0,2, not .2).

For numbers containing more than four digits, a period should be used as the thousand’s separator. For example: 30.000.

This rule does not apply to years (e.g., 2023).

Footnotes / Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes should not be used.

Supplementary Material

If supplementary material is necessary for understanding the manuscript, it should be prepared as separate files and uploaded as supplementary files.

If copyrighted material or material requiring prior permission for publication is included, the corresponding authorizations must be submitted as supplementary files.

Authors may also choose to upload figures and tables as separate files.

Epidemiological Studies

This section may include reports or epidemiological studies on communicable diseases or public health issues, information from the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network, mortality studies, outbreak investigations, reports or recommendations issued by international health organizations, information related to the European journal Eurosurveillance, and similar topics.

The recommended length ranges from 2,000 to 4,500 words, excluding table and figure titles.

Copyright Notice

Authors publishing in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BES) agree to the following terms:

1.        Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication. The published work is simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, which permits others to share and adapt the work if authorship and original publication in this journal are properly acknowledged.

2.        Authors may enter into additional non-exclusive agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (for example, depositing it in an institutional repository or republishing it in a monographic volume), provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged.

3.        Authors are permitted and encouraged to disseminate their work via the Internet (for example, through institutional repositories or personal websites) before and during the submission process, as this may facilitate productive exchanges and increase citations of the published work.

1. Authors must comply with the journal's Authorship Policy.

Privacy Statement

The names and e-mail addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the purposes stated by the journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any third party.