Proceso editorial

The Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad del Cauca (Rev. Fac. Cienc. Salud Univ. Cauca.) is the official scholarly journal of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Universidad del Cauca. It publishes articles of broad interest in the fields of Health Sciences and Medical Education. The journal is part of the Universidad del Cauca Journals Portal and operates with complete editorial independence from its sponsoring institution. It is published semiannually.

All manuscripts and editorial processes are managed through the Open Journal Systems (OJS–PKP) platform. The entire editorial process, beginning with manuscript submission, must be completed through the journal website: https://revistas.unicauca.edu.co/index.php/rfcs. Editorial correspondence should be addressed to: Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad del Cauca at rfsalud@unicauca.edu.co.

Before submitting a manuscript, authors are requested to carefully review and strictly comply with the following Instructions for Authors.

Aims and Scope

The Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad del Cauca publishes articles of general interest in the fields of Health Sciences and Medical Education. The journal's editorial policies and author guidelines are based on the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Copyright and Open Access Policy

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original and unpublished. Neither the complete manuscript nor any part of it may have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or reports presented at scientific meetings, provided that authors clearly disclose any prior dissemination at the time of manuscript submission.

All submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism detection software, such as Crossref Similarity Check, to identify text similarity and potential plagiarism.

The Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad del Cauca is an Open Access scientific journal committed to the free, immediate, and permanent dissemination of scientific knowledge. The journal believes that unrestricted access to research findings promotes the global exchange of knowledge, enhances the visibility and impact of scientific publications, and contributes to advances in research, education, and healthcare.

All articles are made freely available immediately upon publication, without subscription fees, registration requirements, embargo periods, or any other restrictions on access.

In accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and the criteria established by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the journal permits any user to:

1. Read the full text of all published articles;

2. Download articles without restriction;

3. Copy and redistribute the content in any medium or format;

4. Print articles for personal, academic, or professional use;

5. Search the content of articles and access them through permanent links;

6. Index the content through search engines, bibliographic databases, and other scientific information services;

7. Perform text and data mining for research purposes; and

8. Use the articles for any other lawful purpose, provided that the terms of the Creative Commons license under which the journal is published are respected.

The journal imposes no financial, legal, or technical barriers to accessing its content other than those inherent to gaining access to the internet.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This license permits users to share, copy, and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the journal, a link to the license is provided, and no modifications, adaptations, or derivative works are made.

Authors retain copyright of their work while granting the journal the right of first publication. By submitting a manuscript and upon its acceptance for publication, authors authorize the dissemination of their work under the Creative Commons license adopted by the journal, thereby facilitating its preservation, visibility, and dissemination nationally and internationally.

This Open Access policy is consistent with the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the criteria established by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Open Access Statement

The Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud provides immediate open access to all of its content. This means that any user may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of published articles, as well as use them for any other lawful purpose, without requesting prior permission from either the publisher or the authors, provided that the terms of the Creative Commons license under which the journal is published are respected. This policy is consistent with the Open Access definition of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Copyright

The Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad del Cauca assumes no responsibility for the opinions expressed by the authors or for any therapeutic recommendations, clinical procedures, or interpretations presented in published articles.

The journal reserves the right to make editorial revisions that improve clarity, grammar, and style without altering the scientific content or meaning of the manuscript.

The contents of published articles are the sole responsibility of the authors, who retain full copyright of their work. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Editorial Board.

Articles published by the journal are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This license permits users to share, copy, and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the journal, a link to the license is included, and no modifications, adaptations, or derivative works are made.

Publication Process

Each manuscript submission must include the following files:

• A completed and signed Cover Letter.
• The appropriate EQUATOR Network reporting checklist, according to the study design (required for original research articles and case reports only).
• The main manuscript file.
• Figures in high-resolution format.
• Supplementary files, if applicable.

All submissions must be made through the journal's Open Journal Systems (OJS–PKP) platform:
https://revistas.unicauca.edu.co/index.php/rfcs/submission

Upon submission, the Editor-in-Chief or a designated member of the Editorial Board conducts an initial editorial assessment to determine whether the manuscript complies with the journal's scope, editorial policies, and Instructions for Authors. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements will be returned to the corresponding author through the OJS platform for the necessary revisions before entering peer review.

Manuscripts that satisfy the initial editorial requirements proceed to the peer-review process and are assigned to a handling editor. The handling editor invites at least two independent peer reviewers, who are selected based on their expertise and are, whenever possible, external to both the Editorial Board and the Universidad del Cauca. The journal uses a double-blind peer review system, in which the identities of both authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the review process.

Based on the reviewers' recommendations, the handling editor and the Editor-in-Chief will reach one of the following editorial decisions:

a) Accept;

b) Accept with minor revisions;

c) Major revisions required; or

d) Reject.

For manuscripts requiring minor or major revisions, the reviewers' comments and editorial recommendations will be returned to the corresponding author through the OJS platform. Authors are expected to submit a revised manuscript together with a detailed point-by-point response addressing each comment within the requested timeframe.

Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers for further evaluation when deemed necessary by the handling editor.

Once a manuscript has been accepted, it undergoes copyediting, language editing, formatting, proofreading, and final editorial approval before publication. The Editorial Board reviews the final version to ensure scientific accuracy, editorial quality, and compliance with the journal's publication standards before the article is published online.