Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Salud Mental (SM) (ISSN: 0185-3325 E-ISSN: 0186-761X), is a scientific publication that disseminates research by academics and professionals interested in mental health care and related topics in the areas of psychiatry, psychology, neurosciences and similar disciplines, in the form of editorial, original and review articles. Due to its international scope, this bimonthly journal publishes papers in English and/or Spanish that are double-blind peer reviewed.

Salud Mental (SM) is an Open Access publication, which does not entail any costs for authors, whose contents are disseminated under a CC-BY 4.0 International license. It has been published and financed by the Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry since 1977.

Salud Mental (SM) adheres to the general guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (www.icmje.org) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/).

Section Policies

Editorial

Manuscripts received in this section are by invitation of the Director-Editor-in-Chief of the journal. They must express authoritative opinions on specific topics of interest to the scientific community and the area of Mental Health. Their goal is to encourage debate and promote new lines of research. Maximum length: 1,000 words.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Original Articles

These must be the result of original research, linked to the thematic areas of interest of the journal. Manuscripts sent to this section must undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review, the result of which will be final in all cases. Contributions submitted in this section may be one of two types:

Quantitative methodology: including primary and secondary results from cross-sectional studies, clinical trials, case-controls, cohorts, and quasi-experimental studies. Maximum length: 3,500 words.
Qualitative methodology: including focus group reports, in-depth interviews, semantic networks, and content analysis. Maximum length: 5,000 words.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Review article

These must be detailed, selective, critical studies incorporating relevant information on a specific topic. Their purpose is to examine the published bibliography from an analytical perspective. Manuscripts sent to this section must undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review, the result of which will be final in all cases. Contributions submitted to this section may be one of two types:

Narrative reviews: These include narrative reviews based on national and international bibliography, adhering to the corresponding guidelines. Maximum length: 5,000 words.
Systematic reviews: These must adhere to standard methodologies (e.g. PRISMA / MOOSE) and should preferably include a meta-analysis. Maximum length: 4,000 words.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Clinical case

These must be studies based on specialized observations related to the care of an uncommon, emerging, or reemerging clinical case. In these cases, the effects of a diagnostic or therapeutic case that is useful or relevant in the medical, academic, or scientific sphere may be reported. Manuscripts submitted to this section must undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review, the result of which will be final in all cases. Maximum length: 2,000 words.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Authors who submit a contribution for publication in Salud Mental (SM)must send a complete, final version of the documentation indicated in section requirements for application and requirements for submission. Once the editorial team certifies that the submission meets all the application requirements, the manuscript will undergo an editorial review which includes the following stages:

Reviewers will check that the manuscript submitted is related to the focus and scope of the journal.
Software will be used to detect plagiarism or similar content. Only manuscripts that adequately refer to the bibliography and are free of plagiarism will be accepted for the following stages of the editorial review.
Reviewers will check that the manuscript complies with each of the guidelines indicated in section requirements for application and requirements for submission and guidelines for authors.
Reviewers will check that the bibliography used is pertinent and up to date, and that it follows the American Psychological Association (APA), seventh edition format standards for citation.
In accordance with the approved editorial policy guidelines, priority will be given to manuscripts whose bibliography is provided electronically with active hyperlinks to the respective DOIs in all cases where relevant.
Once the contribution has met the editorial criteria, the corresponding author will be formally notified of the registration and the start of the academic review process.

ACADEMIC REVIEW

Contributions must undergo a double-blind peer review, in which the identity of both the authors and the reviewers will remain concealed:

Articles that pass the editorial review will be sent for evaluation by academic experts in the same disciplinary and subject area as that of the submitted manuscript.
Reviewers will be selected from the portfolio comprising specialists from national and international institutions, who will issue comments on the relevance and quality of the proposed manuscript and will determine the feasibility of its publication.
Reviewers will be responsible for reviewing and analyzing the medical, clinical, theoretical, and methodological relevance of each of the manuscripts assigned to them. They will be responsible for reviewing the explicit presence of the theoretical-methodological section, as well as its congruence with respect to the field of studies, the coherence between the academic contribution and the relevance of the findings described, as well as the topicality and relevance of the bibliography used.
All manuscripts will be sent to two experts – affiliated to an institution other than that of the authors - who will issue their comments. Finally, based on the recommendations of the reviewers, the decision of the Editor-in-Chief will be:

Recommended for publication without modifications.
Recommended for publication with minor changes, which do not require a second review by the reviewers.
Publication will depend on making significant changes, which will require a new assessment by the reviewers. This process may be repeated up to a maximum of three rounds. If at this point the document is still not recommended for publication, the article will be rejected without the option of resubmission.
Not recommended for publication.

In the event of any controversy in the verdicts, the intervention of a third reviewer will be requested.
For a text to be approved for publication, it is essential for at least two of the three verdicts to be positive.
The editorial board will guarantee, in all cases, that the verdicts delivered to the authors contain solid arguments that support the editorial decision.
The results of the academic review process will be final in all cases.
In the event observations are made, the author will have a period of four weeks to submit a new version of the article to the editor.
The time required for the document to be submitted for review will depend on the number of articles on the waiting list.
Once the article has been received, reviewers will have six weeks to review it and deliver their verdict.
Documents supporting the academic review will be used to begin the editing process (style correction, metadata marking, formatting, layout, etc.), and subsequently be included in the corresponding issue, according to the decision of the editorial team.
Once the editorial process has concluded, a preliminary version of the manuscript will be sent to the authors for its final review and approval, for which they will have a period of three calendar days. If no comments are delivered within that period, the editorial team will assume that the authors have given their tacit approval.

Publication Frequency

Salud Mental is a bimonthly publication. There are published also monothematic issues, which can be ordinary or additional supplements, on several relevancy topics in the field of the mental health.

Open Access Policy

Authors who publish in Salud Mental (SM) accept the following conditions: all articles published in SM are disseminated in Open Access and are available online for free, immediately after publication. Salud Mental (SM) does not charge authors for submitting or processing articles for publication.

Use of Creative Commons (CC) licenses

All texts published by Salud Mental (SM), without exception, are distributed under the CC-BY 4.0 International license. This allows third parties to use what is published, if they mention the authorship of the article and the fact that it was first published in this journal.

Authors’ rights

In accordance with current copyright legislation, Salud Mental (SM) recognizes and respects the moral right of the authors, as well as the ownership of the patrimonial right, which will be transferred - non-exclusively - to the journal to allow its legal dissemination in Open Access.

Authors may make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in (SM) (for example, include it in an institutional repository or make it known on digital social networks and other paper or electronic media), provided it is clearly and explicitly indicated that the work was first published in Salud Mental (SM).

For all of the above reasons, the authors must send Carta de autorización de uso de la obra of the first publication, duly completed and signed by the authors. This format must be uploaded in PDF into the OJS platform.

Readers’ Rights

Under the principles of Open Access, journal readers have the right to freely read, print and distribute the contents of the journal by any means, immediately after the online publication of the contents. The only requirement for this is that it be clearly and explicitly stated that the work was first published in Salud Mental (SM).

Code of ethics

Salud Mental (SM) subscribes to the code of ethics for the behavior and performance of the actors involved in the publication process (editors, editorial committee, authors and reviewers) established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and available at www.publicationethics.org

It also adheres to the guidelines indicated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) available at www.icmje.org.

Plagiarism detection

All articles submitted for publication must be original and unpublished and must not be simultaneously submitted for publication in other journals or editorial boards. All manuscripts received will be checked by plagiarism detection and content similarity software.

Attempts will be made to ensure that articles are at least 20% original. In other words, at least 20% of the information should be original in the field of knowledge, regardless of what is cited and referred to.

Reasons for rejection

Failure to comply with any of the points in these Author Instructions.
A delay of more than 30 days in responding to the comments of the editor or reviewers or disagreeing with them.

Authors’ obligations

PROTECTION OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

In studies conducted on humans, authors must state whether the methods used complied with the ethical standards of the corresponding Research or Clinical Trials Committee (of the country, hospital, research center or institution) and of the Declaration of Helsinki 1975 revised and available at: http://www.wma.net/s/policy/b3.html.
Images, names, initials, or hospital data that allow the identification of the study subjects must not be included.
When experiments conducted on animals are included, authors must indicate whether the ethical standards of the corresponding research center, or possible national laws regarding the care and use of laboratory animals have been followed.

REDUNDANT OR DUPLICATE PUBLICATION

Submitting a text implies that it has not been previously published in the way it is sent to Salud Mental, except as an abstract or part of a thesis.
If the text has been previously disseminated in a preprint repository, the corresponding author must specify this at the time of its submission and indicate the corresponding DOI.
If the article is accepted, the authors undertake to ensure that any post-publication dissemination refers to Salud Mental as the space where it was published for the first time, and will ensure that the citation adequately refers to the reference data and the DOI assigned to it.

FUNDING AND DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors must declare any commercial link, or material or financial help received during the research, at the time of writing the article or its publication, or any potential financial interest in relation to the subject of their article, which could give rise to a conflict of interest.
If there is no source of financing, the manuscript must include the section and state: “The authors did not receive any sponsorship to undertake this study-article”.
This information will be provided at the end of each collaboration, in a visible place.

INFORMED CONSENT (CONCERN)

When applicable, authors must mention in the “Materials and methods” section that the procedures and controls used on the patients were conducted after informed consent had been obtained.

PRIVACY

Authors are responsible for guaranteeing the right to privacy of patients, protecting their identity both in the wording of the article and in the images.
No names, initials or numbers from the hospital’s medical history will be used, or any other type of data that is irrelevant to the research that could identify the patient, either in the text or in the photographs, unless this information is essential for scientific purposes, in which case it may be included in the article provided the patient (or their parent or guardian) gives written informed consent (Concern) for its publication.

OBTAINING PERMISSION

Authors who reproduce previously published materials (text, tables, or figures) in their article will be solely responsible for obtaining the appropriate permission for their reproduction in the journal.
Authors must have obtained written authorization from the publisher who has published this material and send a copy of it to the journal.
If authors have any questions about how to proceed, the Salud Mental editorial team will be able to provide support in this regard.

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY

Authors will declare that the content of the manuscript is original and that it has not been previously published or sent or submitted for consideration in any other publication format, either in its entirety or in part. Failure to do so constitutes a serious breach of scientific ethics.
To this end, authors must submit the duly completed declaration of originality, which will be submitted in PDF through the OJS platform.

Authorship

Salud Mental (SM) follows the requirements established by Committee of Medical Journal Editors, regarding authorships:

The list of authors should only include those who have made intellectual contributions to the development of the article.
Having helped with data collection or having participated in some technique are not by themselves sufficient criteria to appear as an author. In general, to be listed as an author, the following requirements must be met:

To have participated in the conception and design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data in the study that has resulted in the article in question.
To have participated in the writing of the text and in its subsequent revisions.
To have approved the final version, which will be published.
To have agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the study, to answer questions related to the accuracy and completeness of any issue related to it.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors meet the authorship requirements and that each of them agrees to be in contact with the corresponding author.
Each of the authors must agree that the corresponding author will be solely responsible for submitting the manuscript to the journal and for communication with the editorial team.
By submitting a manuscript, each author implicitly acknowledges that they have had full access to all data in this study and assumes full and public responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of the data analysis.
Once the manuscript has been submitted, it will not be possible to make changes in the order and number of authors, so all questions related to authorship must be resolved before sending the manuscript for the first time.
The number of authors will depend on the type of manuscript submitted. For original articles and review articles, the maximum number of authors will be eight. Only in the case of multicenter studies will the maximum number of authors be twelve, if it is justified by the scope of the study.
In the case of collective authorship, the name of the editors or persons responsible for the manuscript will be included followed by «and the group...» when all members of the group are considered co-authors of the article. If the authors want to include the name of the group, even if not all its members are considered co-authors, the authors responsible will be mentioned followed by «on behalf of the …group» or «by the …group». In any case, the names, and institutions of members of the group will be included in an annex at the end of the manuscript.
Authors will declare that they have read and approved the manuscript; and that the requirements for authorship have been met.
The journal accepts no responsibility for possible conflicts derived from the authorship of the articles published in it.

Functions and responsibilities of the editorial staff

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITOR

Coordinate the actions leading to the fulfillment of the journal’s objectives.
Seek a high scientific level in the content published.
Receive the manuscripts proposed for publication and assign the co-editors for the academic review process.
Maintain periodicity in the publication of the journal.
Review and approve the contents of each issue.

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COEDITORS

Reply to the authors if the manuscript fails to meet the minimum requirements of scientific publication.
Assign expert reviewers for the academic review of the manuscript.
Maintain communication with the authors about the status of the submitted manuscripts.
Monitor compliance with and implementation of the recommendations of the reviewers.
Determine the relevance of publishing the materials received, based on expert opinions.
Contribute to the timely, periodic publication of the journal.
Identify and propose topics of interest according to the focus and scope of the publication for theme issues.

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE INTERNAL EVALUATION COMMITTEE

Collaborate as reviewers of the manuscripts to evaluate the methodological aspects of the scientific report.
Undertake actions for the scientific dissemination of the publication.

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Promote the presentation of papers for publication in the journal among the national and international academic community.
Suggest academic guidelines for the editorial policy of the journal.
Promote the dissemination of the journal in national and international academic media.
Participate as reviewers of manuscripts received for publication or recommend experts as reviewers.
Promote continuity of the themes.
Maintain and increase the academic value of the publication
Propose incentives for the editorial team.
Undertake actions for the scientific dissemination of the publication.

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Promote the submission of manuscripts for publication in the journal among the national and international academic community.
Grant scientific support to the publication.
Participate in decision-making regarding the focus and scope of the journal.
Undertake actions for the scientific dissemination of the publication.

Requirements for submission of originals

Authors submitting documents for publication in Salud Mental (SM)must upload the following complete documentation and the final version of the document through the Open Journal System interface. Applications that are not submitted by this means will not be accepted:

Application form: Available in the OJS interface of the journal, where specific information on the article and the author or authors is requested.
Declaration of originality. This letter must also be filled in with details of the author(s) and in the event of articles with two or more authors, details of each of the latter must be provided. The author responsible for the manuscript must be identified, as well as the corresponding author.
Authorization letter for use of the work, must be filled in and signed with details of the author(s). In the case of articles with two or more authors, details each of them must be provided, and the author responsible for the text must be identified, as well as the corresponding author.
The final version of the complete contents of the article being submitted and any additional files must be attached. No changes will be accepted once the process has begun.
Presentation letter: The author must explain the strengths of their scientific contribution, highlighting the scope, originality, and importance of their contribution to the field of mental health and upload this in a pdf document.

To submit the material, the following documents must be uploaded into the OJS Mental Health platform:

The textual content in electronic format for word processing, without a password. Submitting PDF files is not acceptable for the editorial process.
Photographs and images in electronic files in jpg (or compatible) format with at least 300 dpi resolution. Graphs, tables, and charts must be attached on a separate spreadsheet. Images of graphs, charts or tables are not acceptable for the editorial process.
The author must have the rights of reproduction of the graphic material, images, photography, artistic work,
Photographs showing identifiable patients must be accompanied by written permission for publication, granted by the patient. If it is not possible to obtain this permission, part of the patient’s face must be covered in the photograph.

Once the application requirements have been fulfilled, the manuscript will undergo Editorial Review.