Salud Mental publishes original articles on psychiatry, psychology, neurosciences, and other related fields according to the following formats:

1. Editorials

Written at the invitation of the Director-Editor of the journal. They must express authorized opinions on specific topics of interest for the scientific community and the mental health field. They must also stimulate debate and promote new research lines. Maximum extension: 1000 words. 

2. Original articles (peer reviewed section)

They present unpublished research results. They can be developed in accordance with the following methodologies: 

• Quantitative: It comprehends primary and secondary results of transversal studies, clinical trials, cases and controls, cohorts, and quasi-experimental studies. Maximum extension: 3500 words.

• Qualitative: Including reports of focus groups, in-depth interviews, semantic networks, and content analysis. Maximum length: 5000 words.

3. Brief original articles (peer reviewed section)

They validate measuring instruments and preliminary results of original research. Maximum extension: 2000 words.

4. Review article (peer reviewed section)

• Narrative reviews: They comprise narrative reviews based on national and international bibliography in accordance with the corresponding standards. Maximum extension: 5000 words.

• Systematic reviews: They must adhere to standard methodologies (e.g., Cochrane); preferably, they should include a meta-analysis. Maximum extension: 4000 words. 

N.B.: the word count fo each section does not consider title, abstracts and keywords, or sections on funding, conflict of interests nd aknowledments; neither does it cosider words included in tables, figures and references.

LANGUAGES

Salud Mental publishes manuscripts in Spanish and English. However, the publication of articles in English is preferred for the benefit of the international scientific community.

ETHICAL ASPECTS IN PUBLISHING

For Salud Mental it is important to keep the ethical policies of scientific publishing,. Because of this, it is essential for the editors that every research involving animal and/or human subjects adheres to national and international regulations of basic, clinical, and social research. All clinical research articles must adhere to the ICJME international regulations. 

SUBMISSION DECLARATION

By submitting a manuscript, the author states that:

1. The work has not been previously published (except as a summary or as a part of a lecture or a degree thesis).

2. It is not under review in any other journal in any language.

3. It has been authorized by all the coauthors and the responsible authorities of the place where it was carried out.

AUTHORSHIP

Only those individuals who participated actively in the process of research and drafting of the manuscript should be considered as authors. Owing to this, Salud Mental accepts five coauthors maximum (in addition to the main author). In the case of projects involving multiple research groups and requiring the inclusion of more than five coauthors, the main author must justify their inclusion in the Cover letter. 

SUBMIT YOUR PUBLICATION

Manuscripts must be exclusively submitted through the website available at: Salud Mental. Prior to the submission of a manuscript, the sender needs to be registered as an author. Before making a submission, make sure to click on UPLOAD every time a file is added. In step 1 you must fill the checklist to declare you fulfill the policies established by the journal. In step 2, the Microsoft Word manuscript is attached. It must not include notes or track changes and must comply with each and every requirement listed in Guidelines for Authors. The main data will be requested in step 3.In step 4, Copyright Assessment and Cover letter must be attached in PDF.

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

It is of the utmost importance for authors to consider the following before sending their manuscripts:

1. Manuscripts must be clear and concise, avoiding spelling, grammar, and syntax mistakes.

2. The text must be written in Microsoft Word format, Times New Roman 12, with double spacing and 2.5 centimeters margins, in letter-size paper.

3. Pages must be numbered in a consecutive order, beginning by the title page, with numbers placed in the upper right corner.

4. The first page (title page) must include the following information in the order stated here:

• Title of the work in Spanish and English. The title must be descriptive and indicate the study’s main results
• Short title. Six words at most.
• Full name(s) of the author and coauthors. The order in which this information is provided will be preserved in the manuscript’s possible publication and registration in databases. Authors’ full names must be separated by a comma. Then, following this punctuation mark, an Arabic numeral in superscript, with no intermediate space, will indicate the affiliation institution. Following each author’s superscript number, their full affiliation has to be stated, specifying their particular area of work therein.
• Authors’ affiliation. This is indicated in Arabic numerals as superscripts. Affiliations are placed immediately below authors’ names, not as footnotes. It is necessary that the ascription specifies: department, area, institution, city and country for each author, without indicating a postal address. The institutions must be written in their official language. The authors’ degrees or positions (PHD, doctor, resident, researcher, etc.) must not be included.

For example:

Juan José García-Urbina,¹  Héctor Valentín Esquivias Zavala.<sup>2

1</sup>Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México, México.
²Departamento de Publicaciones, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Ciudad de México, México.

• At the bottom of the first page, the legend “Correspondence:…” must be placed, mentioning the corresponding author and including affiliation with postal address , telephone number and email. This will be the only author addressed by Salud Mental during the entire process.  

For example:

Correspondence:

Juan José García-Urbina

Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz.

Calz. México-Xochimilco 101, San Lorenzo Huipulco, Tlalpan, 14370, Ciudad de México, México.

Phone: 55 4152-3624

Email: jurb@imp.edu.mx

5. The second page must present the abstract of the work in Spanish and English. Each abstract must be 250 words maximum.

• The abstracts of Original articles, Brief original articles, and Systematic reviews must comprise: Introduction, Objective, Method, Results, and Discussion and conclusion.
• In the case of Narrative reviews, the structure of the abstract must be: Background, Objective, Method (databases consulted), Results, and Discussion and conclusion.

• Keywords. At the end of each abstract, four key words minimum and six maximum must be included, separated by commas and in lowercase. Keywords must be the same in Spanish and English. As these are used in the articles’ indexation, at least three of them must be based on MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), consulting http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html. 

6. The manuscript proper begins in page three, following this structure:

INTRODUCTION  (or BACKGROUND only for Narrative reviews). The research’s background is disclosed here for the reader to understand the problem being dealt with. The final paragraph of this section must clearly state the objectives of the work, and if deemed necessary the hypotheses.

METHOD. It must be sufficiently detailed so that the study can be reproduced. It must include the following sections: 

• Design of the study.
• Subjects / description of the sample. 
• Places.
• Measurements.
• Procedures.
• Statistical analyses.
• Ethical considerations

RESULTS. They are presented following a logical sequence in the text and making use of tables, graphs, and figures.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. This section highlights new and important aspects of the study, conclusions drawn from it, possible implications of the findings, and its limitations if any.

7. After the Discussion and conclusion, the authors’ declarations are listed in the following order:

Funding. In this section it must be declared if the study or the manuscript preparation received any funding, indicating the name of the financing entity.

For example: 

This study was partially funded by CONSEJO NACIONAL DE CIENCIA y TECNOLOGÍA. (No. XXXXXXX).

If no financial support was received, the authors must state it was well.

For example: 

None.

Conflicts of interest. Authors must declare here if they have any conflict of interest regarding their scientific activity. Having a conflict of interest does not necessarily poses an impediment to publish the manuscript. If there is no conflict of interest, the following must be written: “The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.”
Acknowledgements. When deemed necessary, after the aforementioned declarations, acknowledgements for people, centers, or entities that collaborated or supported the research must be mentioned.

REFERENCES. References are placed after the authors’ declarations (Funding, Conflicts of interest, and Acknowledgements), following exclusively the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), sixth edition.

Table and figures. Salud Mental establishes a limit of five graphic elements maximum, excepting the case of short communications, which may only include two. The standard required for tables and figures is also APA’s, sixth edition. Tables and figures must be  included in the same file of the manuscript after References:

1.Tables must bear a title on top and a note below with legends for the initials.

2. Figures must be sent in high resolution (at least 300 dpi).

3. The titles and footnotes of the tables and figures must be clear and brief and bear always an identifying number. In the text, the author must indicate in parentheses and in capital letters wherein the text the graphic elements should be placed

For example:

The definition of some behavioral patterns was changed (Table 3) so that they were more comprehensible in Spanish language and the categories that group such patterns were redefined on the basis of specialized literature.

(INSERT TABLE 3 HERE)

COMPLEMENTARY FILES

The following documents are attached in Step 4 in Submission. Make sure to click “UPLOAD” after selecting each file; if this is not done, the files will not be attached when saving and continuing to the next steps.  

1. Copyright assessment. The Copyright Assessment signed by all the authors and sent in PDF format must accompany every article. The form of the Copyright Assessment is available at: Copyright Assessment.

2. Cover letter.The main author must expose the strengths of manuscript scientific output, underscoring the scope, originality, and importance of its contributions to the field of mental health. In the letter, three national or international reviewers qualified in the submitted manuscript’s field of knowledge may be suggested, making sure they do not have any conflict of interest with the results presented. This letter must also be uploaded in PDF format.

3. Checklist of methodological standards. It is important to send the checklist duly completed following the guides for each sort of study (see Methodological Considerations) in PDF format.

METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Salud Mental adheres to the conventional system of 5-percent value for statistical significance and does not take into account tendencies for higher values. In order for readers and reviewers to have a better clarity, it is necessary that, depending on the sort of study, manuscripts adhere to the following standards: 

• Randomized clinical trials must follow the CONSORT Statement.
• Studies with nonrandomized designs must follow the TREND Statement.
• Transversal, cohort, and cases and control studies must follow the STROBE Statement.
• Qualitative studies must follow the COREQ.
• Review articles must follow the PRISMA.
• Statement and/or the MOOSE Guidelines.

EMPHASIS AND PUNCTUATION

1. Although it is important for authors to avoid using footnotes in manuscripts as much as possible, they can be used if it is clearly necessary.

2. Bold type words must never be used in the text.

3. Italics must be used for:

• Distinguishing foreign words.
• Emphasizing popular expressions.
• Book titles, published documents, and periodical publications.

4. Italics may be used for:

• Calling the attention to significant or important terms when they are mentioned for the first time.
• Distinguishing a word or phrase in a quotation.

5. Inverted commas must be used only for:

• Quoting other authors’ paragraphs in the text.
• Textually quoting fragments of discourse of the subjects under study.

6. As much as possible, it is recommended to avoid using any other sort of emphasis such as italics, bold, underlining, or capital letters.

7. Avoid using double parentheses, that is, a parenthesis inside another. Use brackets instead.

8. Dashes may be used to indicate subordinate or other explanatory sentences.

9. Every punctuation mark must be correctly used. For example, in the case of questions, a question mark must close the question. Likewise, opening and closing inverted commas must be used. 

MATHEMATICAL AND STATISTICAL FORMULAE

To present the results the following must be considered:

1. Write numerals from zero to nine in words and from 10 onwards in figures.

2. Use numbers in the case of dates, samples, and so on.

3. Include confidence intervals in statistical data.

4. Write statistical symbols in italics (M, SD).

5. Use the exact probability with two or three decimals (e.g.,  p = .04; p = .002) with no zero before the decimal point. If it is lower than 001, indicate it as < .001.

6. Leave a space before and after each sign (a + b = c, instead of a+b=c).

7. Use points instead of commas to indicate decimals.

VERIFY THE FOLLOWING BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Before submitting your manuscript, make sure of uploading the documents requested.

We present a table describing the content and format in which such documents have to be presented.

ONCE YOUR MANUSCRIPT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED

The submission and reception of the manuscript as well as the outcome of its review process may be consulted at “User Home”.

Salud Mental receives a large amount of manuscripts, the quality of which is judged by an Internal Review Board (IRB). This Board verifies that each manuscript meets the established quality standards: methodological quality, relevance, and innovation. Each manuscript is also reviewed by external peers who, on occasion, are members of the journal’s Editorial Committee or experts in the area of interest of the submitted text. In those cases in which authors have suggested reviewers, the reviewers can be chosen by the Editor. The possible outcomes for the manuscripts assessed are: accept submission, revisions required, resubmit for review, and decline submission. In accordance with the processes of the Editorial Coordination, Salud Mental estimates an assessment period of three to four months for the initial review of the manuscript and one to two months for second versions, depending on the sort of modifications requested.