About the Journal

• Give credit to the author of the text.
• He does not use the material for commercial purposes.
• Do not alter or modify the material.

Guidelines for Authors

In selecting articles, the general criteria for publication will include the scientific rigor of the work, as well as the originality, relevance, and timeliness of the information. Articles submitted for publication in the journal LUX MÉDICA must be original, must not have been previously published in any form, and must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal for publication.

If accepted by the Scientific Committee, the journal LUX MÉDICA requires authors to grant ownership of their copyright so that their article and materials may be reproduced, published, edited, fixed, communicated, and publicly transmitted in any form or medium   and for their public communication in all forms, including making them available to the public via electronic, optical, or any other technological means, for exclusively scientific and non-profit purposes. The iThenticate software will be used to verify the originality of the submitted content.

Classification of articles and sections in the journal

Each article must be accompanied by a statement specifying that it has not been published elsewhere and that it will not be submitted to other publications before the editorial board has made its decision. The following types of articles will be accepted:

Original articles

These are research reports related to the field of health; they must be unpublished and prepared in accordance with the aforementioned guidelines. They must contain 20 to 30 references, plus figures, charts, or tables (six at most). They may be the result of randomized clinical trials, studies of etiological aspects, clinical experiences, therapeutic trials, epidemiological or methodological research, or basic studies with clinical implications.

Updates or systematic reviews

This refers to the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis possible on a topic in the field of medicine. It should be a detailed and critical review of relevant medical literature, preferably on basic or clinical topics. Review articles must include an introduction, objective, discussion of the topic, and conclusions; they may be systematic reviews or meta-analyses. They must include at least 30 references.

Case report

These are case reports involving individual cases or small groups of patients with different or rare conditions. They should be up to 2,000 words in length, include 10 references, and contain 2 tables and figures. The length may be extended if the report involves more than one case.

From the classrooms

This section is intended for students in various biomedical degree programs, both undergraduate and graduate, who must complete their work under the supervision and/or guidance of a licensed physician. Preference will be given to literature reviews or research projects with local relevance.

Medical Science

A space dedicated to writers and artists—whether or not they are members of the medical community—who can contribute texts and artistic works that help improve the community’s health culture. Its purpose is to promote these contributions beyond the strictly medical sphere.

If the document is accepted, the group of authors must sign the Rights Assignment Agreement.

Submission of papers

Manuscripts must be submitted via the platform using the Submit an Article button.

They must be typed in Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced, with 2.5-cm margins on all sides, and formatted in a single column.

Each document is assigned a reference number and an acknowledgment of receipt is issued.  All authors must sign a letter of assignment of rights 

The original work must follow this order: 

Title page: This page should include the full title of the paper, followed by a list of authors with their full first and last names in the order they are to appear in the publication, starting with the father’s surname, mother’s surname, and full first names, without abbreviations, along with each author’s email address. For each author, academic titles and the full name of the institution at the time of the study must be specified. The corresponding author must be identified, along with their full contact information, including name, academic degree, institutional affiliation, address, zip code, phone number, and email address. Abstract: Must be structured, be no longer than 250 words, and include the study’s objective, materials and methods, results, conclusions, and three keywords. Text: In the case of a research report, it must consist of the following sections: a) Introduction: includes the purpose of the study and the background supporting the research. b) Objective of the study, written in the past tense. c). Materials and Methods: This section includes the procedures for selecting the experimental materials used and identifies methods, equipment, and procedures in detail. Drugs and chemicals used must be listed by generic name, dose, and route of administration. Mathematical and statistical analysis procedures must also be described in detail. d). Results: The results of the research are presented; important observations are discussed or summarized following a logical sequence in the text and in tables and figures. e) Discussion: Emphasis is placed on the most relevant aspects of the study, and an analysis and comparison with similar previous studies is provided, along with guidance for future research. f). Conclusions: The main conclusions of the article are briefly discussed. g). Bibliography: Authors must use the Vancouver style and are responsible for numerically citing all references in the order of their appearance in the text. There must be consistency between the citations in the text and the number of bibliographic references.  The Vancouver format can be consulted at http://www.metodo.uab.cat/docs/Requisitos_de_Uniformidad.pdf

How to cite ascientific journal article    Father's surname-mother's surname and first name(s) of each author, separated by a comma. Followed by the full title of the article, capitalizing only the first letter of the first word; place a period at the end of the article title.  Name of the journal. Year of publication, followed by a semicolon. Volume number, in Arabic numerals; the issue number in parentheses, followed by a colon; then the first and last pages, separated by a hyphen. Period.

Ejemplo Stewart JE, Seimon RV, Otto B, Keast RS, Clifton PM, Feinle Bisset C. Marked differences in gustatory and gastrointestinal sensitivity to oleic acid between lean and obese men.  Am J Clin Nutr. 2011; 93(4):703-11.

How to cite  lbooks: book title and subtitle, with only the first letter capitalized. City where the work was published. Page numbers and year. How to cite a book chapter: chapter title. Edition (if not the first). Publisher.

Ejemplo: Lelan OS, Maki PC. Heart disease and diabetes mellitus. En: Krall LP, Bradley RF, Cristlieb AR. Joslin’s diabetes mellitus. 12th Edition. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1985, pág. 553-582.

Tables, charts, and figures

Material presented in the form of charts, tables, and figures must be limited to six items (including charts, figures, and tables) and should be logically integrated into the text of the article. They should be numbered using Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear. They must have a brief and concise title, descriptive notes, and an explanation of any non-standard abbreviations at the bottom of the figures, as well as clear indications of the units of measurement used. The use of vertical and horizontal lines should be avoided. Figure captions: These should appear on a separate page in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.

Photographs

Photographs should preferably be taken with a digital camera at the highest resolution. They must be high-quality, clear, and well-defined, with a resolution of 600 dpi. 

Plagiarism detection

Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical editorial conduct and is unacceptable. Consequently, any manuscript found to contain plagiarism will be rejected and will not be considered for publication. The iThenticate software will be used whenever possible.

Ethical Principles

Responsibilities and conduct of the Editorial Board of Lux Médica

• The Editorial Board defines and publishes the description of the peer review process so that authors are aware of the evaluation criteria. The Editorial Board is always willing to address any concerns regarding the evaluation process.

Responsibilities or conduct of the Editor:

• The editor is responsible for everything published in the journal. The editor must strive to meet the needs of readers and authors; to continuously improve the journal; to ensure the quality of the material published; and to promote academic and scientific standards. Furthermore, the editor must be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.
• The editor's decision to accept or reject a manuscript for publication must be based solely on the article's significance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal.
• The publisher undertakes to ensure the confidentiality of the review process and may not disclose the authors’ identities to the reviewers. Nor may it disclose the reviewers’ identities at any time.
• The editor is responsible for duly informing the author of the current stage of the editorial process for the submitted manuscript, as well as the results of the review.
• An editor must evaluate manuscripts and their intellectual content without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political views.
• The editor and the editorial team will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, or other editorial advisors.
• All unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript shall not be used in an editor’s personal research without the author’s express written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained through the peer review process shall be kept confidential and shall not be used for personal gain. Editors must make fair and impartial decisions and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process.

Authors' Responsibilities

• Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are the result of their original work and that the data have been obtained ethically. In addition, they must ensure that their work has not been previously published or is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. A work will be considered previously published if any of the following situations apply:

1. When the full text has been published.
   2. When extensive excerpts from previously published materials are included in the text submitted to the Journal.
   3. When the work submitted to the Journal is included in proceedings published in full.
   4. These criteria apply to previous publications in print or electronic form, in any language.

• To have their work published, authors must strictly adhere to the guidelines for article submission established by the Editorial Board.
• Authors should submit to the journal a copy of the article that does not contain any personal information (name, contact information, affiliation, etc.) and should omit their names from any bibliographic references in which they appear.
• Authors of original research reports must provide an accurate description of the work performed, as well as an objective discussion of its significance. The underlying data must be accurately presented in the article. A paper must contain sufficient detail and references to enable others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
• Authors must ensure that they have written the entire manuscript themselves; if they have used the work and/or words of others, these must be properly cited. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical editorial conduct and is unacceptable. Consequently, any manuscript found to contain plagiarism will be rejected and will not be considered for publication. The iThenticate software will be used to verify the originality of the submitted content.
• In general, an author should not submit manuscripts that essentially describe the same research to more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical behavior, and such publication is unacceptable.
• Sources must be properly cited. Authors must cite publications that have influenced the nature of the work presented. Information obtained privately—such as through conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties—must not be used without the source’s explicit written permission.
• Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author(s) must ensure that all co-authors are included in the article, that all have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript, and that they have agreed to its submission for publication.
• All authors must disclose in their manuscript any financial or other conflicts of interest that could influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed.
• When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obligated to immediately notify the journal’s editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Responsibilities of reviewers

• Reviewers agree to report any unethical conduct on the part of authors and to highlight any information that could serve as grounds for rejecting the publication of articles. In addition, they must agree to keep confidential any information related to the articles they review.
• When reviewing manuscripts, reviewers must have access to the guidelines for this task. These guidelines must be provided by the editor and should be followed during the evaluation process.
• Every selected reviewer must notify the editor as soon as possible whether they are qualified to review the research in a manuscript or whether they are unable to do so.
• Any manuscript received for review must be treated as a confidential document. It must not be shown to or discussed with other experts without the editor’s permission.
• Reviewers must remain objective. Any personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly and support them with valid arguments.
• Any privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and may not be used for personal gain.
• Reviewers should not evaluate manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

AI Use Policy

Lux Médicarecognizes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly expanding tool that can support research and scientific communication processes. Its use must be transparent, responsible, and ethically oriented toward the common good. In accordance with the values ​​of open science, the journal proposes that authors submit a declaration of responsible use, indicating the parts of the process where AI was used and the type of use.

Failure to comply with this policy or the detection of misuse of artificial intelligence may result in a request for correction or retraction of the manuscript.

Interoperability Protocols

This digital journal, which is hosted and published using the Open Journal System (OJS), implements the OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) protocol, a metadata harvesting protocol based on the Dublin Core schema.

This can be verified using the OAI-MPH Validator (https://validator.oaipmh.com/), by entering the following URL:

OAI-PMH URL: https://revistas.uaa.mx/index.php/luxmedica/oai

You may also want to check out:

https://revistas.uaa.mx/index.php/luxmedica/oai?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=oai_dc

Digital Preservation and Archiving Systems

Actions at the institutional level:

The content hosted on the Open Journal System (OJS) platform of the journal Lux Médica, is digitally preserved on the designated server, in accordance with the processes established by the Editorial Department of the General Directorate of Outreach and Engagement and the Department of Networks and Telecommunications of the General Directorate of Planning and Development at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes (UAA). In general, this process consists of the following:

- Editorial Department, Office of Outreach and Engagement:

1. Frequent website maintenance and technical administration of the institutional OJS.
2. Version updates.
3. Automatic backups every 12 hours, with the ability to access previous backups; this includes:
   1. OJS configuration files.
   2. The database.
   3. Backup log.
   4. Automated monitoring of backups, tracking storage space.

- Department of Networks and Telecommunications, Office of Planning and Development:

1. Monthly OJS backups, with implications similar to those of the Editorial Department’s regular backups, including:
   1. Backup log.
   2. Automated monitoring of backups, tracking storage space.

Complementary strategies:

Lux Médica, as it is published using the Open Journal System (OJS) software from the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), supports the archiving of its publications in the systems compatible with the platform, such as:

1. Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (CLOCKSS): A system that ensures the secure and permanent digital preservation of publications, based on technology developed by Stanford University. It allows participating libraries to archive digital journals and their content by validating caches and restoring them in the event of loss or corruption.
2. Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (LOCKSS): This is an open-source tool created by Stanford University Library that helps libraries preserve electronic journals by periodically collecting newly published content. The archives are continuously verified against copies stored at other institutions, allowing for the restoration of any damaged or lost information. (See the Publishing Manifesto: https://revistas.uaa.mx/index.php/luxmedica/gateway/lockss).
3. PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN): Enables publishers using OJS to ensure the long-term preservation of their content. In the event that a journal ceases operations or becomes unavailable online, continued access to its articles and issues is guaranteed over the long term. To achieve this, the PKP PN uses LOCKSS technology, which offers a distributed and decentralized preservation model supported by multiple institutions.

In addition, through the services of Crossref, Lux Médica supports the metadata of its articles by assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to each one, which enables their persistent identification and facilitates access to them.

We also encourage self-archiving by authors who have contributed to articles published in previous issues, so that they can store their articles in personal repositories as an additional strategy for preserving information.