Submissions

Author Guidelines

To make a new submission of your article, please read the current instructions of the OJS platform to make a submission

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You can also see the video here

Editorial workflow in OJS 3.3. Module 3: Submitting an Article

Article Processing Charges or APCs

At Horizon Interdisciplinary Journal, we are pleased to announce that during the first year of operations, we are committed to supporting the academic and scientific community by completely waiving the article processing charges. We understand the importance of promoting open access to research and aim to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge without financial barriers.

During this initial period, authors will have no costs associated with the publication of their articles in our journal. This includes both the peer review process and the online publication of accepted articles. Our goal is to encourage researchers and scholars to participate by providing an accessible platform for sharing their valuable work.

We deeply value the work of the academic and scientific community and recognize the economic challenges researchers face today. By eliminating article processing charges for the first year, we believe we can promote wider dissemination of research and stimulate the advancement of knowledge across the disciplines that Horizon Interdisciplinary Journal includes.

The authors should use the adequate template for the submission of the article:

HORIZON Title Page

HORIZON Article Template

HORIZON Case Report Template

Evaluation questionary template

Download here

STRUCTURE OF THE MANUSCRIPT

TITLE

Title of work (it is desirable that it does not exceed 15 words)

Título del trabajo (es deseable que no supere las 15 palabras)

ABSTRACT

Abstract. - The abstract can be described as follows: 1) Problem brief discussion. 2) Identify the main objectives and scope of the investigation. 3) Mention the materials and methods used. 4) State the significant results (if applicable, indicate numerical, percentages); and 5) Present the main conclusions (contributions to the field of knowledge). The abstract briefly describes the content of the article. The fundamental ideas of relevance, as well as the results and general conclusions of the work reported. The article must be written in Spanish or English using the Microsoft Word program. Suggested extension in the range of 150-400 words.

Keywords:  Format; Template; Instructions. These words give an idea of the subject or area of the article.

Resumen. - El resumen puede describirse de la siguiente manera: 1) Presentar el problema. 2) Identificar los principales objetivos y alcances de la investigación. 3) Mencionar los materiales y métodos utilizados. 4) Enunciar los resultados significativos (si aplica, indicar numéricos, porcentajes); y 5) Presentar las conclusiones principales (contribuciones al campo del conocimiento). El resumen describe de forma concisa el contenido del artículo. Las ideas fundamentales de relevancia, así como los resultados y las conclusiones generales del trabajo reportado. Extensión sugerida en el rango de las 150-400 palabras.

Palabras clave: Formato; Plantilla; Instrucciones. Son palabras que por sí mismas dan idea del tema o área del artículo. 

GENERAL NOTES

For this template, the information must be divided into sections in such a way that they give a coherent structure to the article. Each section must include a header, which will be numbered with Arabic numerals, according to the example presented here. All section headers will use a 12-point font size.

The line spacing throughout the article (separation of the lines) is simple, and the paragraph is justified. No indentation of any kind will be used. A blank line will be left to separate the paragraphs. It is advisable to develop the paragraphs from the main ideas, avoiding excessive length.

When an article contains a substantial number of mathematical formulas, it is important to indicate the corresponding nomenclature prior to the introduction of the article. However, the nomenclature may alternatively be described in the background section or the methodology section, as appropriate. The nomenclature is important to help the reader understand the manuscript.

Preferably, the article should be written in Spanish and English, using the Microsoft Word program. The document will be written on a letter-size sheet using the “Lora” font, the font sizes and styles depend on each section of the document, this template shows the requested sizes and styles. The document margins are: top 2.5 cm, bottom 2.0 cm, left side 3 cm and right side 2.5 cm. It is mandatory to write the abstract and keywords in English and Spanish.

EXTENSION BY TYPE OF ARTICLES

Research articles (original research): Original research articles present a medical or scientific advance. These manuscripts must present comprehensive studies that report innovative advances that advance knowledge on a topic of importance to the fields of biology or medicine. The conclusions of the original research article must be clearly supported by the results. These works must have an extension from 3,000 to 10,000 words. These must be at least 30 citations, where at least 90% are referenced from the last 10 years. It is desirable that at least 50% of the citations be made to works published in English to demonstrate mastery of the subject in accordance with international trends. Original research articles contain five sections: (i) Abstract, (ii) Introduction, (iii) Materials and Methods, (iv) Results and Discussions, and (v) Conclusions.

Clinical cases: Clinical cases describe an unusual disease presentation, a new treatment, an unexpected drug interaction, a new diagnostic method, or a difficult diagnosis. Case reports should include relevant positive and negative findings from the history, examination, and investigation and may include clinical photographs. In addition, the author should make it clear what the case brings to the field of medicine and include an up-to-date review of all previous cases in the field. Case series are articles presenting more than three patients. These articles should be longer than 5,000 words with no more than 6 figures, 3 tables, and 100 references. Case reports contain five sections: (i) Summary, (ii) Introduction, (iii) Presentation of the case, (iv) Discussion, (V) Conclusions.

Perspectives: Perspectives provide a personal view on medical or biomedical topics in a clear narrative voice. Articles can relate personal experiences, a historical perspective, or a scientific profile of people or topics important to medicine and biology. These articles can be submitted as a short/opinion article (no more than 2,500 words, 2 tables, and 30 references) or a long perspective (no more than 6,000 words, 2 tables, and 50 references). Perspectives contain four sections: (i) Summary, (ii) Introduction, (iii) Themes (with headings and subheadings), (iv) Conclusions and Perspectives.

Review Articles: Reviews provide a reasoned survey and examination of a particular research topic in biology or medicine. These jobs are usually long. Review articles can be narrative reviews or systematic reviews. Narrative reviews are longer and can range from 8,000 to 40,000 words. Systematic reviews are generally less than 10,000 words. These must be at least 60 citations for review articles, where at least 90% are referenced from the last 10 years. It is desirable that at least 50% of the citations be made to works published in English to demonstrate mastery of the subject in accordance with international trends. They should include a critical evaluation of the works cited, explanations of conflicts in the literature, and an analysis of the field. The conclusion should discuss in detail the limitations of current knowledge, future research directions, and the general importance of the topic in medicine or biology.

The reviews contain four sections: (i) Summary, (ii) Introduction, (iii) Themes (with headings and subheadings), (iv) Conclusions and perspectives. Furthermore, systematic reviews* should be organized in five sections: 1. Introduction, 2. Method, 3. Results, 4. Discussion and 5. Conclussions.

*The manuscript should conform to the methodological guidelines for Systematic Reviews of PRISMA, COCHRANE or Standards of Comparable Quality.

Letters to the editor: A letter to the editor is a type of scientific publication that is classified as "short communication" and that allows readers to interact with the authors either through opinions, criticism, contributions, ideas, hypotheses, and new data. It is a type of short scientific publication that deals with a topic of interest to the readers of a journal. In addition, it offers feedback and encourages the exchange of knowledge and ideas. It also works as a discussion forum that allows post-publication critical review of scientific articles and is, at the same time, an additional quality control mechanism. They must have an extension between 250 to 500 words

Opinion articles, comments, and essays: These works are usually short. Opinion articles, comments, and essays have an extension between 1,000 and 2,000 words. These articles focus on criticizing works published by the journal.

INTRODUCTION

Statement of the problem and justification of why it is important to carry out the study. Likewise, it is important to establish the objectives of the work presented. The introduction is the text that serves to induce the reader with the topics that the article addresses. It is essential that citations to other works are included that allow substantiating the proposal presented in the article. Citations to other sources should be referenced using Vancouver superscript format.

The article must be related to the scientific context, and make a discussion of related hypotheses (previous works, unresolved theses, etc.).

At the end of this section, emphasis should be placed on (i) Clearly explaining the scope; (ii) Indicate the method selected or proposed and the reason for its choice; (iii) Mention the objective of the work and justifying its contribution to the solution of the general problem. In addition, it is advisable to briefly describe the sections that the work consists of.

At the end of a section, two blank lines will be left before placing the title of the next section.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Description of materials and methods in detail, so that colleagues can fully repeat the study. The author is free to name the sections to suit the information he wishes to display.

This section should describe the following aspects:

• Present the tools and methods in a logical order.
• State the limitations of the work. That is, emphasis should be placed on aspects that cannot be known with certainty from the research design.

If possible, it is recommended to use a calculations subsection in order to present the work more clearly.

The development of a flowchart is suggested, to make it easier for the reader to understand the methodology used.

Subtitle section

In the event that the structure of the article requires subsections, these will be listed according to their order of appearance. When subsections are used, the separation between the title of the subsection and the paragraphs above and below will be one line. The subsections will be numbered with Arabic numerals. The font size used for subsection titles is the same as for the body of the manuscript (12-points).

When an equation is shown in the article, said equation must be numbered. The numbering will be done according to the order of appearance of the equation in the article. The numbering will be done with Arabic numerals enclosed in parentheses. Here is an example of an equation:

 A + B = C                                               (1)

The equations are centered in the column, with the number at the end of the line. The variables of the equations must be defined when they appear for the first time in the equation, or in some place prior to the presentation of the equation in the article. When referring to an equation in the body of the manuscript, the equation should be called by the number that identifies it placed in parentheses. For example, equation (1) represents the example equation considered in this template.

Figures should be separated from the paragraph by two lines on the upper side and two lines on the lower side. The figures must be centered in addition to being numbered according to their order of appearance in the article. The size of the font for the title of the figures is 10 points and in italic format. 

Each figure must be placed in proximity to the paragraph in which its description is made. 

The figures will be incorporated into the text and in turn, will be sent in a separate .jpg or .tiff file, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

It is important to describe the results in detail, while discussing them according to the circumstances of the specific case and, if appropriate, contrasting these results with those of similar studies.

The section should describe the following aspects:

• Describe the main results.

• Develop a substantial discussion of the results based on the procedures and/or contributions to the field of knowledge.
• Include figures, graphs, and/or tables.

It is important to note that the results must correspond to the objectives set.

Tables must use normal size 10 “Lora” font. The first line of the table must be in bold, indicating the title of each column. The title of the table should be placed two lines above the previous paragraph, and the following paragraph should also be two lines apart from the table. The tables must also be delivered in a separate and editable .docx file, please do not attach them as an image file.

Table 1. Sample of a table.

When in the article it is necessary to highlight some information, the authors are requested to write that part of the text in bold. In the case of this document, it is important that the author considers that the recommended length of the manuscript is between 3,000 and 10,000 words, including figures, tables, and references. The acceptance of articles that do not comply with the formatting guidelines described in this template is at the discretion of the assigned editor.

CONCLUSIONS

They must follow the following structure: 1) Main results, 2) Main contributions to the field of knowledge, 3) Scope and/or limitations of the research (economic, technical, etc.), 4) Applicability in the corresponding sector (economic, commercial, legal, etc.) and, 5) State new research questions (new objectives for future research).

The following aspects should be described in this section:

• The progress of the work presented (main results); avoiding making comments that are not supported by those presented, except in cases where reference is made to works by other authors.
• The main limitations of the work.
• Contributions to the field of knowledge, especially in terms of a solution or progress in reaching a real solution to the problem.
• The applicability of contributions.
• State new research questions (future work) that help extend the limits of the frontier of knowledge.

It is essential to avoid comments that are not supported by the results

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In this section, the authors acknowledge funding sources, support in conducting essays or discussions, or names of the people who reviewed the English language or the writing of the document.

AUTHORSHIP RECOGNITION

This section is populated as the article has been accepted

The Horizon Interdisciplinary Journal uses the CRediT* (Contributor Role Taxonomy) with the intent of acknowledging the contributions of individual authors, reducing authorship disputes, and facilitating collaboration.

CRediT offers authors the opportunity to share an accurate and detailed description of their various contributions to the published work.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that descriptions are accurate and agree with all authors.

The roles of all authors should be listed, using the relevant categories above.

Authors may have contributed in multiple roles.

CRediT in no way changes the journal's criteria for qualifying for authorship.

CRediT statements must be provided during the submission process and will appear above the acknowledgment section of the published article as shown below.

* Brand A, Allen L, Altman M, Hlava M, Scott J. Beyond authorship: attribution, contribution, collaboration, and credit. Learn Publ [Internet]. 2015 Apr 1;28(2):151–5. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1087/20150211

REFERENCES

The references section is not listed. This section shows the bibliographic information of the main references used by the author. The list of references is ordered according to the order of appearance in the article. Note the difference between the reference to a journal article, a book, or an article in the proceedings of a conference. The separation between one reference and another is one line. Use 1 cm indentation in the lines following the first line. The font size in the references section is 10 points. Write only the title of the work in italics.

References must be in Vancouver Superscript format Whenever possible, DOI's should provided for references. These must be at least 30 citations for research articles and 60 citations for review articles, where at least 90% are referenced from the last 10 years. It is desirable that at least 50% of the citations be made to works published in the English language to demonstrate mastery of the subject according to international trends.