ISSN 0717-7518 online version
ISSN 0716-1549 print version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Manuscripts Guidelines
• Authorship responsability
• Manuscript submission
• Editor in Chief

The journal publishes editorials, article updates, essays, research papers, clinical report, letters to the Editor and technical notes in the area of nutrition and related The journal publishes editorials, article updates, essays, research papers, clinical reports, letters to the Editor and technical notes in the area of nutrition and related sciences.

Articles are submitted via an online Scielo platform. Upon receipt of a new article, the journal secretary reviews the format of the paper. If the formatting guidelines are not met, the paper will be returned to the author. If the Editor-in-Chief considers that the focus of the paper is in line with the interests of the journal, the article will be assigned to the appropriate Section Editor: basic science, clinical, food, public nutrition. The Section Editor will then send the article to at least three reviewers, that may include members of the Editorial Committee or external reviewers. Suggestions for possible reviewers made by article authors at submission will be considered. Articles will be reviewed following pre-established forms. Reviewers submit their assessment of the article within three weeks.

If the Editor considers it appropriate, the article may be subject to evaluation by new experts in the field of study.

If accepted for publication, the paper is published in the next issue with available space, which is reported to the corresponding author.

If the article is accepted with modifications, it is returned to author(s) with the reviewer comments for correction. Once corrected, the Editor will re-send it to the initial reviewers. If the paper is accepted, it will be published.

If the article is not accepted for publication, it will be sent back to the corresponding author with reviewer comments.

Only articles received via an ad-hoc online platform, after registration by the corresponding author, will be considered. link: https://www.manuscriptlink.com/journals/rchnut.

Guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts

• Research papers describe the results of experimental or descriptive studies carried out in a way which allows the deduction of valid conclusions. The maximum length is 20 double-spaced pages (from introduction to acknowledgements, without considering references, figures or tables).

• Update articles are requested of experts in the field by the Editor. Other authors can also send update articles after consultation and approval of the Editor-in-Chief. Topics include critical reviews on areas of interest in the field of nutrition and related sciences, or general discussions which contain criteria or recommendations for practice. The maximum length is 15 double-spaced pages (introduction-acknowledgements).

• Systematic Reviews (SR) are scientific investigations that collect and provide synthesized information on a specific topic and must answer a previously defined research question. In SRs, the unit of analysis is original research, which is available in databases, metasearch engines, gray literature, and abstract conference books, among others. SR can be of two types: qualitative or meta-analysis. Qualitative SRs describe the findings without performing any statistical analysis, while meta-analyses use statistical techniques to explain the results. The RCHNUT will consider these articles for publication (SR and meta-analysis), which must follow the PRISMA checklist. Besides, it is highly recommended to register RS in PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/. SRs must include a structured abstract (maximum 250 words), must not exceed 3500 words, and between 50 to 75 references. The number of figures and tables is limited to 4 in total, but in exceptional cases, other tables and figures may be allowed upon request and review by the editor-in-chief.

• Essays are analysis focused on a topic from the perspective of the author(s). Essays should have no more than 15 double-spaced pages (introduction-acknowledgements).

• Clinical reports describe patients with medical problems of nutritional interest. Clinical reports should be no more than 10 double-spaced pages (introduction-acknowledgements).

• Letters to the Editor are short notes of up to 3 pages on preliminary results of an ongoing investigation (introduction of the problem, hypothesis, and short bibliography), topics of general interest, comments or criticisms of any contributions published in the Journal.

• Technical notes are short communications (3 pages maximum) on methods and techniques developed by the author(s).

Contributions to the journal should be typed on a computer, double-spaced; letter size, with left and right margins of no less than 3 cm, in Times New Roman or Arial font, size 12. All pages should include page and line numbers (starting at title page). Text should be left justified.

In the first step of the submission process on the online platform, a cover letter addressed to the Editor should be included. The cover letter should include the following information: article title, author(s), a brief overview of the article content, and assurance that the article is not under review at another journal. Previous publication should also be indicated if applicable.

Additionally, the names and email contact of at least 3 potential expert reviewers should be provided.

Manuscripts can be written in Spanish or English.

Correspondence relating to a submitted manuscript will be established with the corresponding author.

Manuscript organization:

A single WORD document including text, tables, and figures should be submitted via the online platform (Step 2 in the submission process). Manuscripts should be organized as follows:

Title page: The first page of the manuscript should contain the full title in Spanish and English. The title should be concise, sufficiently self-explanatory, and should not contain abbreviations or formulas. The title page should also include full name(s) of author(s) and institution of affiliation indicated with a super-script number.

In a separate list, each super-script number representing a different affiliation should be should be detailed: academic unit (school, department, institute or other), city, and country. The corresponding author should also be identified and the following information provided: name, affiliation, address, telephone, and email.

Finally, the position and degrees of each author should be included on the title page. This information will not be included in the published article.

Abstract. On pages 2-3, respectively, an abstract in English and Spanish should be provided. Abstracts should be informative, clear, and concise. The purpose, methods, primary results and conclusions should be presented in a continuous form, with no bolded headings. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words.

Key words: At least five key words, separated by a semi-colon, should be included at the end of the abstract (both English and Spanish versions).

Introduction: beginning on page 4, the conceptual framework that guides the article should be presented. This should be followed by the study objective or hypothesis. The introduction should not exceed 2 pages.

Material and methods: The methods that support the proposed hypothesis should be presented clearly, with sufficient detail to allow for replication. The description of the materials and methods should be concise. When the techniques or procedures used have previously been published, their bibliographic source should be cited and only substantial deviations from the original procedure detailed. When local or regional terms are used, they must be accompanied by the appropriate scientific- or general- use term. The analysis plan and statistical tests used should also be described. If the study involved human or animal subjects, ethics committee approval and, in the case of human participation, informed consent procedures should be mentioned.

Results: when possible, results should be presented in tables and/or figures, supported by statistical calculations, avoiding repetition (for example, repetition of results in table and text) and choosing the representation based on the best interpretation of the results. Sub-headings can be included to facilitate comprehension.

Periodic or prime decimal numbers in text, tables, and charts must follow the standard for decimal numbers:

• Numbers <1 should contain 3 decimal places
• Numbers between 1 and 9.99 should contain 2 decimal places
• Numbers between 10 and 99.9 should have 1 decimal
• Numbers 100 or greater should not be accompanied by decimals. The exception is percentages which, independent of number, should be accompanied by 1 decimal place.

For statistical significance use up to 3 decimal places, any smaller number is designated <0.001; for correlation number (Pearson or Spearman's) is designated 2 decimals.

Discussion: should be brief and restricted to the significant aspects of the work without repeating content presented in the introduction or results. The discussion should be based on previously published word that supports the results obtained.

Conclusion: should be based on results obtained and provide, if possible, a solution to the problem posed in the introduction. The conclusion could be included at the end of the discussion section or as a separate section.

References. The bibliographic citations should be indicated with Arabic numerals in the text, in brackets, numbered sequentially. Only materials published in high-circulation journals or in books should be cited.

Independent of the language of the article submitted (English or Spanish), references must be provided in ENGLISH.

References sequentially numbered by order of appearance should be listed at the end of the work using international standards (Vancouver), which are illustrated in the following examples:

• Articles in journals:
  Miranda M, Olivares M, Durán-Pérez, Pizarro F. Anemia prevalence and nutritional status in children of a suburban area of Sucre, Bolivia. Rev Chil Nutr. 2015; 42: 324-327.
  NOTE 1: without DOI, without issue number
  NOTE 2: if there are more than 6 authors, after the 6th author abbreviate with et al

• Books:
  Good, WJ. The family. Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey, 1964.

• Books without an individual author:
  Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. Official Methods of Analysis of the AOAC. 12 th ed. Washington, D.C., The Association, 1975, p. 30.

• Article or chapter by an author (s) within a published book:
  Hosking WG, Charles M. Macaroni production Matz, S.A. ed. The Chemistry and Technology of Cereals as Food and Feed.
  Westport, Conn., The Avi Publishing Co., 1959, p. 274-320.

Maximum number of references depends on manuscript type:

• Research paper: 40
• Update articles: 50
• Systematic reviews: 75
• Essays: 30
• Clinical reports: 30
• Letters to the editor and technical notes: 10

Figures and tables

• Should be included at the end of the document (first figure(s), followed by table(s)) after the references, each on a separate page.
• The same font and size used in the article should be utilized.
• Should be numbered according to appearance in the text.
• Figures can be submitted in digital format (jpg). However, in the event the article is accepted for publication, the author will be asked to send figures in a high-resolution TIFF format.
• All legends for figure(s) should be submitted on a separate page. Legends should identify figure number and provide all necessary information for correct interpretation independent of the article. If applicable, statistical differences including statistical test used should be specified.
• Tables should be in Word format and sequentially numbered according to appearance. Line numbers should not be included for tables. Tables inserted as figures will not be accepted.
• Every table should contain a brief title that clearly describes table content. Table clarifications should be provided as table footnotes. Column names should be short or abbreviated, with clarifications provided, as necessary, in table footnotes. The statistical tests used should be clearly indicated. Tables should include all information necessary for interpretation. No vertical lines should be shown.
• A maximum of 6 total figures and tables will be accepted.

Abbreviations and acronyms. Internationally accepted abbreviations should be used (Current Contents System). When using unusual acronyms that repeat in the manuscript, they should be defined after first use followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. All abbreviations and acronyms should be reported without periods.

Nomenclature: the nomenclature of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) should be used for vitamins and other nutrients. The Decimal Metric System or International System Units should be used for units of measurement:

A more complete list of abbreviations and symbols commonly used in biology and medicine is published in Annals of Internal Medicine 1979;90:98-99.

For energy units, calorie (cal) or Joules (J) will be used interchangeably.

Numerical Results. To note numbers, use the comma (,) to indicate decimals, e.g. 37,5, and a period to indicate thousands, millions, and so on. For example: 2.538.

At the time of submission, in Step 4 of the online process “Attached supplementary material”, the author(s) must attached signed copies of the following documents:

Guide of requirements for manuscripts: http://media.wix.com/ugd/a9223b_90d6f0a940b84d70acaa1e568bd55ed7.docx?dn=Guia%20de%20exigencias.docx.

http://media.wix.com/ugd/a9223b_9776859298e6464db512dc0e64c70527.docx?dn=Responsabilidad%20de%20autoria.docx.

Manuscripts should be submitted via the online platform:

http://cl.submission.scielo.org/index.php/rchnut/.

• Prof. FERNANDO PIZARRO AGUIRRE
  revista@sochinut.cl