Any article submitted to this journal must include a series of statements both on the title page and within the body of the article in certain cases. Statements will be required even if they are also requested on the submission platform, or if the author believes they do not exist or are not applicable.
TITLE PAGE
The following statements must be included on the title page:
Ethical considerations
Any article that includes experiments involving human subjects will require a statement from the author confirming that all procedures were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, relevant laws, and institutional guidelines. The study’s ethical approval reference number should be included in works involving human experimentation. When experimentation involves animals, compliance with the relevant regulations must also be noted.
This is a mandatory statement for Original Articles, Short Originals, and Clinical-Pathological Conferences. Depending on the nature of Special Articles and Protocols, an ethical statement may be required. Authors of Special Articles and Protocols must always include a statement one way or another: that it has been obtained or that it is not applicable. While systematic reviews do not require ethical approval, they must be based on original research that does meet those ethical requirements.
Informed consent
It must be stated that there are no patient data in the article, and if there are, that they do not violate the privacy and confidentiality of the patient, nor allow for their identification, and that in any case, informed consent for participation in research and for the presentation of results in a publication is in place.
The rights of privacy of human subjects must always be respected. Appropriate consents and permissions must be obtained when presenting one or more cases (anonymised) without experimentation or when an author wishes to include details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Isolated data such as age, sex, service, or institution presented together can breach patient privacy and confidentiality. Images accompanied by any patient data always require a statement.
The author will retain written consents and provide Elsevier with copies of the consents or proof of their acquisition when requested.
When Original research refers to retrospective studies where obtaining informed consent is not possible, the author must obtain exemption from this statement from their institution's Ethics Committee to proceed with the research.
This is a mandatory statement for Original Articles, Short Originals, Clinical Eye, Scientific-Clinical Letters, and Clinical-Pathological Conferences. While systematic reviews do not require informed consent, they must be based on original research that does comply with this requirement.
Funding
The author will identify who provided financial support for the research and/or preparation of the article and briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if applicable, in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the drafting of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) did not have such involvement, this should be declared.
This is a mandatory statement for all sections. In the absence of funding, it should state: “Funding: none.”
Conflict of interests
Any financial or personal relationships with other people or organisations that may have influenced the work must be specified, even if not directly related to the current manuscript. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancy, share ownership, fees, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and other funding, as well as travel grants and participation in courses and conferences as a paid expert.
If a member of the Editorial Board contributes as an author to any manuscript submitted to the Journal, the responsible editor must include the following statement in the conflict of interest section: “As ABC is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal, they have not participated in or had access to information regarding the review and acceptance process of the manuscript.”
This statement is always mandatory. There will be a statement from each of the participating authors. In the absence of any conflict, it should state: "Conflict of interest: none."
Use of generative artificial intelligence in scientific writing Single permitted use.
Please see the description further down in these guidelines.
Mandatory statement whenever it is used.
Authorship
All authors must have made substantial contributions in each of the following aspects: (1) the conception and design of the study, or the acquisition of data, or the analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or critically revising its intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted. No changes to authorship or alterations to the order of authors may be made once the article has been submitted without prior justification and approval from the Chief Editor.
BODY OF THE ARTICLE In cases where experiments are conducted with animals or human subjects, certain statements must be included within the manuscript even if they are also required on the submission platform or on the title page. These statements will always be declared in Original Articles or Short Originals, regardless of whether the author believes they do not exist or are not applicable.
Ethics and informed consent
In the case of experiments involving human or animal subjects, the author must declare in the materials and methods section (of the originals, short originals, or case series articles) that the guidelines on Human and Animal Rights described in the "Ethics in Publishing" section of this author guideline have been followed. In particular, if human experimentation is involved, the authors will confirm that the research has been conducted in accordance with the ethical code of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki), and in the case of animals, that the ARRIVE guidelines have been followed or that they are acting in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act and, where applicable, the Animal Welfare Act. The authors must also declare in the materials and methods section (original or short original) that they have obtained informed consent and approval from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CREC) or the relevant committee without revealing data that would hinder blind evaluation. Please note that Spanish Biomedical Research Law stipulates that the Ethics Committees for Research corresponding to each institution must evaluate all biomedical research involving interventions in humans or the use of their biological samples.
Appropriate consents and permissions must be obtained when presenting one or more cases without experimentation or when an author wishes to include details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. The author will retain written consent forms and provide Elsevier with copies of the consent forms or evidence of their acquisition upon request.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Clinical or experimental studies, randomised clinical trials, cohort studies, screening studies or diagnostic tests, cost-effectiveness analyses, decision-making evaluation studies, interventional studies, case-control studies, and survey-based studies with a high response rate will be considered. They may cover any field related to Internal Medicine, with particular emphasis on their clinical relevance.
Occasionally, study protocols that are deemed relevant, innovative, and potentially citable may be accepted for publication, subject to evaluation by the Editorial Committee. The topics of the articles may cover any field related to Medicine, with particular emphasis on their clinical relevance.
They will have a maximum length of 4,000 words, excluding the title page or first page with its statements, the structured abstract of 250 words, keywords, figure legends, and references (maximum 50). A maximum of 6 tables or figures will be allowed. The number of authors will not exceed 10 but may increase if the corresponding author provides justification and in cases of collaborative studies. Preparation of a graphical abstract summarising the most important aspects of the manuscript will be mandatory; the author may submit it initially or when they know their article will be accepted. You can find information for creating it at (https://www.elsevier.com/researcher/author/tools-and-resources/graphical-abstract).
Revista Clínica Española requires registration of all clinical trials that have been published, as well as acceptance of the studies by the relevant ethics committees. For the preparation of controlled clinical trials, the CONSORT guidelines must be followed, available at: http://www.consort-statement.org/. In the case of observational studies, the points outlined in the checklist available at: http://www.strobe-statement.org/ must be followed. For studies on the validity of diagnostic tests, the STARD guidelines available at: http://www.stard-statement.org/ must be adhered to.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
SHORT ORIGINALS
These will be considered research works that, due to their characteristics, may be published in abbreviated form. They will be structured like original articles. The length will not exceed 1,500 words, excluding the title page or first page with its statements, the abstract (of 150 words), keywords, figure legends, and references (no more than 20). Up to 2 figures or tables may be included. The number of authors will not exceed 8. Preparation of a graphical abstract summarising the most important aspects of the manuscript will be mandatory; the author may submit it initially or when they know their article will be accepted. Information for creating it can be found at (https://www.elsevier.com/researcher/author/tools-and-resources/graphical-abstract).
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
CLINICAL REVIEW
This section will feature commissioned articles on topics that the Editorial Committee considers relevant and worthy of updating knowledge. It may appear in one of the following formats:
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A narrative clinical review with a maximum length of 4,000 words in the manuscript, excluding the title page or first page with statements, an unstructured abstract of 150 words, keywords, bibliography (maximum 80 references), and figure legends. Up to 4 tables or figures may be included;
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A brief clinical review with a maximum length of 2,000 words in the manuscript, excluding the title page or first page with statements, an unstructured abstract of 150 words, keywords, bibliography (maximum 50 references), and figure legends. Up to 2 tables or figures may be included.
The maximum number of authors will be 4 for either format. Any author may submit unsolicited manuscripts for consideration in this section, subject to prior contact and acceptance of the topic by the Editorial Team.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS AND META-ANALYSES
Systematic reviews may or may not use statistical methods (meta-analysis) to analyse and summarise the results of the included studies. The PRISMA guidelines will be followed, available at: http://prisma-statement.org/. The maximum length of the manuscript will be 4,000 words, excluding the title page or first page with statements, the structured abstract (maximum 250), keywords, bibliography (maximum 80 references), and figure legends. Up to 5 tables or figures may be included. The maximum number of authors will not exceed 6. Preparation of a graphical abstract summarising the most important aspects of the manuscript is recommended. Information for creating it can be found at (https://www.elsevier.com/researcher/author/tools-and-resources/graphical-abstract).
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
THE CLINICAL EYE
This section will publish an image that has high educational or training value on its own. The image must be detailed and accompanied by arrows or symbols for clarification. A maximum of 3 authors and 150 words (excluding the title) may be included, as well as 2 references at the authors' discretion (not mandatory).
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
CLINICAL-PATHOLOGICAL CONFERENCES
Sessions that meet the following criteria may be submitted to this section:
a) Clinical discussion of a case, accompanied by an anatomical-pathological correlation, held in any of the Spanish hospitals; b) The clinical speaker will discuss the most relevant aspects of the case, establish a series of differential diagnoses based on the provided data, and suggest a diagnosis. The discussion will always centre around the clinical data of the presented case. The initial diagnosis established by the responsible physicians will then be detailed. Subsequently, some of the interventions or comments (a maximum of 4) raised by attendees at the session will be collected; c) After the clinical discussion, a pathologist will detail the main histopathological findings and specify the cytological-histological diagnosis; d) Following this, the clinical speaker may perform the anatomical-clinical correlation; e) The maximum length of the work will be 4,000 words, excluding the title page and abstract, as well as a maximum of 20 bibliographic citations. Up to 3 tables and 4 figures will be permitted. The maximum number of authors will be 5; f) The clinical speaker and the pathologist will be listed as authors in the manuscript. If a third person is responsible for organising the Clinical-Pathological Conferences (CPC) and collaborates in its editing, they will be listed as an Associate Editor, not as an author; g) All CPCs must be evaluated by the Editorial Board of Rev Clin Esp before acceptance and publication.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
SCIENTIFIC LETTERS
These will consist of observations or experiences that can be summarised in a brief text and communicated concisely. A maximum of 750 words, 1 figure or table, and up to 15 bibliographic citations will be permitted, with a maximum of 4 authors.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
These will be objections or comments on articles recently published in the Journal. Letters regarding articles previously published in the Journal will take precedence for publication, as well as the right to reply. These letters will be shorter, with a maximum of 300 words and 5 bibliographic references; they must not reference unpublished personal studies or experiences. They will be sent to the author of the original work, who may respond in a similarly sized written piece within a month. The Letter and the reply will be published continuously.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
SPECIAL ARTICLES
This section aims to accommodate manuscripts that, due to their unique content, cannot be included in other sections. They will have a maximum length of 2,000 words, excluding the title page or first page where the required statements will be included, the unstructured abstract of 150 words, keywords, and a maximum of 40 bibliographic citations. Up to 3 tables or figures may be included. The maximum number of authors will be 3.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
CONSENSUS DOCUMENTS
The submission of the final manuscript for evaluation in Revista Clínica Española must be accompanied by the corresponding authorisation from the Board of Directors of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine, as well as from any other societies that may be represented in the document. Ideally, consensus works with a multidisciplinary perspective will be valued, including specialists who typically address a particular pathology. The required statements must be included on the title page or first page of the manuscript. The journal will publish the accepted consensus document as an Executive Summary. The aim of publishing the Executive Summary is to provide readers with a synthesis of the consensus document, while offering sufficient detail and clarity to understand the scope and most relevant points of the complete document. The following guidelines should be followed for its preparation:
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Title in Spanish and English. It should preferably begin with the phrase: "Executive summary of the consensus document on..."
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Maximum of 10 authors. The authorship of a working group may be included as an annex at the end of the manuscript. Professional affiliations are required for all authors.
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Summary in Spanish and English. Maximum of 150 words.
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Keywords in Spanish and English according to MeSH.
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The body of the executive summary will have a maximum length of 3,000 words:
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An introduction describing the need or rationale for the document.
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A methods section explaining how the consensus document was created, how the points to be addressed were selected, and whether there was any discussion or agreement on each point and what the percentage of agreement was.
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A results section highlighting the most significant aspects of the document.
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A brief discussion on the applicability, limitations, and implications of the document.
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Reference to the complete document in one of the sections, accessible via a link.
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Bibliography (maximum of 15 citations) following the guidelines of Revista Clínica Española.
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Tables and figures that aid in interpreting the information clearly and concisely.
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Each component of the executive summary must be uploaded to the RCE platform, along with associated documents or additional material, including the complete document that will be published as an annex.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.
EDITORIALS
These will be commissioned, although unsolicited editorials may occasionally be considered after prior consultation with the Editor. The text is limited to a maximum of 1,500 words. No tables or figures are permitted, but a graphical abstract summarising the most important aspects of the manuscript is recommended. Up to 15 references will be accepted. Up to 2 authors will be permitted.
The required statements will be included on the title page or first page.