Author Guidelines

A) GENERAL CRITERIA

• Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the publication guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
• The text should be processed in Microsoft Word with Times New Roman 12 cpi font, double-spaced.
•  Articles may be in spanish.
• Tables must be processed in Microsoft Word, in independent files. They should include: a) numbering of the table in Arabic numerals and consecutive numbers; b) corresponding statement (title) at the top, and c) table footnote, if appropriate for clarification of abbreviations and acronyms.
• The graphs should be submitted in Excel file. They should include: a) numbering of the graph with Arabic numerals and consecutive numbers; b) corresponding statement (title) at the bottom, and c) footer of the graph, if applicable for clarification of data.
• Photographs in high quality JPEG format will be accepted. Black and white photographs should have a minimum resolution of 300 dots per inch with a maximum of 2 MB.
• Color illustrations will be accepted. Color images shoulf have a minimum resolution of 600 dots per inch with a maximum of 2 MB.
• Authorship

a) Personal information for each of the authors

• Full name(s) and surname(s),
• Institutional affiliation: full name of the institution and department to which it belongs (from highest to lowest hierarchy), city and country. E.g. Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Hospital de Clínicas. San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
• E-mail address of each author,
• Indicate correspondance author,
• Orcid ID,
• Brief curriculum vitae (up to 50 words)

b) Authors' contribution: Each author’s contibution should be stated, signed and sent  with the manuscript.

E.g. AA (author's initials) contributed the methodological design.
BB (author's initials) performed  data collection and analysis.
CC (author's initials) wrote the manuscript.

• Source of Financing: If applicable, state data such as project number and name, year and source of financing.
• Conflicts of interest: Authors should indicate any conflicts of interest they may have. 
• Acknowledgements: If any.
• .Date of submission: Include the date of submission of the manuscript.
• Ethical issues must be detailed. Reviewing the Ethical Guidelines of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences is reccomended.
• RPR implements a Similarity Control Policy using anti-plagiarism software.
• Citations and bibliographic references should followe the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) reccomendations.

Bibliographic citations should be mentioned with Arabic numerals in parentheses and in superscript, in order of appearance in the article, separated by commas or hyphen in case of covering very long consecutive references.

a) Indirect quotations or paraphrasing: the number indicating the source appears after the idea quoted.

Example:
Sjögren's syndrome is an autoimmune pathology involving exocrine glands, mainly lacrimal and salivary. It can occur in isolation (primary) or associated with other autoimmune diseases^(1,5).
Its incidence ranges from 3 to 11 cases per 100,000 individuals, while its prevalence is between 0.01% and 0.72%. With a greater predominance in the male sex, in a 2 to 1 ratio, and with frequency ranging between 30 and 50 years of age^(5-9).

b) Direct quotations: if a direct quotation is inserted, the exact paragraph should be placed between quotation marks and after these the number corresponding to the source cited. The direct quotation should not exceed 5 lines.

Examples:

Ultrasound is "emerging as the technique of choice for the detection of enthesitis"⁽⁶⁾.

Rheumatology is the "medical specialty that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal and systemic autoimmune diseases"⁽⁷⁾.

c) You can find exmples of bibliographic references from different sources at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/
- Books:
Jenkins PF. Understanding chest radiography: a practical guide. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005. 194 p.
- Journal articles:
Petitti DB, Crooks VC, Buckwalter JG, Chiu V. Blood pressure levels before dementia. Arch Neurol. 2005 Jan;62(1):112-6.
Kaul S, Diamond GA. Good enough: a primer on the analysis and interpretation of noninferiority trials. Ann Intern Med [Internet]. 2006 Jul 4 [cited 2007 Jan 4];145(1):62-9. Available at: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/145/1/62.pdf
- Theses
Daugherty RH. Social work education and public assistance workers in Kentucky 1936-2001 [Master's thesis]. Louisville (KY): University of Louisville; 2004. 203 p.
- Web page:
Clutterbuck J, compiler. The Aspergillus nidulans linkage map [Internet]. Glasgow, Scotland: University of Glasgow, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Division of Molecular Genetics; [updated November 2006; cited 2007 Feb 21]. Available from: http://www.pharmedout.org/

B) JOURNAL SECTIONS AND MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE
The Paraguayan Journal of Rheumatolgoy (RPR-Revista Paraguaya de Reumatología) publishes original articles, clinical cases, review articles, letters to the editor and short communications. The journal accepts articles published on preprint servers.

1. Original Articles and Short Communications: In general, original articles and short communications should contain the following sections:

• TITLE: maximum up to 15 words, in Spanish and English,
• ABSTRACT: maximum 200 words, in Spanish and English,
• KEY WORDS: in Spanish and English,
• INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION and REFERENCES.

For original articles and short communications, the maximum recommended length is 10 and 5 pages, respectively.

2. Clinical Cases: Manuscripts with cases or small case series, deemed of clinical relevance due to due to their contribution to the knowledge of pathologies, will be accepted. They should consist of the following sections:

• TITLE: maximum up to 15 words, in Spanish and English,
• ABSTRACT: maximum 200 words, in Spanish and English,
• KEY WORDS: in Spanish and English,
• INTRODUCTION, CASE, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS,

The text’s maximum length will be 2 pages, and up to two figures and one table will be accepted.

3. Reviews: Considering that this type of articles constitute an in-depth review of a particular topic, a minimum length of 10 pages and a maximum length of 15 pages is recommended.
This type of work should include:

• TITLE: maximum up to 15 words, in Spanish and English,
• ABSTRACT: maximum 200 words, in Spanish and English.
• KEY WORDS: in Spanish and English.
• INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS if applicable (e.g. systematic reviews), CONCLUSION, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and REFERENCES (maximum 150 words).

C) SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Articles to be evaluated should be submitted through the journal's platform. Authors must register as users of the journal's platform, indicate their institutional affiliation and e-mail address.
The manuscript sent through the journal’s online platform must be anonymous.
The author(s) must declare  in  a letter to the editor and in the platform , that the manuscript was only  submitted to the journal and indicate the preprint server where it was deposited, if applicable. In addition, the letter should contain the data required and indicated in section A of this document, points 7a and 7b.
Once the manuscript is received, the journal will send a receipt confirmation to the corresponding author.

D) EVALUATION PROCESS
Papers submitted to the Paraguayan Journal of Rheumatology ( RPR ) are evaluated in two ways:

Preliminary Review by the Editorial Committee: to determine the importance, relevance and depth of the work, if the manuscript corresponds to the editorial line, if it adheres to the standards of the journal and meets the general criteria for publication.
At this stage, a similarity control will be carried out through an anti-plagiarism software. The journal will accept up to 20% similarity.
To proceed to the Peer Review stage, the manuscript must satisfy the Preliminary Review. The result will be communicated to the corresponding author.

Peer Review: at this stage the manuscript will be evaluated by two experts in the field using the double-blind method and following the guidelines indicated by the journal. In case their decisions are contrary, the manuscript will be submitted to a second round of review with other peer reviewers.
The final decision may be:

1. approved

2. approved with modifications

3. not approved (with suggestions and restarting the process).

The decision will be communicated by mail to the corresponding author within 12 weeks from the day of receipt.