Operations Manual

Background

Gaceta Médica de México is the official ANMM journal. Its publication started back in September 15^th, 1864 when a group of Mexican and European physicians, pharmacists and veterinarians agreed to work for the advancement of health sciences and, at the same time, enrich their own professional training through the bimonthly publication of a journal compiled by thems.  Over time, its format and periodicity has changed, and today it is published every other month with optional supplementary issues.

During his time as President of the ANMM, Dr. Manuel Ruiz de Chávez (2009-2010), and being the editors of Gaceta Médica de México Alfredo Ulloa and Fernando Larrea, the journal was included in the Journal Citation Reports and Permanyer Publications was hired as the publishing house. Since 2009, it has been published in electronic version simultaneously in both Spanish and English, and since 2019 via open access under license of Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).  The journal is governed by the Code of Good Practices described by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In 2022, it reached its highest impact factor, 0.8. Currently, it receives manuscripts from Mexico, Spain, the United States, Canada, India and Latin American countries.

It is currently indexed in  IndexMedicus NLM, USA; Medlars NLM Medline, United States; Biological Abstracts, United States; IMLA, Bireme-OPS, Brazil; Lilacs, Bireme-OPS, Brazil; Excerpta Medica, Excerpta Medica Foundation, The Netherlands; Artemisa, Cenids-SSA, Mexico; Periódica, CLOCKSS, CICH-UNAM, Mexico; Bibliomexsalud, CICH-IMSS-UNAM, Mexico; Journal Citation Reports (JCR), United States; MEDES, Spain, and DOAJ.

Its goal is to contribute to updating and promoting communication among health professionals by publishing the most relevant breakthroughs regarding research, and clinical practice.

Objective. The goal of this Operations Manual is to regulate the organization and operation of the journal Gaceta Médica de México efficiently.

Definitions. The following abbreviations are included in this Operations Manual:

ANMM: Academia Nacional de Medicina de México
Publisher: Permanyer Publications
Journal: Gaceta Médica de México

General Provisions

a) These Provisions shall be mandatory for everyobody involved in the functioning of the Journal, authors and peer reviewers alike.

b) ANMM is the proprietor of the Journal, rights of the registered trademark, and the corresponding copyrights.

c) As long as the agreement between the ANMM and the Publisher is effective, the latter holds all rights regarding the publication of the Journal.

d) Both the trademark and copyrights owned by ANMM should be acknowledged in writting by the Publisher in charge of publishing the Journal; in addition, it shall announce that it is the official publication of ANMM.

e) The Journal shall be published in both Spanish and English. Every year five regular issues and one special issue shall be published.

f) The content of the Journal shall be available via open access to the scientific community, at no expense for the authors.

g) Funding for the Journal shall be the sole responsibility of ANMM.

h) The General Director shall be the current President of ANMM.

i) The Editor-in-chief of the Journal shall be appointed by the President of ANMM, and this person shall be an ANMM member.

j) Associate editors shall be appointed by the editor-in-chief, and they shall be ANMM members. An editor shall be appointed specifically for special issues.

k) The Editorial Council shall include the former Presidents of the ANMM and the Secretary of Health.

l) The members of the Journal’s Editorial Board shall be selected based on their experience and position within each particular scientific discipline, knowledge on the subject at stake, and understanding of the current or anticipated geographical scope of the journal’s scientific discipline. Preferably, they shall all be members of the ANMM.

m) The General Director, together with the editor, associate editors, Editorial Council, and Editorial Board and the Editorial Board shall be responsible for the Journal’s policies. The Editorial Board shall be responsible for the entire editorial content published in the Journal.

n) The General Director’s activities, as well as those of the editor-in-chief, the associated editors, and members of the Editorial Council and Board General director’s be honorary and their names, photos, general work, and academic information shall remain available on the Journal’s official website.

o) The General Director, the editor-in-chief or the associate editors shall not participate in the process of editorial evaluation or follow-up of manuscripts and their authorship.

Composition

a) The Journal’s personnel consists 1 Editor-in-Chief, 3 associate editors, 1 special issues editor, The Editorial Council, the Editorial Board, and additional staff.

b) The Editors-in-Chief shall remain in his position for, at least, two years. In addition, he can be renewed indefinitely depending on the results of editorial performance, the Journal’s internationalization, and impact factor obtained during their management. The Editor-in-Chief shall have experience in the editorial field and shall be responsible for implementing the best editorial practices in the process of evaluation and scientific editing of the manuscripts submitted. Also, for supervising the efficiency and agility of the editorial processes, identifying risks, providing opportunities for continuous training of reviewers, editors and additional staff, and implementing improvement plans. The Editor-in-Chief shall summor ordinary and extraordinary sessions of the Editorial Council and/or Board.

c) The associate editors shall remain in their position for as long as the Editor-in-Chief remains in office. Also, they must have editorial experience. Their job is to support the Editor-in-Chief in all his/her functions, evaluate manuscripts submitted associated with their subject matter field, promote the Journal, propose improvement plans, as well any other functions they may be assigned to. They shall participate actively in extraordinary and ordinary sessions of the Editorial Council and/or Board.

d) The Editorial Council shall give advise the Editor-in-Chief regarding the Journal’s policies and/or functioning.

e) The members of the Editorial Board shall be able to remain indefinitely in their positions based on their active participation in the processes of the Journal. Their job includes providing an inclusive editorial standpoint, promoting and dragging new authors to the Journal, reviewing studies associated with their subject matter area, suggesting initiatives, and eventually contributing as authors.

f) Additional staff shall include:

One Assistant Editor who shall support the processes of reception and follow-up of the manuscripts through the electronic management system. He/she shall provide support by communication with members of the Editorial Council and Board, performing several administrative tasks, and keeping communication and follow-up of all agreements made with the Publisher.
One Technical Editor in English language who shall review and translate all the manuscripts that approved for the Journal both from the technical and grammatical points of view.
The pay of this additional staff shall be provided by the ANMM.

Manuscript review process:

a) The author shall submit his/her manuscript and comply with the Instructions for Authorsdepending on the type of study conducted (https://www.gacetamedicademexico.com/seccion.php?id=78&scc=instrucciones-para-autores) and the “Code of Ethics for authors”.

b) The Publisher shall conduct a technical verification to confirm that the documentation submitted meets the standards set forth in the Instructions for authors. Otherwise, the author shall be notified so he/she can complete the submission.

c) The manuscripts meeting all technical specifications shall be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and the associate editors. The result may lead to rejecting the manuscript or submitting it for peer review.

d) Editors shall select the national or international peer reviewers according to their subject matter area. Assessment will be conducted blindly. Reviewers shall comply with the Journal’s “Code of Conduct for reviewers”.

e) The opinion of, at least, two evaluators shall be obtained. In case of disagreement in their opinions, the opinion of a third evaluator shall be obtained.

f) Editors shall provide frequent follow-up of the status of each manuscript and reminders shall be sent to reviewers whose reviews are pending or else new reviewers shall be invited to participate.

g) Editors shall make a decision according to the reviewers’ opinions including “rejection,” “making minor changes,” “major changes” or “acceptance.” In the first three cases, the reviewers’ anonymous opinions shall be attached.

h) Authors of the manuscripts with a ruling of “minor changes,” “major changes” or “acceptance” shall submit the edited version of their manuscript via electronic management system.

i) Editors shall evaluate the appropriateness of re-submitting the new version for further evaluation by the original reviewers to eventually obtain their new opinion.

j) Editors shall issue a ruling of “rejection” or “acceptance” of the manuscript second draft.

k) The Publisher shall translate and review the grammar, style, and references of the final draft of the manuscript, assign a DOI, and publish ahead of print on the Journal’s official website.

l) Before publication, author shall always receive the mock-up tests of his/her manuscript for final approval.

m) The manuscripts accepted for publication shall be assigned and published in an issue of the Journal.

Special Issues:

a) They shall correspond to one of the six issues published on the Journal per year.

b) Editors, together with the General Director and the Editorial Councill shall determine the yearly subject matter of the special issue, and they shall invite a guest editor preferably one who is already a member of the ANMM.

c) The guest editor shall propose the list of guest authors and subject matters experts.

d) The Editor-in-Chief and the special issue editor shall send invitations to researchers, and they shall conduct the follow-up in compliance with what is established in the paragraphs described in the previous section.

Work Sessions of the Editorial Council and/or Board

a) The sessions will be carried out at least once a year, as needed by the Journal.

b) The official announcements for the sessions will be made electronically with at least a five-working-day advance notice before the date scheduled. In the case of an extraordinary session, it will be notified with at least a two-working -day advance notice. All the necessary work documents will be attached to the official announcement.

c) All sessions shall be attended by the General Director and/or the Editor-in-Chief and associate editors. Everybody attending the session shall have the right of voice and vote, and the General Director (or editor-in-chief in absentia) shall have the casting vote. To reach agreements, half the votes plus one casting vote be deemed necessary. These votes shall be undisputed, and comply with the objective of the Journal.

d) The formalities of the official announcement including the agenda points, establishing the legal quorum, and writing the corresponding record shall be the sole responsibility of the secretary of the session who shall be appointed by the Editor-in-Chief. The agreements must be registered in records signed by all attendees. The minimum information required shall be the session no., the type of session whether ordinary or extraordinary, the place and date the session was held, the time at which it started and ended, the list of the people who attended, the agenda, the issues dealt with, and all the agreements reached by the Editorial Council and/or Board.

e) The issues that not included in this Operations Manual shall be presented, discussed, and approved in Editorial Board sessions.