Author guidelines

The SPANISH JOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION AND DIETETICS (www.renhyd.org) is the scientific journal of the Spanish Foundation of Dietitians and Nutritionists (Fundación Española de Dietistas-Nutricionistas, FEDN). It has as its main objective to be the leading journal in the field of human nutrition and dietetics. It publishes scientific articles that have been reviewed anonymously by experts on the subject (peer-review). The three-monthly Journal publishes research and review articles on clinical and hospital nutrition, applied dietetics and diet therapy, community and public health nutrition, basic and applied nutrition, food and health education, group, social and commercial catering, culinary and gastronomy technology, food science, toxicology and food safety, food culture, sociology and anthropology of eating, humanitarian cooperation, in fact, in all areas of human nutrition and dietetics.

SPANISH JOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION AND DIETETICS adheres to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org), and manuscripts must be prepared according to these recommendations.

Dowload Author's guideliness in pdf.

Submission manuscript template

* Cover letter template.

* Title page and Tweets template.

* Manuscript template.

1. Articles type and preparation

I. Manuscript type and extension

Articles type

Abstract (words)

Words (not including references)

Tables and/or figures

References(maximum)

Examples (doi)

Original article

300 – structured*

3000

5

30

10.14306/renhyd.21.2.252

10.14306/renhyd.19.1.127

Systematic review and meta-analysis

300 structured*

4500

5

30**

10.14306/renhyd.23.3.637

Protocols

300 – structured*

3000

5

30

10.14306/renhyd.24.4.1024

Consensus and positioning

300 – not structured

3000

5

30

10.14306/renhyd.24.3.1059

Guides and tools

300 – structured*

1500

1

10

10.14306/renhyd.21.4.377

Letters to the editor

Not applicable

1000

1

10

10.14306/renhyd.24.4.1110

Editorial

Not applicable

1000

1

10

10.14306/renhyd.23.3.993

* The structured abstract should contain: Introduction with aim, Methodology, Results and Conclusion. In addition, if received, any funding or financial support should be declared .

** In systematic reviews and meta-analysis, these 30 references do not include those corresponding to the manuscripts used for its realization. Other refereces can be included in the supplementary material.

II. Specific information according to articles type.

The Spanish Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (RENHyD) adheres to international recommendations for articles publication. If you do not find the recommendations for your type of study, search in EQUATOR NETWORK and/or contact the administrative manager of the RENHyD (j.manager@renhyd.org). The following are usual recommendations based on the type of publication:

  • Original articles: They should be structured as follows: Introduction, in which the purpose and relevance of the work are explained. This section should also include the research aim in the last paragraph. Methodology, has to include the research design, population, sample, variables and statistical analyses. Results, should respond to the aim of the study and need to follow the same order specified in the methodology. Discussion, the first paragraph should summarise the most relevant findings of the study. Subsequently, authors are required to compare their results with those from other studies to discuss similarities/differences, limitations and strengths. Conclusion, this section will end with the main conclusions that respond to the initial hypothesis of the work. It is recommended to consult the guidelines according to the type/subject of the original article: randomised controlled clinical trials, non-randomised clinical trials, human intervention studies to evaluate the health benefits of foods, observational studies, qualitative research, case reports, diagnostic o prognostic studies, healthcare improvement, economic evaluation.
  • Systematic reviews and meta-analysis: These manuscripts should have the following structure: Introduction, explaining the study's purpose and relevance and including the aim of the study in the last paragraph. Methodology, should include protocol registration, search strategy, criteria for studies selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment of the included studies and, in the case of meta-analysis, the performed analyses. Results and discussion will present a similar structure as per the original articles. We encourage the authors to register their protocols for this type of study on PROSPERO. For more information, please visit the PRISMA 2020 statement.
  • Protocols: This section includes protocols for original research and systematic reviews. The following sections should be presented: introduction, including the aim of the study; methodology (experimental design, considerations and methodology for the implementation and organisation of the research, ethical considerations and financing); and discussion. Bioethical guidelines should also be included. It is recommended to follow the SPIRIT standards for clinical trials and the PRISMA-P recommendations for systematic reviews.
  • Consensus and positioning: Position of the authors on current issues in which recommendations are made on a topic of interest.
  • Guidelines and tools: Section for describing guidelines or tools used in daily practice that do not correspond to evaluation tools.
  • Letters to the editor: Opinions, observations or experiences that, due to their characteristics, can be summarised in a brief text. These articles can be associated with publishes articles in the RENHyD or other journals.
  • Editorials: These are manuscripts on topics of interest and/or current affairs (normally commissioned by the Editorial Committee to a single author). Authors who spontaneously wish to contribute to this section should first consult the administrative manager of the RENHyD (manager@renhyd.org).
  • Other: For those institutions or individuals interested in publishing books of abstracts or proceedings of a conference, please get in touch with the administrative manager for further information (manager@renhyd.org).

2. General format

I. File format

All documents submitted to the journal should be sent in any of the following formats: DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODF or ODT (files must not be protected against printing, copying, or modification).

II. Manuscript design

All manuscripts should be submitted using Times New Roman, Arial, or similar font, with 12-point font size and 1.5-line spacing. Pages and lines of the manuscript should be numbered continuously. The text must be in a single column (manuscripts with 2 or 3 columns will not be accepted). In addition, the use of footnotes or notes at the end of the article are not allowed.

III. Language

The journal will accept manuscripts in Spanish or English. The use of non-international Spanish words or expressions is allowed, but authors are encouraged to clarify such terms in parentheses for readability. If authors choose to submit an article in English, authors are asked to choose between American or British English and not a mixture of both. For non-native authors, it is recommended to use complementary tools for proofreading or have a native English speaker to improve grammar.

IV. Abbreviations

Spell out all the abbreviations in full or define it the first time in the article except for the title.

V. References

A citation manager is recommended, especially the use of open access citation management software such as Zotero. According to the “Recommendations for the Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals", the references must follow the consecutive order in which they appear in the text with the corresponding correlative numbering in Arabic numerals. Only citations considered important and that have been read by the authors should be included, limited to the maximum number of references allowed according to the type of article. Citations that are difficult to access or verify should not be included. The style will be Vancouver with some modifications.  Below are some examples of references that may be helpful:

VI. Tables and figures

Tables and figures should be inserted immediately after the paragraph in which the table or figure is cited. The maximum number of tables and figures allowed depends on the type of article (see summary table in section 1).

Each table and figure should be numbered in order of appearance and have a clear and descriptive title and a brief legend. The use of letters is recommended to clarify abbreviations in tables or figures, which should be clearly explained in the legend. For explanatory footnotes, lowercase letters in superscript and in alphabetical order should be used. In addition, figures should be 300 dpi quality or higher and should not be attached separately.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to partially reproduce material (text, tables or figures) from other publications. These permissions must be requested both from the author and from the publisher who has published the material. In addition, permission to publish may be required from the institution that has funded the research. This information should be included in the cover letter to the editor-in-chief of the journal.

VII. Checklist of recommendations

An additional document, all manuscripts should attach the checklist according to the type of study performed, indicating specifically in the lines of the text where the required information is included. More information on the reporting guidelines according to the type of study can be found at EQUATOR NETWORK.

3. Article organisation

I. Cover letter

Each submitted article must be accompanied by a cover letter addressed to the journal's editor-in-chief indicating the type of article being presented, a brief summary, and why it should be accepted in this In addition, a sentence indicating that the manuscript has not been sent to another journal at the same time should be included. This document will be uploaded on the platform as supplementary material. Cover letter template.

II.Title page (it should be included as supplementary material)

Title: Each article submitted to the journal must have a title in both Spanish and English. It must contain a maximum of 250 characters (including spaces and punctuation marks) and be specific, descriptive, and understandable to readers. Incorporating the type of articles in the title as recommended by the EQUATOR network guides is also suggested. Additionally, all manuscripts (except letters to the editor and editorials) must have a short title in Spanish and English of no more than 50 characters. This information will be uploaded to the journal platform as part of the main manuscript.

Authors names and affiliations: Authors names and surnames, along with their affiliations, must be included on this first page, which will be uploaded as supplementary material (a Word file containing only the title, authors' names and their affiliations). This information will also have to be completed through the metadata on the platform (this information will be used for indexing). If an author has more than one affiliation, these will have a semicolon in between on the platform. Affiliations should contain: name of the research group (if any) or department (if any), centre or institution (complete name and abbreviation if it exists), institution, city and country. The main manuscript should NOT bear the names of the authors or their affiliations.

III. Message for Twitter (it should be included as supplementary material)

Authors are invited to send a short message to be used in the Twitter account if the manuscript is accepted. Moreover, authors are invited to include their Twitter’s accounts (if any) to tag them on the Twitter post.

Title page and Tweets template.

IV. Main manuscript

Title: it must meet the same characteristics as the title of the first page. See more information above.

Abstract: The abstract must follow the requirements according to the type of article. In addition, each abstract should have from 3 to 5 keywords. It is recommended that keywords are registered in the MeSH Terms of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). At the end of the abstract, the source of funding must be added. This information will be part of the main article that will be uploaded to the journal platform.

Registration/publication of the study protocol: in line with the AllTrials initiative, those studies that have officially registered their protocol or have published it in a scientific journal will have priority to be published. In this section, the registration number or publication reference must be provided. By 2025, RENHyD wants that this registration or publication of the protocol to be a mandatory step to publish a research article. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides extensive information on what research requires registration and where to register it. RENHyD recommends registering research with: EudraCT (for clinical trials only), gov (accepts intervention and observational studies); or the ISRCTN Registry. For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, PROPERO is recommended.

Highlights: Except for letters to the editor and editorials, all articles must to incorporate 3 to 4 highlights obtained in the research as bullet points (no more than 40 words per message). They should not reiterate the abstract information but should offer the readers a summary of the main contributions of the publication in terms of scientific results.

Article body: the structure of this section will depend on the type of article to be submitted. Consult the summary table in section 1 and specific information according to the type of article.

Acknowledgements: This section will only include people or entities that have made a notable contribution to making the work possible: a) the contributions that must be appreciated but do not justify inclusion as an author; b) the appreciation for technical support that has to be recognised in a separate paragraph. All the people specifically mentioned in the Acknowledgments must know and approve their inclusion in said section.

Authors contribution: In this section, the involvement of each author in the development of the article must be specified. Authors should be recognised by their initials and describe their contribution to the design of the idea, data collection, data analyses, writing of the article, etc. For example, “E.R-P, G.H, and R.T-M contributed to the creation and design of the study, designed the statistical plan, and interpreted the data. E.R-P performed the literature search, performed the analyses, and wrote the first draft with the help of G.H, and R.T-M. All authors critically reviewed this and previous versions of the document”.

Funding: The acknowledgement of any scholarship or source of funding that has contributed to the completion of the work (see "Information policy on funding sources") will be included in this section. If there is no source of financing, it will also have to be declared.

Conflicts of interest: Any possible conflict of personal or financial interest must be declared by each author (see "Conflict of interest (CoI) policies"). If there are no conflicts of interest, it must also be declared.

References: Consult the style and format in section 2.5.

Manuscript template.

V. Supplementary material

Suppose any supplementary material is necessary (i.e., questionnaires used to collect the information, figures, or any other relevant information). In that case, this information will be cited in the text as supplementary material and uploaded on the platform.

                                                                                    We are at your disposal for any further information.

                                         The editorial Board of the Spanish Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics