Normas

Language

All articles must be written in English.

For articles in Portuguese, we suggest Revista Brasileira de Ciência Aberta

Articles Types

  • Research Articles
  • Reviews
  • Systematic Reviews
  • Case Studies
  • Case Reports

All article types share the same rules listed in Formating Rules and Common Sections. However, specific structures apply to each Article Type which are listed in Main Bodies.

We provide the templates needed to complete the submission, see the Preparing Submission section.

Research Article

Original articles must present originality and offer theoretical, empirical, experimental, and methodological advances for their respective fields of research. Null and negative findings and reanalyses of previous studies that lead to new results, as well as confirmatory results, are also accepted.

  1. Limitations:
    1. Between 2500 and 8000 words or a total of 20 pages.
  2. Main Body:
    1. Introduction
    2. Methods
    3. Results
    4. Discussion
    5. Conclusions
  3. Main Sections:
    1. Title
    2. Abstract
    3. Keywords
    4. Main Body
    5. References
Review

Reviews do not use a defined cause-to-effect methodology for their development, with the authors being responsible for identifying and selecting studies, their analysis and interpretation, and focusing on describing and discussing the state of the art of the research topic. A revision may reflect the authors' point of view or their conflicts of interest (financial or not), and the articles referenced may have been chosen based on defending these arguments.

  1. Limitations:
    1. Between 2500 and 8000 words or a total of 20 pages.
  2. Main Body:
    1. Introduction
    2. Discussion/analysis of the recent literature
    3. Conclusions
  3. Main Sections:
    1. Title
    2. Abstract
    3. Keywords
    4. Main Body
    5. References
Systematic Review

Systematic Review is a method used to evaluate a set of data from different studies. It seeks to collect all empirical evidence that fits criteria of pre-defined eligibility criteria, aiming to answer a specific question. Use methods of systematic data selected to minimize bias, thus providing more accurate results reliable, with which conclusions can be made and decisions made.

  1. Limitations:
    1. Between 2500 and 8000 words or a total of 20 pages.
  2. Main Body:
    1. Introduction
    2. Methods
    3. Results
    4. Discussion
    5. Conclusions
  3. Main Sections:
    1. Title
    2. Abstract
    3. Keywords
    4. Main Body
    5. References
Case Study

Case studies are based on a process or record of relevant and innovative research about the development of a person, group, or situation over a period. Considered an empirical investigation that investigates the application of research through real or imagined scenarios. A real case study or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise would also fall into this category.

  1. Limitations:
    1. Between 2500 and 8000 words or a total of 20 pages.
  2. Main Body:
    1. The format of the main body of the article is flexible: it should be concise, making it easy to read and review, and presented in a format that is appropriate for the type of study presented.
  3. Main Sections:
    1. Title
    2. Abstract
    3. Keywords
    4. Main Body
    5. References
Case Report

A case report is a method that precisely describes a given experience that can contribute in a relevant way to the research area. It is a description of an experienced professional considered as successful or not, but that contributes to discussion, exchange, and proposition of ideas. The report must be made in a contextualized way, with objectivity and input theoretical. In other words, it is not an emotional and subjective narration, nor a mere personal and random.

  1. Limitations:
    1. Between 2500 and 8000 words or a total of 20 pages.
  2. Main Body:
    1. The format of the main body of the article is flexible: it should be concise, making it easy to read and review, and presented in a format that is appropriate for a Case Report.
  3. Main Sections:
    1. Title
    2. Abstract
    3. Keywords
    4. Main Body
    5. References

Formating Rules

Language

  1. All articles must be written in good English

Text Editing

  1. File Format
    1. The manuscript must be submitted in electronic format and editable in file extensions (.DOC, DOCX).
  2. Page Layout
    1. A4 format, portrait orientation, top and bottom margins of 2.50 cm, left and right of 3.00 cm, numbered and continuous lines, that is, continuing from one page to another.
  3. Paragraph and Spacing
    1. Use line spacing of 1.5 cm throughout the text, consider exceptions when requested.
    2. Use left margin indentation of 0.5 cm for the first line, consider exceptions when requested.
    3. For direct and long quotations, with more than three lines, they must be highlighted with a 4 cm indentation from the left margin, with a smaller font size of 10 and without quotation marks.
  4. Text Body
    1. Use Times New Roman throughout the text, size 12, and consider exceptions when requested.
  5. Section Titles
    1. Use capital letters, bold, left alignment, spacing before 12 pt and then 6 pt.
  6. Section Subtitles
    1. The first letter is only capitalized, bold, left alignment, spacing before 6 pt and then in 6 pt.
  7. Footnotes
    1. Footnotes must be typed within the margins, using font size 10, space between the lines simple 1 cm and separated by a dash. The numbering must be increased for the entire work, not being restarted with each section or page.
  8. Citations
    1. Direct citations in the text, with up to three lines, must be contained in double quotation marks and an indication of page(s).
    2. Direct citations in the text, with more than three lines, must be highlighted with a 4 cm indentation from the left margin, with 10 pt font, and without quotation marks, use single line spacing.
  9. Quantities
    1. They must be expressed in the SI (International System) and the scientific terminology must follow the international conventions for each area in question.
  10. Tables and Figures (graphs, maps, images, photographs, drawings)
    1. All figures and tables must be cited and discussed in the text of the article. There is no limit to the number of figures and tables you can have.
    2. Tables should be formatted using the ‘Insert Table’ function in Word.
    3. They must be inserted just below the paragraph in which it was first cited. Examples of citations in the text: Figure 1.; Table 1.
    4. The tables must be hollow, must not have vertical dashed lines, and a minimum of dashed lines horizontal. In the columns, numeric values must be aligned by the last digit and to indicate significant differences between means within a row or column letters are used capital letters overwritten.
  11. Equations and Formulas
    1. Equations and formulas must be created in the MS Equation application inserted into the body of the manuscript and editable. Equations in image format will not be accepted.
  12. Research Ethics Committee
    1. Research involving human beings or animals must be authorized by their equivalent Ethics Committee.
    2. If the study does not have a research project, you must request the Free and Informed Consent Form (TCLE), attach the term to the complementary documents, and mention the authorization in the manuscript.
    3. It is not permitted to display copies of texts, exams, medical reports, photos, or images of people without prior authorization. You must follow and respect current copyright laws.
    4. Whenever the idea, part of text, or content authored by someone else, is mentioned in the work, you must cite the source, that is, where it was taken from. Thus, every paragraph of the work that does not contain a citation of the source will be understood as the intellectual production of the person(s) author(s) of the manuscript. Be careful, as simply “forgetting” to cite a source can generate administrative and legal proceedings for plagiarism!

Common Sections

All article types use the same sections listed below. However, specific structures apply to each Article Type listed in Specific Sections

    1. Title
      1. Use capital letters, size 14 pt, bold and centered alignment;
      2. The title must be concise and limited to 20 words or 200 characters;
      3. It must not have abbreviations, citations, formulas, or subscript or superscript characters;
      4. Components for title development can be requested depending on the type of article.
    2. Abstract
      1. Abstracts should be up to 300 words long and provide a succinct summary of the article. Although the abstract should explain why the article might be interesting, the importance of the work should not be over-emphasized. Citations should not be used in the abstract. Abbreviations, if needed, should be spelled out. Abstracts are structured into Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
    3. Keywords
      1. Authors should supply up to 5 relevant keywords that describe the subject of their article. These will improve the visibility of your article.
    4. Introduction
      1. The introduction should provide readers with the necessary background information to understand your study and the reasons why you conducted your experiments, yet must answer the question: what issue/problem was studied? When describing the context of your study, make sure your citations are: well-balanced, current, and relevant.

    5. References
      1. Give preference to publications in national and international literature published in periodicals scientific data from the last 5 years;
      2. We preferably use the APA citation and references format.
    6. Competing Interests
      1. Articles must not contain content that could be perceived as “advertising” and must include a Competing Interests section. Any competing financial, personal or professional interests of any of the authors that could be interpreted as unduly influencing the content of the article must be disclosed and will be displayed alongside the article. More information about what may be construed as a competing interest is available in our editorial policies. If you do not have any competing interests, add the text “No competing interests have been disclosed.”
    7. Grant Information
      1. Please state who funded the work, whether it is your employer, a grant funder, etc. Please do not list funding that you have that is not relevant to this specific piece of research. For each funder, please state the funder’s name, the grant number where applicable, and the individual to whom the grant was assigned. If your work was not funded by any grants, please include the section entitled “Grant information” and state: ‘The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work’.
    8. Acknowledgments (optional)
      1. This section should acknowledge anyone who contributed to the research or the writing of the article but who does not qualify as an author; please clearly state how they contributed. Authors should obtain permission to include the name and affiliation, of all those mentioned in the Acknowledgments section. Please note that grant funding should not be listed here.
    9. Corresponding Author
      1. Please provide the full name and email of the corresponding author.

Main Bodies

Listed here are the Main Bodies that complement the Common Sections. For each type of article, it is necessary to check which of the sections below are required, then follow the equivalent standards to form the complete structure of the article.

    1. Methods

This section should provide readers with all the details about how you conducted your study. You he can:

    1. Use subheadings to separate different methodologies;
    2. Describe what you did in the past tense;
    3. Describe new methods in sufficient detail so that another researcher can reproduce your experiment;
    4. Describe the established methods briefly, and simply cite a reference where readers can find more details;
    5. Present all statistical tests and parameters.
    1. Results

Present the results found, but do not include interpretations or discuss their implications. You he can:

    1. Use subheadings to separate results from different experiments;
    2. Results must be presented in a logical order;
    3. Include the results of statistical analyzes in the text, provide values wherever statistically significant differences are described.
    1. Discussion

You should interpret your results from most important to least important. You can:

    1. Use subtitles to separate interpretations;
    2. Compare your results with those from other studies: are they consistent? If not, discuss possible reasons for the difference;
    3. Mention any inconclusive results and explain them to the best of your ability. You can suggest additional experiments to clarify your results;
    4. Briefly describe the limitations of your study to show reviewers and readers that you have considered the weaknesses of your experiment. This gives a positive impression of your article as it makes it clear to reviewers that you have a deep understanding of the subject and can think about your research objectively;
    1. Conclusion

Present in a final paragraph and succinctly, that is, without comments or explanations additional based only on the results presented. They must not have abbreviations.

Preparing Submission

To complete the submission, you will need to download and attach a Correspondence Article, Article Cover and Declaration of Responsibility for Publication, see below:

Correspondence Article

The main body must be inserted in this document according to the type of article, but without information about the authors.

Article Cover

The list of authors and affiliations must be completed only in this document, as per the list below:

  • Title
  • Authors List
  • Peer Review Type
  • Corresponding author
  • Competing interests
  • Grant information
  • Acknowledgements (optional)

Declaration of Responsibility for Publication

All authors of the manuscript must sign the declaration of responsibility and indicate the author responsible for the publication fee.