Revista IBRACON de Estruturas e Materiais
Brief Background
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In 2005 two separated journals (the Structural Journal - ISSN 1809-1121, and the Materials Journal -ISSN 1809-5046) were created, and later merged into the current one-journal version in 2008. From July, 2020 the journal changes the publication model from regular issues to the continuous publication model. The journal moves towards incorporating open science practices indicating authors contributions, declaring editors names, incorporating information on each author ORCID, financial support, and data availability, in every published paper. Since 2020, aiming a greater international insertion, the journal Editorial Board choose to publish papers only in English. There is an expressive number of authors from all the Americas and Iberia, and an increasing number of authors coming from other parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The journal is honored to have published authors from all continents, as much as is honored to also have editors from all continents. Over years the IBRACON Journal has built a reputation in Latin America as one of the most important scientific publications in Civil Engineering. This recognition is also observed worldwide in recent years. |
Open Access
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This journal follows the Open Access model, providing unrestricted virtual access (including financial restrictions) to all scientific texts published by the journal. Open Access is the condition where the copyright holder of a scholarly work grants usage rights to others using an open license (Creative Commons Attribution - CC-BY) allowing for immediate free access to the work and permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose. |
Open Science Compliance
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The Journal is open access (Gold Open Access) and free of charge. The authors are requested to fill out and submit the Open Science Compliance Form. This journal does not charge authors for submission or publication of their manuscript (article processing/publishing charges). |
Ethics in Publication
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IBRACON PUBLICATIONS CODE OF CONDUCT FOR EDITORS Based on COPE Ethical Guidelines Available at https://publicationethics.org/ Definitions IBRACON Administrator
IBRACON EC
General duties and responsibilities of Editors Editors should be responsible for everything published in their journals. They should:
Relations with readers Readers should be informed about who has funded research and on the role of the funders in the research. Relations with authors Editors should take all reasonable steps to ensure the quality of the material they publish, recognizing that journals and sections within journals will have different aims and standards. Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based only on the paper’s importance, originality, and clarity, and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal. A description of peer review processes should be published, and Editors should be ready to justify any important deviation from the described processes. Journals should have a declared mechanism for authors to appeal against Editorial decisions. Editors should publish guidance to authors on everything that is expected of them. This guidance should be regularly updated and should refer or link to this code. Editors should not reverse decisions to accept submissions unless serious problems are identified with the submission. New Editors should not overturn decisions to publish submissions made by the previous Editor unless serious problems are identified. Relations with reviewers Editors should publish guidance to reviewers on everything that is expected of them. This guidance should be regularly updated and should refer or link to this code. Editors should have systems to ensure that peer reviewers’ identities are protected — unless they have an open review system that is declared to authors and reviewers. The peer-review process The publication peer-review process is described in the Instruction to Authors. Complaints Complaints against an Editor should be made directly by letter to the Editor-in-Chief that may follow it to the Editor. Editors should respond promptly to complaints. Any dissatisfied complainants should be followed again to the Editor-in-Chief that should mediate the conflict. Unresolved complaints can be referred to the IBRACON Ethics Committee (EC). Encouraging debate Cogent criticisms of published work should be published unless Editors have convincing reasons why they cannot be. Authors of criticised material should be given the opportunity to respond. IBRACON Code of Conduct Studies that challenge previous work published in the journal should be given an especially sympathetic hearing. Studies reporting negative results should not be excluded. Encouraging academic integrity Editors should ensure that the research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines. Editors should seek assurances that all research has been approved by an appropriate body (e.g. research ethics committee, institutional review board). However, Editors should recognize that such approval does not guarantee that the research is ethical. Protecting individual data Editors should protect the confidentiality of individual information (e.g., that obtained through the doctor–patient relationship). It is therefore almost always necessary to obtain written informed consent from patients described in case reports and for photographs of patients. It may be possible to publish without explicit consent if the report is important to public health (or is in some other way important); consent would be unusually burdensome to obtain; and a reasonable individual would be unlikely to object to publication (all three conditions must be met). Pursuing misconduct Editors have a duty to act if they suspect misconduct. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. Editors should not simply reject papers that raise concerns about possible misconduct. They are ethically obliged to pursue alleged cases. Editors should first seek a response from those accused. If they are not satisfied with the response, they should ask the relevant employers or some appropriate body (perhaps a regulatory body) to investigate. Editors should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a proper investigation is conducted; if this does not happen, Editors should make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem. This is an onerous but important duty. Ensuring the integrity of the academic record Whenever it is recognized that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. If, after an appropriate investigation, an item proves to be fraudulent, it should be retracted. The retraction should be clearly identifiable to readers and indexing systems. Conflict of interest Editors should have systems for managing their own conflicts of interest as well as those of their staff, authors, reviewers and Editorial board members. Process for dealing with complaints against Editors referred to IBRACON EC A complaint may be referred to EC by an author, reader, reviewer, Editor or publisher. Complaints against an Editor should be made directly to the Editor-in-Chief, who may follow it to the Editor. If the complaint is not resolved satisfactorily, it should be passed to EC. In referring a complaint to EC, all relevant correspondence should be enclosed. EC will accept referrals made within six months of the journal completing its own complaints procedure. EC may consider cases outside this time period in exceptional circumstances. EC will not consider complaints about the substance (rather than the process) of Editorial decisions, or criticisms about Editorial content. When a complaint is referred to EC: 1 The referrer submits a complaint to the IBRACON Administrator. 2 The IBRACON Administrator confirms that the complaint is:
3 The referrer is asked to provide evidence, with all relevant supporting documents including correspondence relating to the hearing of the complaint by the journal, in confidence to the Chair of EC. 4 The EC analyses the case, and either:
- that the Editor apologize to the original complainant; - that the Editor publish a statement from EC in the journal; - that the journal improve its processes; - that the Editor resigns from EC membership for a period of time; or - any other action which the EC feels is appropriate given the circumstances of the case. Appeals procedure Appeals against an EC recommendation may be made to the IBRACON President, contact details for whom will be provided on request. |
Focus and Scope
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The IBRACON Structures and Materials Journal aims to disseminate recent developments and advances in concrete structures and materials, and promote the development of the construction industry through joint collaboration of researchers, engineers, designers, builders, manufacturers and users of concrete structures and materials. The main objective is the publication of original contributions on scientific and technological research, development and implementation of structural concrete. This includes, among others, articles on standards, structural design, concrete structures, composite structures, cement, cementitious materials and their derivatives, such as concrete and mortar, reinforcing polymeric materials, and asphalt used in construction. Fracture mechanics, aspects of durability, structural properties, performance in situ, construction techniques and structural behavior of materials when used in components and structures are also in the scope of the Journal. Access to the Journal is free of charge for authors and readers. |
Digital Preservation
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This journal follows the standards defined in the Digital Preservation Policy of the SciELO Program. All papers are permanently archived and preserved at SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online. Permanent link: SciELO - Revista IBRACON de Estruturas e Materiais. Authors can archive and share research data at IBRACON Structures and Materials Journal - SciELO Data |
Indexing Sources
Bibliographic Journal Information
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Websites and Social Media
Preprints
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Submissions of preprints from the following servers are acceptable: SciELO Preprints, arXiv, bioRxiv, and medRxiv. The acceptance of preprints from other servers will be evaluated by the journal’s editors. |
Peer Review Process
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The review process of the journal is blind to authors and meets all ethical aspects of impartiality. This seriousness and care are important for the credibility and recognition of the journal by the technical and scientific community. The process of evaluating articles is totally transparent and confidential. In this process, the Editor-in-Chief assigns one Associate Editor to manage the revisions. The Associate Editor chooses at least two external reviewers. After receiving the reviews, the Associate Editor includes his/her recommendation along with the opinions of the reviewers. If the Editor-in-Chief is one of the authors, one of the Associate Editors will be assigned as invited Editor-in-Chief. The authors do not have direct contact with the reviewers or know their names during the review process, even if one of the authors is an Editor of the Journal. The entire process is controlled by the appointed Associate Editor who cannot have any link that violates ethical aspects with the authors. The final decision is defined by the Editor-in-Chief in consensus with the Associate Editor. Reviewers are confidential and their identity is preserved to avoid embarrassment or favoritism in the review process. The Editors' names are declared in all published papers. IBRACON Structures and Materials Journal allows the option for reviewers and authors to mutually request: - publication of the opinions of approved articles with optional identification of the reviewers; and - mutual disclosure of their identities in the evaluation process. |
Open Data
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The Journal encourages data-sharing. As an option the “SciELO Data” is available at https://data.scielo.org/dataverse/brriem if the authors wish to deposit data at this multidisciplinary repository. Authors must state about Data Availability in the paper. Examples “The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [URL], reference number [reference number].”;” Data-sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.”;” Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.”;.”;” The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [author initials], upon reasonable request.” |
Fees
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The Journal is open access and free of charge. This journal does not charge authors for submission or publication of their manuscript (article processing/publishing charges). |
Ethics and Misconduct, Correction and Retraction Policy
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Requests for corrections and retractions must be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief, who will assess their publication in consultation with the Editorial Board. In cases involving misconduct or unethical behavior, a formal request for clarification or retraction will be issued by the Editor-in-Chief. Should the authors fail to respond, or if the response is deemed unsatisfactory, the manuscript will be rejected. The editorial board is available at https://ismj.org/index.php/ismj/editor-in-chief The editorial and journal ethics and procedures are available at https://ismj.org/index.php/ismj/publication-ethics. |
Policy on Conflict of Interest
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Authors must declare that there is no conflict of interest. During the peer review process, situations of conflict of interest involving Editors may arise. In cases where the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) is among the authors, an Associate Editor will be appointed to act as Invited Editor-in-Chief. The EIC will have no access to the editorial process and will not be informed of the identities of the Associate Editor or Reviewers, unless otherwise determined during the process (see Open Science Compliance section). Similarly, if the Associate Editor is one of the authors, the EIC will designate an unrelated Associate Editor to oversee the review process, which will follow the same confidential procedures, unless specified otherwise. It is the responsibility of the Associate Editor to disclose any potential conflict of interest related to the manuscript. Likewise, Reviewers must declare any conflict of interest prior to accepting the review assignment. |
Adoption of Similarity Software
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The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and originality. All submitted manuscripts are subjected to a similarity check using Turnitin’s Similarity Check software to identify potential instances of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or excessive similarity with previously published works. Authors are strongly advised to ensure proper citation and originality of their submissions prior to submission. The similarity check is performed during the final stage of the review process, prior to the acceptance of the manuscript. If the similarity index exceeds 25% (excluding references), the Editor-in-Chief may consult the Editorial Board to determine whether the manuscript should be rejected on the grounds of plagiarism or returned to the authors for revision. |
Adoption of Software Using Artificial Intelligence Resources
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Authors must include a clear statement regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools during the preparation of their manuscript. While AI-based tools can assist in language editing or formatting, authors remain fully responsible for the content, accuracy, and integrity of the manuscript. Any use of AI must be appropriately disclosed in the acknowledgments or a dedicated statement within the manuscript. The journal reserves the right to reject or request revision of any submission that fails to comply with these guidelines. Acceptable Uses of AI in Scientific Manuscript Preparation:
Unacceptable Uses of AI in Scientific Manuscript Preparation:
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the peer review process must be approached with strict ethical considerations. Reviewers are prohibited from uploading any part of a manuscript to generative AI platforms, as this constitutes a breach of confidentiality. The peer review must reflect the reviewer’s own critical judgment and not be delegated to AI. Limited use of AI tools may be acceptable for non-substantive tasks, such as grammar refinement or translation support, provided no confidential information is shared and the final content is fully reviewed and validated by the reviewer. Transparency, integrity, and respect for the confidential nature of the review process must be maintained at all times. For more information, see the Guide to the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools and Resources in Research Communication on SciELOon the SciELO Network. |
Gender and Sex Issues
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The editorial team of IBRACON Journal of Materials and Structures (ISMJ), as well as authors publishing in the journal, are expected to adhere to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) Guidelines. The SAGER Guidelines provide a comprehensive framework to ensure the accurate and transparent reporting of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, results, and interpretation of findings. In addition, IBRACON Journal of Materials and Structures (ISMJ) is committed to promoting gender equity in the composition of its editorial board. The journal actively seeks to ensure fair and inclusive representation of all genders across its editorial and advisory structures. |
Ethics Committee
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Authors must confirm that all the research meets the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of the study country. |
Copyright
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All content of the journal, except where identified, is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type CC-BY 4.0. Authors are allowed to hold Copyright without restrictions. The author retains copyright of the published article, and the journal retains the right of first publication |
Intellectual Property and Terms of Use
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Author contributions should be based on significant contributions and a description of each co-author for the study must be stated in the paper. Author contributions include conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, writing, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, writing. Authors must assure that the contribution is original, has not been previously published, and is not under editorial review for publication elsewhere; otherwise, justify in "Comments to the Editor". Authors must confirm that all the research meets the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of the study country. Authors must declare that there is no conflict of interest. All content of the journal, except where identified, is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type BY. Authors are allowed to hold Copyright without restrictions. |
Sponsors and Promotion Agencies
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The journal is financially supported by the IBRACON. The open access model is supported by SciELO, whose mission is to promote open access to Brazilian scientific output through an electronic library that indexes national journals. It establishes criteria to guide journals in complying with Open Science principles and international quality standards. |
Editor-in-Chief
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Associate Editor
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Types of Documents Accepted
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The journal publishes two types of papers: Original Article (preferred) and Review. A DOI is attributed to each published paper. It is also possible to publish Errata and Discussion papers, each one with its own DOI. An Original Article is an unpublished scientific contribution from novel research conducted by the authors. A Review is an extensive survey of previously published research on a topic, presenting and synthesizing information from multiple primary sources, that must be deeply analyzed and commented by the authors, bringing a relevant conclusion. An Errata is a correction made by authors after a published paper. A Discussion paper brings relevant comments from other authors regarding a published paper. |
Authors' Contribution
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Author contributions should be based on significant contributions and a description of each co-author for the study must be stated in the paper. Author contributions include conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, writing, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, writing, following the CRediT taxonomy (https://credit.niso.org/). |
Manuscript Preparation
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The Journal will publish original papers (preferably) and review papers. Errata and paper discussions may also be published. a) Original papers will be accepted if they are in accordance with the objectives of the Journal and present quality of information and presentation. b) Review papers are published only if they bring a significant contribution to the field, with an extensive review and discussion, and new and remarkable conclusions. c) A discussion is received no later than 3 months after the publication of the paper or technical note. The discussion must be limited to the topic addressed in the published paper and must not be offensive. The right of reply is granted to the Authors. The discussions and the replies are published in the subsequent issues of the Journal. |
Article Submission Format
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The submission file should be in Microsoft Word, RTF or OpenOffice file format, according to the paper's sample in English and following the template available at https://www.ibracon.org.br/publicacoes/revistas_ibracon/ISMJ_Template.docx. The paper must meet certain criteria and the following information must be provided:
Where available, URLs for the references should be provided. |
Digital Assets
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Tables and figures must be numbered and presented in ascending and sequential order and referred to in the text in these formats: Figure 1 or (Figure 1), Table 1 or (Table 1). All tables and figures must have captions and should be included within the text, near their first citation. All data shown in tables must be typed using 10 or 11 points. Table 1 is an example of this situation. All tables and charts must be in editable format. Tables should be included within the text close to where they are cited. Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as “Figure(s)”. The figures must be in good resolution (readable and clear) in .tiff, .png or .jpg format. All data shown in figures must be typed equal to text. Titles and footnote of all figures must be in editable format. Figures should be included within the text close to where they are cited. Make sure that equations are in an editable format. Use the Word (2007 or later) equation editor or MathType to elaborate them. We do not accept equations in image format. Equations must be numbered and presented in ascending and sequential order and referred to in the text in these formats: Equation 1 or (Equation 1). Examples are presented in the the template file available at https://www.ibracon.org.br/publicacoes/revistas_ibracon/ISMJ_Template.docx. |
Citations and References
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IBRACON Structures and Materials Journal adopts the citation and reference style of the IEEE. The complete reference guide is available at https://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/IEEE-Reference-Guide.pdf All references need to be numbered and cited in the text in ascending and consecutive order. They must appear on the line, in square brackets, inside the punctuation. Examples: as shown by Brown [4], [5]; as mentioned earlier [2], [4]–[7], [9]; Smith [4] and Brown and Jones [5]; Wood et al. [7]. NOTE: Use et al. when three or more names are given for a reference cited in the text. In all references, the given name of the author or editor is abbreviated to the initial only and precedes the last name. Use commas around Jr., Sr., and III in names. List the names of all authors, up to six names. If there are more than six names listed, use the primary author’s name followed by et al. For additional examples, see the IEEE Reference Guide, at the link below: https://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/IEEE-Reference-Guide.pdf Journal article [1] J. K. Author, “Article title,” Abbrev. Title of Periodical, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Abbrev. Month, year, https://doi.org/... Journal article online [2] J. K. Author, “Article title,” Abbrev. Title of Periodical, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx–xxx, Abbrev. Month, year. Accessed: Month, Day, Year. [Online]. Available: site/path/file Book [3] J. K. Author, Title of His Published Book, xth ed. City of Publisher, (only U.S. State), Country: Abbrev. of Publisher, year. Chapter in a book [4] J. K. Author, “Title of chapter in the book,” in Title of Published Book, J. K. Editor, Ed., City of Publisher, State (only U.S.), Country: Abbrev. of Publisher, year, ch. x, sec. x, pp. xxx–xxx. Conference paper [5] J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” in Abbreviated Name of Conf., (location of conference is optional), (Month and day(s) if provided) year, pp. xxx-xxx. Website [6] First Name Initial(s) Last Name. “Page Title.” Website Title. Web Address (retrieved Date Accessed). M. Theses (B.S., M.S.) and Dissertations (Ph.D.) [7] J. K. Author, “Title of thesis in its original language,” M.S. thesis, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., City of Univ., Abbrev. State, year. M. Theses (B.S., M.S.) and Dissertations (Ph.D.) online [8] J. K. Author, “Title of thesis in its original language,” M.S. thesis, Abbrev. Dept., Abbrev. Univ., City of Univ., Abbrev. State, Country, year. [Online]. Available: http://www.url.com Patent [9] J. K. Author, “Title of patent,” Country Patent xxx, Abbrev. Month, day, year. |
Supplementary Documents
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IBRACON Structures and Materials Journal does not require any supplementary materials to be submitted with the manuscript. |
Funding
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The authors are requested to provide details for all funding received, making sure to include the funding source and grant numbers in that order. |
Contact
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IBRACON - Instituto Brasileiro do Concreto |