ISSN 0004-282X printed version
ISSN 1678-4227 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Purpose and objectives
• Form of articles
• Article's submission

The mission of Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria is to provide neurologists and specialists in related fields with open access to original articles, editorials, review articled, images in neurology and case reports of clinical interest.

Its purpose is to contribute towards improving attendance for patients with neurological diseases, training for neurologists, clinical research, continuing education and practice guidance for neurologists.
Its vision is to be the best neurosciences journal in Latin America within the peer review system.

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria is the official journal of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology. It publishes its consensuses and guidelines on neurology, educational and scientific material from its different departments and also guidance of interest to neurologists' professional activities.

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria publishes one volume per year, consisting of twelve monthly issues, from January to December, in two versions:

• Arq Neuropsiquiatr - ISSN 1678-4227 (online version)
• Arq Neuropsiquiatr - ISSN 0004-282-X (printed version)

TYPES OF CONTRIBUTION

Texts should present characteristics that allow them to fit into the following sections:

• Original Articles: original clinical or experimental research.
• Review Articles: critical analyses on current topics, by invitation from the editors.
• Historical Notes: history of neurology and data on descriptions of signs, diseases or neurological syndromes.
• Letters: communication of unusual cases, or cases of exceptional clinical interest.
• Images in Neurology: original images that illustrate neurological diseases.
• Theses Abstracts: reproduction of abstracts from theses or master's dissertations.
• Opinions: comments on articles that have been published.
• Book Reviews: critical analysis on neuroscience publications.
• Brazilian Academy of Neurology: topics relating to the activities of the Academy's Scientific Departments, annals of scientific meetings and others.

The texts should be unpublished, clear and concise, and in English both for the online version and for the printed version.

The sections Book Reviews and Brazilian Academy of Neurology will be published only in printed form, in Portuguese.

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria

Adopts the editorial standards of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: ICMJE uniform requirements submitted to biomedical journals October 2005 update (www.icmje.org).The authors should refer to the original word-processor WORD, source 12 (Arial or Times New Roman). The text should include, in this order:

1) Presentation (cover page):

a) Title synthetic and precise, up to 100 characters. The title should be suggestive, drawing attention to the content, without being restricted to a strictly descriptive nature. Except in manuscripts referring to particular aspects of a region that cannot be extrapolated to the general population, descriptions of the region from which the study originates should be avoided in the title. The title in Portuguese should be placed after the title in English;
b) Author: name and, on behalf, as if desired for indexing;
c) Additional information: name of the institution where the study was made, city and country; grade and position of the author; declaration of conflict of interest; financing;postal address and e-mail.

2) Abstract

(a) Original Articles, Review Articles and Historical Notes: up to 150 words, containing structured information on: espective and purpose of the study, method, results, concluzion;
(b) Letters, Images in Neurology and Opinions do not have an Abstract or Resumo.

3) Key Words

a) Original Articles, Review Articles and Historical Notes: in english and in portuguese, after the abstract, following the Descriptors of Health Science (http://decs.bvs.br/);
b) Letters, Images in Neurology , Theses Abstracts and Opinions: do not have Key words.

4) Abstract, Key words, Resumo, Palavras-Chave: should be placed, in this order, after the name of the authors, before the text.

5) Text

a) Original Aticles: up to 3000 words, excluding the references, including: introduction and purpose; method (subjects and procedures, explicit reference regarding compliance with the applicable ethical standards, including the name of the Ethics Commission which approved the study and the agreement of patients or their relatives); results; discussion; aknowledgments; references. Do not repeat in the text the data from tables and illustrations.
b) Review Articles: up to 5000 words, not counting the references, including analysis of data of other authors or metanalyses, critical evaluation of the data from the literature and considerations based on personal experience;
c) Historical Notes: up to 1000 words, without counting the references;
d) Letters: up to 500 words, without counting the references;
e) Images in Neurology: up to 100 words, with a summary of the clinical data and comments on the images;
f) Opinions: up to 400 words;
g) Theses Abstracts: up to 200 words.

6) Tables

a) Articles and Review Articles: up to 5, submitted on separate pages, with: order number, title and legend. Do not use bars to separate rows or columns;
b) Letters and historical notes: up to 2, with format similar to that described for the articles.

7) Illustrations

a) Article and Review Articles: up to 3, graphics or photos of good quality with subtitles in separate pages. Reproduction of published illustrations:attach authorization of publishing and author;
b) Letters and Historical Notes: up to 2, with format similar to that described for the items above;
c) Images in Neurology: up to 4, on a single page. Illustrations in color: costs will be send to the author.

8) References

a) Original Articles: up to 30, restricted to those essences to the content of the article;
b) Review Articles: up to 60; ;
c) Historical Notes: up to 10; (d)Letters, Opinions and Images in Neurology: up to 5.

The references must be:

1) Numbered consecutively in the order of their citation along the text;
2) Follow the pattern of the Index Medicus;
3) Included all authors when up to 6; when 7 or more, list the first 3 followed by "et al.".

Prepare references according to the following norms:

a) Articles: author (s). Title. Journal year; volume: initial-final pages (with all digits);
b) Books: Author(s) or Editor(s). Title. Edition, if not the first. Translator(s), if any. City publication: publisher, year: initial-final pages;
c) Chapters of books: Author(s). Title. Editor(s) of the book and the other data on it, as in previous item;
d) Summaries: Author(s). Title, followed by (abstr.). Publication year; Volume (Supplement and its number, if applicable): page(s). When it is not published in a journal: Title of publication. City where publishing was, year: page(s);
e) Textbook or text online: author(s). Title. Available at www… (Name of the site). Accessed (month, day, year);
f) Personal communications should only be mentioned in the text, in brackets.

References appearing on papers of this number are useful examples.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Only online submissions will be accepted: http://submission.scielo.br
The article should be submitted to the Editorial Board for publication, together with the following:

1) Two documents, both in PDF and signed by all the authors:
a) Declaration of authors' consent for publication;
b) Declaration of conflicts of interest;
2) Suggestion of 3 to 5 names of specialists as reviewers.

APPRAISAL PROCEDURES APPLIED TO MANUSCRIPTS

The Editorial Board will:

a. Verify whether articles are in the format recommended in the Instructions for Authors and whether they meet the purposes of the periodical, and will reject them when these conditions are not satisfied;
b. After the preliminary analysis, send the selected articles to a Supervisor for the specific field, who will issue a general opinion report within 48 hours;
c. If this report from the Supervisor for the field is positive, designate researchers in the field to assess the study, within the peer-review system. In the end, at least two specialists will have assessed the content and form of the text, within a maximum of 20 days. If the evaluations diverge, the Supervisor for the field may be asked to issue an opinion to settle the issue;
d. Receive and analyze the opinion reports from the reviewers, and reject articles that are deemed unsatisfactory;
e. If corrections have been suggested, make the reviewers' reports and suggestions known to the authors, together with editorial comments regarding the content, structure, clarity and composition of the text. The authors have a maximum of 20 days to return the text with revisions;
f. Forward the new text to the reviewers. These reviewers will check whether the new version includes the corrections and suggestions recommended, and will issue a new opinion report. This process may require several rounds until the manuscript is considered to be acceptable. Noncompliance with this process, in relation to points that are considered essential, may imply that the manuscript will be rejected, regardless of its provisional acceptance at preceding stages;
g. Accept or reject the article for publication;
h. If accepted, send the article in its final format, to the author(s) for their consent to publication;
i. Send the manuscript for publication after this consent has been received, or after a period of one week without any manifestation to the contrary.

The author(s) can accompany the appraisal procedures on the manuscript through the same website: http://submission.scielo.br

ACCEPT OF THE ARTICLE

The manuscripts will be accepted by chronological order in which they reach the final format, after conclusion of the processing steps. All manuscripts will be submitted to a reviwer in English language with experience in the neurological area, with cost running on account of the authors.

PUBLICATION OF THE ARTICLE

When the manuscript goes into the printing stage, after going through the layout stage, the manuscript can no longer be modified. At this stage, it may be published online in Ahead of Print (AOP) form, provided that it fits within the category of Original Article. Through the AOP system, access to the manuscript through the internet is guaranteed, and it can be read and cited even though it has not yet been formally published. At the time of formal publication, it will be withdrawn from the AOP system. The manuscript will be published simultaneously
in online form and in printed form. It is understood that the authors agree with:

a) publishing the article in this journal exclusively;
b) the automatical transference of rights and permissions for publisher of this journal.The authors assume the responsibility for the intellectual and legal considerations and the results presented.