ISSN 1413-294X printed version
ISSN 1678-4669 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and editorial policy
• Preparation of the manuscripts
• Procedures for submission and evaluation of the manuscripts
• Authorship rights
• Contact data

Estudos de Psicologia (Natal) is a generalistfour-monthlyjournal, issued by the Psychology Post-graduation Program of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). It publishes original works on Psychology, covering the following categories: (1) research based on empirical data, (2) theoretical studies, (3) critical revision of the literature, and (4) outstanding book reviews. Accounts on professional experience (descriptions of procedures and strategies, or case studies) and technical notes (descriptions of original instruments and research techniques)are also acceptable in cases of actual academic and/or scientific innovation.

Manuscripts must be submitted by internet, exclusively through the website of the Journal (http://submission.scielo.br/index.php/epsic). All and every submission will be received under the condition of never being either published before nor being under evaluation by another periodical. Submissions will be firstly evaluated by the associated editorial. After its agreement, according with the instructions to authors, and being considered potentially publishable in Estudos de Psicologia (Natal) the manuscript will be delivered for evaluation by the peers. The process for evaluating the manuscripts is double blind review, which keeps the identity of authors and consultants undisclosed.

The archives of works already published in Estudos de Psicologia (Natal) is available, as integral text, in the SciELO electronic library (http://www.scielo.br/epsic) and must be consulted by authors planning to submit their work for the first time.

1. Manuscripts must be preferably written in Portuguese, according with the editorial rules established in the present instructions, which are adapted from the 6^th edition (2010) of the Publication Manual of theAmerican Psychological Association (APA). As an alternative to consulting this manual, we suggest to follow the Manuais de Normalização de Trabalhos Científicos available at the site of the Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS-Psi ULAPSI Brasil) <http://www.bvs-psi.org.br/>.

The file of the manuscript must include: title, abbreviated title, abstract and keywords in Portuguese, title, abstract and keywords in English, the text of the work, organized in sections (with their respective subtitles), followed by the list of bibliographic references. If there are tables, notes and appendixes, those must be included in the body of the manuscript, after the list of bibliographic references, one per page.

The file of the manuscript must be deposited in the website of the Journal, after filling the requirements of registering the submission as indicated there. The file must be done in any word processor convertible to the standard of Microsoft Word for Windows®. Files containing special edition resources, like control marks, special hyphenation or macros, will not be accepted.

Here below are the features to be followed in formatting the manuscript:

• Formatting:

  Size of the sheet: A4.
  Margins: 3.0 cm on the left; other margins of 2.0cm, with alignment to the left.
  Page numbers: indicated in Arabic numbers, on the upper left corner of the page.
  Font: Times New Roman, font size 12;
  Double-space the whole document, including abstracts, list of references, notes and appendices. See below for standards applicable to tables and figures.

It is fundamentally important for the material not to contain any identification of authorship, including reference to previous works by the author(s), method details enabling identification/localization of origin, as well as information contained in the fields of file properties of the document, in order not to invalidate the process of blind review by peers. To erase author properties in file properties you must go to "File" -> "Properties" in versions of Microsoft Office Word®older than version 2007, and to "File" -> "Prepare" -> "Properties" in Microsoft Office Word®2007.

2. The initial pages must contain:

1. the title of the manuscript in Portuguese;
2. a suggestion for an abbreviated title in Portuguese;
3. abstract in Portuguese, with 100 words at least and 150 words at most, if the work is a complete research, a theoretical study or a critical revision;
4. abstract in Portuguese, with a minimum of 50 words and a maximum of 100 words, in cases of reports on professional experience and technical notes;
5. indication of three to five keywords in Portuguese, in lowercase, separated by semicolon, as described in the subject descriptors available at the Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS-Psi ULAPSI Brasil) http://www.bvs-psi.org.br/;
6. title of the manuscript in English (translation of the title in Portuguese);
7. abstract (translation of the abstract into English);
8. indication of three to five keywords in English (translated from the keywords in Portuguese), in lower case, separated by semicolon and following the same rules described for Portuguese.

3. The page limits described below include presentation page, abstract in its two versions, text, figures, tables, bibliographic references, notes and appendices:

1. 25 pages for original research, theoretical studies and critical revisions of the literature;
2. 15 pages for reports on professional experienceand technical notes;
3. 5 pages for summaries.

4. As previously indicated, figures and tables must be included in the body of the text, after the bibliographic references, one on each page (taking into account the maximum number of pages allowed for each category). Its preparation must respect the following standards: black and white, font size 10, single-lined and never exceeding the size of 17.5 x 23.5 cm. As they are included at the end of the document sent, it is necessary to indicate, in the body of the text, the approximate location where they are to be placed. In the case of tables, it is extremely important to transform them into figures, in case they need to be edited. The final use of this material is conditioned to the sending of the file in special formats corresponding to specific software, as may happen with some graphics, scanned copies, photographs and other kind of illustrations.

5. The bibliographic references must be listed in alphabetic order, at the end of the main text, by author name and chronologically for each author, following the rules of the Publication Manual da American Psychological Association (APA), of 2010. Here we give the most common cases for orientation, including characters in italics and in French indentation,with a space of about 5 characters from the second line of each entry, a format to be used in the manuscripts submitted to the Journal:

5.1. Books and complete major works:

Chauí, M. (1984). Repressão sexual: essa nossa (des)conhecida. São Paulo: Brasiliense.

Moura, M. L. S., & Correa, J. (1997). Estudo psicológico do pensamento: de W. Wundt a uma Ciência da Cognição. Rio de Janeiro: EDERJ.

Conselho Federal de Psicologia. (Org.). (1988). Quem é o psicólogo brasileiro? São Paulo: Edicon.

Sabadini, A. A. Z. P., Sampaio, M. I., & Koller, S. H. (2009). (Orgs.). Publicar em Psicologia: um enfoque para a revista científica [versão em PDF]. Accessed in http://publicarempsicologia.blogspot.com/

5.2. Chapters of collective works:

Frigotto, G. (1998). A educação e a formação técnico-profissional frente à globalização excludente e o desemprego estrutural. In L. H. Silva (Org.), A escola cidadã no contexto da globalização (pp. 218-238). Petrópolis: Vozes.

Grimm, L. G., & Yarnold, P. R. (1995). Introduction to multivariate statistics. In L. G. Grimm & P. R. Yarnold (Orgs.), Reading and understanding multivariate statistics (pp. 1-18).Washington: American Psychological Association.

Rocha, N. M. S., & Alencar, M. A. (2009). Pioneiros da Psicologia brasileira: diversidade e ética. In M. A. T. Ribeiro, J. S. Bernardes, & C. E. Lang (Orgs.), A produção na diversidade: compromissos éticos e políticos em Psicologia (pp. 207-230). São Paulo: Casa do Psicólogo.

5.3. Articles in scientific journals:

Sawaia, B. B. (2009). Psicologia e desigualdade social: uma reflexão sobre liberdade e transformação social. Psicologia & Sociedade, 21(3), 364-372. doi: 10.1590/S0102-71822009000300010

Mello, S. L. (1992). Classes populares, família e preconceito. Psicologia USP, 3, 123-130.

Nicolaci-da-Costa, A. M., Romão-Dias, D., & Di Luccio, F. (2009). Uso de entrevistas on-line no método de explicitação do discurso subjacente (MEDS). Psicologia Reflexão e Crítica, 22(1), 36-43.

Yamamoto, O. H., Koller, S. H., Guedes, M. C., LoBianco, A. C., Sá, C. P., Hutz, C. S., ... Menandro, P. R. M. (1999). Periódicos científicos em Psicologia: uma proposta de avaliação. Infocapes, 7(3), 5-11.

5.4. Theses and dissertations:

Ferreira, J. H. B. P. (2009). Sócio-sexualidade e Desconto do Futuro: mecanismo de alocação de investimento e tomada de decisão (Dissertação de Mestrado, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo).

Paiva, I. L. (2008). Os novos quixotes da Psicologia e a prática social no âmbito do "terceiro setor" (Tese de Doutorado, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal). Accessed in http://bdtd.bczm.ufrn.br/tedesimplificado//tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=1982

Observation: please inform the website for theses and dissertations accessed in digital databases.

5.5. Unpublished works or in press:

Ting, J. Y., Florsheim, P., & Huang, W. (2008). Mental health help-seeking in ethnic minority populations: a theoretical perspective. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Goulart, P. M. (no prelo). Adaptação do Questionário sobre Significados do trabalho - QST à cultura brasileira. Estudos de Psicologia (Natal).

5.6. Works exposed in scientific events and published in annals:

Meneghini, R., & Campos-de-Carvalho, M. I. (1995). Áreas circunscritas e agrupamentos sequenciais entre crianças em creches. In Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia (Org.), XXV Reunião Anual de Psicologia. Resumos (p. 385). Ribeirão Preto: Autor.

Trzesniak, P. (2009, maio). 23 anos de Psicologia: o acervo digital científico e administrativo da Anpepp. Comunicação apresentada no 6º Congresso Norte Nordeste de Psicologia, Belém. Abstract accessed in http://www.conpsi6.ufba.br/

5.7. Works exposed in scientific events and unpublished:

Haidt, J., Dias, M. G., & Koller, S. (1991, fevereiro). Disgust, disrespect and culture: moral judgment of victimless violation in the USA and Brazil. Exposed in the Annual Meeting of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research, Isla Verde, Puerto Rico.

5.8. Ancient work, reedited in a very posterior date and translations:

Piaget, J. (1973). A linguagem e o pensamento da criança (3ª ed., M. Campos, Trad.). Rio de Janeiro: Fundo de Cultura. (Original text published in 1956)

Observation: the notation in the main text must be the following: Piaget (1956/1973).

5.9. Institutional work:

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual (6ª ed.). Washington: Autor.

5.10. Legislative documents:

Decreto n. 3.298. (1999, 20 de dezembro). Regulamenta a política nacional para a integração da pessoa portadora de deficiência, consolida as normas de proteção e dá outras providências. Brasília, DF: Presidência da República.

Lei n. 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. (1996, 23 de dezembro). Estabelece as Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. Diário Oficial da União, seção 1.

Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. (1988, 5 de outubro). Accessed in http://www.senado.gov.br/sf/legislacao/const/

5.11. Personal communication:

Letters, conversations (telephonic or personal) and email messages must not be included in the section of bibliographic references, but only in the text body, as initials and surname of the issuer and date (S. L. Mello, personal communication, September 15^th, 1995).

5.12. Secondary citations:

Only when absolutely inevitable, it is possible to cite a text contained in another consulted work, without the original work being consulted. In this case, the references section must cite just the consulted work, and citing both authors in the main text, according with the example: "Piaget (citedby Flavell, 1996)".

5.13. Material accessed from internet:

The following examples show the most common cases. For a more complete treatment, consult the Manual of the APA, and other data available in the website of the APA: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html.

Associação de Moradores de Vila Real. (2002). Carta aberta à Prefeitura Municipal. Accessed in http://www.amvr.atas/cartaaberta.html

Precisamos vencer a dengue agora (s/d). Accessed in http://www.ansp.campanhas/saude/docs/

6. Bibliographic references without literal citation must be incorporated into the text, in brackets and in alphabetical order, following the standard:

1. for up to two authors, put the surname (s) and publication year in all of the citations;
2. for three to five authors, put the surname of the authors is mentioned in the first citation, and from the second citation on, just the surname of the first author, followed by "et al." and the publication year;
3. for six or more authors, put the surname of the first author, followed by "et al." and the publication year in all of the citations.

7. In the case of literal citation, as well as in a fragment of an interview, the piece of text must appear between quotation marks and, just after it, indicating the page(s) from which it was taken. Citations with more than 40 words must be placed in a separated block, without either quotation marks or italics, with complete left indentation of about 5 characters (equivalent to 0.5 cm). Notations for presenting citations, given in the Publication Manualof the APA can be consulted. See the following example:

Keller (2002) afirma que a primeira tarefa do desenvolvimento da criança consiste em desenvolver relações de aprendizagem com os cuidadores primários, e conceitua a aprendizagem como:

um processo de desenvolvimento, guiado por regras epigenéticas que direcionam a atenção dos bebês para seus parceiros sociais e permitem uma aprendizagem facilitada dos parâmetros que definem as relações dentro de um contexto específico e, consequentemente, o desenvolvimento de um self contextual (p. 217).

Para explicar as regras epigenéticas, Keller (2002) utiliza dois conceitos cunhados por Mayr (1988): os programas fixos e os programas abertos.

8. Footnotes must be restricted to complements of data that, judged as relevant, do not fall into the logic sequence of the main text. Bibliographic notes are not recommended.

9. Any additional material considered indispensable for understanding the text (questionnaires, interview protocols, tests, etc.) or too large tables must go as Appendices, in new pages, identified by uppercase letters (Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.). Numbering each table given in the Appendix must be preceded by the letter identifying the appendix (table A1, Table C4, etc.). The Publication Manualof the APA can be consulted for details.

Manuscripts fitting the modalities specified above, and rigorously following the criteria for manuscript submission, will be subjected to the following process:

1. Preliminary evaluation: - Quality and pertinence of the manuscript with the thematic axes of interest of the Journal will be evaluated, considering originality and theoretic-methodological coherence, and in terms of the section to which the manuscript was sent. Such evaluation will be made by the editorial in charge of Estudos de Psicologia (Natal) and, eventually, by a member of the Editorial Commission of the Journal, and might eventually result in rejection.

2. Initial verification:The full compliance of the manuscript to the following requirements will be checked:

1. To be free of any identification of authorship;
2. Format (see item I-1 of these instructions);
3. Requirements for the initial pages (see item I-2 of these instructions);
4. To comply with the norms of the 6th edition (2010) of the Publication Manual of theAmerican Psychological Association (APA), for all the body of the manuscript, including the list of references;
5. To have the correct number of pages indicated for the section to which it was submitted (including abstracts, list of references, tables and figures).

Noncompliance of any of these five items is enough for an INITIAL REJECTION of the work, for what we recommend the authors to carefully check their manuscripts before submission. We emphasize that manuscripts REJECTED TWICE for noncompliance to these items are not to be received again for a period of 12 (twelve) months from the date of refusal.

3. Peerevaluation: after evaluation of the abovementioned items, the manuscript will be submitted to a minimum of two peer reviewers, members of the Scientific Conceal of the Journal and/or ad hoc consultants, with the following possibilities:

• Not recommended for publication (inappropriate forEstudos de Psicologia)
• Not recommended for publication, but encouraged to be reformulated for a new submission
• Recommended for publication, but needing revision
• Recommended for publication, without the need of revision

4. Notificationtoauthors: after peer review, the authors will receive one of the following decisions:

1. Preliminary editorial decision: a notification recommending reformulation, as soon as possible and making available integral copies of the peer revisions, hiding the identity of the consultants. Reformulated manuscripts are to be examined by the Editorial Commission, which will decide, on the basis of the consultant’s recommendations, the acceptance for publication, the need for additional reformulation, or even the refusal. In case of acceptance, the Editorial Commission has the right to make some little modifications into the manuscript, for standardization purposes, according to the editorial parameters of the Journal.
2. Editorial decision: a notification of the final decision about publishing the manuscript, always made by the Editorial Commission.

We emphasize that the peer evaluation process uses the double blind review system, which hides the identity of authors and consultants. It is for this reason that the authorship of the manuscript being not revealed is an indispensable criterion for starting the evaluation process.

The approval of the manuscript implies the immediate cession and without obligations, of the publication rights to the Journal Estudos de Psicologia (Natal), which will have the exclusivity to publish it from first hand. The author, nevertheless, will keep the authorship rights for subsequent publications. In the case of re-publication of articles in other media, we recommend to mention its first publication made in Estudos de Psicologia (Natal).

Revista Estudos de Psicologia (Natal)

Caixa Postal 1622, Natal/ RN; CEP: 59.078-970
Tel.: (84) 3215-3590, ramal 6
Fax: (84) 3215-3589
E-mail: revpsi@cchla.ufrn.br
Submissions and editorial process: http://submission.scielo.br/index.php/epsic
Archive of articles in whole text: http://www.scielo.br/epsic