ISSN 1676-2444 printed version
ISSN 1678-4774 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Analysis of the articles
• Copyrights
• Ethics
• Abstracts and key words
• Acknowledgements
• Structure of the text
• References
• Tables and images
• Abbreviations and medicine names
• Contact with JBPML
• How to submit an article to JBPML

Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial (JBPML), a continuation of Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia, which is published bimonthly (February, April, June, August, October and December), is an official organ of Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia Clínica/Medicina Laboratorial (SBPC/ML), Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia (SBP) and Sociedade Brasileira de Citopatologia, indexed at Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), at Periódica and at Chemical Abstracts. It is also a member of the Scientific Electronic Library Online (ScieELO) database. It is aimed at the publication of scientific papers that contribute to the development of Laboratory Medicine and it accepts the following text categories: original, review, and experimental articles; case reports, brief communications and etters to the editor. The papers may be submitted in Portuguese, English or Spanish.

The received manuscript will be sent to at least two independent evaluators, well-known scientific pairs with expertise in the area discussed in the article. After their analysis, the chief editor of JBPML will contact the main author to inform the steps to be followed for publication or its ultimate rejection.

The authors must send a term of responsibility formally stating the authorship of the text and the copyright transfer.
The publication management system of JBPML has a model of this document and the instructions to fill it in and send it.

Studies carried out with human beings, including organs and/or isolated tissues as well as clinical records, must be according to the standards 196/96 of the National Health Council (http://www.bioetica.ufrgs.br/res19696.htm). Papers to be published shall be accompanied by the ethics committee certificate from the institution where research has been carried out, in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, 1989 (http://www.bioetica.ufrgs.br/helsin4.htm).
In the experimental investigations involving animals, the ethical principles of animal experiments stated by Colégio Brasileiro de Experimentação Animal (COBEA) and the standards established by the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council, Washington, DC, 1996) must be respected.
The drugs and chemical substances used in the research must be precisely identified.
Names or patient's initials, business names, companies and hospital records must not be used.

Regardless of the language in which the article was written, there must be two abstracts: one in Portuguese and another one in English. The abstracts must identify the objectives, procedures and conclusions of the research (maximum of 250 words for original, review and update articles; and maximum of 100 words for case reports and brief communications). If the article is in Spanish, there should also be an abstract in Spanish.
The key words, which represent the subject discussed in the article, must be within three to six, using controlled vocabulary Descritores em Ciências da Saúde (DeCS) of BIREME, with other terms when necessary. They must be presented in Portuguese and English. If the article is written in Spanish, the key words should also be in that language.

They must be brief, objective and directed to the person or institution that contributed considerably to the elaboration of the research. They must be included after the conclusion and before the bibliographic references.

Original articles
They are intended to report the original unpublished research results that may be replicated and generalized. The articles may have a maximum of 4 thousand words. The formal structure must follow the presentation structure of this kind of article: Introduction, Objectives, Material and Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusions and References.
The use of subtitles is recommended, particularly in Discussion. Clinical implications and study limitations must be clearly stated. The topic Material and Method should be thoroughly detailed. In these articles, the presentation of a structured abstract in Portuguese and English is required with the formal presentation of the article: Introduction, Objectives, Material and Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusions and References. The abstract in English must be preceded by the title in English. The references must be at the end of the text according to the following standards.

Brief communications
They are short reports that must present: 1) preliminary study data with suggestive findings that guarantee a more definite investigation; 2) replication studies; and 3) negative studies of important topics. These articles must have a maximum of 1,500 words, including non-structured abstract, one table or image at most, as well as the References.

Review articles
Review articles will be accepted by means of an invitation.
They are systematized critical evaluation of the literature about a certain topic, which must state conclusions and have up to 5 thousand words. The organization of the article is up to the author, apart from Introduction, Discussion and Conclusion. A structured abstract of the text in its original language and another one in English are required. An extensive list of references must appear at the end of the text.

Update articles
They are descriptive and interpretative texts based on the recent literature about the global situation in which a certain topic is found. It must have a maximum of 3 thousand words. The structure of the text is decided by the author, but it must contain a non-structured abstract in the original language and another one in English, as well as the references.

Case reports
They are original clinical-laboratory observations followed by analysis and discussion. They must have up to 1,500 words. The structure must present at least the following topics: Introduction, Case reports, and Discussion. Include a non-structured abstract in the original language and another one in English.

Letters to the Editor
They are letters that aim at discussing the recent articles published in the magazine or reporting original research or relevant scientific findings. Brief letters with a maximum of 500 words (including bibliography, no tables and pictures) will be considered if the sentence "for publication" is explicit.

Bibliographic references must appear at the end of the article in numbered alphabetical order. They must follow the standards of Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT) - NBR-6023 (August 2000). The journal titles must be referred in the abbreviated form according to Index Medicus (List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus). If the references do not follow the adopted standards, the articles will be immediately rejected without content review.
The authors must make sure that the references quoted in the text are included in the bibliography with exact dates and authors' names accurately written. The preciseness of bibliography is the authors' responsibility.
Personal communications, original or in progress texts may be cited when absolutely necessary, but they cannot be included in the references, just mentioned in the text or in a footnote. The references must follow the examples below.

Examples:

• Journal articles (just one author)
  COTRIM, F. L. S. Coleta de sangue para dosagem de triglicerídeos. J Bras Patol, v. 33, n. 4, p. 201-02, 1997.
• Journal articles (more than three authors)
  ABREU, E. S. et al. Doença de Hodgkin infanto-juvenil no estado do Ceará e sua relação com o vírus Epstein-Barr: parâmetros clínicos e análise morfológica imuno-histoquímica e por hibridização in situ. J Bras Patol, v. 33, n. 4, p. 178-84, 1998.
• On-line journal article
  YAZLE, J. S. R. et al. Assistência hospitalar como indicador da desigualdade social. Rev Saúde Publ, São Paulo, v. 31, n. 5, 1997. Available at: http://www.fsp.usp.br/rsp. Accessed on: 23 mar. 1998.
• Books (two authors)
  RINGSVEN, M. K.; BOND, D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. Albany, N.Y.: Delmar Publishers, 1996.
• Chapter or part of a book published by another author
  SCIVOLETO, R. Sistema nervoso autônomo. In: ZANINI, A. C.; OGA, S. Farmacologia aplicada. 4. ed. São Paulo: Atheneu, 1989. Cap. 9; p. 97-141.
• Part of a book on electronic media
  SÃO PAULO (Estado). Secretaria do Meio Ambiente. Tratados e organizações ambientais em matéria de meio ambiente. In: _________. Entendendo o meio ambiente. São Paulo, 1999. v. 1. Available at: http://www.bdt.org/sma/entendendo/atual/htm. Accessed on: 8 mar.1999.
• Event on electronic media
  SILVA, R. N.; OLIVEIRA, R. Os limites pedagógicos do paradigma da qualidade total da educação. In: CONGRESSO DE INICIAÇÃO CIENTÍFICA DA UFPE, 4., 1996, Recife. Anais eletrônicos... Recife: UFPe, 1996. Available at: http://www.propesq.ufpe.br/anais/educ/ce04.htm. Accessed on: January 21, 1997.
• Thesis or dissertation
  OLIVEIRA, C. M. Isolamento e caracterização de estreptococos de placa dental. Rio de Janeiro, 1974. Tese (doutoramento) - Instituto de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
• Quotations in the text
  They must be identified by Arabic numbers (index numbers).
  The author's name and the year may be included. The bibliography with more than one author must contain the first author's surname followed by the expression et al. For example: Higash et al.

The tables must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numbers and headed with a title. The same data should not be repeated. The tables should follow the standards of tabular presentation established by the National council of Statistics and published by Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE, 1993).
The illustrations (graphs, photos, drawings, etc.) must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numbers and cited as figures. They should be sufficiently clear to allow reproduction. The graphs must be prepared in a graph processing system. The approximate places where the illustrations will be intercalated as figures in the text must be indicated.
We accept tables, images and graphs in the following electronic file formats: jpg, gif, psd, tif and png.

The abbreviations must be indicated in the text. Use the generic name of medicines and indicate the source of substances not available for prescription.
The units of measure as well as abbreviations must be expressed in the decimal metric system and, if the author wishes, in the International in parentheses.

Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia Clínica/Medicina Laboratorial
Tel.: (21) 3077-1400
e-mail: jbpml@sbpc.org.br

How to submit an article to JBPML
1. Enter the site www.jbpml.org.br.

2. If you have already registered, type your login and password and click on "Enter SGP".
If you have not registered yet, click on "I want to register".

3. First step: in the field "Inform your e-mail" register the e-mail that will be used to receive news and information about SGP.
Click on "Continue registration".

4. Second step: fill in the registration fields.
Note: The fields with an asterisk are obligatory.
Click on "Continue registration".
The message "Your registration at SGP has been successfully concluded" will appear.
You will receive an e-mail with your login and password at your registered e-mail address.
Click on "Back" at the same page.

5. You will return to the initial page of SGP with login and password.
On this page enter your login and registered password and click on "Enter SGP".
Note: your login and password are in the e-mail SGP sent to you by the end of your registration.

6. On the initial page of SGP there is a message informing you this is the first time you access the system. Otherwise, the message will inform you how many times you accessed the system, date, time of your last access and if you have access with author status.

7. Observe the menu on the left side of the screen. If you have not submitted any articles to SGP, all the items of the menu will be indicated with a "Zero".

8. To submit an article, click on "Submit new article to Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial".

• Review article
• Original article
• Letter to the editor
• Brief communication
• Case report

10. Window "Step 2": include the images and/or graphs used in the article. All images and/or graphs must be in one of the following formats: jpg, gif, png, pdf or tif.
After including images/graphs, click on "Send images". If the article has no images, click on "I do not need to send images".

11. In this window the author can check the images he sent and send more of them. If he had not sent any images, the message "No image has been sent" will appear.
Click on "Next".

12. Window "Step 3": insert/edit/exclude new co-authors. For each new co-author, the fields "Name", "Title, "Position" and optionally "ID card" (for subsequent Copyright Statement) must be filled in.
The order of importance of authors may be changed by clicking on the yellow arrows (up and down). The first name will be regarded as the main author and the others as co-authors.
After insert/edit/exclude new co-authors, click on "Record" and "Next".
If there are no new co-authors, click on "Next".

13. Window "Step 4": fill it in with the title of the article and key words. These pieces of information must be written in the author's mother-tongue (for example: Portuguese or Spanish) and in English.
Click on "Next".

14. Window "Step 5": fill it in with the abstract. The author may also include further information such as the institution, name and mailing address, and if he has received any financial support grants.
It is also possible to write a Letter to the Editor containing relevant additional information. Only the Editor will have access to it.
Click on "Next".

15. Window "Step 6": write the article itself. A text editor is provided with the necessary commands to formatting.
It is possible to paste a text that had already been written and formatted in MS Word.
Click on "Next".

16. Window "Step 7": Copyright Transfer Statement. Fill in the required fields, print it and send it to SBPC/ML by fax (21) 2205-3386.

17. Window "Step 8": visual format of the article (html or pdf). In this window the author decides if he will submit the article or exclude it and give up on submitting it.

18. Window "Concluded": it shows you have finished the article submission process.

19. You will receive an e-mail stating your article has been submitted to evaluation.