ISSN 1413-3555 printed version
ISSN 1809-9246 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Objectives, scope and policies
• Manuscript review process
• Instructions to authors

The Revista Brazileira de Fisioterapia (RBF/BJPT) publishes original research reports related to the main object of the study of Physical Therapy and its field of professional action. It publishes basic studies on human motor function and clinical investigations on the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of movement disorders.

The RBF/BJPT publishes articles in the following fields of expertise: Fundamentals and History of Physical Therapy; Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology and Biomechanics; Motor Control, Behavior and Motor Function; Physical and Natural Therapeutic Resources; Manual Therapeutic Resources; Kinesiotherapy; Prevention in Physical Therapy/Ergonomics; Physical Therapy for Musculoskeletal Conditions; Physical Therapy for Neurological Conditions; Physical Therapy for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Conditions; Physical Therapy for Urogynecological and Obstetric Conditions; Physical Therapy Education; Administration, Ethics and Deontology; Movement Recording and Analysis; Physical Therapy for Geriatric Conditions and Measurements in Physical Therapy.

Articles submitted to the RBF/BJPT should preferably fit into the category of Original Articles (new information, with methods and results reported systematically). Review articles (up-to-date synthesis of well-established topics, with critical analysis of the reviewed literature and conclusions) are published only by invitation from the editors. Passive review articles submitted spontaneously will not be accepted; Systematic Review and Meta-analysis articles, Methodological articles presenting methodological aspects of research or education and Case Studies account for 20% of the total number of manuscripts published.

The RBF/BJPT also publishes: the Editorial Section; Letters to the Editor; Book Reviews (by request from the editors); Abstracts of events as a Supplement after submission and approval of the proposal by the Editorial Board. Submissions of proposals will take place annually, by means of an official announcement, according to the "Rules for Publishing Supplements", which can be obtained from the website http://www.rbf-bjpt.org.br.

The published manuscripts are property of the Revista Brazileira de Fisioterapia, and must not be reproduced, even partially in other journals, or translated into another language without the authorization of the Editors.

The RBF/BJPT supports the clinical trial registration policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) (http://www.who.int/ictrp/en/) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.wame.org/resources/policies#trialreg) and (http://www.icmje.org/clin_trialup.htm), and recognizes the importance of these initiatives for international registration and dissemination of information on clinical trials, with open access. Therefore, since 2007, clinical trial studies are only accepted for publication if they have received an identification number from one of the Clinical Trial Registries accredited by WHO and ICMJE. The addresses for these registers are available from the ICMJE website (http://www.icmje.org/faq.pdf).

The submitted manuscripts that meet the criteria set out in "Instructions to Authors" and that are in accordance with the Journal's editorial policy will be passed on to Subject Area Editors for evaluation of originality, adequacy and clinical relevance, as well as research design. During this process, the Subject Area Editors will not be aware of the authors' identity.

The manuscripts that do not have merit in the pre-analysis phase will be rejected even if the text and the methodological quality are adequate. Thus, the manuscript can be rejected based on the opinion of the Subject Area Editor with no need for further evaluations. The manuscripts selected in the pre-analysis phase will go to peer review by experts working independently. The reviewers will remain anonymous to the authors, and the authors will not be identified by the reviewers. The editors will coordinate the information between authors and reviewers and will make the final decision concerning which manuscripts are published based on reviewer recommendations. If accepted for publication, the manuscripts will be subject to minor corrections or modifications that will not change the author's style. If rejected, the manuscripts will be accompanied by explanatory comments from the editor.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The submission of manuscripts must be made through the website http://www.scielo.br/rbfis and implies that the work has neither been published nor is under consideration for publication in another journal. If part of the material has already been presented in a preliminary communication, in a Symposium or Congress, etc., this should be cited as a footnote on the title page and a copy of this communication must accompany the submission of the manuscript.

Articles submitted and accepted in Portuguese should be translated into English by RBF/BJPT translators. Articles submitted and accepted in English must also be forwarded to RBF/BJPT English reviewers for final revision. As determined by the Editorial Board, the authors are responsible for the costs of English translation and revision of the accepted manuscripts. The RBF/BJPT may subsidize the cost of this process by up to 50%, according to the availability of funds.

FORM AND PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

The RBF/BJPT accepts up to 6 (six) authors in one manuscript. Manuscripts must be submitted preferably in English and must contain up to 3500 words (excluding Abstract, References, Figures, Tables and Appendices). Case Studies must not exceed 1600 words, excluding Abstract, References, Figures, Tables and Appendices.

When submitting manuscripts for publication, the authors must forward the following supplementary documents by post or online:

1) Cover letter containing the following information:

a. Full name of each of the authors;
b. Article type and the main field (see OBJECTIVES, SCOPE AND POLICY);
c. Approval number and name of the Institution that gave the Ethics Committee approval for research on humans and experiments on animals. For research on humans, also include a declaration that written consent was obtained from the individuals who participated in the study;
d. As described in the OBJECTIVES, SCOPE AND POLICY, manuscripts with results related to clinical trials must include the identification number at the end of the Abstract (Suggested registration website: www.anzctr.org.au/Survey/UserQuestion.aspx);

2) Conflict of interest statement. The authors must disclose any possible conflicts of interest (professional, financial and direct and indirect benefits) that might have influenced research results;

3) A declaration signed by all of the authors stating that they are responsible for the content of the manuscript and that they will transfer copyrights to the RBF/BJPT, should the article be accepted by the Editors.

Cover letter and declaration templates are available online at http://www.rbf-bjpt.org.br.

Authors must remove all information (except in the title and identification page) that may identify the source or authorship of the article.

MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING

The manuscript must be prepared with all the pages numbered consecutively on the right-hand side of the top margin, starting with the title page. The original articles must be structured in the following order:

• Title page and Identification (1st page)

The identification page must contain the following data:

a) Title of the manuscript in capital letters;
b) Author: first name and surname of each author, in capital letters, without titles, followed by superscript numbers to identify their institutional affiliation (Unit/Institution/City/State/Country). For more than one author, separate using commas;
c) Full name and address. (It is the corresponding author's responsibility to keep the contact address and e-mail up to date for contact);
d) Running head for the pages of the article: indicate a short title in Portuguese and in English to be used in the header on each page of the article, not exceeding 60 characters in length;
e) Key words: a list of indexing terms or key words (no more than six) in Portuguese and English. The RBF/BJPT recommends the use of HSDe - Health Sciences Descriptors to consult the indexing terms or key words to be used in the article (http://decs.bvs.br/).

• Abstract

A concise presentation not exceeding 250 words in a single paragraph, in Portuguese (Resumo) and English (Abstract) must be inserted immediately after the title page. Footnotes and undefined abbreviations must not be included. If a reference must be cited, the full citation must be included in the abstract. The abstract must be written in structured format, including the following items separately: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions.

• Body of the text: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion

Include the following as highlighted item:

Introduction - This should give information on the subject of investigation and contain the objectives of the investigation, how it relates to other studies in the same field and the reasons that led the author(s) to follow this line of research;

Methods - These should be described in detail so that other researchers can repeat the entire study. All the necessary information should be included (or reference should be made to articles already published in other scientific journals) to allow the replication of the collected data. It is strongly recommended that intervention studies present control groups and, when possible, randomization of the sample.

Results - These should be presented briefly and concisely. Tables, Figures and Appendices can be included when necessary to ensure better and more effective comprehension of the data.

Discussion - The purpose of the discussion is to interpret the results and relate them to existing and available knowledge, especially the knowledge already indicated in the Introduction of the study. Information given earlier in the text may be cited, but should not be repeated in detail in the Discussion.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis articles must include a section that describes the methods employed for locating, selecting, obtaining, classifying and synthesizing information.

• Acknowledgements

When appropriate, brief acknowledgements can be included at the end of the text and before the References, specifying technical assistance, financial support for the research, study grants, and collaboration from individuals who deserve recognition (counseling and assistance). The authors are responsible for obtaining permission in writing from the individuals whose names appear in the Acknowledgements;

• References

The recommended number of references is at least 50 references for review articles; 30 references for original articles, meta-analyses, systematic reviews and methodological articles. For case studies, no more than 10 references are recommended.

References should be organized in numerical order of first appearance in the text, following the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, drawn up by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE - http://www.icmje.org/index.html).

Journal titles should be referred to in abbreviated form, in accordance with the List of Journals of Index Medicus (http://www.index-medicus.com). Non-indexed journals should not have their names abbreviated.

Citations should be mentioned in the text as superscript numbers, without dates. The accuracy of the references appearing in the manuscript and their correct citation in the text are the responsibility of the authors of the manuscript. (See examples in the website: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

• Tables, Figures and Appendices: The tables, figures and appendices are limited to a total of five.

Tables - must include only indispensable data and must not be excessively long. The tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals and should be inserted at the end of the text. Descriptive titles and legends must make the tables intelligible without the need to refer to the text of the article. The tables should not be formatted with horizontal or vertical markers; only horizontal lines are needed to separate their main sections. Paragraphs or indentations and vertical and horizontal spaces should be used to group the data.

Figures - must not repeat the data described in the Tables. All figures must be cited and numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. The use of color is not recommended. The legends should make the figures intelligible, with no need to refer to the text. They must be double spaced and explain all symbols and abbreviations. Use uppercase letters (A, B, C, etc.) to identify the individual parts of multiple figures. When possible, all the symbols should appear in the legends. However, symbols identifying curves in a graph can be included in the body of the figure, provided this does not hinder the analysis of the data.

With regard to final artwork, all figures must be in .tiff format. Poor-quality figures may result in delays in the acceptance and publication of the article.

Tables, figures and appendices published in other journals or books must include the respective references and written consent from the authors or editors.

For articles submitted in Portuguese, an additional set of tables, figures and appendices with English legends must be included as a supplementary document.

• Footnotes

If absolutely necessary, footnotes should be consecutively numbered as superscripts in the manuscript and placed on a separate page after the references.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Units: Use the International System of metric units (SI units) for measurements and unit abbreviations.

Letters to the Editor: Constructive criticism of published material, made in an objective and educational manner, and also consultations regarding clinical situations and discussions on subjects specific to physical therapy, will be published at the editors' discretion (up to 700 words and up to 8 references). When the letter relates to technical comments (rebuttal) on articles published in the RBF/BJPT, it will be published together with the reply by the authors of the article under examination and/or criticism.

Case Studies: These must be restricted to uncommon pathological conditions or method/procedures for which the development of an original article would be impracticable. Thus, case reports do not necessarily have to follow the structure prescribed for original articles, but should present a methodological design that allows the reproduction of reported interventions/procedures. Great care should be taken when proposing generalizations based on these results. Experimental single-case designs will be treated as original articles and must follow the rules established by the RBF/BJPT.

Conflicts of interest: The authors are responsible for disclosing any type of conflict of interest that may have risen during the course of the study, be it financial or of any other kind.

The reviewer must inform the editors of any conflicts of interest that may influence the manuscript's approval and, when appropriate, declare himself/herself unfit for review.

Ethical and Legal Considerations: Avoid the use of patient initials, names or hospital registration numbers. Patients must not be identified in photographs, except with prior written consent, which must accompany the original work.

Studies carried out on humans must be in accordance with ethical standards and have the proper consent from the participants (refer to Resolution 196/96 of the National Health Council concerning the Human Research Code of Ethics).

For experiments on animals, international guidelines should be followed (such as the guidelines of the Committee for Research and Ethical Issues of the International Association for the Study of Pain, as published in the journal PAIN, 16:109-110, 1983).

For research on humans and animals, the approval number from the Research Ethics Committee must be included and duly registered in the National Health Council of the Hospital or University or nearest body in the area.

The RBF/BJPT reserves the right not to publish studies that do not follow these legal and ethical rules for human research and experiments on animals.

It is recommended that studies reporting electromyography results follow the "Standards for Reporting EMG Data" recommended by ISEK.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

If the article is sent to the authors for review and does not return to the RBF/BJPT within six weeks, the review process will be considered closed. In the event that the same article is returned, a new and updated process will begin. The acceptance date will be registered when the authors return the manuscript after final correction approved by the Editors.

The final proofs will be sent by email to the authors' address, given at the time of submission, for a final review (reviewer questions and/or disagreements). No further changes will be allowed at this time. The manuscript that is not returned within 48 hours may be published as is or postponed until the next edition at editor discretion.

After the article is published or the review process is closed, all documentation related to the review process will be incinerated.