ISSN 0482-5004 printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Instructions to authors
• Submission of manuscripts

The Brazilian Journal of Rheumatology (BJR) is owned and published by the Sociedade Brasileira de Reumatologia and publishes manuscripts focusing on subjects related to the rheumatology field, after analysis by the Editorial Board and peer-review. The BJR is published bimonthly and is indexed on PUBMED/MEDLINE, Lilacs (Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde), Scopus, index Copernicus and Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online) databases.

After submitting a manuscript, the author (s) assumes  responsibility for the scientific content and declare that the material neither has been published previously nor is being considered for publication elsewhere. The manuscript has to be original and has to be approved by all authors. Accepted manuscripts constitute a property of the BJR. All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission.

Submitted manuscripts will be analyzed only if rigorously compliant with the rules specified below.

The Brazilian Journal of Rheumatology (BJR) , the official organ of Sociedade Brasileira de Reumatologia (Brazilian Society of Rheumatology), was founded in 1957 and is published bimonthly. The journal publishes original articles, review articles, brief communications, case reports and letters to the editors.

To submit a manuscript, please access the site http://www.sgponline.com.br/rbr

The BJR follows the rules of The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) regarding the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (URM) Submitted to Biomedical Journals".

Format of the manuscripts

The manuscripts can be submitted in Portuguese or English and must be concise, double spaced, with 2.5 cm margins. l. Unconventional abbreviations, medical jargon and telegraphic style should not be used in the text. Citation of drugs and pharmaceutical products must be done using pharmacological nomenclature, without any mention to commercial names. When necessary, conventional abbreviations may be used, as long as their meaning are clearly shown at first mention. A copyright statement should also be submitted online and a copy of the document posted to the SBR office

Manuscript structure

Pages should be numbered in sequence from the first title page, including the table and figure pages.

The title page should contain: a) the title of the article b) the full name of the authors and their most important academic degree; c) the name of the department and institution where the study was originated; d) the name and address of the corresponding author; e) if relevant, financial agencies; f) conflict of interest g) a running title in Portuguese with no more than 60 characters.

Original Articles

The original articles should be organized containing: the title page, the abstract page with key words, introduction, material and methods or patients and methods, results and discussion, acknowledgements, references, tables, figures and figure legends. Ariginal articles should not exceed 5,000 words including references and excluding the title page, abstract, tables and legends. It is allowed up to six figures or tables and 50 references.

The abstract page should contain objective, methods, results and conclusions, with no more than 250 words; b) three to five key words.

Introduction – as the aim of this section is to define the purpose and the reasons for the accomplishment of the work, we do not recommend a large literature review.

Patients and methods or material and methods – this section should include enough information that allows the reproduction of the work and, when it is relevant, the approval by the institutional committee of ethics. The methods employed in the statistical analysis should always be quoted.

Results – they should be clear and concise. Tables and graphics should not duplicate information.

Discussion – it should be concise, interpreting the results in the context of the present literature. Please do not exceed the limit of half the number of pages of the complete work.

Acknowledgments – only to people who contributed; i.e., with techniques, discussion and sending patients. Financial help should be referred in the title page.

References – they should go in the final part of the article, according to the quotation order in the text, in which should appear the Arabic numerals between brackets. Please quote all the authors in works with until six authors; after six authors, quote the first six followed by the expression et al. Reference Manager or Endnote programs are strongly recommended for use adopting the “Vancouver” style.

Examples for reference citation are presented below. Authors should consult NLM's Citing Medicine for additional information on the reference formats.

Printed article

(1) Rivero MG, Salvatore AJ, Gomez-Puerta JA, Mascaro JM, Jr., Canete JD, Munoz-Gomez J et al. Accelerated nodulosis during methotrexate therapy in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus and Jaccoud's arthropathy. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2004; 43(12):1587-1588.

Reference retrieved from electronic address

(2) Cardozo JB, Andrade DMS, Santiago MB. The use of bisphosphonate in the treatment of avascular necrosis: a systematic review. Clin Rheumatol 2008. In http://www.springerlink.com.w10069.dotlib.com.br/content/l05j4j3332041225/fulltext.pdf. Accessed in February 24, 2008.

Book

(3) Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Tables and illustrations – each table should be presented in an individual sheet of paper after References, with double space and headline, numbered with Arabic numerals. The illustration legends, also typed in double space, should be gathered together in separate sheets of paper. Illustrations should be labeled in their reverse side, with the name of the first author, and numbered in the order they will appear in the text.

Photomicrographies should include the appropriated scale. In case of publishing colored pictures, the author should bear their expenses. Tables and illustrations should include enough information so the reader can understand them without going to the text.

Rules for applying the appropriate tense in scientific writing.

General rules to obtain a good scientific writing:

1- Use active voice. Avoid overuse of passive voice.

2- Setences must be short.  

3- Units of measurement are abbreviated when use with numerical values (e.g., 1 mg)  but are not abbreviated IF used without numerical values.  Systeme International d'Únites (SI units) must be used. Remember to leave a space between the number and unit (e.g., 10 mg/dL), except for the porcentage mark that follows the number without space (e.g., 70%). The plural form of units of measurement is the same as the singular form (e.g., 1 mL, 10 mL; 1 h, 10 h). Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence.

4- Define abbreviations the first time they appear. Avoid abbreviations in tittles and abstracts.

5- Do not use contractions (e.g., doesn't, can't, etc...)

Review articles

Reviews, preferentially systematic, may be submitted to BJR They should cover deeply any interesting theme for the rheumatologist. They do not present a standard structure, neither introduction or conclusion. Please send abstracts  without subdivisions with 3 to 5 key words. Review articles should not exceed 6,000 words including references and excluding the title page, abstract, tables and legends. It is allowed up to five figures or tables and 70 references.

Case reports

Must have 6 authors at most. They should include an abstract and keywords, without subdivisions. The text, however, should present the following sections: introduction, which should be concise; case report, containing the description and the evolution of the clinical case, laboratory exams, illustrations and tables (that substitute the sections material and methods and results) and discussion, not exceeding 1,500 words including references and excluding the title page, abstract, tables and legends. It is allowed up to two figures or tables and 15 references.

Brief communications

They cover a point or a specific detail, not exceeding 2,500 words including references and excluding the title page, abstract, tables and legends. It is allowed up to three figures or tables and 25 references. They do not include subdivisions, but should present abstracts with no more than 250 words and three to five keywords in both languages.

Clinical trials

The BJR follows the politics of the World Health Organization (WHO) for clinical trial registration, recognizing the importance of those initiatives for international dissemination of information on clinical research. Accordingly, the RBR recommends previous registration of clinical trials on the WHO site www.who.int/ictrp/en/. The trial registration number should be published at the end of the abstract.

Ethical consideration

The original articles and brief communications involving human beings or animals should have the approval of the Comitê de Ética em Pesquisas – CEP (Research Ethics Committee), date of approval and the number of the cover page. Additionally, it should be informed if the Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido (Free and Clarified Term of Consent) was obtained and if in it is stated the commitment of the preservation of the patients privacy.

Manuscripts which contain pictures which allow the identification of patients, these or their legal representatives should authorize in writing the publication of those pictures

Conflict of Interest

The BJR, following the new politics for medical articles published in scientific periodicals, recommends the authors to declare in a document attached to your manuscript the casual existence of any kind of conflict of interest in case any of the situations below has occurred in the last five years. Manuscripts will not be refused only due to the existence of conflicts of interest, however there will be a declaration about it at the end of the article.

A conflict of interest occurs if you:

1. have received honoraria for presentations, conferences or lectures.

2. have received honoraria for consultancy.

3. have received financial help for doing research, organizing teaching activity or attending symposiums.

4. have had a position in an organization that can be take benefit from or suffer any damage by the results of your research.

5. have had a position as an official appraiser about the subject of the article.

6. have assets of organizations that can take benefit from or suffer any damage by the results of your research.

If there is another kind of conflict of interest that is not of financial order (personal, political, religious etc.) but could be a problem for you after the publication, it can also be declared

Financing and support

The authors should also inform if they received financing or support from institutions like CNPq, CAPES, SBR Remaining Funds, universitarian institutions, laboratories, etc.

RBR will not publish studies which are not in accordance with these and other ethical standards determined by international directives, such as the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, reviewed in 2000.

They must be sent in electronic format to rbreumatol@terra.com.br.