ISSN 0100-6991 printed version
ISSN 1809-4546 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Target and politics
• Geral information
• Formatting and style
• Tables and figures

The Journal of the Brazilian College of Surgeons (Revista do Colégio Brasileiro de Cirurgiões), official publication of the Colégio Brasileiro de Cirurgiões (CBC), is published bi-monthly in one volume per year, and its goal is the diffusion of articles in all surgical specialties that contribute to their teaching, advancement and nationwide integration.

The articles published in the Journal of the Brazilian College of Surgeons follow the uniform requirements recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org), and are submitted to peer review. The Journal of the Brazilian College of Surgeons supports the policies for the registration of clinical trials of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), as the Journal acknowledges the importance of such initiatives toward the registration and international diffusion of publicly accessible information on clinical studies. Therefore, only clinical research articles that have been assigned a registration number in one of the clinical trials registries validated by the WHO and ICMJE criteria will be accepted for publication. The trial registration number should be published at the end of the abstract.

The Board of Reviewers (in charge of peer-review) receives the texts anonymously and decides on their publication. In the event of conflicting opinions, the Director of Publications judges whether another expert opinion is needed. Rejected articles are returned to the authors. Only papers in compliance with the requirements for publication in the Journal will be submitted to review. The approved articles may undergo editorial alterations, provided these do not compromise the merit of the work.

The Journal of the CBC reviews manuscripts for publication in Portuguese, English or Spanish complying with the Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, prepared and published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE - www.icmje.org) - translated into Portuguese as Conselho Internacional de Editores de Revistas Médicas (CIERM Rev Col Bras Cir. 2008;35(6):425-41). Articles for the Journal of the CBC (www.revistadocbc.org.br) should fit into one of the following categories:

• Editorial: The opening article of a journal, usually on a subject of present relevance, requested from an author of recognized technical and scientific expertise.
• Original Article: The full report of a clinical or experimental investigation with positive or negative results. It should consist of the Abstract (in Portuguese), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Abstract (in English) and References. These must be limited to a maximum of 30 and include, whenever possible, articles by national authors and national journals.
  The title should be written in Portuguese, English or Spanish (if the paper is submitted in that language). It should contain the maximum of information, the minimum of words, and no abbreviations. On the same page, the full name(s) of the author(s) followed by the name(s) of the institution(s) where the work was conducted. For multicenter work, it is required to inform in Arabic numerals the affiliation of each author respective to the institutions listed. The authors should attach to their names only one academic title, that which best represents their academic activity.
  The abstract in Portuguese must not exceed 250 words and be structured as follows: objective, methods, results, conclusions and keywords as listed in the DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br). A maximum of 5 keywords can be used. The abstract in English must also contain up to 250 words and have the same structure as the abstract in Portuguese: objective, methods, results, conclusions and keywords (http://decs.bvs.br).
• Review Article: The Editorial Board encourages the publication of a subject of great interest to surgical specialties, presenting a relevant and concise critical review and not merely a chronological outline of the literature. The article should include an introduction with an outline of the reasons that prompted the writing of the article, the search criteria, followed by text arranged in headings and subheadings according to the complexity of the subject matter, and unstructured abstracts in Portuguese and English. When appropriate, conclusions, the authors' views summarizing the content of the review, can be included at the end of the paper. The article should contain a maximum of 15 pages and 45 references.
• Preliminary Note: It consists of original clinical observation or a description of technical innovations, concisely presented, preferably not exceeding 500 words, 5 references, 2 illustrations and an unstructured abstract. A maximum of 3 authors are allowed.
• Case Report: Description of clinical cases of general interest, either because they are hardly found in the medical literature or for their unusual presentation. It should not be more than 600 words long and does not require an abstract in Portuguese, only an unstructured abstract in English, 5 references and 2 illustrations. Up to 5 authors.
• Letters to the Editor: Scientific commentaries or controversies regarding the articles published in the Journal of the CBC. Generally, these letters are forwarded to the corresponding author of the article in question for reply, and both letters are published in the same issue of the Journal. Rebuttals are not allowed.
• Scientific Communication: Content focusing on the presentation of scientific communication, investigating current problems and proposing solutions. Given its characteristics, this section allows for a multiprofessional and multidisciplinary approach, taking contributions from physicians, surgeons and non-surgeons, as well as other professionals in the most diverse fields.
• Technical Note: Information on a particular operation or procedure relevant to surgical practice. The manuscript should not exceed 6 pages including the photos and references, if needed. The Technical Note is a free-format article, with abstracts in Portuguese and English.
• Educational Article: Content addressing the teaching of surgery at the undergraduate and graduate level, free format. Unstructured abstracts in Portuguese and English.

• Text: The text of the manuscripts submitted for publication must be original and sent in digital form (Word Doc), double-spaced and written in Arial 12pt. The illustrations must be submitted separately in JPG, GIF or TIF format and the place of insertion should be indicated in the manuscript. Articles should be concise and written in Portuguese, English or Spanish. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and restricted to terms that are mentioned repeatedly, provided the comprehension of the text is not compromised, and should be defined the first time they appear in the text.
• References: References should predominantly list papers published over the last 5 years not forgetting to include national authors and journals, and must be restricted to those papers referred to in the text, in the order of their citation, numbered consecutively and presented according to the Vancouver Style guidelines (Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals - ICMJE www.icmje.org - CIERM Rev Col Bras Cir. 2008;35(6):425-41 - www.revistadocbc.org.br). Conference proceedings and personal communications will not be accepted as references. Citations from books and theses should be discouraged. The authors of the article are responsible for the veracity of the references.
• Acknowledgments: Acknowledgments should be addressed to persons who contributed substantially to the completion of the work.

Tables and figures should be numbered in Arabic numerals and headed by their respective one- or two-sentence legends. Symbols should be explained in footnotes. Tables must be referred to from the text in numerical order, and include only data which are necessary for the understanding of important points in the text. The data presented in tables and figures should not be repeated in graphs. Tables should be constructed in accordance with the aforementioned Vancouver guidelines.

Figures are all photographs, graphs, charts and drawings. All figures should be referenced in the body of the text, numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, and should be accompanied by descriptive legends.

Authors who wish to publish color figures in their articles can do so at a cost of R$ 650,00 for one figure per page. Additional figures on the same page will be charged R$ 150,00 each. Payment will be made through a bank payment slip sent to the corresponding author upon acceptance of the article for publication.