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Tables and figures are accepted as illustrations in RESS, observing the modality limit and the instructions below. Supplementary tables and figures may be sent in a single file, cited in the text and in sequential order, in the format: “Supplementary figure n”; “Supplementary table n”. The supplementary material must follow the same instructions for creating illustrations, ensuring precision in its preparation and review, as this resource is not diagrammed.
Illustration titles should be clear, informative and present the content of the illustration. After a consecutive point, inform the location, year(s) and total number of participants included in the illustration. Separate terms with commas and do not include periods at the end of titles.
Titles must be self-sufficient for illustration, without needing to consult the text. Essential acronyms for understanding the illustration should preferably appear in the title, as shown in the example: “Table 3. Prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) gross and adjusted for the [outcome] by the study variables. Location, year (n = xx )”.
Do not include methodological details or type of illustration (e.g. flow chart; map) in the title of tables and figures.
The names of the federative units (UF) must be written in full. Do not use the word “municipality” before the name of cities or “state” before the UF, with the exception of cities and states with identical names (e.g.: “municipality of Rio de Janeiro”, “state of São Paulo”).
Footnotes must be used to clarify the results presented, identified by lowercase and superscript letters of the alphabet, in sequential order. Notes below the illustrations must be identified by “Note:” and separated by a semicolon. The authorship of the illustrations must belong to the authors, dispensing with such indication in a footnote, similar to the source of the data and other methodological details, which must appear in the methods.
Tables
Before building a table for RESS, make sure it is necessary. Does the table really add value to the manuscript and facilitate understanding of the data at the expense of plain text? Keep in mind the RESS target audience – researchers, professionals and health managers – and make sure that the type of table and level of detail are appropriate.
Present relevant and sufficient information; avoid long or complex tables. The title, table and notes must fit on a maximum of two A4 pages, with minimum margins of 1.5 cm, in portrait or landscape mode. The default font is Times New Roman, minimum size 10pt, with single spacing. Use Word's “Repeat Header Rows” option, without manually breaking two-page tables. Table rows and columns must be created using a table resource, without using space or breaking paragraphs.
Titles and footnotes must be outside the table gridlines. Use the same terms as in the manuscript in the columns and lines. Group columns and/or rows to identify subgroups and keep the table format identical when presenting the same information from different groups. Check that the data in each cell is consistent across columns and rows. Include columns or rows with descriptive or inferential statistics, measures of association, and confidence intervals when appropriate. Present data that complement each other in a single column, such as absolute and relative frequency: “| N (%) |” and measure of association and dispersion: “| PR (IC95%) |”. Avoid columns with reciprocal data already presented (redundant information), for example: only one column with the absolute and relative distribution of the disease, without the need for another column with the distribution among healthy people.
Maintain consistency when aligning data, symbols, and text. Create short, self-explanatory headers with units of measurement, if applicable. All cell data must have the same nature as what was entered in the table header. It is not allowed, for example, in a table whose header reports counts, to include mean and standard deviation. Specify the statistics reported in the headers (e.g. “Mean (SD)”, “Median (IIQ)”, “n (%)”) and enter the group size and/or units of measurement in the columns or rows, when applicable; without repeating units in each cell (e.g.: %). Enter the unit in the variable line (e.g.: “Income (minimum wages)”; “Age group (years)”) and remove repetitions in the variable categories (e.g.: “minimum wages”; “years”). Use a hyphen (“-”) for numerical ranges of the categories (e.g.: 0-4) and ensure compatibility between the categorizations presented in the tables and those informed in the methods, with consistency throughout the text. Reference variables or categories in association investigations must be indicated in the table cell by “1.00”.
Organizing data is a good practice. Align numeric data to the right and text data to the left in cells. Organize rows and columns in a logical and intuitive way, applying hierarchy to organize variables. Group similar variables and order columns and rows logically (e.g. alphabetical, chronological, ascending/descending order).
Data accuracy is also important. Present them with the correct number of significant digits (observe the standard of decimal places in the Guidelines for preparing the text, below), grouping categorical variables as relevant to the distribution to avoid excess lines. Prefer median and quartiles to describe continuous variables, except for normally distributed data. Columns or lines with constant values, without variation, must be excluded and reported directly in the text (e.g.: “All participants were consulted by a doctor in the last year”).
Review the table carefully to ensure accuracy, clarity, consistency, and appropriateness of formatting. Keep the formatting and presentation of data coherent, preferably in the same order of presentation of the variables, in all tables in the manuscript. Ensure that the data presented in the table is relevant; Not all data available in the output of the statistical program are relevant to a scientific article table. Consulting previous manuscripts that employed a similar analytical approach is recommended.
Figures
Make sure all images, graphs, figures, and maps are clear, legible, including your text, have compatible scales, and are of high quality, readability, and font size suitable for publication. Do not make prints or transform graphic or vector materials into images. The text present in the illustrations must be included as text and not as an image. Figures should contribute to the clarity and visual impact of the work.
If accepted, the figures must be sent in separate files for layout. Graphs, maps and other figures must be sent in PDF, SVG and EPS format, exported in one of the formats directly from the software used to create them. Charts created in Excel can be sent in XLSX format. In the case of photos, the minimum resolution is 300 dpi, in JPEG format. The title, figure and caption must fit on a maximum A4 page, in portrait or landscape mode, with margins of 1.5 cm on all sides.
All symbols, arrows, numbers or letters used in the figures must be identified and explained clearly in the legend, which must be concise and with sufficient detail to understand the figure. Acronyms and abbreviations should preferably be explained in the figure title.
For composite figures (mosaics), identify each part with capital letters and describe them in the caption, in full text (e.g.: “Medicine consumption in men (A) and women (B)”). Delimit the data field by vertical and horizontal lines (axes). Minimize the number of elements within the data field and ensure they are all clearly labeled.
Label each axis clearly with the name of the variable, the units in which the variable is plotted, and any multipliers associated with the units. Clearly indicate the zero point of the X and Y axes of the graph, especially if one or both axes do not start at zero. Arrange the scales so that Y-axis values increase from bottom to top and X-axis values from left to right. Adjust scales to maximize data field usage. Include only essential, logical, and generally equidistant divisions and labels across scales. Minimize unnecessary divisions and unlabeled tick marks.
Avoid using 3D presentations unless a third dimension is essential to representing the data. When interpreting graphs with two different vertical axes, clearly note the different scales and highlight whether visual differences or similarities accurately reflect relationships between the data. Ensure that individual data points are visually distinct and clearly identifiable. Make sure different groups of data are visually distinct, through colors, symbols, or shading.
When inserting maps, present the scale with the relationship between the distances on the map and the real distances and cartographic orientation, include the indication of North (N) and legend with all the symbols, colors and information represented.
Guidelines for preparing the text
As a SUS journal, RESS recognizes the importance of clarity and precision in scientific communication. The text must be free from stigmatizing or depersonalizing terms; adopt appropriate and current terminology, using terms such as “enslaved people” instead of “slaves”, or “people with obesity” instead of “obese”.
Anglicisms, even if common, should be avoided, opting for the term in the vernacular (e.g.: “missing data” instead of “missing”; “[deterministic or probabilistic] pairing of data” instead of “ linkage ”).
Prioritize short, direct sentences, with just one main idea in each one. Limit the use of appositives: explain complex terms objectively, without excess information between commas. If the sentence takes up too many lines, review it and look for ways to make it more concise: break it up into smaller sentences or eliminate unnecessary words.
Prioritize clear and direct terms, without compromising scientific precision. Avoid complex constructions. Avoid hyperbolic language or exaggerations – bring relevance through factual data and remove adverbs and adjectives.
Sentences must have complete meaning, using an appropriate textual connector (preposition, conjunction, etc.) instead of symbols or punctuation. Do not use telegraphic text or try to induce meaning: present constructions using words to translate the desired meaning.
Opt for active voice and direct, positive statements over passive voice and negative or indirect constructions (e.g., "it's common" instead of "it's not uncommon"; "it's allowed" instead of "it's not prohibited"). Make sure the sentence structure makes logical sense semantically, avoiding inconsistent or paradoxical constructions such as "absence presence." Be particularly careful with outcomes, especially negative ones. This applies both to the choice of term for its designation (e.g., "no foot examination" may be "foot examination neglect") and to statements involving negative terms (e.g., "the presence of neglect was greater in elderly" could be "neglect was greater in elderly people"). Strive for clear communication that conveys understandable information.
Ideas must flow logically and sequentially throughout the paragraphs, with textual cohesion. Conjunctions at the beginning of sentences that intend to bring this connection should be avoided, such as “In addition to”; "However,"; "In that regard,"; “As regards”, “However”. When presenting and discussing results, avoid announcing the topic at the beginning of the sentence. Get straight to the point, as in the example: prefer “Women were the majority” to “In relation to sex, women were the majority”.
In the literature review sections (introduction and discussion), the focus should be on scientific data. Avoid highlighting organizations, authors or names of reports, whose information is found in the references. Constructions such as “other authors”, “other studies”, “the literature points out”, etc. should be avoided: present the data clearly and cite the reference next to the statement. Categorical statements about the absence of previous studies should be avoided in designs that are not systematic literature reviews. Avoid using “respective” or “respectively”, whether when comparing with the literature or presenting results – bringing the data closer to their correspondence, which makes the text clearer for readers.
In the text of the results, do not make inferences, interpretations or comparisons with the literature. Both in the full text and in the summary, each statement presented in the results must be accompanied by numerical data that supports it, indicating the relevant illustration. Present exact and not approximate results, without using constructions such as “about”, “approximately”, etc. Avoid non-specific text such as “it was associated” or “an association was found”, inform the direction of the association through informative text, such as “the outcome was greater in children”, immediately presenting the measure of association and confidence interval, without interpretations such as “it was twice as big”.
Acronyms or acronyms should only be used when they are established in the literature. Even though it is jargon in the area, authors should give preference to expressions that communicate clearly and objectively to the reader in any area. The text must be free of compound terms that do not add information (e.g.: “diabetes mellitus” instead of “diabetes”, “systemic arterial hypertension” instead of “hypertension”), minimizing the need for acronyms. Acronyms to replace unique terms (e.g.: “TB” instead of “tuberculosis”) must also be excluded, as well as acronyms that are not used or are infrequent in the text. The acronyms essential to the text must be explained at the first mention in the abstract, full text and each illustration (preferably in the title), using the full term, followed by the acronym in parentheses.
To indicate the odds ratio acronym, the following standard must be used: “odds ratio (odds ratio, OR)”. The time-to-event hazard association measure ratio must be written in English and in italics, indicating at first mention as follows: “hazard ratio (HR)”.
Spelling rules must be followed when constructing the text: the use of capital letters should only occur in cases provided for in the Portuguese language, such as the beginning of sentences, cities, countries, etc. If there is a need to use parentheses within a section between parentheses, brackets must be used, as in the example: “(negros [pretos e pardos])”.
Use period as thousands separator and comma for fractions. Standardize the number of decimal places in methods, results and illustrations: percentage 1 decimal place, association measure: 2 decimal places, p-value: 3 decimal places; present exact p-value to 3 decimal places; “0.000” occurrences should be written as “<0.001”. In the introduction and discussion, as it is a comparison with data external to the research, preferably present data without decimal places.
Do not include spaces before and after signs (=, <, >, ≤, ≥, etc.). Dispersion measures must have their intervals separated by semicolons, preceded by the measurement identification (e.g.: 95%CI 1.14; 2.23).
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