Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission of Manuscripts

All articles must be submitted through the online Open Journal Systems – OJS. Likewise, all evaluation processes will only be considered valid if carried out through this system.

Manuscripts must be submitted in Portuguese, Spanish, or English and must have been conducted (design and data collection) within the last five years at most. In addition, manuscripts must be submitted with a copy of approval from a Research Ethics Committee involving Human Beings or Animals, according to the type of research.

For clinical trial studies, authors must provide the registration number from the Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (Registro Brasileiro de Ensaios Clínicos – ReBEC), or from ClinicalTrials.gov, or another clinical trial registration number, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ICMJE.

Publication priority will be assessed according to the originality of the work, its relevance, and its theoretical and/or practical advancement of knowledge on the topic discussed. In addition, manuscripts with high scientific quality, methodological rigor, and appropriate analysis will be considered, according to the type of study.

For better evaluation, authors are encouraged to invest in the creative development of their work, objectively highlighting the main aspects and their contributions to the topic.

Any mention of authors and/or collaborators in the body of the article will not be accepted. If identified, the evaluation process will be automatically canceled, as this compromises the guarantee of a double-blind review.

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED ON THE JOURNAL WEBSITE

1. Article (in Word .doc or .docx – Microsoft Word) – without identification of the authors [attachment];

2. Statement of Responsibility and Copyright Transfer [attachment];

3. Cover Letter of the study [attachment];

4. Ethics Committee approval (if required) (PDF, uploaded on the journal website).

Authorship

The number of authors is limited to eight. An author/co-author may only have two articles published per year in the journal. All authors must provide information about their affiliated institution and their registration number on the ORCID platform (https://orcid.org/). The ORCID number of all authors must be entered into the OJS platform at the time of manuscript submission. For the corresponding author, the name and full mailing address must also be included in the Cover Letter. All author information must appear only in the Cover Letter and in the system and must not be included in the body of the manuscript.

The Cover Letter must include a declaration acknowledging that, once submitted, the scientific text cannot be modified regarding the order and number of authors (see model attached on the journal website).

Exceptionally, the possibility of including additional authors will be examined, considering the justifications presented. Justifications not related to aspects established by the ICMJE must be included in the Acknowledgments section. This section must not be submitted in the original manuscript and will only be considered if the article is accepted. In this section, institutions or individuals who substantially contributed to the development of the work must be listed.

Copyright

Authors must transfer the copyright of the submitted text to Revista Científica Integrada (RCI) through the signature of all authors on the Statement of Responsibility and Copyright Transfer.

The individual contributions of each author to the preparation of the submitted manuscript must be specified, according to the authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authorship recognition must be based on the following aspects:

1. Conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data;

2. Drafting of the article or critical revision of important intellectual content;

3. Final approval of the version to be published.

Each author’s contribution must be explicitly stated in a declaration individually signed by the authors and submitted at the time of manuscript submission.

Types of Manuscripts Accepted for Publication

Original articles: theoretical and/or technical contributions intended to disseminate results of original/unpublished research that can be replicated or generalized, including qualitative methodological research. Up to 15 pages (from title to references). Checklists and flowcharts must be used to support manuscript construction. Some examples include:

• For clinical trials, use the CONSORT guideline.

• For observational epidemiological studies, use the STROBE guideline.

• For qualitative studies, use the COREQ guideline.

• For quality improvement studies, consult the SQUIRE 2.0 guideline.

Review articles: critical, comprehensive, and systematized evaluative studies, presenting results of original and recent research. All manuscripts in this category must present a well-formulated method, with a detailed description of research stages. They must answer a relevant research question for the area of interest. Methods include: meta-analysis, metasynthesis, scoping review, mapping review, overview, systematic review, and integrative review. Up to 20 pages (from title to references).

Use the PRISMA guideline (checklist and flowchart) and its extensions.

Experience reports: contributions describing experiences related to teaching, extension/practical activities, or the description of technological innovations. Up to 12 pages (from title to references).

Structure of Manuscripts

All types of manuscripts must be formatted according to the journal template. Manuscripts must present the following structure: title (in Portuguese, English, and Spanish), abstract (in Portuguese, English, and Spanish), keywords (in Portuguese, English, and Spanish), introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion or final considerations, and references.

Section titles must be: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion or Final Considerations, and References, presented in bold, with only the first letter capitalized. Only the manuscript type “Experience Report” must present the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Experience Report, Discussion, and Final Considerations.

Manuscripts must be formatted according to the following instructions:

• File format .doc or .docx (Microsoft Word);

• A4 size (21 cm x 29.7 cm or 8.27” x 11.7”), with top, bottom, and side margins of 2.5 cm;

• Arial font, size 12 (entire text – from title to references). Tables and Figures must be size 11;

• Line spacing of 1.5 from the title to the references, except for tables, which must be single-spaced;

• First-line paragraph indentation;

• Emphasis and words in another language must be in italics. Bold, underlined, uppercase words, comments, and/or Microsoft Word highlights/markers will not be permitted in the text.

Title

The title must be concise and objective, in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, with up to 15 words and in bold. The use of acronyms, abbreviations, and geographic location is not permitted. Preferably, include one or more descriptors in the title composition.

Abstract

The abstract must be presented in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, structured in a single paragraph, with up to 250 words, considering Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Arial font size 12 must be used, with 1.5 line spacing. The objective must be clear, direct, and described using the infinitive verb tense. Methods must include the study type, sample, main variables, instruments used, and type of analysis. Results must be informative and highlight the main contributions of the study. The conclusion must answer the study objective and present objective recommendations for scientific advancement. Generic recommendations (e.g., “further studies on the topic are needed”) should not be included.

Keywords

Three to five descriptors reflecting the topic of the work must be included. Terms must be separated by periods (e.g., Family Health. Health Care. Unified Health System). For health-related studies, consider terms from the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) vocabulary.

Introduction

The introduction must present the topic objectively, highlighting the problem studied, justifying its importance, and identifying knowledge gaps. Updated references (from the last five years), with national and international scope, must be included. The objective must appear in the last paragraph of the introduction and must be identical to that in the abstract.

Reference citations in the text must be numbered consecutively, in superscript Arabic numerals, immediately after the cited information, without spaces. Example: results were listed by studies involving children.¹⁻²

If citations are sequential, a hyphen must be used (e.g., 1–5).
If citations are interspersed, commas must be used (e.g., 1–5,9).

Verbatim quotations must be presented in quotation marks within the text and must not exceed three lines.

Methods

For original articles, authors must follow the structure:
a) type of study and/or design;
b) research location or setting;
c) study period;
d) population and sample;
e) eligibility criteria or sample definition;
f) study variables;
g) data collection procedures and instruments;
h) data processing and analysis;
i) ethical aspects.
If theoretical frameworks are used, they must be specified in the methods.

For review articles, authors must follow the structure:
a) type of review, period, guiding/research question;
b) search strategy, including keywords and databases;
c) eligibility/selection criteria and collection procedures;
d) data analysis, extraction, and presentation procedures;
e) methodological quality classification, if applicable.

For experience report articles, authors must follow the structure:
a) type of study;
b) period and location;
c) description of the population/sample;
d) complete description of the experience (including its main objective).

Citation rules are the same as described above.

Results

Results must describe the main findings without interpretations or generalizations. This section does not allow debate or comparison with other studies. Information presented in tables or figures must not be repeated. Figures, tables, and/or charts are limited to a total of five.

Illustrations (figures, tables, charts, and/or graphs) are limited to five. Tables and charts must be prepared in Microsoft Word, Arial font size 11, single-spaced. Illustrations must be mentioned immediately before their insertion in the text. Footnotes must be placed immediately below the illustration and limited to the minimum necessary. Acronyms must be explained below the illustration. Figures and graphs must be legible, in the submission language, with a maximum size of 16 x 10 cm. All illustrations, except those generated by software, must be editable. Images without associated copyright will not be accepted.

For experience report articles, the Results section must be titled Experience Report and include the presentation of potential benefits and difficulties related to implementation. Authors are encouraged to use graphical structures/images to illustrate experiences.

Discussion

The discussion must present the debate of ideas according to the obtained results, highlighting new aspects, contributions, and the importance of the acquired knowledge. The last two paragraphs must include Study Limitations and Contributions to the Field. New study designs should be suggested, and study limitations must be discussed.

Recommended structure:

1. Initial paragraph (revisiting the objective and directly answering it with main results);

2. Discussion of findings with national and international literature, including interpretations or suggestions;

3. Study limitations;

4. Contributions to the field.

Citation rules follow the same standards described previously.

Conclusion

The conclusion must respond to the study objective(s) clearly and directly, based strictly on the data and/or findings. Reference citations are not accepted in this section. Brief recommendations/suggestions should be included.

References

There is no limit on the number of references; however, authors must consider page limits for each study type. At least 80% of references should be from articles published in the last five years, preferably with DOI. Whenever available, references must be in English and include the DOI. Gray literature (official documents, theses, dissertations, books, non-scientific journals) should be avoided, except when indispensable.

RCI adopts references in accordance with the Vancouver Style (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Journal articles (list the first six authors followed by et al.).
Structure: Author surname + initials. Article title. Abbreviated journal title. Year; volume(issue): pages. DOI.

Example:
Carvalho GCN, Lira-Neto JCG, Araújo MFM, Freitas RWJF de, Zanetti ML, Damasceno MMC. Effectiveness of ginger in reducing metabolic levels in people with diabetes: a randomized clinical trial. Rev Latino-Am Enfermagem. 2020;28(1):e3369. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.3870.3369

Organization as author

Example: Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679–86.

Books

Example: Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Silva JC. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. Rio de Janeiro: Artmed; 2010.

For other recommendations and questions, access: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Funding Sources

Authors must declare all sources of funding or institutional or private support for conducting the study. If no funding or material/financial support was received, authors must declare that the research received no funding.

Acknowledgments

Institutions or individuals who substantially contributed to the development of the work must be listed. This section must not be submitted in the original manuscript and will only be considered if the article is accepted.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors must report any potential conflict of interest at the time of submission. All concepts expressed in manuscripts submitted to RCI are the exclusive responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board.

A conflict of interest exists when there is a divergence between an individual’s private interests and their scientific or editorial responsibilities, such that a reasonable observer might question whether behavior or judgment was influenced by competing interests.

Any conflict of interest will be handled based on flowcharts used by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Charts can be downloaded from http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts. If any conflict of interest is detected (prior to, during peer review, or after publication), the manuscript will be suspended until the conflict is resolved.

Responsibilities

Authors: All authors must report any conflict of interest related to their research to the editor.
Reviewers: All collaborators must report any conflict of interest related to their review activities to the editor.
Editors: Editors must not make editorial decisions or be involved in the editorial process if they or a close family member have a financial or other conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript.

Manuscript Evaluation

Manuscripts must be submitted according to RCI publication guidelines. Topic relevance will be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief (pre-analysis). If compliant, the manuscript will be forwarded to associate editors for reviewer selection. After peer review, the associate editor will recommend acceptance, revision, or rejection to the Editor-in-Chief, based on evaluations. The estimated timeline is 90 to 120 days, approximately 15 weeks. The entire submission, review, and publication process is free of charge for authors.

Text Editing and Translation

If accepted and requested by reviewers, authors must provide grammatical revision by a specialist and/or specialized company. The cost is the sole responsibility of the authors. Certification issued by the professional/company must be submitted with the revised text.

Translation of the approved manuscript into English is mandatory and must be arranged by the authors at their own expense. Only translations accompanied by certification from companies and/or specialists will be accepted. Title, abstract, and text (including figures and tables) must be translated into English.

Privacy Policy

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