Instructions for Authors

Aligned with Open Science, the RBC accepts the submission of preprints of articles published and offers the authors and reviewers the option to keep the modality of double-anonymous review or disclose their identity. The authors are suggested to share the primary data, codes and other complementary materials of the article submitted with acknowledged repositories. 

The authors hold the copyright and give the right of the first publication to the journal simultaneously licensed by Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), to share their articles with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication by this journal. All published articles will have DOI numbers.

Use of AI

-  Use AI only to boost writing skills.

- DO NOT use AI to analyze, interpret or conclude any aspect of your research.

- Results produced by AI can be biased, incorrect and/or incomplete. Use it wisely and strictly. Authors are accountable for the originality, accuracy and integrity of their production.

- At the end of your article state whether and how AI resources were utilized.

Preparing your manuscript

Use text processor Microsoft Word, 3cm in either left or right margins, in A4 paper size, font Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 cm space between lines all through. Footnotes will not be accepted.

Verb in active voice in the third person of the singular.

Scientific reporting guidelines must be adopted for the manuscript’s structure according to the study design. Refer to the site EQUATOR Network for guidelines on clinical trials, systematic reviews and observational studies reporting.

Add the number and registering entity for articles with partial or final results of clinical trials.

Manuscripts accepted for publication may be changed to match the Journal’s formatting guidelines, except the scientific-technical content. The authors will be notified in advance whether changes have been suggested.

Main Guidelines for each section

1. Front page

Content:

a) Title with until 150 characters without space, initiating each word with upper case and then lower case in Portuguese, English and Spanish and without abbreviations.

b) Short title with until 50 characters without space.

c) Authors

Full name(s) of the author(s).
Institutional affiliation, local, email and Orcid iD of each author.

All types of documents without exception should have the stated name of the authors with full specification of the institutions and location (city, state and country) date of the study completion and drafting of the manuscript. Each institutional level should be identified in until three hierarchical or programmatic level, for example: university, college and department.

When an author is affiliated to more than one institutional level, each affiliation should be identified in separate. When two or more authors are affiliated to the same level, the identification of the level is made only once. For authors without any affiliation, the institution is identified as Independent Investigator.

d) Corresponding author

Name, address with zip code, phone number and email of the corresponding author.

e) Authorship (contribution of the authors)

Assignment of authorship should follow ICMJE guidelines and definitions of who is an author: 1. substantial contributions for the conception and/or design of the study; 2. acquisition, analysis and/or interpretation of the data; 3. drafting and/or critical review and final approval of the version to be published.

The name of the investigators in charge of institutional (collective authorship) and multicenter studies should be stated clearly and all the authors must meet the criteria listed above.

f) Acknowledgments

The names of other collaborators not meeting the authorship criteria above should be listed, specifying the type of collaboration.

g) Declaration of conflict of interests

Authors are responsible for disclosing potential conflicts of interest, either political or financial associated with patents or properties, supply of materials, inputs or equipment utilized in the study.

Conflicts of interest can be of a personal, commercial, political, academic or financial nature. Conflicts of interest can occur between authors, reviewers or editors.

Manuscripts written on behalf or supported by tobacco industries will be rejected by the editor. Those funded by food and/or pharmaceutic industries must state clearly in funding sources.

Whether no conflict of interests exist, add “There is no conflict of interests to declare”.

h) Funding sources

Authors should report all funding or support sources, public or private to conduct the study (including funding agencies) in compliance with Ordinance 206, September 4, 2018, of Capes (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel).

List the name of the company and origin (city, state and country) who supplied the material, input or equipment, cost-free or with rebate. The authors should declare whether the study was not funded.

2. Abstract and Key-words (descriptors)

Articles abstracts (except opinion pieces, letters to the editor and reviews) should be drafted in one paragraph in Portuguese, English and Spanish and structured in Introduction, Objective, Method, Results and Conclusion. No citations of references, tables, charts or figures are accepted. Avoid abbreviations. The abstracts of Case Reports/Series follow the structure: introduction, case report (results) and conclusion.

At least 150 words and maximum 250 words with key-words (from three to five) in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Descriptors are a vocabulary that help articles indexing in national and international databases. Please refer to BIREME’s Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS).

3. Introduction

Clearly describe the theoretical backbone and rationale of your manuscript including the objective. Cite current and applicable references.

4. Method

Describe how and why the study was made with clarity, it should be sufficiently detailed for the reader to reproduce the results. It includes the design, selection of the participants, inclusion and exclusion criteria and target-population, acquisition techniques, variables collected, analysis and interpretation of the data.

Quantitative studies must include a thorough description of statistical methods with enough details to enable the reader to judge its appropriateness and verify the reported results. Define statistical terms, abbreviations and symbols. Indicate the version of the statistical software, if applicable.

Qualitative studies must detail the source of information, the participants (if applicable) and techniques of acquisition, synthesis and analysis (Recommended Editorial The Relevance and Scientific and Methodological Rigor of Qualitative Research in Oncology).

When experiments with human beings are reported, indicate the procedures adopted and whether ethical principles of the Institutional Review Board which approved the study, of the Declaration of Helsinki and Ordinances 466/12 and 510/2016 of the National Health Council were complied with. Do not use the name of the patients, initials or registration numbers in illustrative leaflets. For experiments with animals, indicate whether institutional, National Health Councils and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

RBC adheres to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Clinical Trials issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the code of conduct and guidelines for editors and reviewers of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

When submitting your manuscript, make sure to include the approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or whether approval was waived.

Every systematic review should have its respective protocol published or registered at a registry database for systematic reviews as, for instance, PROSPERO.

5. Results

Present first the main or more important results according to the objective. Describe only the results encountered without interpretations or comparisons. Provide data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified in the Methods section.

Present the results, tables and figures in logical sequence. Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text. Tables and figures should be limited to the necessary to support the argument. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.

Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as “random” (which implies a randomizing device), “normal,” “significant,” “correlations,” and “sample.” Define statistical terms, abbreviations and symbols.

6. Discussion

Authors must express their view, put the results in the context of the existing literature, associate with other relevant studies, indicate the limitations, emphasize the new and main findings for future researches. Do not repeat in detail data or other information given in other parts of the manuscript such as in “introduction” or “results”. At the author’s discretion, discussion may be presented together with the results only in qualitative studies.

7. Conclusion

Link the conclusions with the results and goals of the study.

Avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not adequately supported by the data. Do not quote references, tables, charts or figures.

8. References

References should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (for example: The extension of survival, among others1) not quoting the authors. The same rule applies to tables and legends.

Separate sequential citations with a dash (3-7). Otherwise, separate with comma (1,4,6,9). Separate sequential with only two citations with comma (3,4).

References must be checked in the original documents. In case of reference cited by another author, use the term “apud”. However, it must be avoided or used wisely.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Only relevant and actually used in the study should be included.

No limits exist for the number of references. However, the number of words will be limited to the total allowed for each type of manuscript.

References should follow the standards summarized in ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals: Sample References or the standards of Citing Medicine 2nd Edition (Vancouver).

Refer to the guide LocatorPlus of the National Library of Medicine, for standardization of journal’s titles in references, under the option Journal Title, find the title and/or the abbreviation utilized.

Include the names of until three authors in the order they appear in the publication, starting by the last name followed by all the initials of the first and middle names, separated by commas. Whether more than three authors are referenced, the first three are cited separated by comma followed by et al. If the last name includes level of kinship – Filho (Son), Sobrinho (Nephew), Junior (Jr), Neto (Grandson) it should be subsequent to the last name as: João dos Santos Almeida Filho = Almeida Filho JS, José Rodrigues Junior = Rodrigues Junior J.

Use upper case for the first letter and lower case for the subsequent letters of the title. The exceptions are first names, branches of sciences or names of disciplines, teaching institutions, countries, cities or others and names of public or private entities.

Refer to the list of journals found in PubMed for abbreviations.

All the references must include their respective Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

9. Tables

Tables capture information concisely and display it efficiently. Including data in tables rather than text frequently makes it possible to reduce the length of the text.

Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a title for each. Table should be indicated in the body of the text but send in separate.

Give each column a short or an abbreviated heading. Authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes and use symbols to explain information if needed. Symbols may vary from journal to journal (alphabet letter or such symbols as *, †, ‡, §).

Each data of the table should be included in a single cell separated and divided in rows and columns. Do not include more than one information in the same cell. Whether a content of a cell refers to more than one content in another column, “merge cells”. Do not submit tables as image, otherwise they will be blocked for edition.

Identify statistical measures of variations such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. Make sure each table is cited with its number and not as next table or table below.

Big tables or in excess not consistent with the text can impact the formatting of the pages.

10. Illustrations

Illustrations (figures, tables, charts and graphs b&w or color) must be inserted in the text with complete titles, sources, legends and additional notes if necessary. All the illustrations should be submitted in editable format. Titles and explanations belong in the legends, not in the illustrations.

Photos of persons must not be identifiable, otherwise must be accompanied by written consent for publication.

Illustrations must be numbered consecutively in the order they appear in the text. If it has been published previously, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce it. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents of public domain. 

Photographs should be submitted in digital file as TIFF, JPG, EPS, with maximal resolution of 300 dpi for common pictures and 600 dpi for pictures containing thin lines, arrows, legends etc.

Graphs, drawings, tables and charts should be submitted in editable format in Word, Excel, PowerPoint (open file). Minimal resolution for drawings and graphs is 1.200 dpi.

11. Nomenclature

Follow strictly the rules of biomedical nomenclature, abbreviations and conventions adopted in specific areas.

Use the terms and concepts found in the Thematic Glossary of Cancer Control, Protection and Risk Factors.

For purposes of text clarity, avoid the use of uncommon acronyms or initials, only those typically adopted in the literature.

Examples of renowned initials: SUS, IARC, WHO

The originals in Portuguese should follow the Novo Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa. (Revised Orthography of the Portuguese Language).

Technical guidelines to submit the manuscripts

Prior to submitting your manuscript, make sure the “Instructions for Authors” and the items below have been met:

  • Submit the complete file in Microsoft Word.
  • 1.5 spacing all through the file.
  • Review the sequence: cover page; abstracts and key words (from three to five and respective key words in Portuguese, English and Spanish) and sections of the article.
  • Tables, charts and figures (with legends) inserted and cited throughout the text, not as annexes in the end.
  • References must be numbered in superscript in the order they appear in the text, correctly typed. Check whether all the references are listed and cited in the text.
  • Formulário de Submissão e Declaração de Direitos Autorais (Submission Form and Copyright Statement) completed and signed only by the author responsible for the submission.
  • Attach authorization to reproduce material earlier published or to use illustrations identifying the participant.
  • Complete the checklist.