Author Guidelines

General Information

The Brazilian Journal of Respiratory, Cardiovascular and Critical Care Physiotherapy (BJR)(formerly Revista ASSOBRAFIR Ciência), is the official publication of ASSOBRAFIR (Brazilian Association of Respiratory Physiotherapy, Cardiovascular Physiotherapy, and Critical Care Physiotherapy). Publications are free of charge and open access.

The acceptance of manuscripts is based on originality, significance, and scientific contribution to the knowledge of the field. The journal accepts submissions of articles written in Portuguese or English in the following areas of expertise (the area of expertise must be specified in Step 5 of the submission process):

Areas of Expertise

1. Outpatient and inpatient respiratory and cardiovascular physiotherapy
2. Critical care physiotherapy
3. Experimental research in cardiorespiratory physiotherapy
4. Methodological and technological development in cardiorespiratory physiotherapy
5. Cardiorespiratory aspects in public health and epidemiology

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically only via the following address: https://bjr-assobrafir.submitcentral.com.br/ or through the journal's link on the BJR website (https://bjr-assobrafir.org/). Submissions made via email, postal mail, or any other means that do not comply with the electronic submission process mentioned above will not be accepted. Only work that has not been published and is not under consideration for publication in another journal should be submitted. If any part of the material has been previously presented in a preliminary communication at a symposium, conference, etc., it must be cited on the title page.

Submitted articles are reviewed by the editors and reviewers within their respective fields of expertise. Reviewers operate independently and are part of the academic and scientific community, being specialists in their areas. Reviewers remain anonymous to the authors. The editors coordinate communication between the authors and the reviewers, making the final decision on which articles will be published based on the reviewers' recommendations, editorial circumstances, and their own perspectives.

When modifications are suggested by reviewers, these will be forwarded to the corresponding author for a response, which must then be returned to the editors and reviewers for verification that the requirements have been met. If an article is rejected, it will be accompanied by a justification from the editor.

The Editorial Committee of each issue reserves the right to make minor grammatical and stylistic changes to the submissions to maintain the consistency and quality of the publication, while respecting the authors' concepts and opinions.

By submitting the original manuscript, the author(s) transfer publication rights to the BJR. Therefore, published manuscripts are the property of the BJR, and both reproduction, even in part, in other journals and translation into another language are prohibited without the express permission of the Editors. The copyright statement must be submitted along with the manuscript in the designated field.

All necessary information for manuscript preparation is contained within these guidelines. Any questions or clarifications regarding the manuscript submission process or any other matters related to the BJR should be directed to the following email: bjr@editoracubo.com.br 

Title Page

 Title Page template

All submitted manuscripts must include a Title Page document with the following information:
•    Title of the article 
•    Name(s) of the author(s)
•    Indication of the respective institution(s) of each author, including city, state, and country (use superscript numbering), email, and ORCID
•    Name of the corresponding author, including full address and ORCID number (visit www.orcid.org), along with their email, which will be used by the BJR Editors for contact. Note that the authors’ titles do not need to be included on the Title Page.
•    Declaration of whether the study has been submitted to any event, including the name of the event and date.
•    Declaration of conflict of interest (indicate whether there is or is not a conflict of interest; if none exists, write "Conflict of interest: nothing to declare" – additionally, include the conflict of interest statement as per the model below).
•    Indicate whether the research received funding sources. If none, write "Funding source: nothing to declare."

General manuscript guidelines

The text should be edited in Microsoft Word (version 6.5 or higher), using Arial 12-point font, black, double-spaced. The file must be saved with a .doc, .docx, or .rtf extension. Manuscript pages should be numbered consecutively.

The text of the manuscript must be submitted through the submission system without identifying the authors (anonymized).

Categories of Manuscripts

Submissions are accepted in the following categories:

1. Original Research;
2. Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-analyses
3. Case Report
4. Correspondence (letter to the editor)

The category must be indicated in Step 5 of the submission .

Original Research

Original scientific articles must contain a maximum of 3,000 words (excluding title, abstract, and references) and should be structured with the following sections, each starting on a separate page:

Title (English and Portuguese)

Resumo: The abstract in Portuguese must be a maximum of 250 words. It should be structured as a single paragraph clearly identifying the following sections: Introdução, Objetivo, Métodos, Resultados, Conclusão. The abstract should be followed by three to five keywords. Please use terms found in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) (http://decs.bvs.br/).

Abstract: The English abstract must also be a maximum of 250 words and should correspond to the translation of the Portuguese abstract. It should be structured in the same manner as the Portuguese abstract and followed by three to five keywords. Please use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/).

Body of the Manuscript: The main body of the manuscript should be structured with the following sections in direct sequence:

• Introduction (with the objective and/or hypothesis clearly described)
• Methods (including study design, sample description, inclusion and exclusion criteria, ethical aspects of the research, tests, equipment, and interventions used, main outcomes studied, and a description of the statistical analysis at the end of the section)
• Results (in text, tables, and figures)
• Discussion (comparing results in the context of previously published literature, summarizing the implications and limitations of the study)
• Conclusion / Subsections in the Methods, Results, and Discussion are permitted.
• References: Detailed information regarding bibliographic references is provided in a specific section below. The maximum number of references for Original Research articles is 40.
• Tables and Figures: These should be placed after the references, in the following order: first, the tables in the order of citation in the text, followed by figures and photographs, also in order of citation in the text. All tables and figures must be cited in the text. Avoid providing redundant information that is already described in the Results and Methods sections.

Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-analyses

Review articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses must contain a maximum of 3,000 words (excluding title, abstract, and references). They should include an abstract that follows the same guidelines outlined previously.

This category of manuscripts is typically commissioned by the Editor from authors with proven expertise in the field. However, BJR encourages the submission of unsolicited materials, provided they offer relevant information to readers. Review articles should focus on specific topics with the aim of updating those less familiar with particular subjects or issues in the fields of Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy and Critical Care Physiotherapy. All manuscripts must include the search procedure and the criteria for article inclusion. The Editorial Board will assess the quality of the article, the relevance of the chosen topic, and, where applicable, the authors' prominence in the specific area addressed. Any inadequacy in these aspects may result in the rejection of the article by the editors.

The maximum number of references for review articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, it is 80.

Case Report and Correspondence

Case report should not exceed 1,500 words (from Introduction to Conclusion). Potentially publishable case reports should correspond to one of the following situations:
•    Issues of special interest to the scientific and clinical community
•    Rare cases particularly useful for providing information on assessment and therapeutic methods
•    A new therapeutic or evaluative method, or a significant modification of an existing method
•    A case that demonstrates relevant findings that are well-documented and unambiguous.

 The maximum number of references for correspondence (letter to the editor), it is 10; and for case reports, it is 10.

Tables, Figures, and Photographs

Tables, figures, and photographs (in that order) should be placed after the bibliographic references, in the order of citation in the text. All tables and figures must be constructed in a way that they can be understood independently, without referring back to the text of the manuscript. Authors must obtain written permission to reproduce tables, figures, and photographs previously published in other sources.

Tables should be concise and should not repeat information provided in the text of the Results or Methods sections. They should follow a specific formatting style, using Arial font size 11 for titles and table body, and Arial size 9 for captions, with single spacing. Each table must have a title. Avoid the use of irrelevant decimal places as much as possible. Explanatory items should be placed at the bottom of the table (caption). Abbreviations should be consistent with those used in the text and figures. The identification codes for table items should be listed in the order they appear horizontally and identified by standard symbols.
Figures should be saved in .JPEG or .TIF formats (with a minimum resolution of 300 DPI). Both black-and-white and color figures or photographs will be accepted, as publications are in an online format. The journal reserves the right to publish a color figure in black-and-white if deemed necessary. Figures should be consistent, legible, and as simple as possible. Use a minimum font size of 10 for letters, numbers, and symbols, with appropriate spacing and alignment. If the figure represents an X-ray or photograph, it is recommended to include a size scale where relevant. The journal strongly discourages the submission of photographs of patients, equipment, and animals. When photographs of patients are strictly necessary, it is advised to use black bars to prevent patient identification. Furthermore, appropriate consent must be formally requested and included in the submission process (upload as "Supplementary Material" in Step 4 of the submission process).

Symbols and Abbreviations

Symbols: The use of the Système International (SI) for units and unit abbreviations is requested (available at http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units).

Examples: s for second, min for minute, h for hour, L for liter, m for meter.

Abbreviations: All abbreviations must be spelled out in full upon their first citation (both in the abstract and the manuscript body). However, the use of abbreviations should be minimized. It is advisable to use abbreviations in figures and tables to save space, but these must always be defined in the caption. There is no need to explain abbreviations for units of measurement as long as they are part of the SI, as described above.

References

The maximum number of references for original scientific articles is 40; for review articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, it is 80; for correspondence (letter to the editor), it is 10; and for case reports, it is 10.

The use of "personal communications" or "unpublished observations" as references should be strictly avoided. Abstracts presented at scientific events and published in proceedings, as well as theses, dissertations, and final papers, should also be avoided, and may only be used if they are the sole available source of information.

Citation of References in the Text:

References in the text should be identified by Arabic numerals in superscript format, corresponding to their numbering in the reference list (see examples below). If more than two references are cited consecutively, only the first and last should be listed, separated by a hyphen (Example: 3-5). In the case of alternate citations, all references should be listed, separated by commas (Example: 2, 7, 22). When occasionally citing the authors' names from the reference in the text, if there are two authors, both should be connected by the conjunction "and" (Example: According to Silva and Pereira). If there are three or more authors, cite the first author followed by "et al." (Example: Souza et al.).

Examples of In-Text Citations:

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary program for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease^{1, 12}.

Previously published studies in the literature^13-18 present conflicting results when compared to the present study, especially regarding the studies by Yang et al.¹³ and Myers and Johnston ¹⁵.

Reference List:

The reference list should be numbered in the order of citation in the text and formatted according to the Vancouver style. However, the alignment must be justified. 

Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the List of Journals of Index Medicus (http://www2.bg.am.poznan.pl/czasopisma/medicus.php?lang=eng). Non-indexed journals should not have their names abbreviated.

All authors should be listed if the number is six or fewer. If there are more than six authors, list the first six followed by "et al."Exemplos de tipos de referências estão incluídos abaixo:

Examples of Reference Types:

Journal Articles (up to six authors)

Gosselink R, Troosters T, Decramer M. Distribution of muscle weakness in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. J Cardiopulm Rehabil. 2000;20(6):353-60.

Journal Articles (more than six authors)

Maltais F, LeBlanc P, Whittom F, Simard C, Marquis K, Belanger M et al. Oxidative enzyme activities of the vastus lateralis muscle and the functional status in patients with COPD. Thorax. 2000;55(10):848-53.

Published Abstracts in Proceedings

Santos SS, Silva CR, Domiciano LP. Determinação do comportamento da frequência e do comprimento de braçadas em diferentes velocidades de nado [resumo]. Anais do XI Congresso Brasileiro de Biomecânica. Ouro Preto; 2003. p.136-9.

Published Abstracts in Journal Supplements Serving as Congress Proceedings

Pitta F, Wyffels B, Spruit MA, Troosters T, Gosselink R, Decramer M. Determinants of activities of daily living ADL in COPD patients - a critical analysis [resumo]. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003;167:A224.

Book Chapter

Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathologic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1974;457-72.

Thesis
Yonamine RS. Desenvolvimento e validação de modelos matemáticos para estimar a massa corporal de meninos de 12 a 14 anos por densitometria e impedância bioelétrica. [Tese de Doutorado – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Física]. Santa Maria (RS): Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; 2000.

Official Publications

World Health Organization, 1999.The International Classification of Functioning and Disability (ICIDH-2) WHO, Geneva. 1999.

Electronic Documents

Rocha JSY, Simões BJG, Guedes GLM. Assistência hospitalar como indicador da desigualdade social. Rev Saude Publ [periódico on-line]. 1997;31(5). [citado em 23 mar 1998]. Disponível em: http://www.fsp. usp.br/~rsp.

Websites/Internet Pages

CNPq Plataforma Lattes, "Investimentos do CNPq em CT&I" [internet]. Brasil [acesso em 16 mar 2006]. Disponível em: http://fomentonacional.cnpq.br/dmfomento/home/index.jsp.

Attention: In cases not covered above, follow the recommendations in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/

Submission Letter with Copyright Transfer

 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

The submission of any manuscript must be accompanied by the upload of a submission letter (in Step 4 of the submission process, upload as "Copyright Statement") that includes the name, CPF number, and signature of the corresponding author, and that addresses the following items:

1. Declare that the manuscript is original and has not been published before; and if accepted by BJR, it will not be submitted or published elsewhere.
2. Declare that the manuscript is not under submission, review, or evaluation by another journal, and will not be submitted to any other journal while under consideration by BJR.
3. Declare that all authors participated in the conception of the work, data analysis and interpretation, writing or critical revision, and that they have read and approved the final version; and that all authors transfer copyright to BJR if the article is accepted. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors are aware of this information.

For questions, clarifications, or issues with submitting the letter, please contact: bjr@editoracubo.com.br

Conflict of Interest Statement

 CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

In addition to the submission letter, a conflict-of-interest declaration must also be completed and submitted for any manuscript type (in Step 4 of the submission process, upload as "Conflict of Interest Statement"). The declaration must be signed by all authors and pertains to the disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest (professional, financial, and direct or indirect benefits) that could influence the content, results, and conclusions of the manuscript. The editors reserve the right to take appropriate action if any of the norms are not followed.

For questions, clarifications, or issues with submitting the conflict-of-interest declaration, please contact: bjr@editoracubo.com.br

Note: The submission of any manuscript will only be considered complete upon receipt of the submission letter and the conflict-of-interest declaration. Therefore, no article will be published in BJR without fulfilling these requirements.

Ethics

Authors must provide the registration number and name of the Ethics Committee that approved the project in the "Methods" section, as well as confirm that all participants signed a Free and Informed Consent Form.

Condições para submissão Submission Conditions

As part of the submission process, authors are required to verify compliance with all items listed below. Submissions that do not adhere to the guidelines will be returned to the authors.

1. The contribution is original and has not been evaluated for publication by another journal.
2. Submission files are in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF format (not exceeding 2MB) and comply with the journal's standards.
3. The Submission Letter and the Conflict-of-Interest Declaration are prepared and will be uploaded in Step 4 of the submission process, according to the journal's Author Guidelines.
4. Fill in the details of all co-authors in the journal's system, including full name, affiliated institution, and email.

Copyright Declaration

The journal reserves the right to make normative, spelling, and grammatical changes to the originals to maintain the scholarly standard of the language and the credibility of the publication. However, it will respect the authors' writing style. Conceptual changes, corrections, or suggestions will be forwarded to the authors when necessary. In such cases, articles must be resubmitted for further evaluation after adjustments. Final proofs will not be sent to the authors. Published works become the property of BJR, and their total or partial reprinting is subject to explicit authorization from the journal. All subsequent citations must acknowledge the original source of publication, namely BJR. The opinions expressed by the authors of the articles are their sole responsibility.

Privacy Policy

The names and addresses provided in this journal will be used exclusively for the services rendered by this publication and will not be disclosed for other purposes or to third parties.