Guidelines
This Journal is dedicated to promote knowledge and views on questions associated with Human Health, giving priority to those related to the Portuguese and other lusophone (Portuguese speaking) communities. The intention therefore is to catalyze a productive dialogue and exchange of experiences between researchers and health professionals and from the lusophone communities and their projection on, and interchange with the international scientific community.
In order to attain such objectives, it has become indispensable to establish, since the beginning, a set of norms that guarantee a publication which respects the internationally established criteria for publications in the biomedical field. The main norms, which have been adapted to the above mentioned objectives, have the document “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted you the Biomedical Journals” [see more here] as their main orientation and are as follows:
I. The “Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Research” (BBR) publishes original research, as well as other works of a pedagogical and scientific nature, in the main domains of Health Sciences, under the general sections of Biomedical Sciences and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, in Portuguese and English languages. Our scope intends to reflect a fundamental / integrative research character. At the editor’s discretion, research on more applied topics may be included.
II. It also publishes news, information, minutes, and/or reports, as well as abstracts and proceedings of works presented in meetings, courses, or congresses.
III. The authors have the final responsibility for the content of their publications.
IV. Only works that contain original material will be evaluated, as long as they have not been integrally or partly published (including tables and figures), and also have not been submitted for publication to other journals or periodicals, or in another language. This restriction does not apply to press notes or summaries published in the realm of scientific meetings. Original materials posted to recognized, non-peer-reviewed community preprint servers (e.g., bioRxiv and PeerJ Preprint) are acceptable, however, authors should disclose any existing or scheduled preprinting (including accession number or doi) with manuscript submission.
V. All published articles become the property of the BBR. Once accepted, articles cannot be published in a similar form in other places, and in any other language, without the express consent of the BBR. If the manuscript was previously posted to a community preprint server, it should be updated with a link to the final published version.
VI. The periodicity of this Journal is semi-annual, and the dates of submission and publication should be consulted in the respective portal. Depending on the Editorial initiative, other numbers might be edited along the semester.
VII. Before submitting a manuscript to BBR, authors must obtain all necessary authorizations for the submitted material to be published, and when applicable, according the publication norms from the journal. Several types of papers are considered for publication in BBR:
1. Original articles of original research
The text must not exceed 4,500 words or ten A4 pages (excluding references and tables) and is organized with the following structure - introduction, material and methods, results, discussion, conclusions (optional), acknowledgements, authors contributions, interest disclosure and bibliographical references.
All articles of original research must have abstracts structured as the manuscript (no section titles), followed by keywords that aim at a clear identification of the work, respective indexation and research.
2. Brief articles and communications (short papers)
This type of publication is focused on the divulgation of preliminary results of research. The text must be organized as the articles of original research, include a maximum of ten references and not to exceed five A4 pages.
3. Review Articles
These are articles whose objective is to describe “the state of the art”, reflecting the progress in the diverse domains of health sciences and technologies. This type of publication must be directed especially towards health professionals and students.
Along with the pedagogical nature, the aim is to alert the readers for the impact of this progress on health care service. BBR editorial staff will give preference to and promote the publication of revision articles that have been expressly requested, however, those submitted, but not requested, will be also evaluated.
4. Case Studies
The publication of case studies (of clinical or other nature), has both pedagogical objectives and the transmission of experiences. They must, consequently, be studied and discussed in an exemplary form, and the text must be organized with those objectives in mind.
5. Study Protocols
BBR also publishes prospective research as study protocols. It is mandatory to have formal ethical approval and funding from an independent research-funding body (public or private, as long as not intramural). Respective statements and identification references/codes are required in the text. Study Protocol articles are peer-reviewed having in mind that intention is not to modify the study design, rather to confirm that the study is scientifically sound and ethically credible and that it is presented with adequate detail transparency and rigor.
Study Protocols should be structured in accordance with the Manuscript Format (ahead).
For clinical studies, authors must follow the SPIRIT guidelines [see more here] and checklist. Protocols from systematic reviews must use the PRISMA-P reporting guideline and be registered in the PROSPERO database [see more here]. Study Protocols are not considered if other articles relating to the study are already published or in review, if it reports any research data from the study, or for any pilot or feasibility study.
BBR accepts other texts based on multiple humanistic aspects that are involved in health care service as well as those related to history, ethics, anthropology, sociology, law, or even opinion letters and letters to the editor, that are of relevance to health sciences and technologies.
Manuscript Format
(a) The instructions to be followed by authors for submission of papers to BBR, are listed below and are according to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (available at URL: www.icmje.org).
(b) All papers must be submitted in English and Portuguese. The manuscripts must be typed, double spaced and aligned at the left, with margins of 2.5 cm, font size 11, in font Times, Times New Roman, or Arial, and use Symbol for special characters. The lines are continuously numbered, as all pages. Each section should begin on a new page.
(c) The general organization of the manuscript must respect the following sequence in both languages (English and Portuguese):
- On the first page indicate: 1) title (full and short title) 2) name(s) of author(s) (without indication of academic degrees or honorific titles); 3) the institutional affiliation of each author at the moment when the work was carried out; 4) the name and contact of the author who should receive correspondence, including the @mail;
- Abstracts (2nd page) - maximum of 200 words. The abstract must be structured as the manuscript (no section titles) and indicate the objectives/scope, methods, results and conclusions. Each abstract will contain, on the same page, the respective keywords (up to five).
- Text - the text must be structured with Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions and Acknowledgements. Additional declarations of Authors Contributions and Conflicts of Interest are required. Small adaptations to the structure are admitted (inclusion of sub-paragraphs in Material and Methods, for example) according to the nature of the work presented. Manuscripts with experiments on live vertebrates (or higher invertebrates), humans or human samples must include a statement of ethical approval in the Methods section and full compliance with the reference guidelines.
- References/Bibliography - the references must be listed after the main text, consecutively numbered in accordance with the order of its citation. The references must be presented in Arabic numeration, between parentheses and the respective citation must follow the adequate model of the respective source (article from a periodical, book, book chapter, Internet, etc.).
Models (BBR adopts the models suggested by the American Psychological Association APA).
The following examples show how to proceed with reference list entries
Article
Vega, K. J., Piña, I., & Krevsky, B. (1996). Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreaticobiliary disease. Annals of internal medicine, 124(11), 980–983. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-124-11-199606010-00005
Book
Murray, M. T. & Pizzorno P. (2012) The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine (3rd ed.) Atria Books.
Book Chapter
Starkweather, A. R. (2015). Pain. In J. Giddens (Ed.), Concepts for nursing practice (2nd ed., pp 283-292.) Elsevier.
Article in Electronic Format
Stein, M. B., & Taylor, C. T. (2019). Approach to treating social anxiety disorder in adults. UpToDate. Retrieved September 13, 2019, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/approach-to-treating-social-anxiety-disorder-in-adults.
We suggest that the bibliography of submitted articles be made with the aid of a citation program, such as the EndNote (from the Institute of Scientific Information). Among the various styles available, the above mentioned corresponds to that used in the journal Nature.
- Legends, Tables and Figures
Legends of Tables and Figures must be placed on the pages immediately following the bibliography, and be clearly identified and in order. The legend of each table or figure must be followed by a heading and explanatory notes (e.g., definitions of abbreviations) in order to be understood and interpreted without resorting to the text.
Tables and figures must be presented after the legend section, individually, on separate pages, suitably and sequentially identified. Tables and figures must be individually numbered (separate Arabic numeration for tables and figures) and must be ordered in accordance with the order of are reference in the text.
Photographs, illustrations, or other originals such as radiographic images must be converted into an electronic format (JPEG or TIFF) after digitalization and inserted into the file of tables and images. -
VII. Submission
Documents for publication are exclusively submitted in electronic form [ see more here]. Any related correspondence should be electronically addressed to
Previous requirements to submission
(a) Competing interests
The authors of any submitted manuscript must declare at the close of the text body, the existence of any competing interests or declare their inexistence. The potential conflict areas are described in the document: “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” [ see more here ].
(b) Previous authorization for submission
Before submitting a manuscript to the BBR, the authors must have in their possession the following documents that could be requested by the editorial staff:
- declaration of interest by all co-authors;
- in clinical research works, the informed consent of each individual patient whose data or photographs are presented, even when attempts at hiding their respective identity have been made;
- authorization for use of previously published material;
(c) For any other missing indications in these instructions, please consult: “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”.
(d) Submission and publication costs
This journal does not charge costs or fees for submission and publication of manuscripts from Portuguese-language speaking authors. For other authors, only an English version is required for submission. However, BBR does not accept automatic translations (GoogleTranslate, DeepL, other) meaning that the Portuguese version will be a direct responsibility of the Editorial Office. In this case, a fee will be charged to ensure that purpose as follows
– up to 4500 words (tables and figures not included) - 300€
- for more than 4500 words, a 100€ fee will be added for each additional 1000 words. Special requirements might involve additional costs, however the Editorial Office will always provide a proper quote before final confirmation
The publication of any article in the BBR will only be authorized after reception of the respective document that concedes the Rights of Reproduction, signed by the author held responsible for the work
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