Print version ISSN 0104-1282

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

Revista Brasileira de Crescimento e Desenvolvimento Humano – RBCDH disseminates papers whose object of study and discussion is the relationship between the growth and development of the human being. RBCDH is a quarterly publication. Besides being distributed to the CDH associates, it is sold by subscription or in spare copies.

General Criteria for the Acceptance of Texts Submitted to Publication

RBCDH reserves the copyright to its content. The submitted texts and floppy disks should be sent with a letter in which the authors waive the copyright in favor of the Journal.

The opinions expressed by the authors belong to them and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board of the Journal.

Papers will be selected according to the following criteria: scientific solidity, originality, currentness, opportunity of information and adequacy to the Journal’s publication norms. After the initial selection, performed by the editor, the material will be sent to two members of the Editorial Board. Within 30 days, they should give their opinions regarding acceptance for publication or not. This opinion will be expressed as follows:

a) Accepted for publication: the paper will be published in one of the next issues of the Journal, according to a chronological criterion (date when the article was approved by the Journal) and a pagination criterion.

b) Conditional Acceptance: one or more members of the Editorial Board suggest modifications so that the paper fits the Journal’s norms, or make suggestions aiming at a better understanding of the text. In this case, the original is returned to the author together with the recommendations.

c) Rejected: in this hypothesis, the originals will be returned to the author, and the reasons for the refusal will be explained.

Norms for the Elaboration of Papers

The content of RBCDH can include: Editorial; Original Research and Current Comments; Opinions and/or Bibliographic Reviews; Case Studies; Experience Report; Reviews or Summaries of Dissertations. The Editorials, which reflect the Journal’s positions, will be written by the Editor or the members of the Editorial Board.

The manuscripts should be written preferably in Portuguese, English or Spanish. The papers should be sent in floppy disks, together with three printed copies in A4 paper size, with margins of 3 cm, double space and font 12, to the following address: Secretaria Geral do CDH - Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 715 – sala 01, 2o andar, prédio da biblioteca - CEP 01246-904 - São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Texts submitted to publication should limit their number of keyboarded pages according to the following maximal parameters, tables and graphs included: Original Research and Current Comments: 25 pages; Opinions and Bibliographic Reviews: 10 pages; Case Studies and Experience Reports: 8 pages; Reviews and Summaries: 3 pages.

Cover page: It should contain: a) Title of the article, which should be concise and complete, describing the subject with terms that can be adequately indexed by the information retrieval services. The translation of the title into English should be presented; b) Full name of each author; c) The institution to which each author is affiliated, together with the respective address; d) Name of the Department and Institution in which the research was carried out; e) Indication of the author who will be responsible for correspondence, with address, telephone number, fax number and electronic mail; f) If the research was funded, the name of the funding agency and the number of the process should be indicated; g) If the paper was based on a dissertation, the title, year and institution to which it was submitted should be indicated; h) If the paper was presented in a scientific meeting, the name of the event, venue and date should be indicated.

Abstracts and Descriptors: The papers should have one abstract in Portuguese and one in English containing 250 words at the most. When the text is written in Spanish, an abstract in this language should also be provided. The recommendations of UNESCO should be followed in that the article should contain information referring to: objectives, basic procedures, the most important results and the main conclusions. New aspects should be emphasized, as well as those which deserve to be highlighted. Up to six descriptors should be indicated in Portuguese and in English, extracted from the vocabulary “Descritores em Ciência da Saúde - DeCS” (http://decs.bvs.br/). If the authors cannot find, in this vocabulary, descriptors to represent the theme of the manuscript, they can indicate terms or expressions extracted from the text itself.

Text structure: The Research Articles can be organized according to the formal structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Other types of articles, such as Reviews, Current Comments, Notes, Case Studies and Experience Reports can follow other formats to organize the content. The coherence between content and presentation will be verified in all articles. Each part of the formal structure of the research article should contain the following information: Introduction: presentation and discussion of the problem in light of pertinent and up-to-date bibliography, without the intention to include an extensive review of the matter. It should contain the objective, in which the author states the research object and justifies its elaboration and significance. Data or conclusions of the paper that is being presented should not be included. Methods: description of the procedures. The research variables should be presented, with the respective definitions when necessary, and categorization. The scientific and statistical hypotheses should be presented. The population and the sample should be determined, and the measurement instruments should be described, presenting, if possible, validity and reliability proofs. The article should contain information on data collection and processing. The methods and techniques that were used, including the statistical methods, should be based on scientific papers. Modifications of methods and techniques introduced by the authors, or even comments on methods and techniques that have been published but are not widely known, should be adequately described. Results: they should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures. The text should not repeat all the data displayed in the tables and figures; only the most important remarks should be highlighted, with little personal interpretation. Whenever necessary, the numerical data should be submitted to statistical analysis. Discussion: it should focus on the obtained data and the achieved results, and it should emphasize the new and important aspects that were observed, discussing if they are similar to or different from other findings that have already been published. Arguments and proofs disseminated in personal presentations or in documents of a restricted character should not be included. Both the limitations of the paper and implications for future research should be clarified. Hypotheses and generalizations that were not based on the paper’s data should be avoided. Conclusions supported by the discussion and interpretation can be included in this section. In this case, there is no need to repeat them in another section. Conclusions: the set of the most important conclusions should be presented, recovering the objectives of the paper. Proposals that aim to contribute to the finding of solutions to the detected problems or other necessary suggestions can be presented.

Acknowledgements: they should be brief, objective and directed at people or institutions that substantially contributed to the elaboration of the paper.

References

a) RBCDH adopts the “Uniform Requirements of Vancouver”, available in http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.

b) The references should be numerically disposed, following the order in which they were cited in the text.

c) If more than six authors collaborated in a publication, all of them are cited up to the sixth author, followed by the Latin expression “et al.”.

d) Journal titles should be indicated in the abbreviated form, according to the Index Medicus.

e) Personal presentations, unpublished or ongoing research can be cited when absolutely necessary, but they should not be included in the list of References. They should be indicated in the text or in a footnote.

f) Non-conventional publications whose access is restricted can be cited provided that the authors indicate to the reader where to find them.

g) The accuracy of the references is the authors’ responsibility.

Examples:

Book

Rogoff B. A Natureza Cultural do desenvolvimento humano. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2005.

Chapter in a Book

Phillips SJ, Whiosnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.

Article in a Journal

Martell R. New prescribing powers mooted for 10.000 nurses. Nurs Times. 2000;96(44):7-15.

Conference Paper

Sawara BB. A liberdade criativa no processo de participação política na era da globalização [abstract]. In: Anais do 2° Seminário Nacional sobre Comportamento Político; 1995 Nov 16-20; Florianópolis, Brasil. Florianópolis: UFSC; 1995. p. 20.

Thesis and Dissertation

Santos AO. Representações sociais da saúde e doença no Candomblé Jejê-Nagô do Brasil [thesis]. São Paulo: Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo; 1999.

Electronic Material

London AJ. Justice and the human development approach to international research. Hastings Cent Rep [online journal]. 2005 Jan/Feb [cited 2005 Jun 5];35(1):24-37. Available from: http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com /hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.8.

Although the references are numerically indicated, citations in the text, tables, figures and footnotes can indicate the author’s name and year of publication (when there are more than two authors, cite the first one, followed by the expression “et al.”). Example: Although the oral BCG vaccination is defended by many authors, others are not so enthusiastic about its administration (Rosen7, 1958).

Tables: They should be keyboarded in double space and presented in separate pages, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order in which they were cited in the text. They should have a title above them, and the same data should not be repeated in graphs. They should be assembled according to the orientation presented in: “IBGE. Normas de apresentação tabular. Rio de Janeiro; 1993”. Vertical or inclined lines should be avoided. Footnotes referring to the tables should be restricted to the smallest possible number. The maximum number of tables per paper is 10. Above this number, the additional expense will be the responsibility of the authors. Very large tables, even if they contain important data, may not be accepted. In this case, the possibility of providing the data for the reader should be informed in a footnote. If there are tables extracted from published works, the authors should have written permission to reproduce them, and this authorization should be sent to the Journal together with the manuscripts submitted to publication.

Figures: Illustrations (photos, drawings, graphs, etc.) should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. They should be indicated as Figures, and should be identified outside the text by means of the number and abbreviated title of the paper. Subtitles should be presented in a separate page. The illustrations should be clear enough to allow their reproduction in plates of 13 cm (page width). If there are figures extracted from other previously published works, the authors should have the written permission to reproduce them, except for documents of public domain. This authorization should be sent to the Journal together with the manuscripts submitted to publication.

Abbreviations: The standardized form should be used. When it is not standardized, they should be preceded by the full name when cited for the first time. When they appear in tables or figures, their meaning should be explained when it is unknown.

Abbreviations should not be used in the title and in the abstract of the submitted paper.