Author Guidelines

Submitting manuscripts requires preparing, writing, editing, and publishing academic papers in medical journals under the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines and the ethics principles for publication as advised in the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct.

Original Articles, Case Reports, Letters to the Editor, Brief Communication, Trends & Reflections, and Systematic Reviews are accepted. Editorial and Literature Narrative Review Articles will only be accepted upon invitation by the Editorial Board.

The journal Acta Fisiátrica publishes unpublished works that contribute to the understanding and development of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the following categories:

Original Article
Original articles with contributions intended for the dissemination of unpublished research results, once the topic is relevant and the scope and knowledge generated at the research is meaningful, are published at Acta Fisiátrica (limit of 3,500 words, excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references, with up to five tables, and figures). Original articles should follow the recommendations of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) or the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE).

Review Article
These publications synthesize available knowledge on a specific topic by assessing and interpreting relevant bibliography, with critical and comparative analysis of the studied area. Review articles should also discuss methodological limits and scope, allowing to indicate perspectives for follow-up studies in that research topic (limit of 3,500 words, excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references, with up to five tables and figures). Systematic reviews should follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. For systematic reviews, it is suggested that the authors inform the protocol registration number in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database. Narrative literature reviews will only be accepted upon invitation by the Editorial Board.

Case Report
Submissions for this section must follow the Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting Guideline Development (CARE) recommendations. Presentation of cases of peculiar interest, not routine, of a specific disease should describe its aspects, history, and conducts. Case reports should have brief and pertinent comments including an abstract, introduction (with a brief literature review), presentation of the clinical case, discussion, final comments, and a maximum of 15 references (limit of 1,500 words, excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references, with up to three tables and figures).

Letter to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should contain observations on recently published articles that may or may not generate a response from the questioned author or synthetic comments on some subject of collective interest (limit of 400 words).

Brief Communication
Reporting partial or preliminary research results or disclosing the results of a small complexity study is also considered for publication. Brief Communication should have concise and relevant comments including an abstract, discussion, final comments, and a maximum of 10 references (limit of 1,000 words excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references, with up to two tables or figures).

Editorial
Editorials must contain critical and in-depth commentary on a specific subject, prepared by professionals with substantial and recognized experience. It may or may not be requested by the journal and may or may not be related to an article being published.

Trends and Reflections
These are contributions in free editing format, with abstract and references (limit of 3,500 words, excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references with up to five tables and figures).

Preparing the Manuscript for Submission

The manuscript and supplementary documentation must be submitted via Open Journal Systems (OJS). If the authors do not receive a message confirming their submission, they should contact us at actafisiatrica@hc.fm.usp.br

It is recommended that the manuscript's structure agrees with the guidelines for scientific writing according to the study design. Find below a list of the main guidelines Acta Fisiatrica considers relevant for publication.

- Clinical Trials: Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT)

- Observational Studies: Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE)

- Case Reports: Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting Guideline Development (CARE)

- Systematic Reviews: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)

All manuscripts must attach a Cover Letter, the Exclusivity, Conflict of Interests, and Responsibility Statement, and the IEC/ERB approval in PDF files as supplementary documents.

Cover Letter

The cover letter introduces the manuscript to the Journal Editor. In addition, authors can also take this opportunity to explain why the manuscript will be of interest to the journal's readers, something that is always important in the minds of editors.

Exclusivity, Conflict of Interests, and Responsibility Statement

The “Exclusivity, Conflict of Interests, and Responsibility Statement” file should be signed by the first or corresponding author and uploaded in PDF format.

Independent Ethics Committee / Ethics Review Board Approval

IEC/ERB approval is a written document the researcher receives after an ethics review process by an independent party, assuring the research protocol was analyzed and met the current ethical standards. Manuscripts written in Portuguese or English in Microsoft Word will be analyzed.

The “Cover Letter” and “Full Text” files should be typed with single space, with Times New Roman font size 12, on an A4-sized sheet, with left and top margins of 3cm and right and bottom margins of 2cm.

Title Page

A Title Page is mandatory and must present the following sections in this order:

Title: Clear, concise, and complete title in Portuguese and English, indicating the content of the manuscript. If there is a subtitle, it must be separated from the title by a colon.

Abstract: It should be written in a single paragraph and structured with the sections Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion, with no more than 250 words.

Keywords: Extracted from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) of the National Library of Medicine or Descriptors in Health Sciences (Descritores em Ciências da Saúde - DeCS) by Bireme, a minimum of three and a maximum of six indexing terms should be selected and included as keywords.

English Abstract: Reliable version of the Abstract, written in English, containing all the Abstract sections: Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion.

English Keywords: Reliable version of the Keywords, written in English and extracted from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) of the National Library of Medicine or Descriptors in Health Sciences (Descritores em Ciências da Saúde - DeCS) by Bireme.

- Full name, affiliation institution (only one institution per author), authors' ORCID iD, and e-mail;

- Corresponding author's name, complete address, e-mail, and telephone number;

- Acknowledgments to research funding parties, including identification number, if applicable;

- Information on authors’ contribution to the manuscript preparation;

- Conflicts of interest statement.

Full Text

Tile: Clear, concise, and complete title in Portuguese and English, indicating the content of the manuscript. If there is a subtitle, it must be separated from the title by a colon.

Abstract: It should be written in a single paragraph and structured with the sections Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion, with no more than 250 words.

Keywords: A minimum of three and a maximum of six indexing terms should be selected, extracted from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) of the National Library of Medicine or Descriptors in Health Sciences (Descritores em Ciências da Saúde - DeCS) of Bireme.

English Abstract: Reliable version of the Abstract, written in English, containing all the Abstract sections: Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.

English Keywords: Reliable version of the Keywords, written in English and extracted from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) of the National Library of Medicine or Descriptors in Health Sciences (Descritores em Ciências da Saúde - DeCS) of Bireme.

Except for the manuscripts presented as Editorials and Letters to the Editor, all papers must follow the following format:

Introduction: It should contain an up-to-date literature review on the topic of the manuscript, adequately presenting the issues of the article and highlighting its relevance. Except for Review Articles, it should not be extensive.

Objective: It establishes the objective or purpose of the work. It must be clear, precise, and coherent.

Methods: It should contain a clear and succinct description of the methods chosen for the study. It must include the procedures; setting and sample; assessment and measuring instruments, and, if applicable, validation methods; and statistical analysis.

Results: Whenever possible, results should be presented in tables or figures. Tables are non-discursive ways of presenting information in which numerical data is the central information. Elaborated to be self-explanatory with statistical inference if applicable, the tables must be limited and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals according to the order in which they appear in the manuscript. It should also come on individual and separate sheets, indicating its location in the full text. The table's heading is placed at the top, spelled with lowercase letters, respecting the grammatical rules.

Discussion: It should adequately and objectively explore the results discussed in light of other observations already registered in the literature.

Conclusion: Authors should present relevant conclusions, considering the declared objectives, and suggest possible follow-up studies to advance scientific knowledge.

Acknowledgments: Acknowledgments may be recorded in a paragraph of no more than three lines, addressed to institutions or individuals who provided effective collaboration for the work.

Research involving human beings: Results of research related to living human beings must attach a copy of the IEC/ERB approval. For studies conducted in Brazil, the IEC/ERB must be accredited by the National Health Council (Conselho Nacional de Saúde – CNS). In addition, the last paragraph of the Methods should contain a clear statement of compliance with the ethical principles per the Declaration of Helsinki (2000) and compliance with specific laws of the country where the research was conducted. The identification number of Clinical Trial Registers, for instance, Clinicaltrials.gov, must be presented after the abstract.

Citations: They must be placed in numerical order and superscript, in Arabic numerals, appearing in the list of references in the same sequence. In the text, when authors are cited, if there are 2 (two) authors, cite both linked by "&." For more than 2 (two) authors, cite the first author followed by the Latin expression "et al."

References: They must be numbered consecutively, in the same order they appear in the text, based on the Vancouver style. In references with 2 (two) up to a limit of 6 (six) authors, cite all authors. Above 6 (six) authors, cite the first 6 (six) authors, followed by the Latin expression "et al." Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the list of journals indexed in Index Medicus by the National Library of Medicine. The referred article must provide the active and complete DOI link in the References, always preceded by http://dx.doi.org/. This procedure allows access to the full text in a single click.

Examples | Norm Vancouver
Books
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4^th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Chapter in a book
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

Dissertation and These
Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [Dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.

Journal Article
Bhutta ZA, Darmstadt GL, Hasan BS, Haws RA. Community-based interventions for improving perinatal and neonatal health outcomes in developing countries: a review of the evidence. Pediatrics. 2005; 115 (2 Suppl):519-617. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2004-1441

Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;943(1):15-22. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0006-8993(02)02471-x

Other Examples Consult
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Images

Tables, charts, and figures are accepted and must be marked in the text by their order number and the place where they will be placed. If the submitted illustrations have been published before, the source must be cited according to the citation instructions above. Other sources consulted and mentioned in the text are the first author's sole responsibility. The reference list should not include information from personal communication and in progress or unpublished papers.

The “Images” files must mandatorily follow the following instructions:

There must be up to five tables or figures for Original Articles, Systematic Reviews, and Trends & Reflections. Case Reports cannot exceed three tables or figures, and Brief Communication cannot exceed two tables or figures.

Tables and charts should be placed at the end of the manuscript, whenever possible, or in separate files, in the same order they appear in the text editable format (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel). Titles of tables and charts must be concise, avoiding the use of abbreviations or acronyms. If abbreviations and acronyms are essential, they should be described in full in the caption, which must be placed at the foot of the table or chart. Tables and charts can be made in black and white or in color.

Tables: Tables are non-discursive ways of presenting information in which numerical data is the central information. Elaborated to be self-explanatory with statistical inference if applicable, the tables must be limited and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals according to the order in which they appear in the manuscript. It should also come on individual and separate sheets, indicating its location in the full text. The title of the table is placed at the top, spelled with lowercase letters, respecting the grammatical rules.

Charts: They differ from tables because they present a non-statistical schematic and descriptive content. The presentation of the chats is similar to that of the tables, except for the necessary placement of vertical lines on their sides and in the separation from the text.

Figures: Figures is the generic name attributed to graphics, photographs, engravings, maps, plans, drawings, or other illustrative options. They must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals under the name of Figure (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.) and present clear captions, indicating their meaning in sequential order and proper explanation. They must be presented in files of the following types: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) or BMP (Bitmap). The minimum resolution must be 300dpi (dots per inch), with a file size limit of 10Mb.

 

Manuscript Analysis and Acceptance

Acta Fisiátrica has the right to reject the evaluation of manuscripts that meet the journal's scope but fail to meet the above criteria. A preliminary analysis will verify the compliance with the criteria and the scientific merits of the manuscript. If the manuscript meets the journal's instructions to authors and has scientific merits, it undergoes the editorial process.

Manuscripts accepted for evaluation will be reviewed by at least two reviewers from the journal's staff or "ad hoc" reviewers in a “double-blind” review procedure. In the “double-blind” review process, the identities of reviewers and authors are hidden from both parties. At this stage, reviewers are expected to assess the scientific merit and content of the manuscripts, making constructive criticism for their improvement. Evaluators will observe the criteria of originality, relevance, methodological, and scientific quality. The results of the evaluations may be:

Accepted: The manuscript has scientific merit and complies with the journal's instructions. The submission may go to layout editing;

Mandatory corrections: Submission has scientific merits, but it needs adjustments to meet journal instructions;

Rejected: The manuscript does not suit the Journal's standards.

When the reviewers suggest mandatory corrections, the results and considerations will be sent to the authors with a defined deadline for returning the corrected version of the manuscript. Authors are recommended to be aware of the instructions that will be sent to the e-mail address informed at submission and to observe the deadlines. Failure to observe deadlines, especially when not justified, might be a reason for discontinuing the editorial process of the manuscript.

Acta Fisiátrica has the right not to accept articles that do not meet the criteria for peer review and the right to make normative, spelling, and grammatical changes to the originals for maintaining bibliographic uniformity and the language standard, respecting, however, the authors' writing style. The originals and final proofs will not be sent to the authors.

If you have doubts or queries about any aspects related to these instructions, please contact Acta Fisiátrica management at actafisiatrica@hc.fm.usp.br