Submissions

Author Guidelines

The Brazilian Journal of Family Therapy (RBTF) accepts submissions in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Steps for Electronic Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the Brazilian Journal of Family Therapy website at https://revbrasterapiafamiliar.emnuvens.com.br/revista/about/submissions and must comply with APA style guidelines [American Psychological Association (APA), 7th edition, 2020 (https://apastyle.apa.org/manual/)].

Upon initiating the electronic submission process, the author must register in the system to submit the manuscript and monitor the editorial process. The manuscript editorial process will only begin after all necessary information has been submitted and all authors have registered with their complete data.

The addition or removal of authors will not be permitted after the manuscript has been submitted. Authors will be notified of manuscript receipt via their registered email address. By submitting the article, the corresponding author assumes, on behalf of all co-authors, that there is no conflict of interest, whether personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial, as well as between authors, reviewers, or editors.

STEP 1: AUTHOR(S) REGISTRATION

At the beginning of the electronic submission process, the following information must be registered:

- All authors must be identified with their name, ORCID, email, institutional affiliation (full name of the institution, with 3 instances – for example: University/Faculty/Department), city, state, and country. The corresponding author must be identified and must provide, in addition to the mandatory information, their complete postal address.

- Title of the manuscript in Portuguese, English, and Spanish (maximum of 12 words). - Abstract in Portuguese, English, and Spanish (see guidelines in Step 2, item III)

- Keywords in Portuguese, English, and Spanish (see guidelines in Step 2, item III)

It is recommended that the research data used in the articles be deposited in open access repositories, adhering to registration standards that guarantee the authorship, use, and citation of the data as well as the corresponding article. This data deposit must be indicated during the submission process, Step 1, in the “Comments for the Editor” field. We suggest visiting re3data.org to identify registered and certified data repositories relevant to the subject area.

STEP 2: FORMAL PRESENTATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

The manuscript submitted to RBTF must be original, that is, it must not have been published in another publication (journal, book, etc.) nor be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. Except if:

- The manuscript was deposited on a preprint platform, making it mandatory to provide the article's URL and authorize the disclosure of identities to allow for open review;

- The article was presented at scientific activities of the Brazilian Association of Family Therapy and its federated entities, or at scientific institutions linked to the areas of Psychology - Interpersonal Relations. In the latter case, a footnote should be inserted on the first page of the manuscript with information about where it was presented.

The opinions expressed in the works, as well as the accuracy and adequacy of the references, are the sole responsibility of the authors.

When reporting research involving human subjects, authors must indicate whether the procedures followed were approved by the National Research Ethics Committee, respecting Resolutions 466/2012 and/or 510/2016 of the National Health Council. Articles by foreign authors must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, revised in 2013.

I- Types of Manuscripts

The following manuscript types will be accepted for evaluation and must be indicated at the time of submission:

Original article: Results of original research, based on systematic and complete investigations. Manuscripts cannot exceed 50,000 characters with spaces, including: title, abstract, keywords (in the three languages), appendices, and references.

Review article: Review with critical and timely analysis of a comprehensive body of research related to topics of interest for the development of family therapy. Manuscripts must not exceed 50,000 characters with spaces, including: title, abstract, keywords (in all three languages), appendices, and references.

Case Reports: Descriptions of cases that effectively contribute to the field of scientific knowledge. Manuscripts cannot exceed 30,000 characters with spaces, including: title, abstract, keywords (in all three languages), appendices, and references. Case/experience reports document situations presented to a prepared and attentive observer, who will rigorously preserve any form of identification of the participants involved. Therefore, it is not possible to obtain prior approval from the Research Ethics Committee, as it is not a manuscript resulting from a research project.

In this sense, due to the clinical and research relevance resulting from the presentation of observational data from a single case, the Brazilian Journal of Family Therapy, through its Editorial Committee, has decided to publish case reports, provided that the author(s), prior to manuscript submission, have obtained formal documented consent from the person(s) treated through a Free and Informed Consent Form for the publication of the case report. A copy of this document will be filed with the professional who obtained it, and another will be taken by the participants (clients/patients).

Book Review: Presentation and critical analysis of books relevant to the scientific knowledge to which the journal is dedicated, national or foreign, regularly published in the publishing market in the last two years. Its objective is to inform the reader about the narrative construction of the book, such as: characteristics of the work, central aspects, and possibilities and contributions to the psychodramatic field. Abstracts and keywords are not necessary. Maximum of 16,000 characters including spaces.

Editorial: At the invitation of the editor-in-chief, texts of relevance to the area of ​​Family Therapy will be published. Abstracts and keywords are not necessary: ​​maximum of 16,000 characters including spaces.

III-Manuscript Preparation

Manuscript Structure:

Whenever possible, manuscripts should present the subsections below. However, articles from some areas may have their usual format. Different styles should be used to differentiate the subsections.

Title: The title must be provided in Portuguese, English, and Spanish (maximum of 12 words) and must not contain abbreviations.

Abstracts in Portuguese, English, and Spanish: must contain a maximum of 120 words (original and review articles) or 80 words (brief communications), with the title "Abstract" written centered on the first line. It must necessarily include: research objective, methodology, main results, and conclusions, in order to justify the importance of the study. The abstracts in English (abstract) and in Spanish (resumen) must be faithful to the Portuguese abstract, but not a "literal" translation. That is, the translation must preserve the content of the abstract, but also adapt to the corresponding grammatical style.

As a standard procedure, RBTF will carry out the final review of the abstract and resumen, reserving the right to correct them if necessary.

Keywords: At the end of the abstract, a maximum of four keywords (in lowercase letters and separated by commas) should be listed for indexing the text presented in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, according to the Health Sciences Descriptors (DECs) which can be consulted at: http://decs.bvs.br/. The keywords should be chosen with adequate precision for classification purposes, allowing the article to be retrieved along with similar works.

Body of the text: the subsections of the body of the text do not each begin on a new page, and their titles should be left-aligned and in capital letters (for example, RESULTS, METHOD, and DISCUSSION, in empirical articles). The subtitles of the subsections should have the first letter capitalized (for example, the subtitles of the METHOD subsection: Participants, or Data Analysis).

Underlining, italics, and bold: Use italics for words or expressions that should be emphasized in the text, for example, foreign words such as self, locus, etc., and words you wish to highlight. Do not use (except in situations where it is required by publication guidelines) bold, underlining, watermarks, or other such features.

References: only the works consulted and mentioned in the text should appear in this section. Double spacing should be used, with extra space between references. References should be cited in alphabetical order by the authors' last names, according to APA standards. Italics are used to highlight the title of the publication and should be uniform in all references of the same document. In cases of reference to multiple studies by the same author(s), chronological order should be used, i.e., from the oldest study to the most recent.

It is mandatory to search for and insert the DOI in each cited reference. In the case of online references with content subject to change, use "Retrieved from:" before the URL.

The Brazilian Journal of Family Therapy, committed to the quality and scientific circulation of knowledge, will only accept for publication manuscripts whose references contain at least 70% of articles published in indexed journals and a maximum of 30% of books.

Appendices: should be avoided and only included if they contain essential information, such as unpublished tests or descriptions of complex equipment or materials. Appendices should each be presented on a new page and indicated in the text and presented at the end of the manuscript, identified by capital letters of the alphabet (A, B, C, and so on), if there are more than one.

Footnotes: should be avoided whenever possible. However, if there is no other option, they should be indicated by Arabic numerals in the text and presented on the same page to which their numerical references refer.

Tables: should be created in Word (.doc) or Excel. In the case of graphical presentations of tables, columns should preferably be used, avoiding other forms of presentation such as pie charts, etc. In these presentations, colors should be avoided. The word "Table" is left-aligned on the first line below the heading and followed by its corresponding number. Double-space and type the table title on the left, in italics and without a period, capitalizing only the first letter of the first word. Tables should not exceed 17.5 cm in width by 23.5 cm in length.

Figures: must be JPG files with a resolution of 300 dpi. They should not exceed 17.5 cm in width by 23.5 cm in length. The word "Figure" is left-aligned on the first line below the header and followed by the corresponding figure number. Double-space and type the figure title on the left, in italics and without a period, capitalizing only the first letter of the first word.

The words "Figure," "Table," and "Appendix" that appear in the text should always be written with the first letter capitalized and must be accompanied by the respective numbers (for Figures and Tables) or letter (for Appendices) to which they refer. The word "Figure" should be written as Fig., except at the beginning of a sentence.

Author Contributions: RBTF endorses the CRediT taxonomy for contributor roles and encourages authors to use this taxonomy when providing an Author Contributions section for their manuscripts. After article approval, the journal's editorial team will request identification of each author's contribution to the following roles: Conceptualization; Investigation; Methodology; Funding Acquisition; Resources; Drafting – First Version; Drafting – Revision & Editing; Validation and Supervision.

Acknowledgments: This section should acknowledge individuals or institutions that supported the research used in the article.

Funding Sources: This section should cite the institutions that funded the research that led to the publication and the type and number of the grant (Scholarships and Grants).

IV – Citation Guidelines

Direct quotation of less than 40 words: in the paragraph, in double quotation marks, with the author's name, year, and page of the quotation.
Example: According to Bruno (2001), “the quotation must reproduce the phrasing, spelling, and internal punctuation of the original source, even when the source contains errors” (p. 112).

Direct quotation of 40 words or more: in block format, without quotation marks, indented five spaces from the left margin.
Example: Castro (2001) explains that: structured vocabularies are collections of terms, organized according to a methodology in which it is possible to specify the relationships between concepts in order to facilitate access to information. Vocabularies are used as a kind of filter between the language used by the author and the terminology of the area and can also be considered as research assistants, helping the user to refine, expand or enrich their research, providing more objective results. (p. 51)

Extensive quotations or reproduction of material:
For quotations exceeding 500 words, or reproduction of figures, tables, and illustrations, the license of the original publication must be verified and, when necessary, authorization must be requested from the copyright holder, forwarding it along with the manuscript.

Accuracy of the quotation:
Direct quotations must faithfully reproduce the original. If there is an error in the original text, insert [sic] in italics and in square brackets after the error.
- Omissions: indicate with . . .
- Insertions or comments: use [square brackets]
- Emphasis on words: use italics followed by [our italics]

Citation of a citation:
Ex.: For Matos (1990, cited by Bill, 1998) or For Matos (1990), cited by Bill (1998).

Quoting testimonials or interviews:  
  - In the paragraph:
  Ex.: Interviewee 2 states that “the degree was insufficient, it doesn't prepare one for practice. A generalist education and critical thinking are necessary.”
  - In a block (40 or more words):
  Ex.: I had no motivation to work in a hospital, no. I never thought about working in a hospital... I was working in the countryside and I asked for a transfer. After a lot of struggle, I got it. When I arrived here, they gave me four job options, each one more complicated than the other. It was difficult at first.

Quoting with two authors:  
  - Authors in the text: As Valls and Vergueiro (1998) point out...
  - Authors in parentheses: ... (Valls & Vergueiro, 1998).

Citation with three to five authors:  
  - First occurrence: Lotufo Neto, Yacubian, Scalco and Gonçalves (2001)...
  - In parentheses: (Lotufo Neto, Yacubian, Scalco & Gonçalves, 2001)
  - Subsequent occurrences: Lotufo Neto et al. (2001)...
  - In parentheses: (Lotufo Neto et al., 2001).

Citation with six or more authors:
Indicate only the first author followed by et al.

In the references: cite up to seven authors; if there are eight or more, indicate the first six, insert ellipses and add the last author.

Citation of several authors for the same idea:
Present the authors in alphabetical order.

Authors with the same last name:
Differentiate by initials or first names, following alphabetical order.

Personal communications (class, email, conference, etc.):
Should only be cited in the text, indicating initials, surname, and date.

Citation of an old or republished work:
Ex.: Freud (1930/1979) argues that...

Work in press:
Ex.: Sampaio (in press) states that... or (Sampaio, in press).

Citation of a homepage or website:
Ex.: Retrieved from http://www.usp.br/sibi

Citation of classic works:
  - Author in the text: Homer exults the people “Brave, my children! Watch always thus; let no one yield to sleep...” (Iliad, X, 173).
  - Author in parentheses: “Brave, my children! Watch always thus; let no one yield to sleep...” (Homer, Iliad, X, 173).

Quotation of verses:
Ex.: “Non iam coniugium . . .” (Virgil, Aeneid, IV, 431-434).

Note: In subsequent quotations, if made on the same page, indicate only the book or canto number and the verse(s), or page number, as appropriate.

Quotation with omission of part of the text:
Ellipses (. . .) should be used to indicate omission of material from the original source. When the omission occurs between two sentences, four dots are used, the first being at the end of the sentence and the others ellipses. Do not use ellipses at the beginning or end of quotations.

Highlights in the text:
Ex.: Skinner criticized the capitalist society of developed countries (1986, italics ours).

V. Editorial Process
Received manuscripts will initially be checked for text structure and adherence to the journal's theme.

Next, they will be evaluated using the Similarity Check/iThenticate system for content. Manuscripts with specific problems, such as the need for citation referencing, will be returned to the authors for correction. Manuscripts with demonstrably plagiarized content will be rejected. If any misconduct is identified after publication of the article, RBTF will publish a retraction in the same issue containing the manuscript.

After these steps, the Editor-in-Chief will forward the manuscript to the Section Editor, who will be responsible for managing the evaluation and making the final decision on publication.

RBTF requires authors to submit a conflict of interest declaration at the time of submission. Conflicts of interest can arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that are not entirely apparent and that may influence their judgments about what is published.

Authors must declare all forms of financial support; any commercial or financial involvements that may present an appearance of conflict of interest; and whether an agreement has been signed with any research sponsor that prevents them from publishing positive or negative results or prohibits them from publishing the research without their prior approval. In cases where no conflict of interest exists, authors should declare: "The Author(s) declare(s) that there is/are no conflict of interest."

Articles will be evaluated fairly and will not necessarily be rejected when conflicts of interest are declared. The editor-in-chief is responsible for evaluating declared conflicts of interest in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

If authors choose the double-blind peer review system, it is their responsibility to ensure that there are no elements capable of identifying them anywhere in the article. Author data must be entered in a specific field of the system during the registration process.

If authors choose open peer review, they must declare this in the “Comments for the Editor” field during the submission process in Step 1.

The Section Editor will forward the manuscript to 3 ad-hoc reviewers who may reject it, request corrections, or approve it. The evaluation criteria are described in the “Article Peer Review Criteria and Arbitration” tab.

After receiving the reviews, the Section Editor will request corrections and, upon receiving the new version, may send it to other rounds of evaluation, approve it, or reject it. Throughout the process, the Editor-in-Chief may be consulted to support the Section Editor's decision, whenever necessary.

Authors will receive a decision regarding the publication or non-publication of their manuscript and the probable publication date, if applicable. In cases where authors disagree with the decision, they should send an email to the Editor-in-Chief, who will analyze the validity of the complaint and may reverse the decision.

The RBTF review board is composed of researchers affiliated with Brazilian and international teaching and research institutions.

The entire editorial process described aims to be completed within 60 days.

Peer Review Criteria for Articles and Arbitration

I.General principles of evaluation

The evaluation process must be conducted impartially, ethically, confidentially, and constructively. Reviewers are expected to analyze manuscripts with scientific rigor, respect for the authors, and a commitment to improving the quality of the work.

Before accepting the evaluation, the reviewer must verify that they have the subject matter expertise to evaluate the manuscript, that they have time to carry out the analysis within the established deadline, and that there are no conflicts of interest that could compromise their impartiality. If any conflict exists (institutional, financial, academic, or personal), the reviewer must inform the editors immediately.

II. Evaluation guidelines

The evaluation should consider the manuscript in a comprehensive and detailed manner, observing scientific, methodological, ethical, and contribution aspects to the field.

In general, it is recommended that the review address the following aspects:

a) Relevance and originality;

b) Clarity of objective and theoretical consistency;

c) Methodological quality;

d) Presentation and interpretation of results;

e) Discussion and scientific contribution;

f) Quality of writing and organization of the manuscript;

g) Updated references.

III. Recommendations in the review

The review should be clear, objective, and constructive, indicating the strengths of the work and aspects that need revision or improvement. It is suggested that the recommendations be presented in an organized manner, distinguishing between general and specific comments.

At the end of the evaluation, the reviewer should indicate their editorial recommendation, which generally falls into one of the following categories:

• Accept the manuscript
• Accept after mandatory corrections
• Resubmit for evaluation after revisions
• Submit to another journal
• Reject the manuscript
• See comments

The final recommendation, however, is the responsibility of the journal's editorial board.

Dissemination

Publication of the article is just the beginning! You can help broaden the reach of your research and increase the number of readers and citations of your article.

RBTF uses social media to disseminate published articles. To do this, the author can submit images (photos, infographics, or slides) or videos of up to 2 or 3 minutes that represent their research. This material will be used to disseminate the article on the journal's networks, always with due credit to the author. The file can be sent to the email address: rbtf@abratef.org.br

RBTF Media:
Instagram: @revistabrterapiafamiliar