Ethical Procedures
The Revista Brasileita de Terapia Familiar (RBTF) is committed to high standards of ethical behavior in management and editorial practices, with emphasis on the relationship with authors and, mainly, on the evaluation of their manuscripts, in accordance with the procedures established by international institutions such as: COPE’s “Principles of Transparency and Good Practices in Publications”; the DOAJ; OASPA; the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME); the “Code of Good Scientific Practices”, from the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (FAPESP); and the “Guide to Good Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication”, by SciELO.
Therefore, to ensure ethics in publication, submissions must meet the requirements:
Original Content and Duplicate Posting: RBTF publishes only original content. Authors confirm submission of original content in the Terms and Conditions at the time of submission. Manuscripts submitted to the journal must not have previously been published in another journal or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part.
Fabrication and falsification: RBTF opposes the fabrication of data or images or practices of falsification (i.e., the intentional misrepresentation or deceptive manipulation of data).
Plagiarism: Plagiarism occurs when an author attempts to present previously published work as original content. RBTF uses the Similarity Check system, which allows the detection of similarities in submitted manuscripts.
In cases where misconduct is identified, the RBTF editorial board will take the necessary measures in accordance with international recommendations (COPE) and publish a retraction. Research misconduct does not include honest mistakes or differences of opinion.
Concepts, ideas or opinions expressed in the manuscripts, as well as the origin and accuracy of the quotations contained therein, are the sole responsibility of the author(s).
Ethical Principles
When reporting experiments on a human being, authors must indicate whether the procedures followed were approved by the institutional Research Ethics Committee, respecting Resolutions 466/2012 of the (Brazilian) National Health Council, http://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/saudelegis/cns/2013/res0466_12_12_2012.html
Foreign articles must comply with the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki, revised in 2013,
Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the research was conducted with the appropriate informed consent of each participant. Written consent must be obtained from the patient (legal guardian or executor, if applicable) for the publication of any detail or photograph that could identify an individual.
In case of doubt as to whether the research was carried out in accordance with current legislation, the authors must explain the reason for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional ethics committee expresslyapproved the doubtful aspects of the study.
When reporting experiments with animals, authors must present the process number approved by the institutional Ethics Committee for the Use of Animals (CEUA), following the Brazilian Federal Law nº 11.794/2008 (Arouca Law), which regulates item VII of §1° of the art. 225 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, 1988, establishes animal scientific usage procedures.
For articles from abroad, they must follow the international standards of the Council for International Organization of Medical Sciences - CIOMS http://www.cioms.ch/index.php/12-newsflash/227-cioms-and-iclas-release-the-new-international-guiding-principles-for-biomedical-research-involving-animals.
Informed Consent
Patients mentioned in articles have the right to privacy, which must not be violated without informed consent. Identification information, including patient names, as well as initials or hospital numbers, should not be published in descriptions, photographs and genealogies unless such information proves to be essential for scientific purposes, in which case the Free and Consent Form Informed Consent Form (ICF) from the research participant (or their guardians) for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the manuscript be published to be shown to the patient.
Authors must also identify the people who assisted in writing the article, as well as disclose the source of funding for this assistance. Identification details should be omitted when not essential.
To achieve complete anonymity is a difficult task. In case of doubt by authors, consent must be obtained from patients. An example of an inappropriate attempt to maintain anonymity would be to mask the eye region in patient photographs. If patient identifying characteristics are changed to protect patient anonymity, authors must ensure that chances do not distort scientific significance.
Once the information from the ICF has been obtained, this information must be included in the published article. If there is a submission to the Research Ethics Committee - CEP, the number of the CAAE - Certificado de Apresentação de Apreciação Ética [Certificate of Presentation of Ethical Appreciation] must be included in the article.
Use of artificial intelligence tools
The Brazilian Journal of Family Therapy allows the use of artificial intelligence tools, provided that this use is duly declared, in accordance with ethical standards and best practices, the main points of which are presented below.
Authors:
At the time of manuscript submission, authors must attach a Declaration stating whether or not Artificial Intelligence was used.
It is also necessary to clearly indicate the sources of the materials used in the research and in the writing of the article or chapter. Any use of AI tools or content generated by these applications must be explicitly stated in both the abstract and the methods section (or equivalent section).
Authors must also verify that all cited material is correctly referenced, including complete citations, and ensure that the sources mentioned support the information produced by the AI application, as these tools may eventually generate non-existent references.
Authors are publicly responsible for the content of their work. Omission of the use of or content generated by AI constitutes an ethical failure, as it violates the principles of transparency and honesty in scientific research.
Editors:
Editors need to be prepared and supported to conduct scientific evaluation, ensuring the quality and integrity of published documents. To this end, they must have training and access to up-to-date tools and resources that allow them to identify content produced or modified by artificial intelligence.
In addition, they must follow ethical and editorial standards and best practices, recording any assistance from AI tools or resources used during the manuscript reception, evaluation, and editing stages.
When the received manuscript is not a preprint, the editor should not submit it to services that could lead to leaks of identities or content.
Reviewers:
Reviewers are not allowed to use artificial intelligence tools, including generative AI systems, to assist in reading, analyzing, interpreting, drafting, or organizing reports. Peer review must be carried out exclusively by the designated reviewer, who is solely responsible for the scientific judgment of the manuscript.
Additionally, the content of manuscripts submitted to the journal must not be inserted, shared, or processed on artificial intelligence platforms or any other external systems that may store, reuse, or incorporate the material into their databases, in order to preserve confidentiality, the integrity of the editorial process, and the rights of the authors.
