Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

• Formatting: The text must be presented in size 12pt, with 1.5 of spacing in between the lines, in a single column, as to fit a standard A4 vertical sheet. Please, avoid footnotes and direct quotation whenever possible and employ the metric system.

• Tables, figures, charts, graphs, datasets etc: Questionnaire forms, interviews, tables, figures, graphs, charts and datasets must be submitted separately as supplementary files with the proper identification and numbering. Additionally, tables, figures, charts and graphs must also be placed in the manuscript in their proper places. Please oberserve the American Psychological Association (APA, 7th edition) for the mandatory elements and standard formatting of tables and charts.

• File extensions: Text files must have a .doc extension. Tables may have a .xls or .doc extension. Datasets must have a .xls extension. Figures and graphs must have a .jpg, .png or .tiff extension with 300dpi of resolution. No file may exceed 4Mb of size.

• Title, abstract and keywords: Providing title, abstract and keywords in the manuscript text file and in the appropriate form fields whenever requested by the submission system is a requirement for it to be considered for peer review. They must be in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The title must be objective and accurate, with up to 12 words. The keywords, ranging from 3 to 5, must come from the controlled vocabulary available in the Virtual Library of Health - Psychology (BVS-Psi). The abstracts must be structured, at least 200 words long and no more than 250 words long, to include the following content: introduction, objectives, methods and materials, results and conclusion.

• Authorship: Up to six (06) authors can be listed in a single report, except when it comes to reporting research activities of cooperating research centers, laboratories and institutions, when more authors may be listed. Providing the following metadata for each listed author in the appropriate form fields when requested by the submission system is a requirement for the paper to be considered for peer review: a) all authors with full name (no abbreviation allowed), b) main affiliation, c) city, state, country, d) email and e) ORCID. E.g.: Jennifer Smith. Federal University of Bahia. Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. [email protected] (ORCID XXXX-0000-XX00-X1X5). The system will automatically send out messages to each author with a link for them to authenticate their ORCIDs. The authentication for all authors is a condition for the article to be evaluated by editors and reviewers. The contribution of each author must be listed in a separated text file which must be then submitted as supplementary file, e.g.: Smith KFA and Smith DB designed the experiments. Smith JLW wrote the code. Smith JLW and Smith YW analyzed the data. Smith MC and Smith PP prepared samples for sequencing and performed all sequencing. Smith VS cultured the cell lines. Smith XW contributed with critical intellectual content. Smith KFA, Smith MC, Smith YW, and Smith JLW wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the paper. We comply with the ICMJE criteria for defining authorship.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): If AI tools were used in the preparation of the work, it is mandatory to describe, both on the title page and within the body of the manuscript, which tool was used and how it was applied. Failure to disclose this information may lead to corrective actions and, in certain circumstances, may constitute scientific misconduct.

  AI tools cannot be credited as authors, as they are not capable of assuming responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, essential requirements for scientific authorship. Therefore, human authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content, including content produced with the support of AI-assisted technologies.

  When submitting a manuscript to RPDS, authors must carefully review and edit any content generated with the assistance of AI, ensuring that no improper copying appears in the text or in other produced materials. Authors are also responsible for ensuring proper attribution of all sources cited in the manuscript and must be aware that AI-generated materials cannot be used or cited as primary sources of research.

• Social media integration: Each author in a submission may supply no more than one social media handle that will be published along with their authorship information in case of acceptance of their submission. This is an opt-in feature only and it is not a condition for text evaluation. The provided social media profile must be aimed at scientific debate and dissemination only.

• Competing interests: Authors are required to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence their work in the field "Comments for the editor".

• Financing sources: All funding received by the authors for carrying out the research, including scholarships, grants, courtesies and fees, must be informed in the "Comments to the editor" field.

• References: The bibliography must be cited according to the APA Style. Up to 25 references can be cited in original articles and 50 in literature reviews. The Digital Object Identifiers (doi®) of a published work must be included in the reference whenever the published work have had a doi® assigned to it.

• Research Ethics: Any research involving human subjects and other vertebrates should inform, in the manuscript, the approval protocol by the proper ethics committee of the institution where the research was conducted in compliance with the international requirements, standards and procedures. No form of research participant identification, such as disclosure of initials, full name nor registration number, is permitted except as listed in the 510 resolution of 2016 issued by the National Council of Health / Brazilian Ministry of Health. The informed consent form, authorizing the disclosure of medical records, image and voice for scientific purposes signed by the research participant must be provided by the authors as supplementary file when requested by the journal. All clinical trials must be registered in a public trials database before the time of first participant enrollment. The trial registration number must be provided in the manuscript and at the end of the abstract. The WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) or the ClinicalTrials.gov may be employed for registration. More information about clinical trials registration here.

• Reproduction of copyrighted material: The first mention of a trademark must include the name of the manufacturer and the country of origin. When reproducing any copyrighted material, the authors must provide the authorization by the respective copyright owners, including but not limited to charts, figures and graphs.

• Overlapping publications: They are discouraged, except in the situations mentioned by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - ICMJE. If the prerequisites for second publication described by the ICMJE are met, the authors must upload the permission granted by the first publication rights owner as an additional document. The first publication must be cited in a footnote.

  Uploading papers to preprint servers for peer review is encouraged and it will not be considered as overlapping publication.

• Reporting integrity: When available for the type of report submitted, the filled out EQUATOR checklist, informing on which page of the manuscript each mandatory item per study design appears, must be uploaded as a supplementary file at the time of submission.

Checklist last updated May 25th, 2026.