Ethical guidelines

 

Ethics Committee

Breeding and use of animals in teaching and scientific research, throughout the Brazilian territory, comply with the criteria in Brazilian Law nº. 11.794 (October 8, 2008). If the research refers to the use of animals, the authors must include the protocol number with the approval granted by the institution´s Ethics Committee.


Responsibilities of the editorial team

The responsibility of the editorial team includes editorial policy implementation, oversight the editorial process, and journal relations with authors, reviewers, readers, indexers, funding agencies, the scientific community, and the general public. Particularly, transparency and quality control are essential aspects of the editorial process under the editor-in-chief’s responsibilities.


Identification of scientific misconduct

  • Regarding best practices for strengthening the ethics in scientific publication, the editorial process, after complying with the formal aspects required, ensures that all authors review and take accountability for the content.

  • In order to promote the predominance of originality of the texts, the journal uses software for duplicity verification with already published texts. When there is doubt or questioning, the editor-in-chief contacts the corresponding author and, if necessary, all authors. 

  • Editors and reviewers should privilege impartiality, integrity and confidentiality in their evaluation. When there is doubt or questioning, the editor-in-chief contacts the corresponding editor and/or peer reviewers. 

  • The fabrication or falsification of data and images are serious cases of misconduct. The evaluation process should be judicious in identifying such misconducts. In case there are any doubts, the authors are requested to provide supporting evidence of the methodology and results. Eventually,  in case the journal's decision is challenged, a committee of members of the editorial board, and external to the journal, should be assembled.



Guidance on decision making on retractions and errata

The already published article in which misconduct is identified remains published. The retraction substantiate the reason for the withdrawal duly referenced, through a communication by the editor or another authorized agent. Retraction may be partial when the misconduct applies to a specific part of the article, without, however, compromising the set of published research. Cases of errors or failures, regardless of nature or origin, that do not constitute misconduct, are corrected by errata. The journal publishes as promptly as possible errata, corrections or retractions. 


Human subjects are entitled to privacy

Images of people  won´t be published without a written consent term granting the permission for using and publishing the images. The use of eyes masks is not considered appropriate means of protection for maintaining anonymity.