Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. Article submission and outright rejection

Proposals for articles for publication in the journal must be submitted through the electronic submission system (free of charge) by registering in the PUCPR Electronic Journal System (Sistema Eletrônico de Revistas da PUCPR) and access through login and password (on this link). Proposals submitted via email will not be accepted. The journal reserves the right to accept or reject any manuscript received, based on the recommendations of its Editorial Board, as well as the right to propose any necessary changes.

Articles may be rejected outright by the Editorial Team, in a non-appealable decision, for the following reasons:

1.1. Addressing a topic that is outside the scope of the journal’s priorities, either by being unrelated to its focus and scope or by covering a transient or overly specific subject that holds little interest for the journal's readership.

1.2. Addressing a topic that has already been extensively covered by existing literature without offering an original, innovative, and significant approach that justifies a new publication on the subject.

1.3. Failing to explore certain subjects with theoretical depth, neglecting to examine the issue from different perspectives or to consider counterarguments to the position taken in the article.

1.4. Failing to present an extensive and thorough literature review, including existing specific bibliographic references on the topic.

1.5. Using an excessive number of lengthy direct quotations without providing sufficient original contributions by the article's author.

1.6. Not complying with the formatting, citation, referencing, and scientific methodology standards described in the Author Guidelines or other journal requirements.

1.7. Containing typographical, spelling, or writing errors or issues with clarity and cohesion in the article's writing.

2. Types of Accepted Documents

The journal publishes the following types of documents:

2.1. Original articles, defined as research results with an original and innovative approach, not limited to a literature review without new contributions (90 to 100% of the documents in each issue).

2.2. Book reviews (up to 10% of the documents in each issue).

3. Author Qualifications

At least one of the article’s authors must hold a Doctoral degree (Dr.), Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Doctor juris (Dr. iur. or Dr. jur.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), or Legum Doctor (LL.D.). This requirement may be relaxed, without exceeding 30% per journal issue, in exceptional cases such as: (i) articles by authors affiliated with foreign institutions, without simultaneous affiliation to Brazilian institutions; (ii) articles written in English.

4. Maximum number of authors

The journal accepts co-authored articles with up to three authors. In cases of empirical research involving the analysis of a large amount of data, articles with more than three authors may be accepted, provided a justification is submitted in the "Comments to the Editor" at the time of submission.

5. Originality and Exclusivity

5.1. Texts submitted for publication in the journal must be original and intended for exclusive publication. Once published in this journal, they may also be included in books and collections, provided that the original publication is cited with an indication of the link to the published document in the journal.

5.2. Simultaneous or subsequent publication of the article in other journals and periodicals is prohibited, except with the express authorization of the editors, under penalty of the sanctions provided in "4. Misconduct, Errata, and Retraction Policy", “4.1. Process for the Verification of Misconduct and Violations” in the "Editorial Policies" section.

5.3. Articles resulting from master's theses and doctoral dissertations available in online repositories but not yet published as articles in journals, chapters in collective works, or in book format do not lose their originality. In such cases, the author must explicitly mention the origin of the research in the article.

5.4. Articles deposited as preprints in official repositories do not lose their originality. For more information on this topic, follow the guidelines described in “1. Open Science Policy”, “1.2. Preprints, Postprints, and Self-Archiving” in the "Editorial Policies" section.

5.5. Article proposals may not be submitted simultaneously for review by other journals. If simultaneous submission is detected, the authors will be subject to the sanctions provided in "4. Misconduct, Errata, and Retraction Policy", “4.1. Process for the Verification of Misconduct and Violations” in the "Editorial Policies" section.

6. Languages

Articles written in Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian or French may be submitted.

7. Metadata Registration in the Electronic Submission System

7.1. At the time of article submission in the electronic system, the metadata fields must be filled out according to these guidelines, under penalty of summary rejection of the submission.

7.2. Manuscript Transfer

Upload the file containing the complete article. The article should not include the names of the authors or any other form of identification.

7.3. Authors:

7.3.1. First Name/Middle Name/Last Name: Indicate the full name of the author(s) using only the initials of each name in uppercase. In the case of co-authored articles, the names of all co-authors must be entered in the system in the order they should appear at the time of publication.

7.3.2. Email: Provide the email address of the author(s) for contact, which will be disclosed in the published version of the article.

7.3.3. ORCID iD: Indicate the ORCID identification number (for more information, click here). The ORCID iD can be obtained from the ORCID registration. You must accept the standards for displaying ORCID iDs and include the full URL (e.g., https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097). After "http," the letter "s" should be added before the colon ":".

7.3.4. URL: Provide the link to the author's full CV. For Brazilian authors, the link to the Lattes Curriculum should be indicated.

7.3.5. Institution/Affiliation: Indicate the full name of the main institutional affiliation or the two main affiliations if both are of equal importance (the institution where the author is affiliated as a faculty member or student, or, if not a faculty member or student, the institution where the highest academic degree was obtained, such as doctorate, master's, etc.). The institution's name should be written out in full and in its original language (or in English if the script is not Latin), followed by the city, state or province abbreviation in uppercase (for federal states), and the country of origin in parentheses. If the author is a faculty member pursuing a master's or doctoral degree at another institution, the primary affiliation will be that of the institution where the author is enrolled as a master's or doctoral student.

Example: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (Curitiba, PR, Brazil).

7.3.6. Country: Indicate the country of the author’s primary institutional affiliation.

7.3.7. Bio Statement: Provide a mini-CV, starting with the author's position and the institution where they are a faculty member, followed by the city, state or province abbreviation in uppercase (for federal states), and country in parentheses. Indicate academic degrees (starting with the highest), other affiliations with scientific associations, profession, etc.

Example: Professor of Law at Universidade Federal do Paraná (Curitiba, PR, Brazil). Doctor of Law from Universidade Federal do Paraná. Master of Law from Universidade Federal do Paraná. Member of the Ibero-American Forum on Administrative Law. Lawyer.

7.4. Title and Abstract:

7.4.1. Title: Title in the article's language, with only the first letter of the sentence capitalized.

7.4.2. Abstract: Abstract in the article's language, without paragraphs, quotes, or references, up to 200 words.

7.5. Keywords: Provide 5 keywords in the article's language (in lowercase and separated by semicolons).

7.6. Funding Agencies: Articles resulting from funded research projects must indicate the source of funding in this field.

7.7. References: Insert the complete list of references cited in the article, with a space between each entry.

7.8. Conflict of Interest: Indicate any potential conflicts of interest. Follow the instructions in “3. Conflict of Interest Policy” in the Editorial Policies section.

8. Text Presentation and Pre-Textual Elements

8.1. The work must be between 15 and 30 pages of content (A4 size - 21 cm × 29.7 cm), including the introduction, development, conclusion (not necessarily with these titles), and a list of bibliographic references effectively cited in the text. For the calculation of the minimum and maximum number of pages, pages containing pre-textual elements (abstract, keywords, etc.) and the bibliographic reference list are not considered. Articles with fewer than 15 pages will be summarily rejected. The maximum number of pages may be relaxed in exceptional cases, as decided by the Editorial Team.

8.2. The margins should be: left and top at 3 cm, and right and bottom at 2 cm.

8.3. The body of the text should use Times New Roman font, size 12, 1.5 line spacing, and 0 pt spacing before and after paragraphs.

8.4. Footnotes should use Times New Roman font, size 10, with single line spacing.

8.5. Paragraphs in the body of the text should have a 1.5 cm indentation from the left margin. Titles and subtitles should be aligned to the left margin without indentation.

8.6. The structure should follow this order:

8.6.1. Title in the language of the article, with only the first letter of the sentence capitalized and in bold, centered.

8.6.2. If information regarding the article (e.g., funding, acknowledgments, translators) needs to be indicated, a footnote with an asterisk (not a number) should be placed to the right of the title in the language of the article.

8.6.3. Title in English, with only the first letter of the sentence capitalized, in bold and italic, centered. For articles written in English, this element should be replaced by the title in Portuguese.

8.6.4. The article should not include the names of the authors.

8.6.5. Abstract in the language of the article (Times New Roman font 12, single line spacing, without paragraphs, quotes, or references, up to 200 words), preceded by the word "Abstract" written in the language of the article.

8.6.6. Indication of 5 keywords in the language of the article (in lowercase and separated by semicolons), preceded by the phrase "Keywords" written in the language of the article.

8.6.7. Abstract in English (Times New Roman font 12, single line spacing, without paragraphs, quotes, or references, up to 200 words), preceded by the word "Abstract". For articles written in English, this element should be replaced by the abstract in Portuguese.

8.6.8. Indication of five keywords in English (in lowercase and separated by semicolons), preceded by the word "Keywords". For articles written in English, this element should be replaced by the keywords in Portuguese.

8.6.9. Table of contents identifying the titles of sections and subsections with progressive numbering in Arabic numerals.

8.6.10. Development of the article: progressive numbering in Arabic numerals should be used to show the systematic organization of the content.

8.6.11. List of bibliographic references effectively used in the article and research data, at the end of the work, separated by a single space, aligned to the left margin (without indentation).

8.6.12. Research data: articles based on empirical data (e.g., a set of decisions from a particular court) must deposit the research data files in an official data repository (such as FigShare).

8.6.12.1. After the research data has been deposited in the journal's dataverse on SciELO Data, the article must include in the references list at the end, in addition to the cited bibliography, a full reference to the research data used, containing the following elements: SURNAME, First Name. Title of the dataset [dataset]. Day, month, and year. SciELO Data. DOI: DOI link.

8.6.12.2. If the article uses more than one dataset or subset, each dataset must be cited independently in the references list.

8.6.12.4. The article must include a section titled “Data Availability” at the end, indicating the access link to the dataset available in the official data repository. In cases where data-sharing restrictions exist for ethical or legal reasons, these must be reported at the time of article submission.

8.6.13. For other formatting aspects, Brazilian technical standards (ABNT NBR 14724:2011) apply.

8.7. Any emphasis intended for the text must be done using italics; the use of bold, underlining, or uppercase letters for emphasis is prohibited.

8.8. Figures and tables must be inserted in the text and not placed at the end of the document as appendices.

9. Reference Style Guidelines

9.1. All references must be formatted using the author-date system, in accordance with ABNT standards (NBR 10520: 2002), within the text, in parentheses, and including the page number from which the information was taken. The use of footnotes will only be allowed for explanatory notes and only when strictly necessary, with the author being encouraged to prioritize explanations within the text rather than in footnotes. At the end of the article, a list of references must be provided, including books, chapters of collective works, articles, theses, dissertations, and undergraduate monographs cited by the authors, containing all the information from the text, in compliance with Brazilian technical standards (ABNT NBR 6023: 2002).

9.1.1. Titles of cited books (or journals) should be highlighted in bold, and the use of italics is prohibited.

9.1.2. Articles written in the (AUTHOR, YEAR) format will not be accepted for publication.

9.1.3. References should follow the format below:

9.1.3.1. Books: SURNAME, First Name. Title of the book in bold: subtitle not in bold. edition number (except in case of first editions). City: Publisher, year.

Example: CLÈVE, Clèmerson Merlin. Atividade legislativa do Poder Executivo. 3. ed. São Paulo: Revista dos Tribunais, 2011.

9.1.3.2. Chapters in collective books: SURNAME, First Name. Title of the chapter not in bold. In: SURNAME OF 1st EDITOR, First Name of editor; SURNAME OF 2nd EDITOR, First Name of 2nd editor, and so on, separated by a period and semicolon (ed. or coord.). Title of the book or collection in bold: subtitle not in bold. edition number (except in case of first editions). City: Publisher, year. initial page-final page [preceded by “p.”].

Example: SALGADO, Eneida Desiree; COUTO, Mariele Pena de. Uma proposta para o controle social: um olhar prospectivo sobre a transparência e a probidade. In: BLANCHET, Luiz Alberto; HACHEM, Daniel Wunder; SANTANO, Ana Claudia (coord.). Estado, direito e políticas públicas: homenagem ao professor Romeu Felipe Bacellar Filho. Curitiba: Íthala, 2014. p. 149-164.

9.1.3.3. Articles in journals: SURNAME, First Name. Title of the article not in bold. Title of the Journal in bold, city, volume, issue, initial page-final page [preceded by “p.”], publication months [abbreviated to the first three letters of the month followed by a period and separated by a slash]. year.

Example: PERLINGEIRO, Ricardo. Brazil’s administrative justice system in a comparative context. Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, v. 1, n. 3, p. 33-58, Sep./Dec. 2014.

9.1.3.4. Theses, Dissertations, and Monographs: SURNAME, First Name. Title of the work in bold: subtitle not in bold. City, year. number of leaves followed by “f”. Type of work (Degree obtained) – Institution before which the work was defended, Name of the institution.
Example: HACHEM, Daniel Wunder. Tutela administrativa efetiva dos direitos fundamentais sociais: por uma implementação espontânea, integral e igualitária. Curitiba, 2014. 614 f. Thesis (Doctorate) – Graduate Program in Law, Universidade Federal do Paraná.

9.1.4. The elements of the references must follow this standard:

9.1.4.1. Author: SURNAME in uppercase, comma, First Name with initials in uppercase, followed by a period.

9.1.4.2. Edition: should only be included from the second edition onwards, without ordinal, followed by a period and “ed.” Example: 2. ed.

9.1.4.3. Year: written in Arabic numerals, without a comma in the thousands, preceded by a comma and followed by a period.

9.1.5. In cases where it is absolutely impossible to obtain some of the information above, the absence should be indicated as follows:

9.1.5.1. Absence of city: replace with [s.l.].

9.1.5.2. Absence of publisher: replace with [s.n.].

9.1.5.3. Absence of year: indicate the approximate year in brackets, followed by a question mark. Example: [1998?].

9.2. Direct quotes should follow these guidelines:

9.2.1. Transcriptions of up to four lines should be included in the body of the text with normal font and spacing, enclosed in quotation marks.

9.2.2. Long direct quotations (more than four lines) are strongly discouraged. However, if essential, they should form a separate paragraph, with a 1.5 cm indentation from the left margin (justified alignment), single line spacing, and font size 10. In this case, quotation marks should not be used.

9.2.3. The use of op. cit., ibidem, and idem in bibliographic notes is prohibited; full references must be provided.

9.2.4. Mention of authors in the text must not be in uppercase (e.g., First Name LAST NAME). All mentions should be made with only the first letter capitalized (e.g., First Name Last Name).

10. Writing

10.1. Texts should be reviewed and use language appropriate for scientific publication.

10.2. For articles written in Portuguese, spelling should comply with the new orthographic rules in force since the promulgation of the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement, effective January 1, 2009.

10.3. Quotes from texts predating the Agreement should respect the original spelling.

11. Articles Resulting from Funded Research

Articles resulting from funded research projects must include, in a footnote at the end of the article's title in the language of the text, information regarding the research funding.

12. Copyright Statement

Authors who publish in this Journal agree to the following terms:

12.1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the article simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International which allows sharing the work with recognition of the authors and its initial publication in this Journal.

12.2. Authors are able to take on additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the paper published in this Journal (eg.: publishing in institutional repository or as a book), with a recognition of its initial publication in this Journal.

12.3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online on personal blogs, institutional repositories, academic social networks, and personal social media platforms, provided that a full citation to the journal's version of the work is included. This may be done at any stage before or during the editorial process, as it can lead to productive exchanges and increase the impact and citation of the published work (see the Effect of Open Access).

12.4. Authors have the right to:

a) Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.

b) Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

c) The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the author follow the license terms.

12.5. Under the following terms:

a) Attribution — Authors must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Authors may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses the authors or their use.

b) No additional restrictions — Authors may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

12.6. Notices:

a) Authors do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where their use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .

b) No warranties are given. The license may not give the authors all of the permissions necessary for their intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how the authors use the material.

13. Responsibilities of Authors

13.1. Authors are responsible for the content published and commit to actively participating in the discussion of the results of their scientific research, as well as in the review process and approval of the final version of the work.

13.2. Authors are responsible for the conduct, results, and validity of all scientific investigations.

13.3. Authors must inform the journal of any conflict of interest.

13.4. The opinions expressed by the authors of the articles are their sole responsibility.

13.5. By submitting the article, the author attests that all statements contained in the manuscript are true or based on research with reasonable accuracy.

14. Conflict of Interest

Public trust in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles partially depend on how conflicts of interest are managed during the writing, peer review, and editorial decision-making processes. The journal adopts the following guidelines on this matter:

14.1. Authors submitting an article to the journal are required to declare whether or not conflicts of interest exist.

14.2. Conflicts of interest may arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that, whether apparent or not, could influence the writing or evaluation of articles. The conflict of interest may be of a personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial nature.

14.3. When authors submit an article, they are responsible for acknowledging and disclosing any financial or other conflicts that could have influenced their work.

14.4. Authors must disclose in the article all financial support for the work and any other financial or personal connections related to the research. Contributions from individuals acknowledged for their assistance in the research must be described, and their consent for publication must be documented.

14.5. Articles will not be rejected solely because of the existence of a conflict of interest, but a statement must be made indicating the presence or absence of conflicts of interest, transparently and including all relevant information about the conflict.

14.6. Reviewers must also disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could affect their opinions about the article and should declare themselves unqualified to review specific manuscripts if they believe this is appropriate. As with authors, if reviewers do not disclose potential conflicts, it will be assumed that no conflicts exist.

14.7. If a conflict of interest is identified on the part of a reviewer, the Editorial Board will forward the article to another ad hoc reviewer.

14.8. If authors are uncertain about what might constitute a potential conflict of interest, they should contact the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.

14.9. For cases where editors or other staff members frequently publish in the journal, no special or preferential treatment will be granted. All articles submitted by them will be evaluated through the double-blind peer review process.