The Revista Brasileira de Física journal always seeks to follow the guidelines set forth by the Code of Ethical Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics. Therefore, it is essential that all its editors, authors, and reviewers respect and adopt these guidelines to prevent any possibility of unethical behavior and malpractice in publications. In other words, we repudiate all forms of plagiarism, falsification of information, fabrication of results, improper or ghost authorship, and any other kind of fraud that harms scientific ethics. Additionally, we highlight and endorse the authorship guidelines established by the Integrity Commission of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), available here.
Likewise, Revista Brasileira de Física establishes specific guidelines for its editors, authors, and reviewers based on the Code of Conduct for Journal Editors, as well as adaptations made by PsychOpen and InfoDesign.
Thus, it is the responsibility of the editors and editorial team members to:
- Decide which articles will be reviewed based on their academic relevance, quality, originality, intellectual content, and alignment with the journal’s scope and guidelines. This also means that no author will be discriminated against based on race, gender, sex, sexual orientation, political thought, institutional affiliation, ethnic-cultural identity, birthplace, nationality, religion, or any other type of social distinction;
- Be responsible for and decide which papers will proceed to editing and later publication. This task is reserved for the editor-in-chief and guided by the journal’s editorial policy and applicable legal requirements regarding defamation, rights violations, and plagiarism. Likewise, the editor-in-chief may consult other editors, reviewers, and the editorial board to reach an editorial decision;
- Maintain the confidentiality of all information contained in the manuscripts. Editors and editorial team members must not disclose data related to submitted manuscripts beyond the authors themselves, reviewers, or members of the editorial board, depending on the case;
- Refrain from appropriating or using original content from submitted but unpublished manuscripts in their own research and/or academic work without proper reference and without the author’s explicit written permission;
- Recuse themselves from managing a manuscript through the editorial process if there are conflicts of interest due to any kind of connection with the authors or associated organizations. If such conflicts exist, the editor or team member must delegate the responsibility to someone else;
- Ensure that submitted papers undergo a double-blind peer review process and are evaluated by at least two PhD reviewers specialized in the article’s research area;
- Comply with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices, investigate any ethical misconduct reported, handle complaints and appeals related to publications fairly, and provide appropriate clarifications and solutions. Under no circumstances should unethical behavior be tolerated. In such cases, the editor-in-chief may amend the article, issue a statement, correction, erratum, or even retract the article from publication.
It is the responsibility of ad hoc reviewers to:
- Contribute to the authors and the editorial board in making editorial decisions. Furthermore, the review process must occur without any form of social, political, or cultural bias against the authors, and reviewers must offer suggestions that enhance the quality of the submitted works;
- Pay attention to the response deadline and manuscript review deadline, and if unable to meet them, promptly notify the editors and decline the invitation, so the manuscript can be reassigned to another reviewer;
- Refrain from reviewing if they recognize they are not qualified to assess the manuscript’s content. Similarly, they should decline the request if there are conflicts of interest arising from any kind of relationship with the authors or organizations (public or private) associated with the manuscript;
- Not disclose, discuss, or expose the manuscripts under review unless permitted by the editor-in-chief under specific circumstances. The confidentiality of received files must be respected, and under no circumstances should the information contained therein be used for personal benefit or appropriation. Reviewers who cannot commit to the task must also follow these guidelines;
- Follow the evaluation criteria outlined in the review guidelines and recommend improvements objectively, providing well-founded and clear feedback. Personal attacks or offensive remarks directed at the authors are strictly prohibited;
- Suggest relevant references and additional material related to the research topic when appropriate. Reviewers should examine the articles to identify whether significant work relevant to the investigation has been inadequately cited or referenced;
- Inform the editors if they become aware that any content in the manuscript has been previously published or significantly overlaps with another work they are familiar with.
It is the responsibility of the authors to:
- Present an accurate and concise account of the research work conducted, along with a thorough discussion of its significance. Underlying data must be precisely presented in the manuscript. Similarly, the paper must contain sufficient detail and references to allow for replication by others. Misleading or intentionally false statements are considered unethical and are therefore unacceptable;
- Ensure that all material written in the manuscript and submitted to the journal is original and that they are fully responsible for its creation, preserving the authenticity of the content in case of any disputes;
- If the manuscript contains ideas or information from previously published works, authors must acknowledge the sources, ensure proper citation, and include them in the references. Failure to attribute, misappropriation of authorship or ideas, or copying substantial excerpts without due credit is considered plagiarism. Therefore, the journal reserves the right to reject articles that involve such unethical and unacceptable practices;
- Not submit manuscripts that essentially report the same research to more than one journal. Simultaneous submission is considered unethical. Additionally, previously published work, or articles published in another language, should not be submitted. The journal accepts only one submission per author per issue;
- Restrict authorship to individuals who made significant contributions to the conception, development, execution, analysis, and interpretation of the work. All those who meet these criteria must be listed as co-authors and will be fully responsible for the content. Other contributions should be acknowledged either in a contributors list or in the acknowledgments section. Moreover, the corresponding author must ensure that all real contributors are included and that no one who did not contribute is listed. Email addresses for all co-authors must be provided. Before submitting the manuscript, the lead author must ensure all co-authors have approved the final version and consented to its submission;
- Disclose, through a declaration, any conflicts of interest along with the manuscript submission—be they financial, personal, or professional, or involving institutions or companies that could influence the research results or their interpretation. All sources of financial support must also be declared;
- Notify the editors if they find any relevant errors or inaccuracies in their publication. Such notification is mandatory, and the author must cooperate with the editors to correct and update the article with an erratum;
- Be attentive to editorial decisions, the review process, and collaborate with editors and reviewers by responding promptly to requests for clarification of primary data, copyright declarations, conflict of interest statements, and other related inquiries.
Before registering, we recommend that all individuals involved with the journal visit: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices to obtain more information about other appropriate conduct guidelines.