About the Journal

Revista Bioética is committed to ethical behavior at all stages of the editorial process and thus relies on the Committee on Publication Ethics (Cope) Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, available at https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf, and in this statement, which provides in detail the expected standards of ethical behavior of all parties involved in the publication process – authors, editors of the Journal and reviewers.

Any author who wishes to publish their work in the Revista Bioética must above all agree with the guidelines present in this statement and also in the Editorial Policies of the journal. All these procedures seek to ensure the quality of the works published in our journal, with respect to the readers and authors of the articles.

Responsibilities of authors

a) Regarding the reporting of policies and procedures: all the information and guidelines for authors are available at  https://portal.cfm.org.br/images/stories/revistabioetica/normaseditoriais.pdf. Unpublished manuscripts of a conceptual, documentary nature, resulting from research or experiences in the field of bioethics or medical ethics, and critical reviews related to these topics will be accepted.

b) Regarding the accuracy of the manuscript data and information: an article must contain sufficient details and references to allow others to replicate the work or verify the data and information surveyed. Fraudulent or intentionally inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

c) Regarding originality and plagiarism:

• Unpublished manuscripts in Portuguese, Spanish or English will be accepted. Works published in institutional repository are not considered unpublished.
• Manuscripts in which the use of the “Track changes” tool is identified can be withdrawn after submission.
• Works cannot have been concomitantly submitted to other journals.
• The opinions and concepts expressed in the articles, the origin and accuracy of the citations are the responsibility of the authors.
• Manuscripts that reproduce in whole or in part, without proper reference, works of other authors as well as an article, or a substantial part of it, already published by the authors themselves will be summarily refused.

d) Regarding multiple, redundant or concomitant publication: authors shall not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Additionally, submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

e) Regarding the recognition of references:

• All references must be listed at the end of the article in the corresponding numerical order.
• All citations from sources present in the text must be listed on the references, including documents, treaties, reports, books and book chapters.
• All electronic references used must also inform the link and the date of access.
• Literal references, which reproduce ipsis litteris a text already published, must inform in the references the page number in the original from which the excerpt was withdrawn.
• One should always seek the original reference that one wants to emphasize and avoid second-order reference, that is, when the cited author is being referred by another.  If apud is unavoidable, this must be made explicit in the text.  For example: “Analyzing Potter’s work, Pessini 3 describes…”.
• All references must be listed correctly and completely, according to the examples below.  Book titles, location, and publisher names must not be abbreviated.
• The veracity of the information contained in the list of references is the responsibility of the authors.

f) Authorship of the article should be limited to those who contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. All those who contributed significantly should be listed as co-authors. If others participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be credited or listed only as contributors. The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the article, and that inappropriate co-authors are not included; they must also ensure that all co-authors have read and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. The email addresses of all co-authors must be provided at submission. Once the manuscript is accepted by the Editorial board, Revista Bioética will send a copy of this statement to all co-authors, for which we expect individual statements of agreement as a requirement for starting the evaluation process. After this stage, all communication will be conducted  only with the corresponding author.

g) Regarding the declaration of conflict of interest: all authors must declare in the manuscript any financial, professional or of any other substantive nature conflict of interest that may be considered an influencing factor in the results of the research or its interpretation. Authors should also disclose all sources of financial support.

h) Regarding fundamental errors in published works: if an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, they must immediately notify the Editorial Team of the journal and cooperate with them to retract or correct the article.

Responsibilities of reviewers

a) Regarding the contribution to editorial decisions: peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions. The criterion for selecting reviewers seeks to contemplate the widest possible analytical diversity, in line with the interdisciplinarity of bioethics. Each article is sent to a reviewer with training in the specific area of the manuscript (specialties in health and biology, law, philosophy, social sciences, etc.), or a reviewer who studies or has already discussed the topic (health inequities, human rights, abortion, dysthanasia, genetics, research ethics, etc.) and also to a bioethicists with broad or stricto sensu bioethics training to evaluate the use of ethical concepts and categories Further revision or reformulation of parts of the article, title or references as presented in the recommendation may be required for final approval.

b) Regarding punctuality: any invited reviewer who feels unqualified to evaluate the research presented in a manuscript or who knows that its immediate review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and withdraw from the review process.

c) Regarding confidentiality: all manuscripts will be submitted to the scrutiny of the editors, the editorial board and ad hoc reviewers in a double-blind system.

d) Regarding objectivity standards: reviews and opinions should be conducted and drafted objectively. Personal criticism of the authors is inadequate. Evaluators should express their opinions clearly, using arguments that support their assessment.

e) Regarding the recognition of references: all submitted papers are checked for originality using the plagiarism detecting software Plagius  (professional plagiarism Detector). The results indicated by Plagius are carefully analyzed to identify whether they refer to citations or copies. If reviewers, at evaluation, identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors, they should call the editors' attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript in question and any other published work of which they have personal knowledge.

f) Regarding disclosure and conflict of interest: privileged information or ideas obtained by reading the manuscripts should be kept confidential and must not be used for the reviewers' personal benefit. Reviewers should not evaluate manuscripts with which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competition, collaboration or other relationships or links with any of the authors, companies or institutions tied to the manuscripts.

About the responsibilities of editors

• The editors are responsible for the content published in Revista Bioética.
• The Editorial team will strive to meet the needs of readers and authors.
• All appropriate measures will be taken in the editorial processes to ensure the quality of the published material.
• The editors of Revista Bioética champion freedom of expression, but manuscripts that contradict the fundamental principles of the Brazilian Constitution and, in particular, its articles 1º, 3º and 4º, which guarantee human rights and repudiation of racism, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights will be rejected.
• Editors will maintain the integrity of the academic record.
• Will preclude business needs from compromising the intellectual and ethical standards of the journal.
• Will publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
• Will provide information about who has funded research or other academic work.
• Will promote fair, impartial and timely peer review.
• Will encourage the accuracy, integrity and clarity of research reports.
• Will require objective and impartial evaluation from the Editorial Board.
• Will comply with the confidentiality laws in their own jurisdiction.
• Will obtain informed written consent for publications involving people who may be recognized or identified for participating in the surveys.
• Will adopt systems for detecting plagiarism.
• Will support authors whose copyrights have been breached or who have been the victims of plagiarism.