Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submitted manuscript is original and unpublished and is not being evaluated for publication in another journal.
  • The manuscript fits in the RBCIAMB scope.
  • The manuscript dialogue with recent environmental sciences literature published in qualified journals in the area, considering similar and related studies.
  • The research represent an advance concerning similar and related studies.
  • The manuscript has an interdisciplinary approach.
  • The research has an interface with other areas or convergence of different knowledge.
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice or Microsoft Word format saved in the extension .doc or .docx.
  • The text has been carefully revised to eliminate grammar and spelling errors.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • At the time of submission, when entering the authors in the System, it is mandatory to inform: full name, e-mail, ORCID, title, and complete institutional link containing institution, function, city and country. This information should only appear in the System, filled in at the time of registration. IMPORTANT: do not put this information in the body of the article when sending the original contribution.
  • The authors agree to the journal's open access policy and the use of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY.
  • Does the work have ethics committee (CEP – CONEP/CONCEA) approval for experiments with animals or humans (directly or indirectly), including use cases of interviews and questionnaires and other procedures for obtaining direct or indirect opinions.? Does the job not undue promote or criticize an individual, organization, or product? (See Publication Ethics Statement.)
  • If the graphic elements (FIGURES, TABLES, IMAGES, PHOTOS, etc.) are not original, do they have a license that allows their reproduction or adaptation?

Author Guidelines

Manuscript Preparation

 

Before submission, authors must carefully prepare the manuscript following the guidelines below.

 - Scope Compliance

- Language: Manuscripts may be submitted in English or Portuguese. For accepted articles, authors must provide the final version in English.

Scientific Relevance: The manuscript must address one of the themes covered within the scope of RBCIAMB and demonstrate scientific rigor in its construction (research gap, method, literature review, and coherence between results and conclusions).

Guiding Topics for Text Preparation

Title
Is the title concise, representative of the article’s content, and able to attract attention?

Abstract
Does the abstract summarize the context, the problem addressed, the objective, the methodology, the results, and the conclusions?

Keywords
Are the keywords relevant and do they avoid repeating terms already used in the title?

Introduction
Does the introduction adequately contextualize, problematize, and justify the research objectives?

Literature Review
Does it present the national and international state of the art on the topic and define the main concepts that guide the research?

Methodological Procedures
Is the conceptual model presented consistently, including methodological advances and innovations?
Are the procedures for data collection and analysis described in sufficient detail to allow replication in other studies?

Results and Discussion
Are the results presented in detail and consistent with the methodological procedures?
Are the results discussed in light of the supporting literature and compared with other studies presented in the state of the art?

Graphic Elements (Figures, Charts, Tables, Images, Photos)
Are the graphic elements clear, communicative, illustrative, and presented with good resolution?

Conclusions
Are the conclusions clearly established and supported by the study data?
Do they represent an advancement in knowledge within the addressed topic?

References
Does the article include at least 50% of references and citations from articles published in international scientific journals?
Does the article include at least 50% of references and citations from articles published in the last five years in scientific journals?

Structure and Formatting of the Text

Texts written in Portuguese must also include the title, abstract, and keywords in English. Texts written in English must also include the title, abstract, and keywords in Portuguese.

The abstract must be no more than 250 words.

Formatting: Page size: A4; Orientation: portrait; Layout: single column; Margins: 3 cm (left and top) and 2 cm (right and bottom); Font: Times New Roman; Font size: 12; Line spacing: 1.5; Pages must be numbered. Maximum length: 7,000 words including tables and references. The submission file must be editable (.doc or .docx).

Tables must be editable text (not images).

Figures must have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI and a width of at least 2,500 pixels. Images that do not meet these technical requirements will be rejected by the editorial system. Figures should be inserted into the manuscript immediately after their mention in the text. If the article is approved, the figures must be provided in separate files.

Reference Formatting

References must appear at the end of the manuscript in alphabetical order according to the surname of the first author.

RBCIAMB adopts Chicago style standards with adaptations.

All publications cited in the text must appear in the reference list. The manuscript must be carefully checked so that author names and dates match between the text and the reference list.

Undergraduate final papers are not considered valid scientific references.

In the text, references should include the author’s name (without initials) and the year of publication.

For references with more than two authors in the text, use the first author followed by “et al.”
In the reference list, all authors must be listed.

Avoid preprints. When available, DOI must be included.

Examples:

In-text citations

One author:

in the paragraph: Schultz (2020) or

in parentheses: (Schultz, 2020)

Two authors:

in the paragraph: Schultz and Luz (2020) or

in parentheses: (Schultz and Luz, 2020)

Three or more authors:

in the paragraph: Mello et al. (2020)

in parentheses: (Mello et al., 2020)

Documents by the same author, publications from the same year:

in the paragraph: Brazil (2020a, 2020b) or

in parentheses: (Brazil, 2020a, 2020b)

Citations with page numbers

One page: Schultz and Luz (2020, p. 201)

With a gap: (Schultz and Luz, 2020, pp. 201-210)

List of References

Articles in journals

Soares, R.; Silva, S.; Souza Filho, F.; Studart, T.; Frota, R., 2020. Groundwater vulnerability to agrochemical contamination. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Ambientais, v. 55 (4), 440-455. https://doi.org/10.5327/10.5327/Z2176-947820200531.

Book

Gaugh, Jr., H.G., 1992. Statistical Analysis of Regional Field Trials. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 278 p.

Book Chapter

Cox, G.; Lowe, P.; Winter, M., 1990. The political management of the dairy sector in England and Wales. In: Marsden, T.; Little, J. (Eds.), Political, Social and Economic Perspectives on the International Food System. Avebury, Aldershot, pp. 82-111.

Dissertations and Theses

Dalberto, G., 2020. Coloniality and Security: discourses and practices of security sector reform in Liberia. Doctoral Thesis, Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo. doi:10.11606/T.8.2020.tde-04112020-212829. Retrieved 2020-11-05, from www.teses.usp.br

Laws

Brazil. National Council for the Environment – ​​CONAMA, 2005. CONAMA Resolution No. 357, of March 17, 2005. Official Gazette of the Union, Brasília.

Homepage

Washington State Department of Ecology, 2020. Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal (Accessed November 15, 2019) at: http://geo.wa.gov/datasets.

 

Submission

- Author Identification: When entering authors into the system, it is mandatory to provide: full name, email, ORCID, and institutional affiliation, including city and country. Important: Do not include author information in the body of the article when submitting the original contribution.

- Cover Letter: Each submission must be accompanied by a cover letter to the editor. The letter should explain the subject matter of the article, whether the approach is interdisciplinary, why this article falls within the scope of RBCIAMB, the importance of the research for the state of the art, and what innovations it brings. State that the manuscript is original and is not being published or evaluated by another journal.

- Title Page:

Article title;

Author names with email, ORCID, and institution;

Corresponding author with full address;

Authors’ contributions: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Research, Methodology, Project management, Resources, Programs, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - revision and editing.

Declarations (must be included within the Title Page file)

a) Conflict of interest;

b) Funding;

c) Ethics (approval from ethics committees (ECI));

d) Use of generative AI (this declaration must be provided on the Title Page and also in the manuscript, before the References section).

 

Declaration on the Use of Generative AI

Journal Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools – COPE-Aligned Version

RBCIAMB follows the principles of publication ethics and transparency recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in academic publications.

AI tools may only be used as support instruments for language editing, grammar correction, translation, formatting, and readability improvement. Such tools do not meet authorship requirements and therefore cannot be credited as authors or co-authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, validity, and integrity of all submitted content, including data, analyses, citations, interpretations, and conclusions. The use of AI does not transfer or reduce the author's responsibility.

Any significant use of AI tools in the preparation of a manuscript must be clearly disclosed in a specific statement at the time of submission.

The undisclosed or unethical use of AI for data fabrication or falsification, the generation of misleading content, false references, manipulated images, plagiarism, interference with peer review, or any other deceptive practice will be treated as potential misconduct and managed according to the journal's editorial procedures and ethical guidelines.

The use of AI tools in the manuscript preparation process must be disclosed through a statement at the end of the text when the article is submitted. This statement will appear in the published work and should be included in a new section before the list of references.

Example:

AI Use Statement

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE] for [PURPOSE]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the content of the published article.

 

Submission Fee

At the time of submission, you will need to indicate in the comments to the editor if any of the authors are members of ABES, specifying their membership number, or pay the submission fee of R$ 250.00 and attach proof of payment to the system. Remember that the submission will only be effective if this procedure is completed.

To pay the submission fee, click on the link " (Pay the submission fee here) " and make the payment via PayPal.

Note: Payment of the fee does not guarantee acceptance of the item and will not be refunded under any circumstances.

 

Plagiarism

The articles undergo an initial screening with software to check for plagiarism. If the article has already been published in seminars or conferences, for example, the version for the RBCIAMB must have significant progress, effectively configuring a new article.

As part of the review procedures, starting in 2025, the RBCIAMB adopted detection analysis of Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in the English version of the manuscript. The use of AI is not inherently negative; we will analyze each case individually. As a general rule, IA can be used as an auxiliary tool, but under no circumstances should it replace the authors' intellectual work, with predominance in the text. Articles with predominantly AI-generated writing characteristics will be rejected at any stage of the review process where this is detected.

Publication Ethics Statement

The Brazilian Journal of Environmental Sciences – RBCIAMB – works together with its Editorial Team (Editors and Editorial Board), authors, and reviewers to ensure the quality and ethical standards of manuscripts from submission to publication.

By submitting a manuscript, authors automatically agree to all items of this ethics and best practices statement for publication in this journal.

This Ethics and Best Practices Statement is based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1 – Authorship

Authors must identify each contributor’s role in the work according to the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) parameters.

All authors must approve the content of the manuscript and agree to its submission.

Authors retain copyright of their work while granting RBCIAMB the right of first publication.

2 – Conflicts of Interest

Editor and Editorial Team

In the event of any conflict of interest related to competition, collaboration, or other relationships or connections with any author, editors or reviewers must disclose it and transfer responsibility for the manuscript to another member of the Editorial Team.

By accepting to review any manuscript, reviewers declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Even under double-blind peer review, the assignment of reviewers considers any academic or institutional relationships inappropriate.

Authors

When submitting a manuscript, authors must declare the absence of any conflict of interest in the manuscript, and this information is published on the article’s first page.

3 – Complaints and Appeals

Editor

The Editor is responsible for investigating any allegation of error or misconduct, whether concerning submitted or published articles. All complaints are investigated regardless of when the article was published.

RBCIAMB adopts COPE procedures and guidance, giving all parties involved a full opportunity to respond and ensuring the right of manifestation to everyone concerned.

If necessary, other appropriate measures may be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or editorial note.

4 – Publication

Editor

The Editor is responsible for decisions regarding articles to be published, based on the guidelines established by the Editorial Board and in compliance with applicable legislation.

Provided that no ethical violations exist, editorial decisions must be technical and based on the relevance of the scientific contribution, considering originality, methodological rigor, and dialogue with the scientific community in the field.

The Editor may share decision-making with other editors and shall seek to meet the needs of readers and authors in order to: ensure the quality of published material; publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary; improve the journal; and preserve the integrity and memory of the journal archive.

The journal homepage provides instructions for authors detailing expectations for manuscript submissions. These instructions are regularly updated and explain the stages of the review process.

Authors

Authors declare that the submitted work is original and is not under consideration elsewhere. They also declare that all parts derived from other works and authors have been properly cited according to editorial standards and good publishing practices.

Authors acknowledge that total or partial reproduction of other works (phrases, data, methods, results, conclusions), whether direct or indirect (including paraphrasing), without proper citation constitutes plagiarism and is inconsistent with ethical scientific publishing practices.

Papers previously presented at conferences must contain substantial modifications for journal submission, with at least 50% different content.

5 – Use of Humans or Animals in Research

Manuscripts resulting from research involving human participants or animals must comply with all applicable institutional protocols in their respective jurisdictions.

In Brazil, research involving humans must comply with current legislation under the responsibility of the National Research Ethics Commission (CONEP) and its respective Research Ethics Committees (CEPs).

Research involving animals must comply with the rules of the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA) and its respective Ethics Committees on the Use of Animals (CEUAs).

In both cases, authors must inform the registration number and approval opinion number issued by the CEP or CEUA. The editorial team may request submission of the approval document.

Research conducted in other countries must include a declaration confirming full compliance with ethical principles and applicable legislation, including the relevant approval protocols.

6 – Funding

All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed and will be published on the first page of the article.

7 – Confidentiality

Information regarding submitted manuscripts will only be disclosed to authors, reviewers (without author identification), and the editorial team, as appropriate.

Disclosure of unpublished materials contained in a submitted manuscript may only occur with the author’s prior written authorization.

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must remain confidential and may not be used for personal gain or shared with third parties.

Names and email addresses entered on this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

8 – Transparency

The editorial team of the Brazilian Journal of Environmental Sciences (RBCIAMB) considers transparency in the evaluation process and journal-related information a core value.

Authors may track the status of their manuscripts through the OJS system and may contact the editorial office at any time.

Since 2021, RBCIAMB has published on its website information regarding the number of authors and institutions, article evaluation times at different stages, and citation report badges.

Privacy Statement

Names and addresses provided to this journal will be used exclusively for the services of this publication and will not be made available for any other purpose or to third parties.