Publication Ethics

RSP commits itself to respecting the principles of scientific integrity, ethics, and transparency in its editorial process and in the content it publishes. Its editors and reviewers are mindful to avoid any discrimination related to the author or origin of manuscripts.

RSP adopts the criteria recommended in the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines (a forum for editors of scientific journals that discusses all aspects of publication ethics and advises editors on how to address cases of misconduct in research and publication) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria (which belongs to the former Committee). In the case of research with human beings in Brazil, RSP requests the due approval of a Research Ethics Committee duly registered with the National Commission of Ethics in Research of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. For research involving human beings abroad, it adopts the 2024 Declaration of Helsinki.

Cases of conflicts of interest, research misconduct, and other ethical violations that come to the attention of editors or reviewers will be taken to the Editorial Board, who will adopt the necessary measures to find and prevent the publication of articles and other appropriate measures.

Editors will take the necessary measures to find and prevent the publication of articles with misconduct or ethical violations, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification/fabrication, no pertinent authorizations, discrimination, among others. The cases and allegations that come to the attention of editors and evaluators will be taken to the Editorial Committee, which will take the appropriate measures, including forwarding them to higher levels of the University if necessary.

The inclusion of authors after the article is submitted will be rejected. It is of paramount importance that the corresponding authors assign credit to all co-authors at the time they submit their article (as stipulated in the original cover letter). As a scientific journal committed to excellence and best practices, RSP adheres to the principle of due diligence. Thus, we encourage a careful review of the list of authors involved in the manuscript before future submissions. A fee of R$ 400 will be charged if authors’ errors require errata. The registration and publication of errata and retractions must follow the SciELO Guide, available from Guia para Publicação de Errata e Guia para Publicação de Retratação | SciELO.ORG [Guide for Publishing Erratum and Guide for Publishing Retractions].

Public trustworthiness during peer reviews and the credibility of published articles partially depend on how editors manage conflicts of interest during writing, peer review, and decision-making. Conflicts of interest may arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests (whether apparent or not) that could influence manuscript preparation or evaluation. Conflicts of interest may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial.

Authors are responsible for acknowledging and disclosing financial or other conflicts that may have influenced their research at the time they submit their manuscripts. Authors’ manuscript should acknowledge all financial support for their research and other financial or personal connections regarding it. Reviewers must inform the editors of any conflicts of interest that may influence their opinion of manuscripts and, if applicable, must declare themselves unfit to review it. Authors should contact the RSP editorial secretariat if they are unsure of what may constitute potential conflicts of interest.

To assess the occurrence of plagiarism, all manuscripts that have been approved for publication are input into iThenticate to detect similarity between texts. The executive director will analyze the similarity report and, if they find plagiarism, request an explanation from the authors. RSP adopts neither a minimum nor a maximum percentage for identifying similarities.

Any use of artificial intelligence applications—systems that generate content, such as images, music, text, and videos based on internet content—or of content they generated must be reported in the abstract and in the “methods” or equivalent section. RSP adopts the following SciELO guidelines: (a) all AI material is to be correctly described (including full citations); the cited sources must support the statements of AI application as they refer to non-existent works; (b) authors must take public responsibility for their research. Concealing the use of AI or of its content configures an ethical violation that harms the principles of transparency and honesty in research.

The RSP editorial team, in addition to the authors who publish in the journal, must always observe the Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER guidelines to report sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, findings, and their interpretation. Moreover, RSP observes the gender equity policy in the constitution of its editorial board.

All manuscripts containing data collection involving human beings must include the approval document of the ethics committee of the institution responsible for the research.