Guidelines and Policies
Authorship Criteria
In accordance with the May 2000 authorship statement issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the journal requires that authorship credit be given only to individuals who meet ALL of the following modified criteria:
he/she made a substantial contribution either to the conception and design, or to the acquisition of data, or to the analysis and interpretation of data;
he/she made a substantial contribution to drafting the article or critically revising it; and
he/she has given final approval of the version of the article to be published and can certify that no other individuals not listed as authors have made substantial contributions to the article.
Obtaining funding, data collection, or general supervision of the research group responsible for the study does not justify authorship. Individuals who have made such a contribution to the manuscript should be listed in the acknowledgements section. Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, authors must complete a Contributor Information Form in which they explain their specific contribution to the work described in the manuscript. This information will be published in the journal.
Types of Articles
The journal publishes the following types of articles: Editorials are written by members of the editorial board or by invitation. Research articles report the results of original research. The journal does not distinguish between full articles and short reports. Reviews present a comprehensive and critical evaluation of a specific topic. Commentaries are similar to reviews, but are designed to emphasize a topic without comprehensively reviewing it. News for the Clinician columns summarize evidence on a topic of clinical interest. Letters to the Editor comment on recent journal articles.
Length of Articles
Research papers should be limited to a maximum of 4,000 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, figures, figure legends) and include a maximum of 60 references. Please write succinctly and include only the necessary references. Tables and figures should be included only to show new data that are integral to the main points of the study. Other materials relevant to the study may be included as supplementary figures or tables, which will be published online only, with a link in the print edition. Please avoid presenting the same data in multiple formats (e.g. in both graphic and tabular form). Reviews and meta-analyses are limited to 10,000 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, figures, figure legends). Longer reviews will be published in full online, but some material (e.g. figures, tables, references) may be published online only, with a link in the print issue. Reviews are limited to 4,000 words. News for the Clinician columns are limited to 650 words (excluding references). Letters to the Editor are limited to 500 words and 5 references.
Manuscript Preparation
All articles should be double-spaced, and each section (title page, abstract, text, references, tables, figures, figure legends) should begin on a new page. Research articles should be divided into the sections Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, and Conclusion. In studies where the entire population is of the same sex, the sex should be specified in the title. Please write in the active voice rather than the passive voice; papers written in the passive voice will be converted to the active voice when necessary during text editing. Please keep abbreviations to a minimum: abbreviate only widely recognized terms (e.g., MRI, SD) and terms that are used extensively in the manuscript.
Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper, all author names, academic degree(s) and affiliation(s), the corresponding author's mailing and email addresses, and the word count for the text (includes Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion , not to exceed 4,000 words) and abstract (not to exceed 250 words).
Figures
Figures should be submitted in electronic format. Specifications for electronic figure files are available at the editorial office.
Tables
Tables should not duplicate data presented in the figures and should be self-explanatory. Each table should appear on a separate page, double-spaced and numbered consecutively. Footnotes are designated by *, †, ‡, §, ¶, **, etc.; abbreviations should be explained and units of measurement specified.
Permission to reproduce material from other sources
If your paper contains a previously published table or figure, you must obtain written permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) to reproduce the material in the print and online editions of . In most cases, you must do this even if the table or figure is of your own authorship. Please also send us photocopies of the tables or figures from the book, journal or online source in which they were first published.
Patient consent
If your article contains any information regarding individual patients, you must obtain written consent from the patient(s) to publish this information in Biopharma. A copy of the patient's consent should be sent with the manuscript.
Drugs
Generic names should be used in text, tables and figures. Trade names may be mentioned in parentheses in the first textual reference to the drug, but should not appear in titles, tables or figures. When a trade name is used, it must be capitalized; generic or chemical names are not capitalized.
Genetic Nomenclature
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the AMA Manual of Style, 10th Edition guidelines for gene nomenclature. Briefly, human gene symbols should be in italics with all letters capitalized (e.g., NRG1 ). Mouse and rat gene symbols should be italicized with all capital initials (e.g., Nrg1 ). Protein designations should appear in Roman characters (e.g., NRG1). Textual explanations of polymorphisms are preferred to abbreviated terms (e.g., G-to-A substitution at nucleotide 1691, not 1691G>A). When a gene symbol is used with a sequence variation term, only the gene symbol is italicized. Avoid using virgules to indicate polymorphic variants.
Person-centered language
Biopharma strives for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the language we use. Language and preferred terms continually evolve, but generally authors should use neutral, non-stigmatizing, person-centered language in submissions to Biofarma. For example, when describing study participants, authors should avoid terminology that reduces a person to their condition (e.g., write "person with alcohol use disorder" rather than "alcoholic"). Also, stigmatizing labels such as "abuse" should be replaced with more neutral language, such as "misuse."
Reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Manuscripts reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized interventions should adhere to the PRISMA checklist , which has been endorsed by the World Association of Medical Editors and the Council of Science Editors. Manuscripts reporting other types of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, such as non-randomized or non-intervention studies, should follow the PRISMA statement checklist guidelines, where applicable.
Clinical trials
Biopharma focuses on articles that provide information about the neural mechanisms involved in the etiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders. The journal will consider articles that describe clinical trials that include a mechanistic component. Discussion of such neural mechanisms should be included in the introduction, justification, and discussion sections of the manuscript.
Registration requirement for clinical trials reported in Biopharm
Include the registry name and registration ID number of your clinical trial on the title page of your manuscript. Biofarma endorses the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' statement on clinical trial registration. In brief, the journal requires, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration of clinical trials in a public trial registry on or before the start of patient enrollment. This policy applies to any clinical trial that began enrollment after July 1, 2005. A clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human participants to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes (e.g., Phase I trials) are exempt. The journal does not endorse a specific record, but when selecting a record, authors should use the criteria mentioned in the statement of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Note that Biopharma also recommends and supports the registration of systematic reviews.
Reporting of randomized clinical trials
Manuscripts reporting the results of randomized clinical trials should adhere to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist, which has been endorsed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the World Association of Medical Editors, and the Council of Science Editors .
Sex and gender in research
We encourage our authors to follow the ' Guidelines for Gender and Sex Equity in Research - SAGER ' and to include sex and gender considerations where relevant. Authors should use the terms sex (a biological attribute) and gender (formed by social and cultural circumstances) with care to avoid confusing the two terms. The titles and/or abstracts of articles should clearly indicate to which sex(es) the study applies. Authors should also describe in the background whether sex and/or gender differences can be expected; report how sex and/or gender were considered in the study design; provide sex and/or gender disaggregated data where appropriate; and discuss the respective results. We suggest that our authors consult the full guidelines prior to submission.
Acknowledgments
Support for the research or project should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Authors may also wish to acknowledge the assistance of staff and colleagues in this section. Colleagues who have made substantial contributions to the manuscript will be asked to sign a form granting formal acknowledgement permission before the article is published (see acknowledgement permission form).
References
References should be cited in numerical order of appearance in the text and identified in the text with superscript Arabic numerals. Do not list references in alphabetical order. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in sequence with the first mention of the table or figure in the text. Authors should check all references with the original documents. Biofarma follows the reference style employed by the National Library of Medicine. Journal titles should be abbreviated accordingly (see PubMed ). Samples of references cited in this style are available at www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html and briefly below. Note that Biopharm requires only 3 authors followed by et al."
Journal articles
Standard journal article (list 3 authors, followed by "et al" if the number exceeds 3) Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk of pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124(11):980-3.
Books and other monographs
Personal author(s) Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses . 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author(s) Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for the elderly . New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996. Organization as author and editor Institute of Medicine (USA). Looking to the future of the Medicaid program . Washington: The Institute; 1992.
Chapter in a book
Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment . 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.
conference proceedings
Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology . Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 October 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996.
Unpublished material
In press: References to articles that have been accepted but not yet published should be designated as "in press. Authors should provide verification that such articles have been accepted for publication (Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine dependence. N Engl J Med . In press).
Unpublished comments: Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source.
Personal communication: Avoid quoting a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name and position of the person and the date of the communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. Authors must obtain written permission and confirmation of the accuracy of the source.
Clinician's Column
News for the Clinician columns advise doctors on treatments for patients with serious illnesses. The columns are usually based on a case report that illustrates a point of interest, followed by a suggested approach for physicians treating patients with similar stories. In many of the best columns, the case is at a level of complexity or novelty that will help physicians make treatment decisions in situations that are not routine or where new evidence is available but not widely known. The evidence in the literature for the treatment approach, both efficacy and side effects, should be discussed with balance. Whenever possible, the effectiveness of suggested treatments should be supported by fairly substantial, high-quality clinical experimental evidence. The article should avoid focusing only on interesting possible treatment pathways that merit clinical experimentation, but for which there is minimal evidence of effectiveness. In general, a model column would have a brief but realistic clinical vignette, followed by a succinct summary of the current literature, some references to unknowns in the field, and practical suggestions. The column could be up to 650 words long. References are not included in the print version, but are included in the online version. If the column describes a real patient, the patient's consent is required, but most columns are made up or the details are changed. followed by a brief summary of the current literature, a few references to unknowns in the field, and practical suggestions. The column can be up to 650 words long. References are not included in the print version, but are included in the online version. If the column describes a real patient, the patient's consent is required, but most columns are made up or the details are changed. followed by a brief summary of the current literature, a few references to unknowns in the field, and practical suggestions. The column can be up to 650 words long. References are not included in the print version, but are included in the online version. If the column describes a real patient, the patient's consent is required, but most columns are made up or the details are changed.
Peer Review
All submitted manuscripts are reviewed by an editor. Manuscripts that are not suitable for Biopharma or are of insufficient priority for publication are rejected immediately. Other manuscripts are submitted for peer review. Reviewers' identities are kept confidential, but authors' names are shared with reviewers. Manuscripts under consideration are privileged communications between authors and editors. The editorial team discusses them only with the corresponding author and reviewers. Once a decision is made, authors are notified immediately and receive a copy of the reviewer's comments.
Ethical Considerations
Manuscripts involving research on human participants should provide the name of the ethics committee that approved the study. Manuscripts describing studies in which there was direct contact with human subjects should describe how informed consent was obtained. In studies with patients with conditions that may affect their ability to give full informed consent, the manuscript should describe how the authors determined that the participants were capable of giving consent, if consent was obtained from the participants rather than the caregivers. Manuscripts involving animal research should include a statement that all procedures complied with institutional guidelines for animal care and mention the name of the animal care committee that approved the research. Before a paper is accepted for publication, authors will be asked to complete the Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form for potential conflicts of interest related to the work described in the paper. Manuscripts based on studies funded by contracts (not grants) from any source, including commercial companies, private foundations, or governments, must be accompanied by a statement describing the role of the authors and sponsor in the study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the article; and the decision to submit the article for publication. The journal will not review or publish manuscripts based on studies conducted under conditions that allow the sponsor to have exclusive control of the data or withhold publication. Biofarma encourages authors to share, upon request, with other researchers in academic institutions the original data on which their publications in Biofarma are based.
Authors who publish in Biopharm agree to the following terms:
Authors grant the journal the right of first publication, and the work is simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows sharing of the work with acknowledgement of authorship of the work and initial publication in this journal.
The contribution is original and unpublished, and is not being evaluated for publication by another journal.
Authors cede their copyrights on the work presented herein to the appreciation of the Editorial Board of Biopharma Journal, which may publish the article in Biopharma and in public and private databases, in Brazil and abroad.
Authors declare that they are fully responsible for the totality of the content of the contribution they presently submit to the Editorial Board of Biofarma.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that might interfere in the impartiality of the scientific work presented to the Editorial Board of Biofarma.
Authors have permission to enter into additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the paper published in this journal (e.g., publishing in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their homepage) at any point prior to or during the editorial process, as this may generate productive changes, as well as increase the impact and citation of the published work.
