Author Guidelines

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

About the Journal

The Revista Brasileira de Neurologia (RBN) is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal and the official publication of the Institute of Neurology Deolindo Couto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (INDC-UFRJ), in association with the Neurology Association of Rio de Janeiro (ABN-RJ / ANERJ).

The journal aims to disseminate high-quality scientific articles with emphasis on clinical neurology, encompassing both basic and clinical neurosciences, as well as related disciplines such as speech therapy, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and neuropsychology. Through rigorous editorial and peer-review processes, the RBN contributes to advancing neurological research and clinical practice.

Publication Model and Open Access

The journal is published quarterly in electronic format and has the electronic ISSN 2447-2573.

The Revista Brasileira de Neurologia follows an open-access policy, providing immediate and free access to all published content, with no submission or publication fees charged to authors.

The journal is indexed in LILACS, a database maintained by BIREME and Miguilim, and is available through the following platforms:

• UFRJ Journals Portal: https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/rbn/index

• INDC Portal: http://server2.indc.ufrj.br/index.php/home

• ABN-RJ: https://www.neuro.org.br

Types of Manuscripts Accepted

• Editorial (by invitation only)

• Original Articles (clinical or experimental research)

• Review Articles (narrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses)

• Brief Communications, Opinions, and Case Reports presenting relevant clinical or scientific insights.

• Historical Notes

• Images in Neurology

• Other manuscript types, at the discretion of the Editorial Board

Language, Formatting, and Editorial Standards

Manuscripts must be written exclusively in English and submitted after careful grammatical and spelling review.

The journal follows the ICMJE Recommendations (Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals):
https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf

Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word, using Arial font, size 12, single spacing, with all pages numbered consecutively.

Submission, Copyright, and Licensing

The RBN adopts the Creative Commons Attribution–Non Commercial license (CC BY-NC).  Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication in electronic format.

Submitted manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration by another journal.

All submissions must be made through the journal’s electronic system:
https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/rbn/index

Required Documents for Submission

Authors must submit the following:

1. Cover Letter and Declaration of Compliance with Open Science Practices (template at the bottom of this page);

2. Manuscript with authors’ names and affiliations;

3. Manuscript without authors’ names for double-blind peer review;

4. Figures and tables submitted as Supplementary Material, in high resolution, with insertion points indicated in the text and captions included in the main manuscript;

5. During the revision process, a detailed response letter to reviewers is provided, addressing each comment individually.

Evaluation Process

All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment. Manuscripts that comply with the journal’s scope and standards may be forwarded for double-blind peer review.

The final decision regarding acceptance or rejection is made by the Editorial Board, based on the reviewer’s evaluation and editorial judgment.

Manuscript Organization

1. Title Page

• Full title (maximum 150 characters) and short title (maximum 30 characters), in English and Portuguese

• Author information: full name, institutional affiliation (up to three levels), city, state, country, academic degree, current position, and ORCID

• Corresponding author’s email address

• Conflict of interest statement

• Funding statement

• Author contributions according to the CRediT taxonomy

• Supplementary information (suggested reviewers, ethical approval, clinical trial registration, if applicable)

• Abstract (English and Portuguese), structured, up to 250 words

• Keywords (3–6), according to DeCS/MeSH

2. Text Structure and Limits

Original Articles

• Up to 4,000 words

• Maximum: 3 figures, 4 tables

• Up to 75 references

• Sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgments

Review Articles

• Up to 5,000 words

• Maximum: 4 figures, 4 tables

• Up to 100 references

• Systematic reviews must follow PRISMA and be registered in PROSPERO

Historical Notes

• Up to 4,000 words

• Maximum: 3 figures, 4 tables

• Up to 75 references

Case Reports

• Up to 1,000 words

• Maximum: 2 figures, 2 tables

• Up to 15 references

Images in Neurology

• Up to 150 words

• Up to 4 figures, 1 table

• Up to 5 references

Opinions

• Up to 2,000 words

• Maximum: 1 figure, 1 table

• Up to 15 references

Editorials

• Up to 1,200 words

• Maximum: 1 figure, 1 table

• Up to 10 references

References

References must follow the Vancouver style and be numbered consecutively in the order of citation in the text.

Guidelines for references are available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/books/NBK7256/

Ethical Responsibilities

Studies involving humans or animals must include a statement of approval by an appropriate Ethics Committee, including the CAAE number, when applicable.

Authors are responsible for the content of their manuscripts and for securing permission to reproduce any copyrighted material.

Open Science Policy

The Revista Brasileira de Neurologia supports open science practices, including transparency in authorship, data availability, ethical compliance, and, when applicable, preprint deposition.

* EXAMPLE: Cover letter and conformity with open science communication practices

Manuscript Title: [Insert title]
Manuscript Type: [Type of article]
Corresponding Author: [Full name]
E-mail: [Corresponding author’s e-mail]

Dear Editor of the Revista Brasileira de Neurologia,

On behalf of all authors, I hereby submit the manuscript entitled “[Insert title]” for consideration for publication in the Revista Brasileira de Neurologia.

We declare that this manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not under consideration by any other journal. The manuscript is submitted exclusively to the Revista Brasileira de Neurologia. Upon acceptance, the authors will retain copyright, and the article will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC)
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare the following conflicts of interest: [declare conflicts or state “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”]

Ethical and Regulatory Compliance

• Ethics Approval: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board / Research Ethics Committee (Approval No.: [insert number], when applicable).

• Ethical Standards: The study complies with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki for research involving human participants and with applicable ethical guidelines for animal research, when relevant.

• Informed Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants or their legal representatives, when applicable.

Funding

This study was supported by the following funding sources: [list funding agencies or state “No specific funding was received.”]

Authorship

All listed authors meet the ICMJE authorship criteria, having:
a) made substantial contributions to the conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation;
b) participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
c) approved the final version submitted;
d) agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring its accuracy and integrity.

Preprint (if applicable)

This manuscript has been deposited as a preprint with the following details:

• Title: [insert title]

• DOI: [insert DOI]

• Preprint server: [insert name]

• URL: [insert link]

If accepted for publication, we will update the preprint record with a link to the final published version.

Artificial Intelligence (if applicable)

The use of artificial intelligence–assisted technologies in the preparation of this manuscript has been transparently disclosed in the Methods section, in accordance with journal policy.

Data Availability

The authors commit to making all data, software codes, and materials underlying the results of this manuscript available to reviewers and the journal upon request, and to clearly indicate data availability in the manuscript.

Open Science Compliance

The authors affirm their commitment to open science practices, including transparency in authorship, ethical compliance, disclosure of funding and conflicts of interest, and accessibility of underlying research materials, in accordance with the editorial policies of the Revista Brasileira de Neurologia.

We appreciate your consideration of our manuscript and look forward to your editorial evaluation.

Sincerely,

[City, day, month, year]

[Full name(s) of the author(s)]
[Digital confirmation(s) or signature(s)]