All manuscripts involving human subjects research must address ethical considerations in the methods section and comply with Institutional Review Board (IRB) as well as local and international ethical guidelines. Articles that do not appropriately address ethical considerations and IRB review will not be published.

 

Informed consent and privacy

Study participants must have provided consent and their decision to participate must have been informed and recorded voluntarily and without embarrassment. Every effort should have been made to protect participant privacy. Identifying information, including photos, should not be included in the manuscript.

 

Clinical trial registration

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) clinical trial registration policy requires registration of all prospective clinical trials. Manuscripts will only be accepted for publication if they have received an identification number in one of the Clinical Trial Registries validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ICMJE, whose addresses are available on the latter's website, such as, for example, www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br or www.clinicaltrials.gov. The identification number must appear at the end of the abstract.

 

Animal studies

Experimental work involving animals must comply with the standards established by the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, United States), of 1996, and by the Ethical Principles in Animal Experimentation (Brazilian College of Animal Experimentation – COBEA), of 1991.

 

Manuscripts must comply with the following guidelines:

• Case Report Guidelines (CARE) for case reports.
• Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) for clinical trials.
• Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) for qualitative research.
• Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) for meta-analyses of observational studies.
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for systematic reviews and meta-analyses in clinical trials.
• Standards for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) 
• Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) for observational studies.