Jornal Vascular Brasileiro (J Vasc Bras.) is an online-only, peer-reviewed journal of the Brazilian Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery (Sociedade Brasileira de Angiologia e de Cirurgia Vascular – SBACV). Since 2019, it has used a continuous article publication model, with accepted manuscripts collected by volume and year only. The Journal is directed to vascular surgeons and clinicians and to professionals of related fields, and accepts submissions in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

The mission of J Vasc Bras. is to select and disseminate high-quality scientific contents concerning original research, novel surgical and diagnostic techniques, and clinical observations in the field of vascular surgery, angiology, and endovascular surgery.

Editorial policies

General policies

J Vasc Bras. follows the recommendations found in the latest version of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The full document is available at www.icmje.org.

J Vasc Bras. follows the ethical principles found in the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct (http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct) with regard to duplicate publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, addition or removal of authors, ghost or gift authorship, undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems in the study, undue appropriation of ideas or data, and response to rumors of misconduct via any media. Articles involving humans and animals must be approved by a Research Ethics Committee via a Consolidated Opinion.

Manuscripts that are not in accordance with these instructions will be returned to the authors for correction before review by the Editorial Board.

Manuscripts submitted for publication should not have been published nor been submitted for review to other journals in part or in whole.

Article processing charges

Manuscript submission and publication is free of charge.

Open access, copyright, and self-archiving policies

J Vasc Bras. is an open access journal whose articles are distributed under a CC-BY Creative Commons license, and adheres to the open access definitions proposed by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). This license allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the published article, even for commercial purposes, provided proper credit is given to the creator, ie, the source is cited.

Copyright

All accepted manuscripts in J Vasc Bras., except when otherwise stated, are published as full open access articles and are freely distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All authors retain copyright for articles published under this license and are required to submit a Publication Agreement and Copyright License, described below. The document should be signed by all authors or by the lead/corresponding author on behalf of the others, provided the lead author has the authority to do so. Articles including previously published figures or other material should cite the original source in the corresponding legend, and written permission must be obtained from the copyright holder. Authors should keep a copy of the materials submitted to J Vasc Bras., since these will not be returned. Please include the following statement on the title page: “Copyright© 2021 The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.”

Please note that the title page should be submitted in a separate file.

Self-archiving policies

J Vasc Bras. encourages authors to self-archive the final published version of their manuscripts immediately after publication on the Journal’s website. We suggest that authors make the published article (PDF file) available on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and social media platforms for scientists, such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, and others, as this improves journal metrics. J Vasc Bras. also encourages authors to write posts about their published manuscripts on their social media accounts. Authors should include a full citation in text format as this increases the chances of the article being cited as well as journal metric scores.

Language

J Vasc Bras. accepts national and international submissions in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. All articles are translated into English and indexed in Portuguese and/or English.

Peer review process

Manuscript receipt will be acknowledged via an automatic e-mail message generated by the submission system (https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/jvb-scielo). irstly, manuscripts are checked by the Editorial Office. If the article is in accordance with the instructions to authors and with the Journal’s editorial policies, it will be reviewed by two experts assigned by the Editor-in-Chief, or, if the Editorial Office identifies that the Editor-in-Chief is one of the coauthors of the manuscript, the work is sent to the Associated Editor, who will assign the reviewers. The Editors in charge of handling the article will transfer to other members of the Editorial Board manuscripts that have any potential conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions linked to the paper. The process is as follows:

Author submits an article
    Admin checks the article and sends it to Editor-in-Chief or directly to the Associate Editor
        Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editor checks if the article should proceed to review
            Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editor should assign reviewer(s) with no conflicts of interest with the authors and preferably
            from other institutions, other states in the country, or other country
                Reviewers evaluate the article
                    Editor-in-Chief makes final decision

Editors avoid selecting reviewers with obvious potential conflicts of interest, eg, who work at the same department  or institution of any of the authors. Assignments of reviewers to papers by members of the Editorial Board follow a similar standard, avoiding the aforementioned conflicts of interest. If the Editor-in-Chief or their institutional colleagues have participated in the study, reviewer assignment, manuscript evaluation, and final decision will be exclusively conducted by coeditors. 

The entire peer review process is anonymous (double-blind). Reviewers should disclose to the Editors any conflict of interest that could influence their opinions on the manuscript, and should declare themselves disqualified to review specific manuscripts if they believe it is appropriate. Following peer review, authors are informed of either acceptance, rejection, or the need for revisions in the article, as requested by the Editorial Board. Copies of reviewers’ comments will be sent to the authors. Authors will be requested to return a revised version of the manuscript as soon as possible (within 1 month) and to provide a justification if they disagree with any of the reviewers’ comments. Revised manuscripts should clearly indicate changes made to the text, in red font preferably. Revised manuscripts will be sent back to reviewers for reassessment, and a new decision will be made for acceptance, the need for additional revision rounds, or rejection with option to resubmit or not. Rejected articles with no option to resubmit cannot be resubmitted. Under exceptional circumstances, authors may submit an appeal to the Editor-in-Chief by sending a rebuttal letter to the Editorial Office’s e-mail address (jvascbras@organasecretaria.com.br).

If authors are not able to make the required revisions within the due date, they must contact the Editorial Office at jvascbras@organizasecretaria.com.br and request a deadline extension. A new submission cannot be used for submitting revised manuscripts.

We disclose below the Reviewers’ Questionnaire to the general public, so as to ensure total transparency of the peer review process.

• Does the manuscript contain new and significant information to justify publication?
• Does the Abstract (Summary) clearly and accurately describe the content of the article?
• Is the problem significant and concisely stated?
• Are the methods described comprehensively?
• Are the interpretations and conclusions justified by the results?
• Is adequate reference made to other work in the field?
• Is the language acceptable?
• Was the sample size calculated?
• Please rate the priority for publishing this article (1 is the highest priority, 10 is the lowest priority).
• Manuscript Structure: Length of article is too short/adequate/too many; Number of tables is too few/adequate/too many; Number of figures is too few/adequate/too many.
• Please state any conflict(s) of interest that you have in relation to the review of this paper (state “none” if this is not applicable).
• Please rate the article for Interest, Quality, Originality, and Overall, choosing between Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average, or Poor.
• Was the study approved by Ethics Committee?
• Recommendation: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject & Resubmit, or Reject.
• Would you be willing to review a revision of this manuscript?

Section policies

The criteria below should be observed for each type of publication. Electronic word count should start at Introduction and end at Conclusions.

All articles should follow the Reporting Guidelines available on the J Vasc Bras. website (https://jvascbras.org/page/report-guidelines) and, if appropriate, the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Reporting Standards (https://vascular.org/research-quality/guidelines-and-reporting-standards/reporting-standards).

Primary original research articles

J Vasc Bras. accepts articles consisting of full reports of observational or experiment clinical investigation, regardless they present positive or negative results. Original articles will be given priority for publication. The following items are required: title page (submitted as a separate file), structured abstract (including Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions, with no more than 250 words) and keywords in English, structured abstract and keywords in Portuguese as described by DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br), text (including Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, or equivalent), acknowledgments (if applicable), reference list, tables (if applicable), figure legends (if applicable), and figures (if applicable). Primary original research articles should not exceed 3,500 words (not including title page, abstract in Portuguese and English, tables, figures, and references) and 45 references. It is recommended to include references from national authors and national journals. The title should include the study design (prospective cohort, cross-sectional study, accuracy study etc.). A file with the EQUATOR checklist duly completed (please identify the manuscript page where each item can be found) should be provided for each manuscript, according to the study design (e.g.: CONSORT for randomized clinical trials, STROBE for observational studies, STARD for diagnostic and prognostic accuracy studies, among others).

Secondary original research articles (including guidelines, consensuses, systematic review, integrative review,  meta-analysis)

J Vasc Bras. accepts articles that synthesize evidence from topics of great interest for surgical specialties with great methodological rigor and detail (please refer to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis), synthetical, critical, and relevant analysis, and a clear, transparent, reproducible search strategy. Manuscripts that simply present a chronological description of the literature will not be accepted. The following items are required: title page (submitted as a separate file), structured or unstructured abstract (including Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions, with no more than 250 words) and keywords as described by DeCS (https://decs.bvs.br) in English, abstract and keywords in Portuguese, text (including an Introduction describing the reasons for writing the article), Methods (including search criteria, detailed meta-analysis if applicable, tools used to evaluate risk of bias if applicable etc.), Results, and Discussion. When appropriate, authors’ conclusions may be included in the end summarizing evidence found in the review. Secondary original research articles should not exceed 7,000 words (not including title page, abstract in Portuguese and English, tables, figures, and references) and 75 references. The title should include the study design (narrative review, systematic review, scope review etc.). A file with the EQUATOR checklist duly completed (please identify the manuscript page where each item can be found), should be provided for each manuscript, according to the study design (e.g.: PRISMA for systematic reviews, PRISMA-ScR for scope reviews, among others).
 

Innovations

J Vasc Bras. publishes innovations in diagnosis, surgical techniques, and clinical treatments, provided there are no clear or disguised commercial purposes or associations with pharmaceutical or medical device companies. The following items are required: title page (submitted as a separate file), unstructured abstract (with no more than 150 words) and keywords in English, unstructured abstract and keywords in Portuguese  as described by DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br), text, reference list, tables (if applicable), figure legends (if applicable), and figures (if applicable). The articles should not exceed 3,000 words and 30 references.

Brief communications

J Vasc Bras. publishes brief communications, ie, initial or preliminary/partial results of ongoing clinical or surgical studies or reports on innovative techniques. The following items are required: title page (submitted as a separate file), unstructured abstract (with no more than 150 words) and keywords in English, unstructured abstract and keywords in Portuguese as described by DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br), text, reference list, tables (if applicable), figure legends (if applicable), and figures (if applicable). Brief communications should not exceed 1,500 words and 25 references.

Study protocols

Current science encourages prospective detailing of the methods used in all types of study, in order to achieve greater data transparency, reproducibility, and reliability. Only protocols from clinical trials, either randomized or not, and from systematic reviews highly relevant for the scientific community and with great methodological rigor will be considered for publication. These protocols should be composed of the following items: title page (prepared and submitted as a separate file), unstructured abstract (with no more than 150 words) and keywords as described by DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br), abstract e keywords in Portuguese, text, and references. The title should include the study design (systematic review protocol, randomized clinical trial protocol etc.). A file with the EQUATOR checklist duly completed (please identify the manuscript page where each item can be found) should be provided for each manuscript, according to the study design (e.g., PRISMA-P for systematic review protocols, SPIRIT for clinical trial protocols). Protocols should have up to 3,000 words and 50 references.
 

Case reports/series

J Vasc Bras. publishes case reports of great clinical interest with good clinical and laboratory documentation. We will only accept reports of rare entities, pioneering or innovative treatments, or unexpected results diagnostically documented by imaging examination, histology, or results from specific examinations, including the follow-up period. The following items are required: title page (submitted as a separate file), unstructured abstract (including no more than 150 words) and keywords in English, unstructured abstract and keywords in Portuguese as described by DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br), text (including Introduction, Case Description, and Discussion or equivalent), reference list, figure legends (if applicable), and figures (if applicable). Case reports should not exceed 1,500 words and 25 references. Brazilian submissions should comply with the standards of Brazilian National Research Ethics Commission (Comissão Nacional de Ética em Pesquisa – CONEP) Resolution No. 166/2018 (http://www.saude.ufpr.br/portal/cometica/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/07/Carta-Circular-166-2018-Tramitação-dos-estudos-do-tipo-relato-de-caso.pdf). Please note that the approval number in the Consolidated Opinion must be informed, not only the Certificate of Presentation for Ethical Consideration (Certificado de Apresentação para Apreciação Ética – CAAE) number. International submissions should be in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and with the ethical standards of the country of origin. Preferably, informed consent should be obtained from patients for publication. A file with the EQUATOR checklist dully completed (CARE for case reports) should be provided for each manuscript (please identify the manuscript page where each item can be found).

Therapeutic challenges

J Vasc Bras. publishes therapeutic challenges, whose text should be divided into four parts: 1) Introduction; 2) Part I – Clinical situation: presentation of the case or situation, including images and/or examinations performed, followed by pertinent questions regarding additional diagnostic modalities and/or therapeutic approaches; 3) Part II – What was done: description of the chosen approach, including procedures (surgical or clinical), additional examinations, follow-up information and images (if applicable), etc.; 4) Discussion, including a final paragraph with conclusions. The following items are required: title page (submitted as a separate file), unstructured abstract (with no more than 150 words) and keywords in English, unstructured abstract and keywords in Portuguese as described by DeCS (http://decs.bvs.br), text, reference list, tables, figure legends (if applicable), and figures (if applicable). Therapeutic challenges should not exceed 1,500 words and 25 references. Brazilian submissions should comply with the standards of CONEP Resolution No. 166/2018 (http://www.saude.ufpr.br/portal/cometica/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/07/Carta-Circular-166-2018-Tramitação-dos-estudos-do-tipo-relato-de-caso.pdf). Please note that the approval number in the Consolidated Opinion must be informed, not only the CAAE number. International submissions should include a statement that the study was conducted be in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and with the ethical standards of the country of origin. When appropriate, informed consent should be obtained from patients for publication. A file with the EQUATOR checklist duly completed (please identify the manuscript page where each item can be found), should be provided for each manuscript, according to the study design.
 

Co-publication 

Co-publication of highly relevant studies, either primary or secondary, may be considered so as to achieve the widest possible dissemination and impact of study results. In general, the journal for co-publication will likely to be a less specialized publication (thus reaching a more general audience) or published in a language different from the original one (reaching a broader audience), such as Cochrane reviews. In this case, the original publication must be referenced and an editorial agreement between the journal may be required.
 

Letters to the editor

J Vasc Bras. publishes letters to the editor concerning editorial matters or published articles. They should address recently published articles from the same issue. The following items are required: title, author’s name (submitted separately), identification of the article being addressed, and reference list (if applicable). Letters to the editor should not exceed 350 words.

Special issues

J Vasc Bras. publishes conference proceedings, collections of papers presented at Brazilian conferences sponsored by the SBACV, and supplements focusing on specific topics of great interest. Special issues can be produced upon consultation with the Editor-in-Chief and the SBACV Board of Publications. The papers should be fully revised and formatted in the J Vasc Bras. style, according to article type, and validated by the Scientific Committee of the conference.

Editorials

Editorials should be scientific in nature. J Vasc Bras. will not consider editorials which were not proposed by the Editor-in-Chief or which have commercial purposes. Editorials should not exceed 1,500 words, including references (Microsoft Word® .docx format, Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced).

Authorship, accountability, and contributions

The number of authors per manuscript is limited to 8 (eight). Articles with more than eight authors should include a statement providing a reason for the inclusion of each author. In case of collective (institutional) authorship, those accountable for the manuscript should be specified. According to ICMJE’s Uniform Requirements, authorship should be based exclusively on: 1) substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Authors should meet criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4 (original text available at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html). The inclusion of authors whose contributions do not fulfill these criteria is not recommended nor warranted. Authors’ names will be published in the exact order in which they appear in the title page of the submission. This order cannot be changed, and authors cannot be included or removed after article acceptance or during production/typesetting. If necessary, authors should request an erratum after publication by submitting a justification and an agreement statement signed by all authors (authors listed initially and author to be removed or added).

ATTENTION: If one or more authors need to be included during the peer review process (before completion), this should be done in the submission system. A written justification signed by all authors (including former and new authors) should be provided, explaining why the change is being made after the submission and informing each author’s contribution again. Please note that specific author contributions to the manuscript must be informed in the title page (see template here). J Vasc Bras. publishes author contributions.

Conflicts of interest

J Vasc Bras. publishes funding and conflict of interest disclosure statements. Authors must explicitly disclose, by means of a supplementary file or in each author’s registration, any conflicts of interest that might inappropriately influence the development or conclusions of the work. Some examples include publications, issued opinions (related to articles, funding proposals, special committees, etc.), or participation in advisory or steering committees. Authors should use the criteria list below for the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest:

• if you have participated in clinical and/or experimental trials subsidized by the industry;
• if you have participated in speaking activities at industry-sponsored events;
• if you have participated in an advisory or steering committee of the industry;
• if you have participated in industry-sponsored standardization committees of scientific studies;
• if you have received any financial support from the industry;
• if you are an industry shareholder;
• if you are related to owners/directors of the industry or supplier companies;
• if you produce scientific reports for industry-sponsored journals;
• if you have any financial or other relationship with people and institutions that might inappropriately affect the work (eg, professional activities, consulting services, shares, honoraria, expert testimony, patent rights/applications, grants, or other types of financial support);
• if a positive or negative impact will be generated on cited companies or products/patents involved in the research.

Note: The ICMJE’s Conflicts of Interest PDF Form should be used for this statement and must be completed by all authors (http://www.icmje.org/coi_instructions.html).

Financial support

All authors must disclose any financial support received. If no funding or other financial support was received, the following statement must be included: "The authors declare that no financial support was received."

Start each financial disclosure statement with the author's full name, exactly as it appears in the authorship byline, followed by the Institution's or Agency's name and the grant number (in that order).

For example: Financial Support: Antoine de Saint-Exupéru received funding for this research from this funding agency (grant numbers #555-2018 AND #123-2018) and this other agency (grant number #312556-15).

Publication ethics

J Vasc Bras. is committed to monitor and ensure that ethical aspects are complied with at every step of the editorial process, maintaining the integrity of the academic record, preventing business needs or personal interests from compromising ethical standards, and actively making sure that there is no plagiarism or publication of fraudulent data. The Journal uses iThenticate to actively screen submitted manuscripts for similarities with other previously published material.

The Journal’s Editorial Staff has full responsibility and authority to reject or accept any article. The Editors-in-Chief have full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content. Submitted manuscripts are confidential documents and will be exclusively evaluated in terms of their academic merit and according to the Journal’s scope, regardless of the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, religious belief, political philosophy, or institutional affiliation. Governmental policies or other institutions outside the Journal will not interfere with the editing and publishing process.

The Editors will not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher. Editors and editorial board members will not use any information of a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes before the article is published. Information obtained by the Journal’s staff as a result of handling the paper will be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. The Editors in charge of handling the manuscripts will transfer to other members of the editorial board manuscripts that have any potential conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions linked to the papers.

J Vasc Bras. adheres to the ethical standards proposed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE – https://publicationethics.org), the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE – http://www.icmje.org), and SciELO’s Guidelines on Best Practices (https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guide-to-Best-Practices-for-Strengthening-Ethics-in-Scientific-Publishing.pdf).

Editors will take active measures when ethical concerns are raised about a submitted or published manuscript, investigating issues according to the flowcharts presented by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when dealing with suspected misconduct cases.

The peer review process will assist the Editors. The reviewers will be kept anonymous and asked to be objective, to declare the absence of conflicts of interest, to maintain confidentiality, and to guide or recommend works not yet cited.

Ethics committee

Authors must include a statement in the manuscript declaring all procedures were approved by their institution’s Research Ethics Committee or by another Committee assigned by CONEP (Brazilian Ministry of Health, Brazilian National Health Council, Resolution No. 196, 10/10/1996, on research involving humans. Federal Official Gazette of 1996 Oct 16, No. 201, section 1:21082-21085). Case reports and therapeutic challenges submitted by Brazilian authors should be in accordance with CONEP’s guidelines (http://conselho.saude.gov.br/images/comissoes/conep/documentos/CARTAS/CartaCircular166.pdf). Authors must inform, in the text of the article, the approval number in the Consolidated Opinion issued by the Research Ethics Committee, which will appear on the first page of the article together with funding information. International authors should state that the manuscript is in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and with local ethical standards. Informed consent should be obtained when necessary, and this should be clearly indicated in the article. The authors should keep copies of informed consent forms and other documents required by the Research Ethics Committee of the institution where the work was conducted. Experimental studies involving animals should comply with the guidelines applicable to the corresponding type of study.

Preregistration

The policy of J Vasc Bras. is to publish articles in which authors indicate whether the conducted research was preregistered with an analysis plan in an independent, institutional registry (eg, ReBEC, ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO ICTRP, PROSPERO, Open Science Framework, AEA RCT Registry, Evidence in Governance and Politics Registry, The Registry for International Development Impact Evaluations). Study preregistration involves registering the study design, its variables, and treatment conditions. Registering an analysis plan involves specifying a sequence of analyses or the statistical model that will be reported.

1. Authors must indicate in the acknowledgments section whether preregistered their research,  with or without an analysis plan, in an independent, institutional registry.

2. If an author preregistered the research with an analysis plan, the author must:

• Confirm in the text that the study was registered prior to conducting the research with links to the time-stamped (day, month, year) preregistration(s) at the institutional registry, and that the preregistration adheres to the disclosure requirements of the institutional registry or those required the preregistered badge with analysis plans maintained by the Center for Open Science;
• report all preregistered analyses in the text, or, if there were changes in the analysis plan following preregistration, disclose those changes with an explanation for the changes;
• clearly distinguish in the text the analyses that were preregistered from those that were not, such as having separate sections in the results for confirmatory and exploratory analyses;
• Registration number and location should be mentioned in the last line of the abstract.

Clinical trial registration

J Vasc Bras. supports the World Health Organization’s (WHO) and the ICMJE’S clinical trial registration policies and recognizes the importance of such initiatives for the registration and free international dissemination of information on clinical trials. According to these policies, clinical trials should be registered in one of the clinical trial registries validated by WHO and ICMJE criteria. Addresses are available on the ICMJE website (eg, www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.isrctn.org, www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm, and www.trialregister.nl). Clinical trials conducted in Brazil may be registered on the Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (Registro Brasileiro de Ensaios Clínicos – ReBEC) website – www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br. To this end, authors must first obtain a study registration number (named Universal Trial Number) at https://apps.who.int/utn/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 and then upload the XML file of the study registered in Plataforma Brasil. The clinical trial registration number should be included after the abstract. All manuscripts resulting from randomized clinical trials should have a registration number from one of these registries, which must be informed in the title page.

Human and animal rights

J Vasc Bras. endorses and requires authors to follow the ICMJE recommendations for the protection of research participants. All studies and reports must be in accordance with the 2013 revised Declaration of Helsinki.

Patients have the right to privacy, which cannot be infringed; therefore, informed consent is mandatory. Identifying information, including patients’ names and initials or hospitals’ names and numbers, should not be published in written descriptions or photographs unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent/guardian) has provided written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve; however, informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt.

Studies involving humans or animals must be approved by the respective Research Ethics Committee. International studies must be in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and with local ethical standards. Authors should state in the cover letter if the manuscript is in accordance with the local Research Ethics Committee and/or has been properly approved, if required for the type of article.

Studies involving animals must be conducted according to relevant national and international standards. The institution that approved the study should be named in the title page, and authors should state in the manuscript that the study was conducted based on the institution's guidelines for animal use.

Reporting guidelines

Authors must follow good practices when designing and writing their work. Reporting guidelines promote clear reporting of methods and results in order to facilitate critical appraisal of the manuscript. We request all manuscripts to be written in accordance with the appropriate reporting guideline, and authors must submit completed checklists (and flow diagram, if applicable) they followed along with the manuscript. Using a checklist helps to ensure that the reporting guideline was used correctly and helps editors and reviewers to complete the same check. If the checklist indicates an item that was not addressed in the manuscript, explain in the manuscript text why this information is not relevant to the study or add the relevant information. Guidance on each type of study and how to choose the proper reporting guideline can be found on the EQUATOR Network website. J Vasc Bras. requires using appropriate guidelines for each type of study and suggests the following resources, as stated on the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) website:

• ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) for animal studies,
• CARE for case reports;
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
• CONSORT for randomized trials;
• STROBE for observational studies;
• SRQR for qualitative research studies;
• STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies; and
• EQUATOR Network and NLM's Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives for other guidelines.

Furthermore, review articles should include the methods used for finding, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data.

Data sharing policies

The policy of J Vasc Bras. is to publish articles in which authors indicate whether data, methods used in the analysis, and materials used in the conducted research, will be available to any researcher for purposes of reproducing results and replicating the procedure.

Authors should indicate in the title page whether they are willing to make their data, analytical methods, and study materials available to other researchers. If an author agrees to make their material available, the author must specify where the material is available.

J Vasc Bras. encourages authors to share data and other artefacts supporting results in the article by archiving them in an appropriate public repository (https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-5344/2341). Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, so that this statement can be published alongside their article.

Corrections and retractions

Any suspicion of malpractice or misconduct, either during peer review or after publication, should be reported to the Editors-in-Chief via email. A detailed report of the suspicions should be provided, including evidence leading to them.

Any suspected misconduct will be thoroughly investigated according to the flowcharts presented by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The parties involved and their institutions will be contacted if necessary. Depending on the severity of the problem and the pace of the investigation, the Editors-in-Chief might publish an expression of concern prior to its conclusion. If suspected malpractice or misconduct is confirmed, the Editors will publish either a full or partial retraction notice and will update the retracted article.

Advertising policy

J Vasc Bras. does not include advertisements of any kind in its website or content published.

Manuscript preparation guidelines

Units of measurement

J Vasc Bras. uses the International System of Units (SI) and requests authors to be careful when reporting quantities.

Abbreviations and symbols

Authors should only use well-established terminology and abbreviations in the manuscript. Abbreviations should not be used in the manuscript title and abstract. In the text, unless it is a standard unit of measurement, use the full spelled-out version of the term followed by the proper abbreviation in parentheses when first mentioned.

Figures

Graphs, photographs, flowcharts, illustrations, etc. should be cited as figures (Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 1, 2, 5-7, etc.) instead of “Graph” or “Image” in order of appearance in the text. Authors should follow the instructions in the "Using color" and "Preparing and manipulating figures” sections. Avoid using color to convey meaning, as screen readers and people with visual impairments might not be able to understand.

When using arrows, symbols, letters, or numbers to highlight parts of figures, be sure to clearly identify them in the respective figure legend. All legends should be listed on the same page at the end of the manuscript. Whenever possible and relevant, figures should be presented in panels. Label each figure in the panel with letters (A, B, C, etc.) and add a description for each letter in the figure legend.

Figures should be prepared as JPEG, GIF, or TIFF at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and electronically submitted (only digital graphs and photographs) in separate files.

If electronic submission is not possible, they should be sent via regular mail. Scanned photographs will not be accepted; paper photographs should be submitted via regular mail. Photographs should not allow patient identification. Graphs should be two-dimensional and cited as “Figure.”

If the resolution of the electronic figure is low, the Journal may contact the authors and request the submission of a high-resolution version. Identify all photographs sent via regular mail with a label on the back of the figure with the first author’s name and an arrow indicating the top side.

Do not send original radiographs, materials in heat-sensitive paper, or other type of paper records. Instead, submit high-resolution photographs of these materials for proper reproduction.

If the article includes a figure that has been previously published, the original source must be cited and written permission for reproduction must be obtained from the copyright holder. Permission for reproduction is required whether the copyright holder is a publishing house or an author, except for public domain documents. Authors should keep a copy of the permission letter(s).

Figures should not duplicate information already described in the text, and their meaning should be understandable without reference to the text. Abbreviations used in figures should be spelled out in the legend.

Figures containing photographs of people should not allow their identification, unless specific permission has been given for publication in the article.

Tables

Tables should be numbered and cited consecutively with Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2, etc.). They should not be submitted as figures. Provide tables in the main document file, after the references (each table in a separate page). They should be created with the Microsoft Word table formatting tool, according to the instructions below:

• tables should not duplicate information already described in the text, and their meaning should be understandable without reference to the text;
• tables should be cited in the text and numbered in order of appearance using Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2, Tables 1, 2, 5-7, etc.);
• avoid using color to convey meaning, as screen readers and people with visual impairments might not be able to understand. If you need to use color, follow the instructions in the “Using color” section;
• use horizontal borders before and after the header rows and at the end of the table only. Do not use vertical borders and do not split cells vertically;
• spell out all abbreviations in footnotes;
• if arrows, symbols (*, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, etc.), letters, or numbers are used to include notes, be sure to properly identify them in the respective legend;
• legends should be descriptive, starting with the name in bold and followed by a period and then the descriptive text;
• in manuscripts written in English, use a period (.) to indicate decimal places and a comma (,) to indicate place values beyond thousands;
• do not use spaces or tabs when creating tables;
• do not split cells diagonally.

When necessary, authors are responsible for obtaining proper permission for the use or adaptation of data from other sources directly from the copyright holder. The corresponding citation should also be included.

Using color

Although the use of color is allowed, authors (or editing professionals) should ensure that it does not compromise the understanding of readers with visual impairments. Please check the following resourses before creating color tables and figures. 

• How to make scientific figures accessible to readers with color-blindness (2019, Science News, The American Society for Cell Biology)
• Wong, B. Points of view: Color blindness. Nat Methods 8, 441 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1618

Preparing and manipulating figures

RESOLUTION AND FILE FORMATS

Graphs, photographs, flowcharts, illustrations, etc. should be submitted as JPG, GIF, or TIFF in high resolution (300 or 600 dpi). Authors (or editing professionals) should follow the instructions below:

• check whether the figure should occupy the entire width of a page or only one column, and then ensure all text and symbols can be read clearly;
• if the figure should occupy the entire width of a page, width should be between 2,500 and 5,000 pixels;
• if the figure should occupy only one column (half page), width should be between 1,200 and 2,400 pixels;

EDITING AND MANIPULATING

When preparing figures, use filters or other types of editing tools with caution when including highlights. Figures should not be over-manipulated or over-adjusted in a way that could cause misinterpretation of the information. Please check the following tips and examples:

• “What's in a picture? The temptation of image manipulation" (Mike Rossner, Kenneth M. Yamada. J Cell Biol 5 July 2004; 166 (1): 11–15. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.200406019).
• Digital Images and Misconduct (Council of Science Editors, White Paper on Publication Ethics)
• Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Medical Journal > Illustrations (Figures) (ICMJE).

References and citations

All the authors and works cited in the text must be included in the reference list and vice-versa. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text (not in alphabetical order) with superscript numbers (not parenthetical numbers). This order should be followed both in the text and in the reference list. Avoid citing too many references, and observe the maximum number of references for each type of article. Select the most relevant references for the topic, focusing on the most recent works (past 5 years).

Please remember to cite Brazilian and Latin American authors whenever relevant. Use the following sources to find such articles: LILACS (https://lilacs.bvsalud.org/), SciELO (www.scielo.br), and J Vasc Bras. (www.scielo.br/jvb and www.jvascbras.org).

Avoid citations that are not easily available to readers, such as theses/dissertations, conference abstracts, or restricted publications. Do not use personal communications as references. Articles that have been accepted but not yet published should be cited with the words “in press.” For citation of other works by the authors, select only original journal articles which are related to the topic under discussion (do not include book chapters or review articles). The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references and should observe the referencing style shown in the examples below (Vancouver style – https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Journal articles:

1. Harvey J, Dardik H, Impeduglia T, Woo D, Debernardis F. Endovascular management of hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm hemorrhage complicating pancreaticoduodenectomy. J Vasc Surg. 2006;43:613-7.
2. The UK Small Aneurysm Trial Participants. Mortality results for randomised controlled trial of early elective surgery or ultrasonographic surveillance for small abdominal aortic aneurysms. Lancet. 1998;352:1649-55.
3. Hull RD, Pineo GF, Stein PD, et al. Extended out-of- hospital low molecular-weight heparin prophylaxis against deep venous thrombosis in patients after elective hip arthroplasty: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2001;135:858-69.

Please note that a period should be used after the abbreviated name of the journal.

If there are more than six authors, mention the first three authors followed by “et al.” Mention all authors if there are six or fewer.

Book chapters:

Rutherford RB. Initial patient evaluation: the vascular consultation. In: Rutherford RB, editor. Vascular surgery. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 2000. p. 1-12.

Artigo de revista eletrônica:

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [revista eletrônica]. 2002 Jun [citado 2002 ago 12];102(6):[aproximadamente 3 p.]. http://www. nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm.

Artigo publicado na Internet:

Wantland DJ, Portillo CJ, Holzemer WL, Slaughter R, McGheeEM. The effectiveness of web-based vs. non-web-based interventions: a meta-analysis of behavioral change outcomes. J Med Internet Res. 2004;6(4):e40. http://www.jmir.org/2004/4/e40/. Acessado: 29/11/2004.

Site:

OncoLink [site na Internet]. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania; c1994-2006. [atualizado 2004 set 24; citado 2006 mar 14]. http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/.

Software:

Smallwaters Corporation. Analysis of moment structures: AMOS [software]. Version 5.0.1. Chicago: Smallwaters; 2003.

Required files

Title page

A title page should be submitted in a separate file containing the following items:

1. manuscript title in Portuguese;
2. manuscript title in English;
3. short title (do not use abbreviations) in the same language of the manuscript (maximum of 50 characters including spaces), which will be used in the page header in the published article;
4. full names of all authors;
5. We strongly recommend including ORCIDs for all authors (in case you are not able to associate ORCID accounts with the authors in the submission system);
6. author affiliations. Please inform department, institution – ABBREVIATION, city, state, and country;
7. correspondence details. Please inform name of the corresponding author, full mailing address (including zip code, city, state, and country), telephone number, and e-mail address;
8. author information. Please inform initials for each author followed by current position/main degree (eg, GBPB holds a MSc degree in Surgery from Universidade Federal de São Paulo [USP]);
9. institution where the study was carried out (eg, This study was carried out at...);
10. conflict of interest disclosure statement;
11. financial disclosure statement;
12. approval number in the opinion issued by a Research Ethics Committee (if applicable). For Brazilian submissions, authors must inform the approval number in the Consolidated Opinion, not only the CAAE number. For international submissions, authors should state that the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and followed the ethical standards of the country of origin;
13. clinical trial registration number (if applicable).

To download a title page template, please click here. 

Main document 

The main document should be submitted in Microsoft Word© format (DOC or DOCX). The pages should be formatted in an A4 document (21.0 x 29.7), double-spaced, 2.5-cm margins, Times New Roman 12-point font. All sections should be left-aligned. Use bold for section headings and italics for subheadings.

The main document should be organized as described below:

1. title in Portuguese;
2. title in English;
3. abstract in Portuguese (structured or unstructured depending on the type of article);
4. keywords in Portuguese (should be compliant with the DeCS - Descritores em Ciências da Saúde database: http://decs.bvs.br/);
5. abstract in English (structured or unstructured depending on the type of article);
6. keywords in English (should be compliant with the DeCS - Descritores em Ciências da Saúde database: http://decs.bvs.br/);
7. structured text according to the type of article;
8. reference list;
9. tables (if applicable, one per page at the end of the article);
10. figure legends (if applicable, on the last page).

Copyright transfer agreement

All authors retain copyright for articles published under this license and are required to submit a Publication Agreement and Copyright License. The document should be signed by all authors or by the lead/corresponding author on behalf of the others, provided the lead author has the authority to do so.

To download a Publication Agreement and Copyright License template, please click here.

Manuscript submission

All manuscripts must be submitted via ScholarOne/SciELO submission system, available at http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/jvb-scielo. Log in with your user ID and password and then follow the steps for submitting your manuscript. Before initiating the manuscript submission process in the system, the submitting person must create an author account in the system and associate it with an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID – https://orcid.org/). Please create an ORCID account if you do not have one. All authors should have an ORCID account, not only the corresponding author. ORCID is a persistent identifier that distinguishes one researcher from every other. Having an ORCID enables researchers to be easily and accurately linked to their activities, research results, publications, and affiliations. Coauthor ORCIDs may be informed in the title page. If you have any questions, please contact the Editorial Office at jvascbras@organizasecretaria.com.br or at the telephone number +55 (51) 99977 3480.

Post acceptance and publication

The Journal uses a continuous article publication model, with accepted manuscripts collected by volume and year only.

Authors will be informed of the acceptance of their articles via a decision letter sent by our submission system. This message is the official acceptance document issued by J Vasc Bras.; no other documents will be issued for such purpose. Once accepted, manuscripts will enter the production process of J Vasc Bras. and will be published in a regular issue as soon as they are ready. Changes to the text or to author names will not be allowed at this stage. Accepted articles written in Portuguese or Spanish will be translated into English by the Journal’s staff, and the translation will be submitted to the corresponding author for review and approval. Accepted articles written in English will be edited for style, and the final version will be submitted to the corresponding author for approval. The Journal’s Editorial Office does not provide an exact date of publication.

Before publication, content proofs (MS Word© DOCX file) and layout proofs (PDF file) will be sent to the corresponding author for approval. The editor may request some additional information from the authors at this stage. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files (download it for free at http://get.adobe.com/br/reader/). Proof corrections should be limited to typesetting errors, with no content or author changes. No substantial changes will be accepted at this stage. Corrected proofs should be returned within 48 hours of receipt via e-mail. Once the production process of the PDF file is completed, the article will be sent to immediate publication on SciELO (http://www.scielo.br/jvb).

MANDATORY CONDITIONS

By submitting the manuscript, author(s) agree(s) the following propositions:
a) that all the authors provide their ORCID number (https://orcid.org/register) to be linked to their names;
b) that there is conflict of interests, complying with Resolution no. 1595/2000 of the Federal Council of Medicine, which prohibits the publication of works and materials aimed at promoting medical products and/or equipment;
c) that the funding source, if applicable, needs to be cited and its role during the study should be explained;
d) that the study was submitted to the Research Ethics Committee (REC) by mentioning the approval number in the text (clinical trials,  experimental studies, case reports [carta circular no. 166/2018-CONEP/SECNS/MS]);
e) that all authors grant copyright permission and allow the manuscript to undergo changes in linguistic formatting, after accepted for publication, which may include removal of redundancies, exclusion of tables and/or figures considered unnecessary, provided that there are no changes in meaning. If the authors disagree with these propositions, after receiving the text for final review prior to publication, they should prepare a text indicating the point(s) with which they disagree. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for analyzing whether the article may be sent to publication or returned to authors;
f) that, if there is any conflict of interest, it should be cited according to the following example: “The author(s) (cite their names) received financial support from the public or private entity (cite its name) to develop this study or regularly to perform other activities;
g) that the responsibility for concepts or assertions proposed in studies published in J Vasc Bras. lies entirely with the author(s);
h) that studies already published or submitted for evaluation simultaneously in another peer-reviewed journal will not be accepted (see co-publication session).