Ethics and Research Misconduct, Errata, and Retraction Policy

This Publication Ethics Statement addresses in detail the structure, editorial principles, and workflow of the Revista Brasileira de História da Educação. Our goal is to be transparent about all the stages involved in the management and publication of the journal’s articles. Here you will find a guide with instructions on ethics in publication and evaluation, especially applicable to authors and reviewers. As a reader, you become aware of the rigor involved in the practice of scholarly publishing, which is highly valued and respected by our journal. If you have any questions regarding any of the issues addressed here, please send a message to our team at rbhe.sbhe@gmail.com.

 

Use of data and citations

 Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement on the availability of the data used and generated in the research underlying the texts. Research data are understood as the contents (numerical data, texts, computer programs, images, audio, videos, etc.) used or generated in the research and underlying the article texts, organized in files. The data files underlying an article are organized in a description called a “dataset.”

Articles that include data acquisition or the analysis and interpretation of data from other publications must explicitly reference those sources.

In the writing of articles that contain a critical review of the intellectual content of other authors, those authors must be properly cited.

Texts in all sections must include citations and, consequently, a complete list of bibliographic references. Thus, the absence of citations results in the rejection of the submission during the Primary Evaluation of the submitted text.

 

Self-citations

The journal accepts a maximum rate of 5% self-citations.

 

Participation and contribution to the research

 All authors must describe, in a dedicated document, signed and uploaded to the submission platform, the detailed participation of each of the authors who sign the article, considering the following stages of the research: the design of the study; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; the writing of the manuscript; the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

According to the recommendations of the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors), not all forms of participation in the research constitute authorship of the study to be published. Thus, certain types of contribution may be acknowledged in the article’s acknowledgments section: general supervision of a research group or administrative support; assistance with writing and textual revision of the article; scientific advising, among others. It is recommended that authors consult this page, on the ICMJE website itself, if they seek clarification on the topic.

 

Misconduct in authorship

Other authorship-related practices directly violate publication ethics, are rejected by RBHE, and must, without exception, be avoided:

• ghost authorship: the true author of the content is concealed from the list of authors and is not credited for any reason;
• guest authorship without actual contribution: the inclusion of researchers for convenience, as academic favor exchanges, or for any other reason.

 

Original and unpublished nature of the publication

 All submissions sent for evaluation by RBHE must be original and unpublished. Thus, texts may not be under simultaneous review by another journal; otherwise, this must be justified in the “Comments to the editor,” so that the journal may analyze the issue individually.

In the case of original articles, the journal requires that their content be unpublished, meaning it must not have been previously published in any medium of scientific dissemination, except preprint repositories.

If the submitted article is related to research whose content has already been disseminated in the manners referenced above, its content must constitute a clear and considerable expansion of the initial version, thereby ensuring its unpublished character. The repetition of most of the content is considered self-plagiarism, which results in the rejection of the submission. The editorial committee evaluates this aspect and decides on the appropriate course of action.

 

Redundant publication and self-plagiarism

 Texts with more than two-thirds of their content previously published are considered redundant publications. These cases involve overlap of textual content, which means that a redundant text may be considered self-plagiarism, leading to its rejection by the RBHE editorial team.

 

“Salami” publication

 This practice consists of publishing an article whose research presents repetition of methods, hypotheses, and results. By presenting data that were developed in research already published, authors fragment the results in order to generate publication volume, artificially increasing their statistics. The partial presentation of results that could be analyzed and compared in a single article requires unnecessary cross-referencing and hinders the development of the topic within the scientific community, occupying readers and editors unnecessarily. Thus, RBHE recommends that issues that are very closely related and derived from a single research project be addressed through the writing of a single article.

 

Corrections and retractions

 In the case of accidental errors, if the authors feel the need to correct data available in the published version of their articles, RBHE accepts requests for content correction. Such requests will be evaluated by the editors and, if deemed appropriate, the correction will be carried out, and an updated version will be published. A notification will be issued and linked to the original text, which will remain available on the journal’s website.

In cases of plagiarism, unethical research, duplicate publication, or unreliable data, RBHE will carefully analyze the suspicion. If the violation of the journal’s ethical and editorial principles is confirmed, the article may remain available, identified as a “retracted version.” If necessary, the journal will remove the published version. In both situations — maintenance or removal — a retraction notice will be issued, presenting the justifications that support the corresponding editorial decision.

 

Note on research funding

In the case of research funded by projects, institutions, or other specific sources of financial support, authors must provide an informational note regarding the origin of the funding.

 

General recommendations on ethics

In addition to observing the provisions presented above, specific to RBHE, authors are encouraged to access the official COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) website. There, it is possible to consult principles and specific flowcharts, resolving doubts and enriching the ethical aspects of the editorial processes carried out throughout the evaluation and publication of scientific research. 

Conflict of Interest Policy Conflicts of interest may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial in nature. Conflicts of interest can occur when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that may influence the preparation or evaluation of manuscripts. When submitting a manuscript, authors are responsible for recognizing and disclosing financial or other types of conflicts that may have influenced the work. If there is, even potentially, a conflict of interest, the author(s) must report it in a dedicated document, signed and uploaded to the submission platform. For additional information, access: Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest.