Submissions

Author Guidelines

These guidelines are intended to assist authors in the preparation and submission of their scientific findings to Hansenologia Internationalis: Leprosy and Other Infectious Diseases. 

Only manuscripts that are strictly in accordance with the instructions specified in this guideline will proceed with the editorial process.

General Aspects

Hansenologia Internationalis accepts manuscripts for publication in the following categories: editorials, original articles, review articles, clinical studies, case reports, experience reports, viewpoints, brief communications, guides, protocols, guidelines, technical standards and manuals, interviews, letters to the editor, and obituaries. Detailed information about each category can be found at the end of this page.

Hansenologia Internationalis does not charge any fees for the submission, evaluation, or publication of articles, making the entire process free of charge for authors.

Original manuscripts undergo evaluation in two stages: desk review and peer review.

The desk review, or preliminary evaluation, is conducted by the Executive Editorial Committee, while the peer review uses a double-blind system, involving expert reviewers in the study area.

To ensure the application of the double-blind peer review system, manuscripts must be prepared to prevent the disclosure of the authors' identities. Therefore, author names and affiliations should be removed from the manuscript. These details must be included exclusively in the Title Page.

For manuscripts previously made available on preprint servers, authors must include the virtual location (link and DOI) in the Title Page for the editors' reference. These manuscripts will only undergo blind review, considering that reviewers may be aware of the authors' identities.

HI Journal recommends that research data and codes used in the studies be shared and published in a reliable repository, ensuring accessibility and long-term preservation. Authors must indicate on the Title Page the repository where the research data has been published.

Acceptance criteria for authorship require significant contributions to the conception and/or development of the research and/or manuscript drafting, as well as mandatory participation in the revision and approval of the final version. For defining the roles of authors and collaborators, we recommend consulting the ICMJE | Recommendations | Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors. As an expression of transparency and acknowledgment of the diverse contributions made by researchers to the communicated study, the specific contributions of each author will be included at the end of the published article. Regardless of their individual contributions, all authors share equal responsibility for the article.

The Authorship and Responsibility Statement is the document in which authors acknowledge their awareness of the publication's policies and guidelines and confirm their involvement in the manuscript's preparation, thereby assuming responsibility for its content. This document must be completed and signed by all authors of the manuscript.

Detailed information regarding the copyright policy, peer review process, ethical policies, and more must be reviewed under the Editorial Policies tab prior to preparing and submitting the manuscript.

Authors can track the progress of the evaluation activities through the system by accessing the ‘View pending submissions’ icon in the Submissions tab.

Author Registration and Submission Process

Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. To do so, authors should access the Register tab on the system and complete the form to create a username and password.

 Attention: Only one author will submit the manuscript to the journal; however, it is mandatory that all authors register in the OJS system.

When completing the submission form, authors must provide their ORCID registration number, a globally recognized and accepted unique digital identifier for researchers/academics. The integration of ORCID with the OJS system simplifies information management and enables the automated updating of authors' scientific output.

Similarly, authors must provide the Research Organization Registry (ROR) of the institution they are affiliated with by entering the institution's name and selecting the ROR ID in the submission form. Used internationally, ROR is a unique, open identifier developed to eliminate ambiguities in institutional names and to connect research organizations, researchers, and research outputs.

The author must follow the step-by-step instructions for filling out the Submission form and then attach the following documents to the process:

• Title Page — Mandatory
• The Declaration of Authorship and Responsibility signed by all authors — Mandatory
• Manuscript Text — Mandatory
• Informed Consent Form (ICF) and/or Informed Assent Form (IAF) — if applicable
• Approval from the Research Ethics Committee — if applicable

When submitting the manuscript to the Journal, authors should thoroughly review it to ensure all instructions are followed. The opinions expressed in the manuscript are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Editorial Team.

Formatting and Structure of the Manuscript

It is recommended that authors use the following page setup and text formatting: A4 paper size; top and right margins 3 cm, bottom and left margins 2 cm; line spacing 1.5 for the text and single spacing for references; text of the manuscript should be justified, and for the references, left-aligned; use Verdana font, size 14.

• Manuscript Title: full title in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. The title should be concise, clear, and as informative as possible, identifying and individualizing the scientific article. It should not contain abbreviations. 
• Abbreviated Title: following the same language guidelines as mentioned above, the abbreviated title should summarize the subject of the manuscript. 
• Section of the Journal to which the manuscript content belongs: the author should specify the category of the text to be submitted. Example: original article, review articles, clinical case studies.
• Abstract: a single paragraph text, structured and with single spacing. It should be informative, not indicative, and include the introduction, objectives of the study, justification (if applicable), methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Do not use abbreviations or bibliographic citations. The abstract must be written in Portuguese, English (Abstract), and Spanish (Resumen).
• Keywords: should appear in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) or Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). They should be placed below the abstract and contain at least three (3) and no more than six (6) keywords, written in mixed case and separated by periods. Example: Public health. Leprosy. Health education. The keywords must also be presented in English (Keywords) and Spanish (Palabras clave), after the respective abstracts.
• Introduction: clear and objective, containing information that justifies the work, limiting references to what is necessary, ideally from the last five years, and pertinent to the field of research. 
• Materials and Methods: a concise description, without omitting essential information for understanding and replicating the work. Established methods and techniques should be referenced by citation whenever applicable, and the Ethical Committees that reviewed the human study process or the guidelines followed for the protection and experimental treatment of animals should be indicated. This section should include, when relevant, the study subject, the study design, specific procedures, data analysis, and ethical aspects.
• Results: whenever necessary, results should be accompanied by tables, figures, or other self-explanatory illustrations that preferably should not be described in text form. Data should undergo statistical analysis when applicable. The content should be informative, not interpretive.
• Discussion: limited to the results obtained, including only the necessary references. The content should be interpretive, with hypotheses and speculations formulated based on the findings. The text should be argumentative, where the authors validate their conclusions.
• Conclusions: present the relevant conclusions, essentially answering the work’s objective(s). The conclusion should be written in the present tense.
• Acknowledgments: acknowledgments should be placed at the end of the text and made to institutions, including the full name and country.
• Funding Source: authors must indicate whether the work received funding and provide the funding agency, protocol number, and year of approval. The same applies to scholarships and protocol approval year.

Attention: manuscripts submitted for double-blind review should not include author information. This rule does not apply to manuscripts previously published in preprint.

Spelling revision, accuracy of references in the list, and proper citation in the text and references are the responsibility of the authors.

The editorial team reserves the right to make changes to manuscripts to ensure the homogeneity and grammatical quality of the publication, respecting the style and opinions of the authors.

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES

 Citations

• Citations in the text and illustrations should be identified by superscript Arabic numerals without parentheses, in the order in which they appear in the text, corresponding to the respective order number in the reference list.
• When citing multiple references in sequence, separate the numbers with a dash, or when using non-sequential numbers, use a comma. Example: ^1-5 or ^1,5,7.
• For authors mentioned by name in the text, present the first name in upper-lower case, followed by the superscript reference number.

References

• Only cited references should be listed at the end of the work, in numerical order, aligned to the left, and formatted according to the international standards outlined in the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, as established by the ICMJE.
• Documents with up to 6 authors should list all of them with the surname and abbreviated first name. Example: Silva AD. Documents with more than 6 authors should list the first 6 and use ‘et al.’ for the remaining authors. Example: Silva AD, Fernandes M, Souza, P. Vieira AS, Prado J, Pereira M, et al.
• Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the official abbreviation of the journal. For national journals, refer to the Portal de Revistas Científicas em Ciências da Saúde da BVS, and for international journals, consult the NLM Catalog, performing a search by the journal name. If the journal does not have an abbreviation, use the full name.  
• In all references, whenever possible, include the direct link to the cited document and/or the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The DOI should be the last element presented in the reference. 
• References to personal communications and unpublished manuscripts should not be included in the reference list. Citations/references from undergraduate thesis, conference proceedings, symposia, workshops, meetings, and unpublished texts (such as lectures, etc.) will not be accepted. It is recommended that the references used in the text be composed preferably of original articles and the most recent possible.

See examples of citations and references here!

ILLUSTRATIONS

• The number of figures should be limited to what is essential for presenting the results, not exceeding 5. Illustrations include tables, charts, graphs, photos, maps, and other graphic resources necessary for understanding the content. All illustration data, including the title, must be in title case, except for acronyms. Illustrations already published must cite the source. When the illustration is authored by a third party, the authors of the submitted manuscript must attach permission from the original author regarding the reproduction of the illustration. 
• In photographs, when a patient is depicted, their identity must be obscured. The inclusion of a formal consent document for publication is mandatory, such as the Informed Consent Form (ICF) or, in the case of minors, the Informed Assent Form (IAF).
• Figures representing the same data as Tables will not be accepted. 
• All illustrations must be identified by type and numbered (Arabic numerals) in the order they appear in the text, with a concise descriptive title. Figures, with their respective titles and captions, should be presented as supplementary documents.
• All illustrations must include a title or explanatory caption: the illustration and its caption should be self-sufficient, meaning they should allow understanding of the information being conveyed; they should be mentioned and discussed in the text and must be editable.

For more information, click here!

The editorial committee of the journal Hansenologia Internationalis: Leprosy and Other Infectious Diseases are honored to receive your scientific discoveries. If you have any questions regarding the editorial guidelines or instructions for authors presented here, please access the available tutorials or contact us via email at hansenologia.internationalis@gmail.com.

                                                                                                                          (Updated on: 30/07/2024)

Categories of Published Works