Accepted Manuscript Formatting

Accepted papers should be revised to align with the journal's formatting requirements. Please follow these guidelines when revising your paper:

Title

The manuscript title must be provided in both the manuscript's original language and an additional language. Please underline a maximum of three words in the title. These words will be highlighted in the PDF version of the paper.

Abstract

The abstract should be provided in both the manuscript's original language and an additional language (please use the same language used for the title).

Keywords

Include 3 to 5 keywords, separated by periods, in the manuscript's original language. The same keywords should be provided in an additional language (matching the title's language).

Lay Summary

The lay summary should concisely outline the article's focus and findings using non-technical language, making it accessible to non-experts. The lay summary should not exceed 200 words. Do not use citations, acronyms, or abbreviations. Refer to our Lay Summary Guidelines for more information.

Section Headings

Number all section headings except for the Introduction.

Illustrations (Tables, Graphs, Figures, Boxes)

The title of each illustration should begin with the illustration's name (in bold), numbered sequentially (e.g., Table 1., Table 2., Graph 1., Graph 2.), and placed below the illustration. When referencing previously published illustrations, provide the source. All illustrations should be inserted within the text, immediately following the paragraph of citation.

Accessibility

All submissions must comply with WCAG 2.2 (Level AA) accessibility standards to ensure full usability for readers with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities.

Text and Language

Specify the main language of the manuscript and mark passages in other languages so that screen readers can recognize them. Do not rely solely on color, bold, or underlining to convey meaning; always pair color with text or symbols. Maintain adequate color contrast (minimum ratio 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for headings).

Figures, Graphs, and Illustrations

Each visual element must include both a caption and alternative text (ALT). Captions must appear below the illustration and begin with its type and number (e.g., Figure 1., Table 2.). Provide concise ALT text (one or two sentences) describing what the figure represents and its main message (for example, “Line chart showing a 10–25% increase in accuracy between 2020 and 2024, peaking in 2023”). If the visual contains complex information, supply a longer description immediately after the caption or in supplementary materials. Use color-blind–safe palettes and ensure that information is not conveyed by color alone; add patterns, labels, or markers as needed. Whenever possible, submit vector graphics (SVG, PDF, or EPS) for diagrams and charts, and 300 dpi PNG or TIFF for images.

Tables

Do not include tables as images. Use editable table structures with clear column and row headers. Each table must have a caption and ALT text. The structure should allow logical reading order for screen readers.

Equations and Symbols

Insert equations as editable text (MathML, LaTeX, or Word’s equation editor), not as images. If an image is unavoidable, provide ALT text that expresses the equation verbally.

Audio and Video

Provide accurate captions for all spoken content, and full transcripts including relevant sounds. Supply audio descriptions whenever visual information is essential for comprehension.

PDF and File Preparation

The final PDF must be a tagged PDF with proper reading order, structured headings, and descriptive link text. Include bookmarks for all sections. Use DOI links in canonical format (https://doi.org/...).

Citations

Follow the ABNT NBR 10520 guidelines for citations.

For indirect citations (paraphrases), cite the author's last name within parentheses, followed by a comma and the publication year (e.g., Swerts, 1997). If the author's name is already mentioned in the text, only the publication year in parentheses is required, such as "According to Oliveira Jr (2000)...".

When indicating a page number in a direct quotation, place it after the year, preceded by "p." (e.g., Oliveira Jr, 2000, p. 95). Direct quotations under three lines should be enclosed in double quotation marks, while those exceeding three lines should be indented 4cm from the left, with font size 10, and no quotation marks.

To differentiate works by the same author and year, use lowercase letters without spacing (e.g., Ferreira, 2007a).

Cite two or three authors by listing their names separated by semicolons (e.g., Huettig; Rommers; Meyer, 2011). For more than three authors, use the first author's name followed by "et al." in italics (e.g., Almeida et al., 2013). List all authors in the References.

Basic Information

After the main text and before the References, provide the following information:

Acknowledgements (optional): Any acknowledgements should be presented in their own paragraph with a header.

Competing Interests (required): Declare any competing interests for authors. If there are none, state "The author(s) declare(s) no competing interests."

Research Preregistration (if applicable): Confirm in this section if research was preregistered, include links to preregistrations and indicate if any analysis plan changes occurred.

Data Accessibility Statement (required): Provide a Data Availability Statement.

Ethics and Consent (if applicable): Approvals from ethics committees should be detailed in this section, if applicable, including committee name and approval reference.

Disclosure of Funding Sources (if applicable): Declare research support received to promote transparency.

Examples of Reference Formatting

BRAYNER, A. R. A.; MEDEIROS, C. B. Incorporação do tempo em SGBD orientado a objetos. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE BANCO DE DADOS, 9., 1994, São Paulo. Anais [...]. São Paulo: USP, 1994. p. 16-29. (Example of a work published in Proceedings)

DANTAS, José Alves et al. Regulação da auditoria em sistemas bancários: análise do cenário internacional e fatores determinantes. Revista Contabilidade & Finanças, São Paulo, v. 25, n. 64, p. 7-18, jan./abr. 2014. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1519-70772014000100002. Acesso em: 20 maio 2014 (Example of an article published in a journal with a DOI).

LUCK, Heloisa. Liderança em gestão escolar. 4. ed. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2010. (Example of a book)

MORAES, João Antônio de; RILLIARD, Albert. “Prosody and Emotion in Brazilian Portuguese”. In: ARMSTRONG, Meghan E.; HENRIKSEN, Nicholas; VANRELL, Maria del Mar. Intonational Grammar in Ibero-Romance: Approaches across linguistic subfields. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2016, p. 135-152. (Example of a book chapter)

RODRIGUES, Ana Lúcia Aquilas. Impacto de um programa de exercícios no local de trabalho sobre o nível de atividade física e o estágio de prontidão para a mudança de comportamento. 2009. Dissertação (Mestrado em Fisiopatologia Experimental) – Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2009. (Example of an academic work – thesis, dissertation, etc.)

SEKEFF, Gisela. O emprego dos sonhos. Domingo, Rio de Janeiro, ano 26, n. 1344, p. 30-36, 3 fev. 2002. (Example of a journal article without URL or DOI)

File Specifications

Submit manuscripts as DOCX, ODT, or LaTeX source files. Figures should be in SVG, PDF, or EPS (vector) or 300 dpi PNG/TIFF (raster). Tables must be editable, not images. Include all data files (CSV/TSV) in the supplementary materials or data repository.

Pre-Submission Checklist

• Ensure that title, abstract, and keywords appear in two languages.
• Number all sections except the Introduction.
• Verify that all figures and tables have captions, ALT text, and color-blind–safe design; provide data files when relevant.
• Confirm that equations are editable and not images.
• Create a tagged PDF with descriptive links and correct reading order.
• Check that citations follow ABNT NBR 10520 and references follow NBR 6023, with DOI URLs.
• Include declarations for conflicts of interest, data availability, ethics, and funding.
• Proofread the text thoroughly; the editorial team will not perform language editing.

Examples of ALT and Descriptive Captions

ALT (Figure 2): Map of northeastern Brazil showing twelve municipalities with bars indicating numbers of speakers per municipality (5–120).

Long description (Figure 2): The map includes twelve bars; values range from five to one hundred twenty speakers, with higher concentrations in municipalities along the coastal axis.