SUS Journal

RESS publishes scientific articles in the field of public health, including epidemiology, social and human sciences in health, management and planning, and which present evidence relevant to the SUS.

The abbreviation of its title is Epidemiol Serv Saude, which should be used in bibliographies, footnotes, references and bibliographic captions.

Brief history

RESS is the continuation of the SUS Epidemiological Report (IESUS) initiated in 1992 by the National Epidemiology Center (CENEPI), predecessor of the Health and Environment Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health. In 2023, from volume 12, number 1, the magazine became known as Epidemiology and Health Services.

Epidemiology and Health Services: SUS magazine (RESS) is an open access scientific journal, published annually and continuously, at no cost to authors and readers, edited by the General Coordination of Technical-Scientific Publishing in Health Surveillance. It is governed by Ordinance No. 14, of August 13, 2015, and by its Statute.

Open Access

RESS follows the Open Access model, allowing virtual access without restrictions of any kind, including financial restrictions, to all scientific texts published by the journal.

In the open access model, the copyright holder grants usage rights through an open license (Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0), authorizing any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing or use them for any legal purpose.

Open Science Compliance

This journal follows the Diamante open access model, at no cost to authors or readers.

RESS aligns with open science practices and welcomes manuscripts previously deposited on preprint servers, such as SciELO Preprints and medRxiv, before or during submission. The corresponding author must report the deposit on the Open Science Compliance Form.

The availability of research data must be declared on the form and in the “Data Availability” section of the manuscript, informing the repository used, preferably with DOI (SciELO Data, OSF, among others). If data cannot be made available, justification is required.

The RESS system uses double-blind peer review, but manuscripts deposited as preprints are evaluated in a single-blind mode. Authors can agree to the publication of reviews and direct interaction with reviewers, who can also choose to reveal their identity.

Approved opinions can be published in the “Peer Review Opinions” format, with identification when authorized.

Ethics in publishing

The RESS Publication Ethics Declaration expresses the magazine’s commitment to best editorial practices. Authors, when submitting articles, commit to this declaration.

RESS follows the ethical principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct to guide its editorial processes.

Research with human beings must fully comply with the standards of the National Health Council. The manuscript must include: name of the ethics committee, opinion number, approval date, CAAE number and record of free and informed consent. Studies without ethical assessment must be duly justified.

Focus and scope

RESS publishes scientific articles in the field of public health, including epidemiology, social and human sciences in health, management and planning, with a focus on evidence relevant to the SUS.

Its target audience includes researchers, teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate public health students, managers, health professionals and others interested in public health topics.

Digital preservation

RESS follows the standards of the SciELO Program Digital Preservation Policy. All volumes are digitally preserved at the Instituto Evandro Chagas (IEC) and in the SciELO Collections since their admission in 2014 (vol. 23).

As part of the SciELO Brasil and SciELO Public Health Collections, the magazine is digitally preserved by Rede Cariniana (Ibict/MCTI), which uses the LOCKSS distributed storage system.

Indexing Sources

Databases

• MEDLINE
• SciELO Brazil Collection
• SciELO Public Health Collection
• Scopus
• Embase
• LILACS
• Web of Science
• PubMed Central (PMC)

Indexers

• Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
• Sumarios.org

Directories

• Latindex
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

Virtual library

• CAPES periodicals

Bibliographic record

Title of the periodical: Epidemiology and Health Services

Short title: Epidemiol Serv Saude

Published by: Secretariat of Health and Environmental Surveillance of the Ministry of Health

Frequency: annual

Publication method: continuous publishing

Year of creation of the periodical: 2003

Websites and social media

Website: https://ress.iec.gov.br

The following social networks are available under the username @revistadosus:

This section presents the editorial guidelines of Epidemiology and Health Services: SUS magazine (RESS), including guidelines on preprints, peer review, open data, ethics, conflicts of interest, copyright and other rules applicable to the editorial process.

Preprints

Manuscripts deposited on reliable preprint servers are welcomed, such as SciELO Preprints e medRxiv, before or in parallel to submission. The corresponding author must inform about the deposit by filling out the Open Science Compliance Form, which must be submitted as a supplementary file to the manuscript.

This practice aligns with continuous publishing as a mechanism to accelerate research communication. Preprints share the originality of the publication of articles with the journal.

Peer review process

After submission by authors, manuscripts go through the following evaluation stages:

1. Scope assessment by the editor-in-chief.
2. Verification by the executive secretariat: confirmation of adherence to instructions to authors and verification of submitted files.
3. Assessment of methodological quality by scientific editors.
4. External peer review: carried out by at least two experts to evaluate the scientific merit and content of the manuscripts, with constructive criticism for their improvement. Reviewers must follow the ethical requirements of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
5. Recommendation by Associate Editor: substantiated analysis of the manuscript and opinions, indicating the need for review by the authors, among the options:
   • To accept
   • Short review (20 days)
   • Major review (40 days)
   • Reject
6. Review by authors: adjustments to the manuscript, accompanied by a response letter detailing how the recommendations were met.
7. Editorial decision by the chief and scientific editors.
8. Approved version compliance with RESS standards: revision of language and form.

Approval on scientific merit does not imply an obligation for publication by RESS. The editorial process may be interrupted if the authors disagree with the journal’s rules.

The estimated time for editorial evaluation is 90 days from submission, which is within the journal’s rules. Manuscripts are accepted after acceptance by the executive secretary, according to the checklist.

Reviews and communications are sent via the ScholarOne system, and authors must observe deadlines and notifications.

Opening of the evaluation process

As standard, the system follows a double-blind model. Nonetheless:

• Manuscripts deposited as preprints automatically undergo single-blind evaluation.
• In the Open Science Compliance Form, authors can agree to:
  • publication of opinions,
  • direct interaction with referees.
• Reviewers can choose to:
  • interact directly with authors;
  • disclose your identity;
  • publish signed opinions.

All published articles provide the name and ORCID ID of the editors involved and the reviewers who chose to identify themselves.

Open data

Research data (databases, codes, methods and other materials used and resulting from research) should ideally be deposited in reliable data repositories (list available at https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Lista-de-Repositorios-Recomendados_pt.pdf), preferably with a persistent identifier such as the digital object identifier (DOI). If authors choose to publish the data in the SciELO Data repository, the deposit must only occur after acceptance of the article, following the Research Data Preparation Guide.

Access to such data, with the link to the repository, must be informed in the “Data availability” section.

The item is mandatory and must contain a statement about access to the manuscript’s data (database generated by the authors for analysis, codes, methods and other materials resulting from the research subject of the manuscript); the repository and referencing must be informed, preferably through a SciELO Data, OSF or other link that generates DOI, with appropriate citation in the text so that the reader can obtain this data. If the data cannot be made available, it is necessary to justify it.

Examples of text to fill out this section are in the 1st topic of the Curation Guide and also in item 2.2 of the TOP Guide. The data must be cited in the text, preferably in “Methods”, and the complete reference must be included in the “References” section, following the example:

Kraemer MUG, Sinka ME, Duda KA, Mylne A, Shearer FM, Brady OJ et al. The global compendium of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus occurrence [dataset]. 2015 Jun 30 [cited 2015 Oct 23]. Dryad Digital Repository. Available from: https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.47v3c. Referenced in doi: 10.7554/eLife.08347.

During the editorial process, editors can request access to study databases from authors to support the evaluation.

Fee collection

RESS operates under the diamond open access model, in which there are no charges for authors or readers. It does not charge fees for submission, evaluation or publication of articles. All manuscripts are accessible free of charge, without charging fees or registration to the reader. The articles are translated free of charge into English and the abstract into Spanish.

Publication costs are covered by the supporting institution, the Health and Environment Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health (SVSA/MS), in alignment with the SciELO Declaration on Financial Sustainability.

Ethics and misconduct policy, errata and retraction

RESS follows the guidelines of the Recommendations for preparing, writing, editing and publishing academic works in medical journals, from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and adopts the principles of ethics in publishing the code of conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to guide its editorial procedures, including conduct in case of errors or bad practices in research and scientific communication. Such procedures are in line with SciELO’s Guide to good practices for strengthening ethics in scientific publishing.

By submitting the manuscript, authors commit to the quality and integrity of their work. This includes using appropriate language and ensuring that the text reflects research procedures and comparison with the literature. When identifying errors, authors must notify the editors in order to make corrections through the preparation and publication of errata.

Practices that violate scientific integrity, such as plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication of data, redundant publication and undisclosed conflicts of interest, among other bad practices, will be evaluated by the RESS editorial board in accordance with COPE recommendations, ensuring communication to authors about the stages and decision of the process.

If misconduct is suspected, RESS editors will initiate an investigation in accordance with COPE guidelines, which, depending on the severity and stage of submission or publication, may result in:

• rejection of the manuscript under consideration;
• errata for (i) correction of information, (ii) inclusion of information and (iii) exclusion of information involving honest errors that do not affect the structure of the article (other exclusions must be made through retraction);
• partial or total retraction of the article.

RESS authors undertake to cooperate with editors in corrections and retractions.

Conflict of interest policy

Authors must declare the presence of conflicts of interest, reporting the existence of interests – apparent or not – capable of influencing the process of preparing and reviewing manuscripts, and which may be of different natures – personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. The declaration of conflicts of interest will be published in the final version of the manuscript.

Authors must fill in the respective field in the ScholarOne System with the declaration of conflict of interests of all authors when submitting the manuscript.

Reviewers involved in editorial processing must declare in the evaluation system their potential conflicts of interest with the manuscript under consideration.

Annually, all members of the RESS editorial board present their declaration of conflicts of interest and the associated editors renew their term of commitment to act as such, which includes ethical and research integrity commitments in the handling of manuscripts.

As a way of ensuring the journal’s editorial independence in relation to the supporting institution, the decision on approving manuscripts for publication is the responsibility of the chief and scientific editors, researchers with institutional autonomy and academic independence.

Adoption of similarity checking software

The magazine uses the iThenticate system to identify plagiarism. Authors are encouraged to remove similarities to previous texts, especially complete sentences. It is recommended to keep the final text below 30% similarity with other documents. In cases of texts derived from academic works that fail to meet this threshold, such deliberation will be up to the editors.

Similarity verification is carried out during peer review, with the similarity report forwarded together with the opinions for adjustment by the authors. The final version of the accepted manuscript is checked to ensure that the journal’s recommendations have been followed.

Adoption of artificial intelligence software

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies must be reported in the appropriate section of the manuscript. If AI tools were used to collect and analyze research data, such use must be reported in the Methods section of the manuscript, providing complete information for research transparency and reproducibility.

If such tools were used to assist in writing and reviewing the manuscript, their use must be reported in the “Use of generative artificial intelligence” section of the manuscript, and authors must inform procedures adopted to guarantee the accuracy of citations and the originality of content generated with the aid of artificial intelligence, also ensuring the absence of plagiarism.

Authors must additionally observe the “Guide for using Artificial Intelligence tools and resources in communicating research on the SciELO Network”.

Sex and gender issues

RESS observes the gender equity policy in the formation of its editorial board.

The RESS editorial team and its authors must observe the principles of the Guidelines on Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER), whose official translation into Portuguese was carried out and published by RESS.

Per this guideline, the terms sex (biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) must be used carefully in order to avoid inaccuracy in their use.

Ethics Committee

Compliance with ethical precepts in conducting and publishing research results is the sole responsibility of the authors, who must respect the ethical recommendations contained in the Declaration of Helsinki. Research involving human subjects must be approved by the competent research ethics committee, at the regional or national level.

For research with human beings in Brazil, authors must fully comply with the standards contained in the Resolutions of the National Health Council. The manuscript must include a table containing: (i) name of the research ethics committee that approved the study; (ii) opinion number; (iii) approval date; (iv) number of the ethical assessment presentation certificate; and (v) registration of free and informed consent. Studies without ethical assessment must present justification.

Clinical trials must inform the protocol number registered in one of the registries validated by the World Health Organization (WHO), available on the Clinical Trials Registry Platform (list in https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform/network/primary-registries), which includes the Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBEC), available at https://ensaiosclinicos.gov.br.

Copyright

The authors retain the copyright of the published article and grant RESS the right of first publication, under the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 license. This license assignment allows articles to be reused and distributed without restriction, as long as the original work is correctly cited.

All authors complete and sign the Copyright Assignment Term after approval of the manuscript.

Intellectual property and terms of use

All magazine content and articles published by RESS, except where otherwise specified, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 license, which allows reuse and distribution without restriction, as long as the original work is correctly cited. The authors maintain the copyright, and RESS, the right of first publication.

The data, opinions and concepts expressed in the articles, as well as the accuracy of the bibliographic references, are the sole responsibility of the author(s).

Editor-in-Chief

Scientific editors

Executive editor

Executive secretary

Associate editors

Editorial Committee

Technical team

Language review

Translation

Epidemiology and Health Services: SUS magazine (RESS) publishes scientific articles in the field of public health, including epidemiology, social and human sciences in health, management and planning, and which present evidence relevant to the SUS.

Types of documents accepted

RESS welcomes manuscripts in the modalities described below. Manuscripts must be submitted in Portuguese and may have been published as preprints, deposited on reliable servers.

• Original article – product with unpublished research data. This modality also includes experience reports, investigation of events or outbreaks and profiles of Brazilian bases.
• Research note – concise reporting of original research results.
• Revision – synthesis of scientific literature, which can be systematic, narrative or other types of review.
• Opinion article – succinct commentary on specific topics within the scope of public health, based on scientific evidence and expressing the qualified opinion of the authors; must be prepared by a specialist, at the invitation of the editors.
• Debate – theoretical article prepared by a specialist, at the invitation of the editors, which will receive comments and/or criticism, through replicas, signed by specialists, also invited.
• Letter – brief comments and/or criticisms, linked to an article published in the magazine, which may be published by decision of the editors and accompanied by a response letter from the authors of the commented article.
• Methodological series – description of methodological procedures, including innovative methods and improvement of existing methods that are relevant to the SUS, published in a series of manuscripts, at the invitation of the editors.
• Guideline – guide or guideline to guide conduct within the scope of the SUS.

Invitation and letter modalities can only be submitted following an invitation issued through the ScholarOne system, as these modalities are not open in the system. In case of doubts during the submission process, the journal secretariat should be contacted.

In addition to the modalities above, submitted by the scientific community, editors are responsible for preparing Editorials (limit: 1,500 words) and Interviews (limit: 3,500 words) with personalities or authorities.

The characteristics of the modalities supported by RESS are summarized below. In justified cases and in manuscripts with citations restricted to scientific articles, references above the limit may be accepted, depending on the editors’ decision.

Characteristics of the modalities supported

Authors’ contributions

Authors must meet the authorship criteria in line with the deliberations of ICMJE, namely:

• Conception or design of the study, or collection, analysis and interpretation of data;
• Drafting or critically reviewing the intellectual content of the manuscript;
• Final approval of the version to be published; and
• Responsibility for all aspects of the work, including ensuring its accuracy and integrity.

In addition to being responsible for the parts of the work performed, the author must be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for other specific parts of the work. Authors must also have confidence in the integrity of their co-authors’ contributions.

All those designated as authors must meet the four authorship criteria. Other cases must be recognized in the Thanks, with the consent form to be forwarded in the submission system.

RESS adopts the specification system Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT, available at: https://credit.niso.org) that defines 14 roles or functions of authorship:

• Conceptualization: Ideas; formulation or evolution of relevant research goals and objectives.
• Data curation: Management activities to comment on data (produce metadata), clean data, and maintain research data (including software code, where necessary, to interpret the data itself) for initial use and later reuse.
• Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
• Acquisition of financing: Acquisition of financial support for the project that gave rise to this publication.
• Investigation: Conducting the research and investigation process, specifically carrying out experiments, or collecting data/evidence.
• Methodology: Development or conception of methodology; model creation.
• Project administration: Responsible for managing and coordinating the planning and execution of research activity.
• Features: Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources or other analytical instruments.
• Computer programs: Programming, software development; design of computer programs; implementing computer code and supporting algorithms; testing existing code components.
• Supervision: Supervisory and leadership responsibility for the planning and execution of research activity, including guidance beyond the core team.
• Validation: Verification, whether as part of the activity or separately, of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research results.
• View: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of published work, specifically data visualization/presentation.
• Writing – original draft: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of published work, specifically writing the initial version (including substantive translation).
• Writing – review and editing: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of published work by the original research group, specifically critical review, comment or review – including pre- or post-publication stages.

Manuscript preparation

After observing whether the research aligns with the scope of RESS, authors must choose the modality and adapt the manuscript within the permitted structure.

Manuscripts must be written in Portuguese, in single space, Times New Roman 12 font, in DOC or DOCX format (Word document).

When preparing manuscripts, authors must be guided by the  RecommendationsICMJE.

To enable project transparency and analysis, the structure of the manuscript must comply with the guidelines contained in scientific writing guides, according to their design.

The complete list of guides can be found on the  websiteEnhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR), available at: http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines). Below, the main guides relevant to the scope of RESS are listed.

• Observational studies: Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), versions in English e Portuguese and its extensions;
• Systematic reviews: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISM), versions in English e Portuguese;
• Secondary base studies: REporting of Studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected health Data (RECORD);
• Health estimates: Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER), versions in English e Portuguese.
• Clinical trials: CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials (CONSORT).

Article submission format

Manuscripts must be submitted to RESS through ScholarOne System, em single document containing:

• Modality: identify the type of manuscript (e.g., original article, review);
• Title: inform the main theme, design, location and year(s) of the research, in line with the applicable writing guide. Titles must be direct, objective and without acronyms. The punctuation accepted in the title is two points (:), to indicate after the main theme the outline, location and year(s);
• Summary: written in a single paragraph with up to 250 words, and structured into: objective, methods, results and conclusion;
• Keywords: five, selected from the list of Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS, available at: https://decs.bvsalud.org/), preferably identical to the main DeCS descriptor. In exceptional cases, free terms may be included in the absence of terms appropriate to the study theme;
• Ethical aspects: table containing (i) the name of the research ethics committee that approved the study, (ii) opinion number, (iii) date of approval, (iv) number of the ethical assessment presentation certificate, (v) record of free and informed consent. Studies without ethical assessment must succinctly justify the reason.
• Body of the manuscript: structured into Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion for the modalities Original article, Research note and Review. Other modalities may or may not be structured, at the discretion of the authors and editors. To structure the writing of each section, the writing guides for each outline must be followed; It is recommended that the methods section includes the topics indicated in each guide, in the recommended order. Also observe the Guidelines for preparing the text, below;
• Data availability: the item is mandatory and must contain a statement about access to manuscript data (database generated by the authors for analysis, codes, methods and other materials resulting from the research subject of the manuscript); the repository and referencing must be informed, preferably through a link do SciELO Data, OSF or another that generates DOI, with appropriate citation in the text so that the reader can obtain this data. If the data cannot be made available, it is necessary to justify;
• Protocol registration: for systematic reviews and clinical trials, provide repository name and registration number;
• Use of generative artificial intelligence: declare the use of technologies assisted by artificial intelligence in preparing the manuscript and ensure accuracy in citations and originality of content.
• References: follow the format ICMJE e Manual of citations and references in the field of medicine from the United States National Library of Medicine (Vancouver[Square Brackets] style, with DOI).
• Tables and figures: observe the outline writing guide to prioritize the information that must be presented in tables and figures. The illustrations must be included at the end of the text, after the references, they must be cited in the text and listed sequentially. The guidelines contained in the topic Digital assets, below, must be observed to construct the illustrations.

The following data must be entered directly into the submission system and must not appear in the manuscript to allow blind evaluation. After approval, the data will be extracted directly from the system, which is why registration is advised carefully:

• Name and ORCID iD;
• Affiliation;
• Authorship credits according to the CRediT specification system;
• Financing;
• Thanks (as per Term of consent completed and signed by the people to be mentioned);
• Conflict of interest.

Digital assets

Tables and figures are accepted, observing the modality limit and the instructions below. Up to two tables and supplementary figures may be sent in a single file, cited in the text and in sequential order, in the format: “Supplementary figure n”; “Supplementary Table n”. The supplementary material must follow the same instructions for creating illustrations, ensuring precision in its preparation and review, as this resource is not diagrammed. In justified cases, additional tables or figures above the limit may be accepted, depending on the editors’ decision.

Titles of tables and figures must be clear, informative and present the content of the table or figure. Enter the location, year(s) and total number of participants included in the illustration. Separate terms with commas and do not include periods at the end of titles.

Titles must be self-sufficient for illustration, without needing to consult the text. Essential acronyms for understanding the illustration should preferably appear in the title, as shown in the example: “Table 3. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of [outcome] by study variables. Location, year (n = xx).

Do not include methodological details or type of illustration (e.g. flow chart; map) in the title of tables and figures.

The names of the federative units (UF) must be written in full. Do not use the word “municipality” before the name of cities or “state” before the UF, with the exception of cities and states with identical names (e.g.: “municipality of Rio de Janeiro”, “state of São Paulo”).

Footnotes must be used to clarify the presented result, identified by lowercase and superscript letters of the alphabet, in sequential order and separated by semicolons. The authorship of the tables and figures must be the authors, dispensing with such indication in a footnote, similar to the source of the data and other methodological details, which must appear in the methods.

Tables

Present relevant and sufficient information; avoid long or complex tables. The title, table and notes must fit on a maximum of two A4 pages, with minimum margins of 1.5 cm, in portrait or landscape mode. The default font is Times New Roman, minimum size 10pt, with single spacing. Use Word’s “Repeat Header Rows” option without manually breaking two-page tables. Table rows and columns must be created using a table resource, without using space or breaking paragraphs.

Titles and footnotes must be outside the table gridlines. Avoid merging table rows or columns, which impacts the layout. Use the same terms from the manuscript in the table columns and rows and keep the table format identical when presenting the same information from different groups or analyses. Check that the data in each cell is consistent across columns and rows. Include columns or rows with descriptive or inferential statistics, measures of association, and confidence intervals when appropriate. Present data that complement each other in a single column, such as absolute and relative frequency: “| N (%) |” and measure of association and dispersion: “| RP (IC95%) |”. Avoid columns with reciprocal data already presented (redundant information), for example: only one column with the absolute and relative distribution of the disease, without the need for another column with the distribution among healthy people.

Maintain consistency when aligning data, symbols, and text. Create short, self-explanatory headers with units of measurement, if applicable. All cell data must have the same nature as what was entered in the table header. It is not allowed, for example, in a table whose header reports counts, to include mean and standard deviation. Specify the statistics reported in the headers (e.g.: “Mean±SD”, “Median (IIQ)”, “n (%)”) and enter the units of measurement in the columns, when applicable, without repeating the units in each cell (e.g.: %). Enter the unit in the variable line (e.g.: “Income (minimum wages)”; “Age group (years)”) and remove repetitions in the variable categories. Use a hyphen (“-“) for numerical ranges of the categories (e.g.: 0-4) and ensure compatibility between the categorizations presented in the tables and those informed in the methods, with consistency throughout the text. Reference variables or categories in association investigations must be indicated in the table cell by “1.00”.

Organizing data is a good practice. Align numeric data to the right and text data to the left in cells. Organize rows and columns in a logical and intuitive way, applying hierarchy to organize variables. Group similar variables and order columns and rows logically (e.g. alphabetical, chronological, ascending or descending order).

Data accuracy is also important. Present them with the correct number of significant digits (note pattern of decimal places in Guidelines for preparing the text, below), grouping categorical variables as relevant to the distribution to avoid excess lines. Prefer median and quartiles to describe continuous variables, except for normally distributed data. Columns or lines with constant values, without variation, must be excluded and reported directly in the text (e.g.: “All participants were consulted by a doctor in the last year”). In samples smaller than 100, present only absolute numbers, without percentages.

Review the table carefully to ensure clarity, consistency, and appropriateness of formatting. Keep the formatting and presentation of data coherent, preferably in the same order of presentation of the variables, in all tables in the manuscript. Ensure that the data presented in the table is relevant; not all data available at output (output) of the statistical program are relevant to a scientific article table. Consulting previous manuscripts that employed a similar analytical approach is recommended.

Figures

Ensure that all images, graphs, figures and maps are clear, legible, including your text, have compatible scales and are of high quality, with legibility and font size suitable for publication. Don’t prints or transform graphic or vector materials into images. Figures composed of shapes (e.g. flowcharts, cycles, processes, etc.) must be sent as Word elements, with editable text and without converting to an image.

It is recommended not to include photos as figures, but rather graphic materials with research results, as applicable. If the article contains photographs with people, the authors must present a declaration of transfer of image rights and ensure that it is impossible to identify people in the image.

If accepted, the figures must be sent in separate files for layout. Graphs, maps and other figures must be sent in PDF, SVG and EPS format, exported in one of the formats directly from the software used to create them. Charts created in Excel must be sent in XLSX format. In the case of photos, the minimum resolution is 300 dpi, in JPEG format. The title, figure and caption must fit on a maximum A4 page, in portrait or landscape mode, with margins of 1.5 cm on all sides.

All symbols, arrows, numbers or letters used in the figures must be identified and explained clearly in the legend, which must be concise and with sufficient detail to understand the figure. Acronyms and abbreviations should preferably be explained in the figure title.

For composite figures (mosaics), identify each part with capital letters and describe them in the caption, in full text (e.g.: “Medication consumption in men (A) and women (B)”). Preferably use the same scale in the figures that make up the mosaic. Minimize the number of elements within the data field and ensure they are all clearly labeled.

Label each axis clearly with the name of the variable, the units in which the variable is plotted, and any multipliers associated with the units. Clearly indicate the zero point of the X and Y axes of the graph, especially if one or both axes do not start at zero. Arrange the scales so that Y-axis values ​​increase from bottom to top and X-axis values ​​from left to right. Adjust scales to maximize data field usage. Include only essential, logical, and generally equidistant divisions and labels across scales. Minimize unnecessary divisions and unlabeled tick marks.

Avoid using 3D presentations unless a third dimension is essential to representing the data. When interpreting graphs with two different vertical axes, clearly note the different scales and highlight whether visual differences or similarities accurately reflect relationships between the data. Ensure data is visually distinct and clearly identifiable.

When inserting maps, present the scale with the relationship between the distances on the map and the real distances and cartographic orientation, include the indication of North (N) and legend with all the symbols, colors and information represented. Use a standardized color gradient to indicate density in all maps of the manuscript, avoiding errors when changing the meaning of colors with each map. If map mosaics are included, present a single legend, common to all maps.

Guidelines for preparing the text

As a SUS magazine, RESS recognizes the importance of clarity and precision in scientific communication. The text must be free from stigmatizing or depersonalizing terms; adopt appropriate and current terminology, using terms such as “enslaved people” instead of “slaves”, or “people with obesity” instead of “obese”.

Foreign language, even if common, should be avoided, opting for a term in the vernacular (e.g., use “missing data” instead of “missing“; and “[deterministic or probabilistic] data matching” instead of “linking“).

Prioritize short, direct sentences, with just one main idea in each one. Limit the use of appositives: explain complex terms objectively, without excess information between commas. If the sentence takes up too many lines, review it and look for ways to make it more concise: break it up into smaller sentences or eliminate unnecessary words.

Avoid complex, hyperbolic or exaggerated constructions – highlight relevance through factual data and remove adverbs and adjectives. Remove indefinite articles to indicate definite situations (e.g., “an increase”, “a decrease”).

Sentences must have complete meaning, using an appropriate textual connector (preposition, conjunction, etc.) instead of symbols or punctuation. Do not use telegraphic text or try to induce meaning: present constructions using words to translate the desired meaning.

Opt for active voice and direct, positive statements rather than passive voice and negative or indirect constructions (e.g., use “it’s common” instead of “it’s not uncommon”; or “it’s allowed” instead of “it’s not prohibited”). Strive for clear communication that conveys understandable information.

Be particularly careful with the naming of variables. Use terminology appropriate to the technical-scientific standard and within the cultural norm. Negative outcomes require special attention: naming a variable as “negligence in foot examination” would be more appropriate than the options “did not have the foot examined” or “no foot examination”. The clarity and simplicity of communication must guide the standardization adopted.

Make sure that the structure of the sentence makes logical sense semantically, avoiding inconsistent or paradoxical constructions, such as “presence of absence” (e.g. opting for “neglect was greater in the elderly” instead of “the presence of neglect was greater in the elderly”).

Ideas must flow logically and sequentially throughout the paragraphs, with textual cohesion. Conjunctions at the beginning of sentences that intend to bring this connection should be avoided, such as “In addition to”, “However”, “In this sense”, “With regard to”, “However”.

When presenting or discussing results, avoid announcing the topic at the beginning of the sentence. Get straight to the point: prefer “Women were the majority” to “In relation to sex, women were the majority”. Avoid using “respective” or “respectively”, whether when comparing with the literature or presenting results – bringing the data closer to their correspondence, which makes the text clearer for readers.

In the text of the results, do not make inferences, interpretations or comparisons with the literature. Both in the full text and in the summary, each statement presented in the results must be accompanied by numerical data that supports it, indicating the relevant illustration. Present exact and not approximate results, without using constructions such as “about”, “approximately”, etc. Avoid non-specific text such as “it was associated” or “an association was found”, inform the direction of the association through informative text, such as “the outcome was higher in children”, immediately presenting the measure of association and confidence interval, without interpretations such as “it was twice as high”.

In the literature review sections (introduction and discussion), the focus should be on scientific data. Avoid highlighting organizations, authors or names of reports, whose information is found in the references. Constructions such as “other authors”, “other studies”, “the literature points out” etc. should be avoided: present the data clearly and cite the reference next to the statement. Categorical statements about the absence of previous studies should be avoided in designs that are not systematic literature reviews.

Acronyms or acronyms should only be used if they are recognized in the literature and in cases where their use contributes to clarity of communication. Even though it is jargon in the area, authors should give preference to expressions that communicate clearly and objectively to the reader in any area. The text must be free of compound terms that do not add information (e.g.: “diabetes mellitus” instead of “diabetes”, “systemic arterial hypertension” instead of “hypertension”), minimizing the need for acronyms. Acronyms to replace unique terms (e.g.: “TB” instead of “tuberculosis”) must also be excluded, as well as acronyms that are not used or are infrequent in the text. The acronyms essential to the text must be explained at the first mention in the abstract, full text and each table or figure (preferably in the title), using the full term, followed by the acronym in parentheses.

To indicate the odds ratio acronym, the following standard must be used: “odds ratio (odds ratio, OR)”. The time association measure for event hazard ratio must be written in English and in italics, with the following indication at first mention: “hazard ratio (HR)”.

Spelling rules must be followed when constructing the text: the use of capital letters should only occur in cases provided for in the Portuguese language, such as the beginning of sentences, cities, countries, etc. If there is a need to use parentheses within a section between parentheses, brackets must be used, as in the example: “(negros [pretos e pardos])”.

Use period as thousands separator and comma for fractions. Standardize the number of decimal places in methods, results and illustrations: percentage 1 decimal place, association measure: 2 decimal places, p-value: 3 decimal places; present exact p-value to 3 decimal places; “0.000” occurrences should be written as “<0.001”. In the introduction and discussion, as it is a comparison with data external to the research, preferably present data without decimal places.

Do not include spaces before and after signs (=, <, >, ≤, ≥ etc.). Present frequency or association and dispersion measurements in the pattern: indicate the abbreviation of the measurement without an equal sign or two dots, with a space between the acronym and the number: “RP 1.52”. Separate intervals with a semicolon, and with a space between the punctuation and subsequent numeral: “(95%CI 1.14; 2.23)”. If both measurements are presented in parentheses, include a semicolon to separate the measurements: “(RP 1.52; 95%CI 1.14; 2.23)”.

Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde: the SUS journal welcomes manuscript submissions throughout the year, free of charge to authors. Manuscripts must be submitted to RESS through the ScholarOne System.

Before submission, authors must prepare the following documents:

• Open Science Compliance Form;
• Manuscript, in accordance with the template;
• Consent statement from individuals acknowledged in the acknowledgments section.

For more information about publication guidelines, please refer to the [Instructions for Authors].

We remain at your disposal for any questions. If necessary, please email revista.svs@saude.gov.br.

Guide for reviewing manuscripts at RESS

Epidemiology and Health Services: SUS magazine (RESS)
General Coordination of Technical-Scientific Publishing in Health Surveillance, Department of Strategic Actions in Epidemiology and Health Surveillance, Secretariat of Health and Environmental Surveillance, Ministry of Health

SRTVN Block 701, Via W5 Norte, Lot D (Building PO700)
ZIP code: 70719-040
Brasília/DF – Brazil

Telephone: +55 (61) 3315-3464
Email: revista.svs@saude.gov.br / ress.svs@gmail.com