Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscripts Submission

From 2014 on, the Archives of Clinical Psychiatry accepts only manuscripts written in English. If you have concerns about the level of English in your submission, please ensure that it is proofread before submission by a native English speaker or a scientific editing service (we recommend American Journal Experts (www.jornalexperts.com) or  American Eagle Editing Office (www.aeeo.us)) PRIOR to submission.

Manuscripts should be submitted on-line and come along with a cover letter (submitted as Supp. files), applying for publication in the Archives of Clinical Psychiatry , summarizing the essence of the work and presenting the main results.

The cover letter (as well as the abstract) should respond to the following questions:

1. Why this study has been done?

2. How this study has been done?

    Literature Review: consulted databases, number of articles found, number of articles included, inclusion and exclusion criteria, meta-analysis or descriptive work

    Original article: study design, number of subjects included, study duration, etc.

3. What are the key findings?

4. What significance do your results have for the field and for the broader community?

Moreover, in the cover letter the authors should indicate 5 peer reviewers. Any suggested peer reviewer should not have published with any of the authors of the manuscript before, should not be current collaborators, and should not be members of the same research institution.

Structure of Manuscripts

All parts of the manuscripts must be typed double-spaced, font Arial, size 12. All pages (including cover page) must be numbered.

FIRST PAGE

The first page should include the title of the manuscript in English.

SECOND PAGE

The second page, which will not be sent to the reviewers, should include:

a) entire names of the authors (first name, middle initials, and family name) and the main affiliation (no academic titles);

b) name and address of the institution where the study was conducted;

c) complete address of the corresponding author, including phone, fax, and e-mail;

d) funding/financial disclosure statement;

e) confilcts of interest statement.

ABSTRACT

The third page should include an abstract in English, followed by up to 5 relevant key words. The abstract should be informative, giving a clear and concise description of the articles content (see instructions stated below) and not exceeding the limit of 200 words. Manuscripts exceeding this criterion will not be accepted.

IMPORTANT: The abstract should be structured as follows: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion, and respond to the following questions:

1. Why this study has been done?

2. How this study has been done?

    Literature Review: consulted databases, number of articles found, number of articles included, inclusion and exclusion criteria, meta-analysis or descriptive work

    Original article: study design, number of subjects included, study duration, etc.

3. What are the key findings?

4. What significance do your results have for the field and for the broader community?

REFERENCES

Citations in the text should be organized in the Vancouver style, i.e., followed by the appropriate reference Arabic number in parentheses. References should be numbered and listed by their order of appearance in text. Do not arrange the list alphabetically. Authors' names, article title, journal name, and publication details should be included, according to the Vancouver style. Reference list should be double-spaced. Abbreviations of journal names should conform to the style used in Index Medicus. For references with multiple authors please include the family name and initials for the first 6 authors followed by "et al.", otherwise all authors must be cited.

TABLES

Tables should be restricted in size, consecutively numbered with Arabic numbers in the text, and presented in separate pages after the Reference List (one page for each table). Refer to every table in the text in numerical order. Indicate within angle brackets < > its preferred location in the main text. Legends should provide a complete understanding of the tables without the need to go back to the text. Tables should be restricted to information that was not included in the text already.

Example: <Table 2-1 here>

FIGURES

Figures should restricted both in number and size to the strictly necessary in order to clarify the text contents. Color illustrations are accepted, but additional costs will be forwarded to authors. Figures should be presented after the Reference List in separate pages (one page for each figure). Refer to every figure in the text in numerical order. Indicate within angle brackets < > its preferred location

Example: <Figure 1-2 here>

LEGENDS

Each table and figure should include a legend with the necessary information for its thorough understanding. For that purpose, a short title followed by a concise explanation of the table or figure is encouraged. However, legends should not replicate contents in the text. Abbreviations and symbols that appear in tables or figures should be referred to, even though already cited in the text.

PATIENT PHOTOGRAPHY

The Archives of Clinical Psychiatry does not encourage the publication of photography of patients. Whenever indispensable for the comprehension of the article, written informed consent must be signed by the patient or respective caregiver, and patient details must be removed from the illustration.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Typically, original articles contain new data derived from a sizable and representative sample of patients or subjects.

Original articles should not exceed 3'500 words and include a maximum number of 6 tables and/or figures and 30 references. Word count includes only the main body of the text (i.e., not tables, figures, abstracts or references).

The abstract should describe in brief the essence of the work in no more than 200 words and be structured as follows: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

These 5 topics should also define the structure of the main text: Introduction (containing the elements Background and Objectives), Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgment (if available), and References.

Manuscripts that report results of experimental investigation and interviews with human subjects include under "Methods" a statement that written informed consent was obtained, according to the regulation of clinical research in the correspondent country, and that the study was approved by a Research Ethical Board. Furthermore, they must confirm that animal trials are in accordance with ethical care standards required for animal experiments.

BRIEF REPORTS

Brief reports are short manuscripts with maximal 1'500 words, being structured the same way, containing the same topics as an original article (see instructions above) and maximal 1 table or figure and 15 references.

The abstract should describe in brief the essence of the work in no more than 200 words and be structured as follows: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

The main text should be structured as follows: Introduction (containing the elements Background and Objectives), Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgment (if available), and References.

Manuscripts that report results of experimental investigation and interviews with human subjects include under "Methods" a statement that written informed consent was obtained, according to the regulation of clinical research in the correspondent country, and that the study was approved by a Research Ethical Board. Furthermore, they must confirm that animal trials are in accordance with ethical care standards required for animal experiments.

REVIEW ARTICLES

Reviews should contain maximal 5'000 words and 6 tables or figures. There is no limit for references, although it is recommend to include only the most important ones.

The abstract should describe in brief the essence of the work in no more than 200 words and be structured as follows: Background, Objectives, Methods ((including keywords, database(s), and any year or language limits used), Results (number of located, included an excluded articles, reasons for exclusion, main findings of the review), and Discussion.

The main text should be structured as follows: Introduction (containing the elements Background and Objectives), Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References, and further chapters if required.

Publication of meta-analyses and systematic reviews are preferred.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the Editor are considered for publication if they do not contain material submitted to other publications. They should be submitted in Portuguese and English, not exceed 500 words, contain maximal 1 figure or table, and 10 references. Letters critical of an article published in the Archives of Clinical Psychiatry should be submitted within 3 months of the article's publication. All letters are subject to discretionary selection of the Editors.