Submissions
Author Guidelines
Scope and policy
The Center for Science and Mathematics Education - CECIMIG (www.fae.ufmg/cecimig), a center for science education research and outreach at the College of Education at UFMG, is responsible for the publication of Ensaio Research in Science Education (e-ISSN 1983-2117). The journal relies on the support of the Post-Graduate Education Program at UFMG and inter-institutional partnerships in the composition of our editorial board: Brazilian (UFOP, UFJF, UFES, CEFET-RJ, UNESP, UFSC, UFABC, USP, UFGD) and international institutions (King's College of London, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, University of Groningen). The Journal publishes original research articles (empirical research reports, theoretical papers or reviews), and articles of literature review or of state of the art addressing themes of interest for the field of science education research. The journal aims to attend to criteria of academic excellence and social and educational relevance. Policy & Standards Manuscripts submitted to publication should be original and cannot be under consideration by another publication vehicle (book or journal). Papers presented in conferences can be submitted if rewritten and expanded, thus avoiding publication of papers already published in conference proceedings or of papers with great similarity. The same is valid for papers available on pre-print servers, and whose DOI must be informed at the time of submission to the journal. Ensaio publishes articles in Portuguese; Spanish or English, and manuscripts can be published in two or three of these languages too. Authors are responsible for the originality and veracity of the content presented in their manuscript. Linguistic review must be completed prior to submission of the manuscript. The journal provides open access to the content of publications. All content of the journal is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type BY. This information is presented in all the papers published by the journal. Currently, the journal adopts the double-blind peer review policy. Reviewers are unaware of the authors 'identity and authors are unaware of the reviewers' identity. Therefore, it is given the option of opening the identities of the people involved in the review process for some cases (for more details, see "Open science practices", in this page). The referees are researchers have a doctorate degree and experience in publishing in indexed journals. From 2021, in line with open science communication practices, when submitting an article, authors must inform: (i) if the manuscript is a preprint and, if so, its location; (ii) whether data, software codes and other materials underlying the manuscript text are properly cited and referenced; and, (iii)and if the open peer review options are accepted. In this way, the journal maximizes the transparency of knowledge production processes, as well as to provide the sharing and reuse of data and other research content underlying the articles. Details on this process can be found on this page, in the section "Open science practices”. The evaluation of a manuscript goes through a pre-analysis process that involves: i) analysis in software that identifies plagiarism; ii) analysis of the adequacy of the text as to the journal's form and content norms. If the corresponding editor identifies problems in the pre-analysis process, the manuscript is sent to the editor-in-chief who makes a decision on the rejection or processing of the work. In cases where an article is rejected, but the editors notice potential for future publication, authors are encouraged to resubmit the manuscript. The editor-in-chief explains the elements necessary for the manuscript to become eligible for a new evaluation process. If problems are identified in the pre-analysis, the manuscript is rejected. If there are no problems found in the pre-analysis, the manuscript is sent to an assistant editor who selects two referees for the evaluation. After the evaluation, the editorial board sends the authors a final opinion with the decision. * If the opinions are inconsistent, a third reviewer may be invited to evaluate the manuscript. Electronic backup and retention of access to the content of the journal Like all journals indexed in the SciELO database, Ensaio uses the LOCKSS preservation methodology. SciELO is a member of the Rede Cariniana do IBICTand guarantees that all documents object of research communication from the SciELO collections that are natively digital are preserved in all their format and version instantiations. In case the journal stops publishing, SciELO will guarantee that the custody chain of any records maintained in its custody will be maintained by capturing and preserving appropriate descriptive metadata. The digital preservation policy of SciELO Program aims to develop research communication infrastructures and capacities equipped with preservation systems so that journal communication contents are available for future generations according to legislation and good practices nationally and internationally adopted. https://scielo.org/en/about-scielo/digital-preservation/ Target audience Ensaio Research in Science Education publishes original research articles (empirical research reports or theoretical trials) of interest to the field of science education, serving the needs of researchers and post-graduate students in the areas of Science Education, Natural Sciences Education (Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geosciences and Astronomy), and Health and Environmental Education. Its audience also includes undergraduate students and graduate students in the area of Natural Sciences, and related fields, as well as prospective teachers and teachers, and other education professionals who are involved with science education. Policy of obedience and promotion of ethics in the journal's scientific communication Ensaio Research in Science Education follows recommendations for standards of ethics, transparency and responsibility in scientific communication shared by Brazilian and international institutions (e.g. Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors, Center for Open Science, Committee on Publication Ethics, Council of Science Editors, Equator Network, Scientific Electronic Library Online).
* “Conflicts of interest comprise those which may not be fully apparent and which may influence the judgment of author, reviewers, and editors. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial” (The COPE Report, 1999, p. 44).
c) Regarding conflicts of interest: d) Regarding the journal's open science policies, authors must provide data on: e) The journal adopts a pre-analysis process, which, among other aspects, verifies: i) evidence of plagiarism and ii) evidence inappropriate manipulation of references. 5. For the proceedings related to allegations of research misconduct, complaints and appeals, the journal is guided by the following practices: a) Editors report possible legal or ethical issues identified throughout the processing of a manuscript. Peer review process 1. Receipt of submission If any errors or problems are identified, the authors are contacted and a new version of the text is submitted. c) The manuscripts go through a preliminary analyses of content and texts with the following characteristics are rejected: d) Moreover, the article is submitted to a plagiarism analysis. Plagiarism analysis is developed in two stages. In the first stage, editors used a software verify the level of similarity with other publications. In the second stage, a qualitative analysis is developed. The software report is interpreted by the corresponding editor. The editor looks for possible textual elements or data from previous publications by the author (s) or other authors. In cases of suspicion, a new search is carried out to identify previous publications by the author (s) or authors of other articles that may have been used inappropriately in the manuscript. The editors also observe evidence of inappropriate manipulation of references. This process aims to identify excessive self-citation by authors and/or the journal, or excessive citations by the same research group. In cases of suspected plagiarism and/or manipulation of references, corresponding editor forwards the manuscript to the editor-in-chief. The editors-in-chief analyze the case and make a decision, notifying those involved. e) After these preliminary analyses, one of the chief editors will designate one of the adjunct editors that will be responsible for the double-blinded process of evaluation of the manuscript. Two researchers that have expertise in the field will evaluate the manuscript, without knowing the identity of the authors. In case the editorial team cannot reach a decision based on these two reviews, a third reviewer might be consulted. The authors will receive a message informing the editorial decision, including a copy of the two reviewers’ comments. The editors are committed to monitoring the process to guarantee that editorial decisions are supported by high quality review reports, provided in a timely manner. If a manuscript publication is conditioned to modifications on the text, the author(s) will have 21 days make revisions; otherwise the manuscript will be archived. The average time between submission and approval has been six months.The final version of the text goes through a process of lay out and revision (language, spelling and technical standards). Finally, the document is submitted to the author(s) for final verification prior to eletronic publication on the journal´s site. 2. Selection of reviewers 3. Evaluation Monitoring 4. Editorial decision 5. Editing and publication 6. Evaluation Criteria 6.1. Items to be considered for analysis of Empirical Works 6.2 Items to be considered for analysis of Theoretical Works 6.3 Items to be considered for analysis of Works of Literature Review (State of the Art)
7. Open science editorial practices 7. Open science editorial practices 7.1. Preprint If the manuscript is available on a preprint server, the authors must inform the editor-in-chief in a letter addressed to Ensaio at the time of submission of the manuscript. The stages and criteria for the evaluation of a preprinted manuscript are the same used in the other works. 7.2. Open peer review Valid only for articles approved for publication and when there is approval by the authors in the letter addressed to Ensaio (at the time of submission of the manuscript). Opening identity of the authors and reviewers occurs at the end of the arbitration process. There will be, then, the publication of an article-opinion (in the perspective section of the newspaper) produced by the reviewers of the original article considering the arbitration process. The article-opinion must be based on the review, on the authors' answer letter and on the original article accepted for publication. In this text, it is important to retake the main points highlighted in the analysis of the manuscript (reviews and answer letter) in order to provide elements of the evaluation process, giving it greater transparency. Reviewers, specialists in the themes dealt with in the original article evaluated, must also deepen the discussion of the relationship between the original article and the field of knowledge, in order to make an original contribution of a theoretical and/or methodological nature to the field of Science Education and/or teaching. For more details on the open peer review process, see text and flowchart in Editorial of Ensaio 2023, available at https://www.scielo.br/j/epec/a/WrWGvFvpQGh6HQqtDbrhxLx/?lang=en 7.3. Availability of data, codes and other materials related to research Valid only for approved papers, when there is agreement by the authors in the letter addressed to Ensaio (at the time of submission of the manuscript) and whenever there are no ethical and legal impediments to making data, codes or other materials available. Opening availability of data, codes and other materials contributes to reproducibility, transparency, collaboration, efficiency and economy of data, among other important aspects for scientific practices and knowledge production. Thus, by adopting open science practices, authors are contributing in multiple ways to the scientific community they are a part, in addition to increasing the potential for visibility and dissemination of their work, as the data receive a specific identifying document (DOI). If the manuscript is approved, the data, codes and other materials must be submitted in Scielo's Dataverse and will be curated by the Ensaio’s Editor of Data, which is also responsible for helping the authors to implement any adjustments. After approval, the data, codes and other materials are made available on Ensaio page on the Scielo Dataverse (https://data.scielo.org/dataverse/brepec), mentioning the paper to which they refer. Information for preparing and depositing data is available at the following links. Guide for data preparation: https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia_preparacao_pt.pdf Guide for research data deposit: https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia_deposito_pt.pdf Note that authors may choose to make data available in the Dataverse only upon request. In this case, it means that the data will be deposited in the Dataverse, but it will not be open to all internet users. Those interested in accessing the data will be able to read its description on the Dataverse page and then request them from the authors, who will then be able to make them available via the Dataverse, if they so wish. If the authors still choose not to provide the data, we ask that a justification be presented for not doing so in the letter addressed to Ensaio (at the time of submission of the manuscript). This is because, from the year 2023, at the end of each articles approved for publication, Ensaio includes information on data availability, as per https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia_TOP_pt.pdf) (SciELO, 2018): 1. Data are not available: The set of data that supports the results of this study is not publicly available. 2. Data are available: 2.1. The entire set of data that supports the results of this study was published in its own article. 2.2. The entire set of data that supports the results of this study was made available in a repository and can be accessed at [URL or DOI]. 2.3 The entire set of anonymized data that supports the results of this study was made available in a repository and can be accessed at [URL or DOI]. 3. Data available upon request: 3.1. The entire set of data that supports the results of this study is available upon request to the corresponding author. 3.2. The data set is not publicly available due to... [detail the reason for the restriction; for example, contain information that compromises the privacy of research participants]. 3.3. The entire set of data that supports the results of this study is available upon request to... [name of organization]. The availability of data, codes and other materials in an open way contributed to the reproducibility, transparency, collaboration, efficiency and economy of data, among other important points for scientific practices and knowledge production. Likewise, by adopting open science practices, the authors are contributing in multiple ways to the scientific community of which they are a part, in addition to increasing the potential for visibility and dissemination of their own work, given that the data receives a specific identification document (DOI). Ensaio indicates Scielo Dataverse as data repository. A data editor from Ensaio are responsible for helping the authors to implement eventual adjustments to deposit data. After approval, the data, codes and other materials are available on the page of Ensaio in Science Dataverse (https://data.scielo.org/dataverse/brepec), with mention of the article to which the data refer. The information for preparation and deposit of data is available in the following links. https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia_preparacao_pt.pdf https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia_deposito_pt.pdf More information is explicit in Editorial of Ensaio (2023), available at https://www.scielo.br/j/epec/a/WrWGvFvpQGh6HQqtDbrhxLx/?lang=en |
Form and preparation of manuscripts
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Submission of the manuscripts
The article should be submitted via the journal portal at the following address: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/ensaio/, after completing registration and creating a login and password, and agreeing with the terms of the electronic submission form. There are no fees for submission and evaluation of articles. |
Submission Preparation Checklist
All submissions must meet the following requirements.
- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- I declare that I have read the items considered for analysis of empirical papers: The research question/problem is explicitly stated and justified, original and relevant to the Science Education research. The literature review is consistent with the research question/problem and situate the research in relation to previous works. The theoretical framework relevant to the content addressed. The fundamental concepts used in the research are explicitly formulated. The research design, context and ethical procedures are presented. Techniques and procedures for data collection and analysis are explained and justified. There is coherence between the research problem, the theoretical framework and the methodological proposal. Analyses are adequate to the research questions/problems and based on empirical evidence. The discussion between the results and the literature in the area is presented. The main conclusions of the paper are stated and supported by the analysis and discussions of the research. The conclusions present contributions/implications/recommendations for the field of research in Science Education. Guidelines for text formatting and proper use of language were followed.
- I declare that I have read the items considered for analysis of theoretical papers: The problem is explicitly addressed and there is a defense of a tese. The area of interest of the article is described and grounded on relevant works from literature. The theoretical approach presented is relevant. The selection of the theoretical collection is justified. The collection is composed by reflections and concepts related to references and important works for the area. The theoretical argument is clear and consistent. Possible objections are considered - discussed, approximated, compared and / or refuted. Conclusions are anchored in the discussion and include recommendations for the science education field. Guidelines for text formatting and proper use of language were followed.
- I am aware that I must attach a PRESENTATION LETTER to the editorial board, regarding the terms of responsibility for the submission, declaration of conflict of interest, adherence to open science practices and ethical procedures of the research. Download the letter from the link below:: LINK
- The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in TEMPLATE
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