Peer Review Process
Manuscripts submitted to REUFPI undergo several evaluation stages. In the first stage, the manuscript is evaluated by the editorial team, which assesses it based on journal guidelines, scope, and ethical aspects. After this assessment, the manuscript may be returned to the authors to comply with the guidelines, complete submission metadata, provide supplementary documents, or move on to the second stage, where the Editor-in-Chief will assign an Associate Editor. The manuscript may also be rejected if it does not fit REUFPI's scope (within 10 days). The current estimated time for an editorial decision is, on average, three months. Considering the entire editorial process, the average time to publication is five months.
REUFPI is also committed to ethical principles and scientific integrity, condemning plagiarism. In our editorial process, we use plagiarism detection software (such as Plagius) at two stages: when verifying files during submission and during the text editing stage before publication. Detection of plagiarism or self-plagiarism at any stage may result in requests for adjustments (rewriting of sections) or immediate rejection of the manuscript.
In the second stage, the Associate Editor assigns the manuscript to ad hoc reviewers. REUFPI adopts the peer review system, with a double-blind review, where the anonymity of authors and reviewers is maintained. In this stage, reviewers will provide a detailed report, following REUFPI guidelines, regarding the content, originality, innovation, methodological rigor, and contributions to professional practice. In case of disagreement among the reviewers, the manuscript may be sent to a third ad hoc reviewer.
In this stage, the decisions made by ad hoc reviewers may lead to the following editorial outcomes:
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Immediate rejection: when the manuscript does not fit REUFPI's scope, lacks scientific relevance, and/or does not contribute to advancing nursing knowledge and related fields;
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Major revisions: the manuscript is relevant to the advancement of nursing knowledge and related fields but requires significant changes. To continue in the editorial process, the author(s) must address the reviewers' and editors' requests. The revised version must be submitted within 20 days from the date of communication of the decision; otherwise, the manuscript will be archived;
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Minor revisions: the manuscript is well-structured, coherent, relevant to the advancement of nursing knowledge and related fields, and requires few changes. The author(s) must address the reviewers' and editors' requests, and the revised version must be submitted within 7 days from the date of communication of the decision. Otherwise, the manuscript will be archived;
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Rejection: after peer review, the ad hoc reviewers recommend that the manuscript should not be accepted for publication, either because it requires complete reworking or due to limitations related to the manuscript's originality;
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Acceptance: after peer review, the ad hoc reviewers recommend that the manuscript should be published, as the findings are relevant to the advancement of nursing knowledge and related fields.
The result is communicated to the corresponding author through the system. It is noted that the published manuscript will identify the name of the Associate Editor.
After acceptance, the manuscript moves to the third stage of the process: editing. At this stage, the entire text is reviewed again, and the guidelines are checked. The layout editor will request that the authors arrange for the translation of the manuscript into English and the abstract into Spanish, as well as the revision of the text in Portuguese. The translation and text revision must be done by professionals or companies recommended by REUFPI. The corresponding author must submit the corrected and translated final versions, along with the certification of translation and text revision, through the REUFPI system or by email (reufpi@ufpi.edu.br).
Once all files are received, the texts are sent to the librarian for DOI submission to CROSSREF and reference review. With the DOI activated, the text is published on the REUFPI website. Figure 1 presents the complete editorial process flowchart.
Figure 1 - Flowchart of the editorial process of Rev. enferm. UFPI.
