Submissions

Author Guidelines

(Updated April 2024)

Ethical Procedures

The publication involves the author or authors, BIP editors, reviewers and the Instituto de Pesca who have responsibilities involving all stages of the publication process, from submission to publication. BIP is committed to high standards of ethical behavior in management and editorial practices, with emphasis on the relationship with authors and, mainly, on the evaluation of their manuscripts, following the procedures established by international institutions such as COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), DOAJ (Transparency & best practice), OASPA (Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing), Fapesp -Código de Boas Práticas Científicas (Code of Good Scientific Practices) and SciELO -Guia de Boas Práticas para o Fortalecimento da Ética na Publicação Científica (Guide to Good Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication). BIP uses the Similarity Check/iThenticate system to evaluate the content of all submitted manuscripts.

The editors-in-chief, associate editors and editorial board ensure the quality of the material they publish, prohibiting any form of plagiarism and/or fraudulent data to maintain the integrity of the academic record, guaranteeing intellectual standards, and are always ready to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, when necessary, thus following the Guidelines for Good Practices in Scientific Publication.

When reporting experiments with animals, authors must present the number of the process approved by the institutional Committee on Ethics for the Use of Animals (Comitê de Ética para o Uso de Animais-CEUA), following Federal Law nº 11.794/08 (Arouca Law), which regulates item VII of § 1 of Art. 225 of the Federal Constitution, which establishes procedures for the scientific use of animals. For articles from abroad, they must follow the international norms of the Council for International Organization of Medical Sciences -CIOMS.

When reporting experiments on human beings, the authors must indicate whether the procedures followed were approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee (Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa-CEP), respecting Resolution nº 466/2012, of the National Health Council (Conselho Nacional de Saúde-CNS). Foreign articles must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, revised in 2013. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the research was carried out with each participant's informed and appropriate consent. For the publication of any detail or photograph that may identify an individual, the written consent of the individual, or legal guardian or executor, if applicable, is required. CEP approval is not required for surveys containing interviews, as per Resolution CNS nº 510.

In case of doubt about whether the research was carried out following current legislation, the authors must explain the reason for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional ethics committee expressly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. All protocol processing steps in the CEP/Conep System occur exclusively through the Plataforma Brasil (Brazil Platform), which provides specific regulations (including information on Consenting terms among others).

Evaluation

Progressively seeking to align with the best practices of open science, in 2023, the journal began to adopt the simple blind evaluation to accept manuscripts submitted before or in parallel to the pre-prints platforms.

The publication of an article deposited as a pre-print will be considered unpublished and will have its DOI referencing the previously registered DOI on the pre-print platform. Likewise, authors will be encouraged to deposit and share the data, codes and/or methods used in the manuscript's production in repositories, with the author responsible for informing the deposit location to enable reviewers and editors to access it whenever necessary.

However, the content of the material sent for evaluation cannot have been previously published or simultaneously submitted to other journals.

The Editorial Committee will initially evaluate the submitted manuscript regarding the scope and adequacy of the submission rules, originality, relevance and technical quality. It will be rejected or returned to the authors for adequacy if it does not meet the requirements.

Next, the existence of content similarity (plagiarism) with other texts available on the web will be checked using the Similarity Check/iThenticate system. In case of detection of plagiarism, at the time of submission or afterward, the BIP will follow the guidelines of the COPE Code Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

The opinions expressed in the articles are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Boletim do Instituto de Pesca has the right to make minor adjustments to maintain the uniformity of the publication as long as they are communicated to the authors and approved by them.

The evaluation process used is the single-blind peer review; that is, the confidentiality of the identity of only the evaluators will be maintained throughout the process. Each manuscript will go through at least two evaluators, researchers with recognized experience in the subject, who can recommend the approval of the manuscript as it is presented and request minor or major revisions or its rejection. Evaluators must have no conflict of interest and be committed to a fair judgment. Conclusions should be objective, pointing out relevant articles that have not been cited. Reviewers must also treat articles with confidentiality.

A conflict of interest is considered when an author (or the institution with which the author is affiliated), reviewer or editor has financial or personal relationships that could influence their actions. Not all relationships, however, represent a genuine conflict of interest; it depends on whether the individual believes the relationship affects their scientific judgment. Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest. However, conflicts may arise for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion.

The manuscript that needs revision will be sent to the author, who must submit a new version along with a letter to the editor, in which he must comment on each recommendation of the evaluators. Additional and/or changed paragraphs must be highlighted in the text. If the author disagrees with the evaluator's suggestions, it is necessary to explain the reasons. After verifying the adherence of the new version to the recommendations, the editor must make the final decision or, exceptionally, forward the manuscript to another round of evaluation in case the changes still need to be sufficiently addressed.

The entire process is available to authors anytime through the journal's online management system. The deadline for returning the corrected version by the author(s) is 30 days for each round. If the deadline for correction is not met, the process will be automatically canceled, and the manuscript will be archived. In cases where there are conflicting recommendations between the reviewers, it will be necessary to request a third review.

Published articles containing seriously flawed data, such that their findings and conclusions cannot be trusted, may be retracted to correct the scientific record. Additions, corrections and retractions can be requested by the author or initiated by the editor-in-chief after discussion with the corresponding author of a given article. Readers who detect significant errors in someone else's work should contact the corresponding author. All additions, corrections and retractions are subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief. Minor corrections and additions, however, will not be published. The corresponding author must obtain approval from all co-authors before requesting/submitting additions, corrections and retractions or providing evidence that such approval has been requested.

The originally published article will remain on the web except in extraordinary circumstances.

Boletim do Instituto de Pesca (BIP) makes clear the guidelines for authors, editors and evaluators to act ethically and responsibly:

Authors: when submitting manuscripts, authors undertake to respect scientific integrity, strictly observing the criteria for attribution of authorship and informing the individual contributions of each of the authors. They must also declare all potential conflicts of interest concerning the submitted article and notify about previous publications, presentation of the work, academic affiliations and sources of financing. Authors must undertake to cite and give the correct reference to all articles, data and other documents mentioned in the article. The submitting author assumes, on behalf of all authors of the manuscript, responsibility for the integrity of the research and content of the manuscript, as well as making corrections or retractions, if necessary. Whenever applicable, the certificate from the ethical committees approving the research must be presented at the time of submission.

Editors: editors undertake to adopt and ensure editorial neutrality and impartiality and to ensure that published manuscripts comply with internationally established ethical recommendations. They must check whether the Ethics Committees approve the research, requiring certificates if they have not been presented. When assigned to manage the manuscript evaluation process, editors must adopt measures to identify and prevent works that show research misconduct from being published. They also undertake to deal appropriately with formal allegations of scientific misconduct and to seek constant improvement of the journal and its content, including the publication of corrections and retractions, as well as clarifications and apologies, whenever necessary. Editors must declare potential conflicts of interest in evaluating manuscripts and prevent conflicts of interest involving authors and reviewers from compromising ethical standards in publication.

Reviewers: When appointed, only those who can prepare the opinion with the most remarkable scientific rigor and within the defined deadline should accept the invitation for review and who do not present conflicts of interest that could influence their evaluation or recommendation. Reviewers who participate in the evaluation process are committed to evaluating the work under the best academic practices and scientific integrity and pointing out practices of scientific misconduct when identified. They also undertake to maintain the confidentiality of the documents they receive and the process during the evaluation.

Boletim do Instituto de Pesca through the ReviewerCredits Plugin recognizes the contribution of reviewers.

 PREPARATION

For the submission of manuscripts, it is mandatory to register in the system for later access through login and password, as well as to follow the ongoing editorial process through the link:

https://institutodepesca.org/index.php/bip/about/submissions

The text of manuscript must be written in English. Corresponding author must complete all requested fields, indicate the full name, e-mail and affiliation of all authors and attach the documents:

1. Submission letter. Must contain:

• Title of the article;

• Full name of ALL authors; their institutional addresses; ORCID and e-mails;

• Indication of the corresponding author;

• The type of publication (Scientific Article, Scientific Note or Review Article);

• Possible conflicts of interest;

• The importance of the project should be highlighted, as well as the relevance and originality of the results presented and a justification of the adaptation to the BIP;

• Highlights: Authors must prepare three or four highlights of the article for use in media dissemination;

• They must also inform that the article has not been and will not be sent to another journal while the BIP evaluates it.

2. Manuscript text (text) must be typed in the Microsoft Word text editor (doc or docx), using Times New Roman 12 font, double spacing, with line numbering and pagination. Abbreviations and acronyms must be preceded by their full meaning when first used. In the legends of tables and figures, abbreviations and acronyms must be accompanied by their meaning. They must not be used in the title.
   
   

3. Full article text in PDF.
   
   

4. Certificate attesting that the research was approved by the Ethics and Biosafety Committee or the Ethics Committee in Research with Human Beings of the institution where the study was carried out. The absence of the certificate must be justified.
   
   

5. Certificate of translation carried out by a specialized company or by a professional who can prove proficiency in English (for non-English native authors).

Types of manuscript

Manuscripts of the following types are accepted for evaluation:

Scientific Article: Work resulting from scientific research with original data obtained in a planned manner, based on scientifically accepted methods, rigorously controlled and with adequate statistical planning, which can be replicated and generalized. The discussion must be judicious, with a solid scientific basis; it should not be limited to comparisons of results with the literature, but present inferences, hypotheses and arguments about what was studied.

Mandatory sections: Title, Author(s), Institutional (complete) and electronic addresses of all authors, ORCID registration number, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments (optional) and References. It should contain a maximum of 25 pages (including tables, figures and references) and a maximum of six authors. Exceptionally, up to eight authors will be accepted, provided that all participation in the research is duly justified. Change of authorship, inclusion of new authors or exclusion of authors after manuscript submission will not be allowed.

Short Communication: Short article with unpublished results of scientific research whose immediate disclosure is justified. This category includes significant observations or exceptional findings from ongoing projects that warrant rapid publication (description of a technique, species discovery recording, parasites in species from a given location, and other unique situations). It must have the same rigor as a scientific article and contain enough data to prove that the research achieved reliable and significant results. Short communications should not be used for preliminary results. The Scientific Note must comprise Title in English, Author(s), Institutional (complete) and electronic addresses of all authors, as well as registration in ORCID, Abstract and Keywords, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion (in this case, Results and Discussion can be presented together), Conclusions, Acknowledgments (optional), and References. It should contain a maximum of 15 pages (including tables, figures and references) and a maximum of four authors.

Review Article: Presents in-depth analysis of a given topic or theme of study. Only critical review articles will be considered. They should include more than just a summary of published data (literature review). They must present a critical evaluation of the data, the status of knowledge and the research needed to advance understanding of the subject. The format and length of review articles are more flexible than those of a scientific article. The review article must present the Title, Author(s), Institutional (complete) and electronic addresses of all authors, as well as registration in ORCID, Abstract and Keywords, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Discussion, Acknowledgments (optional ) and References. The methodology must inform how the data were obtained and the analysis performed (focus).

Structure of the manuscript

All types of manuscripts must follow the structure:

TITLE: It must be clear and concise (not extending to over two lines or 20 words) and written in capital letters. It is recommended only to insert the species' scientific name or the reference to its descriptor if it is essential (in the case of poorly known species).

NAME(S) OF AUTHOR(S):  Must be presented in complete and in direct order (first name and last name). The affiliation of the author(s) (up to three organizational instances), e-mail and ORCID registration should be placed on the first page, right after the authors' names, identified by Arabic numerals, separated by commas when necessary. The authors' affiliation data and geographic location must be presented in the institution's language of origin. The corresponding author must be highlighted.

ABSTRACT: The Abstract must concisely contain the objectives, methodology, results obtained and conclusions, using a maximum of 200 words. It should be written so that the reader is interested in reading the work in its entirety.

KEYWORDS: at least three and at most six, written in lower case and separated by semicolons. They must not repeat words appearing in the Title and must identify the subject addressed, allowing the article to be found in the electronic search system.

INTRODUCTION: It should occupy a maximum of two pages, presenting the scientific problem to be solved, its importance (justification for carrying out the work), and the research subject's evolution/current situation. The last paragraph should express the objective, consistent with what appears in the Abstract.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: It should briefly describe all the methodologies used, preferably organized in the order of application so that the experiment can be reproduced. This item may vary according to the thematic nature of the document. Still, in general, it should contain the description of the local sampling procedure, frequency, period, instrument and methods, other relevant variables or the design of the experiment, the description of treatments and variables, the number of repetitions and the characteristics of the experimental unit. It should inform about statistical procedures and data transformations. Avoid superfluous details, extensive descriptions of techniques in current use and the use of unusual abbreviations.

RESULTS: Must be presented separately from the Discussion. They can be presented verbatim or as tables and/or figures. Data presented in tables or figures should not be systematically repeated in the text.

MATHEMATICAL FORMULAS, EXPRESSIONS AND EQUATIONS: They can be inserted in the text if they do not contain special characters; otherwise, they must be presented separately on the line. Example: weight gain = final weight - initial weight.

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT: Must be presented in accordance with the International System of Units. Example: 10 m²; 100 fish*m^-2; 20 t* ha^-1.

TABLES: They must be presented throughout the text, numbered with Arabic numerals and headed by the Title (self-explanatory). It is recommended that data presented in tables only be repeated in graphs when absolutely necessary. Tables must be no more than 16 centimeters wide. Tables must be in portrait format and not exceed one page. Abbreviations should also be avoided, except for units of measurement. If necessary, however, they must have their meaning indicated in a caption under the table.

FIGURES: Every visual element (graphs, drawings, maps or photos) is called a figure and must be presented along the text, be a maximum of 16 centimeters wide and 21 centimeters high, be numbered with Arabic numerals, with a self-explanatory title below. Words in charts and maps must be in a legible font. Do not insert graphics, maps or photos in tables or charts.

DISCUSSION: Avoid repeating values already presented in the results and citing tables and figures. The discussion should explore the importance of the work's results and not just compare the data obtained with those available in the literature. It should highlight and demonstrate the main ideas and contributions produced by the work and comment on whether there is a need for further research or any limitations encountered. The Discussion must contain hypotheses and/or objective comments on the results, discussed in the light of constant observations in the specialized literature.

CONCLUSION: It must be clear, concise and respond to the objective(s) of the study. Must be able to propose a solution (or solution path) to the demand/problem based on the results obtained.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Authors must indicate any conflicts of interest.

AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTIONS: BIP endorses the CRediT taxonomy for contributors’ roles. To assume responsibility for the content of the research, all authors must have contributed significantly in at least one of the roles: Conceptualization; Investigation; Methodology; Formal Analysis; Data Curation; Project Administration; Obtaining Financing; Resources; Writing – First version; Writing – Review & Editing; Validation and Supervision; Final approval.

DATA STATEMENT AVAILABILITY: One of the options must be informed:

• “The data are available at:” (cite the repository and the DOI of the deposited data);
• "Data will be provided upon request";
• "All data were generated or analyzed in this study";
• “Not applicable".

FUNDING: Acknowledgments for the financial support received from funding institutions for carrying out the research and/or preparing the manuscript should be informed, if any. The name of the funding agency must be written in full, followed by the grant number. If the research has not been funded by a specific project grant, the following information must be included: "This research has not received a specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or non-profit sectors".

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: They must include the collaboration of people, groups or institutions that deserve recognition, but have not justified their inclusion as authors.

APPENDICES AND ATTACHMENTS: They should be included only when essential for understanding the article. The reviewers and editors will decide whether to have them in the publication or not.

CITATION IN THE TEXT

Use the author/date system: the author's last name and the year the work was published. Examples:

* for an author: “Mighell (1975) observed...”; “According to Azevedo (1965), the spawning season...”; “These assertions were confirmed in later works (Wakamatsu, 1973)…”;

* for two authors: “Richter and Efanov (1976), researching...”;

* for three or more authors: the surname of the first author must be followed by the expression "et al." Example: "Soares et al. (1978) found..." or "Such a fact was found in Africa (Soares et al., 1978)";

* for the same author, in documents from different years, respect the chronological order, separating the years by a comma. Example: "According to Silva (1980, 1985)...";

* To quote several authors sequentially, respect the chronological order of the year of publication and separate them with semicolons. Example: "in commercial nurseries (Silva, 1980; Ferreira, 1999; Giamas & Barbieri, 2002)...".

LIST OF REFERENCES

References must be ordered alphabetically by the surname of the first author. If there is more than one work with the same last name, the chronological order will be considered and, continuing the coincidence, the alphabetical order of the second or third reference element. After the authors' names, insert the year of publication, the article's title, the journal's title (must not be abbreviated), volume, edition, page range and DOI. Dissertations, theses, works submitted to obtain a bachelor's degree (Term Paper), books, and book chapters can only be included when absolutely necessary.

Examples:

a.PRINTED DOCUMENTS (without DOI):

Barbieri, E.; Bondioli, A.C.V.; Henriques, M.B. 2014. Nitrite toxicity to Litopenaeus schmitti (Burkenroad, 1936, Crustacea) at different salinity levels. Aquaculture Research, 47(4): 1260-1268.

b.DOCUMENTS WITH DOI (the DOI must be presented as registered in the consulted article):

Barbieri, E.; Coa, F.; Rezende, K.F.O. 2016. The exotic species Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) occurs in Cananeia, Iguape and Ilha Comprida lagoon estuary complex. Boletim do Instituto de Pesca, 42(3): 479-485. https://doi.org/10.20950/1678-2305.2016v42n1p479

c. DISSERTATIONS, THESES (must be included only when necessary and if available online). The file access date must be entered:

Bernadochi, L.C. 2012. Captação de sementes em coletores artificiais e cultivo da ostra perlífera Pinctada imbricata (Mollusca: Pteriidae), São Paulo, Brasil. São Paulo. 75f. (Masters dissertation. Instituto de Pesca, APTA). Available at: http://www.pesca.sp.gov.br/dissertacoes.pg.php. Accessed on: Aug. 22, 2014.

d. BOOKS (must be included only when ABSOLUTELY necessary):

Gomes, F.P. 1978. Curso de estatística experimental. 8ª ed. Piracicaba: Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”. 430 p. New, M.B.; Valenti, W.C.; Tidwell, J.H.; D’Abramo, L.R.; Kutty, M.N. year. Freshwater prawns: biology and farming. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 544 p.

e. BOOK CHAPTERS (must be included only when ABSOLUTELY necessary):

Moraes-Valenti, P.; Valenti, W.C. 2010. Culture of the Amazon River prawn Macrobrachium amazonicum. In: New, M.B.; Valenti, W.C.; Tidwell, J.H.; D’Abramo, L.R.; Kutty, M.N. (eds.). Freshwater prawns: biology and farming. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 485-501.

f.LAWS, DECREES, REGULATORY INSTRUCTIONS AND ORDINANCES:

Brazil, 1988. Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Diário Oficial da União, Brasília, No. 191-A, Section 1, p. 1.

Brazil, 1990.Decree No. 98,897, of Jan. 30, 1990. Deals with extractive reserves and other measures. Diário Oficial da União, Brasília, No. 22, Section 1, p. 2.

Brazil, 2000. Law No. 9985, of Jul. 18, 2000. Regulates Art. 225, § 1, items I, II, III, and VII of the Federal Constitution, establishes the National System of Nature Conservation Units and other measures. Diário Oficial da União, Brasília, No. 138, Section 1, p. 45.

Brazil, 2007. Normative Instruction No. 2, of Sept. 18, 2007. Disciplines the guidelines, rules and procedures for the formation and functioning of the Deliberative Council of Extractive Reserves and Sustainable Development Reserves. Diário Oficial da União, No. 182, Section 1, p. 102.

Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBIO), 2010. Ordinance No. 77, of Aug. 27, 2010. Creates the Deliberative Council of the Marine Extractive Reserve of Arraial do Cabo/RJ. Diário Oficial da União, Brasília, nº 168, Seção 1, p. 69.

g. ELECTRONIC REFERENCES (journals published exclusively online; documents consulted online)

Lam, M.E.; Pauly, D. 2010. Who is right to fish? Evolving a social contract for ethical fisheries. Ecology and Society, 15(3): 16. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss3/art16/ Accessed on: Nov. 26, 2018.

Castro, P.M.G.(undated, online). A pesca de recursos demersais e suas transformações temporais. Available at: http://www.pesca.sp.gov.br/textos.php. Accessed on: Sept. 3, 2020.