About the Journal
Mission
The Brazilian Journal of Physical Activity & Health (RBAFS) is the official journal of the Brazilian Society of Physical Activity & Health, open access, peer-reviewed, continuous flow and multidisciplinary in nature. The RBAFS mission is to disseminate scientific content of a theoretical, empirical and educational nature to contribute to the advancement of the area of physical activity and health. RBAFS accepts manuscripts in the following languages: Portuguese, Spanish and English.
Frequency
The RBAFS adopts a continuous publication system (rolling pass). This makes the publication of the article faster, considering that it does not depend on other articles to close an issue.
Scope and editorial policy
BJPAH publishes articles of high scientific merit that contribute to advance the area of Physical Activity & Health. Of interest, the journal publishes work studying:
- Levels, trends, and determinants of physical activity, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness: cross-sectional and/or longitudinal studies investigating prevalence, levels, trends, determinants of physical activity, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness.
- Development, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of instruments to measure physical activity, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness: studies on the development and testing of the psychometric properties of instruments to measure physical activity indicators, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness.
- Consequences of physical activity, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness on different health indicators: cross-sectional and/or longitudinal studies analyzing the relationship between physical activity indicators, sedentary behavior and physical fitness with health indicators.
- Effects of physical activity, sedentary behavior, physical exercise and health-related physical fitness interventions on different health indicators: studies investigating efficacy, effectiveness, reach, maintenance, aspects of internal and external validity of interventions on physical activity, sedentary behavior and physical fitness indicators with health outcomes.
- Training of human resources, historical and sociocultural approaches to physical activity, sedentary behavior, health-related physical fitness and their inter-relationships: studies adopting an educational focus (professional training), historic and/or social aspects related to physical activity, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness, and its inter-relationships.
Manuscripts should be submitted exclusively to BJPAH and simultaneous submission to another journal is prohibited. Concepts, ideas and opinions described in the manuscripts, as well as accuracy, adequacy and bibliographic citations and illustrations are the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the Editorial Board of the Journal, Scientific and Associate Editors or the Society of Physical Activity & Health.
BJPAH publishes the following types of articles:
1 Original articles – it is intended for the dissemination of studies conducted based on the application of rigorous scientific methods that allows for replication or generalization. It covers both quantitative and qualitative research approaches focusing on the areas of interest of the BJPAH, which result from the meticulous analysis of primary or secondary data. Manuscripts that present results of clinical trials must be accompanied by the number and place of registration of the clinical trial (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov). This requirement is in accordance with the recommendation of the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Registration of Clinical Trials to be published based on guidelines provided by the WHO, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the ICTPR Workshop.
2 Review articles – it is intended for the dissemination of systematic reviews, scope reviews and meta-analysis of investigations in areas of interest of the BJPAH. Systematic reviews and meta-analyzes should comply with international guidelines for systematic reviews and present the analysis of the methodological quality of the included studies, as well as their registration in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews database (PROSPERO). For scope reviews, the registration should also be conducted, for example, in the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/
3 Editorials – it is intended for the publication of manuscripts written by invited authors with notable academic knowledge in specific themes defined by the Editorial Board of the BJPAH.
4 Letters to the Editor – it is intended to disseminate manuscripts for the reader or researcher who wishes to submit a reflection or further the discussion on a manuscript published in the BJPAH.
5 Special sections – it is intended to disseminate studies that address actions or innovative experiences in the following areas:
5.1 from diagnosis to action. Experiences in the promotion of physical activity and health: intended for the dissemination of manuscripts describing the experiences of professional intervention that denote an effort of application of scientific knowledge already produced in the development of actions to promote physical activity, health-related physical fitness and reduction of sedentary behaviors in their different contexts (universities, health centers, schools, among others). The manuscripts can present the conceptual bases, the models/framework, the intervention strategies and their difficulties and potentialities, in order to foster and consolidate actions for the promotion of physical activity, health-related physical fitness and reduction of sedentary behaviors. Studies presenting results of these investigations should be directed to the section of original articles;
5.2 research and graduate studies in physical activity and health: intended for the dissemination of research and training experiences for researchers. This section publishes contributions that describe ways of organizing research groups or networking in order to develop research projects and training for human resources for research in physical activity and health;
5.3 innovative curricular experiences in physical activity and health: intended to convey reports of curricular experiences, innovative actions and strategies that enable students and physical activity professionals to work with physical activity promotion, health-related physical fitness and reduction of sedentary behavior in different contexts (e.g., Unified Health System, in schools, gyms, recreational centers);
5.4 technical series on physical activity and health: intended for the dissemination of brief reports covering techniques, methodologies, procedures for analyzing and interpreting data, development and testing of instruments to measure physical activity indicators, sedentary behavior and health-related physical fitness, and its associated and determinant factors;
5.5 theoretical essays on physical activity and health: it is intended for original manuscript that develops an argument on a well-defined theme, definition of terms and concepts inherent to the aspects covered by the areas of interest of the BJPAH;
5.6 position stand: intended for original manuscripts that develops an official position of the Brazilian Society of Physical Activity & Health on topics of interest. Only authors invited by the Editorial Board of the BJPAH can submit manuscripts in this category;
5.7 study protocols on physical activity and health: intended for the dissemination of study protocols that contributes to advance the area of physical activity and health. The publication of the study protocol will be justified by the interest in understanding relevant issues, hypotheses and justifications, as well as a method with high scientific merit, before the results are reported in future publications. Protocols must report planned or ongoing studies. Completed studies will not be considered. The protocol may be published independently of the study design, including observational, experimental studies and systematic reviews. The study protocol must follow the same criteria of ethical approval and registration, according to the other sections of the BJPAH. It is strongly recommended to structure and write the protocol according to guidelines and checklists adopted by the BJPAH; it is further recommended that the authors include the checklist completed in the submission letter.
5.8 supplements: intended for the publication of annals of scientific events in the area of physical activity and health, promoted or supported by the Brazilian Society of Physical Activity and Health, which includes abstracts of oral presentations and posters, approved by the Scientific Committees of the institutions organizers and following the rules of the magazine, in item 2.2 Body of the summary of supplements.
Contact the journal in case of questions about the adherence of a manuscript in relation to the editorial policy and / or section of the publication.
Evaluation Process
The RBAFS adopts the peer review system – as described in the flowchart. The manuscript will only be sent out to reviewers after approval in the pre-analysis. In the pre-analysis, the following is observed: the adequacy to the objectives and the editorial policy, the presentation format of the article; and the potential for publication. Manuscripts approved in this stage will be then evaluated by two or more reviewers. The RBAFS adopts a double-blind review process in order to guarantee confidentiality about manuscripts authorship and reviewers opinions. In its editorial board, the journal has both national and international reviewers (ad hoc) with notable academic experience in the mentioned editorial areas. Articles accepted for publication may undergo editorial revisions to ensure clarity and understanding; however, without changing their content.
Publication fee
Thus, for approved articles, as of June 1, 2022, authors must pay a publication fee of:
- R$ 400.00 (four hundred reais) for articles submitted in thematic editions;
- R$ 600.00 (six hundred reais) for articles submitted in the continuous flow.
Payments must be made upon manuscript acceptance, as communicated by the BJPAH editorial office.
Open Access Policy
This journal offers free access to its content. The RBAFS believes that making scientific knowledge freely available to the public provides a worldwide democratization of knowledge.
Preprints
The Brazilian Journal of Physical Activity & Health accepts the submission of preprints-manuscripts deposited in an official preprints server (for example: SciELO preprints, EmeRI).
When submitting the manuscript, the authors must inform, in the letter to the editor, that the manuscript is a preprint, on which preprint server (link) it is deposited and the DOI of the manuscript on the server. Only preprint manuscripts that have not been submitted to peer review in another journal, simultaneously, will be considered for evaluation in the journal.
Digital Preservation
The RBAFS is concerned with long-term access to its content. In the event of an accident with the servers, the journal’s digital files are preserved in the Cariniana Network, which uses the LOCKSS software. LOCKSS creates a file system distributed among participating libraries, which allows them to create permanent files from the journal for the purpose of preservation and restoration.
Copyright
Authors who publish in the BJPAH agree to the following terms:
- Authors maintain copyright and grant the journal the rights of the first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons License, which allows the work to be shared with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Editorial approach for scientific misconduct
The editorial approach in the case of scientific misconduct (plagiarism, self-plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of data, misuse of references or citations, duplicity, authorship dispute, among others) follows the procedures, checklist and guidelines of the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Commit-tee on Publication Ethics (COPE - http://publicationethics.org/). The BJPAH adopts plagiarism and self-plagiarism tracking tools, and authors must be aware of the implications provided by the legal provisions of the Penal Code (article 184) and the Copyright Law (Art. 7, third paragraph of Law 9.610, February 19, 1998 - see Law No. 12,853, of 2013).
Indexing Sources
Articles published in RBAFS are indexed and / or summarized in:
LILACS – Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde
Journal title abbreviation
The abbreviated title of the journal is Rev Bras Ativ Fis Saúde. This form should be used in bibliographies, footnotes, references and bibliographic strips.
All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a 