Types of Documents Accepted

The BPSR publishes original articles, research notes, review essays, and reviews on books published by international publishers that promote scientific investigations into Brazil. Each manuscript type is published in specific related sections.

All draft articles submitted to the BPSR must be unpublished and may not have been submitted for review by other journals. Once the article evaluation process has begun the original text and any revised versions thereof may not be published in any way whatsoever until such time as it is published by the journal. 

The BPSR accepts the submission of preliminary versions of working papers and preprint articles published on trusted platforms; and articles published in proceedings on academic events, in personal profiles on academic platforms. 

Authors who do not speak Portuguese must submit their papers in English. Authors who speak Portuguese may send their writings in Portuguese or English. Approved works are translated and/or reviewed by translators appointed by the BPSR.

The journal charges an editorial processing fee (article processing charge – APC) exclusively for the payment of English-language translation and/or reviewing services. Fees vary depending on the type of manuscript. Members of the Brazilian Association of Political Science, researchers who have recently obtained their doctoral degree, and researchers from the North, Northeast, and Center-West of Brazil are entitled to specific discounts (see table below).

The APC does not apply to reviews or works published in the Forum section.

Article Processing Charge (APC) amounts

Length of Articles

  • Original articles: no more than 9,000 words, including references, tables, and graphs.
  • Bibliographic essays: no more than 6,000 words, including references, tables, and graphs.
  • Notes on research in progress: no more than 2,500 words including references, tables, and graphs.
  • Book reviews: no more than 1,900 words, including references, tables, and graphs.

Documents for Submission

The title page, the actual text, tables, graphs, and figures must be submitted in different files, each named according to their content. The submission platform allows authors to upload each document according to its own category.

Please note:

  • The title page identifies the authors and must include: name, full affiliation, email of the contact author, all authors’ ORCID registration information, city, state, and country. The document must also include a short résumé of the authors with their academic background, employment information, if any, and any sources of funding, including the names of the funding institutions, process number, contract, year, etc.
  • The abstract may be no longer than 250 words, and the submission platform has a specific field dedicated to it.
  • The publication accepts up to five descriptors (keywords), which must be included in a specific field dedicated to them on the submission platform.
  • The actual text must NOT include any information that could identify its authors.

Authors’ Contributions

All authors of a manuscript must be informed at the time of submission, including their contact information.
The specific contribution of each author must be informed according to the CRediT Taxonomy.

Manuscripts with omitted authors, defined by strategic calculations on the effects of prestige on the possibility of approval of the work, or incorporated for honorary or authority reasons (“ghost,” “guest,” or “gift” writers) will be excluded from the editorial process.

Article Submission Format

Papers should be written using a word processor, preferably Word (Microsoft).

Any explanatory notes must be inserted at the end of each page and must be numbered sequentially. This resource should be used as seldom as possible.

Digital Assets

Tables should preferably be submitted in Excel format (Microsoft). Each table must include a descriptive title about its content above it. Tables must also include the source of the data below them. Any explanatory notes must be included outside the table. Tables should not contain bold or italicized words.

Graphs should preferably be submitted in Excel format (Microsoft) or be formatted according to the BPSR editorial standard, using Cambria font, size 11.Each graph must include a descriptive title of its content above it. The source of the data and any explanatory notes should be included below the graph. Information included in the graphs should not contain bold or italicized words.

There is no specific format defined for figures and illustrations. Titles, captions, data source, or any explanatory notes must be included outside the figure and must not be in bold or italics. The font used in content included in figures or illustrations should preferably be Cambria 11 pt.

Citations and References

The BPSR adopts the Chicago Manual of Style for formatting citations and references.

In the body of the text, references to tables, graphs, and figures must respect international scientific notation: (FIGUEIREDO, 9999); or (FIGUEIREDO, 999:99).

A reference list should be included at the end of the manuscript, starting on a separate page, unnumbered and in alphabetical order. The list must include all authors referred to in the text, as well as tables, graphs, or figures, according to the following criteria:

  • Books:
    • FIGUEIREDO, Marcus (no dot) (9999), The life in Saturn. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Saturno. 999 pp. (number of pages of the piece, with a full stop for the abbreviation of pages and the end of the sentence.)
    • FIGUEIREDO, Marcus (Ed no dot) (9999), The life in Saturn. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Saturno. 999 pp.
  • Book chapters or sections:
    • SILVA, Arnaldo (9999), Looking for stars. In: The life in Saturn. Edited by FIGUEIREDO, Marcus. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Saturno. pp. 123-133 (number of pages in the chapter).
  • Articles:
    • FIGUEIREDO, Marcus (9999), The life in Saturn. Brazilian Political Science Review. Vol. 01, No. 01, pp. 123-124.
  • Electronic Sources:
    • FIGUEIREDO, Marcus (9999), The life in Saturn. Available at <electronic address>. Accessed on (date of access) March 08, 2019.
  • Newspapers & Magazines:
    • SURNAME, given name of the author of the article. Title of the article. Newspaper Title, place, day, month, and year. Title of section, part, or supplement, start and end page.
  • Interviews:
    • SURNAME, Name of interviewee. Title of the interview. Name of interviewer. Date (day, month, and year), place. No. of pages or length of time.
  • Paper from scientific event:
    • SURNAME, Name of author (9999), Title of the work. Paper presented at name of event.

The BPSR relies on the standardization of published works to guarantee the correct application of the Chicago style.

Supplementary Documents

Body of data

Authors who submit empirical papers must provide, when and if their manuscript is approved, the database used in their analysis, the code dictionary describing the variables, and the code for replication or the series of steps taken during their analysis.

The database should be in an easily accessible format to conventional statistical software such as R, Stata, SPSS, and Excel.

The code dictionary must include the name of the variable, its description, and the source of the data.

When applicable, the code for replication of analyses must include extensive commentary.

In cases of articles that do not use statistical software that allows the creation of a replication code, authors must describe their procedures, step by step, to allow replication.

Authors may make supplementary materials available for the database. The translation or language review of these documents will generate an additional article processing charge (APC).