About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Revista Enfermagem Contemporânea (REC), founded in 2012 and supported by the Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública (Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health), is a Diamond Open Access scientific journal — free of charge and bilingual — with a vocation for the interfaces between Nursing and Collective Health.

REC’s mission is to foster the production and dissemination of knowledge in Nursing, strengthening its articulation with collective health, professional education, and the contemporary challenges of health care. In this sense, its objective is to promote critical development and innovation in the field of nursing, with an ethical focus on evidence-based research, contributing to the qualification of professional and academic practices. The journal adopts a continuous evaluation and publication workflow, with peer review under a double-blind review model, and is published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The reviews issued by evaluators are part of authors’ formative process, complementing the training developed in classrooms, laboratories, and extension/outreach activities. Its target audience includes researchers, faculty, students, and nursing professionals, as well as professionals from related fields in health.

 

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Peer Review Process

The Journal of Contemporary Nursing (JCN) applies double anonymized peer review, where both the evaluator and authors remain anonymous throughout the process. Each contribution will be submitted to at least 2 (two) ad hoc reviewers. The outcomes could be: a) approval for publication as presented in the original; b) approval for publication after improvements required by the reviewer have been implemented; c) rejection. The authors will always be informed of the review outcome, and will promptly receive all reviewers' annotations.

If the authors decide to carry out the changes suggested by the reviewers, the amended text will be redirected to the same previous evaluators for a new assessment and/or to the assigned editors responsible for that submission. The final approval of each submission is carried out by the designated scientific editor.

Open Peer Review Policy: In order to foster critical and in-depth peer review and transparency in the nursing research field, outstanding reviews may be considered for publication after consulting with the referee who authored it and assessment by our editorial board.

In order to be eligible for publication, the review must be at least 500 words in length, it must encompass critical discussion of the reviewed text and appraisal of evidence on the topic, remarking the quality of the study, its strenghts and limitations and its relevance to the current discussion of its topic among the scientific community.
 
Thus, adding value to the reviewed work and constituting an independent text in itself, the review will be deemed eligible for publication.

 

Publication Frequency

From 2022 on, submissions accepted for publication by the scientific editors are made available online as soon as they are copyedited and layout-edited. This process, for each accepted paper, takes up to four weeks.

Publication of newly accepted submissions stops in December, when the publishing cycle restarts for the following year's volume.

 

Open Access Policy

The Journal of Contemporary Nursing does not apply article processing charges whatsoever, being a scientific vehicle with the exclusive purpose of fostering the advancement of science.

By submitting an article to this journal, the authors recognize themselves as copyright holders and authorize its free use by readers. The published content herein may be, in addition to being read, downloaded, copied, distributed and printed.

The authors retain copyrights, transferring to the Journal of Contemporary Nursing only the right of first publication.

The Journal of Contemporary Nursing adopts the Creative Commons Attribution License, by which all are free to copy and redistribute the published content in any medium or format, to remix it, to transform it and to build knowledge from the aforementioned content for any purpose, including commercial purposes. The users of the content are always required to attribute credit to the original authors.

We recommend authors to deposit the final published version of their articles in institutional repositories linking to their article in the Journal of Contemporary Nursing.

Articles submitted for assessment and evaluation in preprint repositories may be submitted to the Journal of Contemporary Nursing for peer review and they will be considered original nonetheless.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Policy

JCN seeks to establish practices that promote Accessibility, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, in alignment with the guidelines of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications, recognizing these principles as fundamental to excellence, social relevance, and the sustainability of scholarly communication. Beginning in 2026, the journal commits to fostering an even more just and representative editorial ecosystem, ensuring the equitable participation of individuals from diverse backgrounds, identities, experiences, and perspectives at all levels of the editorial process, including authorship, peer review, decision-making, and leadership. JCN is committed to eliminating barriers to participation, addressing exclusionary practices, valuing the plurality of knowledge systems, and ensuring that its policies, published content, and editorial practices promote access, belonging, and the full contribution of all academic and scientific communities that contribute to the development of its editorial ecosystem.

 

Ethics and Research Integrity

The JCN recognizes the ethical foundations of the Singapore Statement on Research Integrity, the Hong Kong Principles, and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices for Scholarly Publications. It encourages all authors, reviewers, editorial board members, and technical staff to become familiar with and adopt these guidelines to ensure responsible, transparent research and publication practices aligned with international standards.

The manuals listed below should be consulted to support the strengthening of integrity and ethics in research:

• Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE)
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
• Office of Research Integrity (ORI)
• Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR)
• Comissão Nacional de Ética em Pesquisa (CONEP)
• Código de Boas Práticas Científicas FAPESP

 

Textual Similarity Screening and Self-Archiving

In order to enforce the best practices in scientific publishing and to prevent copyright infringement, submitted manuscripts are screened with the Similarity Check powered by the iThenticate software before publication.

Screened manuscripts displaying high rates of similarity in the wording of the introduction, discussion and results sections with previously published original content in scientific communication venues with ISBN or ISSN without properly referencing them will be rejected.

Deposits to institutional repositories and servers do not constitute plagiarism nor self-plagiarism. Research reports developed in academic institutions such as thesis, dissertations and monographs may and should be published as scientific papers in journals or scientific books after appering as thesis or dissertations on institutional repositories.

 

Authorship Policy

This journal adopts the ICMJE recommendations for the definition of authorship roles. 

An author of an intellectual production takes public responsibility for its content. An author of a scientific report is someone who participated in the conception and planning of the research project, who created conditions for its development, who agrees with its final wording of the manuscript and who is able to defend its essence before the scientific community.

Authorship is not guaranteed by participation in data collection, research groups and laboratories, loan of materials and equipment, translation nor statistical analyses. The essence of a scientific article lies in the interpretation of the results, in the argumentation and in the conclusions that contribute to the scientific advancement.

Each author must declare their contributions to the research and report, and potential competing interests. 

The use of Large Language Models (LLMs) at any stage of the report writing must be duly justified and explained in the Methods section. LLMs, by conceptual definition, cannot constitute scientific authorship. The journal's editors will evaluate the relevance of using the respective tool.

It is prohibited to add or remove authors after the scientific evaluation of the submission has begun.

Those institutions with which the author maintains employment ties for teaching, research activities and/or clinical practice will be considered affiliations. 

For those authors who do not have an employment relationship with educational and/or research institutions, the current student relationship at the time of submission can be considered affiliation. 

Authors who do not have a student or employment relationship at the time of submission must declare themselves as independent researchers.

Laboratories, research groups and institutions in which the author is a postdoctoral fellow, visiting professor, and/or consultant will not be considered affiliations for the purposes of publication in this journal.

Authorship disputes will be resolved by the journal's editorial committee in accordance with COPE recommendations.

Policy for Submissions by Editorial Board Members: Editorial board members are welcome to submit research reports to be considered for publication after review by unbiased independent peers. However, the journal may limit the number of submissions accepted per editor per year, prioritizing (i) methodologically robust and (ii) socially useful empirical reports and (iii) maintaining low editorial endogeneity.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy

REC recognizes the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, including natural language models, on scientific research and manuscript writing. To ensure scientific integrity, editorial transparency, and ethical responsibility, we adopt the following guidelines based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq):

   1. Authorship
AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, among others) must not be listed as authors of manuscripts. Scientific authorship requires legal and ethical responsibility, as well as the ability to account for all stages of the work, attributes that cannot be assigned to automated systems, but only to human beings.

   2. Transparent and Responsible Use
Authors who use generative AI tools must explicitly disclose such use in the manuscript, on the title page, and after the conclusions or final considerations. The AI use statement must:

• Specify which tool was used and at which stages it was applied in the development of the study;
• Justify the choice of the AI tool used;
• Describe the specific purpose of using AI (e.g., language improvement, technical translation, assistance with text structuring or data analysis, reference review);
• Ensure that all AI-generated content is reviewed, validated, and fully assumed by the authors;

   3. Scientific Integrity
The use of AI must not compromise the originality, accuracy of data, or scientific reliability of the submitted manuscript. Fabricated, plagiarized, distorted content, or content not properly attributed to the use of automated tools will be considered scientific misconduct. If such misconduct is identified, retraction of the manuscript will be indicated through an erratum.

   4. Peer Review and AI
This journal does not use generative AI systems to replace human reviewers in the peer review process. The evaluation of scientific merit remains the responsibility of human experts in their respective fields, preserving critical and contextual assessment.
Ad hoc reviewers must not input submitted material into AI systems, as manuscripts submitted to REC are confidential scientific communications and constitute the intellectual property of the authors. The journal values transparency in the peer review process and establishes that improper use of artificial intelligence software or other AI-related technologies in the analysis, processing, or evaluation of manuscripts may result in violations of confidentiality and copyright.

   5. Use of AI in the Editorial Workflow
The Editors-in-Chief and the REC technical-executive team may use institutional AI tools exclusively to support the editorial workflow. These tools, duly licensed by the maintaining institution, are used for activities such as initial screening prior to peer review—for example, checking formal compliance and supporting linguistic standardization—without any interference in the intellectual or scientific content or in the authorship of submitted manuscripts.
All evaluation processes, editorial decisions, and scientific deliberations remain entirely under the responsibility of the REC editorial and technical-executive team.
Institutional AI tools are operated responsibly, in a controlled manner, and in compliance with strict data security and protection standards, ensuring that prompts, responses, and organizational data are not used for training AI models, thereby safeguarding manuscript confidentiality and preserving authors’ rights.

 

Versions and Retraction Policy

Suspected scientific misconducts will be assessed by the editorial board. The Journal of Contemporary Nursing will follow the COPE procedures to further investigate any misconduct allegations that may arise.

In case of retraction, the journal shall abide by the ICMJE recommendations.

Corrections of accidental errors - statistical, methodological or otherwise - whenever reported by the authors themselves will be published immediately.

In either situation, all versions will be maintained online, properly identified as recommended by the ICMJE and linked in both directions for further assessment by the readers.

 

Translation Policy

The Journal of Contemporary Nursing will publish, starting in May 2021, simultaneously its content in English and in Portuguese.

In case of acceptance of the submission, the authors are responsible for translating the manuscript into the second language in its final version, including biographies, list of author contributions, paragraph about possible conflicts of interest and references.

 

Archiving Policy

This journal ensures the permanent preservation of its content through the PKP Preservation Network and the Cariniana Network, adopting distributed and redundant archiving strategies that guarantee the security and continuity of access to published materials, even in the event of technical failures, website unavailability, or the discontinuation of the journal’s activities. This initiative aims to safeguard articles, metadata, and supplementary files, ensuring that they remain accessible and usable in the long term.

 

Interoperability Protocol

JCN ensures the interoperability of its published content through the OAI-PMH protocol (Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, version 2.0). This feature allows repositories, directories, and indexing systems to automatically collect and distribute metadata, enhancing the integration and circulation of scientific production available on our website.

All articles are described with metadata tags structured in the Dublin Core standard (oai_dc), ensuring standardization and international compatibility. The electronic address for metadata harvesting is:

https://journals.bahiana.edu.br/index.php/enfermagem/oai

By adopting this protocol, JCN reinforces its commitment to the visibility, accessibility, and global dissemination of scientific knowledge, in line with established interoperability practices adopted by national and international reference journals.

 

Sponsorship and Advertisement Policy

 

Last updated May 22th, 2026