About the Journal

Last updated: December/ 2023

1. IDENTIFICATION

Title: Benjamin Constant

ISSN: 1414-6339 (printed); 1984-6061 (online)

Responsible entity: Divisão de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa (DPP) of the Departamento de Pós-Graduação, Pesquisa e Extensão (DPPE) of the Instituto Benjamin Constant (IBC).

Date of creation: September 1995.

Thematic of the magazine: visual impairment, visual impairment associated with other disabilities and deafblindness.

Thematic coverage coded according to the CAPES classification: Knowledge area - Teaching (90200000)

Periodicity: annual continuous publication online. Until the No. 60, Vol. 1, semiannual. Until the No. 56, Vol. 2, quarterly.

Format: online. Until the No. 59, Vol. 1, printed and online.

 

  1. INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

Focus and Scope:

The magazine is published in continuous flow and in themed dossiers, accepting original works in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

We consider a limit of up to 4 (four) authors per original. The concept of authorship is based on the substantial contribution of each of the people listed as authors, particularly with regard to the conception of the research project, the analysis and interpretation of data and the writing and critical review of the text.

Authors who have published in Benjamin Constant (BC) will have to wait 1 (one) year to publish a new text and 6 (six) months from the date of publication to make a new submission. The deadline for evaluating the work received is a maximum of six months. The publication period can be from six months to one year, subject to changes, as long as the need is justified. For authors linked to the Benjamin Constant Institute, the endogenous criteria set out in the journal's Rules will be strictly observed, which may result in a longer period for publication.

Approved works are published electronically. 

The information contained in the originals and published in the magazine's editions is the sole responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the journal's editorial board.

There is no provision for remuneration of any kind to the authors of published texts.

Section Policies:

Thematic dossiers: From n. 62, the Benjamin Constant started working with thematic dossiers in its editions. Public calls are made by the magazine's Editorial Committee for the submission of proposals widely publicized on BC and IBC's electronic addresses and social media. The Editorial Committee deliberates on the relevance and acceptance of proposals and organizes the dossier together with the editors of the approved proposal. Public calls will be made for the submission of originals, aiming to compose the approved dossiers – with specific deadlines for submission.

IMPORTANT: With the exception of thematic dossiers, all other types of work are received for evaluation in a continuous flow.

The writing of the original text for dossiers and continuous flow must follow the structure of the section in which the work will be submitted, namely:

  1. Articles – Scientific research that presents a sufficiently in-depth analysis of the issue proposed to be discussed; focus on the issue of visual impairment, visual impairment associated with other disabilities or deafblindness; present empirical elements or sufficiently developed arguments that support the conclusions; and present results, formulations or conclusions that point to advances in the proposed theme. It must have a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 20 pages – including references, tables and figures.
  2. Essay and literature review – Synthesis of multiple knowledge available on a given topic, through analysis and interpretation of relevant bibliography, in order to contain critical and comparative reflection of work in the area, which discusses the methodological limits and scope, allowing to indicate perspectives for the continuity of studies. It must have a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 15 pages – including references, tables and figures.
  3. Experience reports – Work that describes a given professional and/or research experience, successful or not, in order to contribute significantly to the author’s area of ​​activity. It must contain motivations or methodology for the actions taken in the situation and the considerations/impressions that the experience brought to the person who lived it. The report is made in a contextualized way, with objectivity and consistent theoretical foundation. It must have a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 pages – including references, tables and figures.
  4. Critical review – Commented and detailed presentation of works that are up to two years old, counting from their 1st edition, respecting academic criteria and standards. It must have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 pages – including references, tables and figures.
  5. Interviews – must be carried out with prestigious researchers, and bring relevant contributions to the scope of the journal. Interviews must contain between 12 and 20 pages.

Text structure:

We make a template available via the following link:TEMPLATE - REVISTA BENJAMIN CONSTANT.docx

It is desirable, but not mandatory, to use the template. Below are detailed writing and formatting instructions:

1 - The work must be presented on A4 paper, with numbered pages, 2.5 cm margins, body text with 1.5 line spacing, Times New Roman font, size 12 and justified, paragraph offset 1.25 cm and following ABNT standards: NBR 6022:2018 (Article in technical and/or scientific periodical publication), NBR 6023:2018 - Corrected Version 2:2020 (References), NBR 6024:2012 (Progressive numbering of sections of a document), and NBR 10520:2023 (Citations in documents).

 

2 - Works must be written in Portuguese, Spanish or English, observing the magazine's “Section Policies”, following the structure: Title, Summary, Keywords, Text and Bibliographic References.

2.1 - The Title of the work must be written in capital letters, size 14, single spaced, centered; regardless of the language used to write the text, the title must be in Portuguese, English and Spanish; not exceed twenty (20) words.

2.2 - The Summary it must contain between 250 and 350 words (with spaces) and provide information about the objectives, methodological procedures, theoretical references and results; it must be structured in a single paragraph and highlighted before the text; it must express, clearly and concisely, a synthesis of the content developed throughout the text and be in two versions, for example, Portuguese/Spanish (resumén) or Portuguese/English (abstract).

Only reviews do not need a summary in the manuscript.

2.3 - After the summary, the text must contain a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five (5) Keywords, in Portuguese (Resumo); in Spanish (Palavras clave) or in English (Keywords), separated by a period (.).

3 - Figures, charts and tables - must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. They must be centered in the body of the text and with appropriate indications regarding their description, the source and the date on which they were made. They must present a brief title; at the bottom, inform source, (Times New Roman, size 10, single spaced, centered alignment). For other sources, cite author, date and page; however, when written by the author, the author and year must be indicated.

3.1 Photographic records, once included in the work, must maintain the anonymity of the subjects participating in the research.

3.2 - Graphics and illustrations (if any) – For reprinting illustrations (photographs, pictures, screens, among others) extracted from other sources, the origin of the reference must be indicated.

3.3 - It is desirable that the graphic elements submitted be accompanied by a description, taking into account the accessibility of the BC magazine. The descriptions will be subject to specialized consultancy.

4- Bibliographic references – Citations of references in the body of the text must follow the author-date system, in lower case, according to NBR 10520:2023 (e.g., Silva, 2023) and complete descriptions of bibliographic references must be in a list at the end of the text, standardized according to NBR 6023:2018 (Corrected Version 2:2020). The references must be ordered alphabetically by the first author's surname. Up to three authors, all of whom can be cited separated by semicolons (;). When the referenced work has more than three authors, cite only the first author, followed by the expression et al. The author(s) are responsible for the accuracy of the references in the list and the correct citation of their data in the text. 

5-  Footnotes - we suggest that authors only use this resource when it will be extremely necessary, always considering the possibility of bringing the information in the body of the text itself, in view of BC's commitment to accessibility. 

Conditions for submission:

  1. The work must be submitted to the Benjamin Constant magazine page, following the guidelines of the OJS platform, without identifying the author(s), associated research groups and/or institutions that can identify the author(s) throughout the text.
  2. It is up to the authors to verify the compliance of the submission in relation to all the items listed below. Submissions that do not comply with the standards will be automatically rejected by the system.
    • The contribution is original and unpublished, and is not being evaluated for publication by another journal; otherwise, it must be justified in "Comments to the editor".
    • The submission file is in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or RTF format.
    • URLs for references were provided when possible.
    • The text complies with the magazine's publication standards.
    • The authors agree with the transfer to the Benjamin Constant rights over the submitted text, upon acceptance for publication.
    • All authors are registered in the journal with personal, professional and academic information, including ORCID updated.

Assessment:

Works are evaluated based on their merit and form. They initially pass through the magazine's Editorial Committee, which analyzes their relevance to the journal's areas of concentration, whether they fit into one of the publication modalities and whether they are considered appropriate and of sufficient scientific priority for publication.

If approved at this stage, the work is forwarded to two referees, in a double-blind version (anonymous peers). Reviewers can fully accept the work, accept it by requesting reformulations or reject it. Either hypothesis is justified by a descriptive opinion.

When both reviewers refuse the work, it is returned to the author. When both reviewers accept it, it moves to the next phase. When one reviewer accepts the work and the other refuses, it is sent to a third reviewer for a final decision.

In case of reformulation, the work is returned to the author, asking him to consider the opinions and reformulate the text. Finally, it will be reevaluated and, if approved, it will move on to the review and layout phase.

It will be returned to the authors, works that:

  1. contain excessive writing errors, as well as text structuring errors, to the point of making it difficult to understand the parts or even the whole;
  2. are merely descriptive and do not present an analysis of the problem addressed;
  3. do not have the form of scientific article/report of experiences/reviews usually practiced in Education and Teaching journals;
  4. do not comply with the Benjamin Constant magazine's standards for submission of originals (formatting, citations, references, etc.);
  5. do not present empirical elements or sufficiently developed arguments to support the conclusions;
  6. they are notably configured as a simple excerpt from a dissertation or thesis, without due adaptation and the due unfolding of the analysis;
  7. present themselves in the form of a research project or report;
  8. do not fit into the themes of the Benjamin Constant magazine.

The final decision on whether to publish an original rests with the journal's editors-in-chief. Benjamin Constant, after hearing the Editorial Committee and observing:

  1. the scientific quality attested by the evaluators of the original;
  2. the contribution to the area of ​​visual impairment; the originality of the theme and/or the treatment given to the theme; the argumentative consistency and rigor of the theoretical-methodological approach adopted;
  3. compliance with the editorial standards established here.

Ethical considerations and anti-plagiarism policy:

Studies involving human subjects, or data from human subjects, must comply with the Resolution 466/12 and the Resolution 510/16, both from the National Research Ethics Council, in addition to observing, when pertinent, the Circular letter no. 1/2021 Conep/SECNS/MS (procedures in research with any stage in a virtual environment). If deemed necessary, the Editorial Committee of the Benjamin Constant may request a copy of the approval of the work by an Ethics Committee.

Furthermore, the editorial team at Benjamin Constant repudiates the practices of plagiarism and self-plagiarism, and it is up to the authors to guarantee the originality of their work and must cite the sources consulted in its construction. Suspected cases may be subjected to verification and, in case of proven plagiarism, the manuscripts will be rejected.

  1. ABOUT THE PERIODIC

Mission: publish unpublished works, by Brazilian and foreign authors, that contribute to the knowledge and development of critical thinking and research, in the area of ​​interdisciplinary knowledge on the themes of visual impairment, visual impairment associated with other disabilities and deafblindness.

Indexing:

Open Access: This magazine offers immediate free access to its content, following the principle that making scientific knowledge freely available to the public provides greater global democratization of knowledge. Authors are recommended to make available in open access repositories the research data used in works published in the Benjamin Constant. Magazine users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link the full texts of articles, or use them for any other legal purpose, without requesting prior permission from the publisher or author, as long as they respect the copyright license use of Creative Commons used by the journal. This definition of open access is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

Financing model:

The Benjamin Constant Institute is the institution that guarantees the conditions for the magazine to operate, including material and human resources.

Payment of fees: there are no fees of any kind for submission or evaluation of originals to be published by Benjamin Constant. 

Strata of Benjamin Constant in CAPES Qualis (quadriennium 2017-2020):

B1: Education

Source: https://sucupira.capes.gov.br/sucupira/public/consultas/coleta/veiculoPublicacaoQualis/listaConsultaGeralPeriodicos.jsf

Historic:

In 1995, on the initiative of the Documentation and Information Division (DDI), of the Specialized Technical Department (DTE), of the Benjamin Constant Institute, was created the Benjamin Constant magazine. The periodical intended to meet the already expressive demand for information relating to aspects linked to preventing the causes of blindness, and to education, rehabilitation, work, culture, sport, leisure and the rights of people with visual impairments in Brazil.

Furthermore, the IBC believed that the absence of specific publications on the topic was an obstacle to the growth in the number of research involving the topic, as well as the process of interaction between researchers in the area. By editing the magazine, therefore, the IBC fulfilled its responsibility to act as a body for research, documentation and dissemination of information that serves to support actions that guarantee people with visual impairments in Brazil adequate attention and the full exercise of their citizenship.

The Benjamin Constant – in more than 20 years of existence – works to consolidate itself as one of the most relevant journals in the scientific field. As the only magazine in the country specialized in the themes of visual impairment, visual impairment associated with other disabilities and deafblindness, the journal receives and publishes contributions every year from experienced researchers and new researchers in an ideal proportion, coming from all parts of Brazil and the world.

Did you find any problems or errors on the website? Contact the editors via: revistabenjaminconstant@ibc.gov.br