Submissions

Author Guidelines

Editorial Policy

Revista ESMAT publishes unpublished and original scholarly articles in Law, Applied Social Sciences, and related interdisciplinary fields. It welcomes theoretical, empirical, methodological, comparative, and critical studies concerning the administration of justice, human rights, public institutions, and contemporary legal, social, and institutional change.

The Journal uses external double-anonymous peer review (double-blind peer review), observing editorial independence, impartiality, confidentiality, research integrity, and methodological appropriateness.

When a preprint or another previously public version makes it possible to identify the authors, reviewers will remain anonymous to the authors, but the authors’ identities may be known to the reviewers. This condition will be recorded in the editorial process and communicated to the reviewers.

Since 2026, accepted manuscripts have been published on a continuous basis after peer review, revision, standardization, and production are complete.

The Journal pursues institutional and geographical diversity and seeks to avoid an undue concentration of authors, reviewers, and editors affiliated with its sponsoring institution or with a single Brazilian state.

No more than one article by the same author or co-author will be published in a given annual volume. This rule does not prevent authors from submitting another manuscript, but any further accepted article will be scheduled for the following volume.

Author Eligibility

Revista ESMAT accepts manuscripts from researchers at different stages of academic training, subject to these requirements:

• For a single-authored article, the author must hold at least a master’s degree.
• For a co-authored article, at least one author must hold a master’s or doctoral degree.

Undergraduate students, graduates, holders of a postgraduate specialization qualification, and master’s or doctoral students who do not yet hold a master’s degree may participate as co-authors if they have made an effective contribution to the research and preparation of the manuscript.

Equivalent qualifications will be considered for authors affiliated with institutions outside Brazil.

Adding an author solely to satisfy the degree requirement, without an actual intellectual contribution, is contrary to the Journal’s authorship policy.

All authors must maintain an individual, up-to-date record in the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform containing:

• Full name;
• Full institutional affiliation;
• Organizational unit, where applicable;
• City, state or region, and country;
• Email address;
• ORCID iD; and
• A short academic and professional biography.

Authors affiliated with Brazilian institutions should provide a link to their Lattes CV, where available.

Editorial Process

Manuscripts must be submitted through Revista ESMAT’s online submission system.

Manuscripts sent by email will not be accepted unless exceptionally authorized by the Editorial Team. In such cases, the manuscript must subsequently be registered in OJS with all required metadata and documents.

The editorial process comprises:

1. Submission and document check;
2. Editorial screening;
3. Text similarity analysis;
4.  External peer review;
5. Editorial decision;
6. Revision by the authors;
7. Formatting and language editing;
8. Production;
9. Proof checking; and
10. Publication.

During the initial editorial screening, the editorial team checks whether the manuscript fits the Journal’s aims and scope, makes a scholarly contribution, states a clear research problem or objective, and shows coherence between its methods, results, and conclusions. The team also checks compliance with ethical requirements, the completeness of files and metadata, and adherence to the Journal’s formatting guidelines. Text similarity reports are assessed in context. Manuscripts that do not meet the requirements for evaluation may be returned for correction or rejected through a reasoned editorial decision.

Authors must submit an identified version of the manuscript, an anonymized version, and any supplementary documents required by the Journal.

The anonymized version must not contain names, affiliations, acknowledgments, file properties, or self-citations that identify the authors.

Manuscripts that pass editorial screening will be sent to at least two ad hoc reviewers. If their assessments differ, the manuscript may be referred to a third reviewer or be subject to a reasoned editorial decision.

Editorial decisions may result in acceptance, acceptance subject to revisions, a further round of review, or rejection.

The estimated timeframes are up to 30 days for editorial screening, up to 90 days for peer review, and up to 120 days between submission and the first conclusive editorial decision.

Research Ethics and Integrity

Revista ESMAT follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

By submitting a manuscript, authors declare that it:

• Is original and has not previously been published in a journal, except for deposit on a preprint server;
• Is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal;
• Properly identifies the sources used;
• Does not contain plagiarism, inappropriate text recycling, fabricated or falsified data, or data manipulation;
• Complies with applicable research ethics requirements;
• Credits authors in accordance with their actual contributions; and
• Discloses conflicts of interest and sources of funding.

Similarity reports will be interpreted in context. Editorial decisions will not be based solely on a percentage generated by software.

Research involving human participants or animals must report approval by the competent ethics body, including the approval or protocol number, where applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers must declare personal, academic, institutional, professional, political, or financial conflicts of interest. They must also state when they have no conflicts to declare.

Reviewers or editors whose conflicts may compromise their independence may not take part in the review or editorial decision.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may submit a reasoned appeal against an editorial decision within 15 calendar days of receiving the decision.

The appeal must identify the aspects of the decision under challenge and provide an academic or editorial justification. Whenever possible, it will be considered by an editor who did not directly participate in the contested decision.

Complaints concerning research ethics, editorial conduct, conflicts of interest, or the review process may be sent to revista.esmat@tjto.jus.br.

Errata, Corrections, and Retractions

The Journal may publish errata, corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other editorial notices when errors, inconsistencies, or breaches of research integrity are identified.

Such notices will be linked to the original article and will clearly state the nature of the change. Published versions will not be replaced without notice.

Authorship and Contributions

Only individuals who have made an intellectual contribution to the work, participated in drafting or critically revising it, approved the final version, and accepted responsibility for the published content should be listed as authors.

For manuscripts with two or more authors, an author contribution statement using the CRediT taxonomy is required.

Any change in authorship after submission must be justified and approved by all authors.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence tools may not be named as authors or co-authors.

When such tools have been used in preparing a manuscript, authors must disclose:

• The name of the tool;
• Its version, where available;
• The purpose for which it was used;
• The parts of the work in which it was used; and
• The procedures used to verify its output.

Authors remain responsible for originality, factual accuracy, integrity, references, data, and conclusions.

Editors and reviewers must not upload manuscripts, reviews, or confidential information to publicly accessible generative AI systems.

Open Science and Preprints

The Journal accepts manuscripts previously deposited on recognized preprint servers.

Authors must provide the name of the server, the title of the deposited version, its DOI or other identifier, its web address, and the date of deposit.

All manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement, including those for which data sharing does not apply or is subject to ethical, legal, or contractual restrictions.

Authors are encouraged to deposit data, code, and other research materials in repositories that follow the FAIR principles, such as Zenodo, SciELO Data, or recognized institutional and subject repositories.

Formatting Requirements

Manuscripts must be submitted in .doc or .docx format using the Journal’s official template.

The text must use Times New Roman, 12-point type, 1.5 line spacing, justified alignment, 3 cm top and left margins, 2 cm bottom and right margins, numbered pages, and a length of 15 to 30 pages.

In-text citations must follow ABNT NBR 10520; references must follow ABNT NBR 6023; and progressive section numbering must follow ABNT NBR 6024. The author–date citation system must be used. References should include a DOI where one is available.

Manuscript Structure

Manuscripts must include:

• A title in the original language and a title in English;
• An abstract in the original language and an abstract in English;
• Three to five keywords in the original language and three to five keywords in English;
• An introduction;
• A theoretical framework, where applicable;
• Methods or methodological procedures;
• Results and discussion, where applicable;
• A conclusion;
•  References;
• An author contribution statement;
• A conflict of interest statement;
• A funding statement;
• A Data Availability Statement;
• An ethics approval statement, where applicable; and
• A statement on the use of generative artificial intelligence, where applicable.

Submission Requirements

Before completing a submission, the corresponding author must confirm that:

• The manuscript is original and is not under consideration by another journal;
• Any preprint has been disclosed;
• At least one author holds a master’s or doctoral degree;
•  All authors have contributed effectively to the work;
• All OJS author records are complete;
• All authors have provided an ORCID iD;
• Both identified and anonymized manuscript files have been uploaded;
• The manuscript follows the Journal’s template;
•  References include a DOI where available;
• Funding and conflicts of interest have been disclosed;
• A CRediT contribution statement has been provided;
• A Data Availability Statement has been provided;
• Ethics approval has been reported, where applicable;
•  The use of artificial intelligence has been disclosed, where applicable;
• The authors agree to publication under the CC BY 4.0 license; and
•  The authors acknowledge that no editorial fees are charged.

Copyright and License

Authors retain copyright and grant Revista ESMAT a non-exclusive license to publish the article for the first time and to preserve, disseminate, and distribute it.

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license permits copying, distribution, adaptation, and reuse, including for commercial purposes, provided that the authors are credited, the original publication is identified, and any changes are indicated.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the requirements set out above.

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright in their work and grant Revista ESMAT a non-exclusive license for first publication and scholarly dissemination of the article under CC BY 4.0.

Authors bear responsibility for the published content, opinions, accuracy of citations and references, and research data.

Authors must identify and properly credit images, tables, data, documents, and other materials used in the manuscript and obtain any permissions required for copyrighted material.

Revista ESMAT and its editorial team are not responsible for any copyright violations or ethical breaches committed by authors.

Privacy Statement

Names and addresses supplied to the Journal will be used exclusively for the services provided by the publication and will not be made available for other purposes or disclosed to third parties.