Submissions

Author Guidelines

First conditions:

Before submitting manuscripts for evaluation, authors should be aware, and confirm that:

• The concepts, opinions, and ideas presented are the author’s exclusive responsibility.
• Manuscripts submitted to the RCO must be unpublished. Works presented at scientific meetings, like congresses, seminars, symposia etc. are considered unpublished.
• Manuscripts are not in the evaluation process in any other publication vehicle.
• The maximum number of authors per article: 4. Exceptional cases may be analyzed by the Executive Committee of the RCO.
• Authors' anonymity in all documents submitted.
• The authors undertake to submit, after approval for publication, the article in two versions, one in Portuguese and one in English.

Preparing a submission:

• The articles and documents must be sent only using the electronic application form available on the journal website (http://revistas.usp.br/rco).
• Authors’ data must correctly fill in the submission system; this information is indispensable for publication.
• Dismissal or incomplete submissions will be returned to the authors.
• Direct style, concrete, objective. Avoid using acronyms, including variable names in text and tables. The variable name must be self-explanatory, direct, and immediate.
• Readers should easily understand what is being discussed.

The submission should include:

1) A cover letter (see template at the end).

2) Complete data (telephones and address), institutional affiliation and ORCID ID’s registration number, registered in the site.

3) The main manuscript in an editable format should contain an abstract in English and Portuguese, as well as the 'Implications chart' (see Instructions for manuscript).

4) Additional documents, if it is necessary.

What is the "Practical implications chart"? RCO has a strong commitment to the dissemination of scientific knowledge to Companies, Markets, and Governments. Thus, authors should present, in a very clear way, how their results contribute to current practices. Whether it is in an aspect of regulation, business conduct, decision-making, and how this affects practice and can be used to transform it. The "Implications Framework" is a 50-word statement on how the 'results' of the research in question interact with companies, markets, and governments. How these results can help companies, markets, and governments to deal with some event or phenomenon addressed by the survey results. The focus of the framework is not the theory or the method, but the contribution to society, in a way that directly dialogues with professionals.

What should be sent as supplementary documents? Data collection instruments such as complete questionnaire applied, translations and adaptation of foreign instruments that was applied, interviews, the complete list of articles reviewed in a systematic review of the literature and not referenced in the text, charts, and tables of auxiliary tests, and others. The journal offers an editorial space to communicate results objectively in the main text. Authors should use a supplemental material to expose methodological and analytical procedures to the editor and reviewers. Some of this material may be requested.

The article or document should be submitted as a file with the article or document text itself, following the specifications below. In the first page, there should be:

• The article title (in Portuguese and in English);
• Abstract;
• From three to five key-words;
• Abstract in Portuguese (with the same content as the English version);
• Keywords (in English and Portuguese) and;
• The “Practical implications chart”.

From the second page on, the document or article body should be included. To guarantee the anonymity of the evaluation process, the author(s) should not identify himself/themselves in the document or article body.

There are no strict format requirements, but all articles must contain the essential elements necessary to communicate the manuscript's argument. Usually, articles are structure through the Introduction, Theoretical Framework, Methodology, Results and Discussion, and Conclusion sections.

In the Introduction, it is expected that the authors present, not necessarily in the following order:

• The purpose of the article;
• The gap identified in the literature that is being filled by the article;
• Justifications for the importance of the gap;
• Explanations about how the article fills the gap;
• A brief description of methodological aspects;
• A synthesis of the results and their innovative theoretical implications.

The Theoretical Framework can be structured in different ways, depending on whether the study makes use of quantitative or qualitative strategy. For quantitative studies, could include, not necessarily, in this order:

• A synthesis of the previous studies directly related to the research phenomenon, highlighting the knowledge gaps;
• The presentation of the theory (s) that supports the study, with emphasis on the definition of its main concepts and the expected causal relationships between them;
• The development of hypotheses.

Works with qualitative approaches may diverge from a model - development of hypotheses, data, and tests.

It is important to emphasize that the theoretical section should increase the knowledge about the phenomenon, and not repeat the presentation of theories already published in other articles.

The Methodology section should present information detailed enough to allow the study to be reproduced. Should emphasize the description of how the study was carried out, and we strongly suggest avoiding the use of taxonomies that do not allow the reader to understand what has actually been done.

In the Results and Discussion, section authors should explore the meaning of the results obtained, rather than just presenting them in a superficial manner. The contrast with the literature is important, but we recommend avoiding the extensive use of citations and discussion of articles already published. It is critical to discuss the limitations of the study, the threats to the robustness of the results and any procedures that have been adopted to limit the impact of such threats.

The Conclusion section should emphasize the meaning of the results, not repeat their presentation. We expect that the authors discuss the theoretical implications of the results obtained, in order to highlight how the authors expect future research to be impacted by the results obtained in the article, and which research opportunities are still open. The conclusion section should include a discussion of the practical implications of the results obtained with the study.

Required adjustment after Desk review

After the first evaluation stage, submissions that continue in the evaluation process must be adapted to the format required by RCO. Therefore:

• The manuscript must contain 4,000 to 6,000 words, not including the bibliographical references listed. The objective is to communicate the results of the study. A more direct but not superficial style is better for understanding. Balanced use of bet, short phrases, identified subject and clearly constructed expressions are imperative.
• Citations and References in the APA standard, including the respective DOI of each publication.
• Times New Roman 12 font.
• Simple line spacing.
• Justified text.
• Top and left margins - 3 cm, bottom and right margins - 2 cm.
• Few uses of acronyms (only 2 throughout the text and no acronyms in tables).

Citations should be made in the body of the text in the author-date system, including page numbers (when applicable), according to the American Psychological Association (APA) standards. The complete references (including DOI) of the cited works should be presented in alphabetical order at the end of the text, according to the APA standard. Illustrations such as figures, tables, and tables, must be prepared according to the APA standard, always in black and white, along with captions, credits and source. If there are illustrations imported from other programs, such as Excel and PowerPoint, also send the source file.

Reference and explanatory notes should be avoided. When these notes are strictly necessary, they should be numbered sequentially in the text body and inserted at the end of the text. In addition, acronyms throughout the text should also be avoided. The author should evaluate the need to use acronyms if little used may not be necessary. A maximum of two will be allowed. The use of acronyms in tables is not allowed.

Sending of Manuscripts

The articles and documents can be sent in Portuguese or English. After approval for publication, the authors commit to submit the article in two versions, one in Portuguese and one in English.

Rules for submitting scientific articles here.

Rules for submitting teaching cases and other teaching contributions here.

Download the Sample Cover Letter here