Focus and Scope

Updated in December 2025.

Cogitare Enfermagem publishes original research articles, reviews, experience/case reports, reflections, and free communications in the field of health, especially nursing. It adopts the rolling pass publication system and provides public access to all its content, following the principle that making access to research free generates a greater global exchange of knowledge. 

Manuscripts submitted to Cogitare Enfermagem must comply with its editorial policy, the instructions to authors, and the  EQUATOR Network guidelines. Submissions are accepted in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, in the following categories: Original Articles, Review Articles, Experience/Case Reports, Reflections, Technological Innovation, and Free Communication.

Cogitare Enfermagem adopts two types of peer review: Open review (preferred): in which authors and reviewers are aware of each other’s identities; Double-blind review: in which authors and reviewers remain anonymous to one another. Further details regarding the peer review policy can be found on the Editorial Policies page. 

Journal History

Cogitare Enfermagem (abbreviated title: Cogitare Enferm.) is a publication of the Department of Nursing of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), with its first issue published in 1996. Since 2015, it has been available exclusively in electronic format and currently publishes its articles in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

The mission of Cogitare Enfermagem is to publish and disseminate knowledge produced in the fields of health and nursing with excellence and respect for ethical principles. Articles considered for publication are those that contribute to the advancement of knowledge, are original, demonstrate scientific rigor, comply with ethical standards, and are current and relevant to the fields of health and nursing.

It is a Brazilian journal affiliated with the Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors (ABEC). The journal is available in several indexing databases and portals, both national and international.

ISSN 1414-8536 – Print version (for issues published up to 2014)
ISSN 2176-9133 – Electronic version

Open Access 

 This journal follows the Open Access model, allowing unrestricted virtual access (including financial restrictions) to all scientific texts published by the journal. 

Open access is a condition in which the copyright holder of an academic work grants usage rights to third parties using an open license (Creative Commons Attribution, CC-BY), allowing immediate free access to the work and authorizing any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, track them for indexing, pass them on as data to software, or use them for any other legal purpose. 

Open Access Policy 

Cogitare Enfermagem provides public access to all its content, adhering to the principle that free availability of research fosters a greater global exchange of knowledge. Such access is associated with increased readership and citation of an author’s work. For more information on this approach, please visit the Public Knowledge Project, an initiative that developed this system to enhance both academic and public quality of research by distributing Open Journal Systems (OJS) and other software tools supporting the open access publishing model for scholarly sources. 

Peer Review Process

The evaluation process involves peer review, comprising two reviewers (a third if necessary for tie-breaking), who are assigned based on the theme and focus of the article. It is emphasized that the anonymity of authors and reviewers is preserved.

In articles published in the Journal Cogitare Enfermagem, the Associate Editor responsible for the entire manuscript evaluation process will be described.

Articles submitted to Cogitare Enfermagem go through a three-stage analysis process.

Once submitted to OJS - Open Journal Systems – http://revistas.ufpr.br/cogitare/login, a submission number is assigned to identify the article in the system.

In the first stage, the article is received and assessed by the Editor-in-Chief, who will look at the following items: scope, timeliness, relevance, ethical issues, and the method used to carry out the research. The article may then be rejected or forwarded to the Associate Editor, depending on the area of expertise (up to 30 days).

In the second stage, the Associate Editor sends the article to the technical reviewer, who analyzes the article according to the rules preparation of the article and supplementary documentation   and submits it to the anti-plagiarism software. At the end of this stage, the article can either go straight to the third stage or be returned to the authors for adjustment to the standards (within 30 days).

In the third stage, once the article has been adapted to the standards, the Associate Editor sends it to two ad hoc consultants to analyze the text using the proper evaluation tool. If there is a disagreement between the consultants' opinions, the text will be sent to a third consultant (up to 120 days).

The Associate Editor manages the entire flow between the consultants and the corresponding author and will have his/her name published as the person responsible for the evaluation. Throughout the peer review process, the names of the consultants and the authors will not be revealed.

After analysis by the referees and the final version, the article may be Rejected or Accepted, according to the decision of the Editorial Board, and the result will be communicated to the corresponding author via the e-mail address provided during the submission process.

During the analysis process and before the article is sent for publication, the corresponding author may withdraw the article, upon formal request and signed by all the authors.

Articles with emerging themes may follow the "fast-tracking" system, to facilitate the exchange of questions and results produced on neglected diseases and emerging themes in the health area, especially in Nursing. The evaluation process will be accelerated by the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and the Editorial Board.

In the case of preprints, it is not possible to guarantee the anonymity of the authors, and, for this reason, the evaluation may be simple-blind or open.

It is up to the Editorial Board to compose the volumes for publication.

Publication Frequency

The journal Cogitare Enfermagem publishes one volume per year, in electronic format. 

Open Science compliance                                    

In line with the Open Science movement, Cogitare Enfermagem clarifies that it follows the Open Science Green model, which publishes scientific texts made available in national and international Preprints repositories (recognized by the academic community), as well as texts whose contents (research data) are made available in national and international institutional repositories recognized by the academic community. This information must be provided in the Open Science Compliance Form (download) and must be submitted as supplementary documentation.

In articles published in Cogitare Enfermagem, the Associate Editor responsible for the entire manuscript evaluation process will be described.

Publishing Ethics

Cogitare Enfermagem follows the guidelines of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (Vancouver Style) available at: https://www.icmje.org. As well as the Good Publishing Practice guidelines, available at: https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors.pdf.

It clarifies that it adopts the  Clinical Trials policy of the World Health Organization  (WHO) Good Clinical Practices,  Helsinki Declaration (1964, reformulated in 1975, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2013). As well as the National Health Council Resolution No. 466of 12/12/12, Resolution No. 510 of 04/07/2016, and other research legislation in Brazil.

Clinical trial articles must provide the identification number in one of the World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical trials registries, validated by the criteria established by the WHO and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - (ICMJE | Home). Clinical trials registered with at least one of the following entities will therefore be accepted: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number -ISRCTN Registry; UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR); WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform and the Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBEC) ensaiosclinicos.gov.br.

Cogitare Enfermagem adopts the recommendations of the publication ethics codes of conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE (https://publicationethics.org/) which will be considered in cases of retractions, corrections, plagiarism, and other infractions related to research ethics and integrity.

As far as authorship is concerned, authors need to specify on the identification page (download) what type of individual contribution they made during the preparation of the article. According to the criteria established by the ICMJE available at: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html.

Websites and Social Media

The purpose of Cogitare Enfermagem is to disseminate research published in the academic and professional spheres and to society. This dissemination takes place in the following ways: monthly mailing of published articles to authors, researchers, and referees registered with the journal.

To disseminate to civil society, Cogitare Enfermagem publishes press releases, podcasts, and videos by the authors about the articles, in a language accessible to all. This dissemination takes place on the journal's social networks, such as Facebook®Revistacogitareenfermagem and Instagran® Revistacogitareenfermagem.

Preprints

Cogitare Enfermagem accepts the publication of preprint articles (A preprint is defined as a manuscript ready for submission to a journal and which is deposited on reliable preprint servers before or in parallel with submission to a journal. This practice joins that of continuous publication as a mechanism to speed up the communication of research. The preprints share with the journals the unpublished nature of the articles and inhibit the use of the double-blind procedure in the evaluation of manuscripts).

National and international preprint repositories (recognized by the academic community) will be accepted. This information must be provided on the Open Science Compliance Form download and submitted as supplementary documentation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted technology statement

Cogitare Enfermagem understands that the use of LLMs (Large Language Models) will work as an ally of research, and therefore requests that authors disclose whether they have used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (LLMs, chatbots, or image creators) in the production of their submitted work, exclusively to improve the readability and quality of language during the writing process. However, the use of these technologies must be carried out under the supervision of the researchers, as the text produced by AI may still be incorrect, incomplete, or biased.

AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as authorship. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be assigned to and carried out by human beings, as described in the policy for authors, according to the criteria established by the ICMJE available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html. Authors must be able to affirm that there is no plagiarism in their article, including in text and images produced by AI. Humans must ensure that there is proper attribution of all quoted material, including full citations.

Regarding the use of AI or other LLMs in the writing process, authors should include a declaration about this in the submission document (download) with the following content:

The authors declare the use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the writing process: during the elaboration of the study entitled: ...... The author(s) used the [NAME TOOL/SERVICE] for [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) has reviewed and edited the content as necessary and takes full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Open data

In line with the Open Science movement, Cogitare Enfermagem encourages authors to publish in open online repositories such as SciELO Data, Zenodo, Figshare, OSF and Mendeley Data, data, codes, methods, and other materials used and resulting from research that are usually underlying the texts of articles published by journals. This information must be included in the Open Science Compliance Form (download) and must be submitted as supplementary documentation.

Ethics and Misconduct Policy, Errata and Retraction

Articles submitted to Cogitare Enfermagem must comply with its editorial policy and instructions to authors, as well as the guidelines of the EQUATOR Network http://www.equator-network.org the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) -– http://publicationethics.org the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors http://www.icmje.org as well as the Good Practice Guide: https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia-de-Boas-Praticas-para-o-Fortalecimento-da-Etica-na-Publicacao-Cientifica.pdf.

The article must be submitted exclusively to Cogitare Enfermagem and must not be submitted to any other journal. It must be published in full in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Any additions and modifications to the submitted text should only be made before acceptance of the manuscript and only if approved by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor will only consider additions and modifications to the text in exceptional circumstances after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. No additions or changes of authorship will be allowed during the evaluation stage or after acceptance of the submitted text.

The article already published in Cogitare Enfermagem, in which the misconduct is identified, will remain indexed in the journal's database as retracted. The procedure for registering the retraction of an article published in Cogitare Enfermagem will begin once a formal communication has been sent to the journal's Editor-in-Chief (e-mail: lucianakalinke@ufpr.br). The communication must be accompanied by the retraction text stating the reasons why the article will be retracted, by the Guide for the registration and publication of retractions (available at: guia_retratacao.pdf (scielo.org)).

In the event of the need for an erratum, if they do not constitute misconduct, they should be made by the guide for the registration and publication of Errata (available at: guia_errata.pdf (scielo.org)).

It should be noted that when there is a need for rectification, correction and/or retraction, the author(s) must pay a fee of R$ 500.00 (five hundred reais) for Brazilians and U$ 100.00 (one hundred dollars) for foreigners.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Conflicts of research interests are understood to occur when one or more of the participants in the process, be they the researchers or even the editor and/or reviewer of the journal in which the study will eventually be published, have links with institutions or interests that could jeopardize the fairness of the research or restrict their competence and impartiality in evaluating it (ALVES, EM de O.; TUBINO P., 2007).

Concerning Conflict of Interest, Cogitare Enfermagem requires authors to sign the submission document during the submission process (download). It contains a declaration of responsibility, transfer of copyright, participation in the article, and conflict of interest. All authors must complete and sign the document.

Adoption of software to check similarity

The plagiarism policies adopted by Cogitare Enfermagem are based on clarifying and defining intellectual property, to encourage quality publication and curb the practice of plagiarism. These will have a direct impact on the manuscripts submitted for evaluation.

When Cogitare Enfermagem receives the manuscript submitted by the author, it will be analyzed by CopySpider anti-plagiarism software. After analysis and detection of up to 15% plagiarism by the software, the Cogitare Enfermagem team will ask the author to rewrite the manuscript and cite the source. If the plagiarism is more than 16% higher than the stipulated minimum, the manuscript will be rejected, and both the authors and their institutions will be notified. We believe that this practice, although punitive, is also educational and will help in the preparation of new manuscripts.

If plagiarism is detected in the peer review process or if it is extensive, the author will be asked to rewrite the manuscript and cite the source. When plagiarism is detected after the article has been published, Cogitare Enfermagem will notify and publish the infraction using an Editor's note published in the same issue in which the manuscript was published.

Sex and Gender Issues

Cogitare Enfermagem follows the principles of the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines. Therefore, the terms sex (a biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) (Heidari S, Babor TF, Castro PD, Tort S, Curno M, 2017) should be used with care, respecting the principles of the guideline, to avoid confusion in their use.

Ethics Committee

 Authors must explain in articles resulting from research or experience reports involving human beings whether the procedures complied with the Declaration of Helsinki (1964, reformulated in 1975, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2000, and 2008), in addition to complying with the specific legislation (if any) of the country in which the research was carried out. Original articles, resulting from research carried out in Brazil, indicate compliance with National Health Council Resolution No. 466 of 12/12/12.

In articles resulting from research involving human beings, the authors must state in the text that the project has been approved by a Research Ethics Committee and specify the Committee's approval number, as well as send a copy of the approval opinion (as supplementary documents).

Clinical trial articles must provide the identification number of one of the World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Trial registries, validated by the criteria established by the WHO and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - ICMJE (ICMJE | Home). Clinical trials registered with at least one of the following entities will therefore be accepted: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number -ISRCTN Registry; UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR); WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform and the Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBEC) ensaiosclinicos.gov.br.

Intellectual property and terms of use

Author's responsibility:

The opinions expressed by the authors of the articles are their sole responsibility.

The articles published are licensed under the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0 – The attribution adopted by Cogitare Enfermagem is permitted:

- Share - copy and redistribute the material in any media or format.

- Adapt - remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

- Attribution - You must give proper credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes have been made. You may do this in any reasonable way, but not in a way that suggests that the licensor endorses it or approves of its use.

- No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing something that the license allows.

Responsibility of the Site:

Cogitare Enfermagem reserves the right to make normative, orthographic, and grammatical changes to the published article to maintain the cultured standard of the language while respecting the authors' style.

The published study is the sole responsibility of the author(s), and Cogitare Enfermagem is exclusively responsible for evaluating the manuscript, as a vehicle for scientific publication. No additions or changes of authorship will be allowed during the evaluation stage or after acceptance of the submitted text.

Cogitare Enfermagem is not responsible for any violations of Law No. 9.610/1998, the Brazilian Copyright Law.

Cogitare Enfermagem encourages authors to archive their accepted manuscripts, publishing them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and academic social media, as well as posting them on their social media, as long as the full citation to the journal's website version is included."

Charging Fees

Charging Fees

To guarantee support services for the editing, publication, indexing, and dissemination of scientific journals, Cogitare Enfermagem will request:

      1. Evaluation Fee.

1.1 The Evaluation Fee of R$200.00 must be paid once the article has passed the First Stage.

The corresponding author will receive an e-mail informing them of their approval in the first stage and requesting payment of the Evaluation Fee. The payment slip must be generated at the address that will be forwarded in the e-mail.  Proof of payment must be attached under "Supplementary documents" in the Cogitare Enfermagem system.

*Once the article has been approved in the first stage, payment has been made and proof of payment of the evaluation fee has been sent, the article will proceed to the second stage of evaluation.

2. Publication Fee.

 2.1 The Publication Fee will be R$1,000.00 and payment will only be      requested if the article is "Accepted" for publication at the end of the Third Evaluation Stage.

Cogitare Enfermagem will send the corresponding author the final version of         the article for approval and the Publication Fee slip. The corresponding author is responsible for consulting the other authors and expressing acceptance of the final version for publication.

Authors are responsible for paying for the translation of articles into English   and Spanish, and Cogitare Enfermagem is exempt from this cost.

Fees for 2023: Evaluation fee R$200.00; Publication fee R$1000.00 approved by RESOLUTION No. 24/22-COPLAD.

Financial breakdown of costs per article

*diagramming; XML markup, translations.

Cogitare Enfermagem waives the evaluation and publication fees for original research articles developed by foreign authors in emerging countries, except Brazil.

When there is a need for rectification, correction and / or retraction, the author (s) must pay a fee of R$ 500.00 (five hundred reais) for Brazilians and U$ 100.00 (one hundred dollars) for foreigners.

Additional Information

Additional Information
It should be noted that the concepts, opinions, and conclusions expressed in the articles published by Cogitare Enfermagem, as well as the accuracy and origin of citations and references, are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board.

The publication of the manuscript will depend on compliance with the rules of Cogitare Enfermagem and the assessment of the Editorial Board, which has full authority to decide on its acceptance and may even provide suggestions to the authors for changes it deems necessary.

Sponsors

Federal University of Paraná 

• Federal University of Paraná

Sources of Support

Cogitare Nursing receives financial support from the Federal University of Paraná.

Journal History

Cogitare Enfermagem (abbreviated title: Cogitare Enferm.) is a publication of the Department of Nursing at the Federal University of Paraná, with its first edition published in 1996. Since 2015, it is only available in electronic format and currently publishes articles in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

The mission of Cogitare Enfermagem is to publish and disseminate knowledge produced in the health and nursing fields with excellence and respect for ethical principles. Articles considered for publication are those that contribute to the advancement of knowledge, are original, have scientific consistency, adhere to ethical standards, and are current and relevant to the health and nursing field.

It is a Brazilian journal affiliated with the Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors (ABEC). It is available in various national and international indexing databases and portals.

Print version ISSN 1414-8536 (for editions published until 2014) Electronic version ISSN 2176-9133