22 steps to produce an issue of V!RUS 

The editorial process for each issue of V!RUS journal usually lasts 120 days, from the end of the submission period to the issue's release date. The Editorial Committee comprises the editor-in-chief, the associate editor, and postgraduate or postdoctoral researchers from Nomads.usp. It is partially renewed with each edition. Their names appear in the Credits section of each issue.

The participation of Nomads.usp researchers in the committee has a formative intention. It aims to initiate them in the practice of scientific dissemination, increase their intimacy with the specific requests of scientific articles, encourage critical reading of texts and discussion about their structure, content, and argumentation, and familiarize them with the dialogue with authors and reviewers. Various researchers participate in several editions, contributing to the constant consolidation and improvement of the committee's procedures.

The itemization of the process presented here refers to the actions carried out systematically in each edition. It aims to give the process transparency and expose it to academic interlocution. Twenty-two steps are briefly described below, but more information can be requested by e-mail at vnomads@sc.usp.br. See also our Author Guidelines in the Submissions section.

 

STEP 1: Appointment of the issue's Editorial Committee members at a general meeting of Nomads.usp.

STEP 2: Disclosure of the issue's thematic call for contributions, whose theme is decided collectively by Nomads.usp researchers, the Editorial Committee, the Editor-in-chief, and the Associate Editor.

STEP 3: End the submission period and organize submitted articles in a cloud repository for simultaneous access by Editorial and Scientific Committees members.

STEP 4: Technical accreditation of submitted articles, according to the following criteria: 1. suitability to the call's theme and subtopics; 2. compliance of the text structure to academic requirements; 3. writing quality, linguistic and grammatical accuracy; 4. check of the authors' academic qualifications: complete graduation is required, at least; 5. check whether the article derives from academic research; 6. verify that the article was never published before; 7. check plagiarism and self-plagiarism; 8. check the use of generative Artificial Intelligence; 9. check the number of words.

STEP 5: Authors whose articles have not been approved for technical accreditation are sent information explaining the reasons for non-approval.

STEP 6: Preparation of all articles approved in the technical accreditation for the double-blind review process by external guest reviewers. The Editorial Committee reads and discusses each article and all indications that may disclose its authorship are replaced by the expression [OMITTED FOR BLIND REVIEW].

STEP 7: Selection and invitation to external reviewers according to the following criteria: 1. holding a Doctor degree; 2. must be researchers at teaching and research institutions in Brazil or abroad; 3. their thematic affinity with the subjects dealt with in the article; 4. academic production within the paper's fields; 5. commitment to meeting evaluation deadlines. Reviewers are encouraged to contribute with suggestions for the improvement of the work.

STEP 8: Receipt of external reviews, deliberation by the Editorial Committee, and decision on approval for publication or refusal of articles, according to the external reviewers' opinions.

STEP 9: Information is sent to authors whose articles have not been approved by guest reviewers' evaluation, appended with the reviewers' advice.

STEP 10: Allocation of the approved articles in the Agora, Carpet, and Project sections of the edition being prepared, according to their content and structure.

STEP 11: The authors whose papers were approved by reviewers and the committee receive requests for adjustments, corrections, and complements. The resolution and authorship of images and videos are checked.

STEP 12: The Editorial Committee chooses articles for publication in the Project section from submitted, approved, and revised articles. Without works addressing a project process in one of the journal's areas of interest, an invitation can be sent to a researcher or professional holder of notorious knowledge to publish a text related to the issue's theme. The mentions "Submitted Article" or "Guest Author Article" identify all published articles in their header.

STEP 13: Receive the submitted papers reviewed by their authors and check their compliance with the Editorial Board requests. New requests may be sent in case of partial fulfillment and absence of justification.

STEP 14: A detailed grammar review of all texts to be published is undertaken, checking references, citations, and captions in compliance with the APA norms.

STEP 15: Authorization is sent to the authors to produce versions in English, Spanish, or Portuguese according to the work's original language.

STEP 16: Review and make detailed corrections of the English, Spanish, or Portuguese versions sent by authors and request corrections and adjustments, if necessary. The text's sound quality is a condition for publication.

STEP 17: Invitation to a recognized researcher in their field or a person with a well-known knowledge of the issue's topic to conduct an interview to be published in the Interview section.

STEP 18: Elaboration of a script for the interview, its accomplishment, transcription, edition, and translation into English or Portuguese, according to the language the interview has been conducted. The interviewers are the editors and members of the Editorial Committee.

STEP 19: Production of the authors' short bios according to journal standards, from the information they entered into the submission form, their Brazilian Lattes curricula, and institutional websites, and by consulting authors directly if necessary.

STEP 20: Production of *.pdf files of the Portuguese/Spanish and English versions of the complete edition and each article, covers, summaries, and credits, and upload to the journal's website on the USP Journals Portal.

STEP 21: Review and adjustment of images and video resolution. Upload of videos, if any, in the YouTube journal's area.

STEP 22: The journal's issue will be released through social networks and e-mails to scholars, postgraduate programs, and research associations and groups in Brazil and abroad, especially in areas related to the issues' topics.

Parallel to this editorial process, articles from the latest issue are periodically highlighted through public posts on the journal's and groups' pages on Facebook and Instagram.