The Social Sciences journal (Qualis A1) is an academic periodical maintained by the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. Founded in 2001, Civitashas been published continuously, and between 2001 and 2021 it released 58 issues and approximately 670 articles. The institutional background of its authors is highly diverse, encompassing all regions of Brazil, several countries in Latin America, and other continents. Since 2022, the journal has adopted an annual publication model under a continuous flow system, featuring up to three thematic dossiers and a section for independent articles.

This journal follows the Open Access model, allowing unrestricted online access to all scientific texts published by the journal.

Open access refers to the condition in which the copyright holder of an academic work grants usage rights to third parties through an open license (Creative Commons Attribution, CC-BY 4.0), enabling immediate free access to the work and permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose.

Civitasadopts an editorial policy that promotes transparency, open access to research data, reproducibility of results, and the recognition of good practices in scientific documentation.

Civitasis a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adheres to its principles of ethics, transparency, and integrity in publishing.

The journal publishes original articles in the Social Sciences, particularly in the fields of Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science, that contribute to the theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical development of the field. It also publishes reviews of works in the area, provided they are related to a thematic dossier.

The preservation policy is aligned with and subordinate to the policies and objectives of the SciELO Program.

• SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online
• Redalyc - Red de revistas científicas de Acceso Abierto
• Latindex- Sistema Regional de Información en Línea para Revostas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal
• EBSCO 
• DOAJ - rectory of Open Access Journals
• CLASE - Encontros Latino-Americanos em Ciências Sociais e Humanas
• Scopus - SciVerse Scopus
• Open Policy Finder

• Journal title: Civitas: Revista de Ciências Sociais
• Abbreviated title: Civitas, Rev. Ciênc. Soc
• Published by: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Sociais
• Frequency: Annual
• Publication model: Continuous publication
• Year of establishment: 2001

https://www.instagram.com/revistadecienciassociais/

This journal adopts the principles of Open Science, aligning itself with contemporary practices that promote transparency, accessibility, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

The journal accepts for evaluation manuscripts that have already been made available on a reliable preprint server, such as SciELO Preprints, of a non-commercial nature, provided they are not simultaneously under peer review by another journal. The corresponding author must indicate, at the time of submission, whether the manuscript is available on a preprint server and provide the respective DOI.

Submitted manuscripts undergo an initial formal screening by the editorial team, which may request corrections and additional information. Manuscripts that do not fall within the journal’s scope, fail to meet mandatory requirements, or are not adequately revised within the stipulated deadline will be rejected, and the decision will be communicated to the author via the system. Once the submission is deemed suitable, as a rule, two reviews are requested from experts in the subject area, external to the Program, which serve as support for the editors, who retain final decision-making authority. In cases of significant disagreement between reviewers, an additional expert will be consulted. Publication of manuscripts is conditional upon compliance with the reviewers’ recommendations. The evaluation considers the originality of the approach to the topic, the consistency and rigor of the analysis, its contribution to the Social Sciences, and its alignment with the journal’s thematic scope.

The review system is double-blind: the identities of reviewers remain confidential, and the authors’ identities are also concealed from reviewers. The average evaluation time is two months.

In order to strengthen transparency and the quality of the editorial process, the adoption of three criteria aligned with best practices in scientific review is recommended. The first consists of publishing, in the final article, the name(s) of the editor(s) responsible for overseeing the review process.

The second criterion proposes offering reviewers the possibility of engaging directly with the corresponding author, with the option of maintaining or disclosing identities, according to the preference of the parties involved. This measure may contribute to greater clarity, efficiency, and depth in the review stage.

As a third criterion, it is recommended to provide the option of publishing the approval reports of articles, with or without identifying the reviewers. This practice enhances the transparency of the process, values the work of peer review, and strengthens the credibility of scientific production.

Civitas encourages authors to deposit their research data in institutional or thematic repositories, such as CIS Consórcio de Informações Sociais. If the research involves the reuse of data, authors are requested to cite the research data and include this information in the title page file.

This journal does not charge article processing charges (APCs) or publication fees.

To promote research integrity, as well as to strengthen and ensure transparency in the process, all material submitted to and published in Civitas: Revista de Ciências Sociais must comply with the Guide to Best Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publishing  and with the Open Science Compliance Form.

With regard to the registration and publication of Errata (for correction, inclusion, or exclusion of information) and Retraction (total or partial), the guidelines adopted by the SciELO platform in its official documents will be followed.

Regarding the retraction policy, in cases of misconduct, Civitas follows the guidelines adopted by the SciELO platform, in accordance with the Guide to Best Practices:  https://www.scielo.org/en/about-scielo/methodologies-and-technologies/guide-to-best-practices-for-strengthening-ethics-in-scientific-publishing/ and the Guide for the Registration and Publication of Retractions:  https://www.scielo.org/en/about-scielo/methodologies-and-technologies/guidelines-to-register-and-publish-retraction-portuguese-only/. Retractions will be published only after analysis and authorization by the editorial board.

Civitas requires all authors, editors, and reviewers to disclose any conflicts of interest, whether financial or non-financial, that may influence — or be perceived as influencing — da interpretação do artigo pelo leitor. the interpretation of the article by readers. Perceived conflicts of interest are as relevant as actual conflicts. Whenever there is any relationship between the authors and public or private organizations that may give rise to a conflict of interest, this information must be disclosed and specified in the article. If no conflicts of interest exist, this must also be explicitly stated.

See: Open Science Compliance Form

The journal uses the Turnitin Originality software to check the similarity of manuscripts. All manuscripts are analyzed at the initial submission stage, before being sent for review. 

Civitas does not use Artificial Intelligence tools in any stage of the evaluation or editing of submitted manuscripts.

Authors who use AI resources at any stage of their research must explicitly declare such use in the methodology section of their article, clearly indicating how and which tool was employed. The use must be aligned with ethical principles and research integrity guidelines.

Authors bear full responsibility for the content presented, including any support obtained through AI tools. Failure to disclose the use of Artificial Intelligence will be considered an ethical violation.

Civitassupports the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines endorsed by COPE, including considerations of sex and gender where relevant.

Civitasis a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adheres to its principles of ethics, transparency, and integrity in publishing.

Authors grant the journal the right of first publication and retain copyright of their work under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows articles to be reused and distributed without restriction, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Users are free to read, download, copy, remix, adapt, and transform the texts for any lawful purpose, without prior permission from the editor or the authors, as long as proper credit is given, with clear and visible acknowledgment of the authors and the journal.
 

The data, concepts, and opinions presented in the works, as well as the accuracy of documentary and bibliographic references, are the sole responsibility of the authors.
Civitas complies with the DOAJ requirements for open access journals. Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright of their work and agree to the adoption of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 license, which allows unrestricted reuse and distribution, provided that the original content is properly cited.

• Civitas encourages authors to make accepted versions of their manuscripts available in institutional repositories.

Website Responsibility:

All journal content (website) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) license. Users may read, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of articles without prior permission from the author or editors, provided that the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license are respected.

Author Responsibility:

Authors of articles published by Civitas retain copyright of their work, licensing it under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows articles to be reused and distributed without restriction, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Civitasencourages authors to self-archive their accepted manuscripts by publishing them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and academic social media platforms, as well as sharing them on their personal social media, provided that a full citation to the journal’s website version is included.

• Fernanda Bittencourt Ribeiro, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul/RS, Brazil Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/3196024835975835, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2357-8625, e-mail: feribeiro@pucrs.br

• Teresa Cristina Schneider Marques, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul/RS, Brazil Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/3145583517135029, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6038-2704, e-mail: teresa.marques@pucrs.br

• Maria Luisa Célia Dios, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul/RS, Brazil Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/7277102693487805, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0574-5525 e-mail:  mldios@outlook.com

• Taiane Fabiele da Silva Bringhenti, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul/RS, Brazil Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/3063567722510212, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3818-5672, e-mail:  fabiele.silvabringhenti@gmail.com

DOI (Digital Object Identifier) in published manuscripts

• All works approved, upon their final publication in Civitas: Revista de Ciências Sociais, will receive their Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/civitas/about/submissions

Civitas: Revista de Ciências Sociais publishes original/unpublished works in the form of articles or reviews in Portuguese, Spanish, or English. Each year, a call for thematic dossiers is announced on the journal’s website, and three proposals are selected to compose the annual issue. Submissions for dossiers must be made within the deadlines previously established and announced on the Civitas website and social media. Reviews are accepted only when linked to a thematic dossier. Individual articles are received on a continuous submission basis.

Authors grant the journal the right of first publication and retain copyright of their work under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows articles to be reused and distributed without restriction, provided that the original work is properly cited. Below is an example of how to properly attribute credit to the journal:

“This text was written by [Author’s Name], originally published in [Link to the original text, if applicable], and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).”

When a submitted text has more than one author, each contributor must complete a statement including:

• title of the text; names of co-authors;
• identification of the co-author: name, nationality, identity document, full address;
• description of their specific contribution to: 1) research conception and design; 2) data collection and processing; 3) data analysis and interpretation; 4) detailed account of their contribution to the preparation of the final text.
• statement approving the final version and assuming ethical and academic co-responsibility for the entire content;
• place, date, and signature.

This document must be attached in PDF format as a supplementary file.

The submission must be original and unpublished and must not be under evaluation for publication by another journal.

The maximum number of authors per article is three. Only one submission per author is accepted for each call for papers, whether for a thematic dossier or for the Articles section.

Authors whose work has been published must observe an interval of 18 months from the date of publication before submitting a new article.

Author information must be entered in the “Contributors” tab, including the following data: full name; email; ORCID; institution; and academic qualifications.

At submission, it is mandatory to upload the title page and the AI usage declaration, according to the templates available here. When applicable, the co-authorship declaration must also be submitted, in accordance with the guidelines provided below.

Articles in Portuguese, Spanish, or English must be submitted in anonymized form, as continuous text in an open format, preferably Word.

The submitted article must not exceed 45,000 characters (including spaces). This character count includes titles, abstracts, and keywords in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, the main text, notes, and references. Below the title (in Portuguese, Spanish, and English), there must be an abstract of up to 1,000 characters (in Portuguese, Spanish, and English), summarizing the objectives, methods, and conclusions of the work, as well as a list of 3 to 5 keywords, separated by periods and with the first letter capitalized.

Reviews must not exceed 15,000 characters including spaces.

Text highlights, such as author emphasis, words in a foreign language, and titles of works, should be in italics. Notes, when indispensable, should appear as footnotes, be brief and substantive, numbered sequentially, and without specific formatting.

Citations of up to three lines should be enclosed in double quotation marks and included within the body of the text. Citations exceeding three lines should be indented and presented in a separate paragraph, with a 4 cm indentation and smaller font size. Citations must include the author’s name, the year of the work, and the page numbers.

Graphs, images, and tables must be submitted as separate files.

Internal fonts must be standardized and of sufficient size to ensure readability.

Graphs, figures, and tables must not contain titles, source information, or notes within them. Titles should precede them and appear only in the textual part. Data sources and notes should be placed immediately below, in a smaller font size.

Tables must not use vertical dividing lines. The layout should have a background and horizontal black lines. 

Throughout the text, references to figures or tables should be written in lowercase and in full. When in parentheses, references to figures may be abbreviated, for example, fig. 1.

It is mandatory that graphs and tables (in Word format) be attached at the time of submission.

Graphs, figures, and tables must be submitted as separate files (in step 4 of the submission process, “Upload Supplementary Files”). Images must be in high-resolution PNG or JPEG format, not exceeding 1.5 megabytes, and may be in color. In the final layout, graphic elements must not exceed the journal’s page dimensions (16.5 × 11.5 cm). Sequential numbering and titles, as well as data sources, must be included in the text as placeholders.

Internal fonts must be standardized and of sufficient size to ensure readability.

Graphs, figures, and tables must not contain titles, source information, or notes within them. Titles should precede them and appear only in the text. Data sources and notes should be placed immediately after them, in a smaller font size.

All graph axes must be labeled so that the information is understandable without reference to the text. 

Tables must not include vertical dividing lines. Their layout should have a white background and horizontal black lines only. 

Graphs, figures, and tables must be in high-resolution JPEG or PNG format, not exceeding 1.5 megabytes, with a resolution of 300 DPI.

Throughout the text, references to “figure X” or “table X” must always be written in lowercase and in full.

When in parentheses, references to figures may be abbreviated, as in “(fig. 1)”.

It is essential that graphs and tables (in Word format) be attached to the system at the time of submission as supplementary files.

Civitas follows the Chicago style, 17th edition. www.chicagomanualofstyle.org. Chicago - General Rules.

References are cited within the text according to the following format: (Author year, xx) or (Author1 year, xx; Author2 year, xx). When there is more than one work by the same author in the same year, it should be distinguished by sequential letters of the alphabet. Example: (Author 1998a; 1998b) or, when page numbers are indicated, (Author 2020, 33).

The reference list is presented at the end of the work, in alphabetical order and without numbering, following the Chicago author-date style, 17th edition. Examples:

1. a) book: Surname, Name. Year. Title in italics. Edition. Publisher.

Example with 1 author: Fernandes, Florestan. 1987. A revolução burguesa no Brasil: ensaio de uma interpretação sociológica. 3rd ed. Editora Guanabara.

Example with 2 authors: Baraldi, Claudio, and Tom Cocburn. 2018. Theorising childhood: citizens, rights and participation. Palgrave.

1. b) chapter: Surname, Name. Year. Title of the chapter. In Title of the book in italics, edited by Name Surname. Edition. Publisher.

Example with 1 author: McCarthy, Thomas. 1992. Practical discourse: on the relation of morality to politics. In Habermas and the public sphere, edited by Craig Calhoun. The Mit Press.

Example with 3 authors: Sarmento, Manuel, Rita Marchi e Gabriela Trevisan. 2018. Beyond the modern 'norm' of childhood: children at the margins as a challenge for the Sociology of Childhood. In Theorising childhood: citizens, rights and participation, organized by Claudio Baraldi e Tom Cocburn. Palgrave.

1. c) article in academic journal: Surname, Name. Year. Title of the article. Title of the journal in italics year-or-volume (n. number-or-issue): xx-yy. DOI link.

Example with 1 author: Benhabib, Seyla. 2012. O declínio da soberania ou a emergência de normas cosmopolitanas? Repensando a cidadania em tempos voláteis. Civitas 12 (1): 20-46.

Example with 4 authors: Castro Seixas, Eunice, Catarina Tomás, Maria Fernandes e Niccolò Giacchetta.2022. The impact of Covid-19 on children’s play in the tourist city: a case study of a Lisbon urban park. Children Youth and Environments 32(1): 152-172. https://doi.org/10.1353/cye.2022.0006

1. d) Dissertation or thesis: Surname, Name. Title of the dissertation or thesis. Thesis in Sociology, in Education etc./Dissertation in Education, in Political Science, in History etc., University, year. URL.

Ex.: Souza, Luiz Gustavo da Cunha. 2014. Reconhecimento, redistribuição e as limitações da teoria crítica contemporânea. Thesis in Sociology, Universidade de Campinas. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/280479.

1. e) blogs and similar: Surname, Name. Year of the post. Title of the post. Name of the blog (blog), Title of the page if any. Date of the post. URL.

Ex.: Candido, Antonio. 2019. O significado de Raízes do Brasil. Café com Sociologia, 3 jan. 2019. Accessed on 23 jan. 2020. https://cafecomsociologia.com/o-significado-de-raizes-do-brasil-por/.

1. g) newspapers and magazines: Surname, Name. Year. Title of the article. Title of the newspaper or magazine, date of publication, pages or section. URL if online.

Ex.: Saldaña, Paulo. 2019. Apenas 0,8% dos brasileiros de 25 a 64 anos concluíram curso de mestrado. Folha de S. Paulo, 10 set. 2019, Educação. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/educacao/2019/09/acesso-a-mestrado-no-brasil-e-16-vezes-menor-do-que-em-paises-ricos.shtml.

All literature must be submitted to verification of the existence of DOI at http://www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery

When the URL is long, we recommend shortening it. There are several sites on Google that do this.

Open Science Compliance Form, author agreement form, declaration for multiple authors.

Sources of support for the work, including sponsor names, contract number (if applicable), and explanations of the role of these sources must be provided in the field available on the title page, according to the template. If necessary, this information may also be included in the text, in a footnote.

Originality and novelty

By submitting the manuscript, authors ensure that the work has not been previously published and is not under review by another journal. At the time of submission, authors assume responsibility for not using false or copied data. Plagiarism, fraudulent use of data, manipulation of citations, and false authorship will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Literal copying of previously published excerpts is not acceptable, except in exceptional cases, in the form of citation. Civitas uses similarity detection software: copied texts will be identified, and the work will be returned to the authors. Illustrations and graphs from other sources must be properly credited or accompanied by permission from their copyright holders, if applicable.

Correction of errors and retractions

After publication, authors must notify the editor if any error is identified, in order to publish an erratum, addendum, or notice. If editors are informed of any allegation of misconduct, they will handle the claims appropriately. Civitas follows COPE guidelines to retract or correct articles. Editors are willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary. Appropriate measures will be taken to identify and prevent the publication of works with errors or ethical misconduct in research.

Confidentiality

The article submitted for evaluation is a privileged document and will be protected against any form of exploitation. Members of the editorial team and reviewers are instructed not to cite an article before it is published and not to distribute or use the information it contains to advance their own research. During the review process, the article must not be shown to or discussed with others, and no one else should be involved in the review, except, in special cases, individuals who may provide a specific opinion. In such cases, the reviewer remains responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of the file. The reviewer must inform the editor of others who have made significant contributions to the review.

Tax policy for article processing (APCs) and publication

This journal does not charge publication fees.

Thematic coverage coded according to the CNPq classification, identifying the first and second levels

• Main area: Sociology
• Qualis: A1
• Period: 2017-2020

Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681 - Partenon, Porto Alegre - RS, 90619-900,  (51) 3320-8293 e-mail: civitas@pucrs.br