About the Journal

Focus and purposes

The Brazilian Public Safety Journal is a semestral and interdisciplinary publication of Brazilian Forum of Public Safety. The main objective is to contribute for the enlargement and consolidation of studies about public safety. The Journal publishes articles in portuguese, english and spanish, such as i) original articles; ii) technical notes; and iii) interviews.

Historic and considerations

The first issue of the journal was published in 2007 and, in the following year, it began to be published regularly. Since then, at least one issue has been published every year, and since 2009 the journal has been published biannually. In February 2024, we had 35 issues published, two special issues and 33 regular ones.

Throughout its history, the Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública (RBSP) published, until august 2024, 437 texts, 88.78% of them being articles, which corresponds to 388 texts. There are also technical notes (5.73% of the texts), interviews, among other materials. The titulation of the authors is also relevant to be mentioned. There are 280 texts with at least one PhD author (64% of the publications). When considering the authors who were doctoral students at the time of publication, this number rises to 305, which means that 69,7% of the materials published by RBSP have at least one author in the process of obtaining a doctorate or with a degree already acquired. Considering all the main authors and co-authors who have published in the Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública so far (a total of 837 authors), 468 are men and 369 are women, indicating that they account for 44.08% of the total.

The predominant region of the authors is the Southeast, corresponding to 45,64% (382), with 15.29% (128) of the authors residing in the Center-West region, 15.29% (129) in the Northeast, 16.36% (137) in the South and 5,01% (42) in the North.  Most of the authors reside in the states of São Paulo, which has 17,44% (146), followed by Minas Gerais with 12.78% (107), Distrito Federal 10,27% - (86), Rio de Janeiro - 8.6% (72), and Rio Grande do Sul - 9,79% (82). Thus, achieving greater representation of states outside the Southeast region, with due attention to the North region, are challenges that have been faced by the RBSP editorial board. A small but important change can be seen in relation to the number of authors from the North region, which increased their participation in the journal's latest publications by 3.11%. In December 2021, RBSP had 1.9% of authors from the northern region, rising to 2.84% in February 2022, to 3.28% in August 2023 and to 5,01% with the publication of the last issue (Ed.34). In addition, we emphasize the presence of foreign authors who published 3,89% (17) of the articles throughout the history of the journal. In general, they come from countries such as Mexico, South Africa, Spain and Mozambique.

The relevance of the Journal is remarkable. As an illustration, the article "Da "metáfora da guerra" ao projeto de "pacificação": favelas e políticas de segurança pública no Rio de Janeiro", written by Márcia Pereira Leite and published in 2012 in issue 11, volume 6, no. 2, had 296 citations until February 2024, which corresponds to approximately 23.68 citations per year, according to Google Scholar. Another article that can be used as an example is "Governo que produz crime, crime que produz governo: o dispositivo de gestão do homicídio em São Paulo (1992 - 2011)", by Gabriel de Santis Feltran, also published in 2012 in issue 11, volume 6, n° 2, which has 178 citations, corresponding to 14.24 citations per year. Finally, the articles "PCC, prison system and management of the new world of crime in Brazil", by Bruno Paes Manso and Camila Nunes Dias published in 2017 in issue number 21, volume 11 n.2 and "Security paradigms in Brazil: from the dictatorship to our days" by Moema Dutra Freire published in 2009 in issue number 5, volume 3 n.2 have expressive citations, with 99 citations (13,2 per year) for the first and 180 citations (12,41 per year) for the second.

It is also worth mentioning the issue of preserving the memory of RBSP. To this end, there is a specific external hard drive for storing all documents available in the Journal's system, in order to preserve the history, in case there is any problem with the site. Dropbox and Google Drive are also used to preserve the necessary files. RBSP also archives its published works and editions through LOCKSS and CLOKSS licenses that are enabled to store and distribute the journal's content in participating libraries.

Works published by the Journal

The Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública publishes scientific papers - such as articles, technical notes, interviews, and thematic dossiers - by authors with at least a college degree.

  • Original articles 

The RBSP publishes original, unpublished articles - that are not simultaneously published in other journals or editorial boards - and of substantive contribution to the area of public security. This includes discussions on criminality, policing standards, professional training, police investigation, criminal justice, juvenile justice, prison system and socio-educational system, among others. It is important to emphasize that the Journal does not publish discussions of a dogmatic or legal nature, even if related to the theme of public security.

The Journal does not accept monographies, master's dissertations, doctoral theses or research report if they are in the original format. To submit to the system it is required to convert the work in an article. 

Here are some recommendations for the preparation of scientific articles:

  1. Abstracts should be able to present, cohesively and synthetically, the objectives of the work, the methodology employed - whether quantitative, qualitative or mixed, its participants and method of analyzing the results -, results obtained and their contributions.
  2. The presentation of the research topic should be connected to the theoretical-empirical debate and knowledge related to the topic, in addition to indicating the objectives and contributions of the results of the work to the field. To this end, it is recommended to present the theoretical framework and literature review relevant to the research in question, informing the conceptual, theoretical and methodological guidelines of the work.
  3. The methodology employed is directly related to the problem presented and must be able to meet the proposed objectives. The methodological approach used must be well described, as well as the procedures used to construct the data, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed, and it is good practice to reflect on the choices made. This includes the description of stages, sources of evidence (participants, groups, selected locations and other units of analysis and materials that serve as data sources), the construction of classifications, as well as any changes in planning and implications of choices and events, providing transparency to the work. It is also essential that ethical criteria in the field of studies be considered, especially with regard to research involving human beings, such as care with data storage, permission for collection and anonymization of sources.
  4. Regarding data analysis and interpretation, it is important to first make explicit the method used for each data group, for example, linear regression or discourse analysis, and which questions or research objectives they seek to answer. Then, it is important to discuss how the results support the considerations or conclusions reached in the study, using theoretical and empirical references to strengthen the argument.  Transparency when reporting results is also essential, for example, by informing situations that may generate bias in the data and analysis, in addition to analyzing and seeking alternative hypotheses and counter-interpretive theoretical-empirical perspectives. A posture of epistemological vigilance (Bourdieu et al, 2010) can help in the care with the selection of data for analysis, in addition to looking at the implications of this selection, the conditions of production of the research work and the limits and implications of theoretical-methodological choices of authors.
  5. Conclusions or final considerations make up the final part of the text, in which statements and arguments resulting from the analysis and interpretation of the data are resumed, indicating how they address the subject of study. In addition, they reflect on how they can substantiate, (re)elaborate, complement or refute previous studies, and also establish considerations on theoretical-methodological or practical implications of the article.

  6. Bibliographical references are indicative of the theoretical path traced by the work, in addition to being informative sources for readers and other researchers, and must comply with criteria established by ABNT. Any and all works cited throughout the text must be included in the bibliographical references, from those only mentioned (such as the Federal Constitution of 1988) to those that contain passages of indirect or direct quotation (including, respectively, entries of AUTHOR, DATE or AUTHOR, DATE, PAGE).

    Bibliographic references:

    AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION. Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications. Educational Researcher, v.35, n.6, p. 33-40, Aug/Sep. 2006.

    BOURDIEU, P., CHAMBOREDON, J., PASSERON, J. Craft of sociologist: research methodology in sociology. Voices: 2010.

  • Technical notes

RBSP publishes Technical Notes, theoretical and empirical reflections aimed at operators/workers in the field of public security and at the formulation of public security policies for the sector. Here, we value experiences accumulated by professionals in the field of public security that can contribute to the construction of new standards of professional practices in the field. In this type of submission, it is desirable that the work is a reflection on professional practice: possibilities, limits, dilemmas and perspectives, among other aspects to be highlighted. It is recommended to observe the recommendations for scientific articles, in the section on articles, in order to give robustness to the work.

  • Book Reviews

Reviews will be accepted of books published primarily in Portuguese, or in English or Spanish, no more than three years ago on topics related to public security. The reviews must comply with ABNT standards, as well as:

  • Contain the full reference of the book; including page numbers; contain a title in English and Portuguese of up to 50 characters with spaces;
  • Be written in Portuguese;
  • Contain between 2000 and 4000 characters;
  • Include summaries in Portuguese and English, of up to 1000 characters, stating what the review is about (for example, what the selected work is about, whether the review is a critical review, a summary, whether it relates it to the discussion in the field of public security, etc);
  • Include the bibliographical reference of the work at the beginning of the text;
  • Limit footnotes to strictly necessary comments.
  • RBSP only accepts one author for reviews, with a minimum master's degree.

After analysis of compliance with our standards and scope, all manuscripts will be sent for blind peer review.

  • Interviews

The Journal publishes interviews, exceptionally by initiative of Editorial Commission (proposals send for the authors are not accepted).

  • Thematic dossiers

The Journal publishes sporadically thematic dossiers on public safety. Until now we have nine published dossiers:

  • Dossier: Prevenção da Violência contra Criança na América Latina (vol. 2, 2015);
  • Dossier: Violência em contexto escolar e escola em contexto violento - Part I (vol. 1, 2019);
  • Dossier: Violência em contexto escolar e escola em contexto violento - Part II (vol. 2, 2019);
  • Dossier: Violência, polícia e justiça no Brasil - Part I (vol. 2, 2019);
  • Dossier: Sentidos de fazer judicial e policial: administração de conflitos e Sistema de Justiça (vol. 1, 2020);
  • Dossier: Forças Armadas e Segurança Pública na América Latina (vol. 1, 2020);
  • Dossier: Violência, polícia e justiça no Brasil - Parte 2 (vol. 2, 2020).
  • Dossier: A formação dos profissionais de segurança pública (v.16 n.1, 2022)
  • Dossier: COVID-19 e Segurança Pública no Brasil (v.16 n.2 , 2022) 

Achieving to suit the Journal to the Qualis Criteria of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes), the editorial policy has been changed. The Journal:

  • Evaluate the articles through the Double-Blind Peer Review system. This mechanism ensures the evaluator exemption and support the evaluation to quality criteria of the academic community;
  • Guarantee anonymity to the author and evaluators in the editorial process flow, regulated by our Ethical Code;
  • Emphasizes articles written by authors that are linked in institutions beyond the state of São Paulo, aiming the exogeneity;
  • Half-yearly publications, since 2009;
  • All the content is free to public. The editions, since 2007, are available in the Journal website;
  • Messages sent by the editors, in the submissions, that are not answered in 30 days by the authors, will be excluded from the Journal system;

  • The deadline to the first evaluation is 80 (eighty) days;

  • The respective publication takes about 18 (eighteen) months to be published. 

Periodicity

Issues of the Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública are published in February/March and August/September of each year

Editorial guideline

The Brazilian Public Safety Journal publishes scientific articles, interviews, technical notes and thematic dossiers about public safety. Aiming the interdisciplinarity, the Journal also accept papers of anthropology, economics, history, sociology and others areas of social science and applied social sciences that discuss about public safety. We expect the articles to be critical, with new perspectives and approaches. 

Linked with the Brazilian Forum of Public Safety, non-governmental entity, non-partisan and non-profit, the Brazilian Public Safety Journal it is composed by an autonomous Editorial Council, that manages it and aim an academic excellence. 

Archive

All published articles are kept in a Dropbox archive and in the Journal's Google Drive to ensure the preservation of the research, being accessed and updated only by the editorial team. The archiving occurs from the moment the versions of the respective submitted papers are approved. In addition, all files and documentation related to the journal are kept on an external hard drive to maintain the memory and history of RBSP. The first editions of this Journal are printed and duly archived.

The Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública also archives its published works and issues through LOCKSS and CLOKSS licenses that are enabled to store and distribute the journal's content in participating libraries.

 Funding Sources

The activities carried out by the Brazilian Journal of Public Security are entirely financed by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security 

Open Access

This journal is accessible to all, indicating that users and their institutions can access all content without any charges. Users have the permission to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the complete texts of the articles, or utilize them for any legal purpose, without requiring any prior permission from the author or the publisher.

Fees and charges

There are no fees or charges for authors who wish to submit their work for publication in the Revista Brasileira de Segurança Pública. This means that in addition to the absence of initial fees for publication, at no time during the editorial process will authors be charged for the texts to be published. All costs related to the editorial process, checking for similarity, proofreading, editing, publication and dissemination are borne by the journal.