Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The article is original and has not been published in a scientific journal, conference proceedings, repository, dissertation, or thesis, and is not under simultaneous review by another journal. Prior deposits in a preprint server are permitted, provided that the link/DOI and the deposited version are informed at the time of submission.
  • The submission files are in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) and do not exceed 2 MB.
  • All Internet page addresses (URLs) included in the text (Ex.: http://www.unifor.br) are online and available.
  • The peer review option (Open Peer Review or Double Blind Peer Review) is indicated in the Submission Form. If Double Blind Peer Review is selected, the manuscript is fully anonymised, with the removal of names, acknowledgements, funding and other identifying elements, including in the Word file Properties and in the header of even-numbered pages.
  • The manuscript complies with the Guidelines and Template for Authors, available at: https://ojs.unifor.br/rpen/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/129
  • The Submission Form — Author Data, Open Science and IDEIA was attached, duly completed and signed by the corresponding author and coauthors. Available at: https://ojs.unifor.br/rpen/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/131
  • All authors correctly provided their information at the time of registration: full name, ORCID iD, institution/affiliation, and short biography. The institutional affiliation must follow this format: Name of the Institution (City, State, Country). Example: Federal University of Paraná (Curitiba, PR, Brazil).
  • If the article requires prior approval by an Ethics Committee, the protocol and approval opinion were attached as a Supplementary Document.
  • If the article results from funded research, the funding sources have been declared in Part 6 of the Submission Form.
  • At the time of submission, it was stated whether there is or is not any conflict of interest (personal, academic, institutional, or financial). Full policy: https://ojs.unifor.br/rpen/conflitointeresse
  • Where applicable, the use of generative Artificial Intelligence was declared in a specific paragraph in the Introduction of the manuscript, in accordance with the specific policy: https://ojs.unifor.br/rpen/usodaia
  • The author(s) are aware that, if approved, the article will be published in open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.pt_BR
  • If approved, the author(s) undertake to collaborate in the scientific dissemination of the article after publication by sharing the link/DOI on academic and social networks and/or through institutional channels.
  • The author(s) state whether the manuscript has been deposited in a preprint server, providing the link/DOI if applicable.
  • The manuscript provides the title, the abstract (up to 250 words) and 3 to 6 keywords in Portuguese, English and Spanish, with the keywords separated by semicolons.
  • The work has up to 3 authors. If there are more, a justification of each author's substantive contribution (ICMJE criteria and CRediT taxonomy) has been provided in the Submission Form.

Author Guidelines

  • Last updated: 17 July 2026

    The author(s) declare, for submission purposes, compliance with the conditions and standards of Pensar – Journal of Legal Sciences, organised in the sections below. The complete Submission Conditions are also listed in a dedicated checklist on the platform.

    Registration on the OJS platform

    Submissions must be made through the author's registration on the OJS platform, accessible via the Electronic Journals Portal of the University of Fortaleza: https://ojs.unifor.br/rpen (select the "Author" option when registering).

    For any questions, please contact the editorial office at: revistapensar@unifor.br.

    Authorship

    • Up to 3 authors are accepted per work. A greater number requires a justification presented at the time of submission, demonstrating the substantive contribution of each author according to the ICMJE criteria and the CRediT taxonomy, subject to editorial assessment at the screening stage;
    • At least one author must hold a doctoral degree;
    • The journal gives priority to studies produced within stricto sensu graduate programmes;
    • All authors must have an active ORCID iD;
    • Authors affiliated with Brazilian institutions must provide their Lattes CV;
    • Author contributions must be declared according to the CRediT taxonomy.

    Notes on author registration

    1. In the Last Name field, enter only the author's final surname. For example, for "João Pereira da Silva Cunha", enter "João Pereira da Silva" in the Given Name field and "Cunha" in the Last Name field. This pattern is required for the correct indexing of metadata in Crossref and international indexing services.
    2. The institutional affiliation must follow the format Institution (City, State, Country), with the institution’s name written out in full, unabbreviated. Example: Universidade Federal do Paraná (Curitiba, PR, Brazil).

    Originality and previously unpublished status

    The article must be original, not published in any other venue (journal, conference proceedings, website, repository, dissertation or thesis), and not under simultaneous review by another journal. Prior deposit in a preprint server is permitted, provided that the link/DOI and the deposited version are stated at the time of submission (see the Preprint Submission policy).

    Languages and length

    • The article must be between 12 and 30 pages long;
    • It may be written in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French or Italian;
    • Language editing by a qualified professional is recommended, especially for manuscripts in a foreign language;
    • Accepted articles by Brazilian authors are translated into English at the journal's expense.

    Template and formatting parameters

    The Template and Submission Guidelines comes with the formatting already applied through styles (Pensar Título 1, Pensar Corpo, Pensar Citação Longa, Pensar Referência, among others), available in Word’s Styles gallery. Authors are advised to write the manuscript inside the template and apply the styles, rather than reproducing the formatting by hand. The main parameters are:

    • Paper size: A4;
    • Font: Times New Roman — body text 12 / abstract 10 / block quotation 10 / footnotes 10;
    • Line spacing: body text 1.5 / block quotation 1.0;
    • Margins: left 3.0 cm / right 2.0 cm / top 3.0 cm / bottom 2.0 cm;
    • Paragraph: first-line indent 1.0 cm; no extra spacing between paragraphs;
    • Block quotation (more than 3 lines): indented 4.0 cm from the left margin, without quotation marks.

    Manuscript structure

    • Titles: in Portuguese, in English and in Spanish (and in the original language, where the text is written in another language);
    • Abstract: in Portuguese, in English and in Spanish (and in the original language, where the text is written in another language), in a single paragraph, up to 250 words, avoiding abbreviations (ABNT NBR 6028:2021);
    • Keywords: 3 to 6, given at the end of each abstract and in the same languages, preceded by the expression "Keywords:", separated by semicolons, closed with a period and written in lower case, except for proper nouns and acronyms. Pensar does not adopt a controlled vocabulary (subject descriptors): keywords are freely chosen by the authors and must represent the content of the article, observing the terminology established in the legal field.
      Example: Keywords: access to justice; Public Defender's Office; fundamental rights; social vulnerability.
    • Body of the text: must contain an introduction, a development section and a conclusion, even if under different headings;
    • References: in accordance with ABNT NBR 6023:2018;
    • Citations: author-date system in accordance with ABNT NBR 10520:2023, with page numbers where relevant;
    • Figures, tables, charts and graphs: with title and source, numbered by type, cited in the text in numerical order and placed within the body of the manuscript (not at the end).

    Citation examples

    • (Martinelli; Genari, 2009; Berridge; Kringelbach, 2013);
    • (Batista; Mantoan, 2006, p. 56);
    • According to the author (2026, p. 50) … / … (Author, 2026, p. 50).

    Required documents

    Every submission must contain two files:

    The Submission Form covers the thematic axis, the complete data of each author (ORCID, Lattes, affiliation and short bio), the self-declarations of gender and race/colour, the description of author contributions according to the CRediT taxonomy, the research data availability statement, the choice of peer review option, information on any prior deposit in a preprint server, and the declaration of conflicts of interest and funding (full policy). Separate declarations on these items are therefore not required.

    The declaration of the use of generative Artificial Intelligence, mandatory since 2026, is not a separate document: where applicable, it must be written in a dedicated paragraph in the introduction of the manuscript, in accordance with the specific policy.

    Where applicable

    • Research Ethics Committee approval, with the protocol number, attached as a Supplementary File, in the cases set out in the "Research Ethics Committee" section below;
    • Funding sources of the research, declared in Part 6 of the Submission Form. Under the Double Blind Peer Review option, this information is provided exclusively to the editorial team through the Form and is incorporated into the text only after acceptance, preserving anonymisation during the review;
    • Justification of authorship, where the work has more than 3 authors.

    Peer review option and anonymisation

    At the time of submission, the author(s) must indicate one of the following options:

    • Open Peer Review — authorises direct interaction with the reviewers and the possible publication of the reviews alongside the article, if accepted. Anonymisation of the manuscript is not required.
    • Double Blind Peer Review — a double-anonymised model, without disclosure of the reviews. The manuscript must be fully anonymised, with no identification of authorship in the body of the text or in the Word file Properties, and with the removal or neutralisation of references to projects, groups, institutions, acknowledgements and funding that could identify the authors. The header of even-numbered pages must be left empty in the submitted version; the authors' names will be inserted by the editorial team after acceptance.

    Details of the review process: Manuscript Assessment Criteria.

    Research Ethics Committee

    All research involving human beings, whether directly or indirectly (including data, information or biological materials), must be approved in advance by a competent ethics body, in accordance with:

    Authors must state, at the time of submission, whether the article requires Research Ethics Committee approval and attach the corresponding decision. Further information in the Publication Ethics policy.

    Sections of the journal

    The editorial scope of Pensar is structured around three permanent thematic axes (Law, Democracy and Social Justice; Constitution, Institutions and Democracy in Brazil; Law, Technology and a Society in Transformation) and a cross-cutting section of International Articles. Full details of the sections: Article Submission.

    Responsibility for content

    The Editorial Board of Pensar is not responsible for the data and opinions expressed in the articles, which are the sole responsibility of the authors.

    Related documents

International Articles

Pensar considers an International Article to be a manuscript in which at least one author is affiliated with a foreign institution, as declared in the manuscript and in the submission metadata.

The journal publishes in Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, and French, which enables this section in different languages.

Within this category, the journal admits two types of International Articles, with distinct workflows:

  1. International Articles (Invited)
    These are manuscripts commissioned by invitation from the Editors-in-Chief, with the purpose of strengthening the journal’s internationalization. Due to their invited nature, these texts do not undergo peer review. Publication occurs by editorial decision, after an editorial screening (desk review) and minimum technical and ethical checks (fit with scope, compliance with guidelines, integrity/anti-plagiarism checks, metadata, copyediting/standardization, and OJS production). For transparency, this section is identified as “International Articles (Invited)”, clearly indicating to readers that publication is by invitation and without peer review, under the editorial responsibility of the Editors-in-Chief.

  2. International Articles (Submitted and peer-reviewed)
    These are international-profile manuscripts submitted spontaneously by the authors (via open submission or continuous flow). Such articles follow the journal’s standard editorial workflow: initial screening (desk review), compliance checks, integrity and ethics checks, and, once they pass screening, peer review, according to the review model adopted by the journal (e.g., double-blind or open peer review). The publication decision results from the ordinary editorial process (reviews, revisions, and editorial deliberation).

Note (language and translation): if the author(s) are affiliated with a higher education institution in a Portuguese-speaking foreign country, the manuscript will be considered an International Article. In such cases, upon the authors’ express authorization, Pensar may arrange translation into English through a partner company, should the authors prefer not to submit an already translated English version.

Thematic Axis 1 – Law, Democracy and Social Justice

Articles addressing social justice, vulnerabilities, gender inequality, incarceration, and public health from the perspective of fundamental rights and the ethics of care. The selection favors a critical and humanizing approach to the role of the State and society.

Thematic Axis 2 – Constitution, Institutions and Democracy in Brazil

Articles that discuss the role of democratic institutions, the judiciary, constitutional and infraconstitutional legislation, and national and international normative frameworks aimed at citizenship, democratic culture, and rights.

Thematic Axis 3 – Law, Technology, and a Transforming Society

This section brings together articles that critically examine the intersections between Law, technology, and contemporary social transformations. Topics include personal data protection, artificial intelligence, algorithmic racism, abusive advertising directed at children, and the challenges of protecting personality rights in cyberspace. The selection prioritizes contributions that engage with fundamental rights and foster critical reflection on the impacts of emerging technologies on social, legal, and institutional dynamics. Interdisciplinary, critical, and socially engaged approaches grounded in digital ethics are particularly valued.

Preprints

Pensar – Journal of Legal Sciences accepts the submission of manuscripts previously deposited in recognized preprint servers.

At the time of submission, authors must inform whether the article has already been made available as a preprint, indicating the corresponding link or DOI.

Prior availability in a preprint server will not be considered prior publication and does not affect the evaluation or publication of the article in the journal.

After publication, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with the reference to the article published in Pensar, including the DOI.

Copyright Notice

Copyright Notice and License (CC BY 4.0)

Última atualização: 11/02/2026

Pensar – Journal of Legal Sciences provides immediate and free open access to all its content as a way to promote the global democratization of knowledge.

Authors retain copyright of their works published in Pensar – Journal of Legal Sciences. By submitting and having the article accepted for publication, authors agree that the text will be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authors grant Pensar the right of first publication and authorize the journal to identify itself as the original publisher of the work, under a non-exclusive license to publish, reproduce, and disseminate the article in any media and formats, including databases and repositories, as well as for digital preservation purposes.

Under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license, third-party use is permitted, including for commercial purposes, provided that authorship is credited, the source is indicated (original publication in Pensar), citation details are maintained, and any changes are indicated.

Within the terms of the license, authors may enter into additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version, provided that the original publication in Pensar is properly cited.

The journal does not charge any fees for submission, review, processing, or publication of manuscripts.

Privacy Statement

Last update: 02/05/2026

Personal data collected in this journal is processed in compliance with the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD — Law No. 13,709/2018) and used exclusively for editorial management purposes.

Full policy: Privacy Statement.