Research and publish in criminal sciences: Notes on scientific research and publication in qualified journals

This article discusses (and critically reflects on) the instruments that must constitute a qualified scientific research, with a focus on criminal sciences. The problem is concentrated on these key issues: a) what and how to research? and b) how to publish? The central hypothesis (which will be confirmed in the conclusions) is that a research to be seen as minimally qualified in the criminal sciences must observe the circumstances, highlighted throughout this article, which presupposes, in the face of difficulties, both an accumulation of reading and the familiarity with editorial processes. The article is aimed at the scientific community in general, especially people willing to attend qualified scientific journals as authors, which most of the time are inaccessible for lack of adequate guidance on an academic training basis. Originality must be recognized on its own behalf using methods and techniques that are sometimes overlooked in the higher education settings, whose focus have been the rules of the Brazilian Association of Technical Norms (ABNT). On the basis of foreign and Brazilian authors, the method used is varied starting with the hypothetical-deductive method, through which certain problems are identified and described so that hypotheses considered as the most consistent with the objectives pursued are subsequently presented. The qualitative, also dialectical, approach tries to demonstrate the existing relationships between the hypotheses presented and the idea of qualified research defended herein. The technique of data collection and literature review are also used.