Abstract This article aimed to simulate the new method proposed by the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES) for the classification of Qualis 2017-2020 by tracing the path that led to the B3 stratification attributed to the journal Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology (BABT). Data collection was based on the evaluation of articles published between 2017 and 2018 to obtain the Lattes curricula of the author(s). Other goals were to verify their participation in stricto sensu postgraduate programs recognized by CAPES; to identify the program's evaluation area according to CAPES; and to establish the association of authors/co-authors with their respective countries. Overall 199 articles were identified, with 897 authors/co-authors, 359 of which are associated with Brazilian institutions. A participation of at least one Brazilian author/co-author could be verified in 69 articles, out of which 60 had at least one professor affiliated to a stricto sensu postgraduate program recognized by CAPES. There was professors linked to 26 of the 49 CAPES evaluation areas, whereby the highest number of publications were Food Science and Agrarian Sciences I, both with 16 occurrences each. It was verified that the criteria established by the CAPES' guiding document were not adequately followed. It could be concluded that the journal BABT should have been classified in the stratum A2, with a possible oscillation between A1 and A4, so that its classification as a B3 publication is out of the range foreseen in CAPES' established criteria.