Article

lock Open Access lock Peer-Reviewed

0

Views

EDITORIAL

Victories, but there are still important challenges

Walter Gomes0

DOI: 10.1590/S0102-76382005000100002

Over the years, the Brazilian Journal of the Cardiovascular Surgery (BJCVS) has been consolidating its position as the organ that publishes the scientific production of Brazilian cardiovascular surgeons. But, with the efforts, enthusiasm and leadership of the editor, Professor Domingo Braile, important conquests were recently achieved. First was the inclusion in the electronic database Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online - www.scielo.br), responsible for the organization of Latin-American and Caribbean journals, which circulated the electronic version in Portuguese throughout the Internet. From Scielo, the BJCVS can be accessed through several sites of related medical societies. Thus, it is available and can be freely accessed by cardiologists, intensivists, perfusionists and other professionals.

Following this, in another successful move forward, the BJCVS, now with its name in English was included in the CTSNet (www.ctsnet.org). This site on the internet is for cardiovascular surgeons from all over the planet. Soon after, the English language version made articles of the BJCVS accessible to cardiovascular surgeons and other professionals of the entire world.

However, new challenges lie ahead. The next step towards having the quality of the journal recognized is to become indexed to Medline. This is the most important bibliographic database worldwide, used internationally to give access to information of medical and health science journals and includes more than 4,700 periodicals.

The BJCVS is already being evaluated by a commission of Index Medicus/Medline, but there is a complex selection process and the criteria are still very subjective, depending on the members and of the directors of the Assessment Committee.

Various aspects are contemplated in the evaluation by the Committee Members of Medline including the periodicity and regularity of publication; punctuality, the peer reviewing procedure, the annual number of issues; scientific content (of which original articles are the most import); the quality and category of the articles; representativity of the editorial committee, reviewers and authors; format (standardization) of the edition, relevance of the publication to development in the area, etc.

Practically all these criteria are now contemplated in editions of the BJCVS, but there is still a difficulty in increasing the number of articles per edition, mainly in respect to original articles. However, the way is clear there is a need to increase the number of submissions to the journal, not only original articles, but also the contributions of editorials, case reports, review articles, as well as the section of letters to the editor.

This effort needs to be split among all Brazilian cardiovascular surgeons and includes attracting quality submittals from researchers in basic sciences in the cardiovascular field, cardiologists and Latin-American surgeons. With 104 works being accepted and presented annually in the Congress of the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery, there is no doubt about the strength of national scientific production, which needs to be rewritten and sent for publication. Unpublished information is information lost. In respect to review articles, the greatest source is theses. The literature review section of theses generally provides a detailed description of the state of the art of the subject studied and can be adapted and used as review articles, helping to update concepts in the field of the thesis.

Difficulties with writing and the correct format of the manuscript can be solved with the aid of associate editors, the Editorial Council, Executive Editor and editorial assistant, who are available to help and to guide first time authors to write their manuscripts in the correct format required for publication in the BJCVS.

Clearly this means much effort by all involved, from the authors and editors for the final publication including the costs.

Another point of discussion is the official idioms. The BJCVS may soon become the organ of Latin-American surgeons and there are discussions about if the Spanish language should be aggregated as an official idiom of publication, along with Portuguese or if only the English language should be used.

The challenge of the Brazilian cardiovascular surgeons is great, but they will certainly know how to respond with the same competence, tenacity and enthusiasm that made Brazilian cardiovascular surgery recognized and appreciated throughout the world.

CCBY All scientific articles published at rbccv.org.br are licensed under a Creative Commons license

Indexes

All rights reserved 2017 / © 2024 Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery DEVELOPMENT BY