EDITORIAL
The path for articles in Cadernos de Saúde Pública/Reports in Public Health
Marilia Sá Carvalho; Claudia Travassos; Cláudia Medina Coeli
The Editors
A total of 1,846 articles were registered in our submissions system (SAGAS) in 2012, 8.3% more than in 2011. Of these, CSP's 12 regular monthly issues included 174 Original Articles, 12 Review Articles, and 19 Brief Communications (which were still called Research Notes), besides 2 Forums with 8 articles. Publications involving institutional affiliations from inside Brazil represented 89.5% of the total, but there was an increase in article submissions in Spanish, thus highlighting important channels for expanding scientific cooperation.
It is important to acknowledge the growth in Brazil's scientific output in the field of Public Health, the result of a well-consolidated science and technology policy. Part of this publications effort is due to the evaluation processes for research, researchers, and graduate studies programs by CAPES, the Coordinating Body for the Advancement of Graduate Studies, and Brazilian Federal and State research funding agencies. Exchange and collaboration between the Brazilian scientific community and Latin American and African countries has increased the submission of articles from these countries to Brazil's science journals, thus forming a virtuous circle.
Some aspects of the demand for publication merit reflection and better understanding by the authors. The first is the question of pertinence. The journal with the highest classification, or the one the author prefers, is not always the most adequate one for the article he or she is writing. CSP publishes original articles of superior scientific merit that contribute to the study of Public Health in general and related disciplines. Priority is given to highly relevant articles both in terms of their contribution to the advancement of knowledge and the potential social impact of the research results.
The article's format is another important point. Manuscripts generated from theses and dissertations sometimes fail to stand alone as articles. We frequently run up against this problem with articles submitted to the Review Section. Many are obviously introductory chapters to larger studies and thus lose their value outside of context.
When considering how to orient authors in order for their work to be shown as quickly as possible, the Editors assume the responsibility for identifying which articles will have slim chances of being published in CSP. We return these articles to the authors with a very brief evaluation on their pertinence (which is not a quality assessment), allowing them to seek a more appropriate periodical in a short space of time. With a growing supply of a wide range of journals, there will certainly be an appropriate one for that particular study. During this stage, some 56.5% of article submissions are rejected. The following stage, peer review, is quite sensitive, and we will return to this issue in a subsequent editorial. Only 49.6% of the requests for reviews receive a positive reply.
These questions, among dozens of others, have been the object of debate among us three, and we find it pertinent to open this discussion to the readers and authors of CSP. There are no readymade answers, but relevant questions, as in science: how to bring to CSP all the excitement of the Public Health field, the innovations, and the current and committed debate.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
29 Jan 2013 -
Date of issue
Jan 2013
