Celebrating the 40^th Anniversary of Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ): Retrospective and Perspectives

The Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) was established in 1977, during a particular and turbulent period of the Brazilian history: the military dictatorship. As a non-governmental association, it has been created inside the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC) to give chemists a more specific political, educational and scientific voice, to promote high quality chemistry education and to generate and spread chemical culture, in the entire Brazilian community.¹

Since its foundation, SBQ has grown steadily with a full mobilization of chemists (in all their actuation areas) through its annual, regional and SBQ-supported meetings, regional secretaries, scientific divisions and the association with international scientific organizations such as Federación Latino Americana de Asociaciones Químicas (FLAQ), American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and others.

Over the last 40 years, SBQ has played an important role in growing and strengthening the Brazilian community of chemistry.

Nowadays, SBQ is one of the most representative and important scientific associations in Latin America, with more than 4000 active members. In 2017, it counts with 13 scientific divisions and 20 active regional secretariats.

Furthermore, SBQ is the only scientific society of Brazil responsible for the publication of four indexed journals. The first SBQ-based Brazilian journal was Química Nova (1977, 40 volumes), the world leader on chemical scientific reports in Portuguese language. The Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (JBCS) (1990, 28 volumes) embraces all aspects of chemistry, except education, philosophy and history of chemistry, reporting selected original and significant chemical contributions. It meets the best characteristics for a worldwide chemical journal, with high visibility and free download. All online collection is freely available with search engines (Google and SciELO) and also assigned a valid DOI. SBQ also publishes Química Nova na Escola (QNEsc) (1995, 39 volumes), devoted to high school professors and students, while the newest one, Revista Virtual de Química (2009, 9 volumes), aims to be a source of consultation and dissemination of chemistry, in English or Portuguese language for students and teachers of undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Along with them, interactive portals QNInt ( http://qnint.sbq.org.br/novo/) and QuiD⁺ (http://quid.sbq.org.br/) connect science and chemistry education. The newsletter Boletim Eletrônico of SBQ (evolved from Boletim Informativo, 1982) reaches weekly more than 9.000 people around the country. EditSBQ, which is responsible for editing books and e-books, was recently reactivated. All these publications are collected in PubliSBQ, an entity responsible for all the activities of scientific, technical and didactic diffusion of SBQ, together with the publication of weekly news, easily and freely accessible through http://publi.sbq.org.br.

In 2011, during the International Year of Chemistry, SBQ played a fundamental role, being responsible for the planning and development of a multitude of activities. Together with numerous national agents dedicated to chemistry (regional chemistry councils, associations, universities, representative bodies of the Academy and the chemical industry, museums and houses of science), with the support of CNPq, CAPES and regional agencies, got the accession of thousands of partners and high school teachers, and promoted, in a condensed manner, the dissemination and popularization of chemistry.²

In 2017, the realization of the 46^th World Congress of Chemistry (IUPAC 2017) in Brazil marks the 40 years of SBQ. For the first time in South America, the congress is an excellent opportunity to congregate an entire continent of chemists closer to the global IUPAC community. Along with the first year of PROFQUI, a professional master in Chemistry for the formation of the chemistry teachers of all national territory, SBQ is paving its pathway toward the future.

To reach its current stage of political and scientific level, SBQ and the various generations of chemists who contributed to its development faced and overcame many challenges. The history of SBQ must now inspire the new generation of young researchers. It is imperative to the youth to know that there is no strong advance in chemistry in a community without a robust scientific society to support it. The future of the science in our country must be based in relevant scientific journals, in a deep and permanent internationalization process and in a serious investment in future professionals through a high quality and ethical education. Moreover, this future depends not only on academic publications but also on a vigilant political exercise to guarantee more investments in science, technology, education and innovation, following the principles of integrity, diversity, honesty, citizenship, leadership and integration. All these joint activities have the potential to be of enormous benefit to improving learning outcomes and the health and well-being of the Brazilian society.

There is no doubt: as stronger the SBQ, better the Brazilian Chemistry.³

Long and healthy life to SBQ!

References

• ¹
  Bechara, E. J. H.; Viertler, H.; Quim. Nova 1997, 20, 63.
• ²
  Zucco, C.; Andricopulo, A. D.; Quim. Nova 2012, 35, 869.
• ³
  Pinto, A. C.; de Andrade, J. B.; Pardini, V. L.; Quim. Nova 1997,20(Esp), 3.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Aug 2017