Editorial
Editorial
We get to the end of the first year of the Jornal Brasileiro de Fonoaudiologia still holding our breaths because of the challenge we faced by publishing another SBFa journal but also exhilarated by the success of the 19th Brazilian Congress of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.
Thanks to the support of a large group of people that understood the task as one to be undertaken by the whole community the Journal da SBFa was published on time and with great quality.
The congress showcased the scientific development of several fields, recognized the contributions of the founders of SBFa and presented various opportunities to meet, learn and debate with international researchers and active members of international associations.
The opportunity of this editorial allows me to present a report of another issue I have been involved with. Since August 2010 I participate in CNPq's Multidisciplinary Health Advisory Committee and since July 2011 I am coordinating this committee. Fortunately I count with the fellowship, care and efficiency of the dear professor Liliane Desgualdo Pereira who is officially my substitute but actually has been my true partner.
Since the beginning the work in this committee (that includes representatives of Physical Education and Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy) has been based on total harmony and respect to the differences. This allows that a task that is extremely serious and demands responsibility can be conducted in an easy environment that facilitates sharing problems and their solutions.
In this environment it is possible to discuss each area's priorities, distribute resources proportionally to the demands and forward common requests. In this sense the main demand is a larger number of research productive grants, especially the number of "PQ1" grants in the areas. In 2010 there was a 20% increase in the number of grants but it didn't include the PQ1 grants. Based on a request by the committee, with a shared rationale, 6 PQ1 grants were assigned to the committee, being to 2 to Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. In 2011 there was no information about an increase in the number of grants but the committee forwarded new requests to the 3 areas. It is important to point out that the committee members only receive information about the results of these requests when the researchers receive the results of their proposals.
With regards to the Edital Universal, the budget is distributed by the CNPq according to each committee's financial demand and the same criterion is used within our committee to the budget's distribution among the areas. There was a clear increase in the demand by Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from 2010 to 2011 but the available amount demands several adjustments in order to distribute the budget among the largest possible number of researchers.
There are still very few requests of scholarships by speech-language pathologists and audiologists and there is the feeling we are wasting some existing opportunities. My suggestion would be to careful analyze the opportunities presented by the program "Science without Borders".
The activities of our last 2011 meeting, in November, included reviewing the criteria to the analysis of the research productivity proposals. The discussions concluded that the present criteria are adequate and, this way only small adjusts were proposed in order to adapt them to the areas' development, still considering the differences among them.
Therefore, my intention was to take this opportunity to ensure the speech-language pathologists and audiologists that this representation is being conducted with detail and criteria but that the work has been facilitated by a healthy and harmonious environment.
I must also mention my joy, as an ex-president of SBFa, seeing that two highly competent and renowned groups are competing for what Dr Mara Behlau calls "the expanded board". It shows that in the last years these functions were conducted with competence and dedication, but also with joy and pleasure. It resulted in the desire of several people to participate and contribute in this joint Project. Probably when this editorial is published the results will already be known. I hope that this is another maturity moment for our society and that all that are willing to participate in the further development and empowerment of SBFa do it without considering the position of winners or losers.
Finally I must thank: the opportunity to continue the Project; the authors', reviewers' and editors' trust; the technical team (always, specially, to Dr Juliana Gândara and Érica Ferraz) involvement, and mostly for Dr Mara Behlau's leadership.
May the Holliday Season bring the deserved joy and 2012 be another period of achievements, challenges and success.
Fernanda Dreux
Executive editor of the JSBFa
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
09 Feb 2012 -
Date of issue
Dec 2011
