EDITORIAL

The goals of our Jornal Vascular Brasileiro

In 2013, the print editions of our J Vasc Bras will display a new typesetting style, smaller and more compact than our previous model. The new layout has been suggested by our new supplier, Editora Cubo, and has already been implemented in another journal, namely Jornal de Pneumologia (indexed for Medline), with the goals of optimizing costs, reducing paper usage (and the number of trees cut down), and occupying a smaller space, while at the same time preserving easy reading.

We also have plans of creating a Facebook web page to improve communication between readers, reviewers, and editors. Social networks are widely used by investigators and scientific institutions worldwide,¹ and are therefore extremely important to disseminate journals and stimulate new submissions. The page will display the contents of forthcoming issues, callouts for special articles, and various information or news that may be relevant to our community. Our interest is to provide readers with timely information on vascular surgery and create a communication channel between readers and authors, so as to congregate a virtual community of members interested in vascular disease and in the articles published in our journal. Conferences will also be publicized, and members will have a space to exchange information on complex cases, published articles, and novel techniques.

Another goal of our journal – one that is always present on our minds and essential to the consolidation of the J Vasc Bras – is its indexing in Medline and ISI Web of Knowledge. CNPq, for example, does no longer provide financial support to journals not indexed in Medline. I have repeatedly emphasized that the achievement of this goal is much more strongly dependent on the efforts of our authors and reviewers than on the work of editors.^2,3 Here again I would like to argue that reviewers and members of the Scientific Board of SBACV should be setting an example by routinely publishing in the J Vasc Bras. Notwithstanding, last year we actually noticed a drop in the number of articles submitted, a finding that ran counter to our expectations, especially after the numerous calls for action on my part towards colleagues, over several years. In fact, it should be noted that the current level of submissions would render unsuccessful any application to international databases. Therefore, perhaps we should for once reflect on the future of our J Vasc Bras, asking ourselves whether it is the journal’s fate to stagnate as a repository of the sparse production of a local community, with no international ambitions. I wonder if such a fate is worth all the investment, infrastructure, and hard work put in by editors and reviewers.

Another very important aspect nowadays is the journal’s impact factor, i.e., the ratio between the number of a journal’s citations and the number of articles published in that same journal over a given period of time. This bibliometric tool is used worldwide to assess journal relevance. On the SciELO database, if we look at the past 3 years, we will see that we were cited only 14 times, but published a total of 110 articles, which yields an impact factor of 0.1273. A brief survey considering our two latest issues revealed that only 19 of the 30 articles published in our journal included at least one J Vasc Bras citation. These 19 articles contributed a total of 19 citations (mean of one citation per article). On SCIMAGO, our impact factor has remained unchanged at 0.15 for 3 years already. In order for our journal to reach Qualis B2 on Capes’ classification, we need an impact factor of at least 0.90. It is important to emphasize that the decision to cite (or not to cite) articles published in the J Vasc Bras lies entirely with the authors, and even though our authors are very generous citing international journals, they tend to be very economical citing Brazilian ones. Prof. Pedro Puech-Leão has referred to this behavior as "xenophilia – the Caramuru syndrome," as a reflection of the low level of appreciation shown by Brazilians towards other Brazilians.⁴

In sum, it is clear that, before our journal can grow from being an emerging journal to become a consolidated, mature journal, much is to be done, especially by our prospective authors. Even though there is always room for improvement, our production team has put considerable efforts into expediting publication while at the same time maintaining quality. The ScholarOne submission system, recently implemented, will certainly help facilitate and improve our editorial process. We expect to see the number of our submissions and citations grow significantly in the short term. Then (and only then) will we once again be able to apply for indexing in Medline and ISI.

Winston Bonetti Yoshida

Editor-in-chef

References

• 1. Eperen LV, Maraincola FM. How scientists use social media to communicate their research. J Transl Med. 2011;9:199. PMid:22085450 PMCid:3231985. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1479-5876-9-199
• 2. Yoshida WB . Jornal Vascular Brasileiro: 5 anos. J Vasc Bras. 2009;8:289-290. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1677-54492009000400001
• 3. Yoshida WB. Novo sistema de submissões do Jornal Vascular Brasileiro. J Vasc Bras. 2012;11:255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1677-54492012000400001
• 4. Puech-Leão P. Xenofilia - Síndrome de Caramuru. [citado 2013 jan 24]. http://www.sbacvsp.org.br/medicos/boletins/bol032000.htm

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  03 Apr 2013
• Date of issue
  Mar 2013