We recently celebrated the first anniversary of our partnership with Elsevier. Among the many benefits from our collaboration, we recognize the change in our article submission system, by shifting to the Elsevier Editorial System (EES). An easy-to-use system, EES provides us with access to advantages not offered by our previous systems.
First, EES allows us to use Technical Check in order to return poorly prepared manuscripts to their authors for revision, as well as manuscripts that do not meet the established criteria. As a result, we have reduced the number of direct rejections due to formatting reasons. Second, we now have access to a search engine of reviewers worldwide. With a few keywords, we can access dozens of researchers with expertise in the specialized area of any submitted manuscript. Though many do not accept to review-a problem common to all journals-we have generally been more successful in finding qualified scholars to review our manuscripts. Third, we now enjoy CrossCheck, which uses iThenticate software to identify similarities between texts in order to detect plagiarism. Fourth, EES allows us to participate in its Article Transfer Service, which facilitates the automatic transfer of manuscripts among journals in the same field. Fifth and finally, our partnership with Elsevier improves the visibility of our authors’ accepted papers, which are now available online in open access via two important portals: SciELO Brasil and ScienceDirect.
Nevertheless, we remain unable to enjoy all of the features that our partnership offers. For example, we still cannot provide Elsevier with a sufficient number of articles to have in ahead of print, nor can we use the Graphical Abstract and other tools available. We are currently in the process of fully professionalizing our journal, and as such, we still have much work ahead of us.
We should acknowledge that our partnership with Elsevier establishes a new way of working with BJP, envisions new horizons for the journal, and allows us to forecast robust growth in the coming years. However, these improvements in quality-in graphics and in content, in more flexible assessment, and in publishing with XML, among others-come at a cost. Today, the price tag for each article is about $620. Yet, this cost is low compared to that of other journals publishing articles with open access. Unfortunately, we cannot afford the full cost with only what we have received from the publishing program at CNPq/CAPES/MCT. We must request that authors pay a fee, which is used to pay the costs of technical editing, preparing manuscripts for publication on the website, printing, and electronic distribution, to name a few. The remaining funds needed come from the Brazilian Society of Pharmacognosy.
In retrospect of our year with Elsevier, we recognize that our relocation was the most appropriate way to meet the goals set for the journal five years ago: to give Brazilian researchers the opportunity to have their work published in a journal with greater visibility, as well as to access top international journals—both of which are quite difficult to achieve. BJP is thus working hard to fulfill its mission to increase the publication of pharmacognostic and natural product research conducted in Brazil.
Ultimately, we rely heavily on encouragement from our readers, researchers, lecturers, and students in supporting our work. You can help us to better fulfill our mission in two fundamental ways: by submitting manuscripts for publication and by reviewing manuscripts. With this help, we can celebrate our successful partnership with three united forces: our researchers and authors, our editors, and our publisher.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Sep-Oct 2014
