“We must become the change we want to see...” (Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948)

Published continuously since 1942, the Brazilian Journal of Ophthalmology (RBO) is one of the oldest scientific journals in Brazilian ophthalmology. In over 70 years of publications (Figures 1 and 2) focused on scientific knowledge, research, and medical education, RBO always sought to disseminate academic knowledge while adapting to the changes inherent to publishing processes.

Figure 1
First issue of the Brazilian Journal of Ophthalmology. Published quarterly at the time, the Brazilian Journal of Ophthalmology (RBO) was founded and originally headed by Evaldo Campos, Jonas de Arruda, Lincoln Caire, and Oswaldo Barbosa

Figure 2
Lunch of the Executive Committees of the “Ophthalmic Journeys” on November 6th, 1945 at the headquarters of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI). Sitting at the head of the table is Carlos Paiva Gonçalves, president of the Brazilian Society of Ophthalmology (SBO). From left to right, Sylvio de Almeida Toledo and Laborne Tavares, two members of the board of RBO, followed by Evaldo Campos, Jonas de Arruda, Moacyr Álvaro, Sylvio Fialho, Geraldo Queiroga, Hilton Rocha, Natalício Farias, and Aldehyr Esteves

With the advent of digital media, its editorial process has become more dynamic and efficient: it is now easier for authors, reviewers and editors to exchange papers, and layout and standardisation have become swifter. RBO uses the Open Journal Systems (OJS) editing system to manage its publication, using tools that help improve the quality of the Journal.

Thanks to its digital platform, the Journal can also be included in different scientific databases which hold organised and systematic records of a variety of scientific journals. The Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and the Literature in the Health Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean (LILACS) are important examples of databases that hold RBO papers. RBO also participates in the Web of Science, a database linked to the Journal of Citation Report (JCR) of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), which analyses scientific journals based on criteria that take into account the ratio of the number of cited articles to the number of articles published in one year, generating an index called the Impact Factor (IF). This is one of the parameters used by the Higher Education Personnel Training Commission (CAPES), linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Education, to prepare the QUALIS system, which ranks the quality of intellectual production by assessing Brazilian postgraduate programmes.

Over the past year, RBO had 198,373 hits through SciELO’s website and an Impact Factor of 0.163, with QUALIS B3 for medicine group III (which includes ophthalmology). Another scientific database that provides information on relevant scientific journals is SCOPUS/Scimago by Elsevier, one of the largest publishers in medical literature. This database presents statistics about journals and their papers and also sets criteria for ranking journals. RBO’s most recent rank at SCOPUS/SCimago was Q3.

One of the current objectives of RBO is indexation in PubMed/Medline, the largest database in medical literature. This process has been started recently and is currently under analysis by the Collection Development and Acquisitions unit of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It required structuring and adapting RBO to certain standards. One of the requirements is publishing a journal whose entire content is translated into English, which is essential for disseminating scientific research at the international level. To facilitate this process, RBO offers authors a translation service free of charge for articles submitted in Portuguese. Currently almost half of the papers submitted to RBO are written in English. Two versions of the Journal are published: a printed version, with articles in English and Portuguese, and an international digital version, which is published in English and is available online.

We believe it is very important for RBO to become part of Pubmed/Medline; this will increase its ability to share knowledge, reinforce its international presence, expand its scientific borders, and help improve its ranking in QUALIS.

RBO and its editors are also part of the Brazilian Association of Science Editors (ABEC), an organisation that develops and improves the publication of Brazilian scientific journals.

The Journal’s content is diverse and comprehensive, involving mostly original articles focused on medical practice, epidemiological, experimental, and basic research, medical and surgical controlled trials, etc. Case reports, letters to the editor, and review and update articles are also accepted — the latter two by invitation of the Editorial Board. This broad literary profile reflects the important role of RBO in teaching and disseminating national scientific content, as well as in developing eye health policies.

In recent years, an effort has been made to develop and improve the Journal. It is a slow and gradual process to which the current board (2015-2016) is fully committed as it continues to improve the Journal, seeking to increase the efficiency of editorial processes, improve quality levels, and promote greater visibility. Like any other country, it is important for Brazil to have good scientific journals that contribute to academic knowledge and strengthen the national scientific literature.

We wish you all a good read.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

(Leon C. Megginson, 1921-2010)

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Jan-Feb 2015