EDITORIAL NOTE: Special Volume by the Affiliated Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences

With great pleasure I introduce this special volume elaborated for the centenary of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) with contributions from the Affiliated Members of the Academy. The ABC was founded back in 1916 and has proven to be a major player in providing essential information for the social and scientific development of the country. It is a non-profit and independent society that, when requested, produces studies that might help the government in establishing policies for the advancement of science, technology and innovation (ABC 2017), having the development of the Brazilian society in mind.

Being an honorific society, the ABC recognizes the best scientists, who, after a rigorous selection process, are admitted into the Academy for their contribution to the country in their particular field of action. Among the categories, one stands out: the Affiliated Members. This special category was introduced in 2007 for the purpose to stimulate young scientists with outstanding talent to participate in the activities of the Academy. This appointment is limited for a period of five years and cannot be renewed. The candidate is indicated by a Full Member of the ABC and must have up to 40 years by the time of indication. A special committee runs the selection process for final decision - not every indicated candidate is accepted to join the ABC. Until now, a total of 332 young scientists from different parts of the country have been admitted to the Academy and represent a variety of scientific fields, showing the plurality of the scientific activity that is being developed in Brazil. Some have already contributed to the Academy in several ways (e.g., Bonatto 2017, Andreote 2018, Crespilho 2018) giving more dynamism to the ABC despite the several problems that young (and more experienced) scientists are facing, including challenges related to publications (e.g., Kellner 2017a, Cordeiro and Lima 2017).

For the special occasion of the centenary commemoration of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, some special volumes were planned (Kellner 2017b), including the present issue. A total of 15 papers with the contributions involving the research groups of Affiliated Members of the ABC were selected. The scientific areas range from Mathematical to Biomedical Sciences, covering seven from the 10 main areas in which membership of the Academy is presently divided. These papers surely are a good sample of the scientific activity and interest of young Brazilian scientists.

REFERENCES

• ABC. 2017. Mission. Academia Brasileira de Ciências. Accessed on September 7, 2017. http://www.abc.org.br/en/a-instituicao/missao/
  » http://www.abc.org.br/en/a-instituicao/missao/
• ANDREOTE FD. 2018. How to live and do science in a changing world. An Acad Bras Cienc 90: 1-2.
• BONATTO D. 2017. Landslide hazard mapping, DNA damage induced by sucrose and the biotechnology potential of sponge-associated bacteria communities. An Acad Bras Cienc 89: 2545-2546.
• CORDEIRO Y and LIMA LMTR. 2017. Publish and perish in the hands of predatory journals. An Acad Bras Cienc 89: 787-788.
• CRESPILHO FN. 2018. Commemorative Volume on the Centenary of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences: “Brazil: Frontiers of Chemical Sciences”. An Acad Bras Cienc 90: 591-592.
• KELLNER AWA. 2017a. Editors of Brazilian journals - a hard life that is getting harder! An Acad Bras Cienc 89: 1-2.
• KELLNER AWA. 2017b. Commemorative Volume of the Centenary of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. An Acad Bras Cienc 89: 371-372.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  23 Sept 2019
• Date of issue
  2019