Search of quality
The RBF was established in 1978, it has two major goals to be achieved at the present:
1 - Search for Quality
The quality is very desirable in our activities, and could not be different toward the RBF. However, we must reflect about this.
Who determines the Quality Standards?
Quality has been evaluated by indexers, which, to be attended, is requiring more and more from the journals, like a high jump running, in which the mark to be pursued is always increasing, and quality standards have to be achieved gradually.
In order to encourage authors to submit their articles to "good" journals, some institutions which are dedicated to researches, set awards through ordinances or other administrative instrument.
Exemplifying using the UNESP, that through Ordinance 235, from May, 7, 2009, determined:
Article 2nd It will be provided to the professor (s) for use in funding or investment in research, the value of R$ 15.000,00 (fifteen thousand reais) for scientific work published during the year in the Nature or in the Science Journals.
Article 3rd It will be allocated for application in research, the value of R$ 50.000,00 (fifty thousand reais) in the UNESP Unit or Experimental campus that has obtained the highest rate of publication.
Certainly, this procedure is pursued by other universities in Brazil and in other countries, as the professor Hu Guibing from the College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University told us while visiting our campus in February 2010, without specifying the amount of the award offered there.
In a reflective analysis of the subject, we can highlight:
For those marks to be reached, it is necessary that each Research Unit clearly defines the areas of work where each one wants to be projected, forming strong research groups, which does not always happen.
It is necessary that the published articles have also been evaluated for quality and not using only quantitative parameters.
The RBF is tuned to these needs and has increasingly sought to attain international standards; it is already indexed by CAB, AGRIS, AGROBASE, SciELO (since 2001), ISI (since 2007), GALE GROUP (since 2008) and is available "on line" in www.scielo.br (2001). We are aware of the quality already achieved, but we are encouraged to achieve better rates, with the establishment of the following goals:
Ahead of print", an innovation achieved with the support of SciELO. It will allow that the approved works are available for consultation before the printed version, increasing the exposure time of work.
Increase the penetration of published articles. In 2010, the articles, when referred to the on line version in SciELO also will be available in English.
Turnover and increase our advisers body. Today we have a team of 950 experts, which covers practically all Brazilian institutions, as well as renowned international institutions, integrating all areas of the Fruticulture.
2- Financing
The need for financial resources for this activity has worried us very much, because many decisions that were taken so we could improve the quality desired increased the costs.
In 2008, we increased the frequency from 3 issues per year to 4 issues per year, which certainly increased the costs.
In the 2010 edition, the translation of the articles into English to be sent to SciELO also will increases costs.
The charge for publication, established in December 2001, attends only to 1 / 3 of the financial budget to maintain the RBF.
The Brazilian Society of Tropical Fruits, although has registered a reduction of members, has made every effort to contribute to the RBF, pledging to cooperate with R$ 40.000, 00 per year, which has represented about 1 / 3 of the budget for a good development of our Journal, to whom we thank warmly.
The values received from agencies that support national journals have not increased in proportion to the increase of the expenses.
In this regard, we must clear:
1) The FAPESP, to whom we thank the support received is one of the entities that holds up the SciELO and has as policy to support the journals in proportion to the participation of the researchers from the State of Sao Paulo.
2) From the requests made to the Foundations for Research Support of other Brazilian states, unfortunately, no response we have received.
We have the question:
How can we make entities that promote researches, Foundations, Companies, Institutes and Universities to help in financing the RBF?
We would like the opportunity to state our sincere thanks to the valuable team that has worked for the RBF and is constituted by its Board of Directors, Scientific Editors and Associates, Editorial Board, and especially the advisors that work beautifully with the sole purpose of guide the RBF to get the quality standards required internationally.
We also thank the Board of the SBF, which has been an important and indispensable partner in financing and in the searching for the goals pursued.
Prof. Carlos Ruggiero
Editor-chief
Note: Just before the closing of this edition, we received the new Qualis / CAPES classification, in which the RBF changed its score from B2 to B1. Congratulations to all our collaborators by the contribution given to the Brazilian Fruticulture Magazine.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
22 July 2010 -
Date of issue
Mar 2010
