The first editorial of last year was entitled “Good Times Ahead – Enjoy the New Year!”11 Nóbrega, J. A.; Loh, W.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1. Looking back, we may say that 2014 was another year of hard work and remarkable achievements. We celebrated our 25th Anniversary in 2014 and, as stated in a recent editorial, from its beginning, “the secret of JBCS has always been originality,…” and we certainly agree that “the JBCS is a watershed in Brazilian Chemistry”.22 Pinto, A. C.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1927.
Another landmark in July 2014 was the celebration of the first year of use of the online submission platform ScholarOne™ by the JBCS. Thanks to all authors and reviewers, who contributed to the success of this new phase of the JBCS, we had a record number of submissions in 2014 with about 900 submissions till December 10th.
Fortunately, coordinated efforts of the editorial office, editors, reviewers and authors helped us to manage this record submission and at the same time reach an average publication time of 3.6 months from submission to online release with the digital object identification (DOI) number. Just to highlight this collective achievement, publication times were 5.4, 5.5 and 5.0 months in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. Cheers!
Overall, the JBCS rejection rate was kept around our historical average of 65% and the impact factor in 2013 (1.253) was practically the same one reached in 2012 (1.283). We are happy that we could keep this indicator despite the increasing number of published manuscripts. However, it is clear for us that we have room for improvement and this aspect will be discussed in a coming editorial on citation patterns.
In 2014, three Special Issues were published: one related to the XIX Brazilian Symposium on Electrochemistry and Electroanalytical Chemistry (SIBEE), a traditional Brazilian symposium in wellestablished fields, a thematic one on “Neglected and Rare Diseases” and another one on Catalysis, coming out as the last issue of 2014. The three Special Issues contain superb review papers and a further reading is strongly recommended. For instance, in the “Neglected and Rare Diseases” Special Issue, together with a great collection of papers, Whitesides’ editorial discussed the role of Brazil in this critical area.33 Whitesides, G. M.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1757. We do recommend a closer reading of the October issue.
In January 2014, we stated that we wanted to move ahead with internationalization.11 Nóbrega, J. A.; Loh, W.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1. Those efforts were fully recognized by Meneghini when pointing out that “in 2010 and 2011, the JBCS published 203 articles by authors from 34 foreign countries with no Brazilian co-authorship, that is, one-third of all JBCS’ publications in those two years.”44 Meneghini, R.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 797. Just for comparison purposes, it was also pointed out in the same editorial that, “in 2000 and 2001, the number of articles by foreign authors were 12 times smaller.”44 Meneghini, R.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 797. We are working hard to keep this trend.
Despite all challenges that we may see in Brazilian horizons, according to a recent report in Nature, “Brazil’s scientific output has risen by more than a factor of five ... The country now accounts for more than two-thirds of South America’s entire research output – although it is broadly similar to Argentina, Uruguay and Chile in terms of articles per capita”.55 Van Noorden, R.; Nature 2014, 510, 202.
We do believe that it is better to think about a half full cup of water and, in spite of some turbulence ahead, it is a good time to strengthen our values and to work hard in breeding a “new generation of chemist leaders for a Chemistry without borders”.66 Lago, R.; Souza, A. L. A. B.; Purceno, A.; Gontijo, F.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2013, 24, 1889.
This coming year brings some expectations for even more success. We wish to continue with the policy of Thematic Special Issues and, by the way, one on “Chemistry at Interfaces” is being organized under the responsibility of Professors Faruk Nome and Cornelia Bohne. Another planned special issue will be dedicated to the United Nations International Year of Light, which aims at highlighting the importance of light and optical technologies in our lives for our future and for the society development. This issue will be organized by Professors Sidney Ribeiro and Mauricio Baptista.
One change, though minor, is that the publication of the Portuguese version of the Editorial and of the Abstracts will be discontinued, because the latter used to be an unnecessary burden to our foreign authors.
The JBCS has now a new Editorial Advisory Board. Thus, we want to take this opportunity to thank all colleagues who are leaving the Board for their continuous support of fundamental importance during the consolidation years of our Journal. For those who are arriving (or continuing for another term), our warm welcome with wishes that their support, suggestions and criticisms may help us keep tracking the right path.
More importantly, we will have a new Associate Editor starting this year: Professor Paulo Cezar Vieira, from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos, replacing Professor Monica Pupo. We thank Monica for all her contributions to the JBCS during all these last years, especially on occasions in which the Editorial work has taken the time she had to struggle to find. We wish her success in her career, sure that we can keep counting on her support to the Journal. We welcome Paulo Cezar (mostly known as P.C.) on board, hoping to benefit from his experience in the natural product field and from his new ideas!
We wish you all a wonderful New Year!
References
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1Nóbrega, J. A.; Loh, W.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1.
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2Pinto, A. C.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1927.
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3Whitesides, G. M.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 1757.
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4Meneghini, R.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2014, 25, 797.
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5Van Noorden, R.; Nature 2014, 510, 202.
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6Lago, R.; Souza, A. L. A. B.; Purceno, A.; Gontijo, F.; J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2013, 24, 1889.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Jan 2015
