RLAE in the Institute for Scientific Information: a victory for the Brazilian scientific editing system in nursing

EDITORIAL

RLAE in the Institute for Scientific Information: a victory for the brazilian scientific editing system in nursing

Maria Helena Palucci Marziale^I; Isabel Amélia Costa Mendes^II

Editors of Latin American Journal of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing - WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Research Development:

^IFull Professor, e-mail: [e-mail]

^IIFull Professor, e-mail: [e-mail]

Since its first issue, in 1993, the Latin American Journal of Nursing (RLAE) attempts to expand its visibility in the scientific and editorial field, disseminating quality knowledge production in Nursing and related areas produced in Brazil and Latin America. Thus, it has made all possible efforts to improve its editorial quality.

Considering the increased visibility and also the national and international scientific recognition the indexing bases provide to periodicals, we initiated, in 2003, the submission process for the indexation of RLAE in the International Scientific Index (ISI) of the company Thompson Scientific, which is part of the Thompson Corporation, leader in the supply of information solutions to worldwide research and business communities.

This index's assessment is performed by an editorial committee and lasts approximately 12 months. The process is initiated by submitting an application, accompanied by the four last journal issues published. During the evaluation process, all new issues published must be sent to the base to certify the punctuality and regularity of publication. The evaluation requirements are related to the journal structure and graphic characteristics, as well as to scientific standards, associated with the quality of the articles published.

The Journal's application for indexation was denied in 2004, which made the editorial committee use new editorial improvement strategies. Among the actions performed, we highlight the automation of the editorial system; the digital availability of full texts of articles; articles published in Portuguese, English and Spanish and the printed version in English, and the improved selection of manuscripts. Only original articles that are relevant to the transference of knowledge to the entities that produce policies and health actions and which expand the scientific bases of Nursing for care delivery to individuals and families are published.

After waiting the two-year interval required for a new submission, in March 2006, we sent a new application for indexation and, on June 13^th, 2007 we received the result of the evaluation, through the news transmitted by Dr. James Testa, Senior Director of Thompson Scientific, that the Journal would be included in the Web of Science - ISI as from 2007.

This accomplishment is being celebrated by the whole Nursing area in Brazil since, in a universe of about 22,000 scientific periodicals published around the world, only 9,000 are indexed in the ISI, among which only thirty are Brazilian and, so far, no Nursing journal published in Brazil had been included.

Up to mid 2006, only 32 Nursing periodicals had been indexed, mainly issued in the United States. However, by the end of 2006, the base acknowledged that Nursing develops quality scientific research to support care delivery to individuals throughout their life cycle, and the number of Nursing journals indexed in the base was increased to 61. However, none of these was published in the Latin America. Now, the RLAE starts to integrate this selected group of scientific journals and to represent not only Brazil but also Latin America.

Nonetheless, this accomplishment does not mean the end of a series of efforts. On the contrary, it leads us to another challenge, which is to improve the editorial quality of RLAE even more and to achieve good ratios for our articles in the Journal Citation Reports, the annual publication of the ISI base, which indicates the impact factor of the Journals in the base. This factor, though somewhat controversial in our country, due to its use by national evaluation institutions and funding agencies, is an important indicator of the quality and visibility acquired by research and its use in new research.

We consider this indexation a victory of the Nursing Scientific Editing System which, united, moves towards quality goals to provide the scientific community with communication vehicles of knowledge produced by our researchers. It was only possible due the joint work of the Board of Directors at the Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing/USP, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Research Development (institutional support), the RLAE Editorial Committee and its technicians (editorial policy), the Editorial Board, consultants, authors and readers. Our compliments to all.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  12 July 2007
• Date of issue
  June 2007