CORRESPONDENCE

Paulo Ricardo Criado

Associate Member of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology. Professor of the Postgraduate Course in Health Sciences (Dermatology), School of Medicine, USP

To the Editors of the Brazilian Annals of Dermatology (Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia),

It is with great satisfaction that I have received the news that the official journal of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology will now be published in English. This nearly centenary medical publication, originally called "Annaes Brasileiros de Dermatologia e Syphilographia (1925)," has successfully fulfilled the aspirations of the dermatology community throughout its admirable history, promoting the recycling of professionals and encouraging the culture of scientific writing among our colleagues.

But times have changed. Medical science has become universal, and over sixty years ago the world chose English as the code for information exchange, when the French school of dermatology started losing its hegemony to American and British schools. It is known that all journals indexed in Medline, with a relevant impact factor in dermatology (i.e. read and cited by peers), are written and published in the English language. As examples, among some of the dermatology journals published by counterpart societies but whose mother language is not English, we may cite Dermatology (French-Swiss publication), the Journal of Dermatology (Japanese Association of Dermatology), JDDG (Journal der Deutschen Gesellschaft Dermatologischen, of the German Society of Dermatology), Acta Dermato-Venerologica (Scandinavia), International Journal of Cosmetic Science (French Society of Dermatology), among others.

Nearly 30 years ago, on a survey of several international information programs on science and technology, Garcia ¹ spoke on the adoption of the English language to divulge scientific information "English-speaking countries have taken a clear advantage over the others, and the latter have shown a tendency to adopt this language for purposes of scientific and technological information, as is the case of Japan."

Similarly to the second largest society of dermatology in the world, the Brazilian Society of Dermatology must adapt to the reality of current medical science, allowing everyone to access to information produced here and, even more, letting others know who we are and how we can contribute to knowledge in the area of dermatology.

The Portuguese language is extremely rich, but it wouldn't allow us to be recognized as capable of exerting a dramatic influence in the area of dermatology in the global village of the XXI century.

REFERENCES

• 1. Garcia MLA. Políticas e Programas Nacionais de Informação Científica e Tecnológica. Ci. Inf. 1980;9:5-39. [acesso 06 Maio 2011]. Disponível em: http://revista.ibict.br/index.php/ciinf/article/download/1518/13492

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  21 June 2011
• Date of issue
  June 2011