EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT

 

Change the QUALIS criteria!

 

 

Andriolo A^I; Barbosa AJA^II; Hernandez AJ^III; Camargos AF^IV; Barraviera B^V; Kadunc BV^VI;

^IEditor in chief of Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial
^IIEditor of Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial
^IIIEditor of Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte
^IVEditor of Revista Femina
^VEditor of The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
^VIEditor of Surgical & Cosmetic Dermatology

Correspondence to

 

 

Since CAPES published its revised QUALIS criteria, the Brazilian Medical Association (AMB - Associação Médica Brasileira) has been organizing a series of meetings, held at its headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil, since August 2009, in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors (ABEC - Associação Brasileira de Editores Científicos). These meetings led to the publication of an editorial entitled "Classification of Journals in the QUALIS system of CAPES - URGENT need of changing the criteria!". The text was signed by 62 editors of scientific journals and published in full in all of them, and in countless others, primarily of health sciences, demonstrating that Brazilian journals are more and more committed to discuss the problems they have in common (1).

The scientific community remains concerned about the future prospects and direction of Brazilian periodicals (2, 3). The editors who were present at the meeting on March 18^th could, therefore, evaluate the repercussions of the first Editorial, which had been discussed at scientific events and conferences all over Brazil. The meeting was attended by Dr. Lilian Caló, the scientific communication and assessment coordinator of SciELO, who presented a comparative study of the Brazilian periodicals indexed by SciELO according to two different criteria: the first criterion was the ISI/JCR impact factor, that only uses journals indexed by Thomson Reuters, and the second was an index composed by simple addition of the ISI/JCR and SciELO impact factors. The SciELO impact factor, which includes all the periodicals indexed by SciELO, significantly modifies the number of citations and, consequently, raises the impact factors of Brazilian periodicals. Dr. Caló's presentation illustrated this fact more clearly, showing the percentage gained by adopting the composite index. It is clear that combining indexes, or creating equivalences or several alternatives, can promote improved quality among Brazilian journals, raising their visibility and making international indexation more likely. It is also a matter of concern that Brazilian researchers now prefer to publish their work in foreign journals rather than choosing domestic publications. They prefer to do this because it improves the ratings of their postgraduate departments, earns them greater impact factors and increases their H index; all entirely and exclusively a result of the revised criteria adopted by CAPES. Achievement in increasing the visibility and quality of Brazilian scientific production should not be assessed on the basis of articles alone, but should also focus on improving our periodicals to the point at which they are recognized internationally.

Considering that the criteria have already been set for CAPES' current triennial assessment, the assembled editors decided to draft a second editorial containing a list of suggestions for the next assessment, to be sent to CAPES administration. The list of suggestions, which supplement those in the first editorial, is as follows:

• The criteria used by CAPES to classify periodicals should be revised, adopting the composite impact factor calculated by summing the ISI/JCR and SciELO impact factors.
• A seat on the CAPES Scientific Committee should be created for ABEC so that the editors can be heard within the process.
• CNPq should create an "Editor's Scholarship" program to be awarded to editors of journals funded by CNPq in order to support scientific publishing. The objective of this project is to improve the quality of these journals by providing their editors with more time to dedicate to their editorial activities.

Additionally, the assembled editors decided to seek support for their criticisms and suggestions from the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Academia Brasileira de Ciências), from FINEP and from Federal Deputy Eleuses Vieira de Paiva. At a later date the editors will request a detailed breakdown from CNPq of the criteria adopted for, and the results of, the distribution of the resources allocated through the Publishing Support Grants (Editais para Auxílio à Editoração). The editors intend to use these data to construct a database on the annual budgets of Brazilian periodicals, which will be useful for comparative analysis and mutual cooperation. Publication of these two editorials and promotion of discussion is one of our goals in seeking the recognition that Brazilian periodicals both need and deserve.

This editorial is signed by:

Adagmar Andriolo	Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial
Alfredo José Afonso Barbosa	Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial
Arnaldo José Hernandez	Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte
Aroldo F. Camargos	Revista Femina
Benedito Barraviera	Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
Bogdana Victoria Kadunc	Surgical & Cosmetic Dermatology - Soc. Brasileira de Dermatologia
Bruno Caramelli	Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira
Carlos Brites Brazilian	Journal of Infectious Diseases
Dejair Caitano do Nascimento	Hansenologia Internationalis
Domingo M. Braile	Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cardiovascular
Dov Charles Goldenberg	Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Plástica
Edmund Chada Baracat	Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira
Edson Marchiori	Revista Radiologia Brasileira
Eduardo de Paula Vieira	Revista Brasileira de Coloproctologia
Eros Antônio de Almeida	Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Clínica Médica
Flávia Machado	Revista Brasileira de Terapia Intensiva
Geraldo Pereira Jotz	Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cabeça e Pescoço
Gianna Mastroianni Kirsztajn	Jornal Brasileiro de Nefrologia
Gilberto Camanho	Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia
Gustavo Gusso	Medicina, Família e Comunidade
Ivomar Gomes Duarte	Revista de Administração em Saúde
Izelda Maria Carvalho Costa	Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia
João Ferreira de Mello Júnior	Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology
Joel Faintuch	Revista Brasileira de Nutrição Clínica
José Antônio Baddini Martinez	Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia
José Antônio Livramento	Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
José Eduardo Ferreira Manso	Revista do Colégio Brasileiro de Cirurgiões
José Eulálio Cabral Filho	Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno-Infantil
José Heverardo da Costa Montal	Revista da Associação Brasileira de Medicina de Tráfego
José Luiz Gomes do Amaral	Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira
José Luiz Martins	Archives of Pediatric Surgery
Jurandyr Moreira de Andrade	Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia
Leonardo Cançado Monteiro Savassi	Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade
Luís dos Ramos Machado	Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
Luiz Augusto Casulari	Brasilia Médica
Luiz Eugenio Garcez Leme	Geriatria & Gerontologia
Luiz Felipe P. Moreira	Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia
Luiz Henrique Gebrim	Revista Brasileira de Mastologia
Marcelo Madeira	Revista Brasileira de Mastologia
Marcelo Riberto	Revista Acta Fisiátrica
Marcus Bastos	Jornal Brasileiro de Nefrologia
Mário Cícero Falcão	Revista Brasileira de Nutrição Clínica
Mario J. da Conceição	Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia
Mauricio Rocha e Silva	Revista Clinics
Milton Artur Ruiz	Revista Brasileira de Hematologia e Hemoterapia
Milton K. Shibata	Arquivos Brasileiros de Neurocirurgia
Mittermayer Barreto Santiago	Revista Brasileira de Reumatologia
Nelson Adami Andreollo	Arquivos Brasileiros de Cirurgia Digestiva
Nivaldo Alonso Brazilian	Journal of Craniomaxilofacial Surgery
Osvaldo Malafaia	Arquivos Brasileiros de Cirurgia Digestiva
Olavo Pires de Camargo	Acta Ortopedica Brasileira
Paulo Manuel Pêgo Fernandes	São Paulo Medical Journal
Regina Helena Garcia Martins	Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology
Renato Soibelmann Procianoy	Jornal de Pediatria
Ricardo César Pinto Antunes	Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Cancerologia
Ricardo Fuller	Revista Brasileira de Reumatologia
Ricardo Guilherme Viebig	Arquivos de Gastroenterologia
Ricardo Nitrini	Dementia & Neuropsychologia
Rogério Dedivitis	Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cabeça e Pescoço
Ronaldo Damião	Urologia Contemporânea
Rosângela Monteiro	Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cardiovascular
Sergio Lianza	Revista Medicina de Reabilitação
Sigmar de Mello Rode	Brazilian Oral Research
Tarcisio E. P. Barros Filho	Acta Ortopedica Brasileira
Wallace Chamon	Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia
Winston Bonetti Yoshida	Jornal Vascular Brasileiro
Zuher Handar	Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho

 

REFERENCES

1. Andriolo A, Souza AFM, Farias AQ, Barbosa AJA, França Netto AS, Hernandez AJ, et al. Classification of Journals in the QUALIS system of CAPES - URGENT need of changing the criteria! J Venom Anim Toxins incl Trop Dis. 2010;16(3):391-4.         [ Links ]

2. de Lucena AF, Tibúrcio RV. Qualis periódicos: visão do acadêmico na graduação médica. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2009; 55(3):247-8.         [ Links ]

3. Rocha-e-Silva Mauricio. O novo Qualis, ou a tragédia anunciada. Clinics. 2009  Jan; 64(1):1-4.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence to:
Bruno Caramelli
Associação Médica Brasileira
Rua São Carlos do Pinhal, 324, Bela Vista
São Paulo, SP, 01.333-000, Brasil
Phone: +55 11 3178-6800. Fax: +55 11 3178-6830.

Submission status
Received: August 13, 2010.
Accepted: August 13, 2010.
Full paper published online: November 30, 2010.

 

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
There is no conflict.