EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT
Change the QUALIS criteria!
Andriolo AI; Barbosa AJAII; Hernandez AJIII; Camargos AFIV; Barraviera BV; Kadunc BVVI;
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 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.
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 18th 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:
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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.
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A seat on the CAPES Scientific Committee should be created for ABEC so that the editors can be heard within the process.
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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:
Aroldo F. Camargos
Carlos Brites Brazilian
Eduardo de Paula Vieira
Ivomar Gomes Duarte
José Heverardo da Costa Montal
Marcelo Madeira
Nelson Adami Andreollo
Rogério Dedivitis
Submission status
Received: August 13, 2010.
Accepted: August 13, 2010.
Full paper published online: November 30, 2010.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
There is no conflict.
- 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.
- 2. de Lucena AF, Tibúrcio RV. Qualis periódicos: visão do acadêmico na graduação médica. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2009; 55(3):247-8.
- 3. Rocha-e-Silva Mauricio. O novo Qualis, ou a tragédia anunciada. Clinics. 2009 Jan; 64(1):1-4.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
30 Sept 2011 -
Date of issue
2010
