The Brazilian Journal of Pulmonology

EDITORIAL

The Brazilian Journal of Pulmonology

Carlos AC Pereira

President of the SBPT

Over the last 20 years, scientific production in Brazil has increased by leaps and bounds. In 1984, Brazilian researchers published 2283 articles in “indexed” journals, being those journals recognized by the specific entity known as the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), located in the United States. In 2004, the number of Brazilian articles published in such journals jumped to 13,930, representing a more than six-fold increase, far greater than the worldwide increase over the same 20-year period. Despite this significant advance, Brazilian articles currently constitute only 1.5% (up from less than 0.5% in 1984) of the articles published worldwide. Articles published in journals such as the Brazilian Journal of Pulmonology are not included in these statistics.

The lion’s share of Brazilian scientific production comes out of the 2000 postgraduate courses currently being offered in the country. In recent years, due to the obvious pressure to publish in ISI-indexed journals, the philosophy of instruction in such courses has changed markedly. This is just part of a broader attitude that defines excellence in (and therefore the worth of) a particular field based solely on the capacity to compete at the global level.

State-supported universities account for the majority of Brazilian scientific production. These institutions have been shrewdly punished and devaluated by all of the most recent government administrations, whether directed by former university professors or former machinists. However, in what has recently been referred to as a “productive slum”, the government persists in paying low wages – while demanding more – in exchange for a modicum of prestige in its best quarters. A cursory analysis of articles published in the Journal of Pulmonology since its debut in 1975 reveals that 2/3 of the studies published in the early years originated in just a few universities, and the rest were submitted by members of non-university groups. As of last year, the number of original articles per issue had doubled (from 3 to 6). Due to the need to publish in international journals, the university postgraduate courses in Pulmonology have made publication in the Journal of Pulmonology a low priority. Currently, a greater number of original articles come from the medical schools.

The Journal of Pulmonology has made several great advances over the course of its 29-year history. The current warrior Editor, Dr. Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho, has put together a world-class editorial staff and has achieved the feat of publishing an online English-language version of the journal on the website of the Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisiologia (SBPT). The objective is clear: to have the journal “indexed” and make it available to a wider, international, readership. The quality of the articles is on par with that found in other, already indexed, journals of pulmonology. The number of original articles is growing, which will raise the bar even higher, resulting in greater quality. Within this context, the SBPT suggested and gained approval for, a name change – from the Journal of Pulmonology to the Brazilian journal of Pulmonology.

Floriano Peixoto (in the well-known novel by Lima Barreto in which Major Policarpo Quaresma is the main character) called Policarpo Quaresma a visionary for proposing a genuinely national agricultural project of Homeric proportions. In the same novel, Policarpo also suggested that Tupi-Guarani be adopted as the official language of Brazil. Virtually every Brazilian knows the ending of the novel (Triste fim de Policarpo Quaresma; “The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma”) – after denouncing the atrocities committed by the government, Policarpo was arrested, accused of treason and condemned to death.

The act of changing the name of our journal was not inspired by Major Quaresma’s example. We simply want to make readers aware of the fact that certain articles in English about respiratory diseases were brought to light by a journal edited in Brazil, a country in which some of us take great pride.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  15 June 2004
• Date of issue
  Feb 2004