With the assessment of the Brazilian Oral Research (BOR) as A2 according to Qualis - Capes - (Brazilian metrics for the assessment of journals) in 2015, we had two immediate consequences, a. A largest number of submissions and, b. A significant improvement in the quality of the manuscripts submitted.
We already knew that BOR was not the first choice of Brazilian authors for submitting their manuscripts; for a long time, we observed our journal was the third or maybe the fourth option for submission. Several were the reasons for such a situation. First, the review process, from the moment of submission to the final (approved) result, totaled, in some cases, more than 12 months. This parameter totally diverged from international journals deadlines. Instead of focusing on justifications, we concentrated on improving performance. Today the process lasts, on average, 34 days from submission to final decision. The commitment of the Associate Editors and the reviwers has been fundamental to the improvement in this aspect.
Due to the improvement in the quality of the accepted papers, the number of citations was expected to increase, and this actually happened this year. The impact factor of BOR, according to the Journal Citations Report, is 1.33, which represents a considerable increase. In spite of the great discussion that exists among several researchers on the real importance of the Impact Factor, we cannot fail to understand that it, at least indirectly, shows to the audience the value of the articles that are published by a certain journal. Important information is that, according to some authors, BOR has become the second or even the first option for article submission.
One of the strategies of major health journals is the publication of scientific or “state of the art” articles, which focus on establishing what is most advanced in a certain area of knowledge and, in some cases, on indicating what will be relevant in terms of future research. Following this path, we started in 2017 an annual series of BOR supplements dedicated to particular areas.
We inaugurated this series with the area of Dental Materials and Dentistry. This choice was based on the number of submissions BOR annually receives from this area. I chose authors (correspondence) who represented the area and their relevance within national and international field. Among several criteria, it was requested to each coordinating author to invite an international colaborator, who was relevant in the area. Besides of contributing scientifically, he/she could also collaborate in the dissemination of BOR among their peers.
The final result was extraordinary! Under the coordination of Prof. Paulo Francisco Cesar (Department of Biomaterials and Oral Biology at FOUSP), authors produced articles of the highest scientific level, evidencing what international metrics have long shown about Brazilian Dental Research: it is one of the best in the world!
The result encouraged us and we have already scheduled for 2018 the publication of another supplement in the area of Endodontics, coordinated by Prof. Carlos Estrela, and for 2019 the publication of an issue dedicated to the area of Implantology, coordinated by Profs. Élcio Marcantonio Jr and Jamil Awad Shibli.
I could not conclude without saying thanks to the Board of the Brazilian Society of Dental Research (SBPqO), which has given me all the support to freely exercise the position of Editor-in-Chief of BOR. To all the authors who accepted the invitation and made a commitment to produce high quality material. Once again, to Prof. Paulo F. Cesar for helping me in coordinating this project. To Prof. Alessandro Louguércio, who mediated negotiations with FGM to sponsor the printing of this supplement. And to FGM, on behalf of Dr. Bianca Mittelstädt, who understood and appreciated this initiative.
There is a quotation from Benjamin Franklin. “There are three sorts of people in the world: Those who are immovable, people who don’t get it, or don’t want to do anything about it; there are people who are movable, people who see the need for change and are prepared to listen to it; and there are people who move, people who make things happen.”
Let’s move forward….
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
Aug 2017
