Guest editorial

Publications addressed to science appeared 350 years ago in France and in England. The two first ones - the French Journal des Sçavans (meaning Journal of the Wise, first edition on January 5, 166) and the English Philosophical Transactions (which was released on March 6, in that same year, and now is entitled Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society) - are still being published, as demonstrated in a beautiful text written by Carlos Fioravanti, in the first issue of Revista FAPESP this year⁽¹⁾.

Our story is much more recent, as is our profession. Approximately two decades ago, the Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia (SBFa) started an ambitious and brave project: to publish a scientific journal of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology. With time, competent and generous leaders turned this initiative into a success, and transformed this journal into the most important repository of Brazilian papers in the field of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology. When Fernanda Dreux became the scientific editor of the Journal from the Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia, in 2006, it was already a famous and consolidated publication. The indexation in SciELO was a natural result. In the past years, when Mara Behlau joined this team, in 2010, thanks to the efforts made to expand the indexation and different conjunctures, in two years SBFa was responsible for publishing two of the most relevant journals in Brazilian Speech Language Pathology and Audiology: the magazine of the Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia and the SBFa Journal. One very significant fact is that, in 2011, the magazine of the Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia was the SciELO journal (not MEDLINE) with the highest impact factor, and that fact was mentioned in many editorial groups.

The essential open access and the on-line availability of the publication provided all speech language pathologists who speak Portuguese with fast, efficient and qualified updates. The several graduate programs began considering the publication in the magazine as their first choice. The process involving the development of authors, reviewers and editing itself can be proven by merely comparing the first and the more recent issues. The search for internationalization and the need to improve the editorial systems led to other changes, such as the transfer of one of the publications to the Brazilian Academy of Audiology (ABA) and the professionalization of editorial processes (according to SciELO's requirements). By using that strategy, the field of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology was empowered and all reviewers and editors involved in the process went through an interesting process of maturity, by defining different editorial lines and targets for the texts addressed to both publications.

Young authors became reviewers, experienced professors continued to contribute and some important international participations were carried out. The work of editors, reviewers and writers has never been paid for, and has always showed the quality of our science and of the people who are part of our profession.

The relevance of indexations is related to the possibility of international exchange of information and experience, as well as the bilingual publication of CoDAS. Indexation systems not only facilitate the access to the extensive material published all over the world, but also work as a mechanism used to recognize the scientific value of the published material. Searching for better indexations means to improve the quality of our publication, that is, to improve the quality of the scientific material that is made available for Brazilian professionals and students. Publishing in English guarantees that studies conducted in Brazil can reach a larger audience, leading our science to international recognition. Quotes from our journal began to appear in traditional and respected journals in our field, such as Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, Journal of Voice, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and others.

Even though we are proud of our progress, of the availability of texts in English and of the fact that our publication is mentioned in respected journals and books, we consider that publications from SBFa, both journals and books, play an essential role for Brazilian Speech Language Pathology and Audiology. And this is not only because they guarantee the publication of studies conducted in successful graduate programs, but also because they register and disseminate, permanently, the story of a science by enabling the democratization of knowledge produced by researchers who study, people who speak Portuguese and live in Brazil, by using a publication with direct and free access to all. From our point of view, both former presidents of SBF, and former editors, this is the main responsibility of a scientific society in a country that has so many challenges: to bring science and practice together, to "upgrade" the knowledge produced in the different regions and to offer inspiring ideas for new studies by publicizing the newest advances.

The processes of growth and crisis faced by the Speech Language Pathology and Audiology field show that practice based on evidence, when ethically conducted, with scientifically proven procedures, represents the best possibilities of sustained growth, guarantees professional space and, above all, increases the scope of our practice.

We would like to congratulate the new editors of CoDAS, Ana Luiza Navas and Roberta Gonçalves da Silva, who are in charge of carrying on this development with new ideas, renewed energy and creative strength. We are certain that the field of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology wish a lot of success to both of them and to their teamwork. We will continue to work, with no restrictions and great dignity, for the science produced here.

Now, we will be dedicated to being authors and reviewers with the same passion with which we have shared countless hours of editorial work. We will always be grateful for the honor of having worked for the Speech Language Pathology and Audiology field, for how respected we were by serving our class and for the opportunity of working together.

Fernanda Dreux
Mara Behlau

REFERENCE

• ¹
  Fioravanti C. Os primeiros journals. Pesquisa FAPESP. 2015;227:74-5.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Jan-Feb 2015