EDITORIAL
It was a great honor when, during 61st National Botanical Congress in Manaus, I was charged by the Editor-in-Chef and fellow Editors with the task of writing this editorial.
Our journal ACTA BOTANICA BRASILICA has existed now for a quarter century. Twenty five years is not a long time for a 61-year-old Society. It began when many of the prominent botanists of today were not yet in their positions. It was born from a crisis, maybe the strongest experienced by the Brazilian Botanical Society (SBB). The Revista Brasileria de Botânica was created in the state of São Paulo, by the then Regional Branch of SBB, and transferred to the new Botanical Society of São Paulo (SBSP) in 1980. It was a desperate attitude taken by a group of botanists in São Paulo state when faced by the chaotic situation prevailing at that time in the SBB, not by fault of its board, but by the Society's overall structure. Each new president had the dual function of running the Society and organizing a yearly Congress. Moreover, the Brazilian laws and bureaucracy each day became more severe and regulatory, demanding several actions to keep societies legal: There were far too many tasks in a short period of time for a small volunteer staff.
At that time, the newly elected president of SBB, Dr Maria Luiza Porto and her board members faced those issues by implementing a new charter and bylaws for the Society. An attorney was hired to analyze the Journal issue. After a detailed evaluation the legal counsel pointed out that anybody could have demanded the property of the journal, in spite of the clear fact that in the past the SBB-Branch had been responsible for it. A preliminary injunction could suspend the publication of the journal until the final legal judgement which could take from two to ten years. To the Directive Board of SBB this seemed overly drastic and even catastrophic causing more damage than good for Botany in Brazil, while the conflict itself would not be solved. The colleagues from SBSP were competent botanists and had surely been running a highly effective journal. Under these circunstances, and considering the growth of Botany in Brazil, the decision to create ACTA BOTANICA BRASILICA as a new journal was taken by the board of SBB, with a Latin name so that the title would not need to be translated.
Publication began at 1986 with a preliminary number 0(0), with general information and editorial rules. In January 1987, number 1(1) with 69 pages was published with one mini-review; four papers and 23 abstracts of theses and dissertations recently defended at Brazilian graduate programs.
Initially two issues were published per year plus a volume of proceedings with the submitted/accepted papers of the annual SBB congress. Later, the number of issues increased, while publication of proceedings and mini-reviews was suspended. The journal changed the format and the number of articles reached the current stage with near 120 articles in four issues/year. More than one thousand articles were published in twenty four years. In the beginning when the Congress Proceedings were included in the journal, around 40 articles/year were published. After the increase to four fascicles per year (2002) nearly one hundred papers were published annually (Figure 1). The return of the mini-reviews is planned for 2011. Articles in English are encouraged, although since the beginning those in English and Spanish were accepted. In this way the journal should become more international. The Editorial board and the SBB's Assistant-editors continuously offer suggestions to the Editor-in-Chef and SBB's Board in order to attain a greater impact factor for ACTA BOTANICA BRASILICA as well as to increase the funds needed to sustain the journal and its demands, besides support from granting agencies, especially the Brazilian Research Council - CNPq and Ministry of Education (CAPES). The journal belongs to every member of SBB and it is for the entire botanical and scientific community, so we expect help from everybody from reviewing manuscripts to financial support from membership fees.
The dream of the founders of SBB, 61 years ago, to have the Society publishing a botanical journal is proudly being fulfilled. Congratulations to the scientific and botanical community. Congratulations to SBB for 25 years of laborious work of ACTA BOTANICA BRASILICA.
Professor Alfredo Gui Ferreira
First Editor-in-Chef for Acta Botanica Brasilica
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
01 July 2011 -
Date of issue
Mar 2011
