Publishing Educar em Revista in the midst of so many bumps and setbacks ¹

After so many months and a long period of pandemic in the world, we imagined that the 2021 editorial could take another perspective, a more encouraging and hopeful one. In a way, we come to the end of this year with a positive prospect of a moderate transition from times of isolation to new practices of social interaction, due to the advance in the vaccination process against Covid19. However, in Brazil, the difficulties are not only related to the health dimension (which would be serious enough), but are related to aspects of political, economic, cultural, educational and academic life as well. In a few lines, it will not be possible to summarize here so many setbacks suffered by us Brazilians, but to highlight some themes that directly affect us as an educational journal.

Since 2016, we have followed, with concern, the adoption of federal cuts and budget restrictions for science and technology. In last year's editorial, we already indicated the aggravation of these restrictions, such as the failure to obtain financial support (in 2019) for Humanities magazines (including those on education) by the main funding agencies, such as the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ)². In 2020, no federal support became available, and in 2021, a new development notice was published, to which we submitted a proposal, but await the result with apprehension. Less in relation to the possibilities of meeting academic requirements - since Educar em Revista complies with the national assessment requirements stipulated for a journal qualified as QualisA1 - but more so, given the recent and biggest cuts to science and technology in the current year, as Escobar asserts.

Brazilian science will have to survive in 2021 with a meager budget. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI) suffered the biggest cut in the federal budget approved on March 25 by the National Congress, with a 29% reduction in its resources, compared to 2020. The support budget of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) — which is linked to the MCTI — will be only R$ 23.7 million; an absolutely derisory amount to support the national scientific production (ESCOBAR, 2021, our translation).

However, it is misleading to think that nothing can get worse when it is already bad. However, in October 2021, new cuts were made in the budget of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), "at the request of the Ministry of Economy, members of parliament reduce the area's supplementary budget to R$ 89.7 million, jeopardizing the payment of scholarships and research projects” (ANDRADE, 2021). According to the assessment in the Revista da FAPESP article, after the National Congress approves the Bill that drastically reduces the amount foreseen for the agency, “the portfolio would receive R$ 690 million, but now it will be able to count on just R$ 89.7 million” (ANDRADE, 2021).

The apprehensions also extended to other sectors, such as the policies of the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (Capes) in relation to the evaluation processes of graduate studies and periodicals. Since 2020, we have followed the debates and clashes in relation to the evaluation decisions about the journals of the Humanities Collegiate at the Technical-Scientific Council of Higher Education (CTC-ES). There were many attempts and strategies by the representatives of the areas of this Collegiate, including the strong and competent performance of the representatives of the education area, to minimize or negotiate proposals for Qualis Periodicals to reduce possible negative impacts due to calculations propositions using the CiteScore (Scopus) indexes and impact factor (Journal Citation Reports - JCR/Web of Science). Capes’ educational sector chose to use the h index (Google Scholar) as an instrument to assess the impact factor of journals. They were separated into three groups (journals in Portuguese, journals in English, and journals in other languages), which allowed for comparison between equivalent journals, considering that the journal's language of publication is a determining factor in terms of journal reach, citation and impact. However, these efforts seem not to have been enough to stop the opportunism and the breaking of the democratic sense of the decisions taken by the College of Humanities (CTS), in light of the lawsuits filed recently³, which put on hold the entire evaluation process of Brazilian Graduate studies started almost four years ago.

Educar em Revista is in line with other journals in the field and shares with the Forum of Periodical Editors in the Education Area (FEPAE) the concern for and defense of the maintenance and stability of the evaluation processes aimed at both the graduate studies and journals. Included are the participation of editors in the evaluation process dialog, and the use of citation indexes or metrics. We understand that the latter must be part of other journal qualification aspects.

The adversities found in editorial work are also present at the local, institutional level, with cuts in resources and management problems, particularly due to the reduction of manuscript review and layout professionals, in meeting deadlines, and lack of support on the part of the university for the journals sector. The magazine continues its operation, owing to the commitment of contributors, authors, reviewers and consultants, the editor´s office and secretariat and the unconditional support of the management team of the Education Sector and of the Education Graduate Program of UFPR.

However, not only grim news is shared here. This editorial announcers good news such as the preservation - in a continuous flow - of the publication of manuscripts that arise from continuous demand, thematic dossiers, interviews, and documents. In the thematic dossier section, the result of the public notice of 2019⁴, we were successful in publishing 82 manuscripts in seven (7) dossiers. Maria Amália Almeida Cunha and Hervé Breton organized the first entitled “The Biographical Dimension as a Process of Development and Understanding Oneself and the World”. The second “Body and History: the Multiple Processes of Education of the Body”, was coordinated by Andrea Moreno and Evelise Amgarten Quitzau; the third “National Bases and the Teaching of History: Clashes, Challenges and Possibilities in/between Basic Education and the Training of Teachers”, the work of Nádia Gaiofatto Gonçalves and Ana Maria Ferreira da Costa Monteiro. The next dealt with the theme “Environmental Education and the Basic School: Contexts and Practices”, under the baton of Elaine Angelina Colgrandre and Luciana Aparecida Farias, followed by “Implementation of Public Policies to Combat Educational Inequalities”, coordinated by Naira Muylaert. Patrícia Corsino in charge of the organization “Assessment Challenges in Early Childhood Education” and, finally, “Creativity, Emotion and Education”, coordinated by Tânia Stoltz.

In the continuous demand section, there were 44 articles. We published three interview texts and in the documents section three more manuscripts, one of them within the scope of the PPGE/UFPR commemorations "History and Memory of the Education Graduate Program of Federal University of Paraná (1975-2020)" , by Marcus Levy Bencostta, Marília Andrade Torales Campos, Cláudio de Sá Machado Jr.. The other texts refer to the commemorations of the Paulo Freire Centenary and include the contribution of the Italian researcher Massimiliano Fiorucci⁵ and the Brazilians Sergio Haddad and Maria Clara di Piero. Contributions based on the provocations, theorizations and essential and indelible practices of the Brazilian thinker, who has been influential in experiences and research worldwide, since the 1960s, and continues to be the patron of Brazilian education (BRASIL, 2012), notwithstanding the insults to his memory in these times of obscure politics in Brazil.

As noted, Educar em Revista, despite all the difficulties already mentioned, has maintained national and international excellence standards - having published 132 manuscripts this year - and updated (since 2020) the visual identity⁶ of its annual publications volumes, as shown in the images below:

IMAGES 1and 2
: Covers of the annual editions of Educar em Revista, 2020 and 2021.

The photo on the cover of the magazine's annual editions shows the stairway of the Rebouças Campus, where Educar em Revista's facilities are located, as well as a good part of the Education Sector´s units, especially the graduate courses, teachers' offices, and research centers.

Facing the bumps and setbacks of today´s Brazil, "publishing" took on meanings other than that of a verb, which disseminates and propagates scientific articles. It has also become an achievement, an attitude of courage and commitment to science, so debased in these times when federal government management are marked by denial, errors, neglect, violence, and discredit. Dealing with receiving, selecting, evaluating, revising, designing, publishing and disseminating scientific manuscripts means to carry out work that faces still many more challenges. In addition to the technical domains of the editorial task, political, economic and academic insistence actions were necessary, negotiation and collaboration among researchers, editors, managers of the Sector and of the Graduate Program and, primarily, internal harmony among the Educar em Revista´s editorial team. Without that, we would surely succumb! But here we are, alert and strong, even though we have feared and continue to fear the consequences of the absence of correct policies and decisions in the face of a serious health issue such as Covid -19, which by the end of this text has caused more than 608,000 deaths in Brazil.

Given the above, a mythological reference attracts our attention - it is the image of Janus, Roman deity, bifront, simultaneously attentive to the past and the future, as a doorman who pays attention to transitions and passages, who guards the entrances and exits, that demarcates commencements, beginnings (CHEVALIER; GUEERBRANT, 1999)⁷. We are still sure of the necessary transformation that, as a society, we need to achieve. Like Janus, it is up to us to pay close attention to what happened, in the sense of being aware of what was and also what could have been but was not, and what could not be, as much as to what we want to live in the future and write about it.

REFERÊNCIAS

• ANDRADE, Rodrigo de Oliveira. Congresso promove novos cortes nos recursos para a ciência. Revista da FAPESP, São Paulo, 11 nov. 2021. Newsletter Disponível em:Disponível em:https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/congresso-promove-novos-cortes-nos-recursos-para-a-ciencia/ Acesso em: 02 nov. 2021.
  » https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/congresso-promove-novos-cortes-nos-recursos-para-a-ciencia/
• CHEVALIER, Jean; GHEERBRANT, Alain. Dicionário de Símbolos: mitos, sonhos, costumes, gestos, formas, figuras, cores, números. 14. ed. Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 1999.
• BRASIL. Lei nº 12.612, 13 de abril de 2012. Declara o educador Paulo Freire Patrono da Educação Brasileira. Diário Oficial da União: seção 1, Brasília, DF, p. 1, 16 abr. 2012.
• ESCOBAR, Herton. Orçamento 2021 compromete o futuro da ciência brasileira. Jornal da USP São Paulo, 09 abr. 2021. Disponível em: Disponível em: https://jornal.usp.br/ciencias/orcamento-2021-compromete-o-futuro-da-ciencia-brasileira/ Acesso em: 02 nov. 2021.
  » https://jornal.usp.br/ciencias/orcamento-2021-compromete-o-futuro-da-ciencia-brasileira/

• 1
  Translated by Doris J. Obrer. E-mail: [e-mail]
• 2
  According to public notice for funding N.19/2019 Editorial Program, Educar em Revista, as well as other education and humanities magazines, received a favorable evaluation, but did not receive financial resources.
• 3
  Lawsuits filed at the request of the Federal Public Prosecutor (MPF) of Rio de Janeiro.
• 4
  That provided for two formats of dossiers - one, with an open call for submission of articles, the other with a closed format containing all the manuscripts.
• 5
  From Università degli Studi Roma Tre and president of SIPED (Società Italiana di Pedagogia).
• 6
  The work was conducted by researcher Ana Luisa Manfredini Araújo, member of the Center for Childhood and Early Childhood Education Studies and Research (NEPIE/UFPR).
• 7
  Some of these elements are examined by Chevalier and Gueerbrant in the entry “Janus”, in Dictionary of Symbols (1999).

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Dec 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  03 Nov 2021
• Accepted
  09 Nov 2021