Challenges of the Brazilian Journal of Occupational Health in its 50th anniversary (presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Occupational Health, Hiroshima, Japan, May 2024)Abstract
The Brazilian Journal of Occupational Health (Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional - RBSO) was invited by the Japanese Society for Occupational Health (JSOH) to participate in a panel on the challenges of scientific publications in the same field during the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Occupational Health, held in May 2024 in Hiroshima, Japan. In this editorial note, the recent trajectory of the RBSO is described, along with its strengths and challenges, including a comparison with some characteristics of other scientific journals in the field of work and health. We also reported points of interest from the presentations made by the editors-in-chief of the journals Safety and Health at Work (SH@W, South Korea) and the Journal of Occupational Health (JOH, Japan), as well as comments from the representative of Oxford University Press. The development of the RBSO since the early 2000s is evident. Currently, the RBSO is the main journal in the specific field of Health and Work in Latin America. Its indexing in international bibliographic databases is an important step towards consolidating and accelerating its growth.
Occupational Health; Electronic Journals; Periodical; Festschrift; Scholarly Communication
Resumo
A Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional (RBSO) foi convidada pela Sociedade Japonesa de Saúde Ocupacional (Japanese Society for Occupational Health – JSOH) para participar de um painel sobre os desafios das publicações científicas da mesma área, durante a 97ª Reunião Anual da Sociedade Japonesa de Saúde Ocupacional, realizada em maio de 2024, em Hiroshima, no Japão. Na presente nota editorial, é descrita a trajetória recente da RBSO, assim como seus pontos fortes e desafios, incluindo uma comparação com algumas características de outros periódicos científicos na área de Saúde e Trabalho. Também são relatados pontos de interesse das apresentações feitas pelos editores-chefes das revistas Safety and Health at Work (SH@W, Coreia do Sul) e da Journal of Occupational Health (JOH, Japão) e os comentários do representante da Oxford University Press. É evidente o desenvolvimento da RBSO a partir do início dos anos 2000. Atualmente, a RBSO é a principal revista na área específica de Saúde e Trabalho na América Latina. Sua indexação em bases bibliográficas internacionais é passo importante para consolidar e acelerar seu crescimento.
Saúde do Trabalhador; Revistas Eletrônicas; Publicação Periódica; Publicação Comemorativa; Comunicação Acadêmica
Introduction
The Brazilian Journal of Occupational Health (Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional – RBSO) was invited by the Japanese Society for Occupational Health (JSOH) to participate in a panel on the challenges of scientific publications on Occupational Health during the society’s 2024 annual meeting. The panel’s organization followed one of the activities held in August 2023 for RBSO’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations, during which we invited editors from work and health journals to provide insights about the editorial challenges in their respective journals. The editor-in-chief of the Journal of Occupational Health, Dr. Narafumi Suganuma, participated virtually1.
The panel organized at the JSOH event was entitled “Disseminating High Quality Research Articles on Occupational Health: Our Challenge,” and was coordinated by the editors-in-chief of the two JSOH journals, Journal of Occupational Health and Environmental Occupational Health Practice, Narafumi Suganuma, MD, PhD, and Takeshi Ebara, PhD, respectively. Three speakers delivered their presentations: Professor Seong-Kyu Kang, Editor-in-Chief of Safety and Health at Work (SH@W, South Korea); Dr. Eduardo Algranti, Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian Journal of Occupational Health (RBSO, Brazil); and Professor Narafumi Suganuma, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Occupational Health (JOH, Japan). Following these presentations, Mr. Matthew Lane from Oxford University Press, the publisher of JOH, provided comments (Figures 1 and 2).
Dr. Eduardo Algranti (left), Editor-in-Chief of the Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional (RBSO), and Dr. Narafumi Suganuma (right), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Occupational Health (JOH)
From left to right, Mr. Matthew Lane from Oxford University Press, Dr. Eduardo Algranti, and Prof. Seong-Kyu Kang, Editor-in-Chief of SH@W
This editorial note discusses the current situation of RBSO. In the first part, we describe the recent trajectory of RBSO and its strengths and challenges, including a comparison with some features of other scientific publications in the work and health field. The second part summarizes the points of interest from the presentations by the Editors-in-Chief of SH@W and JOH and comments from Oxford University Press.
Brazilian Journal of Occupational Health – RBSO
RBSO Data
RBSO was ranked 39th among Portuguese-language journals by Google Scholar Metrics in 2024 (h5-index: 24; h5-median: 50). Between 2020 and 2023, the yearly average number of published manuscripts was 32, with four calls for special issues and an average of 39,221 monthly accesses through its homepage. The mean time between submission and final decision was 212 days, with a rejection rate of approximately 91%. The long review and final approval times were due to multiple factors: the low acceptance rate of invited reviewers, failure to meet review deadlines, and a bottleneck in final text editing that was partially handled by the journal’s editors. Since 2006, the number of yearly published manuscripts has remained relatively stable, with a mean of slightly over 30, an increasing number of annual submissions from 2006 to 2022 (mean around 250), and a rejection rate of over 90%. Compared with the three main Brazilian public health journals—Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, and Revista de Saúde Pública—RBSO ranks second in terms of the ratio of accesses to published documents. RBSO’s primary indexing is performed on the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) platform.
RBSO strengths and challenges
We compared some relevant features of seven journals in the field of Occupational Health (Table 1). Five out of seven studies provide full open access, except for the American Journal of Industrial Medicine (AJIM) and Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM). Six are linked to a society or institution, and six have private publishers, with RBSO as the exception. OEM had the highest impact factor (4.9) and the highest mean number of manuscripts per year. RBSO has no impact factor because it is not indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection.
RBSO’s strengths are open access publications, indexing, support from SciELO, and alignment with international standards for open science, integrity, and diversity. Published manuscripts have impacts beyond metrics and the scientific community. Several mentions of its manuscripts can be found in legal proceedings involving labor matters, such as issues related to agricultural work, telemarketing, and public policy discussions on child labor.
The journal’s management is handled by the institution’s technical staff with the assistance of an outsourced editing service. In compliance with good public management practices, all funding demands follow complex rules.
At the moment, RBSO is seeking indexation in the main international bibliographic databases. The quantity and quality of submissions are directly related to the journal’s indexation, which partly justifies the high rejection rates and the limited number of manuscripts per year. The narrow scope and the use of Portuguese as the primary language of publication are also factors that contribute to the aforementioned limitations.
Published in a region with significant social disparities and a variety of traditional and new employment relationships, as well as high rates of informality, RBSO sees an opportunity to attract quality publications that combine scientific interest and social impact. The challenge lies in obtaining recognition and indexing in international databases. Furthermore, the prime concern is the future prospects of its publisher, Fundação Jorge Duprat Figueiredo de Segurança e Medicina do Trabalho (Fundacentro).
Points of Interest from the Presentations by the Editors-in-Chief of SH@W and JOH and Comments by Oxford University Press
Journal policy
Prof. Kang from SH@W presented the journal’s strategy of free submissions and open access publications, maintaining a balance of ⅓ of publications from Korea, ⅓ from developed countries, and ⅓ from developing countries. Peer review criteria are more flexible for manuscripts from developing countries provided the methodology and coherence are adequate. This policy has proven successful, and despite being relatively new, the journal has good indexing and an impact factor of 3.5.
Prof. Suganuma highlighted the opening of the JOH to an international audience, mainly from 1996, when the institution adopted English for submissions and publications2. Since then, submissions from other countries have increased substantially. To accommodate manuscripts related to the practical aspects of Occupational Health, the editors launched a second journal, Environmental Occupational Health Practice (EOHP).
A common point between SH@W, JOH, and EOHP is the inclusion of manuscripts that encompass the interface with the environment, a feature shared by Occupational and Environmental Medicine, one of the most influential journals in the Work and Health field.
Mr. Matthew Lane, from Oxford University Press, highlighted the current importance of social networks, including the press, in promoting journals. These efforts aim to publicize topics of interest through tweets, press releases, podcasts, and organizing events to maintain constant visibility.
Annual budgets of the three journals
Although JOH and SH@W did not provide compiled data on the overall costs of their publications, the respective Editors-in-Chief estimated annual expenses of 60,000 and 120,000 US dollars, respectively. These estimates correspond to expenses five and ten times higher than those of RBSO.
Final Comments
The RBSO restructuring in the early 2000s not only regained the indexings lost in previous years due to non-compliance with publication periodicity but also achieved indexing in SciELO, an important scientific publication platform in Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula and Africa. Although relevant, this strategy has proven insufficient to attract high-quality publications.
Currently, RBSO is the primary journal in the specific Work and Health field in Latin America and offers the possibility of publishing in three languages. It has editorial freedom, open access, and compliance with ethical and integrity standards. This positions the journal as having the potential to fill a regional niche. One limiting factor is the small number of annual publications. To maintain growth, we must achieve more international indexing. To this end, RBSO must have a greater presence on the national and regional scene, maintain a policy of special issues that focus on hot topics in the area, and improve the editorial process flow, especially in the post-approval stages of manuscripts3.
RBSO’s presentation at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Occupational Health highlighted the journal’s positive aspects while acknowledging concerns, many of which are common to other journals. The journal is on the right path, albeit it is a slow one. However, the limitations imposed by adapting to the rules of public resource management, including the lack of personnel specializing in journal indexing, hinder rapid growth. What worries us most is the future of the supporting institution, Fundacentro, which has been undergoing a continuous process of staff reduction since the 1990s.
Acknowledgements
The text, originally written in English, underwent language revision facilitated by the ChatGPT platform.
References
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» https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6369/nt123pt2023v48edcinq14 -
2 Smith DR, Takahashi K. The Journal of Occupational Health from 1959 to 2016. J Occup Health. 2016 May 25;58(2):135-7. https://doi.org/10.1539/joh.16-2001-ED
» https://doi.org/10.1539/joh.16-2001-ED -
3 Garcia LP, Assunção AA, Algranti E, Jackson Filho JM, Saito CA, Garcia EG. Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional: rumo aos 50 anos. Rev. Bras. Saúde Ocup. 2022;47:e20. https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6369ed122pt2022v47e20
» https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6369ed122pt2022v47e20
