Radiologia Brasileira - Publicação Científica Oficial do Colégio Brasileiro de Radiologia

Some years ago I sent an opinion article to Radiologia Brasileira (RB) where I commented on the importance of the journal and of the citations of its articles(1). I made comments on the Journal indexation in the SciELO, as a result of many years of hard work and a lot of dedication from the editors. I also wrote about the importance of making the journal one of the most cited at SciELO, gaining high relevance and impact at national level. Other editorials have been written, commenting on the importance and difficulties of international indexation(2) and of research in Brazil. Even with all the emphasis placed by editorials on multi-institutional research(3) and on research activities among resident physicians(4), which might generate potential papers for the development of master and doctoral scholarships, few physicians dedicate themselves to publish their articles and experience.

In that same text I also commented on the intention of indexing the journal in the international PubMed and JCR-ISI databanks, important support for the growth of the three Brazilian post-graduation programs in the field of Radiology. At that time, there were only 21 Brazilian journals indexed in JCR; nowadays there are 89, and others are currently being indexed, as they can already be accessed at the Web of Science, the "brother" which generates the data for the impact factor of the JCR. As a comparison, the United States of America has 2,724 indexed journals at JCR.

However, I realize that little has changed over the years. Few articles are sent and few of our references are cited, even with the existing on-line search facility at SciELO to find articles related to the theme.

Most recently, RB was included in Scopus, the Elsevier's indexing database, with more than 18,000 indexed periodicals, and whose structure includes the Scimago, an influence ranking of worldwide publications indexed in its database. In particular, the cites per doc, which in 2012 starts being considered by Capes with weighted impact factor.

With that change this year, Capes has invested in changes in the qualification of Brazilian journals, generating some changes in the Qualis, which evaluates the publications for Post-graduation Programs. Several publications have obtained better scores, RB included, now classified as B3 in the Medicine II group, where the Radiology master and doctoral scholarship programs are included. This should be, better yet, has to be, another encouraging factor for our colleagues to publish their articles in our journal and to cite our articles in their references. It is important to emphasize our articles in the references. And also remember, when publishing in international periodicals, the strategic importance of citations from RB.

With this new criteria adopted by Capes, originated from many complaints of the Brazilian journals editors, with repeated and insistent editorials(5,6) published in almost all Brazilian journals, the possibility is now open for Brazilian journals to grow in importance, generating citations and attracting high level papers. RB has received and published articles from important foreign groups (USA(7,8), Canada(9), England(10)), with the participation of internationally known authors. We need to invest our knowledge, our articles and our references in it.

Therefore, in response to the editorial(2) on the March/April/2011 issue, yes, we have a way to collaborate. Brazilian authors, Brazilian radiologists, Brazilian researchers and Brazilian publishers, let us cite each other. It will not take much time to check RB and refer articles related to the theme; its issues of the last 10 years are fully available on-line, at SciELO. I remind the colleagues that the last five years are weighted at Scimago. Let us join our strengths and make RB one of the most important and one of the most cited medical journals at SciELO and Scopus.

I insist that it depends entirely on us.


REFERENCES

1. Carvalho ACP. Carta ao Editor. Radiol Bras. 2006;39(5):ix–x.

2. Marchiori E. A difícil indexação da Radiologia Brasileira. Temos como colaborar? [editorial]. Radiol Bras. 2011;44(2):v.

3. Marchiori E. Pesquisas multi-institucionais [editorial). Radiol Bras. 2012;45(1):v.

4. Marchiori E. Atividades de pesquisa em residência médica [editorial]. Radiol Bras. 2011;44(5):v.

5. Mudança dos critérios QUALIS! [editorial]. Radiol Bras. 2010;43(3):v–vi.

6. Classificação dos periódicos no sistema QUALIS da CAPES – a mudança dos critérios é URGENTE! [editorial]. Radiol Bras. 2010;43(1):v–vii.

7. Godoy MCB, Naidich DP. Editorial commentary in Radiologia Brasileira: Multidetector-row computed tomography angiography for the diagnosis of anomalous pulmonary venous drainage: an initial experiment [editorial]. Radiol Bras. 2010;43(6):v–vi.

8. Burke LMB, Vachiranubhap B, Tannaphai P, et al. Contrast enhancement of liver lesions in cirrhotic patients: a single institution crossover comparative study of two MR contrast agents. Preliminary results. Radiol Bras. 2011;44:147–50.

9. Gonçalves FG, Ovalle JP, Grieb DFJ, et al. Diffusion in the head and neck: an assessment beyond the anatomy. Radiol Bras. 2011;44:308–14.

10. Mohan K, McShane J, Page R, et al. Impact of ¹⁸F-FDG PET scan on the prevalence of benign thoracic lesions at surgical resection. Radiol Bras. 2011;44:279–82.










Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Adjunct Coordinator, Program of Post-graduation in Medicine (Radiology), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. E-mail: acpcrj@hucff.ufrj.br.