The words of Prof. Dr. Domingo M. Braile

Abstract

THE WORDS OF PROF. DR. DOMINGO M. BRAILE I huge step to transform a dream of Latin-American cardiovascular surgeons into reality will be made in this month of January in Miami, where the inclusion of the Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery as an official organ of the Latin-American Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery will be discussed. The intention is that our journal, The Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery (BJCVS), will be the official periodic of the society and start to publish articles in Spanish, as well as start to be distributed in all the countries of the continent. This will exponentially increase its circulation to around ten thousand copies. The best way to adapt the publication without prejudicing one or the other language is still being discussed. The theme will be dealt with in a special meeting on 30th January. However, we stress that our journal will continue with its autonomy, achieved over the last 18 years of uninterrupted publications. The manuscripts of our colleagues from other nations should be submitted to the same rules and demands as Brazilian authors. We hope only to gain from this union, which will strengthen our society, enabling greater recognition in the international community of works performed in the Southern Hemisphere. This fact will gain importance at a time in which financial sustainability of scientific publications have generated debates in the academic world, as obtaining resources becomes more and more arduous for several reasons. Two blatant examples are the difficulty to obtain resources from research development institutions, both governmental and private, and the redirecting of budgets to sectors considered as being of greater priority. Owing to rising costs, many periodicals migrated to the Internet deciding to cease with the paper copy, continuing active only as