Indexation of Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira in the Institute for Scientific Information: what now?

Abstract

Consulting editor, Scientific Committee of Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira.After the initial euphoria about the recent inclusion of Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira in the Thomson Reuters (Former Institute for Scientific Information-ISI) it is necessary to reflect about the future of the Acta regarding the citation of the papers published in it, especially by Brazilian investigators. A further increase of the impact factor of the journal will come from the citation of its papers, and this should be the future goal of the editor and the editorial board. Thus, it is necessary to change the attitude of Brazilian scientists about the need to cite the work of their fellow countrymen, both for the good of Brazilian science in general and of Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira in particular. It will be up to the authors to judge the necessity and the opportunity for the citations.It has long been known that Brazilian scientists do not feel at ease in citing papers of their Brazilian colleagues or peers published either in international or, and especially, in Brazilian journals. The old story that "Brazilians don't cite Brazilians" continues to be true in the literature 1,2 . I definitely feel that this omission is not simply due to lack of information. When somebody publishes a paper in his area of expertise it is his duty to be aware of what is being studied in his country, obviously, as long as the topic in question has been published. Thus, the topic is expected to be referred to, discussed and compared, showing transparency in the concepts presented. This shows detachment on the part of the author, who submits his truth to discussion in a comparison with similar Brazilian or international studies.Although they are indexed in Medline, original Brazilian contributions disappear from the Brazilian literature. This is the case for various papers that I had the opportunity to analyze in various Brazilian journals as well as in Acta, in which no reference was made to important contributions by Brazilian authors. For example, several times I read statements of this type by authors: "Such and such sign.....of such and such disease... has not been previously described in Brazil...", where previous reports did exist, but were "hidden in the Brazilian literature". I recently saw a published article in which the authors stated: "We did not identify in the national literature surgical recommendations for patients with…". However, a paper on this topic had been previously published in the same journal. Thus, several Brazilian articles are simply not cited. And in the Acta itself, not infrequently authors do not cite other authors who deal with the same topic. Before the availability of search sites, it was difficult or even impossible to note these omissions, which were not detected or, in most case, were only detected by the overlooked author. We may state that there is a "congenital malformation" among Brazilian authors. Postgraduation programs would have the opportunity to correct this defect in order to train properly their investigators. Indeed, ...