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Editorial
REVISTA PAULISTA DE MEDICIN A
São Paulo Me dical Journal/
Re vista Paulista de Me dicina on the
Scie ntific Ele ctronic Library Online (SciELO)
• Aldemar Araujo Castro
Since 24 Octo ber 1999, São Paulo Medical Journal/ Revista Paulista de Medicina has been o n the internet as a part o f the SciELO (The Scientific Electro nic Library Online). The reader will find current and previo us is-sues (since 1998); the past isis-sues will be added o n a regular basis. SciELO is an electro nic virtual library co vering a selected co llectio n o f Brazilian scientific jo urnals. The library is an integral part o f a pro ject being develo ped by FAPESP - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo , in partnership with BIREME - the Latin American and Caribbean Center o n Health Sciences Info rmatio n.
The FAPESP-BIREME Pro ject envisages the de-velo pment o f a co mmo n metho do lo gy fo r the prepa-ratio n, sto rage, disseminatio n and evaluatio n o f sci-entific literature in electro nic fo rmat.1
As the pro ject develo ps, new jo urnal titles will be added to the li-b rary c o lle c tio n . Th e o li-b j e c tive o f th e s ite (www.scielo .br) is to implement an electro nic virtual library, pro viding full access to a co llectio n o f serial titles, a co llectio n o f issues fro m individual serial titles, as well as access to the full texts o f articles. Access to bo th serial titles and articles is available via indexes and search fo rms. The site will be co nstantly updated bo th in fo rm and co ntent, as the pro ject advances.
SciELO’s interface pro vides access to its serial co llectio n via an alphabetic list o f titles o r a subject inde x o r a wo rd se arch fo r se rial title s, pub lishe r names, city o f publicatio n and subject. The interface also pro vides access to the full text o f articles via au-tho r index o r subject index o r a search fo rm o n article elements such as autho r names, wo rds fro m title, sub-jects and wo rds fro m the full text.
The fo llo wing advantages and benefits to the publishing and distributio n pro cesses fo r scientific do cuments are described in SciELO Pro ject1,2: a) auto matic publicatio n, distributio n and indexing
o f scientific texts
b) increase and acceleratio n in the capacity fo r scien-tific co mmunicatio n
c) standardizatio n o f the structure o f electro nic pub-licatio ns, avo iding the pulverizatio n o f fo rmats, metho ds and lo catio n
d) auto matic biblio graphical co ntro l and standardized access to data
e) systematic and co nsistent evaluatio n o f the scien-tific literature
f) eco no my in the training in, use o f and dissemina-tio n o f metho do lo gy
g) co st-cutting and ratio nalizatio n in the pro ductio n o f electro nic publicatio ns
h) standardizatio n and flexibility fo r electro nic publi-catio n databases
i) added value fo r the pro ducer (researchers, scien-tists, edito rs and publishers), fo r the user (research-ers, scientists and students) and fo r the info rma-tio n manager (librarians and do cument handlers) j) increase in the visibility o f scientific research
The São Paulo Medical Journal / Revista Paulista de Medicina and a selected co llectio n o f Brazilian scien-tific jo urnals are available o n a single website with the same access interface (www.scielo .br). Just like the Electro nic British Medical Jo urnal (www.bmj.co m), it is full text, with free access, and we do no t ask yo u to pay, subscribe, register, pro vide a passwo rd, o r fill in interminable o nline questio nnaires.
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Cre ate d as Revista da A ssociação Paulista de M edicina in 1932, changed to Revista Paulista de M edicina in 1942, and transfo rm e d into full te xt in English in 1992, we are just at the start o f a ne w stage o f the jo urnal, and thus b o th e le ctro nic and pape r pub li-catio n will b e m aintaine d. Ho we ve r, a tim e gap is e xp e c te d to ap p e ar b e twe e n the e le c tro nic and printed versio ns. The electro nic versio n will b eco me, b y far, the first o ne availab le to the reader, and pro b -ab ly the m o re use ful.
Papers published in SPMJ have been indexed in MedLine since 1965. A search do ne by jo urnal name sho wed 1,949 reco rds (PubMed 17Dec1999). And fur-thermo re, there is a link to go to the publisher site (SciELO site): if anyo ne wants to search in PubMed, it is po ssible to access the full text o f SciELO jo urnals, thereby increasing the accessibility o f Brazilian jo urnals.
Alde mar Araujo Castro, MD, MChir.
Deputy Edito r, São Paulo Medical Jo urnal/Revista Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo , Brazil.
1. FAPESP/BIREME pro ject electro nic perio dicals. Available at: http:// www.scielo .br/fbpe/pro jeto /eintro .htm
References
2. Packer AL, Bio jo ne MR, Irati A, et al. SciELO: uma meto do lo gia para publicação eletrô nica. Ci Inf 1998;27(2). Available at: www.scielo .br/ci
