3 6 9
Edit or s of Lat in Am er ican Jour nal of Nur sing of Ribeir ão Pr et o of t he Univer sit y of São Paulo at Ribeir ão Pr et o College of Nur sing - WHO Collabor at ing Cent r e for Nur sing Resear ch Developm ent : 1 Full Pr ofessor, e- m ail: m ar ziale@eer p.usp.br ; 2 Full Pr ofessor, e- m ail: iam endes@eer p.usp.br
Rev Lat ino- am Enfer m agem 2007 m aio- j unho; 15( 3) : 369- 70
w w w . eer p. usp. br / r lae Edit orial
RLAE I N THE I NSTI TUTE FOR SCI ENTI FI C I NFORMATI ON: A VI CTORY FOR THE
BRAZI LI AN SCI ENTI FI C EDI TI NG SYSTEM I N NURSI NG
Mar ia Helena Palucci Mar ziale1 I sabel Am élia Cost a Mendes2
S
in ce it s fir st issu e, in 1 9 9 3 , t h e Lat in Am er ican Jou r n al of Nu r sin g ( RLAE) at t em pt s t o ex pan d it s v isibilit y in t he scient ific and edit or ial field, dissem inat ing qualit y k now ledge pr oduct ion in Nur sing and r elat edar eas p r od u ced in Br azil an d Lat in Am er ica. Th u s, it h as m ad e all p ossib le ef f or t s t o im p r ov e it s ed it or ial
q u alit y.
Con sider in g t h e in cr eased v isibilit y an d also t h e n at ion al an d in t er n at ion al scien t if ic r ecogn it ion t h e
index ing bases pr ovide t o per iodicals, w e init iat ed, in 2003, t he subm ission pr ocess for t he indexat ion of RLAE
in t he I nt er nat ional Scient ific I ndex ( I SI ) of t he com pany Thom pson Scient ific, w hich is par t of t he Thom pson
Cor por at ion, leader in t he supply of infor m at ion solut ions t o w or ldw ide r esear ch and business com m unit ies.
This index ’s assessm ent is per for m ed by an edit or ial com m it t ee and last s appr ox im at ely 12 m ont hs.
The pr ocess is init iat ed by subm it t ing an applicat ion, accom panied by t he four last j our nal issues published.
Dur ing t he evaluat ion pr ocess, all new issues published m ust be sent t o t he base t o cer t ify t he punct ualit y and
r eg u l a r i t y o f p u b l i ca t i o n . Th e ev a l u a t i o n r eq u i r em en t s a r e r el a t ed t o t h e j o u r n a l st r u ct u r e a n d g r a p h i c
char act er ist ics, as w ell as t o scient ific st andar ds, associat ed w it h t he qualit y of t he ar t icles published.
The Jour nal’s applicat ion for index at ion w as denied in 2004, w hich m ade t he edit or ial com m it t ee use
new edit or ial im pr ovem ent st r at egies. Am ong t he act ions per for m ed, w e highlight t he aut om at ion of t he edit or ial
syst em ; t he digit al availabilit y of full t ext s of art icles; art icles published in Port uguese, English and Spanish and
t he print ed version in English, and t he im proved select ion of m anuscript s. Only original art icles t hat are relevant
t o t he t r ansfer ence of know ledge t o t he ent it ies t hat pr oduce policies and healt h act ions and w hich expand t he
scient ific bases of Nur sing for car e deliv er y t o indiv iduals and fam ilies ar e published.
Af t er w ait in g t h e t w o- y ear in t er v al r eq u ir ed f or a n ew su b m ission , in Mar ch 2 0 0 6 , w e sen t a n ew
applicat ion for index at ion and, on June 13t h, 2007 w e r eceiv ed t he r esult of t he ev aluat ion, t hr ough t he new s t r ansm it t ed by Dr. Jam es Test a, Senior Dir ect or of Thom pson Scient ific, t hat t he Jour nal w ould be included in
t he Web of Science – I SI as fr om 2007.
This accom plishm ent is being celebr at ed by t he w hole Nur sing ar ea in Br azil since, in a univ er se of
about 22,000 scient ific per iodicals published ar ound t he w or ld, only 9,000 ar e indexed in t he I SI , am ong w hich
only t hir t y ar e Brazilian and, so far, no Nur sing j our nal published in Brazil had been included.
Up t o m id 2 0 0 6 , only 3 2 Nur sing per iodicals had been index ed, m ainly issued in t he Unit ed St at es.
How ev er, by t h e en d of 2 0 0 6 , t h e b ase ack n ow led g ed t h at Nu r sin g d ev elop s q u alit y scien t if ic r esear ch t o
suppor t car e deliv er y t o indiv iduals t hr oughout t heir life cy cle, and t he num ber of Nur sing j our nals index ed in
t he base w as incr eased t o 61. How ever, none of t hese was published in t he Lat in Am er ica. Now, t he RLAE st ar t s
t o int egr at e t his select ed gr oup of scient ific j our nals and t o r epr esent not only Br azil but also Lat in Am er ica.
Non et h eless, t h is accom plish m en t does n ot m ean t h e en d of a ser ies of effor t s. On t h e con t r ar y, it
leads us t o anot her challenge, w hich is t o im pr ove t he edit or ial qualit y of RLAE even m or e and t o achieve good
rat ios for our art icles in t he Journal Cit at ion Report s, t he annual publicat ion of t he I SI base, w hich indicat es t he
im pact fact or of t he Journals in t he base. This fact or, t hough som ew hat cont r over sial in our count r y, due t o it s
use by nat ional evaluat ion inst it ut ions and funding agencies, is an im por t ant indicat or of t he qualit y and visibilit y
acquir ed by r esear ch and it s use in new r esear ch.
We con sider t h is in dex at ion a v ict or y of t h e Nu r sin g Scien t ific Edit in g Sy st em w h ich , u n it ed, m ov es
t ow ar ds qualit y goals t o pr ov ide t he scient ific com m unit y w it h com m unicat ion v ehicles of k now ledge pr oduced
3 7 0
RLAE in t he I nst it ut e for Scient ific I nfor m at ion...
Mar ziale MHP, Mendes I AC.
Rev Lat ino- am Enfer m agem 2007 m aio- j unho; 15( 3) : 369- 70 w w w . eer p. usp. br / r lae
College of Nur sing/ USP, WHO Collaborat ing Cent r e for Nur sing Resear ch Dev elopm ent ( inst it ut ional suppor t ) ,
t he RLAE Edit orial Com m it t ee and it s t echnicians ( edit or ial policy) , t he Edit or ial Boar d, consult ant s, aut hor s and
