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SCI ENTI FI C PRODUCTI ON I N BRAZI LI AN NURSI NG:
THE SEARCH FOR I N TERN ATI ON AL I MPACT
Mar ia Helena Palucci Mar ziale1
S
cien ce can be con sider ed as a w or ld of ideas in con st an t m ov em en t - t h e k n ow ledge- pr odu ct ionprocess - and aim s t o discover t he unit y in t he different facet s of hum an beings’ experience in t heir environm ent . Tech n olog y, in t u r n , r ef lect s an d sh ap es t h e v alu e sy st em . Bein g a p ow er f u l f or ce in t h e d ev elop m en t of civ ilizat ion , it ex pan ds ou r abilit ies t o ch an ge t h e w or ld an d h as it s ow n ch ar act er ist ics in each cu lt u r e( 1 ). Technology has t ight ened it s relat ion wit h science, which m akes it difficult t o dist inguish one from t he ot her in cer t ain ar eas. As t echnology affect s t he social and cult ur al sy st em m or e dir ect ly t han scient ific r esear ch, t he im m ediat e im plicat ions of it s successes and failur es dir ect ly influence hum an act iv it y( 2).
Th u s, scien t if ic dev elopm en t h as becom e a cr u cial f act or f or social w ell- bein g, t o t h e ex t en t t h at , t oday, t he dist inct ion bet w een r ich and poor is based on t he capacit y t o cr eat e scient ific k now ledge or not . Wit hout adequat e higher educat ion inst it ut ions in science, t echnology and research, involving a crit ical m ass of ex per ienced scient ist s, no count r y w hat soev er can guar ant ee any act ual dev elopm ent( 3).
The ex plosiv e k now ledge adv ance is m ar ginalizing people w ho do not hav e a com binat ion of r esear ch in fr ast r u ct u r e, h igh - qu alit y h u m an r esou r ce t r ain in g an d u n iv er sal scien t ific edu cat ion at t h eir disposal. Th e an aly sis of t h e Br azilian sit u at ion d em on st r at es t h e n eed t o ex p an d t h e b ases of acad em ic r esear ch an d t echnological innov at ion and highlight s t he ur gency of changes in t he basic, secondar y and higher educat ion sy st em , m ov in g f r om an in f or m at iv e t o a f or m at iv e sy st em , as a w ay of p r ep ar in g p er son s f or t h e lab or m ar k et , w hich highly depends on cont inuous lear ning( 1).
Know ledge pr oduct ion in Br azil has alw ay s been connect ed w it h t he gr ow t h in gr aduat e pr ogr am s( 4- 9), w hich ar e t he count r y ’s m ain w ay of consolidat ing it s scient ific base and t r aining hum an r esour ces t hat ar e pr epar ed t o solv e r egional and nat ional pr oblem s. One im por t ant goal of t he educat ion sy st em is t o enable researchers t o reach t his kind of obj ect ives. These knowledge producers should m ast er st at e- of- t he- art knowledge in t h eir act iv it y ar ea, b e ab le t o g iv e r ise t o coh er en t an d u p d at ed q u est ion s an d m ast er m et h od olog ical pr ocedur es t o t est t hem . When t hey st r uct ur e aut ocht honous r esear ch lines, t hey becom e m ult iplier s in t he for m at ion of new r esear cher s. Their pr oduct ion m ust be endor sed by ex t er nal r efer ees fr om t he nat ional and int er nat ional cont ex t( 10).
I n a r ecen t pu blicat ion by Scien ce, w h ich con sider ed scien t if ic pr odu ct ion w it h in t er n at ion al im pact bet ween 1992 and 2001, Brazil occupied t he 19t h place in t erm s of im pact fact or of publicat ions indexed in t he I nst it ut e for Scient ific I nfor m at ion - I SI( 11).
How ev er, Brazil’s t echnological innovat ion capacit y needs t o ex pand t o be able t o at t end not only t he popu lat ion ’s im m ediat e n eeds t h r ou gh appr opr iat e t ech n ology, bu t also t o pr odu ce goods an d ser v ices t h at st im ulat e econom ic dev elopm ent( 1 ).
The product and process of scient ific act ivit y depend on efficient com m unicat ion and specialized j ournals are im port ant scient ific knowledge dissem inat ion vehicles. Scient ific discoveries will t radit ionally achieve recognit ion and cr edibilit y in funct ion of t heir publicat ion in r enow ned scient ific j our nals.
A j ournal’s prest ige is relat ed t o t he qualit y of it s review process ( peer- review ed process) ; t he qualit y of t he ar t icles it publishes ( r igor and or iginalit y of t he ar t icles) and t he v isibilit y of t he publicat ion ( achiev ed t hrough it s inclusion in dat abases and t hrough it s im pact fact or)( 12).
The im pact fact or st art ed t o be considered as an inst rum ent for evaluat ing scient ific j ournals from t he 1 9 6 0 ’s onw ar ds, by Eugene Gar field, dir ect or of I SI at t hat t im e, as a w ay of classify ing and assessing t he j our nals included in t he dat abase. Only j our nals t hat ar e indexed in I SI ar e consider ed in t he im pact fact or, w hich is calculat ed b y div iding t he num ber of t im es t he ar t icles of a j our nal ar e quot ed in a specific year, in j our nals indexed by I SI , by t he num ber of ar t icles published by t he j our nals in t he t w o pr evious year s( 13).
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Marziale MHP.
The Brazilian scient ific com m unit y is st rongly influenced by t he im pact fact or of t he j ournals it publishes in. The im pact fact or, Science Cit at ion I ndex ( SCI ) , of t he I nst it ut e for Scient ific I nfor m at ion’s dat abase ( I SI ) , published by Journal Cit at ion Report s ( JCR) ,is now used by m ost researchers, t eaching and research inst it ut ions, as w ell as r esear ch and gr aduat e funding agencies, par t icular ly Capes and CNPq( 14).
I SI ’s basic m ission is t o cover t he m ost im port ant st udies carried out on a global base. The dat abases index es appr ox im at ely 16 t housand j our nals in m or e t han 160 k now ledge ar eas.
These include 31 r igor ously select ed Nur sing j our nals( 13). Accor ding t o a st udy by Spanish nur ses, a m ere 0.44% of scient ific j ournals in I SI is from t he Nursing area, m ost of which are of Anglo- Saxon or Nort h-Am er ican or igin( 15). No Lat in- Am er ican j our nal has m anaged t o be index ed in t he dat abase y et . This r ev eals t hat scient ific pr oduct ion in Nur sing has lit t le int er nat ional visibilit y.
The follow ing Nur sing j our nals ar e included in I SI( 16), w it h t heir r espect iv e im pact fact or s: BI RTH- I SS PERI NAT C ( 1 . 7 0 9 ) ; ADV NURS SCI ( 1 . 6 2 5 ) ; NURS OUTLOOK ( 1 . 1 6 9 ) ; NURS RES ( 1 . 1 2 9 ) ; CANCER NURS ( 1 . 1 0 1 ) ; RES NURS HEALTH ( 1 . 0 6 9 ) ; J AD V NURS ( 0 . 9 9 8 ) ; J MI D WI FERY WOM HEAL ( 0 . 8 9 0 ) ; J NURS SCHOLARSHI P ( 0.886) ; J SCHOOL HEALTH ( 0.868) ; J NURS ADMI N ( 0.855) ; NURS SCI QUART ( 0.815) ; J CLI N NURS ( 0 . 6 5 3 ) ; J PROF NURS ( 0 . 6 1 6 ) ; NURS EDUC TODAY ( 0 . 5 9 8 ) ; I NT J NURS STUD ( 0 . 5 8 2 ) ; MI DWI FERY ( 0. 523) ; NURS ETHI CS ( 0. 516) ; WESTERN J NURS RES ( 0. 510) ; PUBLI C HEALTH NURS ( 0. 505) ; APPL NURS RES ( 0.483) ; J PERI NAT NEONAT NUR ( 0.467) ; J NURS EDUC 0.439; ARCH PSYCHI AT NURS ( 0.403) ; J NURS CARE QUAL ( 0.340) ; PERSPECT PSYCHI ATR C ( 0.333) ; NURS CLI N N AM ( 0.281) ; GERI ATR NURS 0.243; CI N-COMPUT I NFORM NU ( 0.217) ; AM J NURS ( 0.193) ; NURS HI ST REV ( 0.045) .
I n v iew of t he cur r ent cont ex t and consider ing t hat t he dissem inat ion of r esear ch r esult s is only one st ep in t h e k n ow ledge pr odu ct ion pr ocess, Br azilian Nu r sin g n eeds t o im plem en t st r at egies w it h a v iew t o hum an r esour ce t r aining, r esear ch pr oduct ion and dissem inat ion. Ther e is a need t o m oder nize t he nur sing form at ion process; t o encourage young creat ive t alent s by involving t hem in research and ext ension act ivit ies; t o st im ulat e st udent s t o be par t of r esear ch gr oups at univ er sit ies and shar e a com m on goal, w it h a v iew t o at t ending social dem ands; r esear cher s ar e r esponsible for sending t heir m anuscr ipt s t o peer - r eview ed j our nals and reviewing ot her nat ional publicat ions, w hile j ournal edit ors should m ake effort s t o im prove edit orial qualit y and get t heir j ournals included in nat ional and int ernat ional dat abases. These can be considered t he challenges of con t em por ar y Nu r sin g.
BI BLI OGRAPHI C REFEREN CES
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