The Brazilian cardiovascular surgery has lost, over the last few months, three of its most brilliant members who during decades incessantly worked very hard, to consolidate Brazil as one of the world leaders in our specialty. Professors Hugo Felipozzi, Régis Jucá and Sebastião Rabello left to the spiritual world, saddening us and leaving us poorer. Their example, however, is indelibly registered both on those who had the pleasure of personally knowing them and those from future generations who will learn much from their teachings.
This volume of the Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery (BJCVS) is dedicated to them. There are brief obituaries that tell a little of each of their lives. This is one manner in which the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery (SBCVC), using its journal, can recognize the services rendered by these three great masters.
Fortunately, the seed planted by them and other pioneers continues to bear fruit in Brazil, and not only in the area of cardiovascular surgery. The growth of the national scientific production stopped being restricted to only researchers, study centers and publications of the area and it already occupies large spaces in the national media. Recently, the newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" and the magazine "Veja" published reports showing the significance of science in our Country. The "Folha" on October 26th highlighted a growth of 191% from 1988 to 2001 in the number of articles of Latin American authors published in specialized journals, according to the study of the National Science Foundation (NSF) one of the main research development agencies in the United States of America. According to the newspaper, Brazil was the Latin-American Nation with the greatest number of published works in 2001 and the nation that had the greatest growth - it was responsible by 44.1% of science and engineering articles.
The magazine "Veja" in its November 3rd issue, interviewed 12 scientists residing in Brazil whose works have been the most cited in international publications. It is interesting to note that the report starts by highlighting the importance of peer reviewing as one of the mainstays of science, literally quoting that "peer reviewing is what distinguishes science from other observation activities and interference in nature, such as astrology and alchemy".
The BJCVS always had as its principle the importance that approval of articles must be made by peers. The process is frequently slow, with manuscripts normally being sent between the editorial staff and authors various times, but the rigor of the appraisers is essential to improve the final version guaranteeing the credibility that the journal has had for many years.
This thoroughness, together with the care taken during printing, assured financial assistance conceded to scientific publications by CNPq, financial support that even though less than was originally requested, is essential to help with the different expenses of the journal. We are still hopeful that we will be included in Medline. We reiterate that the process is slow, but we have faith that the journal will be approved. Also because of the demands of Medline in respect to the quantity and quality of published works necessary for the journal to be included in the electronic database, we would like to ask all colleagues to continue sending their manuscripts for publication.
In respect to our comments in the last issue, the on-line version of the journal is already available in Scielo in both English and Portuguese. And since October, an alteration was implanted: issues up to 2003 continue to be accessed using the link www.scielo.br/rbccv. To access the issues - in Portuguese and English from 2004, the link is www.scielo.br/bjcvs. We ask colleagues to make a note of the new electronic address and to send the address to other people who access the journal in Brazil and overseas.
Finally, we would like to thank all those who collaborated with the BJCVS in 2004, the authors, reviewers, associated editors, members of the editorial committee, directorate of the BSCVS and advertisers. Without the invaluable help of all, our work would not have been possible. We will take advantage of this opportunity to wish you all a year full of achievements and good news. Happy New Year.
My warmest regards,
Domingo Braile - Editor RBCCV