ABSTRACT
As of March 2016, Humberto Reyes, MD, FACP, steps down as Editor-in-Chief of Revista Médica de Chile. He joined its editorial team in 1971, as a part-time Assistant Editor. A few years later he became Associate Editor and since 1996, Editor-in-Chief. During his tenure the journal improved the peer review system and implemented a web platform to handle the editorial process, while following the recommendations established by acknowledged organizations such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Journal Editors (WAME) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Since 2010 he represented Revista Médica de Chile as an ICMJE Member. After an open contest, the Sociedad Médica de Santiago, founder and owner of Revista Médica de Chile since 1872, elected Fernando Florenzano MD as the new Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Reyes leaves this long lasting job with the satisfaction of having conducted an institution considered among mainstream medical journals in spite of being mostly published in Spanish. Revista Médica de Chile receives a high proportion of the research articles that have been generated in the country, subsequently handled by an enthusiastic and solid editorial team whose responsibilities go far beyond selecting the material to be published since they are medical educators striving to help authors to improve their papers before having them published. Conducting this journal has been a fascinating task for this Editor as well as an unforgettable experience.
Subject(s)
History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Periodicals as Topic/history , Publishing/history , Medicine , Chile , Editorial PoliciesABSTRACT
Background: During the years 2008 and 2009, 1,191 biomedical articles authored by Chilean investigators working in Chile were indexed in PubMed. Aims: To evaluate the potential visibility of those articles, according to scientometric indexes of the journals where they were published. Methods: Those journals where the articles had been published were identified and each journals Impact Factor (JIF), 5-year JIF, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), SCImago Quartiles (Q) for 2010 and the Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) for 2008-2009 were identified. Results: Three hundred and twelve articles (26,2%) were dedicated to experimental studies in animals, tissues or cells and they were classified as Biomedicine, while 879 (73,8%) were classified as Clinical Medicine; in both areas the main type of articles were original reports (90% and 73.6%, respectively). Revista Médica de Chile and Revista Chilena de Infectología concentrated the greater number of publications. Articles classified in Biomedicine were published more frequently in English and in journals with higher scientometric indexes than those classified in Clinical Medicine. Conclusions: Biomedical articles dealing with clinical topics, particularly case reports, were published mostly in national journals or in foreign journals with low scientometric indexes. It can be partly attributable to the authors interest in reaching local readers. The evaluation of research productivity should combine several scientometric indexes, selected according to the field of research, the institution's and investigators interests, with a qualitative and multifactorial assessment.