Revistas depredadoras y secuestradas en cirugía. Qué se debe saber sobre ellas y cómo evitarlas

Las revistas depredadoras (RD), constituyen una gran amenaza para la publicación contemporánea, ya que ofrecen una publicación rápida de acceso abierto a cambio de tarifas sin procedimientos de revisión por pares para científicos jóvenes o inexpertos. Son compañías que priorizan el interés propio a expensas de la academia, caracterizándose por entregar información falsa o engañosa, distorsión de las mejores prácticas editoriales y de publicación, falta de transparencia y uso de tácticas de solicitud de manuscritos indiscriminadas y agresivas. El objetivo de este manuscrito fue generar un documento de estudio sobre las RD y secuestradas; así como de las conferencias depredadoras en cirugía.

Predatory journals (PD) are a major threat to contemporary publishing, as they offer rapid open access publication for fees without peer review procedures for young or inexperienced scientists. Are companies that prioritize self-interest at the expense of academia, characterized by providing false or misleading information, misrepresentation of publishing and editorial best practices, lack of transparency, and use of indiscriminate and aggressive manuscript solicitation tactics. The aim of this manuscript was to generate a study document regarding the PD, hijacked journals and predatory conferences in surgery.

Publicações científicas ampliadas uma revisão integrativa / Extended scientific publications: an integrative review / Publicaciones científicas extendidas: una revisión integradora

Objetivo: investigar o estado da arte das publicações científicas ampliadas voltadas para a dinamização da ciência. Método: pesquisa qualitativa de cunho integrativo nas seguintes bases de dados Web of Science, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts e Scopus via Portal Periódicos Capes, Dimensions, PLOS ONE, Base de Dados Referencial de Artigos de Periódicos em Ciência da Informação e Scientific Eletronic Library Online no período de junho de 2022. Resultados: onze artigos divididos em duas categorias: caracterização das publicações ampliadas e infraestrutura de suporte para as publicações ampliadas. Conclusão: apesar de multivariadas, as publicações ampliadas possuem características peculiares que as tornam objetos digitais compostos e dinâmicos e com melhor experiência para o usuário. Os artigos apontam que não há infraestrutura de suporte nas plataformas de periódicos e quando encontrado, se apresenta simples e com poucos recursos.

Objectives: to investigate the state of the art of expanded scientific publications aimed at boosting science. Method: qualitative research of an integrative nature in the following databases: Web of Science, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts and Scopus via Portal Periodicals Capes, Dimensions, PLOS ONE, Reference Database of Journal Articles in Science of Information and Scientific Electronic Library Online in the period of June 2022. Results: eleven articles divided into two categories: characterization of expanded publications and support infrastructure for expanded publications. Conclusion: Despite being multivariate, expanded publications have peculiar characteristics that make them composite and dynamic digital objects with a better user experience. The articles point out that there is no support infrastructure on journal platforms and when found, it is simple and with few resources.

Objetivos:investigar el estado del arte de las publicaciones científicas ampliadas destinadas al impulso de la ciência. Método: investigación cualitativa de carácter integrador em las siguients bases de datos: Web of Science, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts y Scopus vía Portal Periodicals Capes, Dimensions, PLOS ONE, Reference Database of Journal Articles in Science of Information y Scientific Electronic Library Online en el período de junio de 2022. Resultados:once artículos divididos em dos ctegorías: caracterización de publicaciones expandidas e infraestructura de soporte para publicaciones expandidas. Conclusión: a pesar de ser multivariadas, las publicaciones expandidas tienen características peculiares que las convierten em objetos digitales compuestos y dinâmicos com uma mejor ecperiencia de usuário. Los artículos señalan que no existe uma infraestructura de apovo em las plataformas de revistas y cuando se encuentra es sencilla y com pocos recursos.

Homenaje a la Revista Médica de Chile en sus 150 años de vida (1872-2022) / A tribute to Revista Médica de Chile on its 150th Anniversary (1872-2022)

Revista Médica de Chile was founded in 1872 by Sociedad Médica de Santiago (currently Chilean Society of Internal Medicine) and it is one out of twenty five medical journals founded during the XIX Century that still remain active. In monthly issues it presents clinical and biomedical research articles, as well as research and position papers dealing with medical education, public health or medical ethics. Special attention receive the impact on health care given by the emergence of new private medical schools in Chile, the relevance of methodologies to assess clinical competences in graduates, the certification of specialty programs and specialists, the appropiate use of simulators in clinical training, telemedicine, organ transplants, and current issues in medical ethics, such as abortions and euthanasia. Institutional and international collaboration in medical research is clearly reflected in recent years. Articles are subjected to external peer review and ICMJE Recommendations are carefully considered throughout the review process. Most articles are published in Spanish but English abstracts are mandatory and a growing number of articles are currently published in English. An Open Access electronic version is published by SciELO. Revista Médica de Chile is indexed in the most important international data bases and it is a member of the ICMJE ruling committee. The long life and prestige of this journal can be considered a testimony of the cultural heritage and progress in Chilean medicine.

Factors associated with knowledge of sci-hub in peruvian dental students / Factores asociados al conocimiento del sci-hub en estudiantes peruanos de odontología

Introduction: It is necessary to keep up to date regarding scientific advances, even when having controversial options such as Sci-Hub. The scientific literature is generally limited to opinions about the website, and it is likely that certain personal or academic characteristics of undergraduate students are related to its knowledge. Objective: To identify some socio-educational and scientific factors associated with knowing Sci-Hub in Peruvian dental students. Material and Methods: The study uses a cross-sectional secondary data analysis design. In regard to the main variable, we asked about knowledge of the existence of Sci-Hub and calculated association statistics. Results: There were 263 participants and the average age was 21.7. Of the total, 75% were female, and 59% knew about Sci-Hub. The multivariate analysis showed that knowing scientific journals (aPR: 2.35; 95% CI: 1.43-3.84; p=0.001), publication of scientific articles (aPR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.00-1.54; p=0.046) and bibliographic search training (aPR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.14-1.86; p=0.003) were factors associated with a greater level of knowledge in regard to Sci-Hub. In contrast, there was a lower level of knowledge among those with a basic level of English (aPR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.50-0.82; p=0.001), adjusted for three variables. Conclusion: Slightly more than half of the students know this resource used for obtaining scientific information, and it was predominantly associated with having a scientific background.

Introducción: Es necesario estar actualizados en los avances científicos, habiendo incluso opciones que son controversiales, como lo es Sci-Hub. La literatura científica generalmente se circunscribe a opiniones sobre el sitio web y es probable que ciertas características personales o académicas de los estudiantes de pregrado se relacionen con su conocimiento. Objetivo: Identificar algunos factores socioeducativos y científicos asociados al conocimiento de la existencia del Sci- Hub en estudiantes peruanos de odontología. Material y Métodos: El diseño utilizado fue transversal de análisis de datos secundarios. Para la variable principal se preguntó sobre el conocimiento de la existencia de Sci-Hub y se calcularon estadísticas de asociación. Resultados: En los 263 participantes, el promedio de edad fue de 21,7 años, el 75% era del sexo femenino y el 59% conocía el Sci-Hub. En el análisis multivariado, el conocimiento de revistas científicas (RPa: 2,35; IC 95%: 1,43-3,84; p=0,001), la publicación de artículos científicos (RPa: 1,24; IC 95%: 1,00-1,54; p=0,046) y la capacitación en búsqueda bibliográfica (RPa: 1,45; IC 95%: 1,14-1,86; p=0,003) fueron factores asociados a un mayor conocimiento del Sci-Hub; por el contrario, hubo un menor conocimiento entre los que tenían inglés en nivel básico (RPa: 0,64; IC 95%: 0,50-0,82; p=0,001), ajustado por tres variables. Conclusión: Algo más de la mitad de los estudiantes conoce este recurso para la obtención de información científica, estando asociado predominantemente al tener antecedentes científicos.

Individual integrity and public morality in scientific publishing / Integridade individual e moralidade pública na publicação científica

ABSTRACT. Science and science reporting are under threat. Knowingly or not, researchers and clinicians are part of this debacle. This is not due so much to the notorious replication crisis, as to our acceptance of lowering common morality for personal gains, including the widespread, deprecable phenomenon of predatory publishing. Rather than fiercefully countering this loathsome practice, academics are accepting, often supporting a masquerade solution: paying several thousand dollars to publish for all their own papers. This new policy will create a disparity across richer and poorer disciplines; will result in concentrating even more in the hands of large, rich, Western institutions, also penalising younger researchers; will kill observational studies and exploratory research; and will make disseminating science depending more on finances than on quality. This article calls for the full awareness of the academic community on the risks of the current situation in scientific publishing.

RESUMO. A ciência e os relatórios científicos estão ameaçados. Conscientemente ou não, pesquisadores e médicos fazem parte desse desastre. Isso não se deve tanto à notória crise de replicação, mas à nossa aceitação de rebaixar a moralidade comum para ganhos pessoais, incluindo o fenômeno generalizado e depreciável da publicação predatória. Em vez de combater ferozmente essa prática repugnante, os acadêmicos estão aceitando, muitas vezes até apoiando uma solução de disfarce: pagar vários milhares de dólares para publicar seus próprios artigos. Essa nova política criará uma disparidade entre as disciplinas mais ricas e mais pobres, resultará na concentração ainda maior nas mãos de grandes e ricas instituições ocidentais, penalizando também os pesquisadores mais jovens; matará os estudos observacionais e a pesquisa exploratória e fará com que a divulgação científica dependa mais das finanças do que da qualidade. Este artigo apela à plena consciência da comunidade acadêmica sobre os riscos da situação atual da publicação científica.

A comparison of scientometric data and publication policies of ophthalmology journals

Purpose: This retrospective database analysis study aims to present the scientometric data of journals publishing in the field of ophthalmology and to compare the scientometric data of ophthalmology journals according to the open access (OA) publishing policies. Methods: The scientometric data of 48 journals were obtained from Clarivate Analytics InCites and Scimago Journal & Country Rank websites. Journal impact factor (JIF), Eigenfactor score (ES), scientific journal ranking (SJR), and Hirsch index (HI) were included. The OA publishing policies were separated into full OA with publishing fees, full OA without fees, and hybrid OA. The fees were stated as US dollars (USD). Results: Four scientometric indexes had strong positive correlations; the highest correlation coefficients were observed between the SJR and JIF (R = 0.906) and the SJR and HI (R = 0.798). However, journals in the first quartile according to JIF were in the second and third quartiles according to the SJR and HI and in the fourth quartile in the ES. The OA articles published in hybrid journals received a median of 1.17?fold (0.15–2.71) more citations. Only HI was higher in hybrid OA; other scientometric indexes were similar with full OA journals. Full OA journals charged a median of 1525 USD lower than hybrid journals. Conclusion: Full OA model in ophthalmology journals does not have a positive effect on the scientometric indexes. In hybrid OA journals, choosing to publish OA may increase citations, but it would be more accurate to evaluate this on a journal basis

Open Access and Article Processing Charges in Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Journals: a Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract Introduction: Open access (OA) publishing often requires article processing charges (APCs). While OA provides opportunities for broader readership, authors able to afford APCs are more commonly associated with well-funded, high-income country institutions, skewing knowledge dissemination. Here, we evaluate publishing models, OA practices, and APCs in cardiology and cardiac surgery. Methods: The InCites Journal Citation Reports 2019 directory by Clarivate Analytics was searched for "Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems" journals. Sister journals of included journals were identified. All journals were categorized as predominantly cardiology or cardiac surgery. Publishing models, APCs, and APC waivers were defined for all journals. Results: One hundred sixty-one journals were identified (139 cardiology, 22 cardiac surgery). APCs ranged from $244 to $5,000 ($244-5,000 cardiology; $383-3,300 cardiac surgery), with mean $2,911±891 and median $3,000 (interquartile range [IQR]: $2,500-3,425) across 139 journals with non-zero available APCs ($2,970±890, median $3,000, IQR: $2,573-3,450, cardiology; $2,491±799, median $2,740, IQR: $2,300-3,000, cardiac surgery). Average APCs were $3,307±566 and median $3,250 (IQR: $3,000-3,500) for hybrid journals ($3,344±583, median $3,260, IQR: $3,000-3,690, cardiology; $2,983±221, median $2,975, IQR: $2,780-3,149, cardiac surgery) and $1,997±832 and median $2,100 (IQR: $1,404-2,538) for fully OA journals ($2,039±843, median $2,100, IQR: $1,419-2,604, cardiology; $1,788±805, median $2,000, IQR: $1,475-2,345, cardiac surgery). Waivers were available for 51 (86.4%) fully OA and 37 (37.4%) hybrid journals. Seventeen journals were fully OA without APCs, one journal did not yet release APCs, and four journals were subscription-only. Conclusion: OA publishing is common in cardiology and cardiac surgery with substantial APCs. Waivers remain limited, posing barriers for unfunded and lesser-funded researchers.

Um ano de e-mails não solicitados: o modus operandi de revistas e editoras predatórias / One year of unsolicited e-mails: the modus operandiof predatory journals and publishers

Objetivo: Quantificar, caracterizar e analisar e-mails de revistas predatórias (RP) recebidos por uma pesquisadora da área de odontologia. Materiais e métodos: E-mails recebidos em 2019 e suspeitos de serem potencialmente predatórios foram pré-selecionados. O checklist do Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) para identificar RP biomédicas suspeitas foi aplicado, incluindo os seguintes critérios: taxa/preço de publicação (TP), fator de impacto falso, a revista estar listada no Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) e no Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Também foram extraídas informações sobre a falta de um fator de impacto no Journal Citations Reports, endereço de contato de e-mail não afiliado à revista, linguajar lisonjeiro, citação pessoal e/ou de um artigo, link de cancelamento de inscrição do tipo unsubscribe, estar listado no catálogo atual da National Library of Medicine (NLM) e estar indexado no Medline. Resultados: Um total de 2.812 e-mails suspeitos não solicitados foram recebidos e 1.837 requisitaram algum tipo de manuscrito; entre eles, 1.751 preencheram algum critério do OHRI. Menos da metade (780/1.837, 42%) referiu-se a alguma área da odontologia. A TP mediana foi de US$ 399. Um falso fator de impacto foi mencionado em 11% (201/1.837) dos e-mails e 27% (504/1.837) correspondiam a periódicos atualmente listados no catálogo da NLM. Os periódicos listados no DOAJ e COPE enviaram 89 e-mails. Conclusão: A campanha editorial das RP, sob a forma de e-mails, foi intensa e recorrente. Os pesquisadores devem estar bem informados sobre o modus operandi das RP para proteger sua própria reputação como autores, assim como a reputação da ciência

Objectives: To quantify, characterize and analyze e-mail from predatory journals (PJ) received by an academic in dentistry. Materials and methods: E-mails received in 2019 and suspected of being potentially predatory were pre-selected. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) checklist was applied to identify the suspected biomedical PJ, including the following criteria: article processing charge (APC), fake impact factor, the journal being listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We also extracted information on the lack of an impact factor on Journal Citations Reports, non-journal affiliated contact e-mail address, flattering language, article and/or personal citation, unsubscribe link, being listed in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) current catalog and indexed on Medline. Results: A total of 2,812 unsolicited suspected e-mails were received, and 1,837 requested some sort of manuscript; among these, 1,751 met some of the OHRI criteria. Less than half (780/1,837, 42%) referred to some area of dentistry. The median APC was US$399. A false impact factor was mentioned in 11% (201/1,837) of the e-mails, and 27% (504/1,837) corresponded to journals currently listed in the NLM catalog. Journals listed in DOAJ and COPE sent 89 e-mails. Conclusions: The email campaign from PJ was high and recurrent. Researchers should be well informed about PJ' modus operandi to protect their own reputation as authors and that of science.

Identification of Fraudulent Scientific Journals

ABSTRACT: There is a growing need to produce scientific publications in universities, with the resulting increase in manuscripts submitted for review to scientific journals. Open access, a model designed to increase the dissemination of knowledge, has become a business model for certain fraudulent or predatory journals, which see the payment of publication rates by the authors as a money-making venture. These journals take advantage of some researchers' lack of knowledge about the types of journals and how the normal publishing process of a serious journal works, characterized by a peer review of the scientific work, a process that usually takes several months. Predatory journals are a real threat, for both the quality of scientific articles published and for the authors, who pay high prices to have their work published in journals of low or no quality. The aim of this article is to describe the characteristics of the existing scientific journals a nd highlight aspects that authors should consider to identify and avoid fraudulent journals.

RESUMEN: Existe una necesidad creciente de producir publicaciones científicas en las universidades, con el consiguiente incremento de manuscritos enviados a evaluación a las revistas científicas. El open access, un modelo originado para aumentar la diffusion del conocimiento, se transformó en un modelo de negocio para ciertas revistas fraudulentas o depredadoras, que vieron en el pago de las tasas de publicación por parte de los autores una oportunidad de ganar dinero. Estas revistas se aprovechan del bajo conocimiento que tienen algunos investigadores sobre los tipos de revistas existentes y sobre cómo funciona el proceso editorial normal de una revista seria, que se caracteriza por una revisión por parte de pares del trabajo científico, proceso que suele durar varios meses. Las revistas depredadoras son una amenaza real, tanto para la calidad de los artículos científicos publicados como para los autores, que pagan elevados presios por la publicación de sus trabajos en revistas con bajo o ningún estándar de calidad. El objetivo de este artículo es describir las características de las revistas científicas existentes y resaltar aspectos que los autores debieran considerar para identificar y evitar revistas fraudulentas.

Workshop 2019: Encuentro de Editores de Revistas Médico Científicas / Workshop 2019: Meeting of Medical Scientific Journal Editors

INTRODUCCIÓN. Los encuentros académicos públicos de expertos en divulgación cien-tífica que a través de órganos de registro y difusión oficial de revistas promueven el progreso de la ciencia, son un canal de comunicación entre la comunidad científica, tra-ducen el conocimiento de las disciplinas, educan y actualizan al profesional en sus roles de autor, lector, revisor, editor. Se fundamentan en políticas públicas y conducta ética. OBJETIVO. Describir las memorias del encuentro de editores, noviembre 2019, como insumo para las autoridades competentes que contribuya a establecer políticas y estrate-gias que permitan elevar la calidad científica, así como el proceso editorial de las revistas científicas en salud del Ecuador. MATERIALES Y MÉTODOS. Estudio observacional, descriptivo, con población y muestra conocida, obtención de la información en el sistema de gestión documental del Hospital de Especialidades Carlos Andrade Marín, noviembre 2019. RESULTADOS. Estadística descriptiva del perfil de los asistentes, descripción de problemas, soluciones y aportes. CONCLUSIÓN. Obtención de insumos del encuentro de editores en las "Buenas Prácticas del Proceso Editorial". Organización, estructura, norma, rol del equipo editorial, revisión de pares y Plan Anual de Capacitación Continua.

INTRODUCTION. Public academic meetings of experts in scientific dissemination that through the registration and official dissemination bodies of journals promote the progress of science, are a channel of communication between the scientific community, transla-te knowledge of the disciplines, educate and update the professional in their roles as author, reader, reviewer, editor. They are based on public policies and ethical conduct. OBJECTIVE. Describe the memories of the meeting of editors, November 2019, as an input for the competent authorities that contributes to establishing policies and strategies that allow raising scientific quality, as well as the editorial process of scientific journals in health in Ecuador. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Descriptive study, with a population and a known sample, obtaining the information in the document management system of the Carlos Andrade Marin Specialties Hospital, November 2019. RESULTS. Descriptive statistics of the assistants profile, description of problems, solutions and contributions. CONCLUSION. Obtaining inputs from the meeting of editors in the "Good Practices of the Editorial Process". Organization, structure, norm, role of the editorial team, peer review and Annual Continuous Training Plan.

Acesso aberto a artigos, dados e materiais de pesquisa na RBMFC / Open access to articles, data and research materials on RBMFC / Acceso abierto a artículos, datos y materiales de investigación en RBMFC

Acesso aberto aos artigos, dados e materiais de pesquisa são alguns elementos-chave da ciência aberta, um movimento plural que visa a transformar a criação e a comunicação do conhecimento científico. Graças à publicação de artigos em acesso aberto e à adoção de boas práticas editoriais, a RBMFC tem seus artigos indexados na LILACS e, mais recentemente, no DOAJ. A RBMFC também adota as diretrizes Transparency and Openness Promotion do Center for Open Science, e disponibiliza suas referências na CrossRef em domínio público, graças ao que a revista foi incluída no índice de citações OpenCitations. Com isso, a RBMFC espera tornar mais acessível, democrática e eficiente a pesquisa em medicina de família e comunidade e atenção primária à saúde.

Open access to research articles, data and materials are some key elements of open science, a plural movement that aims to transform the creation and communication of scientific knowledge. Thanks to the publication of articles in open access and the adoption of good editorial practices, RBMFC has its articles indexed in LILACS and, more recently, in DOAJ. RBMFC also adopts the Transparency and Openness Promotion guidelines from the Center for Open Science, and makes its references in CrossRef available in the public domain, thanks to which the journal was included in the OpenCitations citation index. With this, RBMFC hopes to make research in family and community medicine and primary health care more accessible, democratic and efficient

El acceso abierto a artículos, datos y materiales de investigación son algunos de los elementos clave de la ciencia abierta, un movimiento plural que tiene como objetivo transformar la creación y comunicación del conocimiento científico. Gracias a la publicación de artículos en acceso abierto y la adopción de buenas prácticas editoriales, RBMFC tiene sus artículos indexados en LILACS y, más recientemente, en DOAJ. RBMFC también adopta las directrices Transparency and Openness Promotion del Center for Open Science, y hace que sus referencias en CrossRef estén disponibles en el dominio público, gracias a lo cual la revista fue incluida en el índice de citas de OpenCitations. Con esto, RBMFC espera que la investigación en medicina familiar y comunitaria y atención primaria de salud sea más accesible, democrática y eficiente.

Cómo tener éxito al empezar a publicar en revistas médicas. Consideraciones para autores inexpertos, que podrían interesar también a los expertos / How can you succeed in having your manuscript published in a medical journal. Advices to inexpert authors that can also be useful to senior authors

Young authors may benefit by some advices on how to proceed when they decide to write a manuscript and submit it to a medical journal. They should start by selecting the journal considering the topic and nature of their study, how relevant the results seem and the interest it may have in editors and readers. A reasonable choice should consider new journals that publish good papers selected after external peer review. Then they should study and follow the Instructions to Authors of the chosen journal. A strong call is given to recognize and avoid "predatory journals". Specific statements refer to Instructions to Authors and language requirements by the journal, the need to follow "ICMJE Recommendations", the correct assignment of authorship, and a strict observance of ethical regulations in biomedical and clinical research. Special mention is given to provide a good abstract, in English, either descriptive or structured depending on the nature of their study. These advices may be useful as well as a reminder to older authors on how to improve their manuscripts before submitting them to a mainstream medical journal.

Open Access Publishing in India: Coverage, Relevance, and Future Perspectives

Open access (OA) publishing is a recent phenomenon in scientific publishing, enabling free access to knowledge worldwide. In the Indian context, OA to science has been facilitated by government-funded repositories of student and doctoral theses, and many Indian society journals are published with platinum OA. The proportion of OA publications from India is significant in a global context, and Indian journals are increasingly available on OA repositories such as Pubmed Central, and Directory of Open Access Journals. However, OA in India faces numerous challenges, including low-quality or predatory OA journals, and the paucity of funds to afford gold OA publication charges. There is a need to increase awareness amongst Indian academics regarding publication practices, including OA, and its potential benefits, and utilize this modality of publication whenever feasible, as in publicly-funded research, or when platinum OA is available, while avoiding falling prey to poor quality OA journals.

Comprehensive Approach to Open Access Publishing: Platforms and Tools

The Open Access Initiative is gaining momentum due to the worldwide availability of advanced digital tools, online publishing platforms, and systems for tracking academic contributions. Several declarations and initiatives, including Plan S, have already laid a foundation for moving away from subscription to full and immediate open-access publishing. The global initiatives imply targeting journals satisfying the upgraded quality and visibility criteria. To meet these criteria, a comprehensive approach to Open Access is recommended. This article overviews the essential components of the comprehensive approach, increasing transparency, adherence to ethical standards, and diversification of evaluation metrics. With the increasing volume of quality open-access journals, their indexing with free databases and search engines is becoming increasingly important. The Directory of Open Access Journals and PubMed Central currently free searches of open-access sources. These services, however, cannot fully satisfy the increasing demands of the users, and attempts are underway to upgrade the indexing and archiving of open-access sources in China, Japan, Korea, Russia, and elsewhere. The wide use of identifiers is essential for transparency of scholarly communications. Peer reviewers are now offered credits from Publons. These credits are transferrable to their Open Researcher and Contributor iDs. Various social media channels are increasingly used by scholars to comment on articles. All these comments are tracked by related metric systems, such as Altmetrics. Combined with traditional citation evaluations, the alternative metrics can help timely identify and promote publications influencing education, research, and practice.

Historia, propósitos y características de las revistas médicas / History, purposes and characteristics of medical journals

Medical journals are fundamental elements in medical education, in professional life, in research and in academic careers. They communicate new scientific and clinical findings, legitimate and give credibility to biomedical and clinical investigation, are guarantors of the authors' intellectual property, are a useful forum for the discussion of relevant topics, distribute selected information to readers and are archives of their publications. Out of the numerous medical journals appeared before and during the XIXth Century, only 24 of them remain active until today and Revista Médica de Chile appears as number 20 in the list. Nowadays thousands of medical journals are published worldwide but only a small fraction are qualified as "mainstream journals", because they strictly apply an independent editorial process with clear criteria in manuscript selection based in external peer review, format requisites according to ICMJE Recommendations, are included in major databases, publish a high proportion of research articles, and other reasons. English language predominates in mainstream journals and abstracts in English become available in some databases. Electronic publications and open access are important tools to disseminate new information but the appearance of "predatory journals" is a threatening menace to the integrity of medical publications. Authors should identify and reject them. Some reflections may help those who intend to create new medical journals.

Revistas depredadoras: una nueva amenaza a las publicaciones científicas / Predatory journals: a new threat to scientific publications

The goal of the Open Access movement is to promote free access to scientific literature. From its creation in the nineties it has been a fundamental support to the democratization of knowledge. In the last years, however, a new fraud model has been detected: journals that use open access publications as "Predatory Journals", which do not fulfill minimal quality standards and profit with the model. To inform the Latin American community about such editorial malpractice, we have reviewed the literature about this issue, aiming to explain what predatory journals are, how to detect them and how they contact authors. One of this article's main conclusion is that students, academics and researchers need to develop skills to recognize this or any other kinds of publication fraud.