As we mentioned in the last letter, História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhoshas added new team members to reinforce its editorial board. Five new names will be included in the group that has contributed to the journal for some time. In addition to Charles Pessanha, Gilberto Hochman, Ildeu de Castro Moreira, Luiz Antônio de Castro Santos and Margarida de Souza Neves – a valuable legacy of the editorial management of our predecessor, and currently a member of our editorial board, Jaime Benchimol – Gabriela Soto Laveaga, of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Karina Ramacciotti, a researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Conicet) and the Universidad de Buenos Aires; Nelson Sanjad, a member of Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi and of the Postgraduate Department in Social History of the Amazon of Universidade Federal do Pará; and also Paul Drinot of the University College London, are all coming aboard.

Our section “Books & Networks” also has a new editor, Ana Carolina Vimieiro Gomes, a young professor at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. We take this opportunity to thank Carlos Henrique de Assunção Paiva, a colleague at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz who for some time has been responsible for this important section, for his long and devoted collaboration. The editors of the other sections will remain in their posts for the next four years, which we established as mandates – with possible renewal – for the members of our editorial board, as a way to ensure rotation among the members. The next issue will bring timely changes in the editorial board, the intention being to render it more compact and more representative of the geographic and institutional diversity of the journal.

We have established new rules for submitting reviews, namely shorter texts, such that more of them can be published. In this way, we believe that História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos will be able to keep pace in a more agile way with the intense dynamism of academic production in the history of medicine, public health, life sciences and neighboring areas that overlap with these fields of knowledge.

The academic credentials of the new editors are easy to find on the internet. They are all researchers of international renown, encompassing diverse topics of general historiography as well as the history sciences of medicine and public health, with prior experience as editors of journals similar to História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos. With the assistance of the new and existing editorial advisors, we hope to tackle swiftly and efficiently the growing volume of manuscripts we are now receiving via the ScholarOne online submission system. It is also our goal to promote the internationalization of the journal.

In addition to spontaneously submitted articles, this issue presents the dossier “Histories of poliomyelitis” coordinated by Adriana Alvarez and Dilene Raimundo do Nascimento. Containing part of the production of the Red de Estudios de la Polio y de la Síndrome Pós-polimielitis en Iberoamerica, the articles of this collection reappraise the disease that has constituted a serious public health problem for many years, especially among children.

Among the other published works, one of the highlights is the interesting interview with historian Bruno Leal, the founder of the Café História website, which has a large following among individuals interested in history, be they lay people or experts. Bruno stresses the importance of historians broadcasting their findings in the virtual media and analyzes the challenges and future of these practices in the current scenario of historiography. His opinions, contained in the “Interview” section, are on similar lines to the words of Carlos Fico (coordinator of the history area of Capes) transcribed in the “Debate” section. They were delivered on June 10, 2014, in a meeting with students and faculty of the Graduate Program in History of Science and Health of Casa de Oswaldo Cruz. In the two sections of the journal, the reader will find valuable insights from professionals working on different yet complementary fronts of historiographical practice: one, in direct dealings with the “consumer” public of historical knowledge; the other, between decision makers on policies and actions relating to the system of graduate and research studies. Both deal with these two areas, showing that they are – or should be – close overlapping in an institutionalized community that is mature and committed to its social roles.

In the dark times we live in, with an upsurge of social, cultural and political conservatism, of religious fundamentalism of varied stripe that threaten the meager conquests of the social welfare state in Brazil and abroad, we share with the reader our exhilaration at the breakthrough that same-sex marriage represents for human rights after the ruling in favor handed down by the United States Supreme Court. It is certainly an achievement that transcends the borders of that country and the groups that directly benefit from the measure. Without overlooking the fact that other countries were pioneers in this achievement, we must acknowledge the legitimacy generated by the adhesion of Americans, all the more so if we consider that social conservatism and religious fundamentalism prevail with significant force in that country.

Enjoy the read!

André Felipe Cândido da Silva, science editor
and Marcos Cueto, science editor

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Jul-Sep 2015