Looking back at 2010 and ahead at 2011

Dias, Luiz Carlos; Loh, Watson

doi:10.1590/S0103-50532011000100001

EDITORIAL

According to our statistics, the number of submissions seems to have stabilized at a significant level: about 900 manuscripts. From these, 55% belong to foreign authors, from 39 countries, which shows the distinction JBCS has been reaching nationally and abroad, consolidating its international insertion.

Even with the high number of processed articles, we have managed to reduce the submission-online publication average time to 6.6 months (in 2009, it was 7.7 months and in 2008, 8.1). Obviously, we aim at improving the manuscript processing even more, reducing this average time and thus making the journal more and more attractive to authors.

In spite of the publication number increase in the last two years, JBCS has kept an IF greater than 1.45, according to ISI. In 2010, we published 297 articles and 2372 pages in 12 issues, an increase in the number of publications if compared to 2009. The IF stability, despite the publication number increase, reveals a citation number even larger. Such evaluation, though preliminary, shows that the decision to increase the journal periodicity was correct. Stability is fundamental at this stage!

In 2010, two special issues were published and the same is expected to happen next year: a special issue on the XXIX Latin American Chemistry Congress and another on the XV Brazilian Meeting on Inorganic Chemistry (BMIC). It is worth emphasizing that JBCS editorial policy is maintained in relation to the special issues, which assures the quality of the published work and their impact on the citation number.

We believe it is important to share this statistical report with the academic community because it shows the consolidation of our efforts and JBCS future planning direction. Further information on the statistics presented here can be found at http://jbcs.sbq.org.br/stats/10/index.php.

Unfortunately, we have to point out that we still receive a large number of incomplete manuscripts, written in bad English and inadequately formatted. We emphasize it is the authors' entire responsibility to follow the recently updated and detailed JBCS publication pre-requisites, available on its website. Manuscripts with the mentioned deficiencies and others, such as content out of the journal scope, quality, originality and novelty below the journal parameters, are promptly rejected and returned to their authors with no review on the part of the referees.

We would also like to inform that, from the end of 2010 on, both the Organic and Inorganic Chemistry Editorships will only process the manuscripts accompanied with the supporting information file (SI) documenting the identification of the new compounds prepared, with copies of the RMN spectra of ¹H and ¹³ C, high resolution mass spectra, infra red and other necessary techniques. Besides that, authors are expected to detail the experimental procedures, the spectroscopic data, charts and graphs, providing the additional information that enables other researchers to reproduce the work. In the future, we intend to extend this practice to other Editorships, with their respective peculiarities.

All this effort and its operational cost had, in 2010, the financial support of the National Council for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and the Brazilian Chemical Society, as well as the authors' contributions. On the other hand, JBCS, as shown, has been growing year after year and will evidently bring innovations in 2011. So, we hope we can go on counting on the increasing financial support of the funding agencies. But, at the same time, we will look for alternative financing solutions as well as assess the significant costs of maintaining the print edition of the journal, in line with the discussions that have been occurring in the majority of scientific publications.

Concerning the editorial board, the journal has kept its procedure of continuous renewal. The present editorial board has recently been reformulated, with competent researchers from an increasing range of border areas. We now thank Professors Maysa Furlan (UNESP) and Ricardo Longo (UFPE), who are leaving the JBCS Editorial Board, for the pleasant relationship, their invaluable work and dedication to the journal. We welcome the new Associate Editors: Emanuel Carrilho (USP-SC), José Walkimar M. Carneiro (UFF), Monica Tallarico Pupo (USP-RP), Solange Cadore (UNICAMP), Pedro J. M. Abreu (UNL-Portugal) and Teodoro Kaufman (UNR-Argentina). Be welcome! The inclusion of editors from Argentina and Portugal represents another step in the strategy of projecting and consolidating JBCS in the international scenario even more.

2011 brings new perspectives. One of them is the change in the cover layout. From the first issue of the year on, the new cover will bring a Cover Picture, highlighting one of the articles published in the issue. Inside, the Index of Graphical Abstracts will bring a short explanation about the cover picture and the GAs of the other articles. The picture to be shown on the cover will be selected among the regular articles published in each issue. As part of the changes, a new online system for managing the manuscripts is being devised to improve their submission and monitoring processes as well as their peer review. Along with these changes and taking advantage of the International Year of Chemistry, a new web page is being planned, in order to make the journal more and more attractive.

Finally, it is important to mention the Editorial Board members, the authors and the referees as the ones responsible for the success the journal has been achieving. Also important to emphasize that, in the current year, 43% of the referees collaborating with JBCS are from abroad, which confirms the international presence of the journal. We would like to especially thank the referees who dedicated their time in 2010 to carefully review the manuscripts submitted for publication in the JBCS.

Just one more reminder that the year 2011 was proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) the International Year of Chemistry. May it be a great year for everyone!

Luiz Carlos Dias and Watson Loh

JBCS Editors