REVISTA DIREITO GV IN NUMBERS: 2022 BALANCE SHEET AND OUTLOOK FOR 2023

Summary

This editorial takes stock of the year of 2022 at Revista Direito GV, presenting general data on the flow of manuscripts submitted to the journal during the year. It also presents the outlook for 2023, a year marked by major changes at Revista Direito GV, with the implementation of a new Editorial Policy. As we have done since 2017, we present, through quantitative data, the various dimensions of the editorial workload, such as the number of submissions received, geographical distribution, and number of peer reviews issued. More recently, we have sought to incorporate the gender dimension of the submitting authors. The overall aim is to provide information to the journal community, maintain a record of key milestones, and offer broad transparency regarding our editorial processes, always with a view toward improving our editorial work as a whole and elevating the quality of the articles published.

Keywords
Law; scientific publishing; article submission; peer review; gender

Resumo

Este editorial oferece um balanço do ano de 2022 na Revista Direito GV, apresentando dados gerais relativos ao fluxo de manuscritos submetidos à revista durante o ano. Expõe também as perspectivas para 2023, ano que será marcado por grandes mudanças na Revista Direito GV, tendo em vista a entrada em vigor de uma nova Política Editorial. Como fazemos desde 2017, apresentamos, por meio de dados quantitativos, as várias dimensões do trabalho editorial, como número de submissões recebidas, distribuição geográfica e quantidade de pareceres emitidos. Mais recentemente, buscamos incorporar a dimensão de gênero das autoras e dos autores responsáveis pelas submissões. O objetivo geral é prestar informações à comunidade da revista, manter um histórico de seus principais marcos e oferecer ampla transparência dos nossos processos editoriais, sempre com vistas ao aperfeiçoamento do trabalho editorial como um todo e à elevação da qualidade dos artigos publicados.

Palavras-chave
Direito; editoração científica; submissão de artigos; avaliação por pares; gênero

Introduction

As usual, Revista Direito GV begins the year of 2023 with a balance sheet that reflects its trajectory of progress, its numbers throughout 2022, and the outlook for the current year. As in previous issues, we have set ourselves the task of providing objective information to the community of authors, evaluators, and readers regarding the workings of the journal, providing ample transparency of our editorial processes. It includes statistics on the number of submissions received, geographical distribution and gender of authors, number of peer reviews issued, average evaluation time, etc. With these annual editorials, we also hope to keep a record of the main modifications and projects implemented. In addition, we are announcing upcoming changes which, in the case of 2023, are important due to the adoption of a new Editorial Policy. Let’s get to the data.

1. Submissions

Graph 1 below shows the number of new articles submitted to Revista Direito GV since 2011. In this graph, we see all submissions made during each year, which includes (i) original articles (submitted for the first time) and (ii) resubmissions (articles that received a reject and resubmit decision and came back amended).

Graph 1 -
New Submissions since 2011

As displayed in the graph above, after three consecutive years with a total of new submissions exceeding 500 articles annually (2019, 2020, and 2021), 2022 faced a drop in submission numbers.

It is important to note that not all new submissions proceed to the desk review stage. This is because there are a large number of manuscripts that, after a minimum formal requirements analysis, are returned to the authors for adjustments and never come back. Graph 2 below shows the number of submissions that underwent evaluation process.

Graph 2 -
Submissions that went on to the evaluation stage

These figures, however, do not yet reflect the total number of submissions that occur each year. This is because, in a year, we receive not only new submissions but also a considerable number of revisions (from either previous years or that same year), which have been peer-reviewed. By considering the total number of submissions (all new submissions plus revisions), it is possible to obtain the data shown in Graph 3, interpreted as the journal’s total annual work volume.

Graph 3 -
Total submissions

It is worth noting that, when considering total submissions (new articles plus reviews), as shown in Graph 3, the drop is much less significant when compared to the number of new submissions (see Graph 1). The journal’s workload and editorial flow in 2022 did not fall in the sharp proportion that Graph 1, which shows new submissions alone, suggests at first glance. In fact, the processing of reviews involves much more in-depth editorial work than that of new submissions, especially considering that most of them do not necessarily undergo to peer review.

There may be exogenous factors conditioning this slowdown in the number of new and total submissions, such as expectations generated by Qualis/Capes regulations and the very fact that we are in the middle of the quadrennium, when researchers may be more focused on research rather than on publishing. However, the journal also restrains the number of approvals in desk review to guarantee optimum quality and responsiveness in the editorial work. The changes made to the Editorial Policy (further discussed in section 5) will work to that effect.

It remains true that a significant number of submissions do not make it past the initial stages of analysis, either because they fail to comply with the minimum formal requirements of our Editorial Policy, or because the content is not in line with it. In these cases, the evaluation is closed before peer review (receiving a desk review rejection).

Strictly speaking, it is not possible to accurately calculate the proportion of articles received and published per year, given that the evaluation period for an article can often exceed a year. It remains a reliable estimate, however, that the percentage of articles published in relation to those received does not exceed a threshold of 10%.

With regard to the geography of authors who submit articles for evaluation, the scenario for 2022 was as follows: São Paulo remained the state with the most articles submitted - 22% of all submissions - followed by Minas Gerais (12%), Rio de Janeiro (8%), the Federal District (7.7%), and Rio Grande do Sul (7.7%) - making these the five Brazilian states with the most contributions. The Southeastern region itself was responsible for 46.9% of submissions. The second region with the most submitted works was the Northeast, with 20%; followed by the South (16%), Midwest (12.3%), and North (4.9%).

Internationally, authors from 16 different countries submitted articles to Revista Direito GV in 2022. Naturally, Brazil comes first, with the highest number of submissions, followed by Portugal (with 8 submissions); Ukraine (4 submissions); Argentina, Colombia, and Spain (with 3 submissions each); and, with 1 submission each, Germany, Kazakhstan, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Russia, France, India, Iraq, Italy, and Norway.

2. Average times

Table 1 below shows that the average time (in days) between submission and final decision, for assessing all manuscripts, has been in decline since we first started measuring this data: from 200 days in 2016 to 122 days in 2022.

Table 1 -
Average time (in days), between submission and final decision, for evaluating manuscripts (2016-2022)

	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
AVERAGE TIME (DAYS)	200	177	170	131	141	136	122

• Source: In-house compilation, based on archives of Revista Direito GV and ScholarOne Manuscripts/Revista Direito GV.

In recent years, we have tried to establish different strategies to reduce our evaluation time averages, and we consider it as an excellent result to have achieved our shortest average between submission and final decision since 2016. This timeframe, one of just 4 months, is, in fact, below that of the 6 months established by Scielo (SCIELO, 2022).

However, there is still a major challenge to be met. The target average processing time for manuscripts between submission and publication is 12 months (SCIELO, 2022). We have observed that, in 2022, this average was approximately of 19 months, as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 -
Average time (in days), between submission and publication, for evaluating manuscripts (2018-2022)

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
AVERAGE TIME (DAYS)	480	416	453	465	576

• Source: In-house compilation, based on archives of Revista Direito GV and ScholarOne Manuscripts/Revista Direito GV.

With regard to the increase in the average length of time between submission and publication, it was adopted a number of practices, still in 2022, with the aim of reducing such timeframe as much as possible. We reinforced our preliminary desk review process, sending to peer review only those articles that are aligned with the editorial scope and prove themselves well-written and innovative. In addition, we have started publishing annually a single volume in continuous flow, which streamlines internal procedures for the production, publication, and dissemination of articles, in an effort to imbue dynamism into the editorial production process and maximize the benefits of continuous flow. Finally, we are currently publishing 40 articles per volume - in comparison to 36 in the year of 2022. It is expected that this increase in capacity, although small, will have a positive impact on the previously mentioned timeframes. Further improvements to the editorial process can be found in section 5 below.

3. Peer review

The number of invitations issued at the double-blind peer review stage in 2022 remained similar to those of 2021. In 2022, 506 invitations were issued, whereas in 2021 the number was at 511. Fortunately, though the number of invitations dipped slightly in 2022, the number of reviews issued increased 215 in total (as compared to 202 in 2021). Another positive finding was that fewer reviewers were needed to evaluate the manuscripts that year (199) since a commendable 16 reviewers were able to evaluate more than one manuscript each over the course of 2022.

Nevertheless, Graph 4 below shows the continuing bottleneck in the editorial process, given that, over the last two years, a very large number of invitations has been necessary (around 500) to issue approximately 200 peer reviews by the end of each year. In other words, on average, more than two invitations have to be made (2.5 more precisely) for each peer review issued, with some extreme cases requiring more than 10.

Graph 4 -
Number of invitations to peer review versus number of peer reviews issued (2020-2022)

4. Distribution by gender

As discussed in previous editorials, there is a persistent gender inequality present among submissions to Revista Direito GV when analyzing the gender profile of authors whose manuscripts have been submitted.

The scenario for 2022 remained practically unchanged considering the percentage of articles solely written by male authors, with a slight increase in the volume of articles of mixed authorship - with an increase from 26% in 2021 to 30% in 2022 - accompanied by a decrease in the number of submissions exclusively authored by women, which had previously remained stable at 29%, however, declined to 22% in 2022. Graph 5 below illustrates this scenario.

Graph 5 -
Percentage of submissions by author gender (2019 to 2022)

The difference present at the time of submission may have an impact on the gender ratio represented within the authorship of articles eventually published by the journal. In 2021, women authors published on the pages of Revista Direito GV accounted for 49%, on the other hand, men accounted for 51% of articles. In 2022, the gap widened to 44% among women and 56% among men.

Although women are a majority group in postgraduate programs across the country, surpassing the 60% mark for students in the humanities (MARTINS and FRANÇA, 2022), they are still promoted less often than men and remain under-represented in senior teaching positions (ROTHBLUM, 2023). Publishing is a key element in the professional success of women in the academy. At Revista Direito GV we see a low proportion of submissions exclusively from women authors, which, unfortunately, may be a reflection of the various difficulties they face in the academy. We are aware of it and we also seek for dissemination strategies focused on female researchers and professors, with a view to achieving gender parity at the time of publication.

5. Outlook for 2023 and new Editorial Policy

The major news for 2023 is the adoption of a new Editorial Policy, effective as of January (REVISTA DIREITO GV, 2023). It is possible to evidence main changes below:

• Strengthening the continuous publication strategy

As of 2023, Revista Direito GV will adopt a single annual volume format, coupled with a system of continuous publication. Under this system, articles are published as soon as they are approved and edited, without the need to wait for a complete set of vetted manuscripts to be promptly available in a single batch.

Continuous publication speeds up scientific communication, and its adoption follows both SciELO guidelines and the international drive toward quicker releases. According to SciELO Brazil Criteria, “continuous publication contributes decisively to speeding up the dissemination of research and thus advances the exposure of such research with a gain in visibility” (SCIELO, 2022, p. 25).

The single annual volume, in continuous publication format, will bring together a minimum of 40 articles (in place of the previous practice of 3, 12-article issues totalizing 36 pieces per year) and will facilitate internal editorial production, publication, and dissemination processes.

Thus, there is an encouraging expectation that this new configuration will significantly speed up the average publication time for Revista Direito GV.

• Changes in editorial scope

Another important change concerns the editorial focus at Revista Direito GV. The journal has now adopted a narrower editorial scope, emphasizing its ties to the research DNA at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, São Paulo School of Law (FGV DIREITO SP), its main sponsor.

One of the aims of narrowing the scope is to try to work around the immense number of articles with no potential for publication submitted to the journal, thus focusing on energy and resources on evaluating cutting-edge research and more seasoned researchers.

As part of this effort, it was introduced a procedural change to the qualification of authors: the new Editorial Policy now requires a master’s degree in case of single-author works and, in case of co-authored articles, at least one co-author with a PhD degree.

• Adherence to the practices of open science

Finally, Revista Direito GV is promoting the alignment of its editorial policy and management with open science practices - also in line with SciELO guidelines and international research trends (SCIELO, 2022).

Accordingly, the new Editorial Policy encourages the deposit of manuscripts onto preprint servers before submission, and the upload of research data sets to open data verses like Scielo Data. Likewise, opening the peer review process is encouraged.

Altogether, the adoption of a single annual volume combined with continuous publication, the change in editorial scope, and our adherence to open science practices are part of a continuous effort to improve and update our procedures and work. It is expected that these changes will bring greater efficiency, quality, and agility to the editorial process at Revista Direito GV.

Therefore, we invite the entire journal community to read the full version of our Editorial Policy (REVISTA DIREITO GV, 2023).

CONCLUSION

We graciously acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by the community responsible for maintaining and improving Revista Direito GV: authors, evaluators, and readers. We publicly thank everyone for the commitment and dedication, without which the work of the journal would not be possible.

We also share our delight at the quality of the articles published in 2022. Fortunately, our readers remain numerous and avid. The figures indicate that the quality of Revista Direito GV continues on an upward trend. It is with great pleasure that we publish these statistics, with the expectation that this joyfull trajectory will perpetuate and deepen with the insights proposed by the new Editorial Policy of 2023.

REFERÊNCIAS

• MARTINS, Thaís Cavalcante; FRANÇA, Roberta Kelly. Elas na universidade [parte 2]: participação das mulheres nos programas de pós-graduação no Brasil. SOU_CIÊNCIA, Feb. 25th, 2022. Available at: Available at: https://souciencia.unifesp.br/opiniao/elas-na-universidade-parte-2-participacao-das-mulheres-nos-programas-de-pos-graduacao-no-brasil Accessed on: Mar. 30th, 2023.
  » https://souciencia.unifesp.br/opiniao/elas-na-universidade-parte-2-participacao-das-mulheres-nos-programas-de-pos-graduacao-no-brasil
• REVISTA DIREITO GV. Política Editorial São Paulo: FGV DIREITO SP, 2023. Available at: Available at: https://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/ojs/index.php/revdireitogv/politicaeditorial Accessed on: Apr. 13th, 2023.
  » https://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/ojs/index.php/revdireitogv/politicaeditorial
• ROTHBLUM, Esther D. Mentoring Women to Publish in Order to Thrive in the Academic Patriarchy. Psychology of Women Quarterly, [online], v. 47, n. 1, p. 8-15, Mar. 2023. Available at: Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03616843221137294 Accessed on: Oct. 25th 2023.
  » https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03616843221137294
• SCIENTIFIC ELECTRONIC LIBRARY ONLINE - SCIELO. Critérios, política e procedimentos para a admissão e a permanência de periódicos na Coleção SciELO Brasil. São Paulo, Sept. 2022. Available at: Available at: https://www.scielo.br/media/files/20220900-criterios-scielo-brasil.pdf Accessed on: Apr. 11th, 2023.
  » https://www.scielo.br/media/files/20220900-criterios-scielo-brasil.pdf

• How to Quote This Editorial:

  BARBIERI, Catarina Helena Cortada; NOYA, Henrique Cruz; BUZOLIN, Lívia Gonçalves. Revista Direito GV in Numbers: 2022 Balance Sheet and Outlook for 2023. Revista Direito GV, São Paulo, v. 19, e2301, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6172202301

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  04 Dec 2023
• Date of issue
  2023