The Pesquisa Agropecuária Tropical (PAT) scientific journal, created in 1971 as “Anais da Escola de Agronomia e Veterinária” of the Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG), has just turned 48 years old. Throughout this period, it has played a relevant role in the dissemination of scientific and technological research results that have supported the development of the agricultural sector, especially in the Brazilian Savannah region. Its scope, initially broad and covering different themes on agronomy and veterinary, from 1999 (the year it changed its identity to PAT) up to nowadays, has gained a greater specificity, focusing on original researches whose subjects have a direct application to tropical agriculture.
Its periodicity was initially annual (up to 1994), then bi-annual (1995 to 2003), every four months (2004 to 2006) and quarterly (2007 to 2018). Throughout this time, 48 volumes, 96 issues and 1,289 articles were published (72 % already as PAT journal). In the first thirty years, the journal was only printed; from 2002 to mid-2009 (v. 39, n. 2), it was printed and online; and after that (v. 39, n. 3) until today, it has been published exclusively online. Regarding its geographical coverage, it began as a local (departmental) journal, having evolved to a regional scientific journal in the 1990s. From 2004, already with its whole retrospective collection online, and with the advance of indexations in reference bases such as AGRIS, CAB, FSTA, DOAJ, Scholar Google and Capes Periodicals, the journal began to gain national visibility; phase that was consolidated between 2010 and 2012, with the indexation in Scopus and SciELO, respectively. Such indexations have also opened space for some international insertion. Besides that, the decision to be an English-language publication, since 2015, was a very important step toward achieving this goal; which will also soon require indexing in the Web of Science.
In agreement with internationally well-qualified scientific journals, we will now take two other important steps in 2019. The first one is the implementation of the continuous publication, which frees the editorial process from the need to close periodic issues (numbers) throughout the year. Thus, we focus on the regularity of the publication of articles within each volume, gaining agility in their online availability and increasing their immediate impact factor. The other step is the publication of thematic series related to the field of agriculture in the tropics, which favors the increase of foreign submissions and, consequently, the international insertion of the journal. Thus, in partnership with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), we are inaugurating this initiative with a special section of articles on aspects of the biology, cultivation and uses of bamboo.
According to Dr. Pablo Jácome Estrella, Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of INBAR, an institution that has promoted the use of bamboo for more than twenty years, the presence of bamboo in tropical and subtropical climates makes this plant a fundamental resource for the lives of millions of people. Bamboo impacts from the small craft market to a multi-million dollar industry, which, together, move 60 billion dollars a year. Most of this is associated with the development of materials that have efficiently replaced wood, plastic, glass, etc. He argues, therefore, that the use options associated with bamboo are perfectly aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, because it represents a large number of products with a good carbon sequestration and potential to replace materials that are greenhouse-intensive, such as PVC, aluminum, steel and concrete. Referring to the plant as the “green gold” of the present and future, he reiterates the importance of using bamboo among carbono neutral strategies to reduce ecological liabilities. He concludes by highlighting the initiative of this special edition, which will bring together technical-scientific contributions to further positioning bamboo as a strategic resource for the sustainable global development.
Finally, by sharing this positive balance of achievements and encouraging perspectives for the consolidation of the PAT journal as a high-level scientific periodical, aiming at its definitive international insertion, on behalf of its Editorial Board, I thank all of you (authors, referees, reviewers, editors and support staff at the UFG), who, in the last almost fifty years, have dedicated a significant part of your time to this qualified and perennial construction of the agricultural sciences for mankind.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
08 Apr 2019 -
Date of issue
2019
History
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Published
7 Feb 2019
