The Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia and the Dissemination of Cardiovascular Science Research in Brazil

Abstract

For over six decades, the development of cardiology and cardiovascular science in Brazil has been documented by the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia. Over these years, major changes have been observed in various fields of expertise, and new fields of investigation and activity have emerged, significantly transforming the contents of our journal. As we begin a new volume of files at the same time they also started a new period in front of the management of the journal, it is important to highlight the main aspects and trends in publications held. Therefore, it is of great importance that among more than 1,500 original manuscripts published by Brazilian authors on journals indexed by Thomson-Reuters in the database Web of Science regarding cardiovascular topics, from 2010 to 2012, about 27% were published by the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia, which makes clear the importance of this journal for the Brazilian cardiology science. With respect to the changes seen in the publications of the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia throughout its existence, the special article published in this edition, by Évora et al., provides an excellent overview on the evolution of the prevalence of major heart diseases based on the manuscripts published over 60 years, during which the journal was indexed at an international level 1 . Over the period analyzed, we observe a progressive increase in the percentage of publications regarding coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, hypertension and congestive heart failure - conditions whose prevalence and whose prevention and treatment actions have become increasingly frequent. In parallel, a decrease in the percentage of manuscripts addressing valvular heart diseases, including rheumatic disease, has been documented, as well as those that refer to Chagas' disease and cardiac arrhythmias. Complementing the set of information obtained in the study mentioned, it was observed that in the publications of the last four years, manuscripts addressing aspects of clinical cardiology, including the monitoring of patients with conditions that include coronary artery disease, heart failure and hypertension accounted for one third of the total number of manuscripts published by the Arquivos. Studies related to basic research and to the study of diagnostic methods, represented about 15% of the publications on an individual basis, while the other areas covered by the journal, such as epidemiology, interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac arrhythmia, pediatric cardiology, exercising and rehabilitation, accounted for 3% to 10% of the manuscripts accepted for publication. Concerning the types of publications, original manuscripts, which represent more than 60% of the studies published by the Arquivos, maintained a distribution similar to the overall distribution of materials accepted for publication. Review manuscripts also focused on the themes of clinical cardiology, basic research and diagnostic methods, while case reports mostly included themes related to interventional cardiology and arrhythmia, in addition to manuscripts related to clinical cardiology and diagnostic methods. The maintenance of regular publications of anatomoclinical and clinical-radiological correlations on each issue of our journal, as well as the points of view of experts of various segments of cardiology, complemented the journal's current scientific and informational contents, which cover virtually all fields of knowledge related to cardiology. Although the aspects presented here partially represent the scope of the Brazilian scientific production in cardiology, they refer solely to the percentage related to manuscripts published in the Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia. Undoubtedly, significant numbers of basic science manuscripts and each of the specific areas of this specialty are published in other channels both in Brazil and in other countries, which represents a major limitation to the generalization of the figures discussed here. Furthermore, it is important to consider the existence of a large number of manuscripts with a considerable scientific merit, which are currently denied by the Arquivos, which has a level of acceptance as low as 25%, publishing around ten original manuscripts per month. In this sense, an increased dissemination of this growing research activity in the context of cardiovascular sciences in our country is necessary, either by creating new journals linked to the Arquivos or by a stronger integration with other cardiology journals published in Brazil.