EDITORIAL
A Historical Meeting
Domingo Braile * * Editor RBCCV/BJCVS
This Editorial could not be written without reproducing a letter written by me just after the meeting I had with Mr. Sheldon Kotzin, MD, the Scientific Review Administrator of the National Library of Medicine (Medline) on May 4, 2007.
"Dear Friends
Finally, today, Mr. Sheldon Kotzin have received at NIH/NLM headquarters, at 11 a.m. sharp, to discuss the inclusion of RBCCV/BJCVS in MEDLINE. In the morning, I was referred to Mr. Sheldon Kotzin by Mr. Tomas Salerno, MD, who had already called Mr. Sheldon Kotzin. This was a good start... As soon as I walked into the room I saw one of our journals on Mr. Sheldon's table.
Mr. Sheldon was extremely kind and very receptive. Immediately he asked for Mr. Steven J. Phillips, MD, who was a Cardiac Surgeon, and presently he works at NLM, and he is probably to be one of the reviewers of RBCCV/BJCVS. He was very kind too. He said he knew me by name as well as many other Brazilian surgeons, such as Valmir Fontes. The meeting lasted more than an hour and a half and an informal chat flowed with concrete demonstrations of affection and goodwill to help us. Mr. Steven Phillips suggested that the abstracts should be written in perfect English and the MESH should be the most complete as possible. I was also requested to send three recommendation letters to include RBCCV/BJCVS in MEDLINE. These letters should be written by prominent surgeons, preferably from outside of our Editorial Board. A letter had already been requested to Mr. Salerno by Mr. Steven Phillips. Now, we have to select three more names, what will be very easy. Mr. Steven likes Mr. Manuel Antunes very much and made a suitable recommendation to put him on the Editorial Board because he can speak English very well. Besides Mr. Manuel Antunes is a recognized leader in European Cardiac Surgery.
A well-elaborated "Dossier", prepared by Rosangela, was personally handed over by me to Mr. Sheldon showing that most of what was being suggested was already included in the document. Mr. Sheldon insisted that the Electronic Submission Form must be carefully and well fulfilled describing all the progresses that have been made in the last few years highlighting the vanguard position of RBCCV/BJCVS in Latin America. It was also suggested that the academic degree of the editorial board members should appear in the correspondent page. He also said that was important to inform which were the criteria used to select the reviewers and how this selection was performed. He went so far as to say to "elaborate carefully" the items in the Electronic Form by sending to him through his personal e-mail all the information that could eventually help us and occasionally will not be able to be inserted into the aforesaid form. Mr. Sheldon also stated that he does not vote, but he is the Chairman of the "peerreviewers" Committee, which analysis the medical periodicals that might be accepted. It was clear to me that his opinion is essential. I asked him, right afterwards, if I could use his personal computer to display our sites and the "on-line" submission. We spent about 15 minutes "surfing the net" and he appreciated. I assumed it was time to leave because it was already 12:40 p.m.
Well, now we have to fulfill the form very carefully, highlighting our qualities and send four more RBCCV/BJCVS issues, although I had already left 5 copies with him to the archives of MEDLINE. I came out of there felling very good. I believe that our next step will be hold a meeting with our co-workers: Brandau, Rosângela, David and Heber; Maria Elisa e Regina, librarians of Bireme; besides our colleagues: Walter Gomes (Site Editor), Fabio Jatene (former journal Editor), Pablo Mendonça (Chairman) and all the people who can contribute honoring us with their presence or helping us by e-mail."
This historical meeting was a giant step made in order to finally index the RBCCV/BJCVS to Medline. On July 11, I went to São Paulo invited by Mr. José Pedro da Silva, MD, who was receiving a visit from two North American surgeons: Mr. Emile A. Bacha, from Harvard University, and Mr. Joseph A. Dearani, from Mayo Clinic. They came to Brazil to learn the Technique for Reconstruction of Tricuspid Valve, developed by Mr. José Pedro in patients with Ebstein anomaly. This technique has been recently presented by him in AATS congress in Washington, D.C.
It was a unique opportunity to present RBCCV to these two influential North American surgeons and personally requested them to write recommendation letters to include our journal in Medline archives. We talked about half an hour about details of RBCCV what had favorably impressed us. They have personally guaranteed us to write the requested letters, what certainly will help us with the verdict of the reviewers committee of Medline. I want to express my acknowledgement and my compliments to my friend Mr. José Pedro for the invitation and for highlighting the name of the Brazilian Cardiac Surgery.
I wish, once more, to express my eternal gratitude to all the colleagues who have helped us in this task work which we hope will have a happy ending. In the section "Letters to the Editor" (page 261) you will find Mr. Fabio Jatene's, Mr. Tirone David's, and Mr. Adolfo Saadia's correspondences, which have engaged themselves and have gave us a fundamental support. Now it is time to work hard to fulfill the dossier in order to index our journal as soon as possible to Medline.
The 34th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery, held on April, in Florianópolis, SC, was once more a success. I take the chance to congratulate the authors of the distinguished papers: 1st place "Adjustable pulmonary trunk banding: comparison of two methods of acute subpulmonary ventricle hypertrophy" by Mr. Renato Samy Assad, MD, (SP); 2nd place "Mesenchymal stem cells culture on porcine valves preserved in glutaraldehyde or by L-Hydro process: A comparative study in vitro" by Mr. João Ricardo M. Santana, MD, (RS); 3rd place a draw: "Endothelium dysfunction caused by acute pressure distension of human saphenous vein used for myocardial revascularization" by Mr. Paulo RobertoBarbosa Évora, MD, (SP) and "Determination of the proportion among the segments of the normal tricuspid valve annulus and valve annuloplasty. Early results" by Mr. Fernando Antoniali, MD, (SP).
The "Person of the Year" was the dearest Mr. José Carlos Silva de Andrade, MD, (SP), who has always been an example for all of us and who has been bravely facing the disease which afflicts him.
To him and to the authors of the distinguished papers our compliments.
During the Congress we have had a meeting with the Editorial Board of RBCCV/BJCVS. The meeting was a very useful, and I wish it to become part of the Official Program of the Congress of the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery for the next year. We have considered significant concerns, such as the RBCCV indexing in Medline, the performance of the site and the flow of articles. With the support of all members present it was decided that from this issue the foreign manuscripts we receive in English will be published in English. Up to now, these papers were translated into Portuguese.
This issue highlighted a proofreading version of the Guidelines for surgery of aortic diseases in page 137, besides the articles which certainly will bring new knowledge to our colleagues. Closing, I want to express my gratitude to all of you who have been given approval to our journal and collaborating to give our journal an increasing higher distinction.
I welcome Saint Jude which is again one of our sponsors. Concluding, I would like to inform that Capes has given to RBCCV/BJCVS a financial assistance of more than R$ 9.500,00 which indeed will contribute to the payment of our debts, besides representing the recognition of the distinguishing quality of our journal by the regulatory agency of Post-Graduation in Brazil.
My best to you all,
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
20 Sept 2007 -
Date of issue
June 2007
