Open Access Revisão por pares

Editorial - Year 2011 - Volume 26 - Issue 4

We will build a great journal without making noise

Sem Bulha nem Matinada Construiremos Uma Grande Revista

Fernando Antônio Gomes de Andrade

http://www.dx.doi.org/

The Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Plástica/Brazilian Journal of Plastic Surgery (RBCP), targeted toward plastic surgeons in Brazil and focused on being socially relevant and having an impact on knowledge of the specialty, aims to achieve international status and become known and respected worldwide. However, in order to reach this goal, the search for plastic surgery knowledge must be contextualized. In order to redefine ourselves, we must be evaluated against the most respected publications in the world. We are proposing changes, and we will cover foundational themes related to different plastic surgery applications while incorporating medical specialties that interface with or have a historical connection to plastic surgery, such as general surgery, craniomaxillofacial surgery, head and neck surgery, orthopedics, dermatology, skin oncology, anesthesiology, trauma surgery, radiology, experimental surgery, burns, anatomy, molecular biology, histology, etc.

Epistemologists say that scientists must learn in order to acknowledge. The purpose of the RBCP is based on the concept of cogito, proposed by Saint Augustine in City of God, which is "the awareness of self as a thinking being that is able to state a hypothesis for scientific learning." How can we feed this cogito while simultaneously recognizing that knowledge from other medical specialties may lead to revelations that could facilitate new discoveries benefitting plastic surgery?

We can combine knowledge from different medical specialties and experimental studies with our knowledge of plastic surgery by: opening our journal to other branches of medicine; defining a set of priority themes centered on the best available scientific data, perhaps even meta-analyses or randomized studies; and inviting authors or relevant specialist societies to publish papers based on a chosen theme.

The challenge posed to all plastic surgeons and the editorial board of the RBCP is to take responsibility for facilitating the evolution of plastic surgery knowledge by evaluating its quality and following a strategy to expand our journal to other specialties with the goal of increasing the medical knowledge offered to Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery members and collaborating specialties.

Fernando Antônio Gomes de Andrade
Plastic Surgeon, Full Member of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery
Prof. Dr. Universidade Federal de Alagoas
Member of Editorial Board of the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia Plástica