EDITORIAL

Cadernos de Saúde Pública/Reports in Public Health goes monthly

The 22-year history of Cadernos de Saúde Pública/Reports in Public Health (CSP) has been marked by changes aimed at the journal's on-going improvement. In addition to modifications in the production dynamics, layout, and editorial lines, we have constantly sought to enhance the journal's editorial policy. One of the strongest pillars in CSP is the insistence on the fundamental principles of scientific editing, including peer review of the original manuscripts and unswerving observance of research ethics and authorship. Meanwhile, CSP has tirelessly sought to overcome new challenges in order to effectively meet the increasingly qualified demands of our authors and readers.

In the face of the above characteristics, and after a painstaking analysis of the journal's editorial flow, we concluded that the periodicity of CSP needed to change from bimonthly to monthly. Thus, rather than every two months, as of January 2006 the journal will be published every month, with a total of 12 regular issues yearly, in addition to special thematic supplements. This decision will have a profound impact on the coming years at CSP, considering that very few scientific journals in the field of health are published monthly either in Brazil or in other Latin American countries.

Rereading an editorial published in CSP a decade ago (vol. 10, p. 423), I realized how far we have come from the profile characterizing the journal's first decade. From 1985 (vol. 1) to 1993 (vol. 9), the average number of articles published per volume was 27. Volume 10 went to press with 62 articles. Volumes 20 and 21, corresponding to the years 2004 and 2005, included 218 articles each. The growth in the number of articles submitted to the journal has been no less impressive: in the last six years (2000 to 2005) an average of 544 articles were submitted yearly (910 in 2005).

There was not only a vertiginous increase in the number of articles submitted and published, but also a diversification in the authors' origins. The pages of CSP have featured contributions by authors from all over Brazil. There has been growing participation by authors from outside the relatively more industrialized South-Southeast to include researchers from the Central West, Northeast, and North of the country. It is a well-known fact that over-concentration of scientific output is one of the crucial issues Brazil needs to tackle in its national science and technology policy. While continuing to apply stringent quality demands in the papers submitted for publication, it gives us great satisfaction to note that the pages of CSP feature participation in the collective health field by research groups from all over the country, thus shaping an increasingly visible reality.

Having visited the various editions, the readers themselves will note that CSP has consolidated its position as a journal that publishes work by authors from diverse regions of the world. There is a particularly important presence of Latin American authors. The development of a broader continental dialogue in the field of collective health (and sciences in general) is a process currently under construction. And we are certain that CSP has an important role to play in this endeavor.

These various contexts have encouraged CSP to take this new step of monthly publication. In addition to an increase in the number of articles published, our expectation is that the increased periodicity will reduce the time-to-publication.

Going monthly resulted from two decades of work and extreme dedication by the associate editors, consultants, and editorial staff at CSP. Furthermore, CSP would not exist without the unconditional support of the Administration at the National School of Public Health and especially from the community of researchers in Public Health, both in Brazil and abroad.

Carlos E. A. Coimbra Jr.
Editor