(CSP) was born in 1985 under the sign of creativity and at the initiative of Frederico Simões Barbosa and Luiz Fernando Ferreira. The times favored strong ideas and political projects in the struggle for democracy and Health Reform in Brazil. The publication of specialized journals was part of the project to establish the public health field, and CSP joined the effort to build bridges between academia and health services.
Since its first edition, CSP has focused on combining academic excellence and debates on relevant issues, with an emphasis on the challenges of implementing the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS). The journal has participated in the most important initiatives in scientific publishing in Brazil, immediately joining the policy for open access to knowledge. According to the SciELO database, CSP topped 24 million hits as of March 1st, 2014, making it the periodical with the most article searches out of a total of three hundred journals. Such results have come from tireless dedication by all the editorial teams in this painstaking 30-year task, as well as unwavering institutional support from the Brazilian National School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz), of which CSP is one of the most outstanding achievements.
A key characteristic of CSP is the combination of professionalization and intellectual craftsmanship, giving the publication an essentially personal touch. Digressing briefly, we refer to the traditional models adopted by scientific journals in the 17th century as an alternative to previous scientific communications through personal letters between scholars and the proceedings and minutes of scientific societies. From the beginning, the language of scientific journals was marked by impersonality. This model was one of the main characteristics that distinguished scientists as a social category. CSP did not differ from this model, and even contributed to its consolidation in Brazil. However, readers have always enjoyed the editors’ aesthetic care and personal touch. The journal invested great effort in achieving national and international recognition, including the instigating editorials published during two decades with Carlos Coimbra Jr. as Editor. Not to mention the thematic calendars carefully prepared by Coimbra Jr., veritable research finds, combining the knowledge and sensitivity that constitute the field of public health. Since 2013, under the leadership of Marilia Sá Carvalho, Claudia Travassos, and Cláudia Medina Coeli, the journal has maintained quality and creativity as defining characteristics, and readers can now view it in shades of pink, a reference to the relations between science and gender, as emphasized by the three new editors last December (vol.29, no.12). Their inventory highlights the novelties in the Perspectives section, featuring debate on controversial issues. They also emphasize the search for innovation in the dissemination of knowledge in a context marked by challenging new communication technologies. Most importantly, the journal has conquered a solid institutional basis and can thus be renewed and adopt new colors. This scenario increases our responsibility in supporting CSP in order to further enhance the journal as a mosaic of interdisciplinarity in public health, establishing creative links between scientific knowledge, health policies, and public perceptions concerning the role of science.
Nísia Trindade Lima
Vice-President of Teaching, Information, and Communications, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
lima@fiocruz.br
Publication Dates
- Publication in this collection
Mar 2014