Surgical & Cosmetic Dermatology and its role in scientific communication

2018 will be the 9th year of continuous publication of the Surgical & Cosmetic Dermatology (S&CD)!!

First, I would like to make some brief comments about the changes that the current global scenario of scientific communication presents in its ethical and commercial aspects, and how it has been maintaining and managing this journal so far.

The possibility of obtaining open access articles and charging the authors varying amounts for publication adopted by many journals are the main reasons for these changes that, along with many benefits, also bring some concerns. The main benefits are increasing access to scientific knowledge and author exposure, whereas the main concern refers to the appearance of the perverse, so-called “predatory journals”, which do not evaluate the articles in a legitimate and through fashion, publish fake impact factors and have as their goal to receive the publication fees as fraudulent profit.

Therefore, we highlight S&CD’s attitude, not charging the authors publishing fees since it has institutionally documented sources of funding (Brazilian Society of Dermatology -SBD since the start and, more recently, Brazilian Society of Dermatologic Surgery-SBCD) and abides by the detailed ethical and structural requirements of indexing databases (peer review, publication of articles from different geographical regions and 50% of research articles).

With these principles in mind, we have tried with much effort to manage this journal, which has proved to be encouraging to Brazilian authors, with publications in Dermatologic Surgery, Cutaneous Oncology, Imaging Diagnosis, Technological Advances in Dermatology and Cosmiatry. We have also raised interest from researchers from Latin America, Portugal and the Middle East, without forgetting great names of European Dermatologic Surgery such as Dr. Eckart Haneke, who help us with their experience.

We also count on a strong scientific support from the Ibero-Latin American College of Dermatology and the SBCD, recently strengthened through formal engagements with Dr. Omar Lupi and Dr. Mauro Enokihara, vice-president and president of these respected institutions, respectively.

S&CD is already included among many important regional and international databases such as: REDALYC, LATINDEX, LILACS, SCOPUS and DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), an online directory that promotes access only to good quality and peer-reviewed publications. S&CD is also present in researcher-oriented social media, among them ResearchGate. I would like to personally thank you all, Editorial Board, National and International Review Board, SBD librarians and authors, for the collaboration in this journey towards the realization and publicity of S&CD.

Some barriers are overcome, but there are still many challenges to face.

 

Profa. Dra. Bogdana Victoria Kadunc
Editor-in-chief of Surgical & Cosmetic Dermatology