Abstract

LEON-SARMIENTO, Fidias; BAYONA-PRIETO, Jaime; BAYONA, Edgardo  and  LEON, Martha. Colciencias and disdain for Colombian scientists: from the Stone Age to the impact factor. Rev. salud pública [online]. 2005, vol.7, n.2, pp.227-235. ISSN 0124-0064.

Writing has dramatically evolved in the world; however, qualification of scientific production in Colombia has not, including the improper use of decree 1444/93 and 1279/02. The last of these decrees authorized Colciencias, the Colombian government institute created to support scientific research in Colombia, to establish rules for its implementation. Colciencias decided to evaluate scientific papers produced in Colombia based on the non-scientific method of the "impact factor", and considered that citations in MEDLINE/PubMed and PsyINFO were second line publications thus violating Colombian law. This affects not only the progress of scientific research in Colombia but also researchers' income and puts Colombia's scientific journals and publications at great disadvantage. Scientific papers indexed in qualified databases such as MEDLINE/PubMed must be judged according to law in order to prevent further injuries to the developing Colombian scientific production.

Keywords : Impact factor; research; Colombia.

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