As a result of the content published in Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología the publication is now cited and referenced in ScELO, Lilacs, the Colciencias Permanent Indexing Service, Imbiomed, Gale Cengage Learning, Ebsco, Scopus, Redalyc and ISI (Thomson Reuters), placing it among the best medical publications in this country. The visibility gained by the journal has led to a greater number of applications for publication and also a growing number of contributions from other Latin-American countries and in different languages from Spanish. However, the journal is still awaiting inclusion in databases such as Medline or Embase in order to increase visibility for the authors and their manuscripts.

In line with transformations which have become an imperative in the world as a result of global warming and the need to use clean technologies and ensure preservation and conservation of natural resources and optimize electronic communication and immediate availability, Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología has started on a journey of transformation and modernization in order to offer its readers the opportunity to access an electronic version with enhanced dissemination, visibility and availability worldwide.

This opportunity also poses the challenge of offering top scientific and editorial quality, in line with that of the most important publications in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics in the world. Many of those publications offer on-line material and content for their readers, consistent with individual requests and interest, optimizing time and the use of resources for the users of scientific literature.

Also, with the aim of providing the users with the best possible evidence, authors, reviewers and editors of scientific journals in the world have the responsibility of publishing honest, transparent and accurate scientific information (1) that will help expand the frontiers of medical knowledge. Ideally, this new information should result in actions or opportunities for improving care provided to patients, decision-making for healthcare providers, and support to the caregivers.

To accomplish these objectives, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (icmje) has published the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication”, containing guidelines and recommendations for the publication of scientific articles (2). On the other hand, the Committee on Publication Ethics (cope) has developed guidelines and flowcharts designed to promote ethical standards applicable to the editing and peer review processes for the publications of studies in scientific journals (3, 4).

To complement these recommendations, standards have been developed for improving the quality of clinical trial protocols (Spirit) (5) in order to guide the authors through the different steps, from the development of the research protocol to the final publication, and also to facilitate the critical approach by the readers as the ultimate target audience. Additionally, standards also cover writing and publishing of final research reports, according to the type of study (6-11) for submission to scientific journals. The documents and their respective website links are shown in the Table included as part of this editorial.

Likewise, there are also guidelines and checklists for qualitative research reports (Coreq) (12), qualitative research synthesis (Entreq) (13), healthcare improvement guidelines (Squire) (14), and economic evaluation reports (Cheers) (15), available at http://www.equator-network.org/ or http://www.cochrane.org/about-us/evidence-based-health-care/webliography/books/reporting.

Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología, with the support from Fecolsog, recognizes the importance of meeting and upholding these standards, and adheres to these world recommendations. No efforts will be spared in promoting their implementation in all processes, from editing, to peer review and final publishing of all of the articles submitted for publication. Although this undertaking may be challenging and require hard work from authors, reviewers, editors and other collaborators, with their help and understanding the journal will continue to be a national and international benchmark and the visibility platform for researchers, teachers and healthcare providers in all areas of obstetrics and gynaecology.

Jorge Andrés Rubio-Romero MD MSc Facog

Associate Editor

Associate Professor - Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

REFERENCES

1. Altman DG, Moher D. Declaration of transparency for each research article. BMJ. 2013;347:f4796.

2. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2010(1):42-58. [Visited 2014 Mar 18]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/.

3. Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. [Visited 2014 Mar 18]. Available from: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf.

4. http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines. [Visited 2014 Mar 18].

5. Chan A-W, Tetzlaff JM, Altman DG, Laupacis A, Gøtzsche PC, Krleža-Jerić K, et al. Spirit 2013 Statement: Defining standard protocol items for clinical trials. Ann Intern Med. 2013;158:200-7. [Visited 2014 Mar 18]. Available from: http://www.spirit-statement.org/spirit-statement/

6. Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D. Consort Group. Consort 2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomized trials. Obstet Gynecol. 2010;115:1063-70. doi: 10.1097/ AOG.0b013e3181d9d421.

7. von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, Pocock SJ, Gøtzsche PC, Vandenbroucke JP. Str obe Initiative. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (Str obe) statement: guidelines for reporting obser vational studies. PLoS Med. 2007;16(4):e296.

8. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG. Prisma Group Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the Prisma statement. PLoS Med. 2009;6:e1000097. doi: 10.1371/journal. pmed.1000097. Epub 2009 Jul 21.

9. Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, Bruns DE, Gatsonis CA, Glasziou PP, Irwig LM, et al. Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy. Towards complete and accurate reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy: The Stard Initiative. Radiology. 2003;226:24-8.

10. Gagnier JJ, Kienle G, Altman DG, Moher D, Sox H, Riley D. Care Group. The Care guidelines: consensusbased clinical case reporting guideline development. BMJ Case Rep. 2013;2013. pii: bcr2013201554. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2013-201554.

11. Lang TA, Altman DG. Basic Statistical Reporting for Articles Published in Biomedical Journals: The Statistical Analyses and Methods in the Published Literature or The Sampl Guidelines. En: Smart P, Maisonneuve H, Polderman A, editors. Science Editors’ Handbook, European Association of Science Editors; 2013.

12. Tong A, Sainsbury P, Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. Int J Qual Health Care. 2007;19(6):349-357.

13. Tong A, Flemming K, McInnes E, Oliver S, Craig J. Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research: ENTREQ. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2012;12(1):181.

14. Davidoff F, Batalden P, Stevens D, Ogrinc G, Mooney S. Publication guidelines for quality improvement in health care: evolution of the SQUIRE project. BMJ. 2009; 338:a3152. PMID: 19153129.

15. Husereau D, Drummond M, Petrou S, Carswell C, Moher D, Greenberg D, et al. Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) statement. BJOG. 2013;120(6):765-770. PMID: 23565948.

12. Tong A, Sainsbury P, Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. Int J Qual Health Care. 2007;19(6):349-357.         [ Links ]

13. Tong A, Flemming K, McInnes E, Oliver S, Craig J. Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research: ENTREQ. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2012;12(1):181.         [ Links ]

14. Davidoff F, Batalden P, Stevens D, Ogrinc G, Mooney S. Publication guidelines for quality improvement in health care: evolution of the SQUIRE project. BMJ. 2009; 338:a3152. PMID: 19153129.         [ Links ]

15. Husereau D, Drummond M, Petrou S, Carswell C, Moher D, Greenberg D, et al. Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) statement. BJOG. 2013;120(6):765-770. PMID: 23565948.         [ Links ]