Revista de Salud Pública: quality and visibility

Following 8 years of ongoing work, the Revista de Salud Pública has now become a quarterly publication. Since its beginning in 1999, the journal has striven to improve its quality and national scope, conserving scientific journalism's fundamental principles, including original production, peer review, research ethics and respecting authorship. Such effort has led to creating its own editorial space within the national setting. In just a few years the Revista de Salud Pública has risen from category C to category A1 within Publindex (the Colombian classification system). On the other hand, it has become recognised within an international setting, even though its visibility is still not quite what we should wish.

The journal's progress is verifiable. An average of 24 articles were published per volume from 1999-2004; the average of articles published per volume rose to 40 from 2005-2006, indicating a significant increase. At the same time, it has stimulated the development of scientific communities researching and acting in the field of public health. It is clear that at least the capacity to produce articles aimed at broadcasting research results or reflecting on relevant problems has grown, judging by the articles received; 28 articles were received for publication in 2004, 67 in 2005 and 83 were received in 2006.

We have been pleased to note diversification in terms of where received and published work has come from. Even though most articles have come from the parts of Colombia where research groups are concentrated, there has been growing interest and participation by researchers from other regions. Interest has also been shown by researchers from abroad, as reflected in articles received from Brazil, México, Peru, Venezuela, Canada, Spain and Cuba. Three out of each 10 articles in 2005 and 2006 (volumes 7 and 8) included foreign authors.

From now on, our challenge and editorial commitment lies in consolidating the journal's quality and broadening its national and international visibility. The work and dedication by editors, contributors and administrators which has characterised the Revista de Salud Pública for many years means that it will now become a quarterly publication from this issue onwards (Vol. 9, No. 1). This means that we can improve our response to public health researchers and decision-makers' expectations and communication, increase the amount articles published and reduce publication times. At the same time, we expect to maintain our established quality in responding to authors and readers' increasingly qualified demands.

The Revista de Salud Pública can set out to meet such challenges due to the support which has led to its existence. Now is the time to thank the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, the Faculty of Medicine and the people working with the Public Health MSc course.

Carlos A. Agudelo C.
Editor