CEVAP Journal: the first Brazilian electronic scientific publication turns 20 years old

The printing-press revolution, one of the most important breakthroughs for humanity, began about 1465 when Johannes Gutenberg invented a moveable mechanical type for printing. In 1665, the first scientific journals appeared in France and England, called respectively the Journal des Sçavans and Philosophical Transactions. Since then, the structure of a scientific work has respected the basic paradigms "introduction, methods, results and discussion" ­ one of humanity's oldest formats. In 1900, 9,000 scientific articles were published per year; by 2000, this number had grown to 900,000. In 2010, PubMed Central, which does not index the majority of the world's journals, received 1,100,000 papers for indexing, i.e., approximately 3,000 per day [5]. These data demonstrate the exponential growth of the world scientific knowledge. The great challenge was: how could this immense amount of knowledge be printed and delivered by mail? In August of 1991, Paul Ginsparg, a physicist at Cornell University (USA), founded the Los Alamos e-print archives (http://arxiv.org/), which was considered the first electronic scientific publication [6]. Its mission was to distribute papers automatically to cover the areas of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics. It was an electronic system of automatic distribution with definitive submission or the possibility of a correction by the author. It was also discussed in the 1990s whether an electronic publication should be considered a scientific journal or not. According to the Vancouver Group, any electronic publication made available on the Internet constitutes a publication [7].(AU)

Brazilian Scientific Journals in Surgery: quality control in the abstract structure of non-experimental articles

PURPOSE: To evaluate the quality of abstracts of original non-experimental research articles in Brazilian Journals in Surgery. METHODS: Convenience sample of 471 abstracts of original research articles from six Brazilian surgical journals indexed in Thomson Reuters (ISI) Web of Knowledge. The quality of abstracts was measured against a checklist of eight evaluation criteria, which were divided into 32 categories. The total score for each abstract was obtained by summing the score of all criteria present. The overall mean score was also determined. RESULTS: The overall mean score of abstract quality was that of a good abstract. Most of the abstracts contained some information from each of the eight basic categories of an abstract. All abstracts were structured ones. CONCLUSION: The overall quality, for abstracts of original articles of six Brazilian non-experimental journals in surgery, was classified as good.(AU)

Evaluation of the key words used in articles of the Acta Cirurgica Brasileira from 1997 to 2012 / Avaliação dos descritores utilizados nos artigos da Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira de 1997 a 2012

PURPOSE: To evaluate the key words used in Acta Cirurgica Brasileira from 1997 to 2012. METHODS: All the key words of all articles published in regular issues between 1997 and 2012 were analyzed, ensuring that these key words were in the MeSH database (Medical Subjects Headings) and the most used subject headings and most wrong repeated key words were ranked. RESULTS: > 4230 key words used in 990 articles were analyzed. Only 579 key words (13.68%) were not in the MeSH database, considering that there was a statistically significant decrease over the years (p<0.001). The three most used key words were Rats, Dogs and Wound healing. Among the wrong ones, the key words were Adhesions, Experimental surgery and Anatomosis. CONCLUSION: There was a gradual improvement in the amount of key words used that belonged to the MeSH database, and there were 618 articles (62.42%) with all key words correct.(AU)

OBJETIVO: Avaliar os descritores utilizados na Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira entre os anos de 1997 até 2012. MÉTODOS: Foram analisados os descritores de todos os artigos publicados em fascículos regulares entre os anos de 1997 a 2012, verificando se estes constavam no MeSH e foi feito um ranking dos descritores mais utilizados e dos termos equivocados mais repetidos. RESULTADOS: Foram analisados 4230 descritores, presentes em 990 artigos. Apenas 579 (13,68%) dos descritores estavam fora da base do MeSH, sendo que houve uma diminuição estatisticamente significante com o passar dos anos (p<0.001). Os três descritores mais utilizados foram Rats, Dogs e Wound healing, já dentre as equivocadas foram os termos Adhesions, Experimental surgery e Anatomosis. CONCLUSÃO: Houve uma melhora progressiva na quantidade de termos utilizados que pertenciam a base do MeSH, havendo 618 artigos (62,42%) com todos os descritores corretos.(AU)

Importance to include the term superficial musculoaponeurotic system in medical subject headings and in the international anatomical nomenclature / A importância da inclusão do termo sistema musculoaponeurótico superficial nos descritores em ciências da saúde e na terminologia anatômica internacional

PURPOSE: To investigate the relevance of the term superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS) and demonstrate that this term is important enough to be added to the MeSH database and listed in International Anatomical Nomenclature. METHODS: Terms related to SMAS were selected from original articles retrieved from the ISI Web of Science and MEDLINE (PubMed) databases. Groups of terms were created to define a search strategy with high-sensitivity and restricted to scientific periodicals devoted to plastic surgery. This study included articles between January 1996 and May 2009, whose titles, abstracts, and keywords were searched for SMAS-related terms and all occurrences were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 126 original articles were retrieved from the main periodicals related to plastic surgery in the referred databases. Of these articles, 51.6% had SMAS-related terms in the abstract only, and 25.4% had SMAS-related terms in both the title and abstract. The term 'superficial musculoaponeurotic system' was present as a keyword in 19.8% of the articles. The most frequent terms were 'SMAS' (71.4%) and superficial musculoaponeurotic system (62.7%). CONCLUSION: The term SMAS refers to a structure relevant enough to start a discussion about indexing it as a keyword and as an official term in Terminologia Anatomica: International Anatomical Terminology.(AU)

OBJETIVO: Investigar a relevância do termo sistema musculoaponeurótico superficial (SMAS) para propor a sua indicação para indexação como palavra-chave e inclusão na Terminologia Anatômica Internacional. MÉTODOS: Termos relacionados ao SMAS foram recuperados de artigos originais identificados por mapeamento automático nas bases ISI Web Of Science e MEDLINE (PubMed). Os termos foram agrupados a fim de formar uma estratégia de busca de alta sensibilidade, limitada a periódicos exclusivos da especialidade de Cirurgia Plástica. Destes periódicos, foram selecionados artigos publicados de janeiro de 1996 a maio de 2009. Avaliou-se o título, resumo e as palavras-chaves, computando-se todas as ocorrências de termos relacionadas ao SMAS. RESULTADOS: Recuperou-se um total de 126 artigos originais de periódicos relevantes, especializados em cirurgia plástica, e indexados nas bases mencionadas. Destes artigos, 51,6% apresentavam termos relacionados com SMAS somente no resumo, e 25,4% apresentavam termos relacionados com SMAS no título e resumo. O termo sistema musculoaponeurótico superficial estava presente como descritor em 19,8% dos artigos. As ocorrências mais freqüentes foram SMAS (71,4%) e sistema musculoaponeurótico superficial (62,7%). CONCLUSÃO: O termo SMAS, referente à estrutura em estudo, apresentou relevância suficiente para ser indexado como palavra-chave e listado na Terminologia Anatômica Internacional.(AU)

Structured abstracts: narrative review / Resumos estruturados. Revisão narrativa

PURPOSE: To summarize the main findings from research on structured abstracts. METHODS: A narrative review of all the relevant papers known to the author was conducted. RESULTS: Authors and readers judged the structured abstracts to be more useful than traditional ones. In 1987 the Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature proposed guidelines for informative seven-headings abstracts. In 1990 Haynes et al. reconsidered the structured abstract of clinical research and review articles and proposed revised guidelines. Nowadays, most abstracts are informative, and the most commonly used structure is IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results And Discussion) format. CONCLUSIONS: There are many variations in the structured-abstract formats prescribed by different journals. But even in recent years, not all abstracts of original articles are structured. More research is needed on a number of questions related to the quality and utility of structured abstracts.(AU)

OBJETIVO: Sintetizar os principais resultados das pesquisas sobre resumos estruturados. MÉTODOS: Uma revisão narrativa de todos os estudos, considerados relevantes pelo autor, foi realizada. RESULTADOS: Os autores e os leitores julgaram que os resumos estruturados são mais úteis que os tradicionais. Em 1987, o Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature propôs diretrizes para a elaboração de resumos informativos com sete seções. Haynes e col., em 1990, reestudaram os resumos estruturados para a pesquisa clínica e para os artigos de revisão e propuseram novas diretrizes. Atualmente, a maioria dos resumos é informativa e a estrutura mais utilizada é aquela do formato IMRAD (Introdução, Métodos, Resultados e Discussão). CONCLUSÃO: Há muita variação nos formatos dos resumos estruturados solicitados pelo vários periódicos. Contudo, mesmo nos anos mais recentes, nem todos os resumos dos artigos originais são estruturados. Necessita-se de mais pesquisas relacionadas à qualidade e à utilidade dos resumos estruturados.(AU)

DESCRITORES EM CIÊNCIAS DA SAÚDE NAS TESES E DISSERTAÇÕES DE MESTRADO, NA ÁREA DE DOENÇAS RESPIRATÓRIAS

The process of indexing consisted of two phases: firstly, to identify and represent the intellectual contents of a document; and secondly, the translation of the subject analysis into a specified languague, with the aid of subject headings. At the Instituto de Doenças do Tórax da UFRJ medical library, the indexing of biomedical journals and theses was performed through a controlled vocabulary - the DeCS (Subject Headings on Health Sciences). The purpose of this study was to identify if the authors of Master Degree thesis on respiratory diseases were using the DeCS for indexing. The subject headings of 29 Master theses from 1990 through 1996 were studied. The data collection showed that 29 authors employed 101 subject headings (3,48 headings/author). Four (14%) of authors utilized adequate subject headings from the DeCS. In conclusion: fourteen per cent of authors of Master theses on respiratory diseases employed correctly the subject headings.

O processo de indexação consiste em duas fases: primeira, identificar e representar o conteúdo intelectual de um documento; segunda, traduzir a análise do assunto para uma linguagem específica, utilizando descritores. Na biblioteca do Instituto de Doenças do Tórax da UFRJ, a indexação de periódicos biomédicos e teses era realizada por meio de um vocabulário controlado - DeCS (Descritores em Ciências da Saúde). O objetivo desta pesquisa era identificar se os autores das teses de Mestrado em doenças respiratórias estavam usando o DeCS para indexar. Os descritores de 29 teses de Mestrado de Tisiologia e Pneumologia, de 1990 a 1996, foram estudados. A coleta de dados evidenciou que 29 autores empregaram 101 descritores (3,48 descritores/autor). Quatro (14%) dos autores utilizaram adequadamente os descritores do DeCS. Em conclusão: catorze por cento dos autores de teses de Mestrado empregaram corretamente os descritores.