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Criteria SciELO Uruguay

Criteria, policies and procedures for the admission and retention of scientific journals in the collection of SciELO-Uruguay

1. Introduction

This document describes the criteria adopted by the SciElo Project to evaluate scientific journals for the admission and retention of journal titles in the SciELO Uruguay electronic collection.

As the SciELO Project is extended to other Latin American countries, an enrichment and progressive generalization of the guidelines is expected, with a view to the establishment of unique criteria for the admission and permanence of scientific journals in the national and / or regional SciELO collections.

2. Objectives of the criteria SciELO Uruguay

The SciELO`s criteria are defined in the context of the SciELO Project, coordinated by FAPESP and BIREME , whose general objective is to contribute to the development of national scientific research, by improving and expanding the means of dissemination, evaluation and publication of their results , making an intensive use of electronic publishing.

The SciELO Project seeks to radically increase the visibility, accessibility and credibility of national and international scientific publication in Latin America and Caribbean in a short term, through the integral publication of national and regional scientific journals collections on the Internet. In the long term, the project seeks to contribute to increase the impact of the national scientific production.

To achieve the objectives of the SciELO Project it is essential to promote the improvement of national scientific communication in all its aspects, aiming to identify, encourage and develop a core collection of scientific journals, the quality standard of which equals that of the best international scientific journals . In that sense, the journals evaluation criteria and the policies and procedures for its implementation constitute a fundamental course of action for the SciELO Project.

The SciELO Uruguay criteria have the specific scope of contributing to the creation and development of the core collection of scientific journals SciELO Uruguay, and:

a. to provide support for the evaluation of national scientific journals with the objective of determining its admission to the collection SciELO Uruguay;

b. to monitor the performance of scientific journals included in the collection SciELO Uruguay with the aim of reaffirm their permanence in the collection;

c. elaborate performance indicators for the collection SciELO Uruguay as a whole and for each of the participating journals.

The content and application of the criteria SciELO Uruguay must accompany the dynamics of the SciELO Project and particularly the process of creation and development of the collection SciELO Uruguay.

3. Committee SciELO Uruguay

Committee SciELO Uruguay (new operation from 20110329)

3.1. Integration
I.   Editors of the publications that make up the web portal
II.  Evaluator Adviser Committee
III. Executive Committee
IV. Coordination SciELO Uruguay

3.2. Tasks:
a. the application of the criteria SciELO Uruguay.
b. dissemination of the project.

3.1.I. Editors
Integration:
Publishers SciELO Uruguay integrating and those who are in the process of incorporation, covering all areas of knowledge.
Tasks:
a. be the voice of the publication (as a representative and responsible for the intellectual content of it) in the project.
b. interlocutor of the proposals being put to him in relation to improvements in the magazine.
c. The editor should be responsible for the review process be included in the Portal, using human and technical resources of their own.
Be studied in a particular publication, whose institutions do not have the infrastructure to process it.
Coordination of the project has the capacity to decide whether to assume the prosecution of it.
If so, the editor should take care of sending the relevant information in time and the required conditions for the Coordination of SciELO.
d. Assist in the marketing of the project.
e. The Committee may have in their meetings and activities involving external consultants and specialists as needed.

3.1.II. Evaluator Adviser Committee
Integration:
-BINAME-School of Medicine as project coordinator
-A representative of the National Resources Fund (Cochrane Collaboration)
-A representative of the National Agency for Research and Innovation - ANII
-An area representing health editor
-An editor representing all areas of knowledge, except for the area health
Tasks:
a. decide to include new scientific journal titles in the collection.
b. decide to exclude scientific journals of the collection.
c. propose modifications to the evaluation criteria for admission and permanence of journal titles in the collection Uruguay:
1) criteria for automatic admission journal, 2) establish the frequency and number of articles per year, according to subject area.
d. decide on the performance indicators of the journals in the collection SciELO Uruguay, to be published regularly.
e. check the functioning of the Committee SciELO Uruguay, in order to efficiently meet the objectives.
f. discussion and propose policies, programs, procedures and activities to strengthen the collection.
g. the application of general criteria SciELO Uruguay.
h. The Evaluation Advisory Committee will also have meetings and activities with the participation of consultants and outside specialists when appropriate.

3.1.III. Executive Committee
Integration:
The librarians of the members institutions of the SciELO Uruguay.
Tasks:
a. The reception and control of publications and files in different media (floppy, CD-rom or email) and formats (zip, doc, html, etc.).
b. pre-and post-processing of the articles included in the preparatory conditioning for subsequent dialing (format change, correct placement of pictures, captions, tables, etc.)..
c. Dialing process, subsequent conversion (converter), survey the site and adding new items to it.
At points a, b and c will work in conjunction with the computer technician.
d. Sending processed fascicles SciELO Coordination.
e. Diffusion SciELO Uruguay and contact with magazine editors unfamiliar with the project (acquisition of new titles).
f. Librarianship tasks: correct presentation of the articles, correct bibliographic presentation according to established standards, raise suggestions for improving the publication information inherent ISSN and ISSN-e, others.
g. Raising the resolutions of the SciELO Uruguay (CScU) to the general BVS.
h. The Committee may have in their meetings and activities involving external consultants and specialists as needed.


3.1.IV. Coordination SciELO Uruguay
Integration:
BINAME - CENDIM - Faculty of Medicine - University of the Republic (UdelaR) will coordinate operational SciELO Project and will act as President.
Be conducted by the SciELO team-owned BINAME CENDIM-FM, composed of librarians and computer technicians.
Tasks:
a. Coordinate activities between the various committees and to realize the Executive Secretariat.
b. Assume the processing of those publications whose institutions do not have the basic infrastructure, after analysis of the situation.
c. Incorporate fascicles portal processed by the institutions and the team SciELO.
d. Perform quality control of the portal in general and in particular of the journals that comprise it.
e. Conduct and promote training on the SciELO methodology, on the structure of a scientific paper, on the formal presentation of bibliographic data, according to the rules adopted by the magazines.
f. Performed in conjunction with the Evaluator Adviser Committee to assess the analysis of the publications that aspire to enter the portal.
g. The Committee may have in their meetings and activities involving external consultants and specialists as needed.

4. The Scope of the collection SciELO Uruguay

The collection includes SciELO Uruguay scientific, technological and humanistic journals which predominantly publish articles resulting from original research and other significant original contributions to knowledge in the journal area. The contributions review and approval process must be made by experts (peers).

The collection of each individual title in SciELO Uruguay should start from year 2000 onwards, or from the first issue for the journals created after 2000. Contributions may be written in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

The journals of the collection may not necessarily be published on paper.

5. The SciELO Uruguay criteria for admission of journals in the collection

5.1 Criteria for automatic admission during 2000, 2001 and 2002

The SciELO Uruguay criteria for admission of new journals take into account the evaluations that these journals underwent before, including their participation in selected international indexes.

A journal title will be automatically qualified for admission if it is included in one of the selected indexes.

5.1.1 Journals included in international indexes

Journals which are indexed in the following international indexes are automatically qualified for their first admission in the collection Uruguay:

It is incumbent to the Committee of Editors to amend this list of international sources.

The permanence of this group of journals in the collection Uruguay will be determined on the basis of performance indicators defined in Section 6.

5.2 Evaluation Criteria for admission of Journals to SciELO

When a journal title does not automatically qualify for admission to SciELO, it must be evaluated according to the following indicators.

5.2.1 Scientific nature

The journals are to publish predominantly original contributions resulting from scientific and / or significant research to the specific area of the journal. Whenever necessary, the Committee of Publishers SciELO Uruguay may seek the opinion of peers to confirm the predominance of original contributions.

5.2.2 Peer review

The review and approval of contributions must be made by peers. The journals must formally specify which is the procedure for the approval of articles. From the admission to SciELO on, the arbitration process should be documented. The indication of the key dates of the process, including the dates of receipt and approval is compulsory.

5.2.3 Editorial Committe

The composition of the journal editorial board must be public. Its members need to be renowned, national and international specialists. Journals whose board members are predominantly linked to a commercial institution and whose articles come mostly from that only institution, will not be admitted.

5.2.4 Frequency

Frequency is an indicator that depends on the subject area of the journal. It is an indicator of the flow of scientific production of the specific area covered by the journal. It is also an indicator related to the timing and speed of communication.

The following table shows, according to broad subject areas, the minimum and desired frequency, and the minimum and desired number of items per year:

                                                           Frequency                                        Number of articles per year

Thematic Area                        Minimum        Desired                              Minimum            Desired

Biological area                           bi-annual          quarterly                                     12                  36

Exact area                                 bi-annual          quarterly                                      12                  36

Humanistic area                           annual             biannual                                       6                   12

5.2.5 Issues required for evaluation

The journal must have at least 4 published issues to be considered for evaluation.

6. Punctuality

A journal must apperar punctually, according to its stated periodicity

5.2.7 Abstract, key words descriptors and title in English

Articles should contain the title, abstract and key words in the language the text of the article was written and in the English language, when it is not the language of the original text.

5.2.8 Standardization

The journal must specify the standard (s) followed for submission and format of the texts and for the presentation of quotations so that the standards obedience can be assessed.

5.3 Opinion of the admissions process

The admission of a journal in the collection should be done after the positive opinion of Committee of Editors SciELO Uruguay.

Whenever necessary, the Committee shall seek arbitration in pairs (regional or international) to reinforce their views.

The National Library of Medicine (BINAME) will contribute to the work of the Committee, providing the necessary information and documentation.

The views of the Committee may contain recommendations for improvements and modifications to the journals that must be implemented within the period specified in the view.

6. Performance evaluation criteria for the permanence of journals in SciELO

In principle, all the indicators for the assessment of journal titles for admission to SciELO Uruguay also apply to its permanence.

Compliance with the recommendations of improvements made in view of admission of the journal must be treated as an indicator for their permanence in the collection.

The following specific indicators of performance of the journal in the collection will be used to justify their permance in the collection:

6.1 Punctuality of the submission of articles

The punctuality of article submission is measured by the arrival of the files of a journal issue in the SciELO unit, which has to follow timely the journal schedule. Unit SciELO should indicate the occurrence of delays in sending files.

The journals that are not punctual will be evaluated by the Committee of Publishers SciELO Uruguay, being subject to exclusion from the collection.

6.2 Use indicator

The use of the journal is measured monthly by the number of hits or visits to the content of the magazine. If the use of the journal is consistently low and / or decreasing when compared with journals in the same area, the permanence of the journal in the collection should be evaluated by the Committee of Publishers SciELO Uruguay, which must express its views so that the causes and possible solutions are studied or propose the exclusion of the journal from the collection.

6.3 Impact indicator

The impact indicators of each journal title is measured based on the quotations that the journal received. It should be evaluated together with the titles of journals in the same area.

The increase in the impact factor or its stabilization in the average value of that of the journals in the same area are considered a positive performance result and thus it guarantees the permanence of a title in the SciELO collection.

7. The views of the process of exclusion of titles

The exclusion of a journal of the SciELO collection should be done after the views of the Committee of Publishers SciELO Uruguay are expressed.

8. Appeals

The editor of the journal may appeal to the decision made by SciELO Uruguay Committee of Editors's, both in the cases of admission or exclusion of the collection.

The appeals will be examined by the Committee of Editors and the journal may be reassessed. The views of the Committee will be sent to the editor.

9. Readmission

The journals that are excluded from the collection can be readmitted as long as they meet the criteria for inclusion and retention in the collection. The readmission will be evaluated by the Committee of Publishers SciELO Uruguay.

The readmission will not be effective immediately after the exclusion of the SciELO collection. To be reassessed, a journal should prove it is able to fulfill all criteria for at least four consecutive issues or a year.

10. Conflict of interests

When there is any relationship between the authors of an article or any public or private entity, which might arise a conflict of interest, that fact must be communicated to the editor. If the article was accepted for publication will be agreed between the authors and the publisher how to communicate this information to readers.

20071212
Additions approved at the meeting of the Committee SciELO Uruguay December 12, 2007, the following points:
-5.1.1 Journals included in international indexes: SciELO Thematic
-5.2.4 Frequency: Humanistic (minimum) annual, (desired) biannual, (number of minimum) 6, (desired) 12 articles per year.

20110329
New SciELO Uruguay functioning of the Committee.

20111109
Removal of Lilacs and SciELO Thematic portals as platforms for automatic admission into the national collection SciELO Uruguay.
It was decided to incorporate the database Scopus for automatic entry of magazines that are already in it.
Reference: Item 5.1.1. Journals included in international indexes.

SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online
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scielouruguay@fmed.edu.uy