“In the 17th century, an obscure Mr. Oldenburg, who headed the Royal Society of Sciences in England after Elizabeth I, found a creative way to better publicize what he considered to be the important scientific advances of the time. Supported by the first steps of the printed word revolution, he began to request that oral communications made at the regular meetings of the Royal Society be handwritten by the authors and he would be responsible for reproducing them and distributing copies to all members of the society. Absolute success! In a short time he began to request texts from well-known scientists, then from others, first English and then continental, and, in a short time, what was initially known as the practice of calling for papers became the first scientific dissemination magazine in the world. Newton, that’s right, the famous Isaac of gravity and the apple, who succeeded him, only consolidated the initiative and, from then until today, it remains the oldest of all, not without recording, at that time, the boycott perpetrated by him against combinatorial analysis and, mainly, differential calculus. from the German Leibniz. Vanities…!

The responsibility of starting to publish a scientific journal is, therefore, tremendous. Those who attempt it should be admired. The Center for Studies on Adolescent Health (NESA), of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, is now accepting the challenge. It has no shortage of credentials. Work, dedication, commitment and experience in the subject are consolidated in 30 years of assistance, teaching, research, reflection and immersion in the theme of adolescents within a university service. The true complicity that involves us with the being and being of an adolescent, under the aegis of health and illness, has accumulated knowledge worthy of recording. And more, from other professionals, other services, other contexts. For this reason, we began the publication: to share our experiences. The presentation is an invitation to collaborate, in the style of a call for papers and, I can assure you, without the contaminating vanities mentioned above.

I cannot help but be very happy with yet another product from the fertile NESA. Even more so, for having been invited to write these opening words, as I was told, because I write well and in a poetic way. I am certain that the sense of poetry, in the scientific prose necessary for the good quality of our technical communications, will be present in all the volumes of our magazine – inspired, beautiful and high-value texts.

To the work!”

This text, ipsis litteris , was the presentation note of volume 1, number 1, of the magazine Adolescence & Health, from the Center for Studies on Adolescent Health, at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, two years ago. During this time, we have maintained our commitment, and regular quarterly issues have been published ever since. Farmoquímica, which made the project possible, has been more than a partner; it has been a dedicated friend. We have maintained an independent editorial line, without undue interference. We have produced good material.

We were born and survived. Now it is up to us to ensure growth. Once again, Farmoquímica believes and invests: for the next two years it will invest in maintaining our journal. More than ensuring its survival, our challenge in this new phase is to grow – with defined goals. We have a mother of all others – indexing! The essential paradigm of our journal is embedded in it, the quality of its content. Without quality, there is no indexing. We will go step by step, issue by issue, complying with the protocol requirements to be able to meet this goal in the various indexing systems that exist in the country and abroad. Work for many years, without a doubt! It is no different from the history of NESA itself, which today looks down on us from the height of its three decades of prosperous existence.

Knowledge is the leitmotif of our work. And, since Oldenburg and Newton, it has never been produced with such intensity and speed as it is today! The scientific journal is its means of dissemination, historically consolidated, today challenged by the incredible world wide web , a tool of instant globalization. And we are also on it, at www.adolescenciaesaude.com.br.

As I said in the introductory text, and now even more so, our challenge is tremendous! We all experience the discussion about the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, especially in the area of ​​biomedical sciences. There are millions of articles in thousands of journals, the vast majority of which are not even read, and few are cited or accessed electronically. The impact of the weight of the entire publication is discreet. Seen this way, we agree with the statement by Cynthia Mulrow, from the Cochrane Collaboration (of Systematic Reviews), who says…”if as is sometimes supposed, science consisted in nothing but the laborious accumulation of facts, it would soon come to a standstill, crushed, as it were, under its own weight…” or, as the great Voltaire (1694-1778), so long ago, said about the value of medical publications, “…that reading them can occupy the memory without any useful purpose!”.

How can we find our place in the crowd? In our case, in the dense reality of scientific journals in the health area? That is the greatest challenge! Honesty, relevance and quality are the necessary attributes of origin; organization and tenacity are the daily instruments that will ensure that we achieve our goals.

Let’s get to work!