7/23/2014. Publishing Medical Sciences in a Developing Country with Advanced Health Services: Achievements and Challenges. Outline

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1 Publishing Medical Sciences in a Developing Country with Advanced Health Services: Achievements and Challenges Lila Castellanos-Serra Ph.D., Dr. Sc. lilacastellanos@infomed.sld.cu National Council for Medical Publications Havana, Cuba CSE, San Antonio, 2014 Outline Context: health services and medical education in Cuba Medical sciences publishing: journals and publishers Challenges and responses Context: health services and medical education in Cuba 1

2 Context: health services and medical education in Cuba Population: 11,246,382 The Cuban health system is public, universally accessible and free Health professionals (69% women) 76,506 physicians (1/147 pop) (36,478 family medicine physicians) 12,144 dentists (1/925 pop) nurses (1/109 pop) Medical education is free Education takes place in primary care facilities and hospitals associated with 25 medical schools & 13 universities 2013: 118,398 medical students Since 1999, the Latin American Medical School has graduated >20,000 physicians from 70 countries (including USA) Cuba 2013: life expectancy 77.9 years, infant mortality 4.2/1000 live births Cancer & cardiovascular diseasesmaincauses of death Infectious diseases 1% of deaths (27 infectious diseases eliminated/controlled by immunization) 2

3 Medical sciencespublishing in Cuba: journals and publishers 51 Cuban medical journals peer reviewed 100% with editorial process on OJS 52% no fees for publishing 100% Publisher: ECIMED (Cuban Medical Sciences Press) 22 (43%) Universities & hospitals 29 (57%) In 2013: Papers published 2950 Authors 8860 The Cuban leader in medical sciences publishing since peer-reviewed journals >420 texts and research books Staff: 53 editors, designers, translators and IT professionals 3

4 A Cuban network on health & medicine since 1992 Gateway to Cuban medical journals and virtual library of medicine Leader in IT & IT education, with nodes in all provinces INFOMED: preferred website of Spanishspeaking health professionals worldwide Access in 2013 : 6,561,170 From Cuba: 1,045,340 From abroad: 5,515,830 (16 %) (84%) From Spain: 4,042,702 (61%) Cuban medical journals international visibility Repository/database Cuban medical journals DOAJ 26 SCOPUS 25 WoS 34 SciELo 34 EBSCO 51 Google scholar 40 HINARI 27 4

5 Challenges and responses: Identifying problems & seeking solutions What is being done: Educating editors and authors Updating journal requirements to meet international standards Challenges and responses: Identifying problems & seeking solutions Cuban scientific output in Scopus All sciences 14,213 documents Public health & medicine 6232 documents (44%) Source: Dr. Ricardo Arencibia et al., INFO 2014, Havana, Cuba Source: Grisel Zacca-González et al. INFO 2014, Havana, Cuba 5

6 But: Manuscript production is low for # of health professionals Presence in international repositories & databases up, but citation index still low Source: Zacca-González G. et al., INFO 2014, Havana, Cuba Dorta Contreras A., ACIMED, 14(3) 2006 Dorta Contreras A., ACIMED, 17(2) 2008 Identifying problems & seeking solutions Results of 2014 survey of 28 medicals journal editors: 1. Problems affecting articles impact in Latin American journals published in Spanish 2. Possible responses 1. Problems Journals& editorial boards: too many journals editorial boards not really functional Manuscripts: low quality science and/or manuscript preparation deficient methodology & statistics low-relevance topics low-impact conclusions negative results rarely published Reviewers: low quality reviews no social recognition for reviewers potential good reviewers not accessible limited tonational reviewers 6

7 1. Problems (cont.) Authors/reviewers/editors: unaware of international trends in scientific publishing Authors/reviewers: do not follow journal instructions problems with connectivity/information technology limited access to pay-per-view journals Authors: main motivation for publishing is not communicating science but looking for promotion avoid quoting Latin American authors/journals 2. Possible responses Journals & editorial boards: make the editorial board work by requesting and considering members opinions focus journal issues on specific topics and actively seek pertinent contributions associate journal issues with scientific meetings and societies merge closely related journals (easy to say, but ) 2. Possible responses (cont.) Author education: experienced supervisors are key in training new authors incorporate methodology, statistics, & evidence based medicine in undergraduate & graduate education incorporate principles of scientific communication in graduate education Reviewers: select reviewers with higher h index, publishing in Spanishspeaking countries evaluate reviewers performance increase social recognition by annually publishing list of reviewers & sending recognition letters to their institutions 7

8 Four Cuban medical journals among the 100 most-quoted journals published in Spanish Source: h5-index, Google Scholar Rank Journal h5 41. Revista Cubana de Salud Pública Educación Médica Superior Revista Cubana de Información en Ciencias de Salud Revista Cubana de Medicina General Integral 10 h5-index: the largest number h such that h articles published in have at least h citations each What makes the difference? Dedicated editorial boards Extensive use of high-quality reviewers Manuscript rejection >80% Issues centered on current hot topics, with invited contributors Promoting scientific discussion Challenges and responses: what is being done Educating editors and authors courses for editors & authors editors discussion forum & meetings Updating journal requirements to international standards 8

9 Challenges and responses: what is being done Educating editors and authors courses for editors & authors editors discussion forum & meetings Challenges and responses: what is being done Updating journal requirements to international standards Clinical trial registration mandatory for publication Biotecnología Unidad de salud Laboratorio extranjero Otros centros Cuban Public Registry for Clinical Trials 9

10 23 Cuban journals follow ICMJE Recommendations List of Cuban Journals Evolving context of scientific publishing challenges for developing countries - Declaration of transparency (2013) - CSE White Paper, update Definition of author, update Good Publications Practice GPP2, Equator-Network & MIBBI Only good science can produce good papers. But even good science can produce bad papers, or no paper. So, here we are, THE EDITORS 10

11 Yes, there is a need for national journals 1. There is a large professional community, sharing interests and language, facing common health problems. They merit their own communication vehicles. 2. In particular, to promote research & publication on diseases frequently neglected by the developed world, to achieve Millennium Development Goals in Health & to promote social responsibility of medical research We can contribute to improving their quality. Thanks to MEDICC Review for their support And to Christine Mills for her help! Published by MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba) Havana by moonlight Thanks for your attention! 11

12 The core of the Cuban health system 11,468 family doctor-and-nurse offices distributed throughout Cuba o associated with 452 enhanced community clinics & o 219 regional and national hospitals pharma & biotech industries (38 enterprises, 7000 scientists) Medical education is free Education takes place in primary care facilities and hospitals associated with 25 medical schools & 13 universities 2013: 118,398 medical students Since 1999, the Latin American Medical School has graduated >20,000 physicians from 70 countries (including USA) Medical sciences publishing in Cuba: potential contributors Health care sector Pharma& biotech sector Medical schools: health careoriented education; textbooks mainly in Spanish; no systematic contact with scientific articles Research-oriented education: early contact with scientific articles in English; scientific writing required Publishing mainly in Cuban Journals Publishing mainly in international Journals 12

13 ECIMED annual course for editors in health Workshop, conferences& discussions 75 hrs Evaluation: Research project 200 hrs Course for authors Communicating scientific information in medicine, biology and biotechnology >600 participants since 2004 National Network of Editors Improving quality in scientific editing and in dissemination of IT innovations For journal & book editors in medicine & public health 13

14 National Advisory Council for Medical Publications Established 2010 Mission To promote research in medical & public health publishing To recommend modifications to instructions for authors & reviewers To promote adoption of international guidelines and recommendations National Advisory Council for Medical Publications Provincial workshops Building editing skills Updates on international standards in scientific publishing 14