Special distinction for the Pan American Journal of Public Health

Feb 7 2005

The Publications Program of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has announced that the prestigious Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) has selected The Pan American Journal of Public Health for inclusion in its Social Science Citation Index and Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences. Furthermore, ISI has informed PAHO Publications Program that it is being considered to include the Journal in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine.

This achievement represents one of the highest distinctions for PAHO, Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of the World Health Organization, devoted to research and invest in ways to improve the health and living conditions in the American hemisphere. Although no one can calculate how many scientific journals circulate throughout the world at a given time, it is estimated that the number reaches hundreds of thousands. Of all those journals, only 6,000 fulfill the rigorous standards of ISI. Those standards, in turn, derive mainly of objective, quantitative evidence: the analysis of scientific literature cited by the world research community.

The selection by ISI for inclusion in its services of indexing means that a journal represents quality; that it has impact, that it is valued by the scientific community, that it is read, and that its results are applied by others; that the journal contributes to the cumulative progress of science in favor of humankind. Now in PAHO we have objective and external validation that our Journal fulfills all those criteria.

The PAHO Publications Program considers, however, that this honor distinguishes especially all researchers of Latin America and the Caribbean, whose research articles, for accounts, have motivated the high appointment of the Journal. The majority of them, unlike its counterparts in developed countries (full-time research, easy access to sufficient good resources, etc.) have multiple jobs—teaching in the university, serving in public positions, looking after patients in clinical practices—and they have to make an effort in order to find the time and the resources to develop their research. In contrast to many obstacles, our researchers have earned this distinction, which is a testimony both of its value and of its merit.

Finally, in addition to being recognized by the well done work until now, this distinction augurs very favorably for the future of the Journal. The best researchers only submit their articles to journals recognized by ISI, and our publication will now attract the best research. That research, in turn, will ensure our Journal: to be increasingly cited: a true virtuous cycle!

For more information, please refer to PAHO Journal.