Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the
world. Archimedes (Greek mathematician, physicist and astronomer)A few years ago, the Dentistry section of CAPES (Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement
of Higher Education Personnel) decided to induce the QUALIS** of three
scientific national dental journals, among which four were indexed at SciELO database. At
that time, based on the criteria of the field, the three main Brazilian journals (BOR, JAOS
and BDJ), which used to be classified as B2, were induced to be classified as B1. A
decision to be loudly applauded. Why?Whenever a given journal is ranked higher at QUALIS-CAPES, Brazilian researchers tend to
give priority to it when submitting manuscripts for publication. A knock-on effect is then
produced: more articles, better selection of manuscripts, higher impact of published
articles and, as a result, higher impact factor for this journal. What was envisioned has
been accomplished: in 2009, those three journals had a Cites per document
index ranging from 0.49 to 0.69;1 after the
induction mechanism, all three journals had their citation index doubled. Presently, the
citation index of those three journals ranges between 0.91 and 1.04 at SCImago1. Brazilian science is often criticized for producing
much and publishing little. Now, it found an excellent tool to boost the number of
citations of its own periodicals. Why not?In order to proceed with such development, in August, 2015, the Dentistry section of CAPES
enhanced the arm of the lever and reinforced its fulcrum: all three journals were ranked as
A2. Another major decision based on the development resulting from the first action and the
need to polish our precious stones.At first, the fourth Brazilian dental journal indexed at SciELO that would have its QUALIS
raised was Dental Press Journal of Orthodontics (DPJO). With an impact factor way below
other national journals also indexed in the same database (at around 0.075) and due to
being published in Portuguese only, we decided to make some progress before we were given
the opportunity of undergoing the induction process, despite the enormous importance our
journal has among Brazilian and foreigner orthodontists.As from 2010, DPJO began to be published in English and had its title changed. Since then,
we had been doubling our impact factor which reached 0.25 in 2012.At that time, there was an avalanche of good articles. In 2013, however, growth had to slow
down, as we decided to double the number of articles published with a view to speeding the
process of publishing up. In 2014, DPJO Cites per docpartially regained
the loss suffered in 2013 and reached an impact factor of 0.16. The future looks promising
in 2015, with a well-adjusted publication flow and an estimate of the impact resulting from
indexing at PubMed Central.Despite the growth of the journal in the last few years, the Dentistry section of CAPES
recently ranked DPJO as QUALIS B3. It is only natural that Brazilian Orthodontics questions
the following: in spite of its growth and without the benefits provided by induction, what
is the reason why DPJO was not ranked higher in the recent QUALIS evaluation conducted by
CAPES?A reasonable assumption is the fact that DPJO is a specialty journal, which is undeniable;
however, a few particularities should be highlighted. Orthodontics is the only specialty of
Brazilian Dentistry that counts on a journal indexed by the major databases worldwide.
(SciELO, Scopus, PubMed/Medline and PubMed Central). According to SCImago, in 2014, Brazil
was ranked second among the countries with the highest scientific production in Dentistry.
The United States was ranked first, with 40% more scientific production than Brazil. The
orthodontic reality is quite similar; however, the distance is shorter: 19%. Should we
disregard Brazilian researchers' production published by DPJO, the scientific production of
the country would decrease in 40% and Brazilian Orthodontics would be ranked eighth, with
half as much production as the USA. Thus, DPJO has played a major role in disclosing
Brazilian orthodontic science.Furthermore, despite being the lead journal in which Brazilian Orthodontics is disclosed,
DPJO also publishes articles written by researchers focused on other dental as well as
medical, engineering and speech therapy specialties, among others. In 2014, 86 out of 97
scientific articles published by DPJO were written by Brazilian researchers, and nearly as
half (40) had professors from other specialties as coauthors. Therefore, data reveal that
despite being a specialty journal, DPJO is highly receptive to other specialties but
Orthodontics, which reinforces the multidisciplinary facet of the field.An analysis of articles published between 2013 and 2014, the period on which the most
recent CAPES evaluation was based on, reveals that students and professors attending 51
different graduate programs (53.6%) published at DPJO. This accounts for the majority of
Brazilian graduate programs. The percentage is equivalent to the diversity reported by the
journals benefiting from QUALIS induction process. Thus, inducing DPJO QUALIS would benefit
the majority of Brazilian graduate programs, not only a few of them. It is paramount to
highlight the substantial contribution given by DPJO to professors of Orthodontics as well
as other specialties, allowing them to remain part of different graduate programs.
Moreover, it is possible that its induction would also allow professors of Orthodontics to
participate more actively in programs that do not have Orthodontics as one of their
specialties, contributing to make Brazilian graduate programs diverse and enhancing
multidisciplinarity in scientific production, which is paramount to increase the impact of
Brazilian Dental Science.