Profile of journals and articles of the electronic publishing group in medicine and biology (e-pub Group)

Abstract

Considering the relevance of scientific communication electronically and the expansion of journals of this genre, a study was conducted involving the 14 journals edited by the e-pub Group, the national program for electronic publications in Biology, Medicine and Health. The objectives of this research included: (a) analyze each publication as to - origin, nature, maintenance of the printed version, structure, level of user interaction, accessibility and availability of materiais; an evaluation system, official language, nature of publisher, circulation, periodicity, situation, life span and indexing; (b) verify the average number of articles per publication/edition; (c) analyze each text to determine its nature, language, authorship, author's institutional affiliation and academic level; as well as the distribution of articles per author. In general terms, the journals mainly classified as publications for publicity, originate from the Southeast. Moreover, despite the special features of electronic publications such as - user journal interactions, hypertext navigation and access to multimedia, without mentioning that they are free, 64.29% of printed journals were still maintained, though 50% was irregular. The constant publication delays and interruptions suggest the need for introducing a method, which systematizes the electronic periodicals of the e-pub Group. Among the articles published, there was a predominance of original scientific pieces and points of view/ notes/comments in Portuguese, by individual authors who not only had post-doctorate degrees, but were also affiliated to public universities, especially the State University of Campinas in the State of São Paulo.