As described in its homepage, the purpose of PBJ is to promote science and health research without barriers. This purpose was well addressed by the editor-in-chief, in the first editorial. PBJ was expected to: (1) produce a full spectrum of top-quality papers in Biomedicine, (2) strengthen reputation in scientific and scholarly community, and (3) expand to other databases.
In just one year, around 50 papers were published in PBJ, gathering knowledge in biomedicine domains as distinct as biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, genetics, immunology, nutrition, medical education, psychology, sociology, psychiatry, medical informatics, epidemiology, neurosciences, cancer, respiratory disease, cardiology, radiology, surgery, and pediatrics. This panoply of domains is authored by researchers with very distinct backgrounds that have at least one thing in common: to provide high quality scientific advances in health research to the PBJ readers.
The majority of papers published within this year in PBJ are accomplished by effective collaborations held between Hospitals, Universities and Research & Development institutions. That is one of the first lessons PBJ provides for students – Science is a collaborative issue! You cannot do science alone!
Yet, we can say: “No big deal!”, since PBJ actually arises from the commitment of FMUP and the S. Joao Hospital Center consortium. And it is located at the Porto health sciences pole, one of the best environments for favoring scientific collaborations, gathering together hospitals, faculties and R&D units. But location is not enough! A full commitment of researchers and students in publishing their work was needed to successfully achieve this task. And PBJ made it possible!
Another crucial point is the fact that science does not have frontiers. Again PBJ fulfilled this accomplishment, since twenty-five percent of the papers published within this year are international ones, either from partnerships with worldwide teams, or entirely published by international research groups. This lesson was also endorsed by PBJ.
Finally, researchers, and particularly students already welcomed PBJ. Nearly 20% of the papers published at PBJ this year were performed by students, particularly PhD and master students, but also undergraduate MD students, who recognized this journal to spread their studies. Thus, the scientific and scholar community is already paying attention to PBJ as well.
The first year of a scientific journal is always a difficult task, requiring hard-work of the whole team and lots of patience. Looking back to the very beginning, PBJ achieved high standards concerning the number and quality of publications, authorships, and projection in research, clinical and academic community. Keeping this in mind, to expand to new databases is the next challenge and it is not far away. Full success is ahead!