Urología Colombiana, the official journal of the Sociedad Colombiana de Urología (SCU), should act in line with the rapid advance and positioning of our society, as well as with the global trend in the publication of biomedical journals. As editor of Urología Colombiana, I believe it is essential to have a greater international visibility of our publications and to generate interest in foreign authors to publish in it in order to position ourselves among the Latin American journals of the same category. We must count on the active participation of the members of SCU, their work, experience and innovation must be made known to urologists in Colombia, Latin America and the world.
As part of the reorganization of Urología Colombiana, an editorial board with a greater number of members has been organized, some of whom have masters and doctoral studies in epidemiology and education, areas in which they will be of a great support to the editorial process. In accordance with the Editorial Board and the executive secretary, we assigned a schedule in which each service of Urology with academic relations will publish an original article and a review article. Likewise, we asked the directors of different sections to promote the participation of members related to their subspecialty. The members of the International Scientific Committee will participate as guest editors, expressing their opinion on the most relevant and controversial scenarios of the current urological practice.
The SCU has been certified with high standards of quality in its processes, it hosts more than 90% of the urologists in Colombia and organizes first-line conferences and academic events; therefore, Urología Colombiana is obliged to take a step forward. This means improving its indexation category at Publindex-Colciencias (up to A2) and forming part of international indexing and abstract systems and large databases, such as MedLine, Scopus, and the Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Knowledge. In this way, it will be an even more noteworthy publication for foreign authors, and it will also validate our scientific production when interacting with other scientific societies. This will allow us to align our work with the international environment, to be part of a global network of knowledge. To achieve this, we must set the bar very high and be increasingly more demanding and self-critical with our publications, with a clear objective of what we want to report.
To keep the journal visible and active in databases we must be a useful publication, of the highest scientific quality, that meets the publication requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, available at http://www.icmje.org/). I want to emphasize the importance of complying with estimated times for a proper scheduling in the publishing process.
I request your commitment as main authors, co-authors, external reviewers or guest editors. The Elsevier Editorial System (EES) will send automatic reminders to those who accept to be reviewers and it will also send suggested changes to authors and co-authors, depending on the case, maintaining thus a clear traceability of processes. This capacity of timely publication implies that a healthy reserve of articles is essential for the journal's permanent viability.
The SCU has perceived the existing access limitations of medical residents in different institutions regarding their epidemiology units and statistical support; for this reason, in conjunction with the Section on Clinical Guidelines and Research, directed by Dr. Herney Andrés García, we have created the Office of Research, with the participation of members of the SCU with epidemiological training. The purpose of this office is to provide support in the development of research projects by both medical residents and seasoned specialists.
The information is available on the urosmart platform, on the SCU's webpage. This platform—currently managed by Dr. Gustavo Ramos, a fourth year resident at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana—maintains a direct communication with epidemiological advisers and it creates a contact point among medical residents, where they also share information and contacts on elective external rotations, fellowships and joint research projects.
The Section on Clinical Guidelines and Research of the SCU developed a process for the adaptation of clinical practice guidelines in accordance with the highest international standards. These guidelines were socialized in the 2014 National Conference. Starting with this edition, the first page of these guidelines will be published online by Elsevier, with a direct access to the full version. They can also be accessed through the SCU website, where they are available for all members.
Urología Colombiana is our journal: an open door publication, which, in line with the mission of SCU, seeks to promote scientific production, to maintain methodological rigor in research, and to become one of the best journals of Colombia's scientific societies.