The face of Latin American comparative biochemistry and physiology

Latin America has experienced a vigorous growth in scientific production since the 1990s, rising from 1.7% of the world's share of science publications in 1990 to 3.2% in 2000. This appears to be a consequence of increasing investment in tertiary education, especially at the doctoral level. However, such growth is not homogeneous among the nations of Latin America, being affected by many issues, such as economical power and expenses in science and technology. Biology--including comparative biochemistry and physiology (CBP)--is one of the scientific areas of tremendous growth in the continent. Thus, in order to celebrate the increasing participation of Latin America in the field of CBP, the editorial board of Comp. Biochem. Physiol. decided to organize a special volume dedicated to Latin American authors (CBP-Latin America). From May to November 2005, 52 manuscripts were submitted to CBP-Latin America from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela. This opening issue contains the first two dozen manuscripts, highlighting the diversity of experimental approaches and the breadth and uniqueness of the biological systems available to researchers in Latin America. We hope that the CBP-Latin America project becomes a significant editorial initiative, one that will meet the goals of highlighting, integrating, and mapping CBP research in Latin America.