[Editorial situation of seven Latin American journals on respiratory diseases]

A survey was conducted in a meeting sponsored by ALAT (Latin American Association of Thoracic Diseases). Each of the seven editors reported about their journal and answered a questionnaire. The improvement in knowledge divulgation is the main motivation of respiratory societies to edit their own journals. To disseminate medical knowledge and report experiences, are the main motivations of authors to submit papers. The most common deficiency of submitted manuscripts is a bad compliance with journal requirements. An improvement in the relationship between author-editor-reviewer should be the best strategy to enhance the quality of the manuscripts. Suggestions to improve the Latin American journals included to professionalize editorial work, to increase the meticulousness of manuscripts reviewers and to reinforce international norms for editing medical journals. Some major problems reported were a lack of a regular and adequate periodicity in publishing the issues, lack of original papers submitted that mean a "milestone" for the specialty a low percentage of submitted papers rejection and a high and frequent turnover of editors. Although several journals are available in electronic indices, they should be maintained in their printed form. Each journal should have printed its subscription fee, even considering that its subscription is included in the annual society membership fee. The feasibility to generate a multinational Latin American Journal on Respiratory Diseases should be explored.