In the end of June, publishing companies and editors receive the Impact Factor grade of journals, that is now published by Clarivate Analytics (formerly the Institute for Scientific Information – ISI). This year we were very pleased to know that our International Brazilian Journal of Urology received an impact factor higher than 1, now 1,046.

Among international urological magazines, this fact may not be remarkable, but for Int Braz J Urol is a great achievement, since not too many Brazilian health journals have an impact factor higher than 1.

Probably, Int Braz J Urol is one of very few medical journals in the World maintained by a medical society, without the aid of a big publishing house; also,  it is an open access magazine that does not charge any fee for submission and publishing. Int Braz J Urol has been continuously published for 45 years and nowadays receives almost 800 articles per year from all continents; and it is not easy to publish at Int Braz J Urol : our rejection rate is around 75% at peer review.

Urologists that do not attend academic centers may regard a scientific magazine as not an important issue, but our Journal is an important source of learning and updating, that may be consulted with a few  clicks of the computer , with no fees or other inconvenience.

Many may not know that a few years ago, when the editor was Prof. Francisco Sampaio and Int Braz J Urol was indexed at Pubmed, our impact factor was higher than 1, but it lowered along time.

The merit of this current rise must be credit to the authors, that believe in Int Braz J Urol and submitted high quality papers that generate citations; to the reviewers, that voluntarily evaluate and select the best papers; and to the associated editors, that coordinate all work.

I particularly thank the last four Brazilian Society of Urology management members (coordinated by Drs. Aguinaldo Nardi, Carlos Corradi, Archimedes Nardoza and Sebastião Westphal) that understood how important is for the Society to maintain an internationally respected journal, and that did not measure efforts even when the serious crisis that has hit our society occurred, maintaining the continuity of Int Braz J Urol .

But none of that would be guaranteed if we did not have a fantastic team that effectively produce the Journal: Ricardo Morais, that produces IBJU for more than 15 years, Bruno A. Nogueira and Patricia Gomes, that has been helping in the last years.

To exceed 1 is just one step, but a large one; I hope the authors, in special Brazilians, submit more and more their best works to IBJU and that we can celebrate an impact factor of  2, 3 or higher in a not far distant future. It is important for this growth that residents be accustomed to read our magazine and not only foreign journals, and that discuss IBJU papers in their journal clubs meetings.

This year I finish my chief editor’s office of IBJU, and I am very proud to have exercised this job. Every new citation of a Int Braz J Urol paper gave me great joy, and a sense of duty fulfilled and well done.

Read, publish and cite the International Brazilian Journal of Urology!

Sidney Glina
Editor-in-chief