Neotrop. Helminthol., 5(1), 2011
2011 Asociación Peruana de Helmintología e Invertebrados Afines (APHIA)
ISSN: 2218-6425 impreso / ISSN: 1995-1043 on line
EDITORIAL
NEOTROPICAL HELMINTHOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CHALLENGE
HELMINTOLOGÍA NEOTROPICAL EN LOS PAÍSES EMERGENTES: UN DESAFÍO
1*
Roberto Magalhães Pinto
Suggested citation: Pinto. R.M. 2011. Neotropical helminthology in developing countries: a challenge. vol. 5, n°
1, pp. 01-04.
1* Laboratório de Helmintos Parasitos de Vertebrados. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil, 4365, 21040-360, Rio
de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) research fellow.
As widely known, the neotropical region is
represented by Central America, south of
Mexico, Baja California Peninsula,
northwestern of Mexico, Caribbean Islands,
south of Florida and South America. On the
basis of the outstanding and peculiar
biodiversity of the region, a great number of
helminthological studies related to the
parasites occurring in animals present in the
different environments of the area, has been
accounted.
However, in the last decades, surveys of
helminths recovered from vertebrates living in
this large territory, show that results so far
obtained in developing countries, generally
appear in a very few native periodicals,
whereas most are issued in journals edited in
North America and Europe, commonly utilized
to report data obtained in countries devoid of
governmental/institutional scientific research
support. A recent bibliographical survey from
1845 to 2010 and related to a genus of fish
nematodes (Pinto et al., 2010) demonstrates
that among the presented 260 references, about
17% of the papers refer to the neotropical
region and of these, only 5% have been issued
in native periodicals of developing countries.
According to Costa et al. (2006), South
American science has its origins in the
recovery of informative surveys of pre-
Colombian social groups, although a genuine
Latin American science only emerged by the
introduction of European scientific procedures
when Portuguese and Spanish settlers adopting
the local traditions, forged their own scientific
culture for almost 500 years. Thus, the science
developed in the countries of this region has
always been considered worldwide as derived
or peripheral when compared to European or
North American scientific approaches. In
despite, this situation has been changing along
the last decades, taking into consideration that
Latin America, as a whole, gradually is
appearing in the international scientific
scenery. To support the argument, it is
interesting to refer to the Brazilian experience
concerned to helminthological studies since
the first decade of the XX century. Lauro
Pereira Travassos [1890-1970] (Fig. 1), one of
the most outstanding zoologists in the world
was responsible for the settlement of regular
helminthological studies in Brazil, as well as
for the foundation of the Helminthological
Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (Fig.
2) the pioneer in Latin America since 1913,
when his first paper, together with his early
collaborator Gomes de Faria, was published,
until he died in 1970, with an impressive
production of 436 reported papers, mostly
related to helminthological investigations,
with the description of an incredible amount of
new taxa, and also dealing with revisions and
systematical arrangements. Ninety per cent of
them were written in Portuguese and published
in Brazilian journals, indexed or not. In
despite, Travassos is, to date, certainly the most
w o r l d w i d e r e f e r r e d a u t h o r w h e n
helminthological data is concerned (Gomes
1
et al., 1992; Noronha et al. 2009; Knoff et al.,
2010).
An overall analysis has demonstrated that,
generally, results of studies in which the alpha
taxonomy is the main target have been
neglected while other areas receive increasing
attention (Pietra, 2002). This seems to occur
mainly in developing countries, no matter the
alleged or existing reasons for the settlement of
this condition that is due to the limiting
procedures adopted by several current
scientific periodicals aiming to “modernize”
editorial policies. Most frequently, the
avoidance in publishing papers in which the
occurrence of new hosts and/or geographical
distribution for the species (except for
occasional descriptions of new taxa) are
referred, is an attempt to change the scope
profile of the issued articles in order to report
data of greater interest and thus reach the so
called impact factor (IF), that measures the
frequency which the average article has been
cited in a particular year or period (Garfield,
1972; Strehl, 2005; Adler et al; 2009). Yet, in
accordance with Strehl & Santos (2002), the
impact factor as defined by the Institute for
Scientific Information (ISI) when applied, as a
criterion to identify the quality of the scientific
production, may take into account its relative
evaluation, as well as to consider that such
parameter usually undergo large changes over
the years. On the contrary, it would be unfair to
adopt this index when comparing the
production of researchers, working in different
areas in which the IF has not the same
significance. Thus, one can obtain the
evaluation of the scientific production by
means of the notoriety the periodical presents
at the time; however, there are two aspects in
this approach: the former is related to how
objectively the prestige of a journal can be
determined and the latter refers to the fact that,
if this is taken into account, there is a disregard
of the real qualitative analysis of a scientific
paper. Presently, by means of the electronic
media, most scientific papers are promptly
available on line and, consequently, widely
referred, no matter the impact factor rank of the
periodical; moreover, with the appliance of the
absolute factor, obtained data that are
temporarily ignored do not determine their low
quality. This may serve as an alert, considering
that it is necessary to arise, strengthen, and
preserve the national scientific identity of the
neotropical region by means of accurate and
reliable reports even though appearing in non-
indexed or low-impact periodicals. It is certain
that a publication in an international indexed
journal has a greater chance of being accessed.
However, nothing substitutes the quality of the
work and the international reputation of the
author, although it is very common to
erroneously affirm that articles not published
in a foreign journal are not internationally
considered.
Figure 1. Lauro Travassos, the most outstanding
Brazilian helminthologist in Latin America to date, with
worldwide recognition (After Gomes et al., 1992).
Neotropical helminthology in developing countries Pinto
2
Neotrop. Helminthol., 5(1), 2011
Figure 2. Steel door-sliding cabinets in where the
samples of the Helminthological Collection of the
Oswaldo Cruz Institute are maintained (After Noronha
et al., 2009).
Fortunately, there are still expanding scientific
staffs working in the neotropical region and
with a great interest in helminthological
investigations of taxonomic and systematic
applicability, in order to minimize possible
harmful effects on research protocols
established in the developing countries as
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Mexico and Peru, aiming for their
worldwide recognition (Lamothe-Argumedo
et al., 2010).
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Received February 09, 2011.
Accepted March 15, 2011.
* Author for correspondence / Autor para
correspondencia:
Roberto Magalhães Pinto
Laboratório de Helmintos Parasitos de Vertebrados,
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
Av. Brasil, 4365, 21040-360 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
E-mail/correo electrónico:
rmpinto@ioc.fiocruz.br/rmpinto@globo.com
Neotropical helminthology in developing countries Pinto
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