Letter to the editor in EDUMECENTRO: underutilized format for scientific debate and controversy
LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

Letter to the editor in EDUMECENTRO: underutilized format for scientific debate and controversy

Carta al editor en EDUMECENTRO: formato subutilizado para el debate científico y la polémica

 

 

Frank Quintana Gómez1* http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5698-8025
Yayly Huguet Blanco2 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6046-784X

 

1Villa Clara University of Medical Sciences. "José Luis Miranda" University Pediatric Hospital. Santa Clara. Villa Clara. Cuba.
2Villa Clara University of Medical Sciences. Academic Vice-rectorate. Methodological Department. Santa Clara. Villa Clara. Cuba.

 

*Author for correspondence. Email: frankqg@infomed.sld.cu

 

 

Submitted: 01/07/2019
Accepted: 03/02/2020

 

 

To the editor:

One of the main reasons for the satisfaction of editors of scientific journals and researchers who use their pages to publicize results in the scientific work is to provide feedback on the opinions that their articles deserve within the scientific community related to the presented topics.

There are several ways to obtain this information, and one that is widely accepted is the generation of controversies, scientifically based, with replies and counter-replies in correspondence between authors and readers.

The letter to the editor, a modality most used for this purpose, is considered as a format that stimulates and promotes science, and as an activity that produces ideas and a way to confront them in the academic and scientific world, with two-way communication between researchers, academicians and students.(1)

In EDUMECENTRO Journal it is also the most expeditious format for confrontation and exchange as the indications to the authors express; however, it is our opinion that its potentialities are underutilized for the aforementioned purposes, and we support our criteria with the review of the letters published in this modality in the last six years, their direct or indirect reference to articles published here, and the replies and/or counter-replies generated.

During this period, 42 letters to the editor were published (five in 2014, six in 2015, eight in 2016, nine in 2017, nine in 2018 and five in 2019) and the analysis showed that 31 (73.8 %) do not refer either directly or indirectly to articles published in the journal, nine (21.4 %) do so directly and two (4.8 %) indirectly.

With indirect allusion, without analysis of the aforementioned article, we find that Enriquez Clavero(2) defines Problem Teaching and Problem Based Learning and mentions an article of his own authorship, while Fuentes Morales et al.(3) defend the valuation of the scientific product by user criteria.

With direct references, Martínez Rodríguez et al.(4) write, motivated by three sections of the first issue of 2014, extrapolating what has been said about methodological work, information technologies and pedagogical mastery, to the implementation of curricular strategies in general and English language in particular, and then Pérez Faure et al.(5) on the comprehensive approach to the formation of values and usefulness of the clinical method.

Cabrera Llano et al.(6) cite a publication on academic performance of students in the basic area of polyclinics and present their own results in Morphophysiology, while from Ciego de Ávila, Hernández García et al.(7) coincide with the statements on the involvement of students from "Mario Muñoz Monroy" movement in scientific publications and propose to publishers to assume their responsibility; and from Argentina, Martin Palomo et al.(8) in the centenary of the University Reform of Córdoba, and on the subject of a letter to the editor, reaffirm the need to claim that fact.

Finally in 2019, Pozo Vera et al.(9) praise a publication about the Provincial Residents Conference and congratulate their authors; Ramos-Cordero et al.,(10) reaffirm the usefulness of academic social networks; Brungel Cintra et al.(11) contrast with their previous article their opinions on the relevance of cooperative learning, and Cabrera Chaviano et al.(12) consider educational diagnosis and pedagogical delivery as definitive moments of the educational work project.

Once the analysis is concluded, we confirm that the number of letters referring to articles in the journal itself is insufficient, and in those that do address them, there are no criticisms or differences of meaningful opinions; the majority express criteria, praises and/or congratulations to the authors, and replies or counter-replies were never published, being in this sense an underutilized format.

We consider it appropriate to find ways to motivate authors and readers to venture into the use of letters to the editor in EDUMECENTRO as a space for debate and controversy.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

1. López-Hernández D, Brito-Aranda L, Torres-Fonseca A. Importancia y redacción de la carta al editor. Rev Esp Med Quir. 2014;19:475-478.

2. Enríquez Clavero JO. ¿Enseñanza problémica es igual a aprendizaje basado en problemas? Un ejemplo en Morfofisiología. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2014 [citado 27/02/2019];6(supl. 1):[aprox. 5 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article /view/508/html_17

3. Fuentes Morales IG, Toledano Prieto Y, Capote Pérez AA. Valoración del producto científico por criterios de usuarios: necesidad apremiante para su perfeccionamiento. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2018 [citado 27/02/2019];10(3):[aprox. 4 p.]. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2077-28742018000300019

4. Martínez Rodríguez M, Cárdenas Santana J, González Capdevila O. Estrategia curricular de Inglés en estudios de Medicina, un pronunciamiento sobre su implementación. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2014 [citado 18/06/2019];6(2):[aprox. 6 p.]. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2077-28742014000200020

5. Pérez Faure N, Zamora Rodríguez M, Rodríguez Rodríguez L. El método clínico: una vía para formar valores en los estudiantes de Medicina. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2015 [citado 27/02/2019];7(1):[aprox. 6 p.]. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2077-28742015000100015

6. Cabrera Llano JL, Villar Váldes M, Alfonso Arboláez LE. La Morfofisiología y el rendimiento académico del estudiante: un problema vigente. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2016 [citado 27/02/2019];8(1):[aprox. 6 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/692/html_108

7. Hernández García F, Robaina Castillo J. Publicación científica estudiantil en ciencias médicas en Cuba: ¿oportunidad o reto? EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2018 [citado 27/02/2019];10(2):[aprox. 4 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/1052/html_346

8. Martín Palomo D, Grunfeld Baeza MV, Salas MS. La reforma universitaria de 1918: de Córdoba a Latinoamérica. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2018 [citado 20/02/2019];10(3):[aprox. 5 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/1191/html_363

9. Pozo Vera Y, Cruz Rodríguez J. Sobre el artículo "Jornadas Provinciales de Residentes: hacia la excelencia en la docencia de posgrado". EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2019 [citado 18/06/2019];11(1):[aprox. 3 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/1194/html_431

10. Ramos-Cordero AE, Blanco Betancourt SL. Las redes sociales académicas en el Primer Encuentro Nacional de Jóvenes Investigadores de la Salud. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2019 [citado 18/06/2019];11(1):[aprox. 3 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/1258/html_419

11. Brungel Cintra CJ, Coca JA, Marino Magdariaga CI. Pertinencia del aprendizaje cooperativo en las carreras de Tecnologías de la Salud. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2019 [citado 18/06/2019];11(2):[aprox. 4 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/1275/pdf_410

12. Cabrera Chaviano L, Casanova García C. Diagnóstico educativo y entrega pedagógica: momentos definitivos para el proyecto de trabajo educativo integral. EDUMECENTRO [Internet]. 2019 [citado 18/06/2019];11(2):[aprox. 3 p.]. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2077-28742019000200235&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es

 

 

Declaration of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

 

 

Authors' contribution

Frank Quintana García and Yayly Huguet Blanco: located the information, processed it and wrote the article.

 

 

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