Colombia Médica is now indexed in MEDLINE/Pubmed: A dream come true

Abstract

It was said some years ago that «the shortest line in science, as well as in love, is not the straight one»1. This turned out to be true for Acta Médica del Valle, a scientific journal launched in Cali, Colombia in 1970, when Rodrigo Guerrero et al., dreamt of having a periodical to disseminate medical information - primarily in southwestern Colombia. Moreover, Jorge Lega Siccar, president of this journal's first editorial committee, envisioned that manuscripts coming from the «whole republic», as well as from overseas, would arrive at the editorial office of the newly born scientific journal. And they accomplished it. Then, Francisco Falabella et al., who took the lead from 1973 until 1998, dreamt of increasing the journal's impact and reputation throughout Colombia. Thus, in 1980, the Journal's name was changed to Colombia Médica, and hundreds of high-quality manuscripts were published in paper form only, an uninterrupted journey lasting 25 years - from 1970 to 1995, and always supported by Universidad del Valle also located in Cali. During this time, Colombia Médica disseminated important and groundbreaking research. For example, in 1981, Zaninovic et al., published on a disease prevalent in southwestern Colombia, charac­terized by spastic paraparesis, a disorder later associated with a number of environmental cofactors2. This research attracted the attention of the World Health Organization to this medical problem. Also, among the dreams of this editorial group was to set up an electronic edition of Colombia Médica, which was posted on the web page: http://colombiamedica. univalle.edu.co in 1995. And this was accomplished!

Authors

• Fidias E. Leon-Sarmiento University of Pennsylvania