LILACS journals criteria updated

The criteria for admission and permanence of LILACS journals have been updated to reflect advances in Open Science and strengthen editorial quality. The new version of the document, the result of a participatory process with experts from Latin America and the Caribbean, establishes guidelines on indexing, diversity, editorial ethics, the use of artificial intelligence and avoiding predatory journals. The new rules come into force in April 2025, with a transition period until 2026.

The quality, transparency and integrity of scientific output, together with the representativeness of the identity, ethnocultural characteristics and health context of Latin America and the Caribbean, are fundamental principles for the development of the LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature) database collection.

The criteria for admission and permanence of journals in LILACS database reflect these values and incorporate advances in editorial practices and scholarly communication promoted by Open Science. This continuous updating is essential to ensure the relevance and credibility of the collection and takes place with the active participation of the various actors involved in the management of LILACS, including national coordinators, editors, librarians and specialists in the field.

The new version of the criteria continues the updates implemented in previous years (2021 and 2020) and reinforces LILACS’ commitment to editorial excellence.

Process of updating the criteria

The review and updating process was coordinated by BIREME’s Referential Information Sources team and followed the following steps:

1. Preliminary analysis and technical review: Update based on discussions in the series “Good practices in editorial processes for LILACS scientific journals” and contributions from members of the LILACS Brazil Journal Evaluation and Selection Committee.
2. Discussion with experts: Discussion with Committee members during the October 2024 meeting.
3. Regional harmonization: Review of the LILACS journal admission and permanence criteria for Latin America and the Caribbean in Portuguese, translation into Spanish and harmonization with the specific criteria for Brazil.
4. Public consultation: In November 2024, 34 experts from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela contributed suggestions for the final version.

The new version of the document details aspects such as digital support, indexing, editorial flows and diversity and inclusion practices. The new criteria will come into force on April 1, 2025, and will be adopted as a reference for journal evaluation from 2026, ensuring a transition period for adaptation.

Main updates

• Detailed thematic scope – The traditional areas of the Health Sciences have been detailed with their specialties. Interdisciplinary areas have also been expanded to include Information Science and Social Communication.
• Reinforcement of the commitment to Open Science – The adoption of the Creative Commons license (preferably CC-BY) and indexing in DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Google Scholar and Sherpa Romeo became mandatory.
• Stricter criteria for evaluating scientific merit – At least 50% of the articles published must be original ones and evaluated by academic peers outside the publishing institution.
• Inclusion of indigenous languages – The 2025 document encourages the publication of articles in Aymara, Guarani and Quechua, provided they are accompanied by a version in one of the official languages (Portuguese, Spanish, English or French).
• Encouraging studies on public health and climate change – It is recommended to publish research on indigenous health, vulnerable populations, neglected diseases and the impact of climate change on health.
• Focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 3 – LILACS encourages studies that contribute to SDG 3, addressing topics such as maternal and child health, communicable diseases, mental health and universal access to health.
• Avoiding predatory journals – The document presents detailed guidelines for identifying and disqualifying publications of poor editorial and scientific quality.
• Good editorial practices – Journals should establish clear policies on authorship and contributions (ICMJE, CRediT and COPE), define procedures to cope with scientific misconduct and implement measures for data sharing and results reproducibility.
• Use of Artificial Intelligence and post-publication review – Guidelines have been included for the ethical use of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in scientific output. In addition, journals must establish clear procedures for post-publication reviews and corrections, including comments and retractions.
• Revised criteria for diversity and inclusion – The editorial policy should contemplate affirmative actions for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA), following guidelines from C4DISC (Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications).
• Improvement of standardization and metadata – Requirement for standardized identification of authors (ORCID), institutions (Research Organization Registry) and mandatory DOI for each article.

Adapting the criteria for Brazil

The LILACS regional criteria establish minimum requirements for indexing, allowing each country to adapt them according to its reality and adopt more restrictive rules, if necessary.

In Brazil, the criteria have been adjusted to meet the needs of national scientific output, including:

• Requirement of a minimum of 60% original articles per issue.
• A more detailed assessment of the impact of journals in the field of public health.
• Need for a minimum periodicity of four months, with a preference for continuous publication.

LILACS recommends that journals review their editorial processes and prepare for the new requirements. The full version of the criteria will be available on the official LILACS database website.