CM. Annals of the National Academy of Medicine, Venezuela, 12/30/2020

Rafael Rangel-Aldao, Editor

We are proud to present the first volume of Annals of the National Academy of Medicine, Venezuela, 2020, as an instrument of synthesis and rapid access to all scientific publications of our Academy, that is, to new journals such as CientMed, the special section Covid-19, as well as the most recent issues of the centennial Gaceta Médica de Caracas, the Razetti Collection, the Monthly Bulletin, and the many books published with the seal of the National Academy of Medicine. The Annals are, therefore, a compilation in a single click to a Front-end of the whole machinery of information and knowledge management, or Back-end, which took form between May and December 2020. The Annals, therefore is a Yearbook of the main medical, scientific and technological publications, in English or Spanish, applied to clinical or surgical praxis, as well as to scientific or historical research of Venezuelan and universal medicine, registered in the Digital Portal since 2005. Most of the Academy´s journals, however, are published in Spanish with abstracts in English. We now present the one corresponding to 2020 and other volumes will be published gradually. The purpose of this yearbook fulfills one more way of undertaking our mission to be the, «… Official, scientific and doctrinal Corporation that represents National Medical Science.» As well as adding another way to help the scientific development of the country: «The National Academy of Medicine will deal with everything related to the study of Biological Sciences and especially National Pathology and Hygiene, matters in which it can act as a body consultant.»

Historical Background of the Academic Annals.

The concept of the academic yearbook dates back to the 17th century with the Mémoires, of the French Academy of Sciences, in 1666. At that time, from 1669 to 1679, the Academy published annual volumes on its academic activities. Years later, in 1835, the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences was created, which was actually an 18-page weekly brochure, and consisted of, “… the minutes of each meeting, summaries of the correspondence received by the Academy, brief reports on the lectures presented during each meeting, as well as mentions on nominations or special events, from newspapers or scientific books received by the Academy. »

In the 20th century, in 1966, “… the magazine was divided into four parts: Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and, Biological Sciences. Its name was changed to, Compte Rendus de l’Académie des sciences. The magazine was published in French until 1984 when 99% of its articles are published in English, that is, 36 years to date. The electronic Portal of the now electronic, Compte Rendus of 2020, like our Digital Portal, offers academic news in the local language, and contains on its main menu, like us, Sessions of the Academy and its Publications, as well as all the elements of synthesis, quick reading, and detailed information of each article published there.

Volume 2020 of the Annals of the National Academy of Medicine

Each article of the 2020 volume is listed with a dynamic index that allows the respective access to a synopsis, author search button, and detailed information in PDF format for the piece in question. Each annual volume has hypertext links to the Digital Portal for direct and automatic access to original sources, such as CientMed, Covid-19, Gaceta Médica de Caracas, the Razetti Collection, and the Monthly Bulletin. At the end of this edition, we present a quantitative analysis based on Google Analytics, of the contents of the Digital Portal, which includes the growth of the audience and its geographical extension in the world, as well as the most viewed pages, in the days elapsed from May to the present date, December 31st, 2020. Similarly, we analyze the distribution of subject matters in each of the three categories and subcategories of the Annals, Medicine, Surgery, and Science. With this initiative, the National Academy of Medicine seeks to serve as a bridge between our medical community and the technoscientific advances that occur in a super accelerated way in centers of world excellence. The Annal’s final purpose is to preserve in a dynamic and friendly way, the clinical, surgical, scientific and historical heritage, codified in the publications of the Academy. We hope that the Anuario will empower, even more, the wide audience of the Digital Portal of the Academy after six months of its launch in May 2020, which according to Google Analytics, After eight months of its launch, from May to December 2020, it has accumulated 32,799 views from 12,241 users in 972 cities, and 81 countries on five continents.