We are celebrating two years since the official launch of Global Rheumatology, a new scientific journal by PANLAR. During this time, the emerging publication has consolidated its editorial policy with distinctive characteristics that meet the needs of knowledge promotion and dissemination in the global rheumatology community, particularly in Latin America.

Scientific journals have gradually shifted their business model from subscription-based access to open access through article processing charges (APCs) (1). The main beneficiaries of this transition have been the publishing houses that own most of the world’s scientific journals. A recent study (2) shows that of 505,903 open access (OA) articles analyzed, 60.9% were published in gold OA journals, where authors pay APCs; only 8.6% in diamond OA journals (no APCs charged), and 30.5% in hybrid journals (where authors must also pay if they want their articles to be open access). Revenues for publishers from gold OA reached USD $612.5 million, while USD $448.3 million were generated through OA publishing in hybrid journals, which publishers also monetize through subscription fees.

Among the top five publishers, Springer Nature reported the highest OA revenues (USD $589.7 million), followed by Elsevier (USD $221.4 million), Wiley (USD $114.3 million), Taylor & Francis (USD $76.8 million), and SAGE (USD $31.6 million).

In this context, choosing to produce and disseminate an independent diamond open access journal—meaning it charges neither authors nor readers—is no small decision, given the high costs of maintaining a scientific publication (1,2).

APCs pose a significant barrier to the visibility of scientific research globally, benefiting commercial interests more than scientific or knowledge dissemination goals (2).

This starkly contrasts with a reality often overlooked: Latin America’s strong and deeply rooted tradition of academic publishing, where journals are mostly owned by universities and scientific societies rather than for-profit publishers. These journals are committed to disseminating science and promoting visibility over commercial interests (3).

Currently, the infrastructure built in Latin America by systems like Redalyc (Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal) and SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) places the region at the forefront of non-commercial or diamond open access.

A detailed analysis of Latin American and Caribbean scientific publications, based on indexed journal records from SciELO and Redalyc between 1909–2019, shows 1,720 scientific journals in the region, comprising nearly 800,000 articles and more than 2.5 million authors, all freely accessible. The study highlights the predominance of universities and public institutions in this regional publishing ecosystem and notes that journals using the APC model in the region are significantly fewer than those in other continents, with Brazil being the country where this model is most used (3).

However, this approach is often not reflected in greater visibility or recognition for regional scientific research. Nonetheless, data show that among developing regions, research output is growing and becoming more visible.

Between 2000 and 2010, Latin America experienced an annual growth rate of over 9% in scientific production, leading to a nearly 70% increase in its share of global manuscripts. This accounts for just under 4.4% of the world’s annual academic article output. The region’s citation impact has improved by 1.6% per year, although it remains below the global average (4).

Clarivate, owners of Thomson Reuters—publishers of the well-known impact factor rankings—highlighted in their global report (5) that the number of academic publications and papers from the region indexed in Web of Science (WoS) has grown faster than in most other parts of the world. Between 2016 and 2020, five countries (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile) published over 25,000 WoS-indexed articles. Another 12 countries published between 1,000 and 10,000 articles, while the remaining 17 countries published fewer than 200 articles per year on average. Brazil is by far the largest contributor to research, and 10 of the 34 countries—including Cuba and Mexico—account for more than three-quarters of the region’s scientific output.

These data challenge the concept of the “invisible continent”—a region perceived as having low visibility in science and constantly striving for global citations. Often, this verifiable production is underestimated by both locals and outsiders, as many publications are found in solid regional journals that are not indexed in leading commercial databases like WoS or Scopus (6). Latin America’s contribution to the global scientific body is growing and currently ranks around the middle in terms of production and visibility.

Rheumatology is not exempt from these trends (7), with northern hemisphere publications dominating the field and limited representation from the Global South—possibly with the exception of Brazil and India.

The main limitations identified include low levels of international collaboration among regional countries, reduced visibility due to language and place of publication (4), insufficient research and publication funding, lack of mentorship programs for early-career researchers, limited dedicated research time, and the need for editorial support, among other factors (8,9).

These findings highlight the need for continued research into scientific communication patterns in the region to develop more specific recommendations for Latin America’s research and publishing policies (10,11).

For years, PANLAR has been organizing study groups on various rheumatic diseases. Some have successfully demonstrated regional differences and the need to strengthen homegrown research (12). With the new Research Unit and the preliminary release of several clinical practice guidelines, the organization (13) is entering a new phase. It will be crucial to recognize the strengths of multinational collaborative work and scientific communication that meets international quality standards, while maintaining a commitment to contributing scientific knowledge to the continent, its patients, and its organizations—an essential foundation for sustainable growth.

The scientific community must evaluate these data to develop a unified strategy that improves visibility and consolidates a strong, well-valued scientific production and publishing ecosystem for the region.

At Global Rheumatology, we are making every effort to ensure that high-quality articles secure a strong presence in the scientific publishing ecosystem in Latin America and beyond, as recognized by international evaluations for indexing in databases such as DOAJ (14) and Latindex.

Currently, authors, reviewers, and readers can navigate a robust editorial platform built on Drupal, a versatile, modular, and open-source content management system. It supports the integration of author identifiers like ORCID, article identifiers like DOIs from CrossRef, and all the technical elements needed to optimize metadata and properly showcase all research published in the journal, ensuring their accreditation and visibility.

After two years of intense work, we are aware that great challenges remain in consolidating Global Rheumatology, a scientific journal that has already achieved notable accomplishments in a short period. We are confident that, with a clear vision and the growing guidance and collaboration of the Pan-American rheumatology community—as well as global support from those committed to reliable and valid information on rheumatic diseases in all regions of the world, especially in Latin America—the PANLAR scientific journal will continue to grow and increase its impact as a key communication vehicle in the global rheumatology landscape.