The Second Mediterranean Seminar on Science Writing, Editing and Publishing (SWEP–2018), Sarajevo, December 8^th, 2018

Izet Masic

On December 8^th of the year 2018 in Sarajevo held meeting “Days of AMNuBiH”–Days of Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and The Second Mediterranean Seminar on Science Writing, Editing and Publishing (SWEP–2018). Venue of the both meetings were at hotel Holiday in Sarajevo (1).

This conference followed our intention to spread out our tasks and conclusions established at SWEP 2016 described in “Sarajevo Declaration on Integrity and Visibility of Scholarly Journals”, published in Croatian Medical Journal in December of 2016. During last two years a lot of biomedical journals accepted Sarajevo Declaration as official document and included in their Instructions for authors in journals which edited and printed (2, 3).

This year, at SWEP 2018, active participation have taken by editors of the journals: Medical Archives, Acta Informatica Medica, Materia Socio-Medica, Croatian Medical Journal, Psichiatria Danubina, Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, Medicinski Glasnik, Acta Medica Saliniana, European Journal for Biomedical Informatics, Journal of Perinatal Medicine, Donald School Journal of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, etc. The Seminar SWEP 2018 gathered prominent editors of biomedical journals, and also, distinguished professors and scientists who are interesting in the field of Science editing and publishing.

The aim of the meeting is to provide fundamental help to PhD students in their PhD thesis, because we all hope that their current topics in the field of scientific publishing will at least be a road sign, how to act, and what to avoid.

Our desire is that these meetings become a tradition, and promote scientific excellence, as the only weapon in the hands of science in the modern world.

SWEP 2018 is one of the contributors to the development of science in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and both the region and the Europe. At SWEP – 2018 participated 13 influential scientists in the field of Science Editing in Publishing from several counties: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia and USA (Figures 1-16).

Figure 1. Presentation of Professor Izet Masic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 16. Participants at SWEP 2018, Sarajevo, December 8th, 2018.

SWEP 2018 was opened by professor Izet Masic, chairman of SWEP 2018, who organized, also, 2 years ago, in Sarajevo SWEP 2016. As President of AMNuBiH who talked shortly about anniversary of Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina and about scope and topic of SWEP 2018.

In his introductory speech, Professor Masic pointed out the reasons why SWEP 2018 was called „Ethical Dilemmas in Science Editing and Publishing“, by saying that the advent of unethical behavior in the academic community became, not a Sarajevo or cantonal problem, but an international problem that interests special organizations such as the Committee of Publishing Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), European Association of Science Editing (EASE), etc., when trying to establish certain rules and standards to detect plagiarism in scientific research and publication and to sanction it.

The BiH scientific and academic community is in a major crisis when this is a problem. Text by Danijel Hadzovic „Sarajevo students and professors in the network of plagiarism: how much the master thesis cost?“ raised his attention and interest in this problem. In the article, he writes: „Affairs in the plagiarism of graduate and master theses or doctoral dissertations, in which the main actors are politicians and other high public officials, are not have been particularly novel in this area for long time. Nevertheless, the issue seemed to have taken on a massive dimension and became a new popular business activity. It’s enough just to search „making theses“ on Facebook and you will find literally dozens of pages that offer the services of writing graduation, seminar, and even master papers. Prices vary but generally range from 3 to 5 KM per page. In other words, you can get seminar work for 30, graduate for 100, and master for some 250 KM. Probably the most sophisticated site for such services is maturskiradovi.net. It is located in Serbia, but offers services in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Macedonian and English“... In a country where today almost every municipality has at least one faculty, and diplomas are printed on a factory lane, it should not be overwhelmingly surprising that many students will decide to buy for the money other’s knowledge and present it as their own, to complete their faculty as soon as possible... The key question here is what competent institutions can do in dealing with this phenomenon that is getting more and more acute. The Criminal Law of BiH also deals with the issue of copyright, and for the presentation of another act as its own, the prescribed punishment is up to three years in prison.“ (4)

Plagiarism in scientific publishing is an almost unsolvable problem, and the greatest responsibility have editors of the journals and reviewers of the papers with which the authors apply to journals for their publication (5, 6). ICT and various software packages help to detect plagiarism but for journals that publish works in local languages, solutions are still missing. Following this introductory word, followed the lectures which presented the above-mentioned problems from different aspects and in different fields of biomedical sciences.

The participants were also welcomed by Professor Osman Sinanovic, who emphasized the importance of this type of scientific conference, and held a motivational speech for students of postgraduate studies. Participants by video link welcomed Professor Asim Kurjak, from Qatar, who in fifteen minutes discussion demonstrated the importance of science and scientific publishing to the overall development of society in the Balkans. The first lecture was held by Professor Izet Masic, in which he elaborated the subject of difference in doctoral studies, fifty years ago in relation to today, and presented the status of today’s PhD student, or what are their options on the ground of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Professor Osman Sinanovic and Professor Miro Jakovljevic presented the basic principles of scientific publishing, emphasizing the importance of ethics in them, and specifically addressed the issue of authorship, types of authorship, and the importance of the list of authors. Prof. Jakovljevic particularly emphasized the importance of promotion of epistemophilic motivation and postconventional morality in the hodegetics and ethics of publishing. Professor Srecko Gajovic spoke over a video link from Zagreb (Croatia), about Cochraine, evidence-based medicine and the relevance, advantages and disadvantages of this scientific concept. Professor Mirko Spiroski (Republic of Macedonia) described the types of plagiarism, with special reference to translational plagiarism, and the difficulties encountered by editors, and how to detect and sanction them. Associate professor Rasim Jusufovic has dealt with the issue of a special kind of plagiarism–ghost writing, which takes more and more space of the international scale. The conclusion of the authors is that today in science everything can be bought. Professor Sekib Sokolovic presented ethics in clinical investigations and potentiated the possibility of adjusting the results of the research. The participants were greeted by Professor Dzelaludin Junuzovic, as a teacher of the generation of the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo students since the 1960s, Professor Mirko Grujic, who is also Vice President of the Academy of Medical Sciences of BiH. Professor Grujic with his appearance at SWEP and with his authority and inspiration (in 88 year of life), Grujic showed that the character and work of a scientist remains after retirement, but that it is a part of personality, which in the deep old age can bring benefit to a society. Professor Besim Prnjavorac has shown to the students that the author must be appreciated, and Professor Enver Zerem, explained his own Ranking Score and other opportunities for ranking in science, showing all the indexes used today for the evaluation. Professor Benjamim Djulbegovic (USA), explained with his presentation the fundamentals and importance of decision-making in scientific research. Professor Slobodan Jankovic (Serbia) presented the most recent statistical faults that a scientist can make and shows how they can be avoided. Selma Porovic, MDD, PhD presented oral perinatology as a contemporary discipline, which will become increasingly important in the future. Professor Mirsad Hadzikadic (USA) has portrayed the significance of science from a global perspective, the importance of science to generalize, and the road of science in the future, in the digital world, and what will be the man’s position in everything. Six PhD students, through their poster presentations, dealt with important topics in the field of scientific publishing, and pointed to the problems they had and through discussion, they received advice that could be of great significance to them.

The meeting has emphasized the importance of the development of science, and with the acceptance of some of the fragility of the infrastructure and the economic situation in the Balkans, the necessity of everyday work with the resources that exist because it can be widely publicized. It was a meeting that also potentiate the importance of ethics in everyday science, because without ethics in the science the science makes no sense.

Ethics must be built into the very essence of an academic professional, because it is a guideline for both science and community development. In the face of problems, the student must go ahead, through painstaking work. The general conclusion of SWEP 2018 is that, under such conditions, success itself is much more significant, or personal satisfaction is much greater. The group has sent a message that from an overall and comprehensive social lethargy, a module that can reverse it has to emerge, and that regret cannot do anything good, but is the only correct path are optimism and continuous learning. Science has not betrayed the mankind, although mankind still has to pay back its debt to the science.

During SWEP 2018 Editors from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Izet Masic, Besim Prnjavorac), Croatia (MiroJakovljevic), Serbia (Slobodan Jankovic), Republic of Macedonia (Mirko Spiroski) presented current status of active biomedical journals in their countries (1, 7).

In Bosnia and Herzegovina there is 8 indexed biomedical journals in the year 2018 deposited in Citation databases. In Web of Sciences is indexed only Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences (Impact factor is 1,43). In database Scopus is indexed 7 biomedical journals: Medical Arhives (H-index is 17), Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences (H-index is 16), Acta Informatica Medica (H-index is 12), Acta Medica Academica (H-index is 9), Medicinski Glasnik (H-index is 9), HealthMed (H-index is 9), Acta Medica Saliniana (H-index is 3) and Folia Medica Facultatis Medicine Universitatis Saraeviensis (H-index is 1). In Pubmed database are indexed 6 biomedical journals: Medical Archives, Matera Socio-Medica, Acta Informatica Medica, Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, Medicinski Glasnik and Acta Medica Academica. On Google Scholar highest h5 index and highest h5 median index has journal Medical Archives (Table 1).

Table 1. Biomedical journals in Bosnia and Herzegovina indexed in online biomedical data bases in 2018.

Journals	h5 index	h5 median
Medical Archives	20	25
Acta Informatica Medica	17	28
Materia Socio-Medica	19	24
Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences	16	19
Folia Medica-	x	x
Medicinski Glasnik	12	16
Acta Medica Academica	14	22
Acta Medica Saliniana	x	x

According to data collected from Central Medical Library of School of Medicine (University of Zagreb), there are 7 Croatian biomedical journals indexed in Current Contents for year 2018 (Biochemia Medica, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Quarterly, Croatian Medical Journal, Croatica Chemica Acta, Društvena istraživanja, Food Technology and Biotechnology, Psychiatria Danubina) (Table 2). Highest impact factor has journal Biochemia Medica (3.653). Nine journals are included in MEDLINE database: Acta clinica Croatica, Acta dermatovenerologica Croatica, Acta medico-historica adriatica: AMHA, Acta pharmaceutica, Acta stomatologica Croatica, Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju, Biochemia medica, Croatian medical journal, Psychiatria Danubina. Sixteen biomedical journals are reffered in Web of Science (SCI and SSCI) and 28 in Scopus.

Table 2. Indexed biomedical journals in Croatia in 2018 with Impact factor.

Croatian Biomedical Journals Indexed in Current Contents	Impact Factor
Biochemia Medica	3.653
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Quarterly	1.383
Croatian Medical Journal	1.422
Croatica Chemica Acta	0.705
Društvena istraživanja	0.255
Food Technology & Biotechnology	1.168
Psychiatria Danubina	1.341

According to the Classification of scientific journals which are published in Republic of Serbia for year 2018 (8), in the category of biomedical journals only four are referred in Web of Science and Journal Citation Report-u (JCR): Acta Veterinaria – Beograd (impact factor 0.604), Journal of Medical Biochemistry (impact factor 1.378), Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo (impact factor 0.300) and Vojnosanitetski pregled (impact factor 0.405). Besides the above mentioned journals, there are 48 biomedical journals more in Republic of Serbia having designation of being „with national significance“, with two of them (Acta chirurgica Iugoslavica and Medicinski pregled) referred in MEDLINE database. It is characteristic that two general medical journals (Srpski arhiv and Vojnosanitetski pregled) have much lower impact factor than specialized journals (Acta veterinaria – Belgrade and Journal of Medical Biochemistry), which remained low from the moment of introduction to Web of Science (in 2009). In order to improve impact factor of Serbian biomedical journals, more stringent editorial policy is needed, with excellence in methodological review and insisting on novelty and generalizability of findings from the accepted manuscripts.

In Republic of Macedonia only two Macedonian scientific journals are included in the Web of Science, five journals are included in the Scimago Journal & Country Rank, nine journals are included in the Directory of Open Access Journals and five journals are included in Google Scholar (Table 3). The presence of Macedonian scientific journals in the world databases is very limited and needs intensive support to improve their quality Google Scholar Metrics of Macedonian Scientific Journals (1).

Table 3. Biomedical journals in Republic of Macedonia indexed in on-line biomedical data bases in 2018.

Journals	h5-index	h5-median
Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences	10	12
Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering	9	14
Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences	7	8
Macedonian Veterinary Review	6	7
Macedonian Journal of Animal Science	4	6

Figure 2. Presentation of Professor Osman Sinanovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 3. Presentation of Professor Asim Kurjak at SWEP 2018.

Figure 4. Presentation of Professor Miro Jakovljevic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 5. Presentation of Professor Srecko Gajovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 6. Presentation of Professor Mirko Spiroski at SWEP 2018i.

Figure 7. Presentation of Professor Sekib Sokolovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 8. Presentation of Professor Rasim Jusufovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 9. Presentation of Professor Enver Zerem at SWEP 2018.

Figure 10. Presentation of Professor Besim Prnjavorac at SWEP 2018.

Figure 11. Professors Mirko Grujic, Izet Masic, Miro Jakovljevic at SWEP.

Figure 12. Presentation of Professor Slobodan Jankovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 13. Talk of Professor Dzelaludin Junuzovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 14. Presentation of Dr. Sci. Selma Porovic at SWEP 2018.

Figure 15. Presentation of Professor Mirsad Hadzikadic at SWEP 2018.