Publishing in English is associated with an increase of the impact factor of Brazilian biodiversity journals

Abstract English is the lingua franca for scientific communication, but some journals, especially in developing countries, still publish non-English studies. A shift towards publishing in English may promote internationalization and more visibility of scientific journals. Here we compared quality indexes between Brazilian journals that have always published in English and journals that have published in languages other than English. We also investigated whether a temporal shift towards publishing in English led to elevated quality measures. Our analyses covered 16 Brazilian biodiversity journals and accounted for 12640 papers published since 2007. The mean impact factor was on average 55% higher in journals that have published consistently in English, compared to the so-called multilanguage journals. The proportion of publications in English increased to nearly three times the original value in multilanguage journals between 2007 and 2016, and the impact factor tripled during this period. At the same time, the Qualis-Capes classifications (B1-B2-B3) tended to fall. Publishing in English can be a first step to increased visibility, and this is particularly important for biodiversity journals, since Brazilian ecosystems are considered of interest to the international scientific community and nature conservation.英语作为科学传播的通用语，部分期刊——尤其发展中国家的期刊——仍会发表非英语研究成果。转向英语出版或可推动学术期刊的国际化进程，提升其学术曝光度与影响力。本研究对比了始终以英语出版的巴西学术期刊与非英语出版期刊的质量指标，并探究了随时间推移转向英语出版是否会提升期刊的质量评价指标。本次分析纳入16种巴西生物多样性学术期刊，覆盖2007年以来发表的12640篇学术论文。数据显示，始终以英语出版的期刊平均影响因子较所谓多语言期刊高出55%。2007年至2016年间，多语言期刊的英语发表占比升至初始值的近三倍，同期影响因子亦增长至原来的三倍。与此同时，Qualis-Capes分级（B1/B2/B3）呈下降趋势。以英语出版可作为提升期刊曝光度的首要路径，这对生物多样性期刊尤为关键——鉴于巴西生态系统备受国际科学界与自然保护领域的关注。