Periódico Tchê Química

Journal History

An Opening Word

Telling a story is never easy, but someone must do it. As one of the longest-standing members of this project, I (Luis) was entrusted with the difficult task of summarizing and structuring this journey into few words. What follows is an honest account of challenges, lessons learned, and achievements that have shaped the Periódico Tchê Química over more than two decades.

From the Unlikely to the Extraordinary

In 2003, during a conversation among colleagues in southern Brazil, an idea emerged that would defy academic conventions. Paraphrasing my colleague G.R.: "Who said we need all that to start a journal? Let’s create our own!" This simple statement, born from the frustration of an unrealized university project, planted the seed of what would become the Periódico Tchê Química.

First published in 2004, PTQ arose from the belief that great achievements do not necessarily stem from grand structures or abundant resources, but from consistent dedication and genuine passion for knowledge.

Context and Commitment to Open Access

When we began this journey, Brazil was different, and the scientific community’s needs were distinct. Since its inception, the Periódico Tchê Química has been an open access project, alternating between platinum open access and gold open access, always committed to democratizing scientific knowledge without financial barriers for readers.

For authors, we maintain rigorous quality controls, including desk review, peer review, and, when necessary, strategic financial barriers to manage submission volume, ensuring we can dedicate proper attention to every manuscript processed through our editorial system.

Sustainable Growth and Quality Control

During a period of significant growth, the journal received over 3,000 manuscripts per year. Most were not published due to insufficient quality or being outside the journal’s scope. As a measure of self-regulation and commitment to excellence, we decided to impose an annual limit of 300 published articles — a target we have consistently maintained.

Maintaining quality standards in evolving systems is not easy, but we continually adapt and follow best editorial practices, always prioritizing quality over quantity.

Editorial and Financial Independence

Our Position on Public Funding

The Periódico Tchê Química is an independent publication and operates without receiving or requesting government funding for its activities or goals. We do not intend to accept or solicit such funds. This decision is grounded in clear ethical principles:

Direct Responsibility: We believe that the costs of scientific publishing, when necessary, should be borne by the professionals who directly benefit from publications and their research institutions.

Fiscal Equity: Accepting government funds derived from Brazilian taxpayers would constitute an advance and compulsory charge on the publication of any manuscript. We do not consider it morally appropriate for all citizens to compulsorily pay for research that directly benefits only a segment of the population.

Editorial Autonomy: Financial independence from any government (national or foreign) guarantees full editorial freedom and shields us from political or bureaucratic pressures on our scientific decisions.

Resisting Commercialization

In mid-2019, the journal began receiving acquisition offers from international and Brazilian publishing groups, with proposals reaching extremely high commercial values by 2025. Despite these tempting offers, we are not for sale.

This stance reflects the teachings of Dr. Ionescu, whose concepts were fundamental to this project’s foundation. We understand that PTQ’s value transcends financial worth. At the appropriate time, the journal will most likely be donated to an institution that shares our values of open access and editorial independence, ensuring that the scientific legacy prevails over commercial interests.

Technical and Editorial Evolution

PTQ’s trajectory is marked by significant technical advances reflecting our commitment to editorial professionalization and standardization.

Template Standardization: The adoption of our first template was a foundational milestone, enabling standardization of scientific communication and ensuring visual and structural consistency across all publications. Continuous evolution of these templates keeps the journal aligned with international scientific publishing standards. Version 4, released in 2026, represents the journal’s newest evolution, incorporating contemporary best practices in ethical compliance.

DOI Implementation and Individual Distribution (2020): A particularly significant milestone occurred in 2020, when we began assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to all publications, including retroactive assignment for past issues. Simultaneously, we implemented individual article distribution, complementing the availability of full journal issues. This editorial shift aligned with global publishing trends, facilitating citation, tracking, and discovery of individual research, and was widely welcomed by both authors and readers for enabling more direct and specific access to content of interest.

Indexing Cycles: Challenges That Forged Excellence

To the best of our knowledge, we are among the few autonomous Brazilian scientific journals to have undergone full indexing cycles. Each cycle represented a major challenge and served as a driving force for the journal’s evolution, guiding us toward higher and more sophisticated editorial quality standards.

These rigorous external evaluation processes were not merely bureaucratic requirements but valuable opportunities for critical reflection and improvement. We understand that the pursuit of constant quality gives us the chance to continually improve, succeed more often, and make fewer mistakes. Each indexing cycle demanded significant adaptations in our processes—from peer review criteria to editorial transparency—consolidating our maturity as a scientific publication.

Multidisciplinary Evolution

Originally focused on chemistry, the journal naturally evolved to embrace a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines, becoming a truly multidisciplinary publication. This transformation reflected our understanding that scientific knowledge transcends disciplinary boundaries, just as it transcends geographical ones.

Continuous Learning

Over more than two decades, we have had the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and paid dearly for every step of this learning process. All journals have problems; we have our own. We work diligently to address our shortcomings and deliver a quality product to the academic community, aware that editorial excellence is a continuous journey of improvement.

With over 1,100 published articles and thousands of citations, PTQ has established itself as an internationally recognized platform, publishing research from authors in 42 countries.

Building International Bridges

Over more than two decades, we have had the privilege of establishing cordial and diplomatic relationships with researchers and institutions across numerous countries—an honor for which we will never have enough words of gratitude. These international connections have profoundly enriched our editorial perspective and reaffirmed our belief that scientific knowledge is universal, capable of uniting cultures and building bridges of understanding through shared research.

Our Ongoing Commitment

We remain faithful to our original mission: to democratize access to scientific knowledge, upholding the highest standards of editorial quality. Each published article represents not only a scientific contribution but also a testament to the fact that science thrives when it is accessible, rigorous, and built through international collaboration.

From southern Brazil to the world, PTQ has become a scientific heritage that continues to serve researchers across continents, reaffirming our daily commitment to excellence, transparency, and universal access to knowledge.

Acknowledgments

No project of this magnitude is built in isolation. Over these two decades, we have relied on the tireless dedication of editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and collaborators who have donated their time, expertise, and passion for science to keep the Periódico Tchê Química alive.

Our deepest gratitude to all authors who trusted us to disseminate their research, to the anonymous reviewers whose meticulous work ensured the quality of our publications, and to every team member—past and present—who contributed to this extraordinary journey.

To everyone who, in any way, has been part of this story: thank you very much. The PTQ legacy is, above all, the result of the collective effort of a scientific community committed to advancing knowledge.

Scientific Scope

Coverage Areas

Article Types Accepted

• Original Research Articles – Original scientific investigations
• Review Articles – Critical analyses of the state of the art
• Technical Notes – Methods, techniques, and practical developments
• Case Studies – Practical applications and clinical cases
• Education Articles – Research in science education
• Short Communications – Significant and urgent findings

Alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Periódico Tchê Química actively supports multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through its multidisciplinary approach. Published articles primarily contribute to: