[Revista Médica de Chile: a long and beautiful educational task].

Revista Médica de Chile is one of the oldest medical journals in the world. Since its foundation in 1972, it had an educational character. Its successive editors and members of editorial committees have been distinguished clinicians, investigators and teachers. The diffusion of this journal among physicians and students for more than a century, renders it as a pioneer form of continuous distance education and could be considered as a "silent and peaceful campus". Through the years, this journal has coped with the progress in medical and biological knowledge,the perfecting of graphic arts and editorial processes and the development of computing. It has improved its management and professionalized the editorial process. In the near future, this last aspect will need further improvements due to its increasing complexity. The journal adheres to international publication norms for scientific manuscripts and is connected to international associations of medical journal editors. The editors have assumed the professional and ethical responsibility of controlling that publications provide valid information in a language intelligible for most readers. This compromise implies an independent work and the rejection of any form of undue pressure. We can state that Revista Médica de Chile, as a whole, is a historical document and that its pages reflect the capacity and intelligence of several generations of Chilean physicians.