Introduction:

Scientific journals are the main platforms for managing and socializing the students' scientific work. It is the role of the editor-in-chief to develop such an important mission.

Objective:

To characterize the scientific production and communicational management of student journal editors-in-chief in Cuba.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out. The study included the 11 editors-in-chief who agreed to answer the applied survey. Several variables were analyzed, respectively referring to the general characteristics of the editors-in-chief, their scientific production and communicational management, as well as their level of knowledge in research matters. Descriptive statistics were applied.

Results:

The male sex (54 %) and the ages of 21, 22 and 23 years (n = 3) predominated. 91 % of the editors-in-chief were medical students (n = 10) and 54 % were in their fourth academic year. Editors-in-chief with 1 to 5 published articles in each of the aspects analyzed predominated. Only 5 served as members of the editorial team with other journals. The Google Scholar Network stood out (8; 72.7%). Only 7 (63.6 %) were aware of their h-index and that of the journal. Most of the editors-in-chief had knowledge or had received training courses.

Conclusions:

The scientific production and communicational management of the editors-in-chief is influenced by current trends in the scientific-research sphere. Belonging to the editorial board of a scientific journal, mainly in the role of an editor-in-chief, has a positive effect on students.