A survey was addressed to 57 editors of Chilean biomedical journals, on how to attract more and better manuscripts to their journals. Thirty seven editors (65%) answered this survey. According to them the main motivation of Medical Societies for editing their own journals is to improve information acquisition. To communicate an experience, followed by getting credits in their curriculum vitæ, were considered by the editors as the main motivations of authors to submit papers. The most frequent deficiencies of manuscripts received are: disorganization in their presentation and bad adherence to journal's requirements for submitting manuscripts. An improvement in the relationship between author-editor-reviewer was mentioned by most of the editors, as the mechanism to be used to enhance the quality of the manuscripts. Only 14 editors (38%) agree in that there is a decrease in the number of original papers submitted. This decrease was attributed by most of them, to a high pressure for publishing in journals with the highest impact factor. Suggestions on how to improve the Chilean biomedical journals included: a) to professionalize editorial work and to increase meticulousness when reviewing manuscripts; b) to increase the recognition of articles published in Chilean biomedical journals, when applying for academic promotions or research grants and c) to create a "national impact factor" (Rev Méd Chile 2002; 130: 267-74)