# The Creation of the CAPES Journals Portal, aka Portal Periódicos: A Personal Recollection

## TL;DR

This paper recounts the creation of Brazil's CAPES Journals Portal, a digital initiative that revolutionized access to scientific information nationwide.

## Contribution

The paper provides a historical account of the CAPES Journals Portal's development and its impact on equitable access to scientific knowledge in Brazil.

## Key findings

- The CAPES Journals Portal replaced paper subscriptions with a centralized digital library model.
- The Portal became a backbone of Brazilian science and a model for equitable access to knowledge.
- It overcame political, financial, and technological challenges to ensure long-term sustainability.

## Abstract

This viewpoint describes the trajectory of the creation
and consolidation
of the CAPES Journals Portal (Portal Periódicos), a pioneering
initiative that transformed access to scientific information in Brazil.
Conceived in the late 1990s within the Brazilian Federal Agency for
Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES), the Portal emerged
from the need to democratize access to knowledge in a country of continental
dimensions, where printed journals were scarce, costly, and unevenly
distributed. By replacing paper-based subscriptions with a centralized,
digital library model, CAPES fostered nationwide access to world-class
scientific publications. This viewpoint recounts the political, financial,
and technological challenges faced during its implementation, the
strategic inclusion of São Paulo institutions to ensure long-term
sustainability, and the enduring impact of the Portal as an inclusive
infrastructure for research and graduate education in Brazil. Twenty-five
years later, the CAPES Journals Portal stands as a testament to visionary
public policy, serving as the backbone of Brazilian science and a
model of equitable access to knowledge.