FCT is the new manager of SciELO Portugal

This year, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) took over management of the SciELO Portugal project, which consists of a digital library of scientific journals integrated into an international network of libraries in which 26 countries collaborate. 

The idea of creating SciELO was born in Brazil, with the aim of expanding the dissemination of scientific production in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in general in Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries. Currently, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela are part of this network.

In 2001, Portugal took its first steps towards joining SciELO International, which was completed in 2002 on the initiative of the Observatory of Sciences and Technologies. The aim of joining this network was to promote scientific journals published in Portugal, expanding open access to quality national scientific production.

The project begins in Portugal with the implementation of the technical requirements and the team's familiarization with the SciELO methodology. To select the first journals to be included in the collection, it was necessary to form a panel of evaluators made up of researchers and university professors who, together with the Observatory of Sciences and Technologies and the FCT, applied the SciELO criteria to the journals published in Portugal.

In 2005, with the selection of the first journals that met the SciELO criteria, the project's Portuguese website was launched. In 2007, Portugal obtained certification as a collection in regular operation within the SciELO network.

The management of the SciELO Portugal project was under the responsibility of the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC) until 2018, when preparations began for the transition of the general coordination of the project to the FCT, with scientific and technical coordination being assumed in partnership between the FCT, through its FCCN unit, and the University of Minho (UM). This change implied an update of the technological infrastructure, benefiting from the development of the PUBIN project, which emerged with the intention of meeting the needs in terms of editorial management platforms in a centralized and interoperable way.

With the transition of SciELO Portugal to FCT, a new Advisory Committee was established, a body that updated the Criteria, policy and procedures for the admission and permanence of scientific journals in the SciELO Portugal Collection , which came into force in January 2021. Compliance with these new Criteria is essential to operationalize and enforce the principles of Open Science, namely the possibility of using preprints and open peer review. In terms of ensuring integration with the science and technology system, the use of ORCIDs and the JATS-XML format stands out. 

Over the last 20 years, it has been possible to ensure that the SciELO Portugal project meets the requirements of free access, sustainability, heterogeneity and credibility of the content disseminated. These criteria were in alignment with government policy that defined that the principles and practices of Open Science were a priority, materializing in the elaboration and implementation of a National Open Science Policy . 

Since 2014, FCT has been aligned with the principles of Open Science as defined in the Policy on Open Access to Scientific Publications resulting from R&D Projects Funded by FCT , a position that was reinforced with FCT's adherence to Plan S promoted by Science Europe , which postulates that all scientific publications developed after 2020, resulting from research funded by public funds, must be published in Open Access. 

The procedures for integrating publications into the SciELO Portugal Collection can be consulted at: http://www.scielo.mec.pt/ . Questions and queries can be sent by email to scieloportugal@fct.pt .