Brief history

Análise Social was first published in January 1963, as a journal of the Office of Social Research (GIS – Gabinete de Investigações Sociais – successor of the Office of Corporate Studies), founded in 1962 by Adérito Sedas Nunes. The journal contributed to the institutionalization of Social Sciences in Portugal. With a long history, Análise Social has evolved over time, gradually extending to other disciplines and geographies. Between 1988 and 2011 new disciplinary areas came to include Anthropology and Political Science (Pina Cabral, 2011), and in 2020 Geography was added.

In the earlier GIS priority was given to the study of the social and economic conditions of the contemporary Portuguese population and to the way in which the Salazar regime dealt with the inequalities of those days. The journal thus opened up “a new space in the intellectual field” – that of “study and reflection on social realities” (Nunes, 1988, p. 21).

The first issue of Análise Social included an article on the housing situation in Portugal and another on the “study of ideologies” as “social facts”. In its earliest phase the journal did not address the problem of the regime, nor the colonial problem, as that was perhaps one of its survival strategies. Still in this initial phase, it included themes such as labor-union movements and conflicts at work (Nunes, 1988, pp. 20, 25-26).

From the beginning, the seal of the Thecnical University of Lisbon was printed on its cover (Nunes, 1988, p. 26), which contributed to its distinction and shelter from State censorship. Even so, “reading many articles from the 1960s and early 1970s does not reveal a passive and compliant magazine”; in it “the freedom of investigation and expression, as well as pluralism, were born before they existed in the society” (Barreto, 1999, p. 4).

The first special issue, in 1964, was a “double volume” (numbers 7 and 8) and dealt with the “Social aspects of economic development in Portugal”. It had a circulation of 4000 copies and quickly sold out. A few weeks later, second-hand examples appeared on the market, selling for amounts that were 10 to 20 times the initial price (Nunes, 1988, p. 27).

In 1968 another double volume (numbers 20 and 21) and a triple volume (numbers 22, 23, and 24) were published on “The University in Portuguese life”. It was the “most exhaustive and solid study” carried out to that date on the universities and their teaching and student populations (Nunes, 1988, p. 29).

In the early days the publication was attractive to the wider public, but when it evolved from a “social studies” magazine to a “social sciences” journal, that attraction faded. It became, nevertheless, “much more interesting to the researcher, the specialist, the scholar, and the student interested in the social sciences” (Nunes, 1988, p. 33).

The first professors of ISCTE (today IUL) were linked to GIS; and from the GIS the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) of the University of Lisbon was born, so that the Social Sciences area of ISCTE and the ICS “are two branches of the same tree – a tree whose seed was sown when at the end of January 1963, the first issue of Análise Social appeared (Nunes, 1988, p. 46). Besides being a pioneer, the journal has demonstrated over time the importance of the Social Sciences for the understanding of social realities and is today one of the hallmarks of ICS.

Although initially focused on the analysis of Portuguese society, the journal spread into other contexts, European and beyond – namely those with which there has been more intellectual dialogue, and Portuguese speaking countries. The historical, social, economic, and cultural analyses included in the journal continue to address the challenges of undertaking research in Portugal, in Europe, and in a contemporary world in constant transformation.

The journal continues to value the importance of establishing dialogues, and disseminating plural and diverse analytical contributions and distinct academic traditions. Análise Social thus remains an interdisciplinary space for reflection and debate. Its success “is not reflected only in the number of readers or the number of researchers who seek it (…), but in its intellectual impact and in the contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge” (Vala, 2011, p. 617).

Fifty-eight years later, Análise Social has 238 numbers, and since 1999 all submissions have been peer reviewed prior to acceptance for publication (Barreto, 1999, p. 7).

With a view to promoting and capturing works of excellence, since 2009 the journal has confered the Análise Social Award.

The current Editorial Board is committed to staying abreast of the new times, introducing changes when necessary, while remaining faithful to the journal’s legacy.

February 2021

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