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

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.