In October 1999, Notícias FAPESP, a newsletter dedicated to the foundation’s work, was transformed into the magazine Pesquisa FAPESP, which is this year celebrating its 25th anniversary, having greatly expanded its scope.
Two years earlier, one of us (JFP), then scientific director, introduced the foundation to Octavio Frias de Oliveira, owner of the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. Frias was fascinated by FAPESP’s mission and the breadth of the activities it funded with such low administrative costs. He was particularly interested in the upcoming launch of PIPE, a program designed to support innovation at small businesses, which has been a great success. At the end of the meeting, “Mr. Frias” (as he liked to be called) offered his opinion: “If you guys are really this good, then you must be really bad at marketing.” We were surprised, but agreed with him. As an agency that receives 1% of the state’s tax revenue, the foundation has a duty to show taxpayers what is being done with such significant resources.
It was a radical change, not limited to the format and ambitious editorial goals of the new magazine. In the words of Mariluce Moura, the editor in chief at the time: “We believe that Pesquisa FAPESP has vast potential to bridge the gap between the world of scientific research and the general public in São Paulo, and even nationwide, because the aim is to be a point of reference for the media.” Her prediction came true, as the magazine became a “valuable source of the latest news, information, and material for the science departments of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, and news agencies.”
It has a monthly print run of 28,000 copies, circulates widely in the scientific community, and is also available online, with website traffic increasing from 350,000 visits in July 2023 to one million in July of this year. It is cited in the press an average of one hundred times per month and in publications from other countries around 60 times a year.
Its educational impact also deserves a mention. It is part of the co.educa digital media library, a tool created for students and teachers in secondary education through a partnership between FAPESP, the Roberto Marinho Foundation, and Canal Futura. The libary was accessed 31,000 times between March and September 2024. The magazine’s entire catalog is part of the FAPESP Memory Center website, including international editions in English, French, and Spanish.
This historical collection offers an insight into the major milestones of science and higher education in São Paulo over the last quarter century, such as: the sequencing of Xylella, led by FAPESP, which revolutionized biological research in Brazil; the history of the design and construction of Sirius, a source of great pride in Brazilian science; research integrity, based on FAPESP’s pioneering movement to stimulate the debate on research ethics in Brazil; the Amazon and climate change, topics systematically covered by the magazine in recent decades; the risk of epidemics, the impact of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, the Zika virus and its role in microcephaly; and social and ethnic inclusion in higher education and new forms of access, including assessment of their impacts and the challenges of implementing them.
The magazine’s growing relevance represents an important contribution—on a national level—to the battle against irrational denialism of the value of science and knowledge.
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