April 25 Semper! Portuguese science and the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution

In 2024, Portugal will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, which overthrew a long-standing dictatorship and restored basic civil liberties and democracy to the country. For Portuguese science, this revolution meant a democratization of access to the scientific career and a greater investment in scientific research, culminating in an unprecedented increase in scientific output. Communication Biology joins this anniversary and the celebration of freedom and democracy as fundamental pillars of scientific endeavors.

During the World Wars, there was a rise of nationalist and autocratic ideologies throughout Europe. In Portugal, the 1920s was a decade marked by political instability and economic stagnation, which paved the way for a crucial political turn: a military coup eventually creating a 48-year dictatorship led by António de Oliveira Salazar and his successor Marcelo Caetano. The regime’s isolationist policies severely limited basic civil liberties and rights: there was no freedom of the press or association, limited access to education, overall precarious living conditions and limited access to basic services, which in turn resulted in low life expectancy and high number of childbirth deaths. The restriction of fundamental rights was strongly reflected in the condition of women; they were for the most part excluded from education and were not allowed to vote or travel without parental or spouse permission. The Portuguese scientific system during the regime had limited size and diversity, and was isolated from the scientific community as a whole. Although universities were a rare place for critical thinking and resistance to the regime, systemic policies hindered any space for dissent. The punishment would be deportation, exile or imprisonment. Scientific funding was residual, state-distributed and focused mainly on areas of direct political interest.

In 1974, the Portuguese political regime reached a tipping point. The endless war against the self-determination of the Portuguese-speaking African countries was hopeless and led the country to international isolation. Due to almost fifty years of dictatorship, Portuguese civil society stagnated and lagged far behind the rest of Europe. On April 25, 1974, a movement of the armed forces, backed by civil society, marched peacefully into Lisbon with carnations in their guns and seized power. What emerged was a young democracy willing to restore basic civil rights and adopt important health and education policies. Today’s Portugal has literacy and life expectancy indicators comparable to the rest of Europe, with lower rates of early leavers from education and training and higher tertiary education levels than the EU-27 average, as shown by European Commission figures¹. However, the data show that there are persistent regional disparities, with a rate below the EU-27 average in the Central Region, compared to a rate above the EU-27 average in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. Leveling such inequalities would further democratize education and increase overall performance, which is achievable with increases in overall expenditure on education and measures to support access to and enrollment in higher education.

Importantly, the Carnation Revolution also provided fertile ground for the flourishing of Portuguese science. The push for universal education enabled the country to tap its human talent, democratizing access to scientific careers for all, especially those from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds and women. In 1974, women were barely represented among Portuguese PhD students, but today they make up more than half of them². Furthermore, alignment with European values ​​allowed Portugal to join the European Union in 1986, which had two important positive effects: (1) free movement across borders provided an opportunity for the internationalization of researchers, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration promoted; and (2) access to European funds enabled crucial investments in personnel, research and development (R&D) projects and infrastructure. At the same time, state investments have increased seventeen times, from 0.1% to 1.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022³. Against this backdrop, science in Portugal experienced explosive growth, characterized by a massive growth in the number of universities and research institutes and a 25-fold increase in employment in research and development. The most notable measure, however, is scientific output, as evidenced by a staggering increase in the quality and volume of publications, which far exceeds expectations, given the country’s investments in funding and personnel.⁴. Increasing efforts to disseminate science to the public, for example through national bodies such as Ciệncia Viva, increases the visibility and role of science in everyday life for the public and would increase the involvement of the broader population.

“The push for universal education enabled the country to tap its human talent, democratizing access to scientific careers for all, especially those from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds and women.”

Today’s Portuguese scientific panorama is one of the greatest achievements of the country’s post-Carnation Revolution era. Yet the gap with the rest of Europe has not yet been closed. In many respects, despite significant progress, Portugal lags behind in scientific investment (measured as a percentage of GDP) and resources, both material and human. Other identified shortcomings include limited connection with the private sector and limited incentive to foster new and diverse collaborations, which undermine meritocracy. Nevertheless, today’s Portuguese scientific community includes a vibrant and highly qualified generation of young scientists – both in Portugal and abroad – who have been trained on the ‘April values’ and who are ready to take leadership in the coming challenges and scientific research into new to reach heights. .