Knowledge is one of the principal raw materials for development in all fields: for academic and professional training, research activities and healthcare decision-making. Sharing of information enables new knowledge to be generated, which causes growth-generating effects in quality research and technological development, with the effect of causing changes in the social context that is presented. The set of information available and found through portals may give rise to advances in all social spheres. Here, we highlight the CAPES publications portal (http://www. periodicos. capes. gov. br), which for users in Brazilian universities and participating institutions, and for general users, represents a milestone in educational development, research and technology in this country. The CAPES publications portal originated in November 2000 as an initiative by a national consortium for access to electronic periodicals, under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology. 1 This portal is maintained by CAPES, which is a foundation within the Ministry of Education that invests in the development of stricto sensu postgraduate programs in our country. With the advent of this portal, Brazilian postgraduate and research programs have gained in quality, productivity and competitiveness. The aim of the portal is to provide unrestricted access and use, free of charge to the participating institutions. It also provides some of this freely accessible content to all users via the internet. 1 Access to this portal is made available to the teachers, researchers, students and employees of 188 higher education and research institutions throughout this country. This participation is distributed as follows: 2

• 53 federal higher education institutions;• 29 federal research institutes and units;• 25 state and municipal public higher education institutions with postgraduate programs appraised by CAPES;• 16 private higher education institutions with at least one staff member with a doctorate, with a three-yearly rating of five or over from CAPES;• 33 federal technological education centers• 32 institutions that have subscribed to the portal in the “paying” category, with access restricted to the publications contracted.