Volume (21): Issue (1)

In this Editorial to the Special Issue, Góis, Oliveira and Gaspar offer a critical exploration of international migration, particularly in the Portuguese context. They challenge traditional perspectives, arguing that simplistic dichotomies are inadequate to understand the complexities of migration and integration. The authors delve into Portugal’s changing migration landscape, advocating for an appreciation of the diverse motivations and experiences of migrants. Emphasizing the need for inclusive, multicultural policies, the article highlights the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity within migrant communities. Central to the discussion is the interplay between knowledge, politics and migration policies. The authors analyse the influence of institutions in shaping public perception and policy formulation, stressing the need for a nuanced approach in migration studies. The challenges in measuring immigrant integration are addressed, with a focus on the multifaceted nature of integration within sociology. The article also tackles the complexities of racial categorization in the context of migration, emphasizing the fluidity of identities and calls for more inclusive approaches to understanding racial dynamics. Through its critical examination of migration phenomena, the article aims to enhance understanding and inform the development of more effective and inclusive migration policies.

Throughout the twentieth century, the intensification of migration flows prompted an increasing focus by academics and policy-makers on fostering the integration of immigrants in receiving societies. This emphasis also led to discussions on the feasibility of measuring and monitoring integration. Numerous policies addressing migrant integration gained a sound conceptual foundation, reshaping knowledge production through interaction with policy-making and expanding data collection and analysis. Integration is a key illustration of potential reflective dialogue between research, policy and measurement. Nevertheless, publications that relate these three approaches of integration – theoretical, political and statistical – are scarce, primarily due to limited communication between these fields in most countries, a lack of covenant between theoretical, political and methodological concepts and indicators, and the multidimensional and dynamic nature of migrant integration. This article seeks to contribute to this debate, focusing on Portugal, a relatively ‘new’ immigration country recognized for having one of the world’s best integration policies, albeit without a historically rooted national integration model. This article examines the evolution of research–policy–statistics relationships and structures since the 1990s concerning migration and integration. It explores the foundations of the co-production of common operational concepts in theory, policy-making and statistical indicators, seeking a more comprehensive understanding and less dichotomized appropriation of these concepts. This article intends to promote reflection among policy actors, practitioners, scholars and statisticians regarding their actions and interactions in the context of the complexity of migrant integration. It also contributes to the research landscape by conceptualizing the intricacies of immigrant integration while assessing whether mainstreaming, rather than alienation, characterizes Portugal’s approach to organizing and guiding these processes.

The official annual data on pupils of immigrant origin published by the Portuguese Directorate-General of Education and Science Statistics primarily focus on the citizenship of pupils, excluding those with Portuguese citizenship of immigrant origin or host country citizenship (descendants of immigrants). To address this limitation, this article employs microdata from Directorate-General of Education and Science Statistics of the Ministry of Education and Science (DGEEC/MEC), incorporating information on the pupils’ and parents’ countries of birth to identify descendants of immigrants. The study covers all pupils in Portugal enrolled in basic (primary and lower secondary) and secondary (upper secondary) education during the 2018–19 academic year in state schools of continental Portugal, aiming to explore the impact of different social categories on the academic performance gap among native, immigrant and pupils of immigrant origin. The analysis includes categories based on citizenship status and birthplace of pupils and parents, along with subcategories related to generational status and type of ancestry. The findings reveal previously unknown differences in academic performance among pupils with an immigrant background in Portugal, challenging traditional understandings. Notably, considering only the citizenship of the pupil underestimates the representation of pupils of immigrant origin, second-generation pupils often exhibit comparable or superior academic paths and pupils with parentage of mixed origin, especially those with a native parent, demonstrate a significant advantage in academic performance.

This article aims to critically discuss racial categorizations by problematizing (1) their nature, namely through an ontologically based discussion; (2) their genealogy, using a historically oriented critique and (3) the problems posed by their current applications, which means taking into account their identificatory breadth. Consequently, the article advances three overarching claims that question the use of racial categories: (1) they represent the legacy of a complex system institutionalizing the notion of race, which initially led to economic separation and subsequently pseudo-scientifically categorized populations for the purposes of subjugation and exploitation; (2) even with the provision for self-identification, the employed categories are those that sustained a colonial structure, and the apparent autonomy implied by the suffix ‘self’ effectively aligns with these existing structures in operational terms and (3) they run counter to the prevailing trend embracing multiplicity and the ‘trans’ suffix as a means of transcending hyphenated identities.

This article explores various aspects of the migration of science, including the circulation of scientific knowledge and the productivity of individual scientists. The first part of the article examines concepts that have helped define scientific employment, emphasizing the idea that a scientist’s work should align with an episteme. The second part scrutinizes this situation in Portugal, shedding light on two specific developments: the recent expansion of the scientific workforce and the outputs emanating from national research institutions. This includes a brief statistical overview of the levels of expansion in financial terms and an exploration of the success of scientific publishing using data derived from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and national statistics agencies. Data reveal that while the number of works produced has increased at a time during which greater numbers of scientists were being contracted, especially the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of their work may have declined due to a lack of peer recognition, illustrated by a sharp decline in the number of citations received. This suggests that greater investment in science, specifically in recruiting fixed-term contract researchers, has not necessarily translated into measurable success. It also highlights the additional challenges posed by change in how scientific knowledge and scientists migrate.

This article explores various aspects of the migration of science, including the circulation of scientific knowledge and the productivity of individual scientists. The first part of the article examines concepts that have helped define scientific employment, emphasizing the idea that a scientist’s work should align with an episteme. The second part scrutinizes this situation in Portugal, shedding light on two specific developments: the recent expansion of the scientific workforce and the outputs emanating from national research institutions. This includes a brief statistical overview of the levels of expansion in financial terms and an exploration of the success of scientific publishing using data derived from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and national statistics agencies. Data reveal that while the number of works produced has increased at a time during which greater numbers of scientists were being contracted, especially the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of their work may have declined due to a lack of peer recognition, illustrated by a sharp decline in the number of citations received. This suggests that greater investment in science, specifically in recruiting fixed-term contract researchers, has not necessarily translated into measurable success. It also highlights the additional challenges posed by change in how scientific knowledge and scientists migrate.