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This article discusses the field of sociology in Portugal as of December 1994 with focus on the Portuguese Sociological Association. As recent as 20 years ago, sociology was non-existent in Portugal. Since then it has shown a brisk development. Jos&eacute Madureira Pinto estimates that there are about 1,000 sociologists in Portugal today. About 40% are invloved in teaching and/or research at universities and colleges. The remainder, which has been increasing overall and relatively, can be found in central, regional and local authorities, companies and their associations, trade unions, consultancies, and so on. The idea that sociologists' professional status and activities are quite widespread in Portugal is confirmed considering that the majority of authors of nearly 200 papers presented at the recent second Portuguese Sociology Congress represent more than 50 institutions with which they work for. The situation has to be related to one of the specific traits of Portuguese sociology today--to avoid the separating demands of scientific research and professional activity. The Portuguese Sociological Association was founded by a few dozen of people on 1985. It was immediately accepted as a member of the International Sociological Association. Today it has about 700 members.

This article offers views on launching the journal International Sociology. Instead of publishing exclusively authors interested in the analysis of socio-cultural diversity across the world, the journal prefers to publish papers by people motivated by their own national and cultural traditions, the summing-up of which will offer to the reader a more global and comprehensive view of contemporary sociology. A new science that since the eighteenth century was proposed as an effort to take into account the other's viewpoint. In launching a new journal, the International Sociological Association wants just to create a new possibility for sociologists across the world to be a better acquainted with each other's works. For that, a balanced editorial policy will be pursued to publish authors from diverse regions, age and sex groups, as well as theoretical orientations. The time has come to recognize that the Third World and the socialist world are part of the intellectual production system on which, undoubtedly, Western culture will continue to make a strong impression. The endeavor of the journal is to increase knowledge about contemporary societies and sociologies, by showing pluralistic paths of concern in sociology rooted in different historical and cultural traditions.