Misión, Enfoque y Alcance

Última actualización: 30/04/2026

Mission

The mission of Pensar – Revista de Ciências Jurídicas is to disseminate critical, current and socially relevant legal knowledge, derived from original research engaging with the contemporary challenges of Brazilian and international society. Affiliated with the University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR), under the editorial governance of the Higher Editorial Council (Conselho Superior de Editoração — CSE), a body of the Vice-Rectorate for Research (Vice-Reitoria de Pesquisa — VRP), the journal seeks to foster academic debate and contribute to institutional improvement through scientific output, particularly concerning the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies. In uninterrupted publication since 1992, Pensar has established itself as a reference journal in the field of Law, holding Qualis A2 classification by CAPES.

Editorial focus

The journal prioritizes the publication of research that:

  • Is theoretical-empirical and directly contributes to the analysis of concrete legal problems
  • Provides input for the formulation, implementation or evaluation of public policies
  • Engages with other fields of knowledge, such as political science, public administration, sociology, economics or technology
  • Applies diverse methods, including empirical, comparative, qualitative, quantitative or mixed approaches
  • Promotes the use of Law as an instrument of institutional and social transformation

Thematic Scope

Since 2025, the journal's editorial policy has been structured around three permanent thematic axes:

  • (1) Law, Democracy and Social Justice — research focused on social justice, vulnerabilities, gender inequality, female incarceration, human rights and public health, addressed from the perspective of fundamental rights and the ethics of care.
  • (2) Constitution, Institutions and Democracy in Brazil — studies on the role of democratic institutions, the Judiciary, infraconstitutional and constitutional legislation, and normative frameworks aimed at citizenship, democratic culture and rights.
  • (3) Law, Technology and Society in Transformation — critical analyses of the intersections between Law, technology and contemporary transformations, addressing topics such as personal data protection, artificial intelligence, algorithmic racism, abusive advertising targeting children, and the protection of personality in cyberspace.

Articulated with these three axes is a cross-cutting International Articles section, dedicated to contributions from researchers institutionally affiliated abroad, in any of the three thematic axes, published in their original languages (English, Spanish, Italian or French). This editorial architecture treats internationalization as a cross-cutting dimension — rather than as a separate compartment — reinforcing transatlantic and comparative dialogue.

According to the CNPq classification, the journal's thematic coverage falls within:

  • Major Area: Applied Social Sciences (6.00.00.00-7)
  • Area: Law (6.01.00.00-9)
  • Subareas: Constitutional Law, Legal Theory, Administrative Law, Political and Economic Law, Civil and Commercial Law, among others, with secondary interfaces with Sociology and Computer Science, according to the approach of each article.

Theoretical contributions

Articles of exclusively theoretical nature may be accepted, provided they demonstrate high analytical rigor, originality and scientific relevance. However, such contributions will not have priority in the editorial flow, given the journal's commitment to the practical applicability and social usefulness of academic output.

Commitment to open science

The journal adopts editorial practices aligned with the principles of open science, with emphasis on transparency, reproducibility and the public usefulness of scientific research. Authors are encouraged to provide, whenever possible, the following materials as supplementary data:

  • Case law
  • Normative frameworks
  • Empirical tables
  • Systematic reviews
  • Interview scripts
  • Data collection instruments
  • Scripts or code used in research
  • Other relevant documents